D - The 100 Book Bike

I've mentioned a couple of times here in the past that Noah is doing really well with his reading. When he was in school he had a "reader" that each kindergartener was supposed to work on during the year. He completed his before Christmas as he worked hard to be first in his class to finish. After he finished, however, his efforts at reading came to an abrupt halt. It wasn't until his teacher found him a new challenge that he got started again.

Once summer hit, I saw that we were going to have the same problem. I knew he needed some way to compete in order to be willing to pick up a book. Thus was born his summer reading challenge - Read 100 books, and get a new bike. (He was actually due a new bike this summer anyhow since his knees were hitting his handlebars every time he peddled, but no one needs to tell him that!)

Anyhow, he made it! For about a week now he has been riding all over the place, and he is really proud to read over his list of 100 books.





Of course, since Noah got his new bike, Katie has decided that her old bike (and we're talking the bike that Santa gave her 7 months ago) is way too small and that her knees are hitting the handlebars (not even close). She has adopted his old bike and thinks she's a pretty big shot now too.

D - & the 4th

We always travel to Houston for the 4th and have a great time with my entire family going to the beach and watching the fireworks in Kingwood. Because of gas prices, we decided this year to tie our Houston trip to our San Antonio vacation and to stay in Edmond for the 4th. It was kind of sad to miss out on the fun with the rest of the fam, but we had a wonderful time here!

Before the big event, we asked the kids what they wanted to do that day. We gave them several options and then Katie blurted out "HAVE A PICNIC!!!!" (which wasn't actually one of the options). But since she was adamant about it, we complied and had a great time.

We decided to make the most of LibertyFest at UCO this year and do it all. It opened at 5:00 with inflatables and watermelon and live music, so we decided to be the first ones there so as to perhaps avoid some of the lines. Good call on our parts! The kids got to do everything they wanted. The bungy jump thing had about an hour long wait just before the fireworks, but we only had to wait about 15 minutes.







Noah's first try at a rock wall. He made it to the top!





Katie even got her nails done and glitter spray in her hair! They wouldn't do mine though....



After doing all of the inflatables, we walked over to Old Chicago and ate dinner, then killed some time at Target before heading back to UCO. Because we had parked the truck so early, we got an awesome spot and viewed the fireworks from the truck bed. It was an incredible show! We really felt like we were right under it, and you just can't beat hearing that powerful boom as you watch them explode. It was awesome!









Mom & Dad, how about we move the 4th to Edmond next year?

D - July the 3rd

So I'm obviously quite behind in my blogging. I can't even get to the actual July 4th holiday and have to start the day before!

One of the things Mike has really missed about living in "the country" is not being able to shoot off his own fireworks. But since his mom moved to the outer, upper-most section of Edmond, last year we started the tradition of going there on July the 3rd to have our own little bash.

It's a great time. We get there early and have dinner and ice cream, play outside for a while (or my cat allergy will kill me inside the house) and then do the fireworks. We had a great time. Thanks to the hostess with the mostess!





Yes, even I will get in on the game if there aren't many witnesses!




Ready for the fun!





Let the show begin!

D - Fun Day in SA

Usually when we go to Sea World we spend our 2 days at the park and then head home the next day. We are always pretty wiped out and feel like our vacation was so rushed that we didn't get to enjoy it. This year we decided to try to slow the pace a little. We went to Houston to visit my parents for 3 days and then went to San Antonio. And instead of leaving the day after Sea World, we spent an extra day in San Antonio "relaxing."

The first thing we did on our restful day was to go on a train ride around a park just outside of the San Antonio zoo. It's really a fun little train, and the kids had a great time. It reminds me of the new train at the OKC zoo, but the track is much longer and has some scenery to it.



After the train ride, we decided it was well past time for Noah's first time spelunking and headed off to the Natural Bridge Caverns. Mike and I have both always enjoyed caves and remember touring them when we were kids. We just knew it was the kind of thing Noah would LOVE.



I don't know that I would go so far as to say he loved it, but he thought it was pretty cool at first. He got tired of it by the end, and wanted to be carried up the 15 story walk-way that lead out of the cave. I got the good end of that deal and just had to carry Katie.



It really was a beautiful cave. I always think it's interesting to hear the stories of how caves are discovered. In this case, it was a group of college guys exploring. Can you imagine?!? I would love to hear them tell their stories.



Here we are pretty exhausted after walking deep down and hiking back out. Fun!



At the top of the cave there was a gift shop where you could buy a bag full of sand with "gems" inside. You pour the sand into wooden boxes with a screen on the bottom and put them in a trough of running water. Supposedly we were panning for gems. The kids thought it was great - especially Noah who loves the gem hunt in Webkinz World. He thought he was really getting some treasures!







After the cave we stopped briefly at our hotel and took a swim. Then we decided that no trip to San Antonio would be complete without some time spent on the riverwalk. So off we go again...



Dinner on the riverwalk





Katie LOVED to wave to the boats as the passed by.



Enjoying some Marble Slab





All in all it was a great day. I guess next year I'll know better than to think we would actually relax if we had an extra day, but I'm still glad we did it. Maybe we should add a fourth day. I bet we'd relax then......

D - Day 2, The Water Park at Sea World

When we go to Sea World, we always get the 2 day tickets and spend the first day watching shows and the 2nd at the water park. I really like this water park for kids this age. Unlike Waterworld in Denver (last year's incredibly fun water park), it's not so big that you feel like you're missing out on things. You can pretty much do it all in a few hours and most everything can be enjoyed by our kids at this age.

Here we go again...



Katie wanted to be the leader and took over map duty.



Here she is trying to convince us to head over to the ski show again.


Here she is after her brother decided she wouldn't be able to get us to the water park.



We love feeding the dolphins and make sure it's always the first thing we do each day. We were told once that that is when they are most friendly. Of course, feeding them VERY expensive fish makes them pretty friendly too.



Here's Katie about to get on her favorite slide. She wanted to do this one AGAIN & AGAIN!!!


Coming down...


Bub's turn. He liked this one, but he liked the bigger ones better. Sorry, no pics of those as Mike was on them too and Katie and I were off napping.



A little sunburned, very tired, but still smiling. Bye, Sea World! We'll be back soon!

D - Seaworld Vacation - Day 1

We had the best of intentions of blogging our family vacation on a day-by-day basis like we did last year, but we were just too worn out every night to even think about it this year. My sincerest apologies to my grandmother who checked faithfully every day expecting the promised updates!

So, with no further delay, here you have it - The Bosleys go to San Antonio!

Off we go!

We really liked our hotel this year - the Comfort Suites near Seaworld (so I'll remember next time we go). Nothing fancy, but it had a door separating the bedroom area from the bathroom/living room area which was extremely helpful to Mike who gets up VERY early and must kill multiple hours before the rest of us get up. Here's the favorite activity of the kiddos anytime we stay in hotels:

Entering the park (& a rare pic of Mike who is our family photographer!)

Trying to stay cool....

Exploring in Shamu's Happy Harbor

The kids' favorite show and favorite character - Uncle Max the enormous walrus. They love to talk about him.

Noah and Mike rode the kiddie roller coaster once before Katie decided she wanted to give it a try. Here she is excitedly anticipating the ride.

About 3 seconds into it....

5 seconds in and Noah looking to see how much fun she's having...

The end - giving you some idea of just how little fun was had.

Well, at least it didn't scare Mike!