Today was Father’s Day and we spent some time at the pool, had a nice dinner – Dad cooked, and watched an episode of Elementary, followed by the first couple of episodes of Daredevil on Netflix.  Overall a pretty good day.

Father’s Day dinner

Sam and Alex made a trip down to Oak Island last week (Wed-Sat morning) to spend some time with the Friday’s (Kelly, Joe, Reid and Drew) as they invited them down to their summer rental.  Just a few days before there was two very rare shark attacks at the beach (apparently a shark attack had never been reported here before).  Based on that the boys didn’t spend too much time in the water, but did do a little bit of swimming, spent some time on the beach and they also went fishing.  Sam caught a small fish and a small shark and Alex caught a small shark.  Of course the boys released them back into the water, but they were pretty excited about catching them.  We picked them up on Saturday morning and then drove back through Wilmington to stop off at Carolina Beach.  This may not have been our best idea because it was of course the Saturday before Father’s Day and the roads, as well as the beach, was packed.  We walked along the beach for a little while and decided it was time to go home.

Tiny crabs

Alex’s shark

Mr cool and his tiny fish

Carolina Beach

What do you do when the heat index surpasses the century mark?   Well, what else – you go to the pool.  Hottest day of the year and it is only the middle of June.

Apparently, even if you just turned 13 years old you still love Dinosaurs.  Sam’s b-day party is underway…..

Mom trying to corral in the boys in the front yard, ca. 2003.  Of course she still has corral in the boys every morning during the school year… although it’s more verbal than physical now.  🙂

 Today was Sam’s actual birthday and we had a brief party for him at home.  Sam’s first request as an official teenager was a steak dinner.  So when Dad came home he cooked the boys a steak and got them some cupcakes.  Sam still has a birthday party with his friends (going to see the next Jurassic Park movie) and another one with Nana and Gung Gung next weekend.

Sam once again pulls down B’ Honor roll for the year.  He had some very high B’s (92%-93%) this year that were so close to being an A’ grade…. not to mention he had quite a few A’s too! We are very proud of his academic achievements and are hoping for some more A’s than B’s next year.  🙂

Another split decision today as Sam’s team won again by a landslide and Alex’s team lost to the same team as last week being short handed 1 player this time around.  Sam had 3 saves in today’s game but spent the rest of the time leaning up against the cross bars or posing for Mom (Sam did stay up until 3am last night as he went to an end of the year party at a friends house).
  Alex’s team lost 2 to nil as they could never get any offense really started.  Alex had 2-3 shots on goal and had a couple of good drives downfield while breaking some ankles on a couple of his opponents.  Alex was also sporting a new hairdo – the european soccer player look with a head band.
  Of course the most exciting news is that today was the last day of the season!  Mom and Dad can now hopefully sleep in a little on Saturday mornings and get some things done.  Only one more week of school left until summer.

About 11 years ago, Alex was driving Sam around in their Power Wheels.  By this September, Alex will probably be driving Sam around again, although probably not in a electric jeep.  Back and forth to school, soccer practice and possibly basketball practice too.  We just hope Alex can do a better job staying in his lane and he can keep off the grass.  Hopefully Sam will keep his hands to himself too.   🙂

  Sam and his class had their end of the year party at River Front North Park today.  Sam has been to the park a few times before with the cub scout group and other miscellaneous adventures but he had not been in some time.  Part of the day there was a nice picnic and another part was fishing.  Several of Sam’s friends caught quite a few fish, but they apparently were using different bait?  Anyway, Sam did manage to pull in a Catfish towards the end of the day.  All the fish that were caught were released after they were admired for a little while.  In Sam’s case he used the towel so he wouldn’t get slimy.