Victory! at Funky's

We should have played the lottery yesterday because the boys were so lucky!

First, Billy hit the Jackpot and won tons of tickets in a video game....then JJ and Pie won the dice game.....which meant a bag of popcorn AND a slurpie!

Oh yeah, and we got to do one of our favorite things EVER...Skate!

The Quarry!!!

From Billy: Last night we went to my friend A's quarry again for his birthday. I kayaked for the first time. I went (.3 miles) around the quarry, once with A and once with M. On the way, I chipped my tooth on the paddle. We also jumped off the cliffs into the water and had a cookout. We did not ride the 3 wheeler this time because we kayaked so much. Next time I want to do both! We love the quarry.

From JJ: I went to the quarry. It was a lot of fun. I love the quarry. I got in the kayak with Billy and mom. I also jumped off the cliffs....and even swam sometimes without my life jacket. The B's are so lucky they own the quarry. But we are lucky we get to go there so much!

A Pooh Story....by JJ

Pooh was i the 100 Acre Woods one day. He saw Piglet. He gave him a basket of flowers. They went to visit Eeyore and gave him a basket full of flowers too. At Kanga and Roo's house, Pooh gave Kanga some needles and Yarn for knitting and Roo a basket full of balls. Then they went to visit Christopher Robin. They gave him a fishing rod, a fishing hat and a bucket full of worms. Pooh is a nice friend. If you knew him, he would be your best friend and always love him.

THE END

Harry Potter Camp

We are in Harry Potter Camp this week. We do everything Harry Potter - we even have to go to different classes (like potions and astronomy). I got sorted into the house of Veithenclaw. So did JJ. That's not from the book or the movies, but it is in Hogwarts of America. We make wands and potions...and we even can get house points and detentions. On free period, we make even more wands. I bring them home to have wand fights with the neighborhood. Harry Potter Camp is great!

Field Trip #5 - Putt Putt

Okay, so it is not that educational for a field trip. But Billy and JJ have the Hogwarts Express camp this week where they should stretch their brain. And, we have a new indoor, glow in the dark putt-putt place in town that we had to check out. Our friends K&L met us there and the boys 'putted' around. It was lots of fun, and a do-again for sure!

Billy: I liked it better than our outdoor place. It it harder and more fun, and you can get all kinds of penalties on different holes.

JJ: I liked it. Next time I am going to get the bulls eye and win a free game. I liked walking through the rocks all around. Some of the holes were really funny. I liked the roller coaster one. It was cool. I did good on that hole.

It finally happened!

We got a family ipad! Between $$ for Mickey's birthday....and the money the boys have saved, it is now in our hands. And thanks to Pop for suggesting we get it before Mickey's party since Billy has had to be inside all week due to his allergic reaction. For sure it has kept him busy!

From JJ: We got an ipad! We don't have wireless so some of our apps don't work too well. But we will get wireless soon. I like to play Angry Birds the best. I also have an app with a crayon that I like to make pictures with. Ipads are so cool. I am glad we have one.

From Billy: We got an ipad! We do not have wi-fi yet, but we are going to get it in a few weeks. We have all kinds of games we have downloaded from the app store like angry birds, rio, fruit ninja, bubbles, math ninja and Harry Potter Spells. When we have wi-fi, we can connect to the internet and check the weather or e-mail, but for now, we have to go somewhere like Chick-Fil-A or Barnes and Noble because they have it in their stores. Some places, like the park does not have wi-fi. You can buy lots of apps for your ipad, and some of the apps are free. Free ones are the same, but are not full games. But alot of the game to test out if you like them or not. I cant wait until we get wifi because we will be able to use the ipad the whole time. I love the ipad, it is so much fun. I am so glad we got one, it was such a surprise we got one so early.

BBC - Captain Nobody!

The boys all dressed up in handmade costumes and their own created superheros.
Billy created Storm who has all kinds of weather abilities to ward off evil, although he as admitted he is sometimes drawn to the dark side.....

JJ created 'Captain Gwynnie the Pooh'. He can shoot honey out his eyes, ears and other unmentionable places...he can also bounce like Tigger....AND he can unattach his tail (like Eeyore???) to fight!

For the rest of the group, there was Invisible Guy (can you find him in the picture?), Jedi Dude, Lightning, Captain Technology, Harry Potter, Laser boy and Razor boy. All together, a very creative group.

