My Real Life

This weekend we headed to the beach for a vacation with my parents.

Real Man has to work, so he was only able to spend the weekend, and then headed back after dinner on Sunday.

The monkeys and I are here for the long haul.

Sunday was a good day.

There was an early morning walk.

Scooter rides.

Fun on the beach.

Baby Monkey’s “butt-trail” from the boardwalk to where we were sitting on the beach.

The mass exodus when the rain started.

Solitaire with Grandma.

An impromptu walk with Real Man and our two littlest guys when the rain stopped.

Dinner at the counter because the table is consistently covered by one jigsaw puzzle or another.

The day was capped off by a trip to Dairy Queen, but with Monkey Girl’s first lick of her cone, the ice cream fell to the ground and was covered in gravel.  There were tears and it just wasn’t a Kodak moment.

More tears when we said goodbye to Real Man, then inside to have some quiet time before we went to bed.

A good day and a great start to our vacation.

My kids love stomp rockets.

Like, seriously love them.

In the old house, we had to put the kibosh on them because there was nowhere to stomp where the rockets wouldn’t get caught in the trees.

In the new house, we’ve got the great backyard.

And so, there is much stomp rocket fun to be had.

It’s funny how such a simple toy can be so much fun.

Great reminder of the fact that it doesn’t have to be high tech or gadgety to engage the brain.

We bought these sneakers at the end of June to “get us through the summer.”

We bought them at Walmart, because we knew they were just supposed to last two months, through summer recreation.

Then, in the fall, we’d buy good, solid, sturdy sneakers.

Unfortunately, we still have about a month and a half to go and this is what they look like.

True, they aren’t great quality shoes, but seriously?

Monkey in the Middle grows fast, he plays hard.

There will never be hand-me-down shoes for his brothers.

Here’s our comparison, and I’m between and 8 and an 8.5 in women’s.

No petite feet for me, either.

But, my 8 year old?

Wow.

I was recently challenged, on Facebook, to do 5 crunches while Tiny sat on my chest.

Not one to back down from a challenge, I did it.

And had Monkey Girl record it.

I didn’t do it well.

But, I did it.

So, here it is.

Don’t judge.

So, I was thinking…

Wouldn’t it be fun if for this week’s Five Question Friday, the monkeys got to answer some questions?

It would definitely be a change, and even I’m curious what their responses to different questions might be.

So, what I’d love to have happen is for you, my loyal readers, to leave a question or two in the comments below, that you’d like one or all of the monkeys to answer.  If the question is for a specific monkey, just write “This question is for Monkey Girl: (or Monkey in the Middle, or Baby Monkey…you can ask Tiny, but I don’t think he’s gonna answer)

Depending on how many questions we get, the monkeys will answer your questions, this Friday, in lieu of our regular Five Question Friday post.

I hope you participate, because I think it will be a lot of fun!