She took the words right out of my mouth...

Too tired and lazy to post. Tricia has already done all of the work (yay!). See here for our activities this weekend: http://gatorsfamily.blogspot.com/

Thanks for coming down Trish, Jon, Ella, Jack and Gator. We had a great time and we love you very much!

Brotherly Love

I pass by the room where Jake and Zane are playing on their laptop. Zane is lying despondently on the ground as Jake plays. I ask Jake to please make sure that Z gets a chance to play too. They need to take turns.

From the next room I overhear this:

"Zane, you'll get a turn......

someday.

When you turn six."





**Edit: I added one of Ken's triathalon pics to the post below.

Cue Handel's Chorus...

He finally said mama!

...about dang time...


Today it was beautiful and cool here. We played outside for most of the day and drew a labyrinth on the driveway. The boys had a great time running around in it, then Jake decided that we should make it look like our solar system, because the star in the middle was like the sun (and, coincidentally, it had 8 rings around it!). He drew - and knew - all of the planets himself! Don't worry - poor, sad, disenfranchised Pluto was added along with its moon. Jake even knew about the offset orbit and drew it in. I was impressed! Later we added a launch pad with a countdown and rocketship to help the boys blast off. It felt like a successful summer day: we exercised our bodies and minds all while having fun!

Chattanooga Aquarium

On Sunday we all went up to the Tennessee Aquarium one last time before our membership expired.


The boys really love looking at all of the animals. This time they particularly loved the tuna, the touch-tank of sturgeon,
and the butterflies.


Drew's delicious little self lured some big sharks over. And once again the giant, nightmare-inducing crabs (they can grow up to 14 feet across, people!!!) tried to taste my boys.

Baby Steps

Drew is really starting to feel more confident walking. He's choosing to do so much more frequently these past few days. With two older brothers there is a lot of action required to ensure that he doesn't miss out on anything!

Speaking of first steps: Ken competed in his first triathalon this morning! He really enjoyed it and is already trying to figure out when he can do it again. We're all very proud of him!

Cub Scout Camp

Last week was Jake's first venture into the world of Cub Scouting. He spent all week at their day camp - and both Ken and Zane joined him. Each day they rotated through several activities and saw a performer. One of Jake's first stations was the "Rain Gutter Regatta" for which the boys build a tiny sailboat out of styrofoam plates, paper, and drinking straws. The idea is that they blow them down the gutter in head-to-head races. Jake shows early promise of being a nautical genius. He cut his boat so that the prow rises up out of the water (by using the lip of the plate). All of the other little boats took on water because the fronts tipped down as they were being blown. Jake's just cruised on past. Yay Jake!

The boys also made stepping stones, put on a skit, made puppets, dissected owl pellets to find all kinds of cool bones, and made leather bracelets. At the rock wall Zane made it all the way to the top and pushed the buzzer (with Daddy close behind)!

There was also archery and bb guns (eeeeek!) but both boys did a great job listening and were very careful. Jake impressed everybody by reading the instructions sign all by himself. Zane managed to hit the bb target three times out of five on his own!

They had a great week and really enjoyed being able to spend the time with their Daddy. We're really looking forward to many fun years spent scouting. See you later!

Go Fins!

This summer Jake is on the Falcon Woods Fins swim team. He has daily practices and has competed in two meets already.

Jake won first place in backstroke in his first meet! He's done a terrific job in all of his other races too. He's got two more meets to go and is having a great time swimming.