How to ride a tricycle

 Our friend, Jaynee is in need of our prayers.

http://www.lockwoodfamilytomexico.com/

Kitties, kitties everywhere

For a couple of "outdoor" cats, I'm finding them wandering around my house quite a bit. The kids (and myself) are really enjoying them. Jacob said today as he was snuggling with Kitkat (who purrs constantly) "You can feel her viberating."

Watching the fun



Life after camp

I've been told it's time to put up a new post. We've been a little busy since we've been home, mostly we've been busy resting...

And spending a bit of time with friends. Last Friday we took a lat minute trip to McDonald's to have lunch with Julia and Michelle and the kids.

(Brittney making faces with Joshua)

I've also been busy editing two sets of senior pictures this week. I really am enjoying myself doing these this summer, but getting those done takes priority to blogging. Also I had a few night where I had to lay off the computer due to a lack of vision.  I was weeding (and I learned my lesson- I'm never doing that again) and I pulled up a bee hive. They weren't too happy about it. I was stung 16 times and ended up looking like the elephant man. No, I'm not posting a picture of my face.

I want to thank all of you that wrote me kind notes and gave me a call. I really felt loved.

And thank you (a very sarcastic thank you in case you didn't pick up on that) to those of you that sent me such lovely presents...

And my kids were wonderful. They were helpful and so very quiet while I recovered...

("Lalalalalala- I can't heeeeaar you!")

Last Day

I don't enjoy this part of camping; not one bit.

Stopped to get some family pictures before we hit the road

But do you have any idea how hard it is to round them all up?

Ok, time to get in the car. Who's got to go potty?

"Me!"

..."Who wants pizza?"

"Me!"

"Who wants ice cream?"

"Me!"

4 1/2 VERY long hours later, we reached our house. The first thing the kids wanted to do was to go check on the cats. They were so worried about them. Midway through the week, Grace yelled out "Oh! I forgot!" "What did you forget?" "I forgotted my one and my two and my three kitties. I left them at my house!"

They grow a lot in a week. We took them out for their first walk in the yard. They had been stuck in a tote in the garage. Every time we messed with them too much Oreo would move them somewhere unsafe- like the ceiling. But we don't have to worry about what Oreo will do now- we haven't seen her since we've been back. It does seem a bit strange that she would leave her kittens. They are just about old enough to be OK on their own, other than the fact that they were unable to get out of the tote by themselves. It's a good thing we weren't gone longer. We told the kids not to worry- that the kittens would be fine because they had their mother to care for them. I guess we never thought that would happen.

Anyhow, other than being very sad over the disappearance of Oreo, we are tickled with these little kittens running around.

Day 7

Our last (full) day. The older kids went bowling with  Chris and the grandmas. So we were left with lots of little ones. What do you do with 9 kids under nine? Not much. So we decided to just wander out into the woods and see what we could find.

They found lots of little treasures. So much that they couldn't carry it all. I almost got a few mushrooms shoved into my pocket. I did agree to carry the acorns, but that's my limit.

Trail of the new Giants. This is my favorite trail. Here is where the tornato came through the park in 1985. It used to be called the trail of the giants, because of the size of the trees in this area. The storm lasted 2 minutes in the park and blew down somethng like 100 acres. I read the sign every year, but I still dont remember the details. It is now called the new giants because they left this part of the park to regenerate on its own. It's amazing to see the destruction even after all these years. The fallen trees that haven't rotted away yet are grown over with new trees and vines. And you can still see some that remain, towering over the tops of the new growth. This is where I always find strange mushrooms, and unique insects. This small stretch of woods is full of exciting things to investigate.

Kassandra, Jacob, Joe, Kimmy, Christopher, and Bethany were my companions.

We came across a perfect spot for portraits

"Ah, remember when I could hold you like a baby?"

back to the beach

Figure this out. Beka in a bathing suit and Grace in a sweatshirt. So was it hot or cold? Yup. Both.

Picking the sand out of her hair (she put it there)

Our evening walk to try to get the babies to sleep. It got a little darker than we expected. Luckily, Kathy was headed back with a few girls that went out for an evening swim, so she lit our way.