KANAKUK 2011...Game On!

The boys just got back from a week at Kanakuk Kamp. It is a Christian Sports Kamp in Branson, MO. It was one of the best weeks of their lives! I feel so blessed that they had the opportunity to go.....

When the kids get there, they introduce each of them and make a big deal about them being there. Each kid feels so special. Then, they tell them what barn they will be in and their counselor comes up and gets them!

Here you can see Jackson being carried off to Barn 7 by his counselor!! He can't believe it!

Here is Drew being introduced....they told him they had been waiting all summer for him to get there and NOW camp could start!! He was carried off to Barn 5!

Each child picks a specialty sport that he will do all week. Jackson picked basketball. They do this sport

each morning and then in the afternoon, they are able to choose different things to do. At the end of the week, they put on a clinic for the parents to see what they did all week. He was showing off some of his new skills :)

Drew chose soccer of course. During the week, the camp posts pictures online of your children doing things, so you can see how much fun they are having. I got this one from their website. He looks serious!
All week, I never saw the boys wearing shirts and the outfits that I packed....forget it! They chose whatever they wanted and I had to let that go :) Drew is playing soccer in his bathing suit....whatever works!

This picture was also from the website. This was one of Jackson's favorite activities. It was "Man Day" at camp and they had to do manly activities. This is apparently the "hygiene challenge" They had to run and put shaving cream on their face, soap in their hair, brush their teeth with their finger, and gargle with mouthwash....then, run and put on a tie and sports coat....I thought Jackson had baby powder in his hair, but he assured me that was shampoo. Not very much of it....kind of like he does at home, I guess! He looks like he's in it to win it!

Another Man Day activity........I know it's upside down....but I don't know how to scan it differently and believe me, I've tried..........anyways, grilling was a must on this day and the boys had a grill off. The teams had to decorate a hot dog with the ingredients available.......marshmallows, pickles, chocolate sauce.....etc.....then, they had a taste tester who made the final judgement. Jacksons team designed a "TNT dog"...apparently spicy, and Drews team designed a "military dog"....they said both the other teams won on that challenge..........notice how everything is a challenge!

On the final evening, the parents get to come and see all that the kids have done all week. One of the best parts is hearing what these college counselors have to say about the boys. These counselors are the neatest Christian guys and great role models for the boys.
Jackson got the Leadership Award in his barn and was also given the character qualities of "Tenacious" and "Flexible"
His counselor Adam goes to Baylor and Andrew goes to Colorado State.

Drew had wonderful couselors as well. At Drew's age, there is a lot of homesickness and Drew experienced that. His counselor told me that he would go out on the porch with Drew at nighttime and pray with him. That helped Drew a lot. One of his counselors, Ryan, goes to Arkansas, and Sam goes to Auburn. Guess who wants to go to Auburn now????? Drew got the "Faith on Fire" award and his character qualities were "Persevering" and "Compassionate". They got it right :)

This is when we were reunited with the boys after a week. They both broke into huge smiles and then Drew started crying.....I think he had been holding a lot of his homesickness in all week, and when he saw us, he couldn't hold it in anymore. But Jackson, he wouldn't stop talking telling us about all the things he did........zipline, canoe trip, blob, pool trapeze, ropes course, water slides...the list goes on!

The theme this year was "Game On" Here are the boys just as we were heading out to drive back to Texas. It's been a week now and we are still hearing them break into song or a funny chant or hear another story of something that happened when they were there. Most importantly, they both told me that they became closer to God....I'm so proud of them and we can't wait until next summer!

A Wrangler Baseball Summer

Jackson played on a tournament baseball team this summer called the Wranglers. We played every weekend in June and it was HOT, but soooooo much fun!

Don't ask what Jackson is doing in this picture....probably getting crazy from the heat...

 Drew was also part of the action as bat boy for the team.  He took his job very seriously and led cheers in the dugout, and was also water boy. He even would come home and practice his pitching in case he was needed in a game :)

 Here is Action Jackson........ready for the ball..........

 And Swing!!!!!

 The first tournament they played, they won 1st place!! What a way to kick off the summer!

 Tournament Champs! Notice who else is in the front row with a trophy....

 Jackson had a great baseball summer and Drew did a great job as Wrangler bat boy......can't wait for next summer!

More from Washington...

One of our favorite museums was the Art Museum. Drew had studied several famous painters this year at school, so he was looking forward to seeing several of Picasso's originals. It was pretty cool! Here he is in front of one of my favorites....

Pointing at his famous signature...

 This piece was in the modern art section of the museum and I thought it was cool. Is it an owl or a fish?!?!

That afternoon, we boarded a bus and went to Mount Vernon. This was a stop I was looking forward to and it did not disappoint. I loved walking the grounds of the estate and imagining George and Martha walking the same path. They have preserved so much of the estate and his house, it is awesome. I especially loved seeing the bed that he died in (so weird to imagine)...the dishes that Martha picked out and to see how she decorated the home.
Jason and Drew are in front of the horse pastures on his estate.

Here we all are in front of the gates of Mount Vernon!

Here is more of the gang....

The boys in front of the doors on his front porch......

