4th of july

this year's 4th was kind of a quiet one at the lake.  with the holiday falling on a wednesday everyone that we usually celebrate with had to get back to work the next day.  the one good thing about it being during the week was that there weren't nearly as many people out on the lake watching the fireworks and we felt comfortable taking the boys out on the boat to watch them.  it's so much fun until the firework show is over and everyone tries to get back home and your boat is rocking and water is splashing everywhere.  but, this year it wasn't too bad and the boys had a blast!

heading out on the lake to watch the fireworks with my buddy

b watching the fireworks.  we were so close that the ash was falling on us after they exploded.

we spent the rest of the week trying to cool off in the pool.  the boys have found a new love for water slides and we went to one of the "slide pools" almost every day.  they couldn't get enough!  i'm so glad that they love swimming, and they are getting better and better at it.  carson is almost there and with a few swim lessons i think he'll start feeling more comfortable without his swimmies on.  these pictures basically sum up what our week was like at the lake...

and dad had to make sure the slide was as fun as the boys said it was

if we weren't sliding we were jumping

or swimming with our goggles on

and for the funniest story of the whole vacation...

i had promised carson he could go pick out a new toy if he learned to stand and pee.  when he became potty trained it was more comfortable for him to sit and go.  his balance wasn't good enough to try the whole standing while peeing thing.  but, since brooks has learned carson has really wanted to be able to stand and pee too (some of this may be TMI, but oh well, it's our life!).  he finally figured it out while at the lake and was "watering the plants" just like brooks does.  which to make this story make sense you have to know that brooks thinks he can pee anywhere.  especially if he is outside.  why go all the way in when you can just pee in the grass?  so, off to the wal-mart up at the lake we went.  as we were heading to the car brooks tells me he has to pee.  there was a chick-fil-a right across the street so i figured we would go use the potty then have some lunch.  i get brooks out of the car and tell him to wait on the sidewalk while i help carson out.  as carson and i walk around the car we see brooks with his pants and underwear on the ground and he is peeing on the sidewalk, holding his "peeps" and making it spray really high (his new favorite thing to do)...in front of the door to chick-fil-a...where people were walking in and out seeing as it was lunchtime and chick-fil-a was packed.  i could have died right there.  and then to make it worse i had to wait for him to be done peeing before i could pull up his pants.  that pretty much sums up our lives with brooks.  he does as he pleases when he pleases.  i threw the boys back in the car, mortified, and left.  i'm not going to lie though, i definitely had to laugh, but not where brooks could see me.  i now have to tell him we do not pee in front of the the door to chick-fil-a along with several other places he thinks is ok.  the only thing that would have made this better is if i had taken a picture, which i would have done if i had my phone handy...