First Day of School 2023

The boys got off to a great start in school this year...7th and 4th grade, hard to believe. And Dave moved up to the high school so that was pretty exciting for him (mostly because the food is better according to him!).

On back to school night I forced the kids to take pictures. Ike was clearly thrilled with this. 

Figuring out the locker with his locker buddy Alec.

After school walk :)

 

So far this year Ike is doing robotics and playing soccer and Dave is doing robotics and playing Super Smash Bros for esports. They both have been going to youth group-Ike on Wednesdays and Dave on Sundays. It has been a busy fall so far but it's great to see them continue on with their interests and try new things!

Quick Evansville Trip

Here's a recap to our trip to Evansville before the boys started back in school this fall. 

We went down for three nights-basically just swam and Tony and Ben's and ate. Dad and Kyra were out of town so we didn't get to see them this time unfortunately!

Gamma got a snow cone attachment. These boys are spoiled rotten. 

Ike and Buster are so adorable. 

So are Ike and grandpa Dave! They were wearing matching hats. 

The weather didn't cooperate great but the kids still had a blast swimming in the rain!

Buster was not pleased with this photo op. 

Swimming with Gamma and Aunt Kathy. 

Family picture :)

 

Rest of July

The rest of July seemed to fly by once we were home from our trip. We had a lot of fun and did put in some long hours painting the deck!

Ike next to his sunflower of the year. 

Josh power washed the deck before we left...I spent the week we got back painting it!

While tending my garden one evening I watched a cicada emerge from its shell. So cool!

Dinner in Logansport to celebrate Grandma Mary's birthday. 

Ike and Zac had camp for four nights. Unfortunately, Ike and Josh got super sick with a stomach bug and Zac had to go up by himself for a couple nights before Ike could join him!

Pre-illness. 

Definition of happy campers once Ike could finally join!

Meanwhile Dave went to hang out with Caleb for a couple nights in Indy and then he hosted a get-together with his friends, Caleb included!

I canned so many pickles! So nice to have the month of July off to accomplish tasks like this.

We were home for the demolition derby this year! 

The boys finally built my new lego succulent display for my office. It's so cute!

Spontaneous ice cream trip, and Grandpa Boo met us there to enjoy.

One afternoon I snagged some fellas to head to Mississinewa Beach with me :)

White's had a carnival type thing for the employees...one of the main attractions was a dunk tank. Josh got volunteered for it and the boys took a couple minutes of his time slot so they could try it.

Grandma and Dave twinning. 

Lots and lots of walks with the boys. I absolutely love that they will still go walking with me.

This sunflower was crazy, kind of like a conjoined twin. 

 

Washington D.C. Part Two

Friday was our day to see the White House! I was so excited our congresswoman was able to secure a tour of the inside. 

Riding the metro over.

Stopped for a quick photo at the FBI building. 

On the tour. The guards were so helpful and answered all the boys' questions! :)

I had previously booked tickets to go up the Washington Monument that ended up being at the same time as our White House tour. The guards at the monument were so helpful and let us go up even though we were late!

We met back up with mom, who didn't want to go up the Washington Monument and instead went back to our airbnb to get our bags (since we couldn't take anything into the White House). We walked around some of the other sites like the World War II Memorial and then got lunch at some food trucks before going to the American History Museum. 

For dinner that night the boys and mom got Mr. Beast Burger (another internet sensation that Dave was super excited about) and the rest of us went out to eat at a great Italian restaurant called Sfoglina. 

We came back to find the kids and mom engrossed in another game of Exploding Minions. 

For our last day in DC, it was a little rainy, so we hopped on the metro to go to a couple of museums. First stop was the Museum of Natural History, which Ike was very excited for!

There's a whole section of the museum dedicated to rocks, minerals, meteors, etc. He was in heaven. 

Dave really liked the section on Egypt, but it was pretty small unfortunately.

We busted out our ponchos to go grab some lunch at Shake Shack before it was time for our Library of Congress viewing. 

The Library of Congress was really cool. Wish we could have gotten the tickets to go in and browse the books, but we were able to go to the children's section at least and get a view from up top!

We capped off the trip with some more games and then went to visit the Watermelon House which was about a block away!

 

Such a fun trip to share with the boys. Definitely glad we waited until they were older to go...we saw lots of young families and that just didn't look like nearly as much fun! Dave's favorite part of the vacation was seeing the White House and Capitol Building. Ike's favorite part was the geode section of the Natural History Museum and white water rafting!