Knoebels

I got free $25 tickets to Knoebels and it was time to spend them! I have never been there but heard so much good about it!
Kyra's note to Dad :)

Brandon slept over at Brody, so we got him from there and were on the way. 1.20 min  - really is not that bad. Best part was HOW unbelievably beautiful 81-North is. I have never drove this way before so I could not stop looking at all the directions. I stopped at a couple of places just to take a picture.

When we parked, we had lunch and there it started... I applied sunblock to kids' faces and necks and neither of them liked it on their necks. I do not blame them but what can I do? It is summer and they needed sunblock. They both complained. Then they complained about this and that. And this person was wrong and this was not right and on and on and on. I was ready to turn around and go home at this point.

Many rides that Kyra wanted to try were for "48 height and she is about 46.5. Super close but not quite yet. Brandon did not want much to do the rides. Kyra asked me to do Wipeout with her. Then Brandon did it.

We tried Twister. This one was crazy! I do not want to go on it again. It was too bumpy, way, way too bumpy for me.
Brandon tried water bumper boats

Brandon was excited to try antique cars. And he was really good at driving them!

At this point kids complained about this ride and we did and then what we did not. At this point I noticed that Brandon's nose was slightly running and he was sneezing a lot and I was afraid he was catching a cold. Another thing, I think, because he was at Brody's, they never get to go to bed early enough so he is always tired after being there. I am sure it added.

So in the end I just got them fed, we each got desert (Kyra finally sno-cone, Brandon dippy-dots and me best peach smoothie ever with caramel popcorn) and we were on the way home.

Brandon slept almost the entire time. I could see he was tired. I really hope to get there next year when Kyra is 48'!

Favorite Game

So far, roughhousing is definitely, kids' fav game! They act like two puppies playing with each other (just with much more noise :)

Where Does Kyra Sleep?

Somewhere, in the midst of the piles of stuffed animals.. There is little bit of space reserved for my 6 year old girl :)

Biking Buddies

The other day I suggested me and Brandon go biking while Kyra and Jimmy go for his haircut. We put the bikes in my car and drove to the trail.

We rode 5 miles. It was in addition to 8 that I did that morning (although then I went for speed and short time). This time it was slow pace, we just speeded up a few times just for fun. Brandon kept telling me how much fun it was and we talked for the entire time. About everything int he world. Did I mention how much I like our bonding time?
Love my lil' man!

Despicable Me-2

Here is another movie for the summer. We went for supper (of course, kids picked McD) and then rushed to the movie. Kyra rated at 8, I did about at 9 and Jimmy and Brandon about 5-6. I found a lot of silly funny humor. I liked it.

After that we stopped at Friendly's. I could not believe how much each of us ate. I thought I would have be be pushed out of the door :) Nice evening!

Cleaning Guy

Did I ever say how much Brandon likes to clean and organize? He LOVES to do it. He always organizes their hide outs, their shelves, their draws. (and then he schedules emergency meetings in their hideouts, so funny! :)
He is a great, great helper around the house. AND he puts toilet seat down. Any girl will appreciate him even more! :)

Legos

Brandon built a house with a garden and bathroom :)

 Cars built with NO instructions

Easy 26.2

We talk about races especially when we see somebody has a sticker on their car. When I started talking about training for full marathon (not me, my goodness, just in general), Brandon said:
- Oh, I can run 26.2 with no stop with no training.
Me:
- Wow, that is impressive, most people need to train for it.

How easy everything is when you are 8 :)

Dentist Visit and Boat Ride at City Island

In the morning I took Kyra for her dentist visit. She came with a big bruise on her chin that she got during rollerskating at Maddie's party. Ouch!

She does not have any cavities but needs ortho appointment which I already have for her.

After that I drove the kids to City Island for us to take a boat. The entire time we drove Kyra whined about how nasty floride tasted. When I offered her a bagel, she was gladly to have it and after it she said that was the only thing that helps in this case - after floride treatment. I will know for mine next time. :)

And yes, Brandon was proud to wear his cub scout uniform which a few people commented on. Walnut street bridge behind him.

Lunch time. Love how downtown is seen behind.

 Kyra's purple bruise matches her shirt

 The guy on the boat took our picture too fast. We did not have time to pose. Bummer!

 Love the sky. Actually, the whole shot - bridges in the back and half of a boat.

 Might be one of my two most favorite shots from this day.

All those bridges in between each other. The captain told us that we were going different direction than last year (when I mentioned something about the tour looks different). Apparently, it depends on the water level. I am glad we went this way. I liked seeing all the bridges.

Second fav shot. You can see how hot cocoa is being blown by them. Huh? Yes, I did say they wanted hot cocoa on a hot day! But I love them so they got it. :)

 Like the shot - lots of green upfront and bridges and downtown in the background

 This shot I took for laugh. It is cool to be on the island on GPS. :)

Ice-cream, of course and short walk finished it all.

