Hot Humid Days

I met my sister and her hubby for an impromptu dinner the other night as they were somewhat in the area. We decided to take her oldest 2 and keep them with us for a week. My kids were very excited to have their favorite cousins come for an extended visit. Once we got over the "scared to go to bed because a mountain lion/coyote / some other scary animal might jump through the window" with her 5yr old, we were good. Needless to say he will NOT be living in the mountains when he gets older. Way to scary for the poor boy. He told me his first night here that he would hate to live in the mountains on account of all the mountain lions and coyotes. He has such a lively imagination. I assured him that we have lived here for years and have never had any such encounters and even camped out and also played outside after dark many times and are fine. No scary animal has ever come into our yard when we were here. He just looked at me like "OK, whatever". He is a mess. Cute, but a mess. So we have been having fun playing with our cousins in all this hot weather. Hot humid days call for a nice refreshing dip in the river. I don't know why we waited so long to do this. It as the perfect remedy for the hot stickiness that we have been living with. Our usual swimming hole was taken so we had to go to this other one. We have to walk through a meadow to get to it which is why we don't usually go unless they have cut the hay which luckily they just did. We love this place. It is a big swimming hole that gradually gets deeper. It was perfect for today. We did not want to leave it. They all had fun splashing and swimming about with all the little fish that we soon scared away with all the screaming and splashing that was going on. Many rocks were thrown and even more skipped. Even the 3yr old got into the fun of it. Her favorite game was climbing onto my back when I was trying to swim. Nothing like getting dunked under by your own child. :) I personally love to just lay back and float down the river and watch the clouds sail lazily by. I had all the kids try it, but it could not compete with the rock throwing. At one point we saw a suspicious object floating towards us that they were convinced was some animal. They immediately started throwing rocks toward this white floating thing which I assured them was just bubbles. Although in their defense it did look like some dead white creature. Until a rock hit it and dispersed all the foamy bubbles that is. I was glad it would be something to add to Collins list of scary creatures. :)

So that is how we cooled off today. We ended the day in the garden weeding. Yes sister, I had your children weeding. I am not adverse to child labor. :) They actually enjoyed it once I assured them they would get paid if they did a good job. Collin did an excellent job of digging holes with the hoe. Tristan actually will get a paycheck this week if he keeps up the good work with my son. They made a good team. Now, on to some pictures. They are not the best as I had to take them with my phone because the camera that I brought did not have any batteries in it thanks to my 14yr old taking them out for her CD player. What was I thinking, expecting batteries to be in my camera. Crazy me.





Here are all of them when we first got down to the river. They were testing out the water. If you could make this bigger you would see the silly face my nepher Tristan is making, he is the boy all the way in the back on the left. He is a mess!





Here is my 7yr old after she came up from swimming under water. She was very proud of herself. She got the idea from her partner in crime, cousin Collin. :) She loves swimming in the river as she can touch bottom and still practice her swimming techniques.




Here is my 3yr old swimming with her tube. She likes to float in it down the river but pretty much stays by my side doing it. She can touch bottom if she needs to, but I still like to keep her within arms reach.





Here they are after we have played a while. She all the smiles? If only you could hear all the hollering too. :) We all had a lot of fun and it was just what we needed. Just perfect. I am so glad we went and look forward to going again. Although my son said it won't be as much fun the next time as it is ALWAYS more fun the first time you do something. :)

Heat Wave

We went from nice cool weather with the perfect mixture of sun and rain to a heat wave with high humidity and no rain. My husband came home to this lovely weather and roasted. We have since gotten some more fans for the windows which does help some. I am thankful that at least when the son goes down behind the mountain it cools off nicely with all the fans blowing. I only wish we would have purchased them while he was home so he could have been a bit more comfortable. Sorry honey. The kids have spent so much time in their pool that I believe they are growing flippers! At least they have enjoyed this heat. My garden and I is looking dry and I am looking forward to some much needed rain they are promising next week. Until then we will have to eat more Popsicles and snow cones in attempt at staying cool. We did enjoy getting to spend some time together as a family this past week and are looking forward to next months home time. Until then we are busy with church activities, visiting family, exploring our town and just enjoying the summer. Of course the garden is a priority and so far it is doing well. I can't wait to eat the yummy cucumbers and tomatoes! The corn on the cob is a huge hit at our house too. The beans will be ready to can in a few more weeks so we will be plenty busy. We only have another month and a few weeks before school starts back up and football season begins. Summer sure does fly. I best go make the best of it. It is game night and we are getting ready to eat our pizza and play a game. At least my dough rises well in this heat. :)

