A Boy's Dream

Kinnick and Carver took a field trip to the West Branch Fire Station a couple of weeks ago for school. Of course, they had a blast and had many details to tell us about that night.

One of the volunteer fireman we are friends with took this picture of Kinnick in full gear. He told me our boys are smart little kids, as they were figuring out how everything works the whole time they were there.

Down......Set.......Hike

Carver just finished playing his first flag football season, in which I was also the coach. Let me tell you, trying to teach 8 or so pre-K and kindergarten boys the basics in football is pretty entertaining.

Kids constantly running towards the wrong endzone.............

Pulling their own teammates flags off........

And diving after each other's flags.

Carver actually did a really good job. He had a lot of fun and was really trying to understand the strategic side of football (not surprising). We had a fun time and look forward to next year, in which I think Kinnick will be joining us after watching his brother.

The Beautiful Black and Gold

We enjoyed another Hawkeye filled weekend last week as we tailgated at our house throughout the day prior to the Penn State game. After that, I headed off to the football game and enjoyed the awesome display of black and gold at Kinnick.

We then followed that up by taking the kids to the Hawkeye women's volleyball game on Sunday with our friends the Clarks. Go Hawks!

Many First's

This past month has been full of a lot of firsts in the Boelk household. The biggest of them probably being that all three kids are now going to school!!!!! Almost as important, if not more, is the fact that we no longer have any daycare costs!!!!!!!

Pictures of first day outside of school

Inside classroom

Taylor at her own locker!


Off to school.....

Another first was the boy's visit to the eye doctor for a full appointment since they were one.

Check out the cool shades they got after their eyes were dilated.

Kinnick also recently lost his first tooth! Grandma Pat ended up being the final puller. Thanks Grandma! Kinnick thought the tooth fairy was pretty cool.........well, at least the money the tooth fairy left.

And last not but not least, Amy who refuses to ever ride on a "murder"cycle and keeps telling the boys they never will, took a ride on our friend Dave's Harley. Dave has been bugging her for a long time about this and finally she gave in. It was only a 3 block ride, but the agreement was she would never have to do it again.

Twin Boys, 20 Minutes, and a Long Rope

This weekend, while I was trying to get the lawn mowed, the boys were out playing in our treeline while the girls were shopping. Shortly into the mowing Carver and Kinnick asked me for some rope, in which I provided with much curiosity.

A short time later, Carver comes running after me and the mower with much enthusiasm. I stop the mower hoping nothing bad has happened and Carver is overly excited and telling me that he launched some wood REALLY far and I had to come see.

When I get back to their project site I see the rope wrapped and tied around an old stump, then swung and looped around a branch of a downed tree, and then being held by Kinnick on the other side of a triangular pattern.

Yes, they had created their own giant slingshot/catapult with the rope and nearby surroundings and were slinging sticks and pieces of wood.

It was totally cool and I had to join in as well. We ended up launching some old cereal boxes folded up 20+ feet. I have some video of Carver demonstrating his launching techniques that I hope to add to the blog soon.

A Mouse in the House?

Nope, not in the house but in the grill! I opened up the grill to start cooking a quick dinner before Taylor's softball game and just as I was about to fire it up I looked down and saw this!

Yes, that is a nest of baby mice, curled up in a nice little nest at the bottom of our grill. What is crazy is that I just used the grill on Sunday for Father's Day so that little Momma' Mouse did not waste any time building a nest and having the babies.


There were six little, pink, ugly babies in the nest. Though, if you would ask our children they were really cute. Mama was sitting right there in the nest with them as the babies were all whimpering with their mouths open. So, I grabbed a shoe box with intents on capturing both the babies and Mom and moving them out to the field behind us.

That is actually a picture of Mom coming up to my phone (used as camera) as I tried to take a picture. When I went in for the rescue Mom took off and I couldn't find her. I put the nest and babies in a box and set them on the deck while I grilled. Every time I went in the house and came back out to check on the meat there was one baby missing. Mom would hope up the deck stairs and crawl over to box, grabbing one baby at a time in her mouth and moving them to their next "home". The kids and Amy made it home in time to actually watch the Mom make one of her extractions.

It was just another pretty cool "National Geographic" moment at the Boelk house.

Forever Friends

This past Sunday our family took a trip to Davenport for a visit with a group of close high school friends. Amazing as it is, we have continued to stay in touch for the past 17 years since high school graduation.......yes I said 17 years! What a great group of individuals and friends, and we always have a wonderful time when we are able to organize our various schedules and get together. Making that even more difficult is the fact that we are now spread all over the country in Seattle, Appleton, Pleasant Hill, West Branch, and Rock Island. Unfortunately we were unable to get everyone all together at one time, but at some point during the weekend everyone was present.

This recent gathering was the first in quite some time when we were able to get whole families together and kids were able to play together as well. We enjoyed a picnic outing to Vander Veer Park on a warm but beautiful day.

Our kids had a blast climbing and playing on the cool evergreen trees.

At the end of the festivities, a couple of our families enjoyed cooling off in the beautiful fountain.

Here is our friend's daughter soaking up the rays while enjoying the water.

Of course, my boys were mostly interesting in splashing, jumping, and climbing.

My daugher, in her soaking state, prior to getting back in the car to head home (without towels). Little did we know that you aren't actually supposed to be wading, swimming, or playing in the fountain. Nor did the other 20+ kids and families. We later found out when the police officer politely asked us to get out, in which we then noticed the large sign stating such rules.

It was a great afternoon and we cherish those times together with friends.