Soggy camping

We went camping out in the country at my parents house this weekend. The weekend started out a little wet. We hastily put up the camper in between rain showers. Also, my parents lost power the first night. So much for having AC in the camper though we didn't really need it because the storms had cooled it off.
The kids enjoyed tractor rides with grandpa, fishing and just visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Wilke.


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A visit from Mrs. Cruthis

Drew's teacher visited our house today. And Drew seemed to already like her. He was very social (no surprise there) and wanted to show her his cool flip flops with the Hot Wheels fire and his red car. He starts school after Labor Day.
Here he is with his binoculars on (couldn't you tell) and making a silly face. Believe it or not she thought he was "a sweet and polite little boy."


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Back to school

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Blake started 1st grade today. He was very excited. He loves school and could not wait to go back. There are 21 kids in his class, 7 of them from his kindergarten class and a few who he already knew, he says.
Here's some pics of him from when he visited his classroom last Thursday and from his first day. Click on the photo to see more at dropshots.


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Hello again

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So, I haven't posted since April. So much for your weekly Blake and Drew fix. Well, anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of our vacation in Oregon.
We spent the first part of our week in Portland for the Klingsick Family Reunion and second part in Bend, Oregon, for the Payne "Fathead" family reunion.
We enjoyed our week in Oregon. Blake couldn't decide if he wanted to stay or go home. His favorite part of the week was our trip to Mount St. Helen. He loved seeing a real volcano. Drew's favorite part was "the secret hideout at Aunt Diane's and playing with that other boy." That other boy would be Gibson.
Thanks to all of our relatives who played host in Oregon. We all enjoyed our trip there and had a great time visiting with all of our family, including all of the new additions.
I've posted all my pictures on dropshots. You used to be able to click on a picture on this blog and it would take you there. But dropshots changed their website, so I'm not sure if that works. If it doesn't, click on this link:
http://www.dropshots.com/nklingsick#

If anyone has pictures of the white-water rafting trip, please email them to me. We forgot about going to look at them the day after and don't have any. I'll post the pictures and any others you might want to shre on dropshots so everyone can enjoy.
Feel free to comment on here or at dropshots to share your favorite stops of the reunion.


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'I got my nailgun'

Drew has become Dad's little helper around the house. When Scott mows the lawn, Drew gets out his little mower and follows him around the yard. The other day I asked Scott to take a look at the dryer. It was making a clunking noise. Scott started looking at it, and Drew disappeared downstairs. He came up with his toolbox and his nailgun saying, "I can help. I got my nailgun!" Too cute!
Why is when they are 3, they are happy to help, but when they become teenagers, or for that matter 5-year-olds, it's "ahhh. you want me to do what!"

Springtime fun

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We went to Eckerts for the Easter Egg hunt and to visit the bunny. Believe it or not Blake loves that sweater vest. I think it's because it has matching socks. He wanted to wear it to school on Friday because they were having their Easter party. I of course did not want it to get filthy, so I told him, "No way!" Scott of course groaned because they matched. I think they look cute!
If you look closely at the picture, you will notice the rabbit is holding a carrot. When Drew found out we were visiting the Easter Bunny, he insisted on bringing him a carrot. Here he is on the way to Eckerts.


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They also rode ponies and got to hold bunnies among other fun things. Here's a picture of Blake with a bunny who really wants to get away!


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Saturday, March 31, 2007

Fun in the bathtub

Scott discovered the real reason not to leave your children alone in the bathtub. He let the kids take a bath in the tub in our bathroom. Our tub has jets! He told them not to turn them on after Drew asked if he could. Scott left the room briefly, and returned when he heard the kids screaming down the hallway. When he arrived in the bathrooms, the jets were shooting straight up and there was a few inches of water on the floor. Drew initially confessed to the crime (dad is pretty sure Blake egged him on), but then after realizing just how mad Dad was, Drew claimed they "turned on audomaddically." That's his story and he's sticking to it!
Luckily, I was at work and didn't have to clean up the mess. I just had to do the 2 loads of towels Scott used to clean up the mess!

Austin's Space Adventures

I wrote in a previous blog item that Blake had won a Young Author award for a book he wrote. There were only 4 kids out of his entire school that got picked. Three got picked to represent the County (Blake and two others) and one child moved on to the state competition. Here's Blake reading his award-winning book. It's in two takes.


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It only took him 98 days of school . . .

Blake came home with a "red light note" for the first time. He got it for talking when he wasn't supposed to. To all of you who know Blake well that should come as no surprise. When Scott asked him, "What we were going to do about this?" He said, "Throw it in the trash."
It happened on the 98th day of school. I know this because they celebrated the 100th day two days later. I thought we'd have red light notes on a weekly basis, so I guess I should be happy it took this long.
Of course since then, he already come home with another one. This one for being contrary. Considering his nickname was Mr. Contrary when he was 3, this doesn't surprise me either.
Here's hoping the second half of school gets better.

Yeah for Blake

I posted in a previous post that Blake had written a book for a Young Authors contest. He was recently chosen to represent Madison County. Only a handful of kids from his school were selected. Once he gets his book back I'll post a few pages from it. He gets to attend a school board meeting where he will be honored and also a tea at the Edwardsville Library. He will also get to attend a Young Authors Conference at Edwardsville High School.

Happy Birthday to Drew!

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We spent Drew's 3rd birthday (that's right, he's 3!) in Kansas City at the Great Wolf Lodge www.greatwolflodge.com/Locations/Kansas/. We had such a great time, we're already planning our next trip back.
We took the Amtrak there, and it was a great idea, at least on the way down there with the bad weather we were having. When we were supposed to return on Sunday, however, the train had shut down because of the ice storm. Luckily, we had rented a car, and were able to drive that back to St. Louis.
Wolf Lodge has a huge indoor waterpark, and the kids had a great time. Drew even went down all of the big waterslides. He liked everyone but the yellow one because it a part where it was really dark for quite some time. "Yellow, bad." One of the slides starts and ends inside, but most of it is outside the building. Pretty neat (but not cold, the water keeps it warm), considering the snow and ice we had that weekend. Blake enjoyed getting dumped on by the big bucket, but I think Uncle Don may have enjoyed it more.


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We also visited the T-Rex Cafe to have a birthday celebration. www.trexcafe.com
We built dinosaurs (think Build-A-Bear except it was dinosaurs) and also enjoyed the dinosaur show. Uncle Don and Aunt Beth joined us as well as great uncle Ric and Chris.


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All in all, it was a great weekend despite the weather! Saturday was a particular busy day, and the kids were out cold in their Wolf Den in less than 5 minutes.


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Check out more pictures here. Just click on them to make them bigger.
Saturday, January 13, 2007