~AMMO'S AWAY~

Oddly enough, my kids are ready to go back to school now. We have had a fun summer. It went by way too fast some days...BUT, was never-ending at most times. All in all, we had a great time. No major trips for us. It is never a good time to travel because of Daddy's work.

We did have some very impromptu jaunts here and there and hung out all together most of the summer. Jaxi is ready to go back and be with his friends. Unlike Binky, Jaxi's best friends don't live next door, and most were traveling all summer so he has had a summer filled with girls...and he's done with, "all things girl!"

From quickie trips to Dairy Queen and Tempe Town Lake (that was actually a disaster but lesson learned), Wii tournaments, our first trip to the circus, dollar store days, to my birthday bash at Big Surf with my favorite little people, or a day on the lake riding jet skiis and boating, to a week without my oldest babies when they ventured to San Diego with their Granparents, our summer has been pretty well jam packed with fun.

Our last hoorah was simply, JUST FOR JAXI. Jaxi is going through a serious, "umm, where is mommy?" phase. It is killing me. I go to the store without the kids...he sneaks upstairs to call my cell phone checking to make sure I am ok. I get on the computer, he sits at the table next to me..waiting for me to be done. I literally can not goto the bathroom without a knock on the door of ..."just checking momma." I am hoping this last fun outing will get him out of his summer neediness phase. Otherwise, he is going to have a hard time in 3rd grade!!!

So onto the days excitement....We have become good friends with a military firearms training instructor and we were invited to a military shoot. Jaxi was so excited (as was MOMMY) There were tanks to shoot at and guns galore. Jax, Tommy and I shot a saw and grenade launcher. Jax was very respectful of the .50 cal gun and chose not to shoot that. (It scared the daylights out of him when we stood next to it and the blast hit us from 10 feet away) We then got the chance to shoot the training simulator and do law enforcement type shoot don't shoot scenarios. Jaxi was in a real life video game! Thankfully, my big boy walked away from the day with a new found respect and understanding of how heavy these weapons are and what kind of damage they do. He also told me that he thought it was cool his mom got in on the action. There were not any other women shooting today!!!

Binky just watched. That is what I fully expected. She was not interested in touching the guns or getting dirty. That is where her and I differ. She was the cutie in the pink talking to everyone!!! What an amazing end to summer 2008!!! It wasn't the grandest summer ever, but it was fun!

Lessons learned this summer will trickle into next with plans to keep them busier at camps, on swim teams, and at sports practices.... along with CROSSFIT for kidz.

Here's to a wonderful summer gone by and a new school year yet to come!!! A super quick thank you to Jon our wonderful friend who invited us out for a wonderful day together! A thank you also goes out to Grampie Frank for coming and spending the night with us and then baby-sitting Pudgie today!!!

P.S. For the 3 emails I have already received...YES we were shooting "live" ammo. Yes, my eight year old shot live ammo. The grenade launcher was real. No I do not think it is a bad idea for Jax to be shooting a real gun...I shot my first gun at 5. I believe that if you show your kids and teach them the truth about these kinds of things you have taken the mystery that surrounds them away and they will not want to play with them when and if the opportunity ever arises!! AND YES, WE CAN TAKE FRIENDS WITH US NEXT TIME!!!