Show and Tell

JJ is off to first grade today, looking so cute and feeling so proud....he taking Mickey's 'For Real' fire helmet for show and tell!

The Good News

Billy received his very own engraved Bible this morning at church. He has taken the preacher's call to study and read the Bible already, and we are so proud. He even went as far as highlighting passages that he find important and read a little bit of Genesis to JJ to answer his question of what all did God create. What a great day!

CYMRU

Thanks to Grandpa, this flag now hangs in the cafeteria at SSES....the one in the far corner. Can anybody identify the ones that hang nearby? If you can, you will go down in the Billy and JJ Hall of Fame.

Off to a great start!

The first week of school is under their belts, and this is going to be a great year! Billy got the teacher he wanted and she is proving to be everything he hoped for, and he has a bunch of great buddies in his class. He is thrilled to be old enough to do safety patrol!

JJ is so happy in first grade. He has a new teacher, just out of college and seems to be a great fit for him. He has already made some great new friends, including his new BFF, Sir Lancealot! JJ has been filling him in on all of our adventures this summer, for when I sat down at lunch with them yesterday, Sir Lancealot asked me, "Why does Jake know so much about the Buxton Inn?" And then proceeded to talk about Evelyn the entire lunch....only stopping to ask if he could be in Boys Book Club next year and jump off the rocks at the quarry. His parents are going to love us, filling his head with such notions!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

From Meteorologist Billy:

An earthquake hit Virginia today. It was the biggest one we have ever had. And, we even had to evacuate our school today...and we got out early! Hurricane Irene is supposed to hit later this week. What a great weather week!

From Minnie:

As Billy turns on the weather channel after dinner to check out all the news, he was so excited because his favorite, Jim Cantore came on with a special report. Billy was excited, JJ...not so much. He gets so annoyed with the weather channel. He'd rather be watching spongebob. So here is his response to Billy's excitement over Jim Cantore:

JJ jumped up and said, "Jim Cantore, Jim Cantore, (started doing karate chops in the air) I am going to karate chop you until you say you are sorry for being a weather person."

And they are off!

To 1st and 3rd grade.....Ms. R and Mrs. E!

with the whole East Court Gang!

I'm sure there will be lots of adventures to report.

Schultute!

School Starts tomorrow...

We started this tradition last year based on the German tradition of Schultute (school cones!) The boys put out their cones, and Mickey and Minnie fill them with some necessities for school (ie, boxers and socks). And we add some fun things too - like Harry Potter Qudditch robes. The boys had fun looking for their cones this morning, and I think they are excited for their big day tomorrow.....we will keep you posted.

1st and 3rd grade watch out....here come Billy and JJ!

The BBC Finale - Indian in the Cupboard

We are sad to see the Boys Book Club to come to an end for the summer. We had a lot of good time with our friends and read some great books.

Of course our finale was at the quarry, and it was so much fun...a great discussion on our favorite book of the year, fishing, kayaking, time with friends....and oh yeah...cliff jumping. Could there be a better day?

JJ's Day

Friday was the last weekday of summer....and JJ was in charge. After an hour at the school delivering Smoothies to the teachers as representatives of PTA that is! JJ did not pick out this activity, but went along willing because he was able to go into places not typically allowed during normal school hours.....like the teachers lounge and behind the scenes of the office!

From there, we were off to spend the morning at our new favorite place, the R-Town Bike trails. We rode the trails a good long while, then Billy and JJ spent even more time in the 'Trix' Park.

Lunch was a Papa Johns Pizza (with Sierra Mist!) picnic at the park.


Then it was time to meet Nana and Pie at one of our other favorite places around town....the Lavender Farm. We like the lavender, but we keep coming back to feed and hang out with the animals....especially Nilla, the world's coolest bunny. If she sees a carrot in your hand, she will chase you until you drop it (for real) and then fight her brother Beau if he gets in her path. Good times!

The day continued with us releasing 'balloony' into the sky with a note attached. At one point we though he was stuck in a tree, but JJ yelled, "Rise again, balloony" and he did! We hope to hear where he landed. We will keep you posted on that one!

