Cows and Pigs and Goats....Oh No!!

I know that there are a lot of people who live in more urban areas who positively hate the idea of living out in the country. Though I really don't consider myself to be in the country since we are less than 5 minutes from stores and restaurants and stuff. I think of it more as "the best of both worlds."

But one of the best things about living outside of a city is the County Fair. The boys look forward to it every year. Where else can you get animals, amusement park rides, live music, demolition derbys, fried dough, and a chance to meet a real live fair queen all in one place??

When we got there the boys went to look for their friends Dominic and Savannah who were showing their goats at the fair. Savannah let Evan help her milk her goat which he thought was really cool! And they got to get in the goat stalls and play with them and help Dominic do his chores. They hate chores at home but at the fair it's fun!

We went recently and naturally I took pictures. No...really...I did! LOL Below are a few that I just had to share with you...

Goat Kisses for Evan!!

Evan thought it was funny when they chewed on his shirt!

Evan helping Savannah milk her goat!!

Dominic, Connor and Natalie on the Tilt-A-Whirl

Natalie, Connor & Evan enjoying some cotton candy at 11 pm!!

Welcome Sparky and Stripey and Flipper and...

Because I don't have enough to do around here we've now added a few more slimy little pets to our family. This past weekend was our church carnival and naturally the boys favorite game was the one where you could win a goldfish. I didn't realize how much they liked the game until the end of the day when we went to leave and I went to get their "prizes" off of my desk in the office and there were about 15 goldfish in bags!! Aye yi yi! So home we went and found the tank Evan used to have in his room and now they are living on the kitchen counter. So far only 2 have died. And please don't email me to tell me that 13 goldfish in a 5 gallon tank is cruel. Cruel would have been if they'd ended up as food for a turtle or bigger fish or some other pet that requires "live food." I'd say these fish are darn lucky!!

More pool fun with friends

We spend a lot of time in the pool in the summer so this won't be the last blog entry of the boys in the pool. They love having friends over to play in the pool with them so sometimes their friends Beth and Andrea come over after soccer and cool off with them. They are really nice girls and the boys really like them. And who knows, maybe one day one of them will be my daughter-in-law! :) (Waves to Brenda!)

Cub Scout Family Camp

For the first time this year we went to Cub Scout family camp. It was a weekend in late June and 5 or 6 families were there. We love camping so it was fun! The boys enjoyed camping with kids they knew and there were lots of fun things to do there. The boys and daddy spent some time swimming in the pond, we sat out by the fire at night and made smores, did a little fishing, and just relaxed. We're planning at least one more camping trip this summer. We're thinking about possibly buying a camper next year but for now we're tent people!

Marineland

One of the boys favorite places ever is Marineland. This year we splurged and got season passes. We went there in June and it was only an extra $5 to upgrade to a season pass so how could be not do it? We always have such a good time there and it's only an hour drive. Nana went with us and upgraded to a season pass too so I'm sure after she retires in August we'll be making a roadtrip to Marineland! Here are a few of the 300 pics I took this time!!

Evan's Kindergarten Graduation

Well, he did it!! Evan is officially a kindergarten graduate! They had their ceremony on Friday and he was soooo thrilled to walk out that door after graduation knowing he had the whole summer off from school!

I can't believe this year is already done. It flew by! Evan did well and is looking forward to 1st grade next year. He did especially well in reading, he reads WAY above his grade level and received an award at graduation for his reading ability. He is still working on settling down and learning to focus on his work but we expect that will come with time. Overall he had a great year--he learned a lot, loved his teacher, and made a lot of new friends!

Enjoy some of the pics I took at graduation. The first is his "official" graduation portrait! (We didn't have these when *I* graduated from kindergarten!!)

The Graduation Portrait

All of the kindergarteners

Receiving his award for reading

With his proud Grandmas!

With the school principal

Evan and Mommy

Spring Pic

Just wanted to share the boys spring pic they had taken together. This was taken at school recently. They do spring portraits at their school as well as the fall ones and I couldn't resist asking the photographer to take a picture of them together!

Cuteness alert!!

Bounce House Fun!!

Evan and N'yonna

Cameron, Connor and Ryan

Evan enjoying himself!

Today we (the school PTO) rented a bounce house for all of the kids as a reward for doing so well on their fall fundraiser. The kids had a blast with it and it was fun to watch them enjoying themselves. The only bad part was that about an hour and a half it before it was to end it started pouring rain and I was stuck outside watching the bounce house as we still had kids yet to go in. I'm still drying out! LOL

Today the letter D was brought to you by....EVAN!!

Today the kindergarteners had their annual Alphabet Parade. The kids each get to pick their own letter and then create a costume to go with it. Evan picked the letter "D". I think he picked it because he wanted to be a dog but we found Connor's old dinosaur Halloween costume in the attic so we used that and he just carried a stuffed dog. And a friend suggested "Dunkin Donuts" which we though was a genius idea (Hi Brenda!!) so we had to incorporate that into his costume!

So, here are some pics of my little "D" boy...

Pool's Open!!

The boys have been waiting since last October for the chance to open up our pool again. Finally this past week they have gotten their wish. And now they will be shriveled up little prune-like things until fall! There is almost nothing they like as much as swimming. And mom and dad quite enjoy it too! A few years ago we weren't sure if we'd ever put in a pool but now that we've had it for 3 years we can't imagine spending a summer without it. We even splurged for a pool heater this year so we can lengthen the pool season. A pool in NY is such a terrible investment, we might as well get as much use out of it as we can.

So, here are the first pool pics of the season.....there will undoubtedly be LOTS more to follow over the next 3 months!

Evan & Connor

Connor

Evan jumping in!

Riley & Evan

My New Pool Boy, Ayden! Connor and the shark

Evan & Jacob