Ashley Soccer

Ashley had her first pre-K soccer game today. The weather was perfect and she was so excited to be there. The first field she was on was a bit crowded, but once she was put on a team of 4 she really shined. Scoring a goal in the first few min, and 3 more after that! She had a great sense of ball control and how to navigate the field.

Luke, did however, make navigating the side lines a little challenging. Here he is wearing the side line marker. We typically got it off his head before it caused any confusion.

Ashley was very happy, and when her tounge wasn't out (she gets that from her Mom's side I guess- taking after MJ) she was all smiles. Here she was grinning ear to ear because the ball that went out of bounds nearly hit me with the camera.

Can't wait for next weeks game. More pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/brandonmbrown/AshleyS1stSoccerGame#

Camping with Friends

Here are some pictures from our Labor day weekend camping trip to Kettle Moraine (30 min north of Lake Geneva, WI) with our friend's Mike and Krista and their son Will. Things we learned:
- Our kids LOVE being outside (The kids, especially Luke spent most of the weekend smiling)
- Camping can be comfortable and easy when you go with very well prepared friends
- Weather was amazing. (We had "a cloud" pass in front of the sun at 11:12 on Sunday. Sunny by 11:14)
- Vacations with a 2 hour drive are easier than those with a 18 hour drive
- Luke loves playing in the mud (wait, we already knew that)
- Good friends are a gift from the Lord.

Notable Quote:
On the drive there, looking at a street sign, "Dad, what's the word on the street?" - Ashley

Camping | Thacher Island

On Monday afternoon Bob (my brother in law) and I paddled out to Thacher Island and saw a sign that said "campground". We immediately went into planning mode. Missy was cool enough to offer to stay behind with the kids for a night while Bob, Alli and I scrambled together enough camping gear in the dry bags (and garbage bags) we had and kayak back out to the island.

We left at 7:30 and it was getting dark quick. An intense paddle got us to the island just in time and the couple who are inn keepers were cool enough to not only reopen the boat house for us, but also to pull a trailer around for us and drive our gear to the campsite. We set up camp just before dark, loaded on the bug spray and explored the island.

The first thing we did was to walk around to the inland side of the island, call home and confirmed that we could blink flashlights at each other and it was visable. Our morse code was really rusty so we stuck to talking on the cell phone. We then explored around the island (navigating around the worlds largest Sea Gulls (some looked to have 3 ft wingspans). Walking around they were cat sized. Freeky; Anyway, the Inn keepers had left the lighthouse unlocked for us, so we went up to it and took some pictures of the cool, though creepy entrance. We then marched up the 137 stairs (Alli counted) and got within feet of the red light. The view was amazing. The moon was shining bright and the waves were crashing down below.

The highlight of the trip for all of us came when we went down the top ten stairs and noticed what we had not before: A door. I opened it to find an outer door. Opening that reavealed to us the walkway around the top of the lighthouse. It was adrenalin pumping, wind blowing, exposure that was so cool. The moonlight was fascinating. It made me think of Psalm 19: A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

We got back down to camp, had a quick snack and settled in for a good nights rest. Worked out great until at 12:15, something triggered the two, very loud fog horn systems on the island. The two horns had different pitches and sequences and seemed to go off ever 15-30 seconds for a good majority of the night. See Gulls also added to the volume factor- so that answered the question we had earlier in the night of "Why would we be the only ones here? this is amazing" But we would do it again in a heartbeat.

The noise had us up at 5 am and up in the top of the lighthouse again for sunrise. The paddle back home was smooth and wonderful and much more restful without a pending darkness.

There are some pictures posted on the Picasa site. Photos

Beach Photo

We have had 3 perfect beach days. Here are some of the photos put together in a collage.

Back to the beach!

Summer Vacation 2009

We have arrived the beach an so the blog will get a bit more active for a while- and I have relinked our blog to our FB site too. Seems like the best way of sharing the joy of this vacation with all of you.

We drove through the night on Friday. Left Chicago a little before 2pm, skirted around city traffic and made our way across the country. The kids were great, required only a handful of potty breaks, and fell asleep in PA, woke up in MA. We made it in just under 17 hours with only 42 min in stopped time. Heavy fog through most of NY and western MA slowed us down a bit. So we were at the beach by 7am.

The weather was perfect on Saturday. The kids had a blast and everyone got a nap at some point in the day so we all slept well last night; thanks to the sound of the waves, a hard day of playing.

So, with all that God has blessed us with, we took some time this morning to make a list of things we are thankful for.
fun beach| house | safe travels | yummy food| God |sleep | family | fun neighbors | answered prayer | happy kids| health | wave sounds | Luke's awesome attitude | 2 great days of beach weather

More posts coming soon with pictures if I get my act together.

Memorial Day Weekend

 

Hi all. Happy Memorial day!
We had a fun and busy weekend. Check out the pictures of some of our adventures at our photo site

Nicole got some flip flops this weekend. Take a listen to this to see how she says it. We think it's funny.


Oh, and for some other fun, check out Reason 738 why Missy doesn't leave Brandon at home with the kids unless she has to.
Zip line video (Photo credits to Ashley)

Swing Set Complete

Time Lapse in motion this time; (sorry about the low quality video.)
Again, huge thanks to Rich, Bob, Alli and Matt. Missy- you are an
amazing mother!

