Thursday, June 04, 2015

Memorial Day Camping - Enchanted Rock

our easter weekend camping was cancelled due to rain. so we decided to go on 
memorial day. it turned out pretty rainy too, but thankfully it didn't rain the one 
day we were there hiking. it rained before and after, so we were pretty lucky. 
the rain did create some beautiful scenery. 

we had a blast our first time at enchanted rock with our friends.


here are the boys having fun with fire. they love matches, and we let them
go at it if we are camping. they have tons of fun trying to light stuff on fire.

this is 6 am the first morning...they never sleep in in a tent. :)




they discovered a little stream right down the hill from our tent. 
we could hardly get them to eat breakfast.



our view from our campsite.... 



our tent! we really are thankful for good friends. not only did they haul our stuff, but jason
was getting home from the netherlands so they arrived early and set up our tent in the rain.




we went on two hikes. this first one is the smaller of the two mountains/rocks.




i was trying to be brave, but there were moments i thought i was going to see one 
of my boys tumble down the mountain.  aaiiee.... the thing is, the boys 
thought this was absolutely the best adventure ever. they were a little nervous
at first, but quickly got over it. i had to remind them to stop running....






the rain produced some beautiful flowers...







i love this picture of grant. reminds me so much of my dad...



you can see the people in the distance on top. you then realize how big those rocks are....




this was a cool rock climbing wall. jason discovered it and we were all on top 
and he helped us all get down by using these hand holds. he had a blast, while we 
were all nervous and trying not to die.....







after lunch, we decided to hike enchanted rock. it feels like straight up. it wasn't that hot, 
but our legs were burning. it's a huge climb, and we were tired from the morning hike.



we made it!



at the top there's a cave. and it's a pretty tight squeeze the whole way through. again, there
were times where i thought the boys were going to disappear forever in a deep dark hole.
thankfully, our friends were strategically placed and everyone was helpful making sure
the boys were safe.







after the rock, we decided to take the long way home all around the park. boy were we tired!
kendall and grant weren't too tired to climb this huge rock though.



dinner!




we had an awesome time and made some great memories. we packed up and missed a huge
flooding event that morning. good thing we left early. we even passed through a town that 
later was flooded by a broken dam. we were very grateful to be safe and have a good time.


Thursday, May 28, 2015

End of the year

i can't believe the school year is over. 
chase is done with preschool, and grant with second grade.
how did that happen? we had a few fun end of year activities.

we had a picnic with grant that i forgot to take pictures of.
we also went to his economics fair. he made and sold play dough. 
it was called "grant's awesome dinosaur eggs."




for mother's day, jason replaced the florescent light in our kitchen (YAY!)
and made a shelf for above our fridge. he's soooooo great. i love them!





our neighbor jerry, teaching the boys to play baseball....









chase's end of year field trip to old mcdonald's farm....






chase with his absolute favorite teacher. miss jill, his preschool teacher.




it's been a great year, but we're excited for summer!

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Spring!

spring time! despite the torrential rain we've been having, we've still had some fun.


pictures of the boys faces i want to keep - love these two




having fun outside just playing with electronics and parts...



chase practicing riding his bike. 
he feels like this while practicing WITH training wheels.
not sure how he's ever going to learn to ride a bike....



the boys plant sunflowers every year, and look how big they are!
i'm always so shocked at how big they get from such a little seed and hardly any attention.



the boys decided they wanted to build a ramp....






chase decides to give up biking and dance/do karate moves in the grass....



tucker! a turtle our neighbor found. 
we kept him for a night and then released him. 
such a cute thing.







one day grant came home from school with this guy!



chase wanted a picture near his strawberry plants...



pepper! this cat was lost and hungry and we've been feeding it for a while. 
we named her pepper. she was so sweet, hung out with us in the garage, slept on 
our porch, and walked grant to the bus stop every morning. we finally were able
to find her a home when we couldn't find her owners. we'll miss her, but we're glad
she has a permanent home now.