Yes....it's true....I admit it.  I'm completely and totally obsessed with the weather....so much so that I even check the weather on a perfectly beautiful sunny day without a cloud in sight.  Thank God for smartphones...is all I can really say.  I use to have to be sitting at home...in front of the tv or at my computer...but with modern technology I can even check my weather at the grocery store...on a boat or in a car.  I would venture to guess with my new (well fairly new) found technology ... and my free smartphone....cause you know my husband is too cheap to actually pay money for one....I would say I probably check the weather at least 20 times a day....more if there's a threat of storms....even with the smell of a storm I'm on that stupid phone!  I believe it's an addiction...just like any other.... kind of like my addiction to sugar.  Can't live even one day without sugar and pretty sure I couldn't make it past noon without checking the weather.  By the way.... I'm typing this with a small thunderstorm going on outside...I knew it was coming in case you were wondering!  However...it shouldn't last long!  : )  Unfortunately for my children I believe that I have passed this addiction down to my son.  He ASKS to watch the weather channel.... and I sometimes have to say NO....which is my pitiful attempt to try and keep his addiction under control.  I think we all know it's just not gonna work.  The boy has just turned 7 and can tell you everything you need to know about what that radar is saying...except that his geography is still a little off and he doesn't really ever understand where we are actually located!!!  

Too funny....Brock just came up to me and said "mom....I'm going to go to the back and look outside and see just how bad the storm is"!  What did I tell you....I've created a monster!  OMG.... now he just turned on the weather channel in the other room....from Disney Channel to the Weather Channel.... this is so wrong! 

So on to my completely random catch-up post of some of the events taking place in our not so exciting but always entertaining life.  These events are in no particular order and in fact.... probably not in order at all.

Well....it's summer.  Summer is certainly one of my favorite times of the year.  I love the sun....it just basically makes me a happier person.  Winter...cold....snow.... well...it just makes me grouchy!!   Summer always brings us park programs.  We live in a crappy, little, and sometimes stinky town with little to nothing to offer.... and no...I'm not really afraid to tell you what I really think!  However, they have quite a nice little park district here...considering where we live you know!  They have the nicest little programs for kids during the month of June!  This year we have actually slowed down and aren't doing quite as many programs as usual.  Brock and Clint are doing football...which they are loving.  Brock is stuck doing t-ball again...cause he was 7 days too young for the cut-off date for minor league.  Raegan and Clint are doing dodgeball and kickball.  And Raegan is doing photography and scrapbooking.  Below are some pretty good pics that Rae took in her photography class when they went to the greenhouse the other day.  I actually thought they turned out pretty darn good! 

So last weekend we decided to hook up the boat...load up the truck and head to Hannibal.  The weather was crappy but we figured we would head for the caves and take the boat along .... Just In Case!  In fact...on the way there.... I said something about how we probably should have just left the boat at home...it's gonna be like this all weekend.  Well....guess that just goes to show what I really know!  We headed for the caves...Mark Twain...and Cameron Cave...and believe it or not when we were finished it was beautiful outside...and well...it stayed that way all weekend long!  Yay!  Especially since this was probably the only weekend I'll get to go boating all summer.  The husband is off for guard camp for 2 1/2 weeks....then probably to flood duty....then of course will spend the rest of the summer in various places across the country shooting!   And yes....when I say ALL summer I really mean it!!!  



So the first two pics below are in Cameron Cave.  There is a spot where they let you...if you are crazy enough to do it....crawl through this small passage into another room ... then out another passage.  And let me tell you....when I say small....I mean small.  Brent, of course, had to volunteer to go..then of course Brock followed along.  It was funny because there was another dad there with a boy about the age of Brock and when Brent went in that kid just looked at his dad like "dad...they are going...why can't we".  Poor guy... such the pressure....he just looked at his son and said "Well...guess it looks like we are going too".  Brent said he barely made it .... had to go on his side part way through...AND to top it off he was first and in the middle of the passage his lantern went out!  Opps!  All I can say is better him than me!  Needless to say I kept the older couple (and my smart girl Rae) on our tour company while all the boys went through!

Here's my Brock lookin cute in his helmet!!!

And of course my O'so sweet and kind Raegan!!

Here she is again...this time I think in Mark Twain Cave.

Here's my onry Brock floatin in the water drinkin a .... yes...Mt. Dew....but the boy always has to have a coozie!!! 

And climbing trees in the water!

On our way back...if it had been up to the husband we would have stayed out all night...but by 8:30pm without hardly anything to eat all day....I (and the kids) were ready to go!!!

Well...I've got more...but frankly I'm done for now!  It takes forever to download pics and I'm thinking at some point today I should probably actually get something done!