Oliver's hair cut...

Okay, so we've been nagging Oliver all summer about taking care of his hair, combing it often and so forth. It's been knotted, wind swept and not looking the best it could look if a little effort was put into taking care of it. At the beginning of one week I told him that I knew how much we've been nagging him and that I would do my best not to say anything for a whole week. That Friday after a shower Oliver couldn't get a comb through it. Jerimy helped him but it was no easy task. Oliver HATES having his hair combing when there's even the smallest tangle in it. That same evening he started telling us "just shave it all off!". Of course, I knew just how long he had been wanting long hair and how long it took him to grow it this long. The last time I saw him with super short hair was maybe preschool or the start of first grade.

So on Saturday and again on Sunday when he continued to tell us he wanted to shave off all his hair we started talking to him. He decided it had to be as short as daddy's hair or bald. I actually tried to talk him out of cutting it quite so short all at once but he would not be dissuaded. So I said yes, if we could donate it since it was 12-15 inches long. As long as he is happy, I’m happy. He agreed and was actually quite happy to be able to give his hair away to someone who needed it. We washed his hair really good then dried it. I had to take a before shot because I really couldn't believe just how long it has grown. 

Then we tied it up into ponytail because that's how they want it when you donate it. Most of the sections of hair were between 10-15 inches long.
 

 After cutting off the pony tails his hair looked like this. 

Then he told me to keep going shorter and shorter till we ended up with this haircut. 

He hasn’t stopped smiling since we cut it. I hope he continues to be happy with his decision in the days to come.

Later in the evening I got the pink hair dye out and somebody just gets happier and happier as the day goes on. We saw him try to pull it into a ponytail once or twice, thinking all the hair was still there. We all laughed together about it. It's a big change but it was his choice and he is happy.
 

We dropped his 3 lbs of hair to donate to Children with Hair loss that offers free hairpieces to kids who have lost their hair. He was happy to see it go to a good place that would help someone.
 

He is super enjoying it not being in his face when he swims!

Simple Pleasures: melted crayons...

The boys got the idea from the neighbors about melting crayons on hot rocks. they had put rock in the oven to warm them up and then placed the crayons over them to watch the wax melt. I of course did not want to heat up the house with the oven on all day, so I grabbed my dad's heat gun. We had those crayons melting in no time.

 

July in review...

It's mid August and I've got July photos to tell you about.

The end of July Oliver took a cooking class at Cooks of Crocus Hill. It was three days for three hours each day. They made a ton of different things and he had a blast. Unfortunately they couldn't take any of the treats home with them, so he and little brother would eat them all up at the end of the class.

Oliver's been baking a little bit more at home since his cooking class which is fun!

All the boys wanted to do since last fall was watch the Black Panther & Doctor Strange movies. But much like Star Wars, Jerimy thought we should watch them all in order. Two months & about 17 movies later we finally watched the movie request that started this ambitious summertime movie marathon. The photo is from the night we watched another Marvel super hero movie.

We got free Battle Creek Waterpark passes from the Libraries summer reading program. We decided to use them one afternoon when it wasn't too hot, and maybe the park wouldn't be too crowded. It was a fun afternoon!

Oliver and I went to Archery in the Park at Afton State park one Saturday. Lucius had a soccer game that Daddy took him too, so it was just Oliver and I. We tried archery for free at their little clinic there. It was quite fun. Oliver thought we'd be running around the woods shooting moving targets because it was called "Archery in the Park". I tried to tell him it probably wasn't going to be that kind of shooting experience. Thankfully he wasn't too terribly disappointed when it was just what it was.

And that's most of July.

Free Carousel rides...

A few weeks ago I took the boys to Como Zoo to ride the Cafesjian Carousel because it was ride for free day there. The boys rode it three or four times, my stomach could only handle one time around cause it goes on & on forever.

After our free rides the boys decided they wanted to walk through the tropics area at the Zoo. It's weird when the tropics room feels cooler than the humid hot air outside. 

Then we went for a ride on the roller coaster to use up the last of our points we had on our Como town ride pass.

Lake people...

The boys and I have decided to become lake people this summer. We've been traveling around town checking out all the local beaches to see which our our favorites. Some are under construction this summer or have high water levels that closed the swimming areas but we've found a lot of fun beaches. 

This is Lake Josephine on several occasions and at all different times of the day:

This is at Lake Phalen where we rented a canoe for the first time. Lucius liked the canoe a LOT better than the paddle board. He paddled it on his knees back to the beach area. He tried to stand up once but slipped off the paddle board.

We shuffled boats from the middle lake without tipping any of the boats over!

This is at Lake Gervais. We've found this is the best beach because there are no life guards to yell at us for launching the paddle board near the beach. Plus its also a bigger swimming area to play in.

This is my beach setup. A shady spot to sit, a comfy chair and an occasion good book to read or craft project to work on while watching them in the water.

Now I'm just saving my pennies so I can buy a paddle board of my own so we can have even more fun on the water!

A day trip adventure...

We Oliver and I got back from Washington, I started looking for a kid paddle board. I happened to find a used one online and contacted the seller. It could be ours for a reasonable price but we had to drive up past Taylors Falls, MN. So the boys and I packed into the car one Friday morning and drove. we bought the paddle board and on the return trip we decided to make a few stops to turn it into an adventure.

First stop we made was at Interstate Park in Taylors Falls to hike around on the rocks a bit. It was rainy so we didn't stay long but we did spot a turtle and a big yellow frog.

Then we stopped at Franconia Sculpture park to walk around. It was fun to see the artwork again but not so fun to be eaten by mosquito's.

A little further down the road we crossed into WI to see the waterfall there. The boys could have spent all day playing in the river and throwing rocks.

Instead we stayed for a while and then drove home to eat lunch. After lunch we drove around the cities trying to find a lake to try out the new paddle board. Lucius is not confident on the paddle board and was not having as great a time on it as Oliver had his first time out. We'll see how it goes the rest of the summer.

I think it was a mighty fine day.