Berry Fun......

We recently went to a berry farm to feed Brady's addiction......His eyes were wide, his mouth watered, and he literally ate 4 to every one that he put in his basket. I had to remind him numerous times that we were not in fact at Old Country Buffet and we needed to put them in the basket, wash them and pay for them.....but it was like telling a addict to just go cold turkey...it wasn't happening. The kids thought it was a blast and loved picking the very "reddest" ones, and chucking the rotten ones on the ground. So leaving with over 12 lbs of fruit I guess I only have myself to blame as the saga continues with Brady's intestinal tract when he ate the bulk of it as if he was seeing his last meal......now only if I could find a chocolate candy picking farm for Brooke........

The loot...

Berries for as far as their eyes could see...

Very carefully selected....

This one might just make it into the basket....

low hanging fruit....

Mine all mine....
Ta Da.....Quick take the picture this one is no doubt being eaten....

Hey Daddio.......

A trophy was a mild way to congratulate Chris for the great father that he is..... the kids had fun coming up with the idea and "semi" helped in making it.....somehow painting was sidetracked by some fun squirt gun action......So Daddio....Hope you know how much these kids love and appreciate all you do for them, if not that I am telling you now that they do, because as history proves itself that really won't come out of their mouths until they have children of their own....... Hope you had a great Father's Day!

Brooke planned to take Dad to Craig's cruisers since she recently was exposed to it from a birthday party and kept saying "we have to take Dad there" She was sweet she saved some of her $$ on the activity card that she got from the birthday party to give to Dad.....Little did we know there was only .75 cents left on said card.....haha!

We gave mini golf a go......it was a good idea in theory, until one Brady Munson gets a hole in one on the second hole and then gets furious for the next 16 holes when it doesn't happen again......luck would have it huh?

I am glad we didn't take a score card with us........I don't think Brooklyn scored below a 12 on any hole!

The go-carts proved to be much more fun....after we convinced Brady that it was "the batmobile" At any rate I hope you had a great Day Dad!

Chalk it up......

I got to hand it to Rob Bliss, a local community event coordinator, he really gets people inspired. He created a "Chalk Flood" downtown. Free chalk and an open canvas on any sidewalk or flat surface in sight! We were really impressed at how much time and effort some of these people spent on something so temporary. It was fun to walk around and see every one's creative juices flowing. Really cool event for people to get involved in the downtown atmosphere! Here are some pix of our artistic impressions......

Brady prefers the abstract art.....

Brooke focused on her rainbow flower....

We all knew it was coming......dad working on yep you guessed it...

Presenting Gene Simmons.

it.just.wont.go.away.

These next few are not the Munsons....but quite spectacular when you think they are using sidewalk chalk!

This next montage is just of a stinking cute boy and his cone

I included this video because I think it is hilarious how shy Brady can be, but then sometimes he just surprises you and jumps up on top of this fountain in the middle of downtown in front of globs of people and decides to shake his hips......funny little man!

Memorial Madness

Okay these kids are down right spoiled rotten, but then again so are the parents! The annual memorial day grill out continues to be a crowd favorite among the kids AND grown ups! At this point truly I am not sure who has more fun! Every year the kids can't wait for the bounce house, well little did they know what they had in store for them this year. A full blown obstacle course, a bounce castle with water slide, a homemade slip and slide, and inflatable water slide and enough adult yard games to boot......The weather was a bit stifling, but all more fun for the water games. The egg toss gained popularity this year in its second annual competition. It was such a fun day to spend outside with friends and neighbors and welcome the summer........Here are some pix of the festivities.....

The inflatables were a step over and beyond this year! You should have seen the jaws dropping when they got blown up!

The Neighborhood posse.....

Seriously are they on spring break in South Padre?

The homemade slip and slide was a crowd favorite on this hot day.....some water and tear free shampoo....its a total party......don't think we didn't consider this their bath that night! Here is Brooke going in for a slide into home plate!

Please take notice all the kids lined up for the slip and slide....oh yeah and that one other "big kid"

Brady bugs slip sliding away.......

Seriously could these kids be any luckier....

Lining up for the kid egg toss - the grown up one was not as "gentle"

Brooke and egg mid air.....

Let's just say when the ice cream man stopped by - he was chanting Jack Pot as 15-20 kids go running towards him.....

Now yes, the day is for the kids........but that doesn't mean when they are down for the night that the moms and dad can't pretend to relive their childhood......Yahoooieee!!!

Bring it on Summer!!

By the skin of his teeth......

But he did it! Chris had a goal back in November to run a marathon in under 4 hours. Well things didn’t go according to plan when he ran New York and it left a bad taste in his mouth. Why a timed goal you ask? I mean yes the goal should just be to finish the race, right? But I get it; the goal of finishing one was accomplished back in 2006 and why do another one if you are not willing to do it better or with a different result in mind. That I understand……

So the goal was set.

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare……”

He had a great training and did it with a friend this time, which I think helped. (I am still not sure how he did the entire training for NY by himself but he did.) But some 350 miles later a new Nike I-pod chip, very mild winter weather, some competitive companionship, and he was ready for the race with no injuries!!

The race was up in Traverse City, it is a beautiful course along the bay and they both looked really strong, too strong… as the pit crew was worried they started off too fast a la NYC style.

But they had a set time to reach each mile at and they stuck to it (also very helpful for the pit crew that tried to meet up with them) We were able to get to them 7 times which is pretty remarkable and even run with them! Rob and Chris stuck together most of the race probably up until mile 15 until Rob pulled away a bit, so as we were tracking them down to run the last mile with them to the finish line. I saw Rob, and Nikki quickly jumped in to run him to that finish line…..so I sat there and waited I knew Chris was about 2 minutes behind him but as I continually looked at my stop watch every 3.2 seconds and it was as if hours were passing…..where was he?? I was anxious Annie as I saw his goal fading by the second…..FINALLY I see him.......

….I hop in and run with him and let him know he only has about 9 minutes to play with…..and by let him know I really mean scream at the top of my lungs for him to dig deep and get his *&*^% across that finish line in less than 4 hours……he tells me he has nothing left in the tank…….I continue to scream at him and run very meanly three of four steps ahead of him to try and motivate him to catch me……(as I type this that was just cruel). I would guess that every other participant or spectator probably was ready to report me as an abusive wife, but I didn’t care this husband o’ mine has spent the last year running….and running…..and running…..and running …(catch my drift?) and I wasn’t giving up without a fight. So as we both intently kept staring at the minutes/seconds drifting away when we both saw the end in sight and I finally stopped berating him and let him finish in his own glory/exhaustion/pain……..

3:58!

I was so proud (and relieved) that he worked so hard to reach his goal! Luckily after the race were “stuck” in a Beach Resort town on an 85 degree beautiful day so we were able to celebrate their amazing accomplishments!!

This picture speaks to me because I know at least one of them is thinking......Boston??

If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon. Good work hubbie you shaved almost 27 minutes off your previous time!!