We also discussed our upcoming Lemonade Stand....we may have some exciting news to share soon about some even more BBC fame!

Remenber When....

Henry did not have an abscess in his neck that broke open requiring medical attention; and Billy did not have a mysterious allergic reaction that is now covering his face, neck, arms, side and in between his fingers?

But tomorrow is another day....Henry's wound has been fleshed out and Billy is currently on steroids that he must take for 14 days. Let's all hope they both heal fast and can get back to what they both have not been able to do all week - get outside and play (well in Henry's case....take a nap, but he would rather do that outside than in!)

Biking.

From Billy: I love riding my bike. I have a trix bike and I do a lot of trix with my friends. I also skid alot, and after you skid, there is a lot of dust around you so you cannot see very much. I also ride off road on the half pipe across the street from our house. You go around the cul-de-sac and up the half pipe so it is off road and on road. Me and my friends also do jumps.

From JJ: I can now ride my bike without training wheels. I like to bike because you can bike before you can even drive. Biking is now my favorite sport. It is my thing!

Happy Birthday Mickey!

Mickey turns 37 today and we celebrated with a most delicious treat...Cat Litter Cake, in honor of Mickey's favorite 4 legged friends....Henry and Max!

Dutch won the grand prize by getting the authentic kitty droppings...just kidding, they are all just tootsie rolls:)

And Mickey will continue to celebrate at the Dentist where he gets a permanent cap put on his tooth. How lucky can a guy get?

Mom Mom's Rock

We crossed another hike off our to do list...Mary's Rock. Legend has it the huge rock outcropping got its name years ago when a girl named Mary climbed to the top and came back carrying a bear cub. We like that story, but also think maybe it is just named after Mom Mom.
And, as he often does....Clyde the hiking Walrus joined us for the hike! We were glad for his company.

The East Court Biker Gang!

A new obsession is sweeping our neighborhood - bike riding and there is always a gang out riding together. JJ has even taught himself how to ride without training wheels - in just 2 days. Good exercise and time with friends...what could be better?

'Gwynnie the Pooh'

Not to be outdone in the 'first to see a movie category', Minnie returned to the theater (and coincidentally in the same seat as the night before for HP-7!) to take JJ to the first showing of Winnie the Pooh in H-burg.



From JJ: I went to the new Winnie the Pooh movie. I was the first in H-burg to see it!My friend benb came too and my friends C&B met us too. I think they all like Winnie the Pooh a lot now because I do. My Eeyore went in the theater with us to see the movie. Everyone liked it a lot and I want to buy it when it comes out so I can watch it every day. I am glad they finally found Eeyore's tail.

Midnight Madness

From Billy:

Last night, Mom and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter. It is the last Harry Potter movie ever. We all met up at the bookstore to get some caffeine. Then at about 10:00, we went to the movie theater to get in line. We already had our tickets from online, but there were like 14 theaters showing the movie and the crowd was huge. While the moms waited in line, we went behind the parking lot into a big field and had a huge wand fight. About 11:00, we got in and took our seats. While we were waiting for the movie to start, one guy started yelling, 'Harry' and the rest of the crowd said 'Potter'. It was funny, then he did a lot of the other characters too. Soon after that, the movie started. I ended up falling asleep during part of the movie...but my friends woke me up for the end part. It ended around 2:00PM. I will have to see it again at a normal time to catch the whole movie, but I liked it and I love Harry Potter. We had a lot of fun and we were the first group of people in H-Burg to see the last Harry Potter ever which is so cool!

Last Dual Meet .... and a surprise phone call!

By Billy:

Last night, we had our last swim meet and while we were there, Jim Cantori called our phone (okay, so it was a robo call for the American Red Cross and he was asking us for money...but still!) and he is like the best storm tracker....ever - well, him and Sam Champion! At the meet, I got all my best times ever....but I did DQ in the butterfly because I was in the slide lane so I had to dive in all the way to one side - and when I did, I ended up going into the next lane. The reason posted I got DQed was 'Interfering with another swimmer!"

Weather Man

***Pictured above: Billy now posts daily forecasts in our kitchen, complete with the type of clouds expected in H-burg for the day....today, it will be 'Colmulus Contengues' and we will have excellent visibility!***

I have a new phase and it is about weather. I watch the weather channel 24/7 and make my own daily forecasts. I also check other people's weather and report it to them....like my Mom Mom who is in a severe storm right now. My life plan is to go to Virginia Tech and be on the swim team and study meteorology and be the next Jim Cantori!

