Soaking Up Summer

It is starting to hit me that Paxton is seriously about to start school. Sure it's just half-day pre-K but for the first time in his life, he is going to be done every single morning. These are his last few days of being "a baby" because once school starts, I'm going to have to admit that he's a big kid...a big kid with a (dinosaur) backpack that makes his own friends and does worksheets and plays on a school playground with his class...whoa. 

So anyway, we are hitting it hard with the summer activities for the next few weeks. 

This morning, we got up early and headed downtown for Harkins Summer Movies. The boys love Curious George so I knew it would be a hit. We grabbed a small popcorn to share and headed in. The theater was pretty full and we ended up in the front section but the boys didn't seem to care. Porter sat on my lap and didn't move the entire movie. Paxton are the entire bag of popcorn and his fruit that I smuggled in. Halfway through the movie he announced (at full volume) that he didn't like this movie and he wanted to play my phone instead. 

After the movie, we finally hit up the Myriad Gardens splash pad. We went two years ago and I remember sitting and nursing tiny Porter while Jares chased Paxton around, so it was a little crazy to see them both running around full-speed this time. 

Porter was the kid walking up to the big kids who were hogging the best waterfalls and just scooting himself in next to them so he could enjoy them too. 

After we left, Jared asked us if we wanted to meet him for lunch so he joined us for some Sonic. We asked Paxton what he wanted and he said "a cheeseburger with no meat", we both laughed since that's just a bun and cheese...so I asked him if he wanted a grilled cheese instead. He thought about it for a minute and said "I'll take a grilled cheese with meat". 

Martin Nature Park

With possibly our first free weekend so far this summer, we had plans to find something new to do. We settled on Martin Nature Park after reading lots of recommendations for it. We fueled up with a Johnnie's breakfast and stopped at home for water and Porter's current travel companion-his potty chair. 

Since Paxton had to go to the bathroom as soon as we got there, we stopped at the visitor's center. There were some animals in there that the boys loves looking at. Porter thought the prairie dogs and the turtles were amazing. 

After that, we hiked a little and made it to the creek. We missed the warnings not to swim or wade and the boys had a blast. 

We ran into Jared's friend, Brett, and Porter was so cute with his little girl, Violet. He kept asking her what her name was and if she wanted to swim with him. Her dad told her they weren't allowed to do that...and then as we meet, we passed a park ranger going down to yell at people in the water...so apparently we broke the rules but we had a blast!

Lake Weekend

I'm always nervous that I'm forgetting things when he leave for a trip and Friday was no exception. After Paxton's teeball game, we swung by our house to grab our last few things and hit the road. We stopped to grab dinner and pizza sounded good, so we had pizza night in the car. 

We got to the lake around 11 and the boys were crazy. They ran around and danced and yelled for about 30 minutes before we got them settled down. For some reason, Paxton insists on falling asleep to "the vacuum show" (HSN) so he did that. 

The next morning, we opted for breakfast at the lake house and the boys watched one of Jared's favorite childhood shows...Scooby Doo. 

The boys couldn't wait to get out on the lake so we got ready and got there at an all time early-11:00. 

(Fake sleeping...he thought it was so funny)

Jared had to run back to the van to get something and I used the extra time to take pictures...and ended up with my current favorite of them. 

They had a blast jumping off the lily pad and swimming around and eating their weight in snacks. Porter overdid it and fell asleep in my lap on the way back in. 

After showers and dinner, we realized that we still had two hours until bedtime...apparently that's one of the casualties of hitting the lake so early. We knew we needed a plan so we thought an ice cream sunset cruise would be perfect. We grabbed ice cream at Soda Steve's and took the boat out. Paxton was in his jammies and it was hard for him to grasp that this wasn't a swimming trip.  

It was a fun evening and we were all ready for bed afterwards. We headed home early the next morning. 

Teeball!

Paxton has always been a natural at baseball. He started throwing overhand at six months and has loved hitting off the tee since we first brought it out. Jared has even pitched a ball to him and he can hit it. We have been waiting excitedly until he was big enough to sign up for teeball, and this summer he was big enough for teeball at the Y. We actually signed him up for 4-year-old teeball but apparently those teams were full so he got put on a 3-year-old Blastball team. We were disappointed at first because some of the kids were still two and the rules were basically non-existent, but it probably worked out for the best because Paxton was kind of a disaster at the whole team sport thing. 

He loved hitting and running to first but wasn't a huge fan of waiting for his turn in the dugout and cheering his teammates on. 

It didn't help that his team was pretty disorganized...only four kids showed up to team pictures...and most games only about five kids showed up...

He loved when it was his turn to get the ball but hated when it was someone else's turn. There might have been glove throwing and running off to the outfield but he certainly wasn't the only one...

At the end of the season, he got his first medal! He was so proud. 

I think he ended up having a fun season, even though before some of the games he would ask if we could just let Porter play and he would watch...

The Fourth!

Jared was off work Friday for the 4th of July so we decided to start the holiday early. He ran to Home Depot to get some things to beautify our back yard while I covered the boys with patriotic tattoos that Granny V brought the boys. 

When he came back, we loaded up and headed to Mazzio's. While we ate, Paxton kept talking about the kitty at the lake and how he wanted "a precious baby kitty". We had been talking about rescuing one from the pound, so we decided to go look after lunch. Paxton fell in love with a tiny 5 week old kitten, but after Porter attempted to throw it for the third time, we knew a kitten wasn't a good fit for our family. We found a 2-year-old cat that Jared liked because it was lazy and Porter bonded with him too. 

So now we have a new family member. Jared suggested Sirio and Paxton thought he said Cereal and thought it was perfect, so we went with it. 

That night, Justin and Jessie came over for a cookout and some fireworks. 

The next morning, Jared and Paxton were up early for the 4th of July parade. Porter slept in til 10:15 while I had time to clean the house and make cupcakes for Granny V's birthday. Jared and Paxton came home shortly after Porter woke up and Paxton was so excited to tell us about how he got to ride in the Jeep and walk over the railroad tracks. I don't think he cared about the parade at all. 

Granny V and Madi, Josh and Candy and Baby Brooks, Aunt Jojo and Papaw all came over for lunch. Jared and Josh cooked out burgers and we sang happy birthday to Granny V. After everyone left, we all crashed for a long afternoon nap. When we woke up, it was time for Gramsy and Maesynne and Bevynne to come over. We cooked out steaks and ate and Mallory and Teighynne joined us later. Everyone left to get a spot for the fireworks while Jared and the boys and I set off some more fireworks. The boys were totally obsessed with smoke bombs. 

Paxton liked the sparklers but Porter was nervous. Then Jared set off a black cat and Porter hated it. He was pretty much done with fireworks after that. 

We loaded up in the Jeep and went to UCO for the fireworks. 

We sat on campus this year which meant the noises were extra-loud. Porter made me cover his ears the whole time. About halfway through, I could feel his little head vibrate as he said something after each firework so I leaned in close to hear him. He was quietly saying "boom" after each firework. 

Paxton mostly ran around between everyone and ate candy the whole time. He barely watched any fireworks at all. 

When they were over, we headed home but the boys still had a ton of energy. We let them run around in the backyard for awhile but Paxton still had a lot of trouble getting settled down. Porter crashed immediately holding on tight to his glow stick. 

We have been doing sparklers and pop pops and smoke bombs pretty much every night since the 4th and Paxton doesn't understand why the holiday has to be over. He had a blast and we had a blast watching him! Porter still talks about how he didn't like the fireworks because they were "too youd and said BOOM BOOM" but he has warmed up to pop pops.