99% of the time Kade and my conversations are about sports, farming and construction jobs, with each topic getting their equal share.  If I had a dollar for every time he's told me about a pretend: game he has played in (and won, of course), farm and/or field chore he's accomplished and every house he's built for me I'd be a multi billionaire.  But every once in awhile our conversation turns deep and philosophical, such as this gem we had the other day:

Kade:  "Mom, what does Jesus eat?"

Me: "Hmm, good question.  I think he probably eats the same kind of food we eat."

K:  "So, Jesus probably eats green beans?"

Me:  "Yeah, I think he probably does."

K:  "Do you know who else likes green beans??"

Me:  "Who?"

K:  "Santa Claus!!"

Me:  "You think so?"

K: "No Mom, I KNOW so!!!  Santa DOES like green beans!"

Me:  "Good to know."

Last Friday Kade wanted to sleep outside in the tent so we set it up and Erik joined him.  Of course you can't camp in your backyard without a bon fire and s'mores, right?!

I probably shouldn't point out what's in Erik's hand (ahem, fire starter).  Somebody wasn't a boy scout!  The wood was a little wet though so I won't hold it against him :-)

He had a lot of cute help!

I also had a lot of cute help setting up the tent!

What is it about playing in an empty tent?  It's the best!

Last weekend Lady A and her mom came for a visit.  The original plan was to go to the Chutes and Ladders park, that's actually set up like the game!  However, the weatherman was 100% inaccurate and it ended up raining all morning.  Half way to the cities we changed plans and decided to go to the MN Zoo instead.  The weather finally did cooperate around noon, everyone had a blast and neither of the boys fell/jumped into the tiger compound (which was a very real concern of mine).  I'd say the day was a success!!

Of course we'd be surrounded by tons of exotic creatures, animals we'd never be able to see in their natural habitat and what do you think Kade was most excited to see?  It also happened to be the same exhibit that we had the hardest time getting Mason to leave.  You guessed it, the farm exhibit.  The cows, the barn and the tractor--that's what they couldn't get enough of.  Ridiculous :-)

A terrible picture of Kade but the shark is owning it!

I love this picture of Mase!  It reminds me of a picture from the 70's when those mirror image shots were all the rage.

My little monkeys watching the little monkeys.

Not a great picture of the boys but the penguins sure do look cute!

There was a little splash park that Mason wanted to run into when he was fully clothed.  I stopped him, undressed him and let him go.  Of course that's when he became hesitant!  Little stinker!

No one else had their shirts off because no one else could compete with those washboard abs.  A belly hanging over the waist has never looked so good!

This past weekend we took our first camping trip of the summer.  We packed up and headed down to Lanesboro for the weekend.  It was our first time ever going camping with just the 4 of us so we were a little worried Kade was going to get bored without any friends to play with.  Turns out there's lots of kids at the campground in the same predicament!  Kade found a group of 3 boys to play with and had a blast with them all weekend.  Although they were 9, 8, and 7 he kept right up with them!

Mason even found a little buddy to play with as well!!

We took advantage of the great bike trail system and biked from our campground into the town of Lanesboro.  It was a 3.5 mile journey one way.  We were so proud of Kade because he biked on his own the whole way there and the whole way back!  We figured he probably rode about 10 miles that day if you include the million and 1 laps he and his friends did around the campground.

Although we were happy Kade found buddies, we were a little disappointed because it meant he wanted to play with them instead of hang out with us most of the time.  Mason kept us entertained/busy though!

Mason getting into a popular campground pastime:  Walking your dog with a drink in your hand!

Kade climbing trees at Grandpa and Grandma H's house.

The boys love riding all sizes of 4 wheelers together :-)

Helping dad rake the lawn after a fresh mow!

Last week my brother came up with the girls while Evelyn was visiting a friend in Dubai.  We got to spend 5 days with Vivienne and Noella!!  And Jeremy too, but who cares about the adults :-)  

Kade and Mason were in heaven with so much play time.  We were sad when they had to leave, the next time we see them is going to be an even bigger adventure.  They are moving to Atlanta in a few weeks, so no more 7 hour drives--we'll be taking to the friendly skies from now on!

I just love this picture of Mase.  He looks so old!!

I had a better picture of these 2 but for some reason it's not transferring to the computer.  Oh well, it's still a cute picture of the little cousins.

And, here's the big cousins!  Vivi cannot get enough of her Kade Man.  I think she hugged him and told him she loved him about a million times a day.  Kade's starting to act like he's "too cool" for that kind of thing but I know he feels the same.  He was pretty sad when he had to say good bye.

My handsome little men!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E...

…enough said.