On Sunday evening we went to a concert in the park.  A local blue-grass musician.  A first for the boys.  Here are some pictures.
(The musician was Austin 'Walking Cane'...he played in the gazebo structure)

The kids all enjoyed a picnic

This is the house where they have had wedding receptions that I have helped with while in Ohio.

Fortunately, someone had the insight to have sidewalk chalk and bubbles for the kids.  As the night wore on, kids on scooters showed up, as well as some huge Frisbee looking toys.  They had so much fun playing and the adults enjoyed the music.

A random picture...we saw the weinermobile and had to stop and take a picture.

We recently hooked up with some friends. We met them at a local park that has some great biking/hiking. My boys were amazed at the turtles. I guess we have never really looked at turtles. (In this picture, my friend was holding a turtle and Jbird was marveling at it from underneath. Jbird is becoming the nature watcher. (It cracked me up all the wildlife around us where we live and yet they still marvel at a deer in the bushes.)

Their cousin Kenna holding the turtle.

One of the things I always enjoy about our road trips is getting away from the grind of being at home.  Even if there is not a lot going on at home, you still have all the upkeep and it seems that there is always something to do at home, a project to complete.  So it is nice to just be able to sit back and take in - to slow down long enough to enjoy some of those small moments with the boys.  To rediscover the wonder of things.

At the swimming pool, the excitement of JB when he finally jumped from the side of the pool into water that was 2 feet deep.  The loud 'yay' he exclaimed.  Or with Jbird, when he finally got brave and decided he could go under water in water that was over his head.  (He can swim but has always been scared to venture into water over his head without a life jacket on).  He would jump into 5 foot water and as his feet touched the bottom of the pool, he would thrust his hands up out of the water with a huge thumbs up.

The look of amazement when I showed JB how to suck honeysuckle.
The wonder of seeing the small lights below the airplane once it got dark.
Teaching B how to read road signs.  Teaching him that the odd Interstates run north and south and the even roads run east and west.  The lower odd numbers start in the south and the lower even numbers start in the west.  Seeing his interest in looking at maps now and trying to find us on the map.