Big Time Rush Concert!!!!!!

Finally that day came!!! I could not wait to come home from work that day! With brutal hot weather that we have been having the last week (close to 100F), I was sure we would boil alive even at 7pm but... We were sooo lucky! Storm started when we left and stopped when we parked at the Chocolate world, leaving us to nice 75F. God, thank you!!!

I could not believe how close our seats were! We were practically at the stage! Row 15th and right in the center, really! Our seats could have been here. (not my pic)

 That is how close we were!

Before even Victoria Justice, there were two singers. First, guy was okay, He is only 17, named Jackson Guthy. I have never heard of him, but after I googled him, I saw he seems to be a quite famous guy and travels with VJ and BTR to open their tour. Hmm

Second, the girl, Olivia something, in my opinion, was absolutely bad. Did not have the right energy, just said what she was supposed to ("Do you guys know what that is? Well I think...." and all those big philosophical things. I did not care for her.

With Victoria Justice people got more excited. She was okay. She is very very pretty and has a nice voice but I found that she was trying to impress with her looks a lot.

Here I spotted Carlos hanging out :)

Me and Kyra, who was stuck on my hip the entire time. When people were up, kids practically could not see. Brandon acted like he was old enough not to be held and he was upset that a girl two rows ahead was standing and he could not see. 

Just about to start.. Emotions are up high.. Anticipation is built up..

 A quick shot before :)

OMG, how much screaming there was when they finally pulled down the curtain! So exciting! Even though they are promoting their 24/7 album, they started with "Windows down" song. 

Kyra's fav is Logan and mine is Kendall. Here it goes:

Kendall and James.

 Logan and James

 James and Carlos

 James, Logan, Carlos and Kendall

 They acted just like the guys on the show, down-to-earth best friends

I loved this part too - besides lots of confetti falling, they also threw a lot of colorful beach balls for us to kick around.

 I figure Kendall is the only one who plays guitar

Song "We are". They asked everybody to turn on their cell phone lights on and they walked to the crowd. It was so pretty!

Jimmy and me lost track of how many songs they performed after about 10. When I checked their setlist for the tour, there were 18 songs. More than we hoped for!

After the last song, we kept yelling "BTR, BTR, BTR" and they came out and performed a couple more songs together in one. What great guys!

When show was over, I saw Brandon had wet eyes. When I asked why, he said because show was over. I know.. All good sometimes ends. It was a great show!

Kyra was on my hip the entire show - she was taking videos with her DS and just watching. She was not very interactive, even looked grumpy if you did not know her better. She looked very shy, the first real time I saw her smiling was when they asked if anybody wanted to go on the stage. Of course, all the girls screamed and raised their hands. When I tried to raise her hands, she acted very shy and did not want to. (Brandon raised mine, aha!)

He, himself, first was kind of shy, but then danced more and raised his hands up and waved, sang the songs. Here! :)

Whole impression of the concert - is absolutely amazing! Guys put sooooooo much energy into making sure we all had fun! They were very interactive with the crowd and acted just like in their show - like they are best friends. On the stage Carlos was the goofiest guy - making faces and making hearts to the crowd.

I would say on the scale on 1-10 the concert was 15 and all because of them. LOVED IT!

On the way home we saw a man jogging. Yes. At 11pm, he was jogging on the road. Kyra said it would be hard for this guy to find his home in the dark. Jimmy said may be he has radio on and he can hear it if he is lost. I said may be he has something being cooked and he would follow his nose. Brandon said it was not safe because, for example, if it was mac and cheese, it would have be be stirred and he could not do it because he was running. It is so funny how kids think!

Here Kyra is DONE for the night.

Busy Running

My athletic schedule looks pretty busy. Warrior Dash on August 24th, Phili rock-r-roll half on September 15th and me and Brandon doing Color run 5k on October 5th. I showed him youtube video and he said he wanted to do it. Even though we do not have to run the eintire time, we can walk if we want to, but we will try to train for it when school starts.
So excited!

Power Of Sleep

So the other morning I had my alarm clock set up for before 6am to go running. Then...I fell asleep. I was dreaming that I was late to pick Brandon up from school for 12.45. My car was having trouble with breaks so somebody was fixing it up for me (speaking Russian) while I got a voice massage from school (speaking English) that was monotonous and seemed endless when I was listening to it. Jimmy came to bed around that time and, my guess, I sort of awoke up and, still being groggy, thought that since I could not be in time to pick up Brandon for 12.45, I sure did not have enough time to go running at 6am. Apparently, I turned my alarm clock as well being half asleep (of half awake?). I never ran that morning.

Ohh, that power of sleep!

Swimming=Burning=Boiling

A few days ago we got invited by Emma's Mom, Tracy to their neighbour's pool. Their deal is: her hubby (Emma's Dad) mows their neighbour grass and they can use the pool. Great deal!

