That One Looks Like a Dead Monkey!!

One of the activities on my "Things TO DO Before Leaving Indiana" list was to go camping, so for Father's Day, that's what Bo said we should do.  We went the Friday and Saturday before Father's Day, and it was a blast.  Costco had this huge 10 man tent at Costco, so it was the perfect gift to give him too.

We went to Brown County, which I think was a little South-West of us.  It was a little cramped in the campground, but we seriously couldn't have asked for better weather! It was like mid 70's the whole time.  Ahhhhhh.  Wonderful.  We showed up at like 3, set up the campsite, and then took off hiking.  There were tons of trails of different hiking difficulty.  We decided that with a 2 and 4 year old, the easiest trails were probably best, so we headed down to this little lake and enjoyed our hike/stroll around it.  It was fun because it had all these cute bridges to walk on, not to mention the kids and I loved throwing sticks and rocks into the lake. 

The kids had fun spotting "wild life" on the trail.  We saw slugs, fish, bugs, a LIZARD (we were all shocked at that one, and it was BLUE!), and some teeny tiny little frogs.  Seriously the smallest frogs Bo and I have ever seen. 

While hiking, there were some roots from trees poking out a little bit from the ground on the trail ahead, and while a little ways away, I told the kids that they looked like an Alligator!!  The kids were nervous, then skeptical, then once we were up close they thought it was hilarious. As we were discussing how they were tree roots and laughing, Meg's turned to a group of bumps/roots, and proclaimed that "That one looks like a dead monkey!!"  After nodding and saying "Uh-huh" to Megs and letting her walk on, Bo and I busted up laughing.  What in the world?  Where did that come from?  We still have a good laugh when we mention it.  If I can say one looks like an Alligator, then why not a dead Monkey, I guess? :)

After the hike we dropped Bo off at the campsite to set up the fire and get our tin-foil dinners cooking, and I took the kids to a little playground in the campground.  The kids played and played and played, while I sat on a bench so high up off the ground that my feet weren't even close to touching. 

Once the kids were done, we headed back to Bo and enjoyed some yummy dinner, and then..... SMORES!!  I love watching the sequence of pictures that I took and seeing the marshmallow madness begin on Meg's face. :)

Since it doesn't get dark here till like 9:30, and you combine it with the excitement of being camping, plus the background noise of the other campers, it took FOREVER for the kids to fall asleep.  Plus I made the mistake of not taking the Pack n' Play because I thought Derrick would stay in his sleeping bag.  Foolish mistake.  So they went to sleep way late.  Then Derrick was up in the middle of the night because he still was excited about not being in a crib.... then Meg woke up and was all crying because she wanted to sleep with Bo and me, and Derrick was instead.  Finally, finally, we drifted back to sleep. 

So the next morning, it was all sunny, the kids were awake, but Bo and I were tired and maybe a little grumpy, so we decided to skip more hiking, and instead just relaxed, ate some breakfast and then slowly packed up the campsite so we could be back home in time for a nap.  We really weren't rushing or anything, just taking our time,  and we had no watches on to tell us the time.  WELL.   We got the car loaded up, campsite cleaned up, and kids buckled up in the car, turned it on, started driving down the road, when we looked at the time...... and it was 9 in the morning!!!!!!  Are you kidding me??!!!  What the heck! We were shocked.  We must have been up waaaaaaay earlier then we thought, like 6!!  Sheesh.  No wonder Bo and I were so tired.  hahahaaa..  Anyways, Bo and I had a good laugh about that too. 

It was a way fun trip though, and I'm glad we did it!

 

 

Strawberry Picking!!!

I have been waiting and waiting AND WAITING for strawberry season!! 

Last year the kids and I went with some good friends to pick strawberries and we had such a fun time. The strawberries were GOOD, I'm not normally a fan of that berry, and the picking was easy and fun for the kids and moms.  So the same friend,(my bosom friend Lindsay Dockter) and I have been planning since like January to go again.  This time we had a ton more friends join us, and even Bo was able to come!  Unfortunately the berries didn't taste as good.  They were still good to everyone else, but to me they tasted like your normal store bought kind.  Oh well.  Still a way fun activity to do outside with the kids.

We, meaning mostly Bo and I... and maybe Carter, picked about 12 lbs of strawberries!!!  I made A LOT of freezer jam, and then used the rest in smoothies.  Or the kids ate them. :)

I love doing this, and hopefully wherever we move next year we'll be able to do this some more. 