Hectic Weekend and Week

This has been the hottest weekend and week! We spent the weekend with extra children running around the house. My two oldest daughters each had friends over and enjoyed spending the entire weekend doing all sorts of fun stuff. The youngest ones were especially grateful for the pool and spent most of days playing around in it. On Saturday I took the two 7 year olds along with my 3yr old to my sons baseball game and party. The day was quite hot and I tried to keep them in the shade where it was a little cooler. They enjoyed playing around while his team won their final game and then we all went to the restaurant that sponsored them and ate a delicious lunch complete with cake and ice cream sundaes. The boys all got their trophies and enjoyed their final time together. Then on Sunday we had another child come over who was my sons friend and we all went to vacation Bible school. They all have enjoyed the activities and since I am helping with crafts I heard, "What are we gonna make tonight Mama?" every day. I have enjoyed this week and all the kids have enjoyed spending time with their friends. Today was the first day we did not have another child at our house and we were able to get the house back in order. We are very excited because tomorrow we are getting to see our favorite person in the world, their daddy! They are so excited and bedtime is just NOT happening. But that is OK since we have a long ride ahead of us in the morning and they will be able to sleep on the way. We look forward to getting him back home where he belongs! Now if only we could have him for a few weeks....... I look forward to spending some much needed time with him and having us all together. Now for the pictures.



Here is how my 3yr old spent her time at the game, swinging from this tree branch. She is quite the little monkey and this is the face she made after I told her she needed to stop her swinging. So funny!



My 7yr old spent her time riding this scooter down the walking trail. She LOVED riding this thing. It was the community scooter amongst all the kids on the team. I am very grateful to the mom who thought of bringing it to each game and to her son for sharing it so well. He was quite popular among the girls!


Here is my sons team. They were a great group of boys and really worked hard this year. I am glad that he had a great coach and that he enjoyed playing. He really improved throughout the season. He is looking forward to playing next season and is hoping for a call from the all star team. My son is the one who his friend has his hand on this shoulder. This is his "cool" face. :)

Visiting With an Old Friend

We went and picked up one of my friends whom I have been friends with since high school and have been having from traipsing all over the county finding ways to wear her out. Not that being around my four children is not tiring. :) It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to take her to our favorite hiking spot. It is not too strenuous and the kids really enjoy it. Plus it has beautiful views. We had such a blast just taking pictures and exploring the trail. It has been great spending time with such a great friend, I have not laughed so hard in forever! I told her she missed her calling and that she should have been a comedian. Here are some of the pictures from our hike.

Below is a picture of Rene with my children standing under the famous stone bridge that starts our hike on our favorite trail. I was not close enough so the picture is not the best. I am not used to her camera.



Below are some of the first views you can enjoy from the trail. They are so much more beautiful in person, pictures just do not capture it all.





Then my two little girls decided to pick some flowers and Rene put them in their hair and took this picture. They look so sweet! Notice the baby doll. They both actually had baby dolls they brought on the hike only my 3yr old kept giving her baby to me to hold onto. :)




Then my son decided to take these huge leaves and turn them into a mask. I thought it was very creative and I snapped this picture. He looks like a masked villain!



Then he hid behind a tree to scare us. We were on to him though and snapped this picture just as he jumped out to scare us. The movement made it a bit blurry but you can still see the mischievous smile he has.


We made it through the wooded part of the trail and arrived at the open meadows. The grass has grown so tall already! Rene snapped this picture of my 7yr old running down the trail. I just have flashbacks of Little House and the Prairie when I look at these next few pictures. That and flashbacks of my childhood growing up on my grandparents farm and walking around in the fields before we mowed them. Good memories!


They all spotted a monarch butterfly and went over to inspect it. The butterflies were out in abundance which made my daughters very happy. One even landed on top of my 3yr olds head. I wish I would have been able to snap that picture in time but it flew off before I could.



When we got further into the meadow we decided to sit down and take a break. The tall grass was beckoning to the kids to just jump in and play. The girls jumped in and decided to play house. They made rooms in the tall grass and played with their baby dolls in the "houses" they made. My son loved to get in the tall grass and pretend to be a fierce animal. He crawled around and scared the girls for a bit and then just lounged around with the tall grass surrounding him making him invisible to everyone. The clouds were very pretty and he liked to watch them while laying there. Here is a picture of the girls in their grass house. They had not built all the rooms yet. This was the very start of their game.

And her is my 3yr in her play house. Here baby had her own room and she had another. They had such fun doing this.


Well even though we had a lot of fun we still did not make it to the top of this trail. I had to promise the kids we would come back soon to conquer the trail and once we get to the top I will post those pictures. Their are so many different trails to go on that I believe we could take all summer and still not make it through all of them. We also need to go to some of the waterfalls in the area as they are beautiful this time of year. So we are having a blast and plan on enjoying the rest Rene's visit. I am sure she will be in need of a "vacation" when this vacation is over. :)

Fun Times at the Library

We LOVE our local library. Not only is it very well stocked with all our favorite authors, but it has TONS of stuff for the kids to do. It is not your typical library. It has 2 Thomas train tables, a Lego table, an arts and crafts table, a puppet stage, a PlayStation, just TONS of stuff. The kids look forward to going to the library and we had not gone for a while due to all our other activities. Finally on Saturday we had some extra time in town between functions and we decided to go to the library. The kids had a blast and are already asking when they can go back. I took some pictures while we were there just so you all could see some of the fun stuff that my little ones enjoy. My teenager just enjoys going to the book section, picking our books and sitting down in the cozy chairs and reading the day away. My little ones go from one activity to another. Usually they start out with computer games and move on from there. Here is some of what they did that day.


