Foxy

So if I told you we met a fox today would you believe me? It's true. I've always loved foxes, but never expected to meet one like this. I was working in the front flower garden this evening when I looked up at the girl (my age) walking by and did a double take. She was walking a fox on a leash! I called for the boys to come see and she stopped to talk to us. "Vixey" is a sweet little domesticated fox. She's 4 months old and her family has been domesticated for a few generations. She was adorable and her owner was very nice, letting us play with her and answering our MANY questions. Vixey was playful and gentle, playing with the kids and Nala. I couldn't believe it! What a cool experience! I only wish I'd gotten a picture...

BUSY!

It has been busy around here! I only had a couple of days after we got back from NY to prep for the next activities. On Saturday Jeff's cousin Lacey, sister Misha and her two kids Fanisha and Zanayah all drove down from NY to visit, then we were taking Fanisha to Indiana to meet her dad there. Jeff & Misha's brother Mike was also in Cincinnati visiting his girlfriend Jill, so they drove up too to see everyone. But, Mike and Misha hadn't seen each other in two years, so we didn't tell Misha he was coming. What a surprise that was! I laughed so hard!

We had lots of fun, sweating out back while the kids played on the Slip-n-Slide, shopping, eating, drinking and playing cards late into the night. We laughed and laughed. It was a riot.

Here are the cousins, Jeff, Misha, Mike & Lacey (if Lacey's sister Tasha was here that would've been all the Brackman first cousins.)


Here we're trying to get a picture of the siblings, they couldn't stop goofing off though! Jeff, Misha and Mike.


Here's Uncle Mike with Fanisha (above) and Zanayah. They hadn't seen him in two years either.


Here's the next generation of Brackman cousins: Zanayah, Roman & Trey. Fanisha is missing from this pic.



Once everyone had left on Sunday we went to church, then came home and quickly packed up to meet Fanisha's dad in Indiana then drive south to Cincinnati to spend a few days. Jeff was working just over the border in Kentucky so the boys and I went with him to enjoy a family trip and a free hotel room! We had a blast swimming and playing at the hotel and visiting downtown Cincinnati and the riverfront Monday evening. We walked across the Purple People Bridge from Cincinnati into Newport, Kentucky. It's the longest pedestrian bridge crossing two states, or something like that. It was a lot of fun and there were tons of things to see. It's just too bad it was over 100 out and we thought we might die of the heat! Notice that Roman is bright red in the pictures, that's from heat, not sunburn!

Here are a couple of Jeff and the boys at the Riverfront:




Here are two shots of the Purple People Bridge:


And here am I with the boys on the bridge about to start the long walk across!

Trip to NY

Wow, one week without a post and I'm already getting harassed. Good to know I have loyal readers!

There was a little excitement last week... my neighbors are great people, but they have this excitable young Doberman I'm not very fond of. Apparently he's not very fond of me either. Late morning on Wednesday he unexpectedly bit me. He bit and let go very quickly, we're still not sure exactly why. He put two puncture wounds on my forearm. I went to the doctor to get it checked. They don't stitch dog bites generally because of the high risk of infection, but I did get a tetanus shot (ouch) and prescription for antibiotics. I'm going to be fine, my poor neighbors are so upset though. They've apologized over and over... I'm just thankful it was me and not a child!

On to a more fun note...

Trey, Roman and I took a trip to NY this weekend, Saturday to Tuesday (today). A couple of girlfriends I grew up with were in town and I wanted to see them. Amy, Alenna, Alvana and I have known each other pretty much forever and were inseparable as girls. We're all married now and live in four different states. This weekend was the first time we've all been together since Alenna's wedding three years ago. That's way too long! We didn't have a lot of time together as we were all traveling different places at different times, but it was amazing to be together anyway. The three of them are beautiful, Godly women and I cherish them... even when we don't see each other for long periods of time!

I also spent a bunch of time with Jeff's parents, my brother and his wife, and my parents. My parents took us to the fire hall (they are volunteer EMTs) so the boys could climb on the firetrucks. At Jeff's parents' we did a lot of four-wheeling and just playing outside. We also ate ice cream EVERY NIGHT! I love ice cream. :)

Here are a few pictures of my weekend. At the top left are Alvana, Amy, myself and Alenna. Below them is a shot of Main Street in the tiny town I grew up in. Next to and below that are pictures of the boys at the fire hall, and the bottom right is just some beautiful country.

At the Dam

We keep going to the dam lately, it's just a fun place to go as a family. We can walk forever on top of the dam, in the grass with water on one side and open land on the other, or there's a field for Nala to run in with a giant rock the boys like to climb on, or there's a great playground, or we can go down to the water... it's a great place to hang out as a family. Here are a couple of pictures I like from the other day.

Jeff and the boys -


Me and Roman -


Trey by the water below the dam -


By the way, unless Jeff is obsessively reading my blog a dozen times a day, I know people are out there reading it. So leave me a comment or two letting me know who you are and what you think of our oh-so-exciting life! :)

Poppies!

I was excited to have poppies in my flower garden this year, they remind me of California, where the grow wild along the roads. I took some pictures the other day, the poppies are bright yellow, but there is one pale yellow one blooming with them.

Friday's Drama

Yesterday morning my good friend Ann-Morgan and I met at a local library to take our kids to an event there. We had my two boys and her two girls (roughly the same ages as mine) and also Kevin, the son of a mutual friend of ours was with Ann-Morgan (AMK). He's close in age to Trey and AMK's oldest, Katie, who turns four next week. The kids were excited to go in and we helped them form a chain between us, holding hands to keep them all together. They were happy and running together. We went through the outer doors and as we approached the inner doors Katie fell. Since the boys were holding her hands she couldn't break her fall, so her head hit. We're not sure exactly what it hit, both Ann-Morgan and I were right behind them and thought she probably just had a little bump. Unfortunately that was not the case. I took Paige, AMK's younger daughter, so she could tend to Katie. A moment later I looked at Katie to see how she looked and both she and AMK had blood running all over them. I couldn't believe it, I did NOT expect to see blood, especially that much. Ann-Morgan was (understandably) a little flustered and not sure what to do, except to call her husband Justin, who is a pediatrician. But Katie's bangs were plastered to her forehead with blood, so we couldn't even see how bad it was and decide was to do. I reached up to lift her hair away and instantly my stomach turned. There was a nasty open gash on her forehead. I knew immediately that she needed stitches for it. Ann-Morgan decided to take her to their doctor's office, which was right down the street. I kept the other four and went in to the program while they left, but they were back soon. AMK said the doctor took one look at it and said it was too big to handle there, she would have to go to Childrens' hospital ER for stitches. By God's detailed plan Ann-Morgan and Cheryl, Kevin's mom, arrived back at the library at the same time - a good thing since I didn't have room in my car for all those kids! Cheryl ended up taking Paige home with her since AMK would be going past her house on the way home from the hospital and it would be easy to pick her up. It all ended well, Katie is feeling much better nine stitches later and even had her birthday party this afternoon. I must say though that I NEVER expected someone to need stitches after a trip to the library!

Picture

Not a lot going on here, we went to the dam tonight with the boys and Nala to walk, that was fun. There was a boat race or something going on in the water, Roman was really excited about all the boats.

I've been working on learning some new things in Photoshop, here's a picture I took a couple of months ago in NY and worked with this week in Photoshop.