Potter's Marsh on Mother's Day

I found this buried in my blog photos folder. It was taken exactly 100 days ago (May 10th)! Opa and I took the kidlets to Potter's Marsh to walk on the boardwalk, but it was windy and cold; we only made it to the first bench. We took a quick photo and headed back to the car. We went instead to a playground where it wasn't windy.

More Rock Hunting at Pt. Woronzof

We have had a fantastic summer, but it's been hard to squeeze in rock hunting! After our initial visit to Pt. Woronzof we went back on the Fourth of July and again on the twenty-fourth of July. Mark took photos on the Fourth and because I complained that he had no photos of Bentley rock hunting on our first Pt. Woronzof visit, he took lots and lots of photos of Bentley looking for rocks. I am not posting all the photos. Evan loves going to Pt. Woronzof to see the planes. Viva loves the water.

Jake did not come with us on the Fourth, but he did on the twenty-fourth. On the second trip, it was just the older three and me. I picked them up after evening karate class so we didn't hit the beach until after 9PM. Fortunately we live in the land of the midnight sun, so we still had an hour and a half before the sun set.

Sunday Nap

For the past year we have had 1-4 pm church.  It can be a rough time for little people, as it falls right smack on top of their rest time.  Two Sundays ago Evan succumbed to sleep in the car and didn't wake up, even when we carried him in (this is very unusual for him!) - I wonder what fun they had in nursery?!  I think the fruit loop bracelet band on his arm is a nice touch.

In September we'll be moving to the 9-12 time slot.  I don't enjoy the stress of getting everyone there on time (and cheerfully? haha!) - but it will be nice to have our entire afternoon and evening open every Sunday!

Whittier Day!

 

Matt has been traveling quite a bit for work, so he has been taking some Friday vacation days to spend more time with the kids.  Yesterday the older three were at karate camp so it was a perfect chance for Lincoln and Evan to monopolize their Dad's time - they took advantage of a gorgeous day (it has been raining since!) and went adventuring to Whittier.  They report it was a great time. The pictures look "fake" it is so pretty! :)

Cool Kat

 

This kid looks good in my new sun glasses, and he has the necessary amount of sass and attitude to pull them off too.  :)

The glasses look good in black and white.  In color the lenses are Kermit the Frog or Martian green, I am still trying to decide if I can pull them off as well as Jake!

Skyrocopter

In July Mark and I were at Bass Pro Shops picking up an archery target when we wandered through the gift section and found a Battat Skyrocopter. Mark said he remembered this particular toy from his youth when he visited his grandparents in Germany. He had a lot of fun with it and it flew really high. Based on this ringing endorsement we bought one for Evan and Lincoln.

Although the boys had some fun, it wasn't the toy of Mark's youth. It was probably made by the same company because Battat has been in business for over a hundred years, but the materials have changed. This edition of the Skyrocopter doesn't fly very well or very high. Bummer. We'll try out some new strings next summer and see if we can fix the problem, but most likely it not as well made as it was forty years ago. 

Our Super Summer

Last week the kids got in another driveway pool day.  We have had another incredible summer of warm weather - we had a stretch of more than two months with every single day hitting temperatures above 60.  We were five days short of hitting the record.  We'll take it!  The rainy part of August seems to have hit, but as we're already halfway through the month I won't complain too much.

Here are a few pictures from pool time.

Golfing with Grandpa

The kids had a chance to get out and enjoy some good weather on the golf course with their Dad and Grandpa Tim this past weekend.  They had great weather and a fun nine holes!

Date Night

We took the little people out on date night with us last week, and they had a grand time!

Water Fight!

The children had a big water fight Monday afternoon. Viva started it and everyone joined in (more or less). They all armed themselves with water guns and umbrellas. 

From what I overheard there were a few rules:

1. Do not get Evan wet. (He sat on the steps and watched once the action really got rolling.)

2. You can only shoot someone with an umbrella.

3. If someone has two water guns, they are free game--with or without an umbrella.

4. If someone uses the water hose as a water cannon, they are free game. (Can a water gun or a water hose shoot farther? I don't think the children know how to use your thumb on the hose end to create a water jet.)

It was a wet and wild time. Viva was soaking wet at the end of the fight; Lincoln was somewhat soaked. Jake and Bentley were more dry than wet. Evan was dry.

More Little Boys on Bikes

Lincoln and Evan have been working on the entire Campbell Creek trail over the past week.  They go out w/Daddy (not alone, go figure... !) - I think they've done over 7 miles.  Go boys, go!  Go Dad, go!  (He runs along behind them, apparently it is a good workout.)

And when they're not out on the trails?  Puddles on the driveway make for delightfully good fun.

And here is Mr. Bentley when he was Lincoln's age!  Hmmmm.... that smile looks familiar!

Raspberries!

My friends were out of town this week and they said we could pick their raspberry bushes! They have a nice patch and it produces quite a few juicy raspberries. On Saturday I took V and E over in the early afternoon and we picked in the hot sun. Then I took J, V, and L back in the early evening to finish picking. Kara joined us, too. Evan was an amazing picker. I kept telling him they have to be red, red, red and he was good about only picking the really red ones. (Check out how full his bowl is in the photo below!) Jake, Viva, and Lincoln were good pickers too.

We picked over two gallons which is a goodly amount of raspberries. Most of them went in the freezer to make into jam later this year, but we kept a quart out to eat fresh. Kara and Matt tried to start a raspberry patch in our yard when we first moved in, but they weren't very successful. The moose ate the bushes in the winter. We will have to plant new bushes and fence them off from the moose...we'll add it to the long list of projects we'd do if we had more time and energy!

