We Went Camping!

Ok, well we didn't really GO anywhere but we did turn out back yard into a camp-out!  It cooled off a little yesterday and Jerry thought it would be fun for Will.

We set up our tent, got out our fire pit, and brought our bag chairs to the back yard (Thanks, Monica!  We love our "new to us" chairs!).

Our backyard camp site!

Will agreed to pose for a picture!!

Ok - I admit I carried our sofa cushions outside to sleep on!  I'm not into
sleeping on the hard ground, one of the reasons I have never gone camping!
I asked Jerry if that was "preppy" camping or "redneck" camping.  : )  : ) 
He said it wouldn't count as "redneck" unless the sofa cushions were already outside to begin with!
We got a really good laugh at ourselves over this (and I'm sure the neighbors did too if they saw us!) 

I'm afraid I may have crossed the line with the addition of
the ceiling fan! 

I ended up with this cool picture of the fire while I was trying to
find a good setting to use my camera at night.

Swinging - at NIGHT!

It wouldn't be a camp out without marshmallows!

Telling a story by the fire  : )
Thanks, Jerry, for a great idea!

It is now 8:21 a.m.  Breakfast has been cooked and cleaned up.  Our sofas have been reassembled (inside!), our tent is packed away, and this blog post is almost done!  We got up with the sun this morning at 6:30, and as you know we're not morning people around here!  I can't say that we got a great night of sleep, but any sleep we missed was well worth it for our first campout together!

Playing at the Park

We took Colton with us to play at the park today.  I asked them to smile for a picture and Will sticks out his tongue saying "That's all your gonna get lady is a tongue!" 

Carrots

I was so proud of myself today!  I canned 7 and a half pounds of carrots in my pressure canner!  And it didn't blow the house up (one of my imagined fears!)

I was even more proud of Will.  Or maybe just puzzled.  After I finished canning I had a few carrots left in my strainer.  And can you believe Will came over and started eating them?!  He will eat carrots on occasion, but never uncooked ones, and these were definitely still crunchy!  I can never predict what my child will eat!

Lake Tobias with Jenny, Craig & Brittney

Jenny, Craig, and Brittney came to visit this weekend!  It was so hot last week that we planned to go to the water park at DelGrosso's to stay cool.   Instead, a cold front moved through on Friday and left it feeling almost cold Saturday morning!  It was still a perfect day to be outside though. It was a little overcast but not hot at all so we decided to ride to the Lake Tobias Wildlife Park for the day.

Will loved the petting zoo.

I need a prairie dog as a pet!

This elk came running to the bus for a cracker!

I hope the crackers are nutritious - I realized my son ate half of one!

Pucker up!

My favorite quote of the day:
Will stopped on the way through the large animal exhibits when he found a fish pond.
"Mom, look!  There are fish in there!!"
Craig replies, "Yeah but there is a bear and a tiger right behind you!"
Will continues to stare at the fish!

Dancing to Vacation Bible School Songs

Will really enjoyed the songs and dances at Vacation Bible School a few weeks ago.  He has been singing the songs ever since.  I found videos of the dances on YouTube and Will loves watching them.  Today, his preschool teacher told me he started singing in class  - very enthusiastically!  She really enjoyed the show!

Our Backyard Visitor

Will and the rest of my five kids (click here if you're confused!) were playing in the back yard this evening.  Will yelled for Jerry and told him there was a snake in the woods.  Jerry went out to check and took a pitch fork with him.  When he didn't return promptly I decided I should take the shovel and go check on things since I'm the snake-killer in our house (unless the job requires more than a shovel).  After I saw the snake, I traded my shovel for the recycling bin.  He was a black snake that was at least four feet long.  I just don't have the guts to kill a snake that big with a shovel, but even if I did I can't kill a black snake that big.

Thankfully we're experienced in relocating huge black snakes (we moved one almost twice as big from our back patio in Covington).  Jerry used the pitch fork to move him into the recycling bin and I quickly put the lid on.  After all the kids got a peek at him we took him up Petersburg Pike to release him.  The drive was the most exciting part.  We secured the lid of the container with bungee cords and loaded him in the back of the Explorer.  Thankfully I was keeping an eye on the lid as we were driving because I saw his tongue slip out through a crack in the lid.  I climbed in the back at that point to make sure he didn't escape (nightmarish thought!!).  As I got back there and reached over the seat to hold the lid down he pushed the lid up and had his head sticking out of the container!!!!  I screamed, and thank God that startled him back in the box.  Needless to say we stopped and dumped him out immediately!  That was too much adventure for me!