Swim-A-Thon

Billy and JJ participated in a swim a thon yesterday to earn money for their team to get new lane lines. They both won a prize for being the swimmer in their age group to swim the the most laps. Here they are with their coach and the prizes they picked out of the bunch.

Billy swam 75 and JJ 40...both well over their goal. Billy wanted to do a mile, which would have been 60 laps (their pool is meters) and JJ wanted to do 10 because that would be more than he has ever done in practice. But, in the spirit of things they kept going and going.....and we are all so proud of them. Maybe one day they can swim the English Channel together....I wonder if a set of brothers have ever done that before?

BBC 2.0 - Swindle

Our second book for BBC 2.0 was Swindle. It had a loose tie to baseball, so we held our meeting at the H-burg Turks game last night. After a short discussion, we 'watched' the game. This is a league in our area of college players and is called 'the gateway to the majors' because so many players go onto the pros. The boys had fun hanging out with their friends, chasing foul balls and eating snacks...and maybe caught a few highlights of what was actually happening on the field!


From JJ: It was good. I liked the book.

From Billy: Swindle is a cool book. I liked it because a bunch of kids pull off a major heist. It could have happened, but it is probably unlikely!

JJ's Day

We spent yesterday with JJ's best buddy from preschool and his sisters - we will call him B.D. First we went to the $1 movies and saw Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was a great movie. Then we got a pizza and had a picnic at the Dream playground. It was wonderful seeing old friends and JJ and B.D had a chance to rekindle their bromance. Then in the afternoon, Billy and JJ both got to go to Pump it Up for JJ's other good friend's birthday. Billy had lots of fun on JJ's day....but looks forward to making all the decisions about what we are doing on his day, today!

I asked JJ to write a blog about his day and the Narnia movie, but he chose instead to write about a movie he is really looking forward to - which comes out in just 1 week!

"There is a new movie about 'Gwynnie the Pooh' coming out. I think it is going to be really good. I think Eeyore will be a good actor in the movie. All of his friends try to help find a new tail and one time it is an umbrella. Eeyore is my favorite character in the 100 Acre Wood."

'Gwynnie the Pooh' is a huge obsession of JJ's right now....so is climbing up the doorways, just like spiderman. Eeyore, we like....climbing up the walls, we could do without...especially since he has influenced Billy to do it as well!

Field Trip #4 - SPCA...meet Tippy

Billy, JJ and Minnie are hoping that one day, a dog will join our family. Mickey, not so much. So, the three of us will spend the meantime trying to become 'responsible' enough in Mickey's eyes to be burdened with a dog and research the best breed of dog for our family should that day ever arrive. On our field trip, we met Tippy - a border collie. The positives about this breed.....very smart and trainable, the negatives....lots of energy that if not channeled correctly will translate into 'creating its own fun'!

From Billy: Two days ago, we went to the SPCA and met Tippy. We took him and another dog, Max for a walk. He is a kind of breed of dog called a border collie. They gave us a sheet of paper that told us about this breed and we also googled border collie. I think this is a good breed for us and I like Tippy so I hope we get a dog. Dad says Tippy is his kind of dog, so maybe we will get a border collie. He also says we will talk about it on my birthday. I hope we get a dog.

Happy Campers

From JJ: I went camping at Big Meadows. I liked peeing in the woods and the campfire. I got kind of scared but I liked it. Then I fell asleep and forgot we even were camping.

From Billy:On Friday we went camping. We have an awesome tent. The Easter Bunny brought it to us. It was 47 degrees that night and our tent kept us warm. I was the only person to see a skunk. We also saw about 10 deer and 1 Wild Turkey. We had a lot of fun. We also heard tons of stuff during the night but it did not scare us.

Happy Birthday Day America

After spending most of the day on yard work (stay tuned for a later post), we celebrated our Nation's birthday by learning about the events leading up to the Deceleration of Independence (Stamp Act, Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere etc)over burgers and hot dogs. After wards, it was time for some sparklers! I for one am glad that was not followed by a trip to the Emergency room!

A picture says a 1,000 words....

No time for a post....packing for our first camping trip ever.

So, here is a picture straight from JJ's heart with his constant companions....Disney Duffy Garfield, Monkey Jackson.....and the best donkey a boy could have....Eeyore!