Ten On Tuesday

1. It had been too long since my last spice shop visit, so Friday the boys and I headed down to load up on all our favorites. The boys were excited to see Uncle Able and there was the surprise bonus of seeing Aunt Kari too. Uncle Able quickly put the boys to work organizing and cleaning and they loved every minute of it. "But Mamma I really want to mop," was the whines I heard as we left.

2. I worked on Saturday while the boys had a man day. They went to Grandma's to help fix a few things then came back to OKC for the snake festival, to celebrate world snake day, on Saturday evening. From what I hear they saw multiple boa constrictors, who were not in cages, and lots of venomous snakes who were safely locked up. Zane got to hear a real rattle snake rattle, which I think was his highlight. They also made neck tie snakes and both finally got up the courage to touch a few snakes before they left. I'm sad I missed it, but sounds like they had a blast.

3. On Sunday Zach was back at work and the boys and I headed up to Grandma's for more summer fun. In the morning the cousins were still there so they played in the tree house, which is much more fun when all the cousins are all there. In the afternoon we headed to torn for some cooler fun at Leonardos. We were greated by the ball python who was out of his cage, Rowan had zero fear of this large snake, while Zane had a healthy fear that it might eat him. Both said hi and gave him pats before it headed back to it's cage.

Zane was much happier when he was back in his cage.

Serious faces in the king chair with their new snakes!

4. After dinner we braved the blazing heat to go ride the rides at Meadowlake Park. They are only open on the weekends in the summer so we had to jump on the chance to ride them while we were in town. First up the train! This was the only ride that was there when I was a child and is still as fun as I remember.

Next up the carousel, this was added last year and is the longest carousel ride I've ever been on. Great summer fun. Zane choose the horse with a K on it, for Korenak of course. Rowan choose one of the little OSU horses, channeling his namesake no doubt.

Lastly, Zane and I braved the new farris wheel. The farris wheel was this years addition and it just the right size for kiddos. Zane was slightly nervous going in, but decided this would be his training for roller coasters with Uncle Able. He did great and loved all of it. So much fun!

Hands up!!!

5. Monday we had more farm adventures, starting with my early morning run/nature hunt. Zane had instructed me to "look out for nature" and take pictures of any snakes I might see. I didn't see any snakes but did see lots of nature, including this guy who was eating a stink bug! Nature find of the day!!!

I also saw tons of different footprints which I took pictures of and Zane identified when I got home. I might not have gotten much running done. Can you tell I was running on a road that doesn't see much traffic???

6. While Grandma was in PT we tried to play at a park but nearly died of a heat stroke. Why is there never shade in parks?? And why does the Oklahoma wind never blow when you need it too? Zane climbed up to the top of the playground equipment to find his shade.

At five Zane has mastered the monkey bars.

7. Apparently there were five big earthquakes up by mom's house on Monday but we didn't feel any of them because we were outside exploring. Our nature hunt for the day was for locus skins and this particular tree, and the ground around it, were filled with them. We also found a few locus who had not survived, great nature lessons all around.

Look at all our treasure.

8. After much debate and concern about my beloved Atticus possibly being a huge racist, I went ahead and started Go Set A Watchman, Harper Lee's new book. Mom read it in a day, or something silly like that, and assured me that it is wonderful. I am halfway through and so far I have to agree. I so hate that Harper Lee didn't write anymore books because she is an amazing writer and her books are an absolute joy to read. Scout remains hysterical and it's been wonderful to revisit Maycomb. I'll let you know my final review soon.

 

9. We registered Zane for fall ball today. He claims he is very excited and can't wait to play baseball again. He seemed to enjoy it last time, hopefully it is a success. I am unclear of whether he will be on the same team, possibly we could practice this time?? Just a thought.

 The coolest baseball player around!

10. Zach is deep in trying to finish a big project at work which will be followed by a whirl wind trip to the West coast all of next week. Turns out I am not that great of a parent when I am doing it by myself. This evening at dinner time everything crumbled into a mess ending with all of us in tears. We all agreed to pull it together and went for an evening bike ride in the very humid, but somewhat cooler weather. Then the boys had a long glow stick bath. God bless all the single parents out there. I could not do it and am praying that my partner in parenting will be freed up from work sometime in the near future. We miss you Daddy!!!

All things considered these two have really done great and have been wonderful helpers. Sadly their mommy just is lacking patience currently!

P.S. I swam with a Gold Medal Olympic swimmer at the Y this morning, Josh Davis, so I am pretty sure that makes me an Olympic swimmer!!!