You cant' see him well, but the snake extends the whole length of this picture and beyond!

Surprise, Grandma!

Will and I drove to Covington for a surprise visit this weekend.  I asked Will if he wanted to go as a special surprise for Grandma.  I told him we could not let her know we were coming and yell "Surprise!" when we went in the door at her house.  He got excited about the idea and added another twist and suggested "You can go in and I'll stay in the car and grandma will think you left her boy at home and then she'll be surprised again when she sees me in the car!"  So that was the plan the whole trip until the very end.  As we got off the exit to Covington I asked if he was still going to stay in the car but he said no.  Sure enough when we got to mom's house he got out and ran in as fast as he could.  He ran right past mom without even seeing her, spotted Kristen on the way by and yelled "Hi Krissy - I gotta poop!!" and ran promptly to the bathroom!  We all died laughing, needless to say!  I was just sorry he didn't get to carry out his first plan!

We had a fun but busy visit since we had to go to Roanoke and also went for a hike and picnic at Roaring Run.  Kristen also took Will hiking to the fire tower.  I was so proud of myself for remembering my camera when we went to Roaring Run, but my battery was exhausted!  I tried to take one quick picture but I hurried too much and it was blurry!  Oh well, I guess that's a good excuse to go back soon!

Will Learned to Swing!

Will learned how to swing by himself! 

Millipedes

On the way to preschool today Will asked me if centipedes can bite.  I told him I didn't know but that we could look it up on the computer after school.  Thanks to Wikipedia we spent some time learning about both centipedes and millipedes (now I can tell the difference!).  We learned that while centipedes can bite (and actually are venemous) millipedes cannot.  We also learned that millipedes, as a defense mechanism, can secrete a chemical to repel bugs and birds.  The chemical is fairly harmless to people, usually causing skin discoloration.  Upon learning this Will declared that he wanted to hold a millipede so he could be tan!

Jerry could surely find a way to market Will's idea - "All Natural Tanning Lotion!"

Vacation with Grandma and Catching Butterflies

Last week Will spent a few days on vacation, as he called it, at grandma's house.  Virginia had very bad storms May 29 and mom was without power for several (very hot) days.  She was supposed to start class for her LPN degree Monday but classes were cancelled due to the storms and power outages.  Since they finally got power restored I took Will down on Tuesday afternoon.  Mom's class was originally scheduled to be out on Wednesday and Friday, with only a half day on Thursday. Unfortunately, since they missed class on Monday they ended up having to go on Friday.  This cut into some of mom's time with Will but he still had fun being at Grandma's and playing with Kristen.  They visited Amazement Square in Lynchburg and spent quite a bit of time at the lake swimming.

Jerry and I enjoyed our "vacation" at home.  We went to the Sale at Belleville on Wednesday while Jerry was off, and Thursday evening we went shopping and out to eat in State College.  It was some very enjoyable and much-needed time together and I'm very thankful!

On Saturday we took Will to DelGrosso's water park since it was SO VERY HOT outside.  It was rather crowded but that really didn't interfere with Will's fun.  He had a great time on the water slides and surprisingly he loved the huge dump bucket this year.  It's  amazing the things that can change so quickly - until very recently he hated water pouring over his head.  By dinner time he was reverting to the generally poor mood he's been in lately and was complaining about a gnat trying to eat his sandwich.  Jerry said "if you would just eat it, it wouldn't be a problem."  I died laughing when Will replied very seriously "I don't want to eat a gnat!"

Today he has spent the better part of his day catching silver spotted skipper butterflies on my bee balm flowers.

This one got away.  Others weren't so lucky.
Fortunately he is good at catching them gently then releasing them.

Something to Laugh about

You know I remark often about the large number of neighborhood kids that Will loves to entertain in the yard....

Well, we have a new neighbor that just moved in a few doors down.  She was talking to our next-door neighbor and remarked about the "lady with five kids."  Puzzled, our neighbor asked her which house she was referring to and she pointed to MINE!!!!!  He kindly explained that I only have one child but he wasn't quite sure she believed him!

I never in a million years imagined I would be the lady in the neighborhood with five kids!!!