Ahhh, Grandparents and Summer Break!!!

First we putt-putted with pirates... and Grandma of course- who really missed her calling. She smeared us all!!



Then we went to the amusement park... the roller coaster in the background is Grandad and Sully's favorite one.




And after returning to FL, we finished off with a dip in the pool. We're glad to have a set of grandparents back in the state!

And glad to have awesome grandparents all around!!!

It's Nice to Have Friends

... with chickens!

This photo was taken last month when we were visiting our friend and her animals. Does the chicken look as happy as Nathan does? If you look to top left of the photo, you'll see one of the goats who we also fed. She has two goats and a small pony in the back pasture. We really enjoyed feeding all the animals, especially the chickens and helping to gather eggs but the funniest thing was seeing them do a waddle/run to get the food. If I think about it long enough, I still laugh! We are grateful to our friend for letting us visit and for sharing her very yummy, very fresh eggs with us!!

Jenny Wren

As I sat on my mom's porch taking pictures during our visit a couple of months ago, I watched as a bird seemed very agitated to find me there.

But she kept coming back with nesting materials and I wondered where she could possibly be building.

To my delighted surprise, she decided that the geranium next to the front door looked like a great place to raise kids.

We were able to watch the nest go from a hollowed out spot in the dirt, to a covered home that was filled first with 2 eggs, then with 4 and topped off with a mama bird.

I snapped that last photo the night before we were to drive back to Florida and after traumatizing mama wren with the flash, I didn't see her return. I was worried that I'd caused her to abandon the nest but my mom updated me the next night, she'd returned and even laid one more egg!

Back to Blogging (I hope)

I have been very absent on this blog- almost made it a whole month with no posts! We haven't been all that busy, but maybe just a little too busy to post pictures and to think about what to say about what we've been doing. Lazy days of summer? Perhaps. Motivation comes in the fall!
I do have loads of pictures that may or may not make it on the blog but I have intentions to put at least some up.

So far this summer we've been sporadically "doing school" in between VBS, free movies, playdates, fireworks, a Raingutter Regatta (scouts) and a visit to the west coast (of FL) to visit my dear in-laws who, fortunately for us, decided to leave DC behind and come back to the land of sunshine. I've also been on a "organize and clean" mission this summer... well, really all year, but I've kicked it up a notch since coming home from our trip up to VA.

We do still have a several weeks of summer but I can see the official school year from here and while we've all thoroughly enjoyed the change of pace that summer brings, I'm looking forward to more routine weeks in the months ahead. And I do intend to post more regularly in the coming weeks.

Arg Matey!

Overheard during a rousing game of "pirates":

First picture one older boy brandishing a plastic pirate flag and Rubbermaid lid (as a shield) one younger boy with a foam pirate hat and a plastic pirate sword...

Nathan: And then he spills a drink!
Sully: Oh no!
Nathan: And it was beer!
Sully: Oh no!
Nathan: And that will be smelling for days!