clearing things out

I've been sorting and organizing and getting ready for a possible garage sale in the next few weeks.

I came across this quote in a magazine.

Very timely for us.

wrapping up the school year

They've been out for a few weeks now.

The last few days and weeks were fun, but I'm so

glad we're on summer flex time now!

Elliott and some of his friends at the Zoo during their field trip.

Meet Aluminum Guy

One last project for the year.

He had to use at least 8 (I think) different shapes

to construct a creature.

I thought he was pretty cool!

The supplies began returning home.

I always put what we need in the homework cabinet,

and then the rest get put away for next year.

My absolute favorite part of the end of the year!

JOURNALS.

Each year I have been given this gift of a 

window into what is important to them in the form

of a written journal from September until May.

I LOVE what I find in there.

FIELD DAY

It was wacky olympics themed.

This was my station.

Japan's Chopstick Chicken Relay Race.

The kids had to pick up this rubber chicken

with chopsticks only.

Run with it to the frying pan.

Drop it in.

And the next person would go and get it.

Fun times, I tell you!

Autograph Party

Our PTO hosts an autograph party every year where the kids can get together with

other classes in their grade level and sign yearbooks or autograph papers.

I remember doing this in middle and high school, but not elementary school.

Good thing since I was always frantic about saying just the right thing in each person's book.

Didn't want to say the same thing as everyone else, wanted it to be fun or nice, and didn't want to say the same thing in each book.  

Whew!  Lots of pressure.

I will say that I have some very long paragraphs in my yearbooks, and I bet my classmates do too :)

The boys......pretty much just sign their name and they are done.  Hmmmm.

zoo faves

First trip of the season.

First week out of school.

We think this is the baby hippo that was born last summer.

The hippos are my favorite exhibit.

I just think it's cool to watch them.

This is the baby elephant that was born last summer.

Kenzie.

How adorable is she?

I was so excited that we caught both babies on the same day!

And the sting rays are open!

the great american pastime

Baseball is still in full swing here at the Weiler house.  We've become familiar with several different batting cages and impromptu practice fields.

Elliott's team is the Redbirds.

He is learning a lot, and was very proud of himself for hitting in the 55 mph cage the other day.  

He usually plays the outfield, but prefers 2nd or 3rd base.

There is too much down time in the outfield when you're playing kid pitch.

And it's pretty difficult to hit the ball when you're playing kid pitch,

but he does a really good job watching and not swinging unless it really

looks like a strike.

We've had lots of walks and we're good with that!

His coach gave him the game ball at the last game.

So proud!!

Ethan's team is the O'Fallon Tigers.

His coach is a huge Mizzou fan.

This is his first, and probably only, year of machine pitch.

He wants to stay with his team,

and they are moving up to kid pitch next year.

It's kind of difficult to get used to the machine, too.

Hence, the batting cage visits.

Seems like almost half of his games have

been rained out, so it looks like we may

be playing baseball into August :)

And this is what we do at our brother's games.

Katy Trail

On a whim, Ethan and I headed to Defiance to pick up the Katy Trail there today.  

Elliott is at my parents' for the week, so I thought it would be a good time to try it with just one kid.  

We had so much fun.  

Ethan was all about it to begin with, and then once we got to Klondike Park (about 1/2 way to our destination of Augusta) he decided we should turn back cause he was "starving".  But he kept going another 3-4 miles to Augusta and was glad he did.  He is pretty proud of the 13 miles he trekked, and I will definitely do this again.

I'm thinking maybe it's time I get my own bike, though.  I've been keeping the Katy Trail Bike Rentals in business this spring :)

Lunch at the Augusta Brewing Co.

Shared a turkey bacon wrap.

Picked the tomatoes out.

Ethan was thrilled to hear "yes" when he asked 

if he could have Mountain Dew.

I figured he needed the boost anyway.

Love these bright chairs at the Brewing Co. 

They just look relaxing.

If only there was an ocean in front of them.

We made it!!

I don't know what these are.

They always intrigue me.

Cool place to rest.

There is this huge limestone mass or something (not sure what to call it)

along the trail at Klondike. 

It's really neat.

We stopped there twice.

Another family was nice enough to take our picture there.

Although they obviously did not feel comfortable enough 

to tell me I was posed so awkwardly.

We felt kind of bad for them.

They started out not too long after us and this was their entourage: 

-one teen boy on a bike. 

-dad pulling a daughter maybe 6 or 7 on

some kind of contraption that attaches to the bike and 

it's like half of a bike itself, 

so she was pedaling and had handlebars but 

he was actually pulling all the weight and steering.

-and mom pulling one of those tot tent things with a toddler inside.

When we saw them at lunch they all seemed pretty put out with dad - seems it was his idea to ride today and they were all exhausted.  But they were troopers.  Even after we heard a crash behind us and turned around to see that the girl had fallen off the contraption, I really never heard them complain.  And at the last mile, they all breezed past us - guess they were ready to be done.  Apparently the bike with the contraption got a flat tire half way through, and they still all managed to ride back relatively happily :)  Totally impressed with them!

These bridges were one of his favorite parts

(second only to lunch, I believe).

A glimpse of the Missouri River.

The scene from the back porch of the bike rental place.

Did I mention it sells ice cream, too?

Perfect end to the day.

definitely summer

I think it's only in the mid-50s this morning as I write this, so it seems funny to look at these pictures and be writing about summer.  But that's Missouri for you.

popsicles and sprinklers

{the staples of summertime around here}

Early morning strawberry picking with Erin and her girls.

None of my guys wanted to go.

At first I was a little disappointed.

Then I realized how nice it was to have some very rare girl time.

Ushering in summer with pizza and ice cream on the last day of school

I finally have a Magnolia bloom!

I've wanted a magnolia tree forever.

Funny that I had to move to Missouri to get one.

It lost most of its leaves last year, and I feared for its life.

But some TLC has brought it back to life, and it has actually bloomed 3 times!!

{water balloons}

It was extremely hot this day.

This was even around 5 and hot even in the shade (which is where I stayed).

They loved every minute of it.

Maybe I'll play next time too. 

Maybe.

fish

This is pretty much what we (or at least the boys) did all weekend last weekend.  I'm surprised they haven't grown scales yet.  

They couldn't stand it that our pool was open Saturday and we weren't going.  We finally decided to go early evening.  It was perfect.  I found a spot in the shade, and they swam, jumped, flipped, etc. all they wanted.

Then a friend asked us to spend the afternoon at their pool Sunday.  It was awesome.  Had such a great time together - thanks guys!

And then we spent Memorial Day at another friend's house, who also had a pool.  Another great time!  

I'm really surprised that we haven't been hit with the "we want a pool" syndrome :)