So we went, us and the kids. This week has been brutally hot - in 95s, somewhere it was 102, crazy! So I put sunblock on kids, from head to toes but I missed myself in two spots. My chest and under my eyes. Funny that I had my arms half burnt, because I put it on me in certain places, getting distracted as I was doing it. Later result was VERY bad for me. I has been 4 days and it still hurts. Will have to be better with it from now on!

Kids had so much fun! Brandon, as our only man, acted like one. He carried my heavy lunch bag, would not give it up to me. He helped Kyra put his mask on and accompanied her to the side of the pool. There was a wasp that was bothering kids. He got it from one swap for them.

Another interesting thing was that Tracy and me were talking about how our firstborns did not like losing. A chance came - Carly and Brandon decided to race each other. What happened next? As soon as Brandon saw he was losing, he... turned around and swam backwards. He did that trick twice until Kyra yelled that he was cheating. We were just watching to see what would happen. Carly did not get mad. Brandon just said that he did not know they raced to one side of the pool. I betcha it would not work every time. This one he was lucky :))

4 hours went soooo quickly! We all had a lot of fun! Great start of the week - sun, swim and friends! That what summer is about! :)

Talking In Your Sleep

Since it is Friday, Brandon asked if he could sleep with me.  He awoke me up twice when he talked. First time he said: "Kyra!" He sounced slightly annoyed but just slightly. 

Second time he said: "Can you scratch my back just over here?" I guess it itched :)

Swimming Fun

It seems like we live in the pool except the times I work. We go there every day after I come home from work. This one time Brandon asked if he could invite a friend and here came William with us. I could not believe it but when I said I would treat them all to ice-cream, the boys said they did not want any. Wow! Kyra and I got a scoop at PJ Scoops, I really loved their ice-cream.
Kyra is jumping from the highest board. No fear whatsoever

 It is not a love story, really :) it is a game they were playing :)

 Silly guys :)

Da Vinci Science Center (With Grossology Exhibit)

Allentown. After going to Bushkills, this trip should not have been bad except that Kyra whined majority of it because she was bored, cold or it was time to be there and we were not. Thank goodness for no traffic although.. I have to say Allentown roads are... odd... At least to say. They go in one direction and for u-turns you have to take a separate road to. It was made in a weird way.

So! First, this Grossology exhibit is the first one when you came in. Kids did not want to have their picture taken, just wanted to go,go,go but Kyra is trying hard not to smile here.

Peeeeee-you!

This exhibit called Yu Stink had you match the smell with the part of body (armpits, mouth, butt or feet).
Those stinkers of mine (no pun intended) made me first squeeze the bottle and smell and match the number. And then they said: "Oh, we would rather not smell, Mom" after I almost gagged on the smells. How cruel was that?!!! :)

 Nose-It-All - This big guy shoots snot and explains how noses function, allergies, sinuses and such. Yikes

 I want to go back to being 10!!!

 Kids fav - Toot-Toot center. Apparently it is all about the vibration! 

And LOUD!

 Burp Man - shows how sphincter works - this guy "drinks" soda and then lets out the loudest burp!

They say most people burp 15 times a day. Yikes! 

Yes, we know the steps - we played this game - brain, stomach, esophagus and then mouth. pu!

 I wondered!

 Surgeon in training

 Brandon is taking it seriously!

This one was called What is Nano? Highlights of science of very small particles. You could magnify some some things in like 500 times on the computer. CRAZY!

 What's on Earth exhibit. Kids were looking for a queen bee

They have two snakes there - one of them, corn snake, we got to touch. Brandon is holding the skin it shedded.

That is the one. Bumpy on the top, smooth on the bottom

 Part of What's on Earth? You can pick any background and then stand under this TV to see yourself on TV

 There was also a hurricane stimulator which we did not try. It looks sort of like a phone booth and when you push a button, it blows 78mph winds. CRAZY!

This one was fun too. I tried it with Kyra. Those are three different colors that you could combine in any order. Interesting how many colors/shades you could make out of them.

This was was my fav! First we sprayed warm water on the ice and then watched under microscope how it was getting frozen. Absolutely stunning picture!

Watts up? Highlights electricity, light and human senses. 

Exhibit showing normal way of a person with healthy eyes sight sees. Then four types of diseases and and on computer we could see through those eyes that have those conditions. I do not wish anybody have any of them!

 Brandon is trying to see how hard he needs to pedal to make light bulbs light up.  Talk about green!

Keva Build It Up! Just like my parents - Brandon figured out ON HIS own how to build that kind of stairs. he is AMAZING!

 Kyra is at work

On the second floor they had more very science oriented stuff. Sort of interactive but not really. Brandon really liked working on this path to see which ball (heavy/light) will go faster. 

Before leaving, as always, we hit the gift shop. Brandon got a small backpack, Kyra did not get anything after she broke a plastic cup there. Final picture before we headed home.