"Up! Up! and Away we go - into the great beyond?"

VBS (Vacation Bible School) began this week. Buck and Thunder are both attending and H-P is in babysitting on site while I wrangle 36 kids around. The VBS here is huge - 250ish campers, 150 teen volunteers and 90 adult volunteers. It's really something. I do have pictures of this tomorrow, but I wanted to update our "other" events a bit. 

The pool is now finished and filled. Welcome summer! These first pictures are in the hot tub. The pool was still being filled and my boys just jumped in. 

My youngest brother, SERVITE! was the first adult in (of course :) 

The pool wasn't filled yet last week. It's been filled and we've been swimming for a week since this pic! 

H-P cried until I dropped him in fully clothed. He LOVES the pool! 

The finished rock slide. 

 In other Grady news, Thunder is still wearing that helmet, H-P is almost walking (and still smiling)

RKZ wrapped Buck up like a mummy (no Tebow's dead career jokes, please). Buck loved it. 

VBS pics tomorrow. Right now, we have to go swimming!!

"Do do do do do do - The start of something new"

I love the summer. We have an AWESOME science center/discovery center about 10 minutes from our house. The boys and I went yesterday. It is totally worth fighting the day care/day camp crowd!

 My little turtles crawled into their "safe crossing" tunnel. Teenaged Mutant Ninjas, of course. 

 So, while there are a lot of 'science' themed exhibits, the science of sports was - by far- Thunder's favorite. Here, he was able to 'pitch' and see how fast he could throw.

 H-P was stuck in the stroller a lot of the time. Bummer to be 1 and the youngest of 3 (but what can you do?)

 Buck's favorite exhibit is a FULL-SIZED grocery store where each child has his or her own cart and scanner! It's a bit of a game because the monitor gives clues and you have to go find the items to scan. It's a bit of the 'church of environmentalism' (very eco-focused regarding packaging) but also super focused on healthy eating, which is nice.

 Thunder pushed his heavy cart and also loved it (but he just randomly scanned items)

 Buck scanning cup-cakes :)

 science centers are way more fun when kids can read things themselves (just FYI).

 The grocery store was lost for Thunder once he spotted a replica Stanley Cup (from Ducks' win a few years ago). Then, we were off to play A LOT of hockey.

 Exhibit where you shoot against a goalie on the screen.

 "I'm free for 3 seconds while the big boys play hockey!!"

 Buck and Thunder as goalies. The soft pucks actually shoot out of the wall!!

'SAVE'!!!

"Diamonds make babies."

I am still the least professional blogger that there is. Skipping entire weeks and major holidays - it's appalling :) I would apologize if I wasn't just so happy to be getting something up here today. 

Last weekend was Father's Day. We had a "Father's Day weekend" and it was really wonderful. Here is what we did: 

 Silly Buck (couldn't resist).
There was a big "Irish Faire" (their spelling) at a park on a Lake near to our house. It was hot and simple and the bands were awesome. I kept thinking, "This is really wonderful and silly." The fact that RKZ and I both love events like this constantly confirm that we married the right person.

 One of the things kids could do (120 lb weight limit!) was be zipped into these giant, plastic balloons and they could float around on the lake. Our boys loved it. They tried to run inside the bubble, but that took a lot of effort :)

 Thunder being zipped in.

 I thought they'd be a bit freaked, but they both just loved the blast of air into the bubble.

 A random girl, Buck and Thunder (our boys in the plastic bubbles)

 If I were a better photog, this could have been a great photo op for our house!

 H-P just hung out in a backpack most of the day. I struggled with getting him to wear a hat with that lily white skin and red hair!! People commented on our Irish-ness all day because of H-P!

 Once released, our boys do what they do best - wrestle. We ate a picnic dinner, drank beers (only parents) and they boys wrestled while we listened to some awesome Irish music.

 The next day (actual Father's Day), we set a new family record and actually made it through an ENTIRE BASEBALL GAME. Big day for the RKZ clan!

 Nominal mommy allowing heat stroke in my youngest (he won't wear a hat - no hate mail).

 Gilligan the baseball fan :)

 The BEST thing about Angels' games is the family fun zone in the outfield. The boys got tattoos and could sit in the shade for a lot of the game. There were games and snacks and crafts for bored boys.

 and beers for bored dads.

 SHADE!

 We moved to the good seats for the last few innings. Thunder's checking out his tattoo in this one.

 On Sundays, they let kids "run the bases." The next few pics are from the field. We were very excited.

 Not the best shot of me, but proof that we were there! Go Angels! Go Dad! Love you hopelessly.