Play Date with the Gagatkos

It had been way too long since we had a play date with Bryce and Charlotte and we were so happy to hang out.  Paul and Bryce had tons of fun playing Legos and all sorts of other things.  Joy and Charlotte were super cute playing together.  Lauren and I really enjoyed catching up.

Herb Sleuthing

We went to an Herb Sleuthing event at the Washington Children's Garden.  It was very cute.  They drew a picture of a flower to talk about it's parts, did rubbings with crayons of 6 different herbs, taped leaves of each herb to the name and rubbing, talked about uses for each, and then went on a scavenger hunt to find each.  When they found them they cut them some and at the very end they made a bouquet.  Joy ate her bouquet on the way home and tried to eat Paul's too!  They both really enjoyed it and were very well behaved.

Playhouse in the Hay Wagon

The square baler is broken, they hay wagon is broken, Shawn doesn't want to mow around the playhouse, so why not put it in the wagon?

Father's Day

Cozy with Daddy at breakfast, and sharing a slushy at Scotty's.

Joy Accessorize!

Another rainy day game.

Balls and Rods

It has been so rainy we've been playing inside a good bit.  The other day the kids made lots of structures with their balls and rods.  A tower

a rocket

We ran out of pieces for the X Wing.

And the Millennium Flacon

June Harvests

A mouthful of kale and a fistful of onions...Joy loves kale!

The Garden - Mid June

Peas and carrots

Basil and zucchini

Green beans

Borage

Zucchini

Butternut squash

volunteer tomatoes

Corn, tomatoes

Corn, tomatoes

pumpkin patch

herbs

Joy's Jiu Jitsu Face

The kids asked me what jui jitsu was and I was trying to explain it was about getting the other person to submit or tap out.  Joy said this was her jiu jitsu face.  I thought it was pretty funny. I guess this is how she gets us to submit to her will.

Our Stay at Grandma's and Grandpa's

We arrived Wednesday night and had a nice dinner and fun playing outside.  Thursday, the boys went fishing.  "Fish until we drop!"

The girls went to Hanover Park and then swimming at the Community Center.I was quickly reminded what life with a 2 year old was like when I left Joy and Arianna alone in the bathroom for a couple minutes.  I  came in to find toilet paper all over the floor.  

Our trip to the park was quite rainy, but the girls had fun anyways.

 Puddle jumping!

 There are no pictures of the girls swimming because I didn't take my phone into the Community Center.  They had lots of fun even though Arianna was quite shivery.  They were both jumping off the steps and throwing and swimming after the water balls Grandma sent.  We bought Arianna a Puddle Jumper like Joy's and she seemed to do really well with it.  The Community Center was very freakishly unchanged since the last time I was there, 15-20 years ago.

All pooped out at the end of the day.

Borage Flowers!

I wanted to grow edible flowers this year because the kids enjoy eating edible flowers like violets so much.  One I chose was borage.  It grew prolifically so I hoped the kids would like it.  This was Joy taste testing the very first bloom the other day.  She was neutral about it.  I thought it tasted pretty much like lettuce.

New Stuff at the Park

The South Franklin park put in some new equipment this spring and we finally made it down to play on it. Shawn and Paul also enjoyed playing baseball. 

New Pool

I got the kids a new plastic pool last week.  I hope it holds up!  I got them new squirt guns too, which they already destroyed by filling with mud.

Thanks, Grandma Speer

Thanks for taking care of all of us so we could get ready for our picnic and vacation!

Vacation to Green Valley

These pictures are pretty much backwards order.  I am SO, SO thankful that we didn't see this guy until we were packing the truck up, or I think I would have felt a lot more uncomfortable on our vacation!!

When we got to Green Valley, it was nice to see the kids running right down to the pond.  They are getting so much more independent. We had already made broccoli and ham soup for dinner and Joy had mac and cheese. Then they put on their water shoes and play at the edge of the pond.  They really had a great time wading in to the water. They had fun jumping off the side of the pond saying, "Cowabunga dude!"  Then they got a bath and were able to go in to the hot tub for a little while.  They really really liked the hot tub. Then they watched one Wild Animal Babies and went to bed. Joy screamed for a good while but finally went to sleep. We played Uno with Paul while she went to sleep.

Monday we got up and out the door before Shawn woke up. We walked up to the bridge to throw rocks over the side. Both kids wanted to get in but we did not have on the proper attire. We walked up to Sophrena because there was no one there The kids played on the hammock there for a while. I put both kids in the paddle boat with me and it was a disaster. Joy sat  behind Paul and all they did was fight. Then, I tried to get them to play volleyball and badminton but the bugs were too bad. Then we came back and Shawn got up and I think we went in the hot tub again. Shawn ran out to get serious bug spray with deet.  After we ate lunch, we put on our water shoes and bathing suits and shorts and came back down to the creek at the bridge. We spent all afternoon walking in the creek.  

We were planning on coming back and having a fire and roasting hotdogs for dinner but it looked like it was about to rain. We changed our mind and had pancakes and bacon instead. While Shawn was cooking I alternated between reading or playing with one kid while the other one played games on the Kindle.  After dinner the rain stopped and Paul and Shawn went fishing. Joy and I watched Tangled and Shawn and Paul came in for the end of it. Joy was kind of scared of the movie; she didn't really care for it. They went in the hot tub before bed.

Tuesday morning I got up before everyone else and Cain and I went out on a 5 mile run.
It was the same route I have been doing, out to the end of the road and turning left and keeping straight all the way to the main road. It was a 4 mile run from Excelsior is a 5 mile run from Lory. I was very glad I did it. Can and I had a very, very nice time. 

After I came back and we all ate then we got ready to go for a hike. Shawn put Joy in the pouch and we did the Smith Run Trail. Paul wanted to go up to the top meadow and see the hunting blinds that he remembered from being here before. We and a nice time on our hike.  When we were done we walked with the kids up to see Excelsior. Gary was there working so we did not linger, we just showed them where it was. Then we came home and ate. Then the kids were worn out from all of our exercise so they watched Tangled again. 

Later in the afternoon we took the kids in the rowboat. We sang lots of verses of row row your boat. Then Shawn went and got a bucket of fish food that Gary had given to him. They stood on the dock and threw it in. Then they went to the bank and through more in. The catfish went crazy, there were tons of them. Paul tried to catch them with his butterfly net but was not successful. But he did have fun. 

Then Paul and Shawn got in the row boat and Joy and I were in the pedal boat. We chased each other all over the pond. Paul kept hopping from boat to boat in the middle of the pond. I was surprised he didn't fall in. Then Paul and Shawn fished for a good while more and caught many more fish. I sat with Joy while she waded and jumped in to the pond some more. Then Paul decided to do some wading and jumping too. 

Then I got them dried off and we made a fire and roasted hot dogs for dinner. We also had french fries and watermelon. Then we made Smore's for desert. While Shawn was working on the fire, Paul was playing with Shawn's fishing knife.  He cut a big gouge out of his thumb with it.  I'm so thankful it was shallow rather than a deep slice, or it would have likely needed stitches.  

Then I got the kids showers and they went in the hot tub for a little while longer. Then they watched Dinobusters and then I put Joy to bed. Then Paul and Shawn and I played Sequence.

The next morning, we got up and the kids played in the hot tub one last time.  Then we packed up and left.

When you find a wardrobe, you can't pass up the chance of trying to get to Narnia!