River

The boys and I walked down to the river today, it was a good day for an adventure (our favorite way to describe any exciting activity). It was so much fun. The river is shallow enough for wading at least several feet in. The boys loved finding sea shells (river shells?) along with some tiny fish and all kinds of bugs.

Have I mentioned we have a coyote or two hanging around? They make me a little nervous, although it is cool to see them. We stumbled upon what I think was a den today near the river, then later Jeff found another one when he was hiking with Trey. It was definitely interesting!

Here we are at the river:

Memorial Day Weekend

We drove up to Michigan for the weekend to visit long-time friends of ours, Sonny & Brenda and their two boys. (With a little girl on the way!) It had been too long since we've seen them, it was so great to see their house, let the kids play, and just relax with them. It was also great when Brenda and I stomped the guys in euchre three days in a row! Wooo-hooo!

The bottom picture shows all four boys: Evan, Roman, Ryan & Trey:

Visitors

Our friends Matt & Erica were in town last week with their four beautiful girls. We had tons of fun at their hotel pool (he had a conference at the hotel), our house, and the repair shop where we sat for what seemed like forever as their truck was fixed. :)

If it's not one thing...

It's several others, like Marley splitting the pads on his feet open (and bleeding on the kitchen floor), or Roman deciding to give himself a haircut...



On a more positive note, I took the boys to the zoo yesterday to get us out of the house for a while. The weather was great for it and it was a really fun morning. Here are a couple of shots:





Trey was really excited about feeding these Lorikeets, he did really well with it. Roman was excited, but nervous too and I think the birds knew it. He ended up getting bit and pooped on. :) Poor Roman.

Later yesterday I was busily unpacking when Trey put a box on his head and said he was a robot. I thought it was funny, and pursued it with him, making a robot costume with him and Roman. Here are the boys enjoying it:

Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere

That's the title of a kids' book we borrowed from the library in prep for the move. Fittingly, it's also the state of my life right now. I'm suspicious that they're multiplying every time I turn my back...

It seems that my day-to-day activity is consumed with, well, day-to-day activity, which makes it hard to put a dent in the unpacking and settling in. Our yard is still VERY muddy (although the grass is beginning to show), so I'm mopping the kitchen literally a few times a day. We're walking the dogs on leashes on especially wet days to minimize the mud, but they still bring some in.

I was happy this morning though to be sitting down at the table and see deer in the back yard. I am so excited to be seeing them! There was either one who crossed the field twice (across, then back), or two who crossed opposite each other within a few minutes. I'm not sure, but either way it made me smile.

Maybe I'll hang some pictures to make it feel more like people live here, rather than just boxes...

Day two in the new house

Can you believe that on our second morning in the new house I managed to lock myself and the boys out of the house? Well, l guess if you're reading this you probably know me well enough that you can believe it. :)

The boys were outside playing and needed me, I stepped out on the porch (in my slippers) to see what they needed and... oops... the door locked behind me. I couldn't believe it. I ran around the house checking the other doors and windows. Fortunately, I had some sneakers I had left outside since they were muddy, and fortunately, it was a nice day, and fortunately, the landlords are just a short walk down the road. They gladly saved the day, loaning me their spare key and wishing us a better afternoon...

We Made It

There were quite a few days there that I wasn't sure we would survive the move, but we made it. We slept at the new house for the first time last night. My family was down to help with the move, so sleeping here were six adults, two kids and two dogs. We woke up and didn't have power. We sat around trying to wake up until we realized that, since there were no clocks up yet, we had lost track of time and needed to leave for church in about half an hour. We still didn't have power (apparently most houses in our area didn't). Somehow we got out the door and even arrived at church on time. :)

Here is Roman, ready for the move:


One of the highlights of our moving weekend was putting up the tire swing we had promised the boys. It was a big success. Here are a couple of pics (the ground is still dirt - we're waiting for the grass seed to sprout):