Once again, it's been awhile. I'm not really sure what we did the last three weeks, and if I don't have any pictures I can't hardly remember.
These pictures are older- I left my phone in the van when Dad, Matt, and the boys came to explore Firefly woods with us and Matt took these. 😀 I believe they were digging in an ant hill.
There's so much more vegetation now; we haven't been down to Prairie Creek in a while.
Showing off their fort.
Long ago when I broke my arm in fourth grade, far back in ancient times, people sent me gifts. I don't really remember who or why, but I must have told the girls that, and of course Cadence remembered. And she wanted to know what I was going to get her since she broke her finger. 😜 She was satisfied with paw patrol bubbles... haha.
We went to potluck one evening at Greg and Mary's. Perrin got to come, which is always a bit stressful, but he was pretty happy most of the time.
Dianne came over one afternoon to help out, and Bob and Miriel moved logs with the mower and the kids' little red wagon... so redneck.... :P
Lots of undergrowth in the woods now. We were marking trees for Bob to cut down one evening.
Miri spent the whole time wrapping and unwrapping her tape around one trunk.
New sidewalk chalk calls for a driveway full of art.
And painting inside. One of my California cousins' boy broke his arm, so they were making get well cards and artwork to send to him.
Miri and I took Perrin to get 3 month pictures taken. He wasn't too sure about it, but he didn't cry.
The last week of school seemed to take forever, but finally it was time to pack up to go to mini-wyss vacation! I closely supervised packing this time so we didn't forget anything really important or sneak in something unimportant. :P
I was not feeling all that well starting Thursday night, so it took us a while to get out the door Friday after school, but off we went to Starved Rock for the weekend! Woohoo! ..... and we made it to Eureka, where Emmy got carsick. Wompwompwah.... haha. A brief stop at a gas station for Dramamine, and we were off again.
We listened to good old "Farmer Bahr" tapes that my brother digitized and made it there around 4. Everybody went to the water park after supper. The girls liked the wave pool a lot.
Miriel was pretty content in the little kid area. Perrin was unimpressed with the noise, but he's a trouper. I really didn't get many pictures of them swimming, my hands were full most of the time.
Saturday we went hiking with everyone else in the entire world. haha. Not really, but it was a very busy place.
Miriel didn't think her legs worked.
The girls were disappointed that everyone else had left ahead of us and that they weren't hiking with any cousins. Cadence was completely unimpressed with the rock itself. 😐 One good thing about the crowds was that they were definitely not the only whiny kids on the trails. ha.
We hiked down one of the canyons, but I didn't want to take Perrin and Miri farther than this. The trail was slippery and narrow.
We waited for them.
They waited in line...
... for a picture at the falls. I don't think I've ever been to Starved Rock with this much water running, so that was cool.
We got in some park time at the resort.
So patient.
Just chilling.
Then the wee hours of Sunday morning 'my stomach feels slightly off' turned into 'my intestines hate me' so I spent Sunday morning resting in our room. woot. After they listened to church, the older three girls got to go hiking again. They got to play under the waterfall.
Ugh. I'm so jealous, this looks so fun.
I really hope they weren't too far up...
A bunch of kids in a cave.
And "making sand," of course.
Cadence still has her finger in a splint, not that that's stopping her.
Coloring with Grandma.
Breakfast with Logan. :)
These silly girls finished off a bowl of raspberries- sticking them on their fingers and eating them off one by one.
Perrin is getting to be such a chunk.
He's most as big as Aurelia. hehe.
So after two trips to the water park, two times hiking, and lots of games and snacks, it was time to pack up to go home. Packing for seven people is a lot of stuff. 😳 Oh, and a Perrin. Just hanging out.
Mom kept the kids busy doing funny skits- "Night fell" (knight falls onto the stage), "Cinderella tripped into the room" (Cinderella trips and falls), etc. I think Jack was "pouring over his papers."
We checked out on Monday afternoon, then later we heard that there was a fire at our resort. Yeah... it was super windy and it was a HUGE fire. We had been staying in the two cabins on the far right.
Crazy. The girls were a little bit freaked out. We were all texting back and forth and checking news sites. And of course, feeling sorry for the poor farmer's field the firetrucks were driving through... :P
The next morning, the two cabins we stayed in were still intact. Saved by divine providence or the wind blowing away from them I don't know, but the girls felt better that 'grandma's' cabin didn't burn down. I'm very thankful we were already gone.
The garden seemed to shoot up over night. It looks really nice right now, I'm sure it won't last. 😏
They wanted to try sponge rollers, and they looked adorable. Cadence did not want her picture taken.
They kept them in all night and looked even more adorable in the morning.
Cadence built a book wall so I couldn't get a picture of her... ha.
The weather has been amazing. We ate lunch outside.
Cheese!
We stopped at the cemetery on the way to the greenhouse. I don't think the girls have been there since we buried Grandpa.
Bob took the week after Memorial Day off so we got a ton of yard work done. Everything is mowed and trimmed and mulched and weeded. It looks so nice, now we can let it slowly slide back to benign neglect when it gets hot and humid.
We went out to the woods another evening. Bob wanted to cut down some more small trees. The light from the setting sun was really pretty through the trees.
These two rolled around on a tarp. Cecily and Emmy worked carrying branches. I got bit by mosquitos and Perrin just chilled in the carrier.
Unca' Matt dropped off boys clothes and the girls unzipped poor Perrin's jammies to try on shoes. And made him wear a hat. 😂
Washing cars and getting soaked...
Fresh mulch! Cecily is turning into a hard worker, who thinks mulching is fun. :P Also, I got un-dyed mulch this year because it was $15 dollars cheaper and I can't decide if I like how it looks or not. You can't see the maple keys on it,which is kind of nice.
Saturday evening we took everybody to Memorandum at church and then Sunday we stayed for the new minister greeting line and it was a lot of church for our little people. 😝 But they survived, and when we got home they planted their fairy garden with minimal fighting.
Today was the first lake day, and it was lovely out. The girls had tons of fun and Miriel even stuck her feet in the water. :D Bob has to go to the office 3 days a week now, which is going to be an adjustment. mur. I'm going to miss having him around. And at the same time, it will be nice not to have to keep kids quiet and out of his hair all summer.
T-fest is this weekend... last year at T-fest we knew Perrin was coming and I was already starting to feel sick. And I was pretty much sick and on nausea meds until I was in the hospital with Covid in December... and then recovering from that and Perrin being born. It has been quite the year. I think I told someone "I'll be excited next June." Because I don't like/didn't want to be pregnant, I don't really like newborns, and we're finally here in June. And I feel better than I have in a year 😂 and I'm sleeping better, and we're past the newborn stage, and I feel like I can breath a bit and life feels a little less daunting.
Blessings.
