First Day of School

It's back again....the first day.  One of the worst days of the year, in my opinion.  Those who follow my blog know how much I would rather my boys stay home with me and have relaxing days just swimming and going on small day trips.  This year is extra hard with the boys going to two different schools for the first time :(.  Justin is in 7th grade (tear) and going to Waynesville Middle School, and Nathan is in 5th grade going to Wood Elementary School.  Scary.  At least I still have Owen with me :)  He doesn't start kindergarten until the fall of 2012. Here is Justin all ready to go:

Here is Nathan (sad to report he wouldn't let me take pics inside his classroom this year--to embarrassing)

And Owen took over the camera on the way home from dropping of Nathan and took about 40 pics but here are a few highlights

Jellystone Park!

We decided to have one more little vacation before the boys head back to school next Thursday, the 12th (so early)! so on Monday, we went to Jellystone Park!  It is a campsite with lots of fun activities to do.  The first 2 days, the boys swam, played mini golf, did crafts, cooked smores, and rode the Yogi Train.  Yogi came to our campsite and said goodnight to the boys and read a poem to Owen.  The next days we went to 6 Flags and the Saint Louis Science Center.  They have a real cool exhibit right now called Real Pirates.  We were not allowed to take photos of the exhibit but you can read more about it here:
http://www.slsc.org/WhatToDo/RealPirates.aspx
We are sure sad to see the summer end :(

Camp Aerospace!

When Justin came in 1st place in his category in the District Science Fair, he won a scholarship to Camp Aerospace!  This is a pre-college camp sponsored by Missouri State University Science and Technology campus.  You can read more about it here:  http://futurestudents.mst.edu/precollege/aerospace.html
It a sleep-over camp:  they spend two nights and three days there!  Nathan just made the age cut off so we sent them together and they were able to share a dorm together!  They worked them from 7:00 am until 10:00 pm everyday, so by the time they got home, they were exhausted!  They had a lot of fun though going through flight simulators and experimenting with liquid nitrogen!
In there dorm:

The boys' camp counselors and getting awards:

In front of their dorm:

Photography by Owen

I think Owen has the potential to be a photographer when he grows up.  It is one of his favorite things to do: take pictures.  His favorite subject is of course Chewie.  Here are just some of his stills:

July 4th

As usual, we always go to the Fort Leonard Wood festivities on July 4th.  I think they put on a great show.  They have lots of bounce houses for the kids, tons of concessions, The Soldier Show puts on a performance, and at the end, the best fireworks in the area while great patriotic music plays on.  This year, they added a "teen tent" where Justin and Nathan spend about 90% of the time in there, so they are in zero photos :).  In the teen tent was a Nintendo Wii station, pool table, and a lot more.  We had a lot of fun :)

A picture Owen took of us:

Action shots of Owen having fun:

Florida Vacation June 16-July 2

We decided to be crazy and drive 19 hours to Florida.  Last time we did that, it was December 2005, and I told Jon as we were driving back, that I would NEVER drive there again...even if the State of Florida was sinking into the Gulf, I would not do it.  We did it again 5 years later...and I have to say...the kids were great!  Even Owen was a trooper.  I was so happy with the travels, that I would definitely drive again :)
We had a great time visiting family, seeing old friends, going to beaches, Disney, Medieval Times, and the Florida Aquarium.  One of  the best gifts to us was my mom and Eddie babysitting the boys just about every night after they went to bed so Jon and I could go out.  We do not have a babysitter here in Missouri and haven't had one in the 5 years we have lived here so it is nice to go out when we are visiting Florida.  Below is the slide show...enjoy!