When we got back to DC, we went to Old Ebbit Grill for dinner. This is a famous restaurant across from the White House where many congressmen, US Reps....all the power people come and eat. It was just fun to people watch even though I didn't recognize anyone~

The boys got FBI hats and Brooke thought she needed one too.

I felt like we were on the set of Night at the Museum! It was so cool! This is right in the entrance when you walk in.

Grandma and Brooke went into the special butterfly exhibit. It was in a greenhouse, so I had to take pictures thru a window. There were butterflies everywhere and one landed on Brooke's back, which she was SOO happy about and still talks about it!

Here they are checking out something interesting that we couldn't see!

More from Washington.......

Our first big museum was Museum of American History. We found this awesome doll house that Brooke loved. There were so many people, I couldn't even read what was so special about it! I just knew Brooke thought it was cool!

We went thru the part of the museum that features things from the wars that America has been in. Well, we had our own Vietnam War Vet with us...Grandpa! We were so proud to see the helicopters that he flew on in Vietnam and the boys got a picture with him in front of one.

Another BIG highlight was riding the Metro. By the end of the week, we knew the drill....

Both boys would try to hang on these bars during the ride....another feature of Washington DC are the "hobos." That's what the boys call them and there were many that would hang out by the Metro stations. The boys were not used to seeing people like this, so that was a main topic of conversation.......why are they homeless? How do they eat? Where do they go to the bathroom? It went on and on.........I think they are pretty educated on hobos now...

One of our most favorite things that we did was go to the National Zoo! It was awesome and we had a great day there!

The zoo has 2 panda bears and I don't think any other zoo in the US has Pandas. The female was kept inside because they thought that she was in labor. The male was just munching away on bamboo....he was so cute. This is a stuffed bear, in case you weren't sure :)

Not a great picture of the elephant, but I had just gotten over being in a trance because the elephant was up right by the fence peeing....everyone was in awe, let me just say, it was quite a sight to see! Once I came to, he was walking away and this is the picture I got.

The reptile house provided more entertainment than I thought it would. I guess we were there at the right time of day when the snakes, lizards, and other scaly creatures were active....Jackson is having a stare down with an iguana and Brooke is amazed!

We went on a night tour of all the monuments. That was awesome....we were driven around in an air conditioned tour bus and got to get off at the monuments if we wanted. Here we are in front of the capitol.

The kids and Grandpa at the top of the Jefferson Memorial.

I loved the Lincoln Memorial. The kids counted the steps on the way up and I think there were 58 of them! The enormity of the statue is amazing and I wish we could have stayed a little longer here.

Not a great pic., but the boys in front of the Korean War Memorial.....at this point, the boys were getting really tired. It was about 10:00. Once we got back on the bus, they both fell asleep and they missed the rest of the tour, but we loved it!
There's still more to come...............

The Maupins go to Washington! (part 1)

We went with Jason's parent's to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 4th! What a great place to be and what a fun city! Kathy had planned everything, which I was so thankful for.....we started off with a stop at Madame Trussads Wax Museum!

OK...I can't remember who this guy is....but someone important. Jackson tried to match every face of each person...

Hats Off!!!

Grandma and Brooke sitting on the bus by Rosa Parks.

Brooke was not so sure about these wax figures. They look amazingly real! She was about to tap her on the shoulder to tell her something.

The Maupin boys with our fellow Texan, George W.!

Notice Jason's hand on Madonna's leg........hmmm......a little frisky with the wax figure.

Our new BFF's Brad and Angelina!

On the night we arrived, Kathy had planned for us to go out to a restaurant called Cafe Mozart. We met up with an old family friend of the Maupins who lived with them in Germany. It was a delicious dinner (German restaurant) and Jason even got take out from there another night!! We had a fun time seeing Anne and her daughters.

After dinner, we walked down the street to the White House. Here's the whole gang!

Here we are at the Air and Space Museum. It was sooooo crowded that day, but we managed to get  some good pics.

The Maupin Brothers in front of the Wright Brothers. Note: This picture was taken just seconds after I had to break up an argument between the boys.....they can turn on the smiles in a heartbeat! The minute the picture was done, back to fighting......the joys of a family vacation!

A few minutes later, everyone was happier and was able to pose in front of the actual plane that the Wright brothers flew for the first time. Amazing!

The next day, we were on our way to the Spy Museum (the BEST museum) and it started POURING!!! We had to run into a hotel and sit for a while. Luckily, they had a little snack time in the lounge, so some of us participated in the snacking as if we were residents.....uh hum....Jason and Drew (and Brooke too). Jason went and got some popcorn for the kids to pass the time.

Here is the one picture I took at the Spy Museum!! You are not supposed to take pictures, but good spies always figure out a way to get a shot! You could crawl thru some air ducts and spy on people throughout the museum. The kids got Grandpa up there with them and I had to shoot a picture. This place was an absolute favorite for the kids and the rest of the trip, we were constantly looking for "suspicious activity" They say that the most spies in the world are in Washington D.C.!!

On the 4th, there was a big parade down Constitution Avenue, ao we camped out with the other million people and watched the show!

Must get a popsicle at 9 in the morning........

Brooke and Jason having fun waiting for the parade to start!

Notice how Brooke's hair gets curlier as time passes.......the humidity was unreal!

Here is a stop at the American History Museum with the boys in front of Lou Gherigs glove....

More to come soon.............