Back To School

The dreaded day finally arrived. Mom tried to make it better with Pop Tarts.
No bueno Ma.

We tried hard to muster fake smiles.
No bueno.

Rowan tried to entice us to stay and play with his treat ball.
No bueno

Aw Ma.... Do we REALLY have to?!

Yep. We really did. Back on the Bus. Back to School.

and back to missing his boys all day long :(

Last Few Hours of Summer Break

and the last Sunday of Summer Vacation was spent at Jax's grandparent's pool with the Moms and their kiddos. Here are the Moms trying to take a nice photo. We did NOT let that happen.

The Last Nights of Summer

There are 2 schools of thought regarding the end of summer vacation. Some parents think it's important to get their kiddos used to going to bed early and start the routine before the first day. MY parents and their friends subscribe to the other school, which believes in celebrating up until the very last minute. So... We had an epic party Saturday night that lasted all the way until 2 am. Cohen and I decided Dad's fire was inadequate so we made a "kid's fire."

It didn't go very well, but we did roast a few marshmallows on it.

Note the big beautiful fire in the fire pit behind us. Also notice that no one is there. Poor Dad.

The kid fire was just much cooler!

It went out pretty quickly despite our best blowing efforts. Oh well.. it was fun while it lasted.

Oh..  of course Cohen was there and of course he stayed over.

We're pretty different, but we get along great.

We both love minecraft.

Coley spent the afternoon putting us on his shoulders in the pool and ended up with this very weird rashburn scab thingy. Sorry Bro!

Charlie

This is my buddy Charlie. We've actually known each other since we were on the same basketball team in Kindergarten, but we've really been friends the last two years. He's a bit of a nut, but also a really good kid. Sound familiar?

And of course whenever I have friends over, we always include my two besties, Bryce and Chloe. That's how I roll.

Oma & Ota Visit Vandyville

While Mom and Dad and B were at the clinic, Grandma was busy bringing Oma, Ota and I down!

They got home in time to see us. Oma and Ota have never been to our house before, so it was a big deal! We sure do love them and appreciate them making the trip!

Strange Happenings

Dad and I were at camp with Coop and Coop's dad. I was walking up to do the zipline with Coop and I GOT STUNG ON THE LEG! I had to take all my stuff off, go to the first aid station and get it taken care of. I came back to the zipline, put all the gear back on and was climbing to the top when the entire camp heard me scream "I GOT STUNG AGAIN! I AM NOT DOING THIS!!!!"  This one was painful, but I got over it. The next morning we came home and Mom thought it looked funny. She had me off to the clinic in no time. By the time we got there, my belly had really started to swell.

I had a fever and the red spot was expanding quite quickly so the lady at the clinic sent us on to a more advanced facility. It was SUPER infected so I had to take antibiotics for a long long time.
Why do these freaky things always happen to me?

Vandys and Coopers at Camp

Coop and I are both "strong willed." That doesn't matter to us though. We've been best buds since age 2. Our dads are buddies too so they agreed to take us down to camp for the weekend.

We did some creek stomping.

A LOT of watersliding.

Some horseback riding.

and just had a great time. The Coopers are also not fans of lame camp songs so we got to skip all of that! Woot Woot!
Thanks for a fun weekend Carson and Mr. Cooper!

Family First

B:  Mom, when do I get my driver's license?
M: When you're 16 honey, so that's 10 more years.
B: But Coley can drive us in 6 more years right? We are going to go all over.
M: Who's the first person you'll pick up when you get your license?
B: Coley.
M: Besides Coley?
B: long awkward pause....   Just Cole Mom
M: None of your friends?
B: Okay... First Coley, then CoCo and Tucker and Nolan if I have enough seats.

We've been best buds since 12/24/2010 and we hope to be best buds til the day we die.

This is Celiac

Recently a waiter told Mommy how sorry he felt for us because we have to live with celiac disease. She promptly corrected him. We see it as a gift. We are healthier and stronger than most people we know. Celiac has forced us to learn so much about our bodies and how to treat them well.
The results speak for themselves.
If celiac disease looks like this at age 6, we'll take it!

The Fun Goes On

We have all been trying to settle back in after the chaos of last week. Rowan has been extra clingy so we've spent a lot of time snuggling him.

Today Papa and Nana dropped by to say Happy Birthday to Cole. As usual, Rowan thought all the gifts were for him.

They brought Coley a cool map of the US which he can scratch off to show which states he's been to. Awesome idea!

And Pap told us all about the metal in his back. We know better than to believe wild stories so before he finished showing us pictures, B was in the kitchen with his metal detector!

Yep! That thing was beeping like crazy! Okay Papa, we believe you :)

Whatever it Takes!

 Mom's flight out of South Bend was cancelled Monday night so she had to get up at 3am and fly to Omaha to get to her meeting about 2 hrs. late. Then on the way home, her plane got to O'Hare late so she missed her flight home to South Bend to pick me up! There was no one to watch me Friday morning and no rental cars to be had at O'Hare so she did what Moms do. She hired an Uber to drive her 2 hours to get to me. She slept a few hours, then we were up and off to pick up Coley. We stopped over at home to grab Row Row and ask about her suitcase (which was lost for 2 days). No matter what, she wasn't going to miss picking up her boys!

We got to camp early and got to explore. Rowan was in heaven sniffing all around looking for his boy.

Yep. He was definitely here.

and I think I smell him here..

He definitely climbed up here.

Why can't I see him Mom?!

After being without both of us and his Mama for a week, Rowan was just ready to have his family back!

We were so proud of his good behavior with the campers. He let everyone come up and pet him and waited patiently for Mom to tell him they could move along.

Speaking of proud... Look at these moves!

As usual, we brought home a very stinky and tired boy. He didn't make it very long before passing out. Mom wasn't far behind. Whew! What a week!

Co Co

Co Co has really become my best bud. Here we are chilling in Chloe's pool because it was 95 degrees today.

We got a little bored so we decided we wanted to hit the hot tub! Mom thought we were truly insane.

The hot tub was broken so we went home and took a nice hot bath (in our swimsuits) instead. Then we got dressed like twins.

Co Co is a lot like my bro. When you have a really short temper and no problem yelling at people, you need someone like this guy who just shrugs it all off.

Oh and is more than happy to take a picture of his butt with you.

We're best buds and Mom hopes we stay that way forever!

Camp Grandma

While Coley was at Camp Lakeview this week, I was at Camp Grandma! I got to eat like a king and she made sure we filled every day with fun. Grandma knows how much I love animals, so she took me to the coolest exotic zoo.

I spent time feeding and petting and talking to every animal I could.

Animals love me too.



Especially goats!



We visited Bugga's parrot and guess what? He liked me too!

What can I say? We are kindred wild things!

Of course, there is always plenty of water time at Camp Grandma too! She doesn't hold back on the bubbles!

And Aunty Marianne is always up for some pool fun with us. I sure did have a great time at Camp Grandma.
See you again next year!