First Job!

I just picked up Kenzie and her good friend Kiera from their sweeper training class - they have badges and are official subs to clean the elementary school as their first after school job!  It probably won't be very often at all at first, but they were just thrilled to discover the training was paid, so it's a great start!

Executech Aquarium Party

 Cameron giving a thumbs up for the green frosting on the cupcakes!  Yesterday we went to the aquarium to celebrate 20 years that Executech has been a company. At first there were a few speeches and both boys were getting super bored.  When we finally got dinner (which was pasta, salad, and breadsticks, so basically the picky boys ate breadsticks!) they were much happier, but mostly for dessert.  (Cameron had two cupcakes, and had green frosting all over his nose!)

 After eating three breadsticks and a large piece of cake, Parker saw he could get his face painted.  This stopped him right in his tracks, as he absolutely loves to have his face painted.  He was thrilled with his shark.

 Kenzie surprised me when she got in line next, but she picked a dolphin with sparkles and was also excited.  

 We were not surprised at all, however, to see Cameron had gotten a Pokeball on his face instead of anything water-related.

Here's a better view of his cheek.  He was very sad to have to wash it off before bed!

 As it was an after hours event, we had the aquarium to ourselves.  The last time we had been to the aquarium had been a noisy Saturday afternoon, so it was amazingly quiet and was easy to spend time at the generally crowded touch pools (anemone is surprisingly sticky, and sea cucumbers are weirdly squishy).  The penguins were all sleeping, and the river otters and most birds were not out, but fish swim around at all hours so we still saw plenty.

 The kids were having a good time!

 We also had the shark tunnel all to ourselves for a while.  The back of the tank faced into the banquet room, so we had spent a lot of time watching the sharks, eel, and turtle go around during dinner, but the tunnel is still far neater.

Kenzie took this picture of us.  Still trying to remember to actually be in a picture from time to time!

 I'd rather take the pictures of these goobers, though.  Parker especially loves sharks so he was having a great time watching them go around.

 Cameron followed this shark all along the length of the tunnel before we could finally head to the next place.

 They insisted I take this picture... so yep.

 We finished up in the South America exhibit, and had to hurry through as the aquarium was closing in just a few minutes.  Parker plunked down on the frog and exclaimed, "I'm riding a toad to victory!"  I have no idea why.  It was funny, though!

We will end with Cameron's goofy pose here, because it sums up how zany he was getting (it was 9:00, so past his bedtime by then!).  They got some little fish and octopus toys on the way out and thought it was a great day, though!

Jog-a-Thon

 Parkee's last Jog-a-Thon!  My big 6th grader ran hard out there, and smiled at me each lap around.  

 All done with 17 laps under his belt!  I told him to show me how he felt, and this is the expression, so take that as you will.  He was tired, but happy.  I handed him a Capri Sun out of my purse, gave him a hug, and off he went...

 ... Next up was 2nd grade, which was handy so I didn't have to come back later.  Cam Buddy was sure cute out there.  Each year I can't help but wonder if it's really necessary for me to walk down to the school just to wave as they run in circles, but the kids expect me to.  I am not that crazy parent who dresses up in workout clothes and runs laps with them.  I stand on the side and give the kids a quiet thumbs up and bring them a fruit snack and a drink at the end, but I think they're okay with that.

 This cracked me up as Cameron went by, giving me a thumbs up back.  The theme this year was "Something about YOU!" and so Parker wore his panda hat and Cameron wore as much Pokemon as he could manage.

All done, proud of his 17 laps (I was glad he'd tied Parker so there wasn't angst later!).  I asked him if he was tired, and Cameron said, "I could have done two more laps!"  That sounds about right for him!

Labor Day

 When asking Cameron this year what birthday cake he'd like, I thought maybe he'd like a Pikachu and I was trying to think of how to adapt my teddy bear pan.  Cameron immediately said, "I want a Pokeball!"  I made the mistake of saying, "Didn't we do that last year?"  Cameron was so disappointed in my lack of Pokemon knowledge.  That was a Nest ball for lower Pokemon, and now this year he wanted the red Pokeball.  Whatever, if he wants a circle, I'm not going to argue!  Far easier!  He brought out a few of his toys to put around it, and we were set.

 Kenzie swimming (Cameron was climbing up onto the floaty thing in the background).  It's been hot enough lately that the lake was still a good temperature, so the kids had a fun day and wore themselves out thoroughly (everyone had a hard time getting up this morning!).

 Parker about to go swimming.  He's almost as tall as Aunt DianaLynn now, which amused everyone (she's a whopping 5'2" with the right shoes, but still). 

 Cameron would dry off for a bit, run around in the sand, and then hop right back in the lake!

 Finally he got out of the water, ran up to me, and asked, "What about the cake?"  So cake time it was!  I had made a marbled cake since he wanted chocolate and vanilla both.  I had bought a bucket of cookies and cream ice cream since that's his current favorite flavor... Cameron ate the frosting off his cake, left the ice cream, and ran back to the lake!  Goofy kid.

Much later he finally got around to opening a few presents along with Tatum.  He was very impressed with this catapult kit from Paige.  Just like that, another summer has flown by and birthday season is officially over at our house for another year!