And JJ's perfect day ended with a great grilled steak custom made by Mickey, root beer.....and Buckeyes sent home with us from Mom Mom!

Billy's day

School is just around the corner so we are rushing to get in a ton of adventures. On Wednesday, Billy got to pick all of our activities....

Our day started with a boys book club field trip to the TV station! The reporter who interviewed the boys about the lemonade stand liked them so much she invited them down to learn about her world. It was pretty cool to see what goes on behind the scenes in a newscast. Things are a lot more detailed that what we see on TV. The weather guy even took a few minutes to talk to Billy about his aspirations to be a Meteorologist. Sounds like a lot of hard work in math and science, but Billy will be up to the task (however apparently this week, he has now decided to be a fireman again)!

From there, breakfast at IHOP!

Then onto a local park with bicycle trail rides through the woods....over rocks, around tree limbs...very hilly and hard...but so fun. I think we have all found a new hobby.

To quote Billy (when conquering the hills and curves) "You have to get some momentum, really know you can do it and then focus, and you can hit the hills!" Sound like some good advice for life.

And from JJ, "I was made to mountain bike!" This was after a major wipe out, where he dusted himself off and rode again!

Disclaimer: I would love to post pictures of this...because I did take them (of course) - but I left my camera there. And upon return to retrieve the camera, we witnessed its theft in process. But that story is a whole other post. I doubt it will ever make it to print. It makes me sick to my stomach, and JJ so mad he could just cry! Lets just leave it at this....a good reminder to Minnie of what she always nags Billy and JJ for - take better care of your stuff!

Finally, the day kicked off with Pie meeting us at the fair...Woo Hoo! We spent some time checking out all the animals, petting pigs noses...being attacked by billy goats, and watching the baby chicks on their waterslide. We saw Justin Bieber (for real), ate horribly bad for you....but delicious food and took in the rodeo. Billy and JJ's first ever. Billy really liked it, and said he would like to try riding a bull sometime. It mostly made JJ bored....but he mustered enough excitement to cheer on his favorite cowboy....."Work it, Marcus"

Whew...what a day, quite possibly the perfect day (except for the camera). Wonder what JJ has in store for us today....he is making all the decisions. I hope we survive!

A Shout Out

Because she gave us a shout out and because she was an inspiration to Billy and JJ, and because JJ's pen pal is great.....here is a shout out to Gypsy Momma for one of the sweetest blog posts ever (of course The Adventures of Billy and JJ are a bit biased on the subject matter!)

Check it out!

http://amykategypsymomma.blogspot.com/2011/08/is-there-anything-better-than-catching.html

Top Five in G-ville

Here are our Top 5 things from our G-ville trip. We each wrote about our favorite thing in previous blogs...check them out for more detail!

Billy:

1) Buxton Inn Ghost
2) The water park
3) Riding Bikes all over town
4) Meeting Bug and Bean at the playground
5) Mom Mom and Pa of course!


JJ:
1) A tie: Riding bikes all over town and the water park
3) Swimming at the Todd's pool
4) Buxton Inn Ghost
5) Breakfast at the Coffee shop

Minnie:
1) Seeing all our friends and family
2) Riding our bikes all over town
3) Zoombezzi Bay
4) Getting back on track with running..including my best 5K time!
5) Whit's Buckeye Sundae, Donato's Pizza and the Farmer's Market

Evelyn...The Buxton Inn Ghost....by Billy

We went to Ohio last week and went to the Buxton Inn which was haunted. The Buxton Inn is in G-Ville and Mom Mom got permission to take us inside for the people who worked there. We had signs of two different ghosts....one of them you could smell their cigar smoke, and the other one (a BIG! story) is when we went into room number 9. This room is haunted by a ghost named Evelyn. So here is what happened: we walked into her own room, where she used to live (room nine) and I was yelling her name and opening doors to try and find her. JJ and Minnie had already gone outside (because JJ was freaked out) but me and Mom Mom were still inside. All of a sudden, the door SLAMS shut!!! JJ screamed really loud, Mom Mom left the room very quickly and so did I - but I though it was cool!

