Future American Ninja Warriors

My boys were quite pleased with themselves and eager to share their latest accomplishment.

Of course the fun comes in when they are all the way up to he ceiling and have to get down.  

The floor seems a bit far away and dropping to the ground is a bit intimidating, but they manage.

Crime scene

Carisa called me when she found a wet spot on her carpet.  I went over to her house to help.  We had to cut the Sheetrock to find the leak -- if the plumber did it it would have been expensive.

We found it, but the carpet was damaged so we had to take it out too.

It's not very often you have a blank slate -- I told Carisa we should do a crime scene on her floor.  

We were laughing so hard.

I don't think Brian appreciated it as much as we did.

"Can We At Least Try?!"

Constance came in the house the other day after mowing.  She had found a baby bird under one of the trees in the backyard.  Tender hearted as she is, she asked if we could keep it.  Seeing how young it was, I was admittedly concerned.

It's little eyes weren't even open and it didn't have much in the way of feathers.  I sent a pic to Mike and he really didn't see it living without it's mom.  Constance was in tears begging "can we at least try?"  

I remember Kam and his baby doves and all he had to do to care for them and they were older.  I told her to call grandpa and see what he said.  She did and was in tears because again she was told that without it's mom there really wasn't much hope.  Again she tearfully begged "can we at least try?"  

I told her to talk to Uncle Hambone because he could give her an idea of all that is involved with taking care of a baby bird.  Again she got off the phone in tears begging me "Please!"  I asked her what he said and she said if possible put it back in it's nest and hopefully the momma would take care of it.  

She was so worried because she had touched it and had been holding it trying to keep it safe from the dog and her brothers.  I told her putting it back was it's best chance and she could say a prayer.  With tears in her eyes she climbed the tree and put the baby back in the nest, worried when she saw the nest completely empty.  Again I reminded her to pray.  

Later that evening when I went out to return the mower to the garage, I looked up in the tree and saw a dove sitting on the nest we had put the baby back in.   The relief was visible when I told Constance and my heart was full of gratitude for answered prayers and a little girl with a very tender heart, a great amount of faith, and a great love of animals.

Restocking the pond

After some otters ate the fish in the pond, we went in a little with dad to replace the fish.  The kids were excited to help.  200 catfish and 15 bass later -- we have fish in the pond again.

Oops!

I heard a little boy yelling "help" and went in to find this.  He decided it might be a good idea to go down his ladder head first -- he quickly decided that wasn't such a good idea but by then he was stuck.

Silly string war!

Carol and I met up at McDonald's and got lunch then met up again at the local park.  We had a picnic and then broke out the silly string.  We got in on the war too but the kids seemed to empty the most cans.  It was definitely fun!

We had a bit of a surprise when we were leaving the farm last night -- we looked by the horses and saw someone -- looked again and noticed it was Maddie.  Constance couldn't get out of the truck fast enough.  I sure do miss our Maddie!  It is always good to see her and they have had so much fun spending the weekend together.

Pond time

We have spent a bit of time at the pond this summer.  

Jordan has had fun just scooting around on the kayak.    We actually went and bought a few more so Nic could have some kayak time too and we wouldn't be fighting for time.  Nic took off too.  We even started kayak tag.

Of course Nic enjoyed swimming too.

Port Huron, Michigan

We took the kids to the beach today.  We drove them to Port Huron to the beach by the lighthouse.  The kids had so much fun.

Even though he didn't have a life jacket and I wouldn't let him go very deep, Jordan has so much fun in the water.

Jordan let grandpa bury him in sand.  He was laughing so much and it took him a bit to get out.

Nic decided he needed a bit of help.

He finally broke free!

Nic spent almost the entire time hunting for rocks.

Constance, my little fish, spent the entire time swimming.  Even after a few hours, when the bottom dropped out, and we left, it wasn't enough.

Just loved this picture of Jordan -- just so peaceful.

Patience

Constance's patience paid off.  She caught a minnow with her goggles.

Billboard signs

As we were driving in the interstate in Detroit, I was surprised to see the following on a billboard sign just off the interstate:  "Carjacking is a Federal crime with long prison terms".  I looked over at my dad and laughed -- wow, that gives me such a sense if peace.  

About a mile down the road there was another billboard, this one said "neighbors wanted".  Again I looked at my dad and had to laugh.  I understand they want people to move here but I am a bit hesitant with the carjacker billboard.  

A little further down the road I saw another billboard that said "drive sober OR get pulled over.  I made the mistake of missing the "or" on the sign and was momentarily confused-- then had to laugh at my error.

I had no idea it could be so much fun reading billboards.

Shoes

I took Constance shopping for new Sunday shoes.  She pointed out some heels and laughed when I tried them on.

Then she found some shoes she really liked -- 

I had to laugh at the major difference.

Pool time

This summer Brother Preble has been kind enough to let us come swim in his pool.  The kids have really enjoyed it.

This is the only way Jordan ventures away from the ladder.

With sissy's snorkel he would put his face under water and with the goggles he enjoyed looking around.

Nic is a bit more adventurous and swims all over.

Constance has been in absolute heaven!

During one of Nic's breaks he came up to me and gave me this little flower.

Dragonflies

While the kids were swimming I was able to take some pics if the dragonflies who kept landing around me.  I was really pleased with how well the pics turned out.

One even landed on Nic's fingers, which he thought was really neat.