After we got home from vacation, summer got busy. Sort of. Most of it is self inflicted and involves produce. :P
Cecily was in charge of supper one night. I had her make spaghetti... she did pretty well.
Rain calls for umbrellas, using them correctly is optional.
My turn... vacuum... 😂
These two...
Sometimes they get out games just to set them up and look at them.
There is a cute little splash park a couple of towns over that we visited one afternoon.
New playgrounds are always fun too.
Such fun. :)
I decided to take the kids to the very last ever Threshing day... figured Perrin would like the tractors at least. We looked at the animals.
And walked over to the wool felting and spinning demonstration.
The girls were unimpressed to meet Gideon's other grandma and aunt. ha.
And then Emmy suddenly started to feel weird and almost fainted on me trying to get her to a place to sit down. *sigh* And of course we were miles away from the van, it was blazing hot, and Perrin was mad that he couldn't ride on the little train. Kelly came to the rescue and stayed with Emmy while the rest of us went to get the van. She was fine again once we got home. Of course.
Bob and I spent the afternoon replacing the toilet seal. Again. gah. I am so tired of things leaking in the basement. I made Cecily stop reading to watch, because pulling a toilet is a life skill. (Why????? This is boring and gross!) So I told her to take pictures or something... haha. We got some super flattering shots of us.
And some random *aesthetic* shots of the toilet tank and the lights. 😂
Then I broke the plastic coupling on the water line and had to run to menards. *sigh* I replaced it with all metal. blah.
Bob got Cecily started reading the Wheel of Time series and she hasn't stopped.... currently on book 10/14. 😜
Little helper boy picking up sticks after a wind storm.
This one took all of us. ha.
I needed to buy more paint to touch up in the bathroom- the leftover paint was completely dried out. Miri has a bad habit of forgetting to put on shoes.... so she was riding in the cart trying to keep her feet out of sight. 😜
So my parents went to Alaska for 3 weeks and of course all of the produce was ready while they were gone. We went to pick up the pears that had dropped during the wind storm, and swim.
Perrin is always uninterested in the pool until after he 'accidentally' gets soaked.
We went to Dragonland on a slightly cloudy, not super hot day at 3ish. It was great- not very many people in the water or on the pool deck.
Perrin was super grouchy and didn't want anything to do with water, so I fed him a bunch of snacks.
Then he cheered up and had a great time and didn't want to leave.
We met friends at the park to watch Migration.
Miri was a little bit nervous, but overall we had a good time.
Cecily has spent this summer with her nose in a book.... sometimes we make her go outside just for some fresh air while she reads.
There was a new pile of rocks at lake day.
Bob wanted to try growing mushrooms.... I like mushrooms... he started this project the night before we left for vacation, of course. haha. It ended up being quite successful!
The kids followed Luna to Marci's one evening and it took a bit to dislodge them from her swing.
The kids and I went to the pizza supper and singing... it was kind of a bad night, but we made it. We were running late, Perrin was not happy to be there, Miri was clingy... yeah.
Since Dad was gone we actually had to pick our own corn. Michelle and I picked a lot, while it was thundering (we checked the radar, it was south of us).
The kids were more interested in playing than helping, but they each did a few ears.
This was the point I was regretting my life choices.....
All of the Dad's siblings met up in Alaska to go on a cruise together, so Grandma was alone. Us cousins took turns stopping in.
She's almost 96, but she can still play pretend tea party. :) Perrin got his clothes wet and dirty at the farm, so he's wearing a rather interesting borrowed outfit.
More mushrooms!
Bob helped me cut and cook corn when we got home so it wasn't as late of a night as it could have been. As it was, I didn't bring quite enough ears home. *sigh*
Perrin had pulled a few books off the shelves, so the girls decided to take them all off and "organize" them. huzzah. I did not want another project. And then they lost interest halfway through, of course. haha.
Miri-goose had her first eye appointment to get ready for kindergarten!
Pears are never ready all at the same time.... I canned a few. They are organic, so the bug damage was pretty bad and it hardly seemed worth it.
Bob and I went berry picking one evening. There were quite a few deer hanging out in the soybeans.
There weren't many nice blackberries this year and it was humid.
But it's lovely out at Firefly woods.
Homemade ice cream was on the summer bucket list...
It was really good with fresh wild blackberries.
Another quick trip to the farm for a few more ears of corn and pears.
We were there more times while Mom and Dad were gone than we have been in the last few months. ha.
A big branch fell down in the front yard so Bob cut it up and had the kids drive it back to the fire pit in their gator. 😂
Mom ordered peaches through Farm Bureau... and they were still gone and Michelle was gone, so I got to be the imposter who picked them up.
Quite afternoon of painting.
Well, sort of quiet.
I made a cherry pie for the Sunday School teachers meeting. 😋
We did cat chores for Bolt for a couple of days. Perrin: I yike uh kitty-cat! Not sure if the kitty cat liked him.
One last trip to the farm before the travelers returned.
Pretty sure we all depleted their snack stash and pop over the three weeks...
Also, Matt, Michelle, and I were in and out, doing corn, swimming, etc., Jake and Rachel stayed a few nights for corn and potluck, so we figured we should maybe clean up after ourselves a little bit. The kitchen floor was rather sticky from corn....
The girls helped me dust.
Cadence: I can't reach the top shelf! Me: ... I used to just climb... Cadence: I can do that??!?
'Borrowing' grandpa's mints.
Matt was in the house after we left and he said the smell of cleaning solutions was overpowering. Ha. Someone did get a little overzealous with the mop. 😏
Bob and I had to go to a County zoning board meeting to get a variance to be allowed to build on our land. It isn't looking like we will get to build a house though- bids are all coming in at greater than $700,000. 😣 For a cube with a garage and builder grade everything. So disappointing and frustrating. I don't know how anyone can afford that. We might build a shed. At least then we could wallow in self-pity in the country and not in town.
Isn't there an old song about moving to the country, building a home, and feeding your kids peaches?
Bob and I went out and measured driveway lengths. That at least is affordable and hopefully will happen soon.
After a stretch of super hot days, the last lake day before school starts was almost chilly and it started sprinkling!
We do love living on a dead end road...
We found a caterpillar in the garden a few weeks ago, managed to keep it alive until it went into a chrysalis, and got to release a black swallowtail! So cool. :)
Emmy wanted to take a snack outside and she took out lemonade and ice cream. Such a mess, but I was fighting a cold and let it go....
Bubbles and tractors. 😆
Someone was hangry and ate all of the raspberries right before supper. 😂
Blessings.