Now to wait a couple months for raspberry season!!  And then apple season....and then.....:)

 

 Our strawberry jam!!  And what jam is complete without fresh homemade bread. Honey Whole Wheat bread for those interested.  Nothing but the best for us. ;)

 

We LOVE Guests!!!

So awhile back I mentioned that we had some old Texas friends move to nearby Ohio.  Well at the end of May, those friends, the Timmermans, got to come to Indy for a work conference.  That meant hang out time!!  My awesome friend Jenn has two boys, Max and Oliver, so with both of us having young'uns, we decided the best way to have a good time was to go the Children's Museum!  You were surprised, weren't you? :)

The kids had fun in the dinosaur section, riding the carousel, and playing in a little kids area.  My kids LOVE Max, and probably would love Oliver too, but Oliver is like 8 months old, and therefore not as entertaining. haha. 

After the Children's Museum, Bo took off to work and Jenn and her husband Kyle, along with kids, came over after dinnertime to eat ice cream cones and watch the kids swim.  They left Max with us so we could have a sleepover, which all the kids thought was fantastic. :)  The next morning Jenn and Kyle came and grabbed Max, and then sadly left.  We had so much fun seeing them, and Jenn and I have both made pacts to see each other more, since we're only a 2 hour drive away.  We love seeing old friends, so please come visit us too!

 

 

 Max and Megan digging for dinosaur bones!

 

 Besties for the Resties!  Jenn and Me.  Man I love that girl!

 

 Max and Derrick playing with trains in the little kids' area.

 Megs, Carter, Bumblebee and Max

 Me and Jenn being Transformers.

 



Yum

Carter saw this on a food site and chose it for us to make for family night. He's so patriotic. :)

Future businessman!

Carter is quite the entrepreneur.  He has been dying to sell something, anything, so i told him he could sell Popsicles this summer. I think i told him that way back in February, and he has never let me forget it. 
Well now that it is summer, he is geared up and ready to go!  I bought these icee popsicles at Costco, and he quickly sold them all. I then made him use his own money to buy more popsicles. He has since sold most of them plus bought another icee pack and sold it!!! The icee ones seem to be the favorite, so we're heading over to Costco tomorrow to buy some more.  Haha
Carter is now a $35!!  He is loving it. I like it mostly.  It's been teaching him responsibility and money management,  helping him with math, building his testimony with tithing, and giving him something to look forward to. Downsides are that he's getting a tad greedy, and he's eating waaaaaay too many popsicles.  :)
He now wants to start selling candy too. Hahaa. Although I'm sure it would be a huge hit with the neighborhood kids, I
shudder to think how much Carter would eat, if I'm already having this problem with the popsicles. He says he buys the stuff so he should be able to eat it. Good point, but I'm trying to make him understand that every one that he eats is a 50 cent loss. Plus he'll get sick......just another couple things for him to learn, right?
He's having fun though, and that's what matters.  I'm thinking selling sweetcorn on grandpa's farm might be a possibility for next year. Gotta start saving for that mission!  :)

Meg's Dance Recital!

Here are some pictures from Megan's Dance Recital.  Can I just say how DARLING she was?!!  I was one proud Mama!  She nailed it.  She did all the parts right, didn't get any stage fright, and was just simply the cutest thing ever. 

I have video, but it's poor.  Plus it would take forever to upload.  Trust me, she was wonderful, and did I mention cute?

Unfortunately Bo had to work the night of Meg's recital, so I dropped Derrick of at a friends.  There was no way I could handle him and the recital at the same time.  I took the friend's daughter with me, and she, Carter, and I made up Meg's cheering squad.  Megan had a good friend, Layna, in her class, so she's the other little dancer in all the pictures.  Layna's family are the other LDS EM resident's in Bo's year. 

Meg got flowers, which she was happy about, and then we took the whole gang out to Dairy Queen to celebrate.  Megan felt like a princess.  It was so fun to see her just beaming from the night.  Love her!

Good job, Megs!

 

Swim Lessons

During Spring Break (way back in April, yikes!) I put the kids in swimming lessons at our local YMCA. 

The kids had tons of fun, and both increased their swimming skills like crazy!  Derrick was really jealous of their swimming , but he got in some good only child time, so I feel it evened out. :)

Here are some pictures from their last day of lessons!