Future plans.

Anna told me the other day... "Mom, I wanna get a big camera like your's, a black one...and I wanna be what you are when I grow up... What is that thing you are again??"

She took this *lovely* picture of me... Good shot, bad and wacky subject.  We don't need it to be blown up any more than this.

Grandpa's Lake(house)

 Yep.  Grey is asleep sitting up in the boat...

The lake has a cool sandbar where we tie up the boat and swim around.  It has become the local hotspot. :)

Papaw's new barn!

Papaw has been working on this for years...  Not the barn itself, just the idea of having one.  It finally came to reality this summer and is still a work in progress, but it's just about complete.  He has the the largest garage doors on the planet being installed in those big holes on each end.  The kids love to go ride their scooters, bikes, and trikes out on the huge concrete pad...and really anything that has wheels is being pulled or ridden out there.  Anna liked the magnetic "pick it up" tool Papaw showed her and she picked up every metal object in the entire thing...probably a few times.

Magnetic thing below.

Things are further along now... but you get the gist. 

This one below is going to be awesome in about 20 years....Grey on that tiny tractor...

A little while later, Anna found a toad.  She still loves all creepy, crawly things.  Spiders, beetles, snakes, frogs, turtles...  

And here is a lesson from Papaw on how to show "the look"...

Daddy's new workout

We got one of these things this summer at a garage sale.  I have always thought they were so cool and thought the kids would too, and at $60, I thought it was even more awesome!  I probably could have gotten it for cheaper, but the garage sale was for a charity.  ;)  We brought it home and hooked it up to one of Daddy's bikes and he took them for a ride.  Daddy said it was definitely a workout (although could easily handle it) and acted like it wouldn't be a "regular" outing for them.  I'm very sure these "has been" athlete's legs of mine wouldn't be able to handle two kids, a bike trailer, and pedal my own weight around the block....  And wait, I don't even have a bike!  HA!  It's great to have the kid trailer anyway.  Even though it hasn't seen much light.  :)

Two fish, one with real fins.

Anna and Grey have had an awesome summer.  Anna officially learned how to swim on her own, with no floaties.  She doesn't have to have anyone follow her around at the pool, she can dive off the diving board in the deep end and swim to the side by herself, and even likes to try different tricks off the board. She goes off the high and low diving board and may have gills hidden behind her ears somewhere.  Our good friends were moving and had gotten their daughter swim lessons that happened to overlap with their "departure time" so they graciously gave them to Anna.  These lessons were seriously awesome!  She was put in the wrong class (sort of by mistake, long story) and we think she was actually in with some other 3 year olds.  Henry, her instructor, made sure she learned at her own pace and she was swimming by herself within two lessons.  He was really great!  I think her willingness to learn and "dive in" and try everything Henry asked them to do helped the other little girls too.  She's such a big girl.  This is Anna patiently waiting for swim lessons to start.

Her favorite goggles...  Her eyes look crossed, but I think one side is just fogged up.  ;)  That swimsuit is one of her favorites because it has a skirt on bottom.  It is a hand-me-down from Jenni's girls...so it's seen a few pools.  :)

Hilarious.

Henry doin' his thang.

Surfer/Swim Instructor Henry (He loved Anna!)

This is what Grey was doing while Anna swam.  Notice what happens to his fingers when he drinks red gatorade then sucks on them...nice.

Jumping in and swimming to Henry... Henry usually walked backwards in the pool so she would have to swim longer.  :)

And here's Grey being the daredevil.  He's on the high dive.  We forgot his blue floatie so he had to wear the pink one... of course it was the day that I remembered my camera.  Sorry dude.  This was taken before Anna could really swim without floaties... She's in the pool cheering Grey on.

We went "Reagan's pool" one weekend... They had a blast there.   Even though Grey doesn't usually swim (for real) under the water, he needed some goggles like his sister.  Pretty funny.

Anyone see any gills on this girl?  They MUST be there.  

That hair...

Grey's hair has been the source of "conversation" on many occasions.  This time he's just getting it cut.  His first haircut was well before he was a year old and I do like to let it grow out... a lot... before I ask Nana to step in.  So before we get any more "old folks" calling him a girl even when he wears t-shirts with trucks and looks like he's been rolling in the mud most of the time, we needed to tackle the the red curls...once again.