FREEDOMFEST

And the winner of the bike decorating contest is "AMBER CLEMENT". Okay, so Mike did a lot of the work, but Amber came up with the idea to mount her horse head on the handlebars (no easy feat I'm sure). Ryan won last year (Mom helped him) so we were thrilled to have Amber win this year (Dad helped this year).

Ryan liked the cool motorcycle Mike turned his bike into, but he REALLY liked Dad's cool motorcycle helmet and gloves. He wore it all day, seriously all day (and night), except when he climbed the rock wall, because they made him take it off (he was going to keep it on).

The fireworks were a big hit too! They love the glow sticks they hand out to everyone almost as much as the fireworks.

Another Room Painted

Mike painted the family room off the kitchen and I LOVE IT! It is a beautiful color - my favorite. Can you tell the difference from before (dark gold) and after? It really lightened it up =)

Kids are soooo different

We were driving home and related to what we were talking about Ryan said "am I going to be bad when I am a teenager?". I said "I pray not". Amber piped up "I'm always good." Talk about night and day.

Mike took the kids to Big Splash

Amber had a sunburn just that evening, then it turned brown.

Ryan's sunburn still hurts and it's been a few days (his back is worse than his front).

Riverwalk

After the Aquarium we spent some time at the Riverwalk. It was hot out and the kids loved the splash fountain.

Amber was having fun stopping the water with her big red flip flop =)





Ryan had fun eating an ice cream cone . . . the rest of us got ice cream in bowls.

It was a great day!!

Employee Picnic - Aquarium

We finally got to go to the Employee Picnic for Mike's work. They had an inside picnic of hotdogs and hamburgers and then we all got to go to the Aquarium. It was a lot of fun. This picure was actually taken as we left, but since it has the Aquarium sign I think it's a great shot =)
Amber wasn't going to be quite as brave as Ryan =)








Okay, I really was there . . . who do you think took all the pictures =)

I have been tagged

There is a blogger thing going around where you are tagged to write 5 unimportant things about yourself, my friend Christy tagged me, so here goes:
1. My middle name is Halcyon and my parents let me know that the Halcyon days in Germany were the quiet and peaceful days. I think they were hoping for something there . . . but it really didn't happen. If you know me at all "quiet and peaceful" not me. Their original plan was to call me by my middle name "Hally" but that never took either.
2. I never like to introduce people, not even people I have known for years and years because I am always afraid I will say the wrong name. My husband knows this well about me so unfortunately he does not know most of my friends names.
3. This kind of goes along with #2, I have a terrible memory. I'm not talking "it's hard for me to remember things", I mean I completely lose/forget many things that have happened to me in life. I have a problem with both short term and long term memory, but I come up with a lot of ways to try to compensate. I take lots of pictures and keep a calendar where I write down something for everyday to help me better remember that time in general. I make a lot of notes and I have all kinds of systems in place at work. I also use my family, I asked Ryan (for the millionth time) "help me remember such and such" and he said "Mom, I can't always remember everything for you". Ouch.
4. I shave my legs dry . . . . with a cheap bic razor too. No water, soap, gel, cream, just shave and done which is sooo easy.
5. I have terrible night vision and should probably not be driving on the roads at night. I had laser surgery over 11 years ago and that is one side effect . . . . but what are ya gonna do.

It's A Dog's Life - or is it

Amber decided to dress Shelby in a beautiful cape. I don't think Shelby liked it nearly as much as Amber thought, but she put up with it well.



Booker and Shelby are always fighting over the best bed - which is Booker's bed! Okay, they don't fight, but if Shelby is there Booker just lays on the floor and pouts. If Booker is there however, Shelby tries to take advantage of any corner she can get until she annoys him and he gives up and leaves. Our dogs are sooo aggressive.

Tree Climbing

Amber likes climbing this tree because it has mistle toad (hee hee).

Amber had a little help up, and doesn't look too comfy.

Ryan is able to get up, and down on his own, and is an expert at scouting through the branches

Can you find Ryan in both these pictures?

Silhouettes

A friend recently took silhouettes of our entire family and we finally got this framed.
I love how it fits perfectly above our fireplace!

Father's Day

We celebrated Father's Day with a home made cake. The kids frosted it all by themselves and then drew pictures and designs on it. The pictures on the left are Ryan's. It is Mike (top left) and a large hermit crab (just below Mike's foot). Amber drew a heart (top center), a balloon (top right) and a flower (lower right). They both did a great job and had a lot of fun. We celebrated by going out to eat on Friday when Mike was off work. But when Mike came home from work on Sunday we had one of his favorite dinners (Taco Salad), cake and presents of course.

Ryan's Airplanes

Ryan is sooooo into airplanes! It is amazing! He really loves them! I thought I would share a few

This is a model in progress, he loves to work on his models whenever he get's the chance. He has his own "model table" now, it is a card table that's in our office/den. It is always covered with his current model, paint, etc.
This is the last model he did. I think the day he finished this he started the one above. There isn't much time in between, he can hardly wait to start the next one. Ryan's detail is amazing! He does almost all of the work by himself, but his Dad helps if he needs it.

He makes airplanes out of anything, all the time. We were at church for a little while and the kids were waiting for me so Ryan built these out of paper. He made them at two different times. The helicopter was a Father's Day gift for Mike.

Mike recently bought some wood and had plenty leftover. Ryan drew up some plans on paper and told Mike he wanted to make an airplane out of the wood. Ryan took his plans, cut them out, then drew them onto the wood and Mike cut them out. It was completely Ryan's design and idea. You can even see propellers.

He is definitely an artist like his Dad and has the love of airplanes like his Dad. It is sooo cool!

When all he has is paper and pencil he draws airplanes, all kinds of airplanes from all angles.

AMBER - I recently picked Amber up from sitter's and we were rushing to take her to her tutor. She said she needed a snack. I said "I'm sorry but I don't have a snack on me and we are running late so we don't have time". She said (in a tone that made it seem like I was completely crazy) "I can't even work without brain food". That's my Amber =) I try to make sure I have brain food for her now when we go to the tutor. (The tutor also mentioned Amber had been asking for a snack . . . . just like her mom - loves to eat =)