A Birthday Boy and a Boy Scout

Son #1 turned the big 8 this month on June 10th. He just finished up second grade and is keeping pretty busy for a kid his age. He's been taking piano lessons, accumulating a library in his room (where there's space amongst the broken Legos), driving his mother crazy, driving his brothers crazy, constantly drawing, spending too much time playing App games, reading about dinosaurs, talking about dinosaurs, drawing dinosaurs, and probably having nightmares about dinosaurs, as wells as becoming a Cub Scout and spending time enjoying the summer.  Somehow he managed to pull off two birthdays this year, one with his friends before school ended and then one when we got back from Missouri. Here he is, our eight year old:

You can never have too much cake.  Too much sugar is definitely a thing though...

And for Paul, you can never have too much Taco Bell.

Got a cool telescope... which I've enjoyed probably as much as he has! It has been fun checking out the night sky down here!

I put a little too much air in the last bike's tire and blew it up in my face, and since it was basically about to fall apart anyway, we got him a new bike for his birthday.

A second birthday cake... Jurassic World, go figure.

Completed his Wolf... now it's on to being a Bear!

Miller Summer 2015

We took our somewhat annual trip to Missouri a few weeks ago to spend time with the extended Sellers and Miller families in the burgeoning metropolis of Keytesville. The weather was much better this year, we played a lot of croquet again, took in a baseball game, and celebrated birthdays and graduations. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Stopped by to see Great Grandma Sellers.

And of course, Great Grandma Steele.

Spent plenty of time swinging around in the back yard.

Hung out with the graduate.

And the elderly Sellers...

Had a nice run-in with a deer... again.

Played and watched some T-Ball.

Hung out in the cheap seats.

Celebrated a birthday!

And of course, fed some goats. It's not a trip to Keytesville unless you feed a goat or ride a pig. That's country living. It was a good time had by all, and I'm sure we'll be back.

The Millers in Texas

The Miller Family made it down to visit us last month, and even though their trip down and back didn't go quite as well as hoped, and the weather wasn't always the best while they were here, we had a great time seeing them all! We went around to most of Corpus Christi's tourist sites, hit the beach, did some wind beaten, seagull chasing picnicking, and did our best to enjoy the outdoors in spite of the rain!

Checked out the Texas State Aquarium... even though most of the fish had died in an accident the week before... at least there were otters and other things to see.

"Enjoyed" a nice cool breeze from the top of the aquarium.

Splashed in the cold water of the bay and tried to not get sucked in.

Shot down enemy planes at the USS Lexington museum.

Helped launch fighter jets off the deck of the Blue Ghost.

Went for a walk down North Beach.

Climbed the dunes.

Waited out the rain drops at Port Aransas.

Tried to hide the food from the attack of the seagulls.

Lost Mo to the sand.

Fought off the wind long enough to get the fire started.

Found sea life on the beach at Mustang Island State Park.

Got a little sandy.

Despite it all, we had a few great times! And the great thing is we'll see them all again in a few weeks when we make the annual trip to Missouri!

Five Years Old (Last Month)

Better late than never, I suppose.  I doubt we've ever missed a birthday on the blog, so I figured I'd better post a few pictures, even though Adam's birthday was in April.  He turned the big 5 and he's getting bigger by the day.  We had to sign him up for kindergarten the other day, much to his mother's dismay, but it had to be done eventually.  He's like a fish in swimming lessons and a speed racer on the base paths in T-ball.  Though he often drives his mother and baby brother crazy, we don't know what we'd do without him around here.  So here he was on his 5th birthday last month:

Plants vs. Zombies on the cake... he has quite an obsession with iPad games.

 

And some Mario stuff, of course.

 

So it was a Happy, Happy Birthday for big Adam Michael!