Fishing with Papa

Ever since Karsten found a bobber during family photos, he and my dad have been talking about how they're going to go fishing.  Chuck went and got a fishing license, so it was just a matter of finding time to go.  The three day weekend for the fourth of the July was perfect.

You'll have to forgive the crazy number of photos in this post, I wasn't fishing, so I was able to take lots of photos.



They were ready to roll - not sure who was more excited, Chuck or the boys. :)

The first line was cast!

The dam at this local park is beautiful!  Quite the background for our afternoon of fishing!

He looks like he knows what he's doing!

Getting some help from Papa to reel in his first catch!

Are there any fish in here?

Discussing strategy about where to cast their lines.

Success!  Check out those smiles!

I love this one!

Can they get another?!

Sure enough!  Karsten was trilled to tie the fish count!

Both so excited!

Fishing is serious business!

A close up of one of our fish friends.

Once they got started, they were on a roll and kept reeling them in!

The camera settings I was playing with for the next few photos were obviously NOT correct!

I just love this one...

They had so much fun and can't wait to go again!

Luigi came with us!

Scott liked showing the boys the fish - must be the science teacher coming out in him!

Summer bugs

Each summer I have grand visions of all of the fun outdoor activities we'll do together as a family. Then, the harsh reality crashes in - nature and I are not BFFs.  Bugs seem to love me and flock every time I am outside.  Scott can mow the lawn and not get a bug bite; however, I'll step outside to take him water and get four mosquito bites.

I'm on several Facebook groups to learn more about essential oils, and as summer approached, there were lots of posts about DIY bug spray using essential oils.  I figured it was worth a try because I wasn't a fan of spending the summer smelling like bug spray, and worry about the chemicals I was spraying on the boys.

We've been using our DIY bug spray for a while now and I'm happy to report...IT WORKS!  The boys and I are not getting bitten. Plus, I feel confident spraying it on the boys knowing it's just water, witch hazel, Citronella oil, Peppermint oil and Purification oil. As an added benefit, it smells good!

There is a downside.  I've been spraying our arms, legs and neck when we go outside and no one has received bites there.  The boys have had bugs fly up their shorts and bite them (ouch!).  The bugs are clearly mocking us to prove they can still find somewhere to bite that we haven't covered in spray.  Now we are wise and spray it alllll over.

I'm loving all of the ways I'm learning to use essential oils to replace chemicals in our home.  If you've ever thought about giving essential oils a try, Young Living is currently offering a 10% discount on the Premium Starter Kit through June 30th.  You can get started here. Let me know if you have questions about essential oils - I'm learning a ton and love to chat about them!

Lunch Date

Scott and the boys came to have lunch with me at work today.  We decided to do something a little different today and Scott brought a picnic lunch and we ate at a local park.  It wasn't too hot outside and as soon as we finished eating, the boys raced off to play on the playground.  

After we took the picture above, this cutie wanted to take a silly face photo.  I wasn't quick enough to catch the silly face - but luckily, his silly face cracked him up!

Karsten showed us his monkey bar skills - he's doing a great job swinging across those bars.  See him on the left side of the photo?

I wanted to go down next to the lake and walk out on the dock, but the boys didn't want to go near the water. So, we compromised on a photo with the lake in the background.

We even spent some time on the swings - fun for the young and young at heart!

Karsten wanted to prove that he could fit into the baby swing, but when he got this far, he realized we were right and he wouldn't fit!

Game Night!

We're continuing the tradition we started earlier this summer of playing board games or cards together in the evenings. It can officially be a tradition after doing it several times, right? 

We've played countless games of Sorry, Race to the Treasure, Jenga, Hoot Owl Hoot, Battleship (Karsten loved it, Liam was not a fan), and tonight we played Candyland.  I'll have to say, after many of the other games, Candyland wasn't near as exciting as I remember it being when I was little.   

I think Candyland will not be in our game rotation as often as some of our other favorites.  It's just one more reminder that the boys are growing up and outgrowing some of the games for super little guys.  Sigh - time needs to slow down.

Night at the K

For our summer event, the company I work for gave us the choice of taking our family to a Royals game or going to Worlds of Fun. We have Royals fever at our house, so the Royals game was an easy choice.

Alcides Escobar is Karsten's favorite Royals player, so when we heard it was Escobar bobblehead night for the first 20k fans, we arrived early so we wouldn't have a disappointed little boy.  Arriving at the park so long before the game began gave us time to go see the Hall of Fame and World Series Trophy!

George Brett was number five, so they built a giant FIVE from the same number of balls that he hit during his time as Royal!  It was very cool to see!

I think Scott and I were more excited to see the World Series Trophy than the boys were!

I told the boys to pretend they were holding up this giant ball - I don't think they really understood what I meant. :)

There was a ton of fun Royals stuff to check out.  We didn't read everything on the walls - if you are a museum person, you would love the Hall of Fame!

We watched the Astros batting practice for a bit, then walked around the stadium on the lower level.  I took this picture while we were cutting through the Diamond Club section - oo bad our seats weren't there!

Liam chose popcorn for his snack at the game and Karsten chose cotton candy.  Liam very carefully doled out the popcorn piece by piece.

The Royals started out strong, but the second inning didn't go so well and they scored 7 runs!  We still had fun!

We were getting a little bored towards the end when the score was 10 to 3 with the Royals losing.  Sunglasses are always entertaining.