End of Summer...

I think I am getting the end of summer blues today. Tomorrow is the last day off before Gavin starts school, we took down our pool this weekend and it seems there will be no more time to sit around the fire in the evenings and just enjoy. So I feel a little blue.

At the same time it is really exciting to start a new school year, work with my returning and new students and also see what Gavin and Garek learn. So I guess we cannot stay in one place for very long, and it will only make us appreciated next summer all the more!

SHOTS!

So on Friday Gavin had his 8 year old check up. (luckily no scans a Children's right now, so just regular doctor visits are nice). But he needed some shots- vaccinations. There were only two so it wasn't such a big deal. Then I remembered that Garek did not get his 5 year old shots during his five year check up because he was not feeling well. So, they dug out his records and prepared his shots....5 of them!!! Wow he did not like that idea at all! In fact he made so much noise that when we went to leave the receptionists both looked at me with sympathy. (I wonder how many people heard his screaming) Anyways, we went to McDonald's for Happy Meals as a reward and by the time they were done playing in the play land all was forgotten. That is, until later in the evening when Garek ended up with a fever..poor guy. Then on Saturday, Gavin ended up with a fever. Good news is, now they are both fever free and we seem to be passed the vaccination side effects (cross your fingers as the measles side effects can occur up to 10 days later).

Dunk Tank

At the Wait reunion there was a dunk tank and Gavin decided he wanted to try it out. Not just by throwing a ball, but by actually being the target of the dunking! I have to state that Gavin would not even put his under water last summer, and now he is willingly sitting on a dunk tank where he realizes he will be completely submerged in the water!! Here are a few shots of Gavin in the dunk tank and also of Garek trying to dunk Cousin Bobby.

Gavin getting ready for the dunk

Falling in!

That wasn't so bad, was it?!

Getting back out with Uncle Jonny's assistance

Garek is working hard at getting the target with Grandpa Guy's encouragment

Uncle Jonny "assists" Garek in the dunk!

Surprise!

So this seems to be the year of Dobo surprise parties! My sis in law Jody (along with Katrina) threw me a surprise 10th year anniversary personal shower. What is this you may ask? Last winter Jody and I were discussing the fact that once you have been married for 10 years or so is when you should have a personals shower (a bridal shower with lingerie as well as regular shower gifts). This a good way to recognize the milestone, restock towels and other shower type gifts, as well as allow women to gather and recognize the things that made them fall in love and continue to grow in love.

Anyways, Jody must have been listening to me, because last Saturday Matt took me over to Jake and Jody's (I thought we were picking them up to go out to dinner), and after Jody answered the door, Matt gave me an invite...to my own shower. It was a complete surprise!! In the living room there was my mom, mother in law, sister in laws, grandmother in law and Jody's sister. It was great. Jake and Matt went back to the Dobos to help my father in law Mark care for the four boys, and us ladies had a fabulous dinner party. During the evening we reflected on my marriage to Matt, and they even gave me a quiz, like a newly wed game, where they had asked Matt a series of questions the night before. I got all of the questions right!! For you married folks, here are a couple of the questions, see what you think your spouse would answer:

Husband's shoe size:
Husband's favorite color:
Where would you go on a date right now?
Where would go on a dream vacation?
Where and when was your first kiss?
Where and when did you first meet?
What is your husband's favorite food?

As I previously stated, it was a great evening of relaxation! Thanks to my family for making me feel so special and taking time to recognize mine and Matt's love!! When I married I also joined a new family...I was blessed and still am.

Matt's Birthday

So some of you may have realized that neither Matt nor I blogged about his birthday. The reason was...we were at a family reunion. In talking with Matt we decided to focus on Gavin when we did get back to blogging, so he was in effect overlooked. So here it is...a huge HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY to the love of my life!! Matt was so sweet that on his birthday (08-08-08) he was busily helping my family (the Waits) prepare for a pig roast for the family reunion. Isn't that nice?! Here are some pics of the wonderful pig Matt smoked. It was super delicious and he received kudos from the whole Wait clan!!

Meet Dudley

Dudley is a Bearded Dragon. He is Gavin's new pet. He is really friendly and will sit on your hand. Gavin had indicated he wanted a new pet for his birthday, so we talked about pets he could take care of. We even found a website that told us the easiest to care for pets etc. (Do not get a horse, they are at the top of the list for needing a lot of care!!)

Bearded dragons are more friendly that other lizards, wanting to hang out with you. They will even put up their front foot in a wave as a sign of submission. Dudley is pretty smart, and so far the only thing we have had to worry about is making sure he cannot see his food from his cage, because he hangs out staring at the crickets all day long :) I personally was concerned about the crickets...I am not a fan. However, they have been pretty easy to manage and we have not had any escapees (*knock on wood*).

Birthday Celebration!

Since Gavin was turning the old age of eight, we decided he could chose how to celebrate his birthday. He chose between a kid party with friends here at home, or he could bring a couple of friends somewhere special. The wise one he is, he chose going somewhere with a couple of friends. In July, I found out about a great exhibit at the Minnesota Science Museum- Star Wars!! As you have noticed in past postings, Gavin and Garek love star wars (recall the Darth Vader limerick?) So he chose a couple of friends (Avery and Isaac)who also really like Star Wars to go with us.

There were really cool activities to do in the exhibit. The boys made flying cars by using magnetic forces, they saw a robot show, built star wars cities, drove a hover craft, saw many displays about aircraft/spacecraft, scenery and costumes from the movies, and they also built a little robot and even programmed it with simple commands. All in all it was great fun!!

Garek demonstrated his engineering future while he was building a robot...he really likes to know how things work and he takes things apart to figure it out! This hands on approach to star wars was right up his alley!!

After we finished going through the star wars exhibit, it was time to find lunch. Matt and I had previously figured out that there was a McDonald's only a few blocks away, and right now they are giving out star wars toys in the happy meals- so that is where we went to eat lunch. We tried getting the boys' picture next to Ronald McDonald, but as you can see they were busy climbing all over him.

After lunch, we hiked back to the museum and looked at the other "regular" displays. We saw dinosaurs, animals, weather, and human body exhibits. Gavin, Garek and I even did a short lab experience where we got to look at cheek cells. As a scientist, I love it when my kids are interested in real life science. Garek really liked the microscope too. Here you will see us in our protective gear: lab coats, goggles, and gloves.

Once the boys were worn out (as well as Matt and I), we headed to Grammy and Grampy's in Chaska. There we ate hot dogs and cupcakes and ice cream. It was a great ending to an awesome day!! Later Gavin told us he had a really awesome birthday!