Austin's First Haircut

Well, we finally decided to get Austin's haircut professionally for the first time. Mom, I know you will be happy (ha ha). We have really enjoyed his beautiful blond locks, but it was getting a little hard to manage on a daily basis. I don't know how parents keep up with little girls! We took him to Cookie Cutters where they really do a great job of entertaining the little ones.











Austin loved this little airplane and was very good for the most part for the entire time. It was quite the change from Dylan's first haircut when Mike had to hold him while he cried in fear. Of course, we didn't know about this place then and just took him to Supercuts.















Austin was getting a little antsy here and tried to get out!



Problem solved with a red sucker!






This is a good look at the back of his hair as he climbs up to the slide.









We took the kids to the aquarium for story time right after the haircut. Unfortunately, Dylan could only stay seated for a few minutes and then wanted to follow Austin around. Dylan did enjoy the story time at first and even answered a question about liking to eat broccoli.

July 4th Neighborhood Fireworks

This year we decided to have a few neighbors gather at our house for fireworks. All the kids had a great time and it definitely beats the big crowds at the city shows. There are many more pictures of Austin since Dylan was running around most of the time and it was challenging to get good pictures of him.
















































Dylan is still weary of sparklers, even when they are supersized!






At about this point, Dylan set it down and didn't want to hold another one.






I thought this turned out cool. I won't bore you with my other pictures of the fireworks, but I did want to try out the firework function on my camera and managed to get a few cool shots.

4th of July Bike Parade

The kids had a great time at the annual neighborhood 4th of July bike parade. We decorated the bike and wagon the night before the event and managed to fill every bit of space with something! If there was a contest, I think we could have won!










Dylan is barely visible behind the girl in the center with the pink shirt. Mike is standing with his back turned, looking at Austin in the wagon. Click on the picture to see in full-screen.















Dylan had a last minute decoration failure and Mike is busily working to repair the broken flag pole.



And were off!



Most of the older kids raced ahead and we were left to bring up the rear.

Where's Sammy?

Shortly after moving here and letting the cats outside at night when its warm, I always wondered where Sammy slept. First thing in the morning, I would look on the deck and he wasn't there, and then seconds later he seemed to appear from nowhere. Well, I finally caught a glimpse of him running out from under the grill. But, I never actually saw him sitting under there or on the grill rack.

Well, one day we eventually spied him coming from the tank area. It never once occurred to us that he would sleep there, but he does! He somehow curls up on the tank and cozies up to the grill cover, which keeps him snug. On this day, his tail happened to be hanging out and I quickly took a snapshot of him darting out once I made noise at the door. It usually happens so quick there isn't time for pictures. Crazy cat!