Suckers and Ice Cream...what more do you need in life?!?

Yes, we are those parents who let our kids eat suckers, probably too often...and ice cream...probably too much!!!  But hey, they are kids, and they are enjoying life and having fun:)!!  While they both LOVE suckers and ice cream, the difference between Nolan and Mason eating them is like night and day, just like their personalities...and it's so funny to watch!! 
Nolan can't stand to get his hands dirty as well as his face, and gets totally grossed out when his sucker stick starts to get wet from his own drool, or when his ice cream starts to drip from melting.  As soon as this happens, he's done.  Even if we get him cleaned up along with the sucker stick, or help him w/ his ice cream, he just decides "I'm done."  So needless to say he doesn't end up eating much of his suckers or his ice cream, even if it is just a little "dum-dum" sucker...which is fine w/ us!!!
Mason on the other hand, is a completely different story...he refuses to let us help him, and will be covered from head to toe w/ either ice cream, or sticky sucker!!!  And it never phases him...he gets mad if you try to wipe him off, especially if you're interrupting him while in the middle of eating...DON'T MESS with his suckers or his ice cream or you will get the wrath!!!  Which is usually similar to the sound of a screeching pterodactyl, if I had to guess what one sounded like!!!  He's so independent and has to do EVERYTHING himself.  As you can see, we have many more pictures of him eating suckers and ice cream than Nolan because like I said, he gets much further along in the process than Nolan:)!
Recently we went to the zoo and the boys picked out HUGE butterfly suckers.  Nolan gave his up within about 10 minutes...we thought Mason would do the same when we got to the petting zoo, but no such luck.  He wanted to go in the petting zoo w/ Nolan and Daddy, but refused to give up his sucker...no food in the petting zoo.  So, I had to stand there w/ the screeching pterodactyl AND his sucker that he didn't want to give up, while he screeched b/c he couldn't pet the goats.  Each time I tried to tell him he couldn't go in unless he gave me his sucker, he'd clench it even more, and he would stick more of it to his face.  We went through the whole zoo w/ that sucker, and put him in his car seat w/ that sucker!!!  He ended up falling asleep w/ it in his hand...I had to pry it out of his hand while he was sleeping.  When he woke up, he was making a licking motion as if he still had the sucker...CRAZY kid!!!!  But that's why we love him!!!
The other sucker pictures are from a visit to Great Wolf Lodge...they chose suckers over ice cream.  And of course, they were the biggest suckers they had!!!
We recently just went to Ludington and the boys enjoyed ice cream a few days...it was very easy to just stick them in the lake for clean up!!!  Much easier to do on vacation than at home:)!

Nolan learns to write his name!!!

We have had another really busy month...I honestly don't know where the time goes sometimes!!!  Matt had to go to training in Idaho for a week, and I kept the boys busy and entertained, we spent a week in Ludington, and we have also done many other fun things this month!!!  We've made a few zoo trips, to both the John Ball Zoo and most recently the Binder Park Zoo.  We have gone to the beach, and also to the Hudsonville Fair.  I have once again gotten behind on blogging, and need to post some pics from our busy month, which I plan to do soon!!!  Amongst all of the crazy busy things going on, we finally registered Nolan for preschool, in which he will be going twice a week, starting September 14th.  He is really looking forward to it and we just recently decided to start practicing his name.  I showed him how to write it and he did it his first try!!!!  He was so proud of himself and Mommy and Daddy are even more proud:)!!!!!

An Evening at the Beach!!!

On Sunday afternoon after Matt got out of work, and after playing outside in the hot sun, we decided to take a last minute, spur of the moment trip out to the beach to let the boys play and watch the sunset.  We threw on our suits and grabbed some towels and headed out to Port Sheldon beach.  We grabbed some dinner along the way to eat at the beach.  I texted my brother Matt to see if he and Aunt Lolo might be interested in joining us since the beach is just a couple minutes from their house...in which they did;)!!!  The temperature at the beach was a lot cooler, and it was a bit windy, but we still had fun!!!  The boys had a blast, and Nolan was loving the sand and the water!!!  Mason wasn't too sure about the water, but enjoyed wandering in the sand:)!!!  The sunset was beautiful, as always!  Gotta love Lake Michigan and the beautiful beaches;)!!

Fishing, Clyde the Kitty, and Bubbles!!!

The boys love to go over to my brother and sister in law's house, "Uncle Mott" and "Aunt Lolo's".  Aunt Lolo and Uncle Mott make sure to always have plenty of things on hand to keep them entertained and busy...one of the times that they baby-sat for the boys (as you can see some of these pics are from a while back, still playing a bit of catch up), they got a fishing pole for Nolan to use in the creek.  They all had a blast w/ it catching the fake fish;-)!!! 

They also got a kitten not too long ago named Clyde, to keep their other cat, Calvin, company when they are gone on all of their business trips.  Both Mason and Nolan absolutely LOVE him!!!  They try to pick him up, they hand feed him his food, and keep him very entertained w/ his little toys.  Nolan is much more gentle than Mason, go figure:)!!!

They had a blast playing with bubbles one day...Mason gets SO excited for bubbles, his face just lights up when sees the containers come out, lol!!!  Nolan also loves to hang out in Uncle Mott's jeep, and they both love going on golf cart rides!!

I brought the boys over recently on a really hot day and they swam in the kiddy pool that they have set up on the deck...afterwards, while trying to dry Mason off and get him dressed...he got away from me and got a hold of the hose they were using to spray down the HOT, HOT deck...needless to say...all he had on were his shoes!!!