July Escape

Nick has a pharmacy rotation in July that took him far away for long hours, so I invited myself over to my mom and dad’s house for a few weeks.  Nick drove up with us overnight and stayed a few days.  He drove home with his babies of a different sort – his drum set.  So while we played, he rocked out on his drums in an empty house.  happysad.

But here we are at Grandma and Grandpa’s:

Ahhh.  Good decision, Nicole.

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When we go to Indiana we have to go to what the boys call ‘Uncle Bill’s Zoo.’ However, I’ve noticed that the kids only sort of  looked at the animals.

As you can see in these pictures, the kids weren’t really looking at the animals.  I mean, hello!  Cheetah!  -- right in your face…   Nope, nothing.

This was my best attempt at getting the whole cousin crew in one picture:

This is why you hire professionals -- and I’m sure even they use photoshop to get it right.

Oh, and here’s a seal.  But no, not looking at that.  Notice how Brookston is looking at the perfectly average kid beside him.

Polar Bear?  Not looking at that either.

Then we had lunch with some Ninjas. (Nick was still here for this part)

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Rosalyn spends most of her time at her Grandparent’s house doing this puzzle over and over and over –sometimes with underwear on her head.

We went to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum and, though I live in out of state, we bought a membership.  I did not get good pictures on this trip.

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This was the first time my kids ever flew a kite.  We flew kites quite a bit during this trip.  Sometimes in  underwear.

Roz ‘watered’ Grandma’s plants (by which I mean she did nothing of the sort).

While the boys brewed up some Mushroom soup.

Mmm.  Tasty.

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The fourth of July brought the return of the traditional bottle rockets with Grandpa and his air compressor.

I love how you can see Everett getting sprayed in the head right here.

Dad gets a little wet too.  Just a little wet.

We went to the local firework display and ate ice cones while we waited.

And the boys insisted upon taking pictures of the fireworks all by themselves.  They were extremely pleased with the results:.

On July 5th we celebrated Grandma’s birthday. The boys ate popsicles on a rock,

and took a nap,

while grandma and I replaced bricks in her garden.  Fun birthday times.

The boys wore buckets on their heads,

And Roz wore sopping wet underwear on her head.  Again, good birthday times.  It might have to become a birthday tradition.  Eh, Roz?

The kids associate my parents house with long race tracks now, and I happily obliged again this visit.

You can see tinker-toy starting line, block city, tiger canyon, lego tunnel, spool forest and chubby baby finish line.

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I was excited to take the kids to my alma-mater to play in the fountains. 

I’ll admit that it was wee bit surreal to have my own kids playing in a fountain that I walked past everyday back when I was falling in love with their father.

We all enjoyed it so much that it made me wish that UNC had splendid fountains as well.  It also made me wish that I lived next to this cool cat who very spontaneously met me there to play.

We decided to take a walk to the Armstrong Building, yes – of the Neil Armstrong walking on the moon variety – all hail to old Purdue – and on the way it turned into a downpour.Those are my boys, checking any map they pass.

I think I need to start any play dates that I have with people with a warning that they will leave sopping wet.  Am I right, Kristine?  Kim?  Yes, I am.

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Well, it was a great trip, and here we are all strapped in for the ride back home to see dad again.

Next stop, the Empey Family Reunion of scallywags.