A City Life For Me

On Monday we checked the first item off our bucket list...Orchard Beach!  We hit 91 degrees that day, and we were tired after having a mission team here for a week.  The kids were thrilled to go to the beach.  The water was pretty chilly, but we arrived at low tide so the tide pools were full of "treasures" to explore.  The tide was coming in as we left, and that's when the trash washes in! Nolan found a shell while we were wading.  He stepped on it under the water, then dove to retrieve it.  It was a small shell with a hermit crab inside!  We added another shell to his bucket that I found, and by the end of our visit we had seen the crab attempt to change shells.  In the end he chose neither shell, and our prodding and watching may have been his demise.  :-( We also rememebered our sunscreen this time (how did I forget last time?!?!) and managed to return home unburned. I'm not a beach person at all - I much prefer mountains!  Re...

We're not really traveling this summer...there are a lot of ministry things going on, and we don't really have the funds for it since we're still finishing the house projects.  And we're visiting a supporting church in OH in October, and we're saving to stop at the Ark on the way home. But I have five energetic kids who no longer have school to occupy their mornings, so I knew we needed a summer plan.  I scoured some websites like Mommy Poppins and other urban bloggers for the best things to do with kids, and I limited it to the free stuff.  Mondays are Ben's "day off", so we alternated those days with outings that require Daddy's help, and with house work projects.  This coming week we are finally getting to replae our garage door!!! Tuesdays are library and reading days.  Maybe I will even get to sneak in a book or two this summer!  The kids were thrilled for summer reading program to start, and we have a great "small town feel" ...

After Yellowstone and a meeting in Wyoming, Ben took the kids and I back to my parent’s house in Denver.  We stayed there for a month while Ben went and had some meetings in California alone.  We had two reasons for splitting up:  first, we couldn’t find housing for all of us in CA, and it would be very costly to live in a hotel for a month; and second, because Ben needed some time alone to write his doctrinal papers for ordination.  The time in one place gave us some stability, and the kids were even able to take swimming lessons! Idaho potato fields Pinedale, WY. Playing soccer with Uncle Wesley.  Soccer is his game – he was thrilled.    Grandma made the Grands these adorable pool noodle stick horses! Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A!   Elaine set up a school and thoroughly enjoyed teaching Aunt Jo!  She enjoyed her authority a little too much, perhaps – complete with rules! Fire breathing dragons!  (Toilet paper rolls and t...