Picnic

Memorial Day-what a wonderful day. I think of all of my friends in the armed services and I feel that a simple "thank you" does not express my gratitude for their service and sacrifice for this country. I think about my Papa who is now resting with God, and my Uncle Bill and I am filled with pride in them and this country. What a great country this is!!To celebrate Memorial Day, our church went to a local park and had a great time. The kids played miniature golf, jumped in jump houses, and rode on various other rides throughout the park. We also indulged in a little bit of caramel kettle corn (notice I said CARAMEL corn, not just kettle corn. If you're going to eat the calories anyway, what does it hurt to drizzle it with a little caramel?) Anyway, here are some shots of the kids enjoying themselves.

Will walking the kids to some of the rides.
Eating lunch.
Yum! Strawberries!!

Oh, but have I mentioned the "lake"? Ya, this was fun....(ok, it was a little fun but only in the "it's-fun-because-the-kids-are-having-fun" kind of way). Rowing in a rowboat takes a lot of courage and strength anyway but when you throw in 1 terrified toddler (my Ty), 2 wanna-try-it-all kindergarteners, water that's only 3 feet deep but murkier than Loch Ness, oars that have no place to attach to the boat, and a woman (me) who outweighs all 3 aforementioned kiddos, and you've got a fun 20 minutes that reminded me a little bit of summer camp gone horribly wrong. Oh, here's the snapshot. I'm smiling because I haven't taken the oars yet to try to steer us into shore. *sigh* No, really, I did have a good time when I wasn't worrying about my kindergartener trying to lean over to touch the "water" or whatever it was.
So the park was fun. Didn't get much adult interaction but fun just the same. Funny how having 3 kids kind of puts a damper on your social life when you go to outdoor gatherings.

This next segment I'm so excited about. I finally got my rocks for the backyard! I won't mention, or maybe I will, that I've wanted them for about 4 years to complete the back corner and side yard. But they're here! The whole neighborhood knew that they were here too, thanks to the commotion that happened at about 7:30 in the morning. First of all, the delivery truck (roughly the size of a garbage truck) parked a few houses down in the wee 7:00 hour and chugged quite loudly before the driver shut it off. I winced at the noise but thought that was the end of it. Then came the forklift. For some unknown reason, forklifts are equipped with a strange, fire-alarm beeping sound that accompanies the reverse gear which is loud enough to wake the dead. Do we not SEE it backing up? Is there a reason we need to be warned of this? Then came the loudest sound of all, metal on metal when the forklift's arms slid underneath the metal bin of rocks. I'm hoping that the fact that we aren't usually the noise-makers in our neighborhood gave us a little bit of leeway when it came to the early morning wake-up-call.

Here is the before picture: I'll post the after picture soon. The kids enjoyed the rock pile. I didn't take the "after" shot of Lynnea when she was finished playing.

Beach Fun

ok, but first you have to check out my son's eye. Last week he woke up with his eye almost swollen shut (this picture was taken a few hours later. Believe me, it was worse). I took him to the doctor only to find out, after I almost choked on the $30 co-pay, that it was just allergies. I kicked myself again for even bringing him to the doctor in the first place. Don't even get me started on our healthcare system.. UGH.

So, this last Saturday we dropped everything and took a family day away at the beach. It was the first time I've taken all 3 to the beach EVER but since I had backup, I decided it would be a fun outing. It quickly made me realize that I wouldn't want to do it by myself until the kids are about...oh....16? We headed over to Newport and let the kids walk in the sand, took a walk to the boardwalk, ate some salt water taffy, and took some pictures on the photo booth (which didn't turn out that great). So here are my 2 oldest when we got out of the car...apparently they're so excited that we actually went to the beach that they hugged each other with vigor. Feeding the meter became the next euphoric experience.
Here's Lynnea, not quite sure what to think about the whole experience.
We let the kids loose on the sand and they took full advantage.
They chased an ice chest as it was pulled through the sand, creating a perfect place to leave a footprint.
Mikayla, all smiles.
And then it happened, full submersion. I knew it was coming and I still wasn't prepared for the dive into the sand and the sand angels. I think I'm still scrubbing sand out of scalps. You can see that Lynnea joined in the fun as well. She just didn't know which way to face.
Then she threw a tantrum about something. Her usual habit is to drop to the floor and lay down. This time it was kind of a rude awakening.
Such a fun day!

Full of Surprises

One of the kid's favorite things to do is surprise Will when he comes home from work so I caught them waiting for him at the door. Usually they like him to come find them but this particular afternoon Mikayla had a little "May Day" basket of flowers to give him.
Dad came over to help us fill our little vegetable garden with dirt last weekend. It was so nice to get that little garden started, especially before summer so the kids can have something to watch and take care of throughout these next few months.
Mikayla wanted to try on Dad's hat. I don't really know what Tyler's doing.
I had the privilege of going to my niece's spring concert which was outstanding! They did such a beautiful job in their choirs and it was fun to be with the family. Above is a picture of Mikayla with her cousins Danae and Ian before the performance.
Here we all are after the concert. Tamara, Carissa, Mikayla and me. You can't see the skull and crossbones on the sweatshirt I borrowed from my sister-in-law, Lisa. She grabbed a random jacket since I had forgotten mine in my van. I felt very "young" but tried to cover up that little "design" throughout the night.

The other day I took the kids to the park to meet a friend. However, instead of talking with my friend, I ended up pushing swings the whole time I was there. Luckily, I had gotten an iced coffee to fuel my "push power."
Here's Tyler's "smile."
I love my kids. They keep me on my toes.