Twinsie Love

 

I stopped in to check on some of my favorite children the other night on the way to bed, and Jake wasn't in his bed!  Even though Viva's bed isn't far it took me a minute or two to find him because I don't often find him there.  So cute. 

The older three still share a room.  I know it won't last forever, but it's working for now - and they love the extra time together and the late night chats.  I'm all for sibling bonding.  It's easy for me to endorse it as an only child myself.... !

Evan Is a Rock Hound

When we go to the rock store I always let the children pick out a rock or two for their collections. It is interesting and surprising what they choose. Viva often helps Lincoln choose a rock, but it's impossible to get Evan to pick one out. He really enjoys visiting the rock store, but if you ask him to pick a favorite rock he won't do it. Or if he picks one out he immediately sets it down somewhere and loses it. He doesn't care. That's okay. He's only two years old!

I expected that it would take a couple of years before he caught rock fever. However, I was wrong. The other day when I took Evan and Lincoln to the playground I took a couple of rock books with me to read while they were playing. The older kids were at swimming which is right next door to the elementary school playground so we decided to go over there and surprise them when they came out of the swimming building. I thought swimming was done fifteen minutes before it actually was, so we ended up sitting in the car far longer than expected. I pulled out my rock books and offered them to the boys. The books are rock identification guides aimed at older children. Evan was thrilled with the book I gave him and now he won't give it back to me! He calls it his orange book and carries it around the house. I've stolen it back a few times, but eventually he asks for it again.

The photos in the book are really awesome which is what Evan likes about the book. The rock names however are killer, but since Evan doesn't read that is not a problem for him. Gneiss is pronounced nice and chalcedony has two different ways of saying it depending on who you ask. I don't totally understand crystal systems even though I've a college degree in chemical engineering. I know what the basic shapes are, but I cannot usually see them in actual crystals growing on or in rocks. (This might be because unless a mineral has perfect growing conditions it doesn't form in its preferred shape?) This rock stuff is tough, but it's fun to study something challenging! I'm scrambling to keep up with Bentley. When we get a new rock book he has it read front to back in a day. He doesn't remember every piece of info in the book--there's too much to take in at once--but he's building an impressive foundation of rock facts.

Stories from Viva

I resisted the urge to correct and edit, as they are her original typed up stories.  :)  Love her creativity!

Her first typed story:

Once upon a time superman was flying over the city and he heard screams!  He looked down and he couldn’t believe his eyes! The mountain they had always thought to be vine mountain was alive. Superman guessed that that mountain was actually a giant! Superman swooped down and laser eyed the giant ,the giant howled in pain and superman took that excuse to freeze the giants feet to the ground and his arms to his side. 

The giant was trapped so superman made a deal with the giant that if the giant would leave them alone he would free the giant, the giant said yes.  So superman freed the giant and the giant walked of over the hills and superman never saw him again.

 

Lincoln was duly impressed, so she wrote him one of his own:

Once upon a time there was a King, Queen and a Prince. They lived together happily in Castle Genevieve.  But then they where attacked by army Cazldar.  Then they had to run for their life, they ran to village Bentley only to find out it was under a attack too!  So they kept running until they got to village Jackson.  They were safe their but not for long they know, so they trained the villagers to fight, so when army Cazldar came a long they were ready.

King Lincon led their army out to meet them! And the battle began! The villagers slowly pushed the army of Cazldar back to where they came from.  The villagers where so tired they just went home and went to bed but in the morning they had a party. But their battles weren’t over yet for they still  had to reconquer village Bentley.  That battle was pretty easy compared to their other one and then they reconquered their castle!  And they lived happily ever after.

Crazy Day

Not every day at our house is crazy, but once a week or so we go into hyper mode. Today was such a day. Craziville started around noon. Jake and Bentley were at karate class getting ready for the demo later in the day. Kara had completed work on Bentley's outfit for the demo and headed over to the dojo to help out with any last minute problems. Mark was mowing the lawn and then he had to get great-grandma to the demo. Matt took Lincoln out for a bike ride. Evan said he was too tired to go biking so he joined Viva and me. We went over to pick raspberries at a friend's home. (They are out of town and we get to pick their raspberry patch this week!)

Our household of ten showed up for the demo in four different vehicles. We watched the demo which was awesome. Then Mark took great-grandma home. Matt took the children home. Kara and I headed to Lowe's and Home Depot to look at dishwashers. (Ours died on Thursday night.) We left one vehicle in a parking lot and later back tracked to pick it up. Opa, Matt, and the five children headed off to Opa's company picnic. Kara and I went to Best Buy to check out their dishwashers and then we stopped at Sam's Club to pick up supplies. We picked up Papa Murphy's pizzas and met the guys and kids back at home in time to greet the missionaries who we'd agreed to have for dinner. (This was before we knew about the company picnic.)

We fed the missionaries. Then Matt and Bentley headed off to nine holes of golf. (Bentley was promised a golf game after giving one up earlier this week. Matt who came home on Thursday is off again tomorrow.) Kara, Viva, Jake, Lincoln, and I went back to my friend's home to finish picking raspberries. (When they are ripe you need to pick them!) Evan stayed home with opa. We came home and finished cleaning up from dinner. (We had used paper plates and cups!) Some of the kids took a shower.

Finally I have free time! It's 9PM at night.