Zoombezi Bay...by JJ

Have you ever been to Ohio? They have the best water park. We went there with Mom Mom. I liked the lilly pads and the wave pool the best. It is a great water park, you should go! You can also go see the polar bears at the zoo right after like we did. I love polar bears.

From Minne and Billy: See that big cyclone in the background? Yes, we did that ride and the toilet bowls...lots of fun.

Our G-ville visit...the people we saw...

Probably the best thing about our recent trip is the people we hung out with....too bad there are not pictures for all!

The Warthog...shorthog or sweathog, depending on what she wears...
HC and Mr. W
Our Pen pals, bug and bean and their mom
Cousin Dude
B & J
Our Biggest Fan
The Brain
Coachman
and last but not least...Mom Mom and Pa!

Our Smurf Village

From JJ:We made a Smurf Village at our house. Billy, Minnie and me worked like so many days making it. We are having an art show tonight. Clumsy is my favorite Smurf.


From Billy: We made a Smurf Village. It is awesome. We made a river, boats, houses, and everything Smurfs need....and it is awesome. We even have Gargamel's castle. And Asriel. We have a stage for Smurf performances and 2 lakes. And lots of fields where the Smurfs can grow Smurf Berries.

Two things we really love......

Our beloved Maxwell....and The Smurfs!

The jump...

We finally did it, make a jump for their biking pleasures.

It was their reward today for doing their homework, going through school supplies and going through clothes for school!

The Lemonade Stand!

From JJ: I had a lemonade stand at the library last night. My favorite part was standing outside with signs. We made a lot of money to buy true ('non fiction) books for the library. Lemonade stands are really a lot of fun.


From Billy: Last night we had our famous BBC Lemonade Stand! We ended up being on tv and in the newspaper. I think we made $312.42 for the library (once mom mom sends her donation). The lemonade was a hit - we had over 200 customers, at least! We even had 3 moms ask if their kids could be in the BBC but we are probably just going to tell them how to do one because our BBC is perfect just as it is! My favorite part was doing the advertising outside. We got some customers to come in just because we were outside with signs. (We did a little false advertising too - we said our lemonade was voted the best in H-burg...and nobody really voted on that!) We think the biggest donation ended up being $25...even though we all though all night that someone put a $50 bill inside. Even without that $50, we ended up with way more money than anyone thought we would make....and now we will all get to pick out a book to donate to the library with our name on a bookplate inside the book! Another really cool thing was that Mrs. C came to our lemonade stand and brought a bunch of her family. That was really nice because she does not even live in town. But, a lot of her kids from last year are in the BBC so she really wanted to support us. I already miss her and have not even started 3rd grade yet.

The Waterpark!

From Billy:
Yesterday, we went to the water park. I did the lilly pads and I only fell twice because I am really good! The wave pools waves were so big when they went out, I could touch in the 5 feet. Outside is where the really big slide is. I beat Mickey going down it once. Inside, I went down all the slides a few times...even the pitch black one (I did that one by myself!) I also did the surfing thing, but I got a bloody nose! We had a lot of fun at the water park.

From JJ:
The water park is really cool. I did everything. I went down the big slides, I did the lilly pads, I swam in the wave pool with no life jacket. And for the first time, I also did the surfing thing at the water park. It was cool, but scarey. I also went by myself on the lazy river. Pie went with me sometimes, but one time, I went all alone! The water park is so cool!

Backyard Superstars

The local tv station heard about the BBC's upcoming Lemonade Stand to benefit the library, and came out to interview the boys about their plans!


From JJ: I liked answering those questions. I cant wait for the lemonade stand. I hope we make $1,002 when we sell lemonade.

From Billy: On Friday, the tv station interviewed us for a story about boys book club and the lemonade stand. JJ and I actually got interviewed. They took footage of us playing and working. We also had a story about us in the paper on Saturday and a story on the radio. Boys Book Club is getting famous! I think the lemonade stand is going to be fun. Check back here for news about how we did!