Ready or not

RAGBRAI, here we come!

Danny says...

So my niece, Rachel, and nephew, Danny, were hanging out here for the past couple of days.  Needless to say, I got an ear full from a 5 year old little boy about several things!  Here's our conversation at the pool lounging on the lazy river.

D: I want you to make me an Alvin shirt.
L: You want me to make you what?
D: An Alvin shirt - like Alvin and the Chipmunks! (Said with a look in his eye that said I was a complete dork! We had been watching Alvin and the Chipmunks in the van and apparently I wasn't connecting the dots fast enough.)
L: Oh!  How in the world am I supposed to make that?
D: You get a red shirt and put a big yellow "A" on it.
L: I might be able to find a red shirt when we get home.  I'll see what I can do.
D: It needs a hood on it too.
L: Dan, Grandma Ween is the sewer of the bunch, not your Aunt Lisa.
D: Just put a hood on it okay?!?
L: I'll try.
D: Do you have a brown marker?
L: Hmmm...I think so.
D: Well you need one to make the fur on my legs.  You just scribble all over them.
L: Excuse me?
D: If I'm going to be Alvin, I need fur!
L: I don't think your mom would like it if I sent you home with marker all over your legs.
D: She won't care.  She colored a beard and a mustache on me one time.
L: I still don't think she'll like it.  How about we just do the shirt?
D:  (Quite insistently) MY MOM SAID I CAN HAVE A MUSTACHE AND HAIRY LEGS!
L: (Trying desperately NOT to laugh) We'll see what we can do!

FYI...I did send him home with an Alvin shirt, but I did NOT send him home with furry legs!

River Rats

Sunday brought a day of heat and fun for the most of us! We've been looking forward to heading to the Mississippi River with Nate's family to go boating.  Unfortunately, I ended up sick and couldn't go.  I'm blaming it on the extreme heat that we basked in on Saturday during Carter's Iowa Games baseball tourney!  The rest of the crew was rip roaring ready to go and headed off bright and early in the morning.

Austin has become quite the fan of tubing in the last couple of years and loves every opportunity he gets to be able to do it.  He was in hog heaven with Captain Nate giving him tube rides!

When he woke up this morning he was hobbling and limping all over the place.  Then it came out that he "cart-wheeled" out of the tube on one wild ride!  (Right up that boy's alley I tell you!)  He is definitely his father's child!

Carter and Dan got in on a little tubing action too while Rachel hung out in the boat.  Aaron of course was quite proud that he was able to get up on and ski on the first try.  

Thanks Nate and Kelly for giving my boys such a fun day :)  I hated to miss out on all the fun.

Butterfly Whisperer

It's quite interesting when you realize you may be a part of a modern day Noah's Ark and be in the presence of a butterfly whisperer all in the same day.  As of my last count today, I had 4 boys running around my house, 2 cats, 2 hamsters, a toad, and a dragonfly that I have a feeling has passed on :(  If you want to experience "the wild", come on over!

I took these four wild ones to Reiman Gardens today.  NEVER in my wildest dreams would I have imagined the "thanks mom, this rocked" that I got at the end of our time there.  They had so much fun!  Who knew such a pretty place could capture the hearts and imaginations of these four boys?

We started out in the butterfly garden.  This was by far the favorite part for all of the boys. It became very apparent in here that I had a butterfly whisperer on my hands.  Austin had quite the knack for getting the butterflies to attach to him.  I bet he had at least 10 different ones that he was parading around at one time or another.  

 

Braden's butterfly skills were pretty rockin' too!  He was quite persistent in getting those beautiful creatures to come to him.  He was so proud when he had success and would whisper to me, "Aunt Weesa, look at me!"

Drake and Carter had far less success with the butterflies, but sure enjoyed trying.  We headed to the pond area where the boys were intrigued by finding bullfrogs and bullfrog tadpoles.  I can honestly say I've never in my life seen a bullfrog tadpole until today...and I don't ever need to see one of those hideous looking creatures again!  Yucky :(  The boys thought they were pretty cool though!  I preferred to gaze at the beautiful lily pads instead :)

They pretended to be rock climbers and were jumping from high (not really) cliffs.

They entertained themselves and several others by playing hide and seek in the back of the gardens for over an hour.  Braden hid in plain sight every single time, but we nearly lost Austin because he was hiding so well!  We found some musical chimes to jump on.  The boys had a great time playing their own version of Simon Says with these.  

Somehow three of the monkeys ended upside down climbing a tree.  I'm not sure that's what Reiman Gardens is meant for, but it made these guys' day!  If the little one could have found a way to get high enough, he'd have been in a tree too I'm sure.

I know I didn't get to enjoy the "intended" beautiful sights of the flowers and plants around the gardens, but it didn't matter because four little boys had smiles on their faces and giggles that radiated from the tips of their toes!  That was the most beautiful sight of the day for me :)

Braden says...

I get to hang out with this cutie and his brother for the month of July :)  Needless to say, I find him quite hilarious as he and I always have quite interesting conversations.  Yesterday, the four boys were having lunch and somehow the conversation turned to allergies.  According to Braden:

B:  I'm allergic to snakes.
L:  You are?
B:  Yes.
L:  How do you know?
B:  Dr. Woodhouse said so!

Hmmm... I guess if the dr. said so!

This morning he was helping me run some errands and we got caught in a little rain storm.

B:  It's raining hard.
L:  Yes it is.
B:  God must be sad.
L:  Why?
B:  Those are his tears.
L:  The raindrops are his tears?
B:  Yes.  He must be really sad because those are some big teardrops.  Somebody must have died.
L:  You think God is crying because somebody died?
B:  Yes.  I don't want Grandpa Herbie to die.
L:  Me either.
B:  Is Grandpa Herbie 94?
L:  Yes he is.
B:  That's old.  I don't want him to die.  I will cry if he dies and so will God.
L:  I will cry too.
B:  I bet God will have bigger teardrops than any of us.
L:  You seem to be a smart little boy.
B:  Yeah, God made me that way!

You just never know what kind direction your conversation is going to take with Braden.

The ice cream man

What a fun little musical treat driving up and down the street on this hot hot day!  I could even hear the music inside the house.  I rounded up the boys, and they headed out to go and buy a delicious sweet treat to cool off with.

Apparently they drive around town every Saturday.  Since this is the first Saturday we've actually been at home since the beginning of April, it's no wonder we were quite surprised to see this!  Hmmm...that seems crazy to think about, but spring league baseball and camping have kept us away from the house on the weekends.  YIKES!  I knew I was enjoying this day at home with the four of us for a reason. 

Water Balloons

What's a boy (or 4) supposed to do on a hot day to cool off?  Water balloons of course!

Thankfully they agreed to a cease fire while I had my camera out there.