Thanks for a fun and successful project.

Swing-set time-lapse

8 hours of work- amazing family; thanks Rich, Alli, Bob and Matt.  Missy was amazing to let us have such a power tool filled Mother's day- not to mention be such a great mom that this is what she really wanted for her birthday/mothers day.  Always giving the best to her kids.

Very happy with the progress and hoping to finish up tomorrow or Tuesday.

Kids say (and hear) the darndest things

Actual conversations heard in the Brown house:

End of a very busy day I say "lets just go to Taco Bell". (Closest fast food to our house and Missy hates it so it pretty much is just an expression for lets eat out cheap and quick since we never go.) Ashely says, "I want to go to Tinker Bell!" Nicole jumps around chanting, "Dinner with Tinker Bell, Dinner with Tinker Bell!"
Tinker Bell didn't show up, but the kids ate their taco.

Kids sitting on the couch with a backpack. Dad says, "What are you doing?"
Ashley: Going on a trip. Waiting for our airplane.
Dad: Where you going?
Ashley: Hawaii. We are going to see Julia and we are going to ride on an octopus. My baby [doll] has never been.
I should point out that neither have they- not that their mother has not tried, but we went skiing instead.

Nicole likes to do as much parenting as she is able so it is good for her that she has a little brother. The other day they are sitting at the table, I was working from home in the other room and I hear their mom telling Luke to sit down in his highchair. (He loves to try to stand up if we have not yet buckled him.) I tuned it out and continue working. Nicole, who makes all of her "S" noises "SH" starts telling Luke: "No Sh_it! No Sh_it!" In context and used to Nicole's "accent" Missy didn't even notice it, but from the other room, pretty funny lunch "transcript".

Photo Catchup

  March was a busy month and I have promised many of you some updated pictures of the kids. Luke has not been growing as fast as he did at first but he is looking and acting older each day. His smile is his default facial expression and now that we have his diet more figured out he is a much happier kid. There is a photo here of his first haircut.
 
 
 

We all battled a 2 week period where one or more of us were sick with something but with the help of some antibiotics we are coming out of the woods and we are really looking forward to enjoying the nice spring weather in store.
More, shorter, posts coming soon.

Ski Trip Highlights

We had a great time in Steamboat, CO. After finding the deal on Wed and buying on Friday, we were there Sunday through Thursday. Missy deserves a wife/mother of the year award for dealing with my spontaneity and packing perfectly for a great trip. The weather was warm and sunny- so while that meant no powder days, it was great for teaching and enjoying skiing.
So we asked everyone what their highlights were:
Ashley's highlights

1. "Going fast on my skis"
   
2. "Hanging out with Popi"
   

Nicole's highlights

1. "going potty" (with a big smile- have we mentioned she is potty trained now? and yes, that was her first response)
   
2. "going on airplane"
   
3. "skiing" - or rather getting pulled around on skis
   
4. Riding the Gondola
   
5. Chilling on the sun deck with Popi
   

Luke's highlights

1. Sleeping in the stroller
   
2. Taking a plane ride
   
3. Watching Dad and Ashley ski
   
4. Bouncing on Popi's knee
   

Missy's highlights

1. Seeing Ashley's new (and Brandon's old) excitement for skiing
   
2. Getting on skis for the first time in 5 years
   
3. Family time
   
4. Being promised a warm weather vacation as a prize as recipient of the "wife of the year" award
   

Popi's highlights

1. Time with the grand kids
   
2. Time in the mountains
   
3. Cross country skiing so fast his pole broke
   
4. Having the Gondola stop for 5 min on our way down the mountain from our farewell lunch at the top
   

Brandon's highlights

1. Teaching Ashley to Ski
   
2. Skiing with Missy
   
3. Skiing with Tom & Sandy (friends who live there and showed me over 18 miles of Steamboats best skiing in a little over an hour and a half. Then helped me coach Ashley)
   
4. Skiing in the trees
   
5. Skiing tele (free the heel- free the mind)
   
6. Seeing Nicole happy on skis
   
7. Great time with family (kids were fantastic)
   
8. Traveling with Rich
   
9. Being in the mountains
   
10. Oh and skiing (steep, bumped, glades, wide open, groomed, pretty much anything)
    
11. The whole trip was such a blessing
    

See more pictures AND VIDEO's at our photo site here

Steamboat Springs

We've had 2 amazing days of skiing. This morning Ashley and I rode the Gondola up and took 1 hour, 3.5 mile ski down to base where we met up with Mom, Popi, Nicole and Luke. We put Nicole on skis for the first time (pictures of that coming soon... maybe even video) Then Ashley Mom and Dad rode up a chair lift, got some video of her coming down the hill and now we are back for lunch. This afternoon, with naptime, Missy and I are getting some skiing in. Off to the slopes!

Snow Penguin

 

We've posted more photo's of our snowy fun on our photo site: http://picasaweb.google.com/brandonmbrown/wintertimefun

In this picture from yesterday, Ashley is just getting up from making a snow angel. Today she wanted to make a snow penguin. I wasn't familiar, so she showed me. She basically did a belly flop in the snow and flapped her arms like a penguin. Quite amuzing. And when she got up, it did kinda look like a penguin had just taken a slide in the snow. You should try it sometime.