Basketball, Sushi and Ninja

 This past weekend started with Max having a friend over after school on Friday to play. These boys were crazy and they just love to play with Sammy and Zoe. The dogs also enjoy the playtime too.

Saturday was the last basketball game of the season. This was the first game of the season where Max actually put in 100% effort and was playing really well. This might have to do with some V Bucks that we promised him based on his participation, but hey, it worked! We should have done it from the beginning. 

This might be what he really enjoys about basketball, chatting it up with his buddy on the bench.

Grandpa T is in town and was able to make it to his last game.

We went out for sushi dinner since grandpa is in town and they shared a bowl of tofu miso soup as an appetizer. This was Max's idea and I would like to know what nine-year-old orders that for an appetizer. This kid's food pallet just continues to amaze me.

Max is still doing ninja and this week he looked to be doing a lot better. He's really improved over these last few months. I am very proud of him.

First Day of Third Grade

 Max started third grade this week at Basha! On Monday night they had meet the teacher. She let the kids pick their desks so Max is with four of his friends. We will see how long this lasts before the teacher breaks this group of boys up. His teacher said "Whoah, you are almost as tall as me."

Wednesday was the first day so we took our annual picture with the sign to show his favorites and that he is officially 4' 10". He grew 3" from last year. This has been happening every year since Pre-K. That is crazy to me because I never grew 3" in one year. 

At the park, he met up with his best buddy and they walked into school together.

Max had an awesome first day of third grade so we celebrated with smoothies. He's really looking forward to the school year with his buddies and his new teacher. 

Staycation

 We did the annual staycation with our friends at the Westin the weekend before school starts as one last hoorah. The kids had a great time We were there for a couple days swimming, eating ice cream and of course, relaxing in the jacuzzi tub.

The last night, there was a really cool storm that rolled in with an awesome lightning show. The boys were pretty excited about this and were taking pictures and videos of it.

Here's what Max took with my phone. His pictures and video turned out pretty cool!

It's now back to school and back to reality for Max as he starts third grade this week.

Fourth of July

 We went on vacation for the fourth of July to Lake of the Ozarks and we went with our "framily" that we always travel with. This vacation was one the guys picked. We flew into Springfield and visited the largest Bass Pro Shop and had lunch. This was a very interesting store for me and it was PACKED full of people. After that we drove an hour and a half to our "luxury" suite at The Lodge of Four Seasons. Now, don't mistake this resort with The Four Seasons because it is not, it is "OF" Four Seasons...and it was definitely not luxury. 

Our view from the luxury suite.

The first night we went out for BBQ and it was probably the best BBQ I have ever had. I am not a huge BBQ person, but this place was fantastic. This is how we started the week so I was excited to eat out the rest of the week...only to be let down by other restaurants that led us right back to the Barn B-Que.

We rented a tri-toon boat for three days and spent three full days on the lake. It was a lot of fun. The kids tubed most of the time and we did park the boat a few times and just swam and had lunch. We also got a lily pad with the tri-toon so that was fun for the kids to play on. I did not tube only because I threw my back out right before we left for vacation. It was the first time I had ever done that. I bent over in the show and couldn't get upright again. It was the first time I ever felt like I am getting old. It caused my back to be out for about a week and it still isn't fully back to normal.

The dads and kids fished one day and Andy is the only one who caught a fish. He caught a catfish and Max was responsible for taking the below photo since I was in the water. 

The long days on the water made for really tired kids. Max even took naps on the boat.

Fourth of July was a lot of fun as we watched fireworks from the rooftop of the hotel. They launched fireworks from a barge right on the water and it was really cool to see. It was super hot out that night and you can see the haze in the pictures from that night. 

The last day we spent it in the pool. It was a relaxing day before we headed back to Arizona and back to work. 

It was extremely hot in the Ozarks as it was between 95 and 100 degrees each day with 85-90% humidity. Just miserable in terms of weather. We all agreed that we would take 110 degrees in AZ dry heat any day over that high heat with high humidity.