After playing a Dora video game, drawing pictures at the art table, putting on a puppet show, then playing with trains, my 3yr old made it to the puzzles. This one is her FAVORITE puzzles to put together. They have a bunch of these floor puzzles that she loves to get out and we put together. We did pick out books first before she started all these fun activities. :)



After picking out her books and playing a computer game, my 7 yr old put on a puppet show for her sister and me. It was quite imaginative and funny. Her younger sister loves to get up close and personal with the puppets and sometimes joins in from this side of the stage. It is then that I have to break up the show. :)



And here you see my son whom after picking out his books signed up to play the PlayStation. He just loves the big screen TV they have! At home he has to settle for our little 10" TV. He thinks this is awesome. You can see my daughter in the background setting up for her puppet show.


We ended our day with baseball practice in which the girls and I went across the street to the park to play. His practice is about 2 hours long so I am glad the park is close. It was hot that day so we actually went over to watch him about half way through his practice so we could sit in the shade. I did snap a picture of my 3yr old on the swings. I think she liked the swings so much that day because she liked to feel the breeze cooling her off.


So it was a fun filled Saturday. Now we are gearing up for a friend of mine who is coming to visit. We are looking forward to that as we have not seen her in about a year and a half. I am sure she will be tired out when she goes back home after spending 4 days with this wild bunch!

Schools Out

Today was the last day of school for my oldest. My other 2 are still finishing up their books and their last day is right around the corner. Until then they are happy to fill up their free time frolicking in the sun and playing in the new pool we purchased for summer. They love to get in there and just splash around and make up games. We will still travel down to the river but in between they can at least cool off and have some fun. Here is a pic of them in the pool. You can see my 7yr old is hamming it up. Behind them you can see our garden which is coming along very nice. The rainy weather combined with nice sunny days is really helping all my plants just blossom! Tomorrow we will be out pulling the weeds that have also enjoyed the nice weather.


Since I was outside taking pics of the children I decided to snap one of my day lilies. They have spread out nicely in my flower bed and are blooming beautifully. Although I rarely get to enjoy seeing them in the flower bed as my 3yr old thinks that all flowers should be plucked and brought to mama. :) I don't mind that either. I will miss those days of getting flowers picked and given to me... Time flies by faster than you can blink sometimes. I will enjoy these precious years while they are here.



On another note. I have discovered that I have been buying the wrong birdseed. Oh, I had plenty of birds coming to my feeder, but now I have discovered the joy I had been missing by not attracting the song birds to my feeder. Needless to say, now each morning I get the pleasure of being sung to by all the beautiful birds eating at my feeder. The kids love the blue birds and finches the best. I just love watching them and listening to their morning songs. They are such beautiful singers. It is impossible to not be happy when you listen to them! They are shy birds and I rarely catch a picture of them, but I was able to get this shot off. I have yet to catch the bluebirds in a picture. They seem to be very camera shy.



Of course we have been attending my sons baseball games. There are only a few games left so I am going to attempt to get a good picture of him at his game. This one is blurry as usual. My camera does not zoom well at all. It is hard to get a good picture when you have a 3 yr old running around and grabbing at your arms though. Here he is manning his base. He is #1.


Last but not least I snapped this photo of my 3yr old having a lengthy conversation with her daddy. She is very expressive when she talks on the phone. She moves her hands and rolls her eyes and moves all about. She literally cracks me up watching her. I should video tape her and put in on here so you all could see how funny she is. She often gets frustrated when you don't understand exactly what she is saying and I think this is one of those times. I caught her right before she rolled her eyes and said, "Daddy!" in that exasperated tone she gets and then laughs. She is a mess I tell ya.

Visit With Daddy

We went downstate to visit my hubby today. The kids and I were excited as we love to go see him between his home times. Any extra time is such a blessing to us! We were also excited because we gave him an early Fathers Day present which we could not wait to give him. It was a digital camera and we are looking forward to all the cool pics he is going to take! We will get to see some of the sights he sees and make a scrapbook of it all. The kids are looking forward to helping me with the scrapbook. My son is still hoping he will get to go out with his daddy for a trip. That is his ultimate dream. He has wanted to do it ever since my husband became a truck driver. It is just hard because my hubby is a driver trainer so he always has a student on the truck with him. Plus his loads are all cross country and are timed so that he always has to have another driver with him. But we can hope I guess. We loved spending most of the day with him and really enjoyed our time together. I know how exhausted my poor husband was and yet he put on a big smile for us and gathered up some energy to spend time with us. We love you honey and appreciate all you do for us! Your a great dad and wonderful husband!

Here he is toting our 3yr old around the store as we shopped for supplies for him. She loves to snuggle with her daddy. :)