This is how we roll...

Random cuteness, in no particular order...

Shed

We got a super awesome deal on a new shed (thank you, Lowe's) and have spent the last several days working on putting it together. The kids have been very helpful, in fact, Darius took it upon himself to decorate it with black Sharpie for us today while we were distracted. :o) So now we have a truly custom new shed. Yay.

No words...

Blueberry Picking

Last week we finally got around to blueberry picking. It was the last week, according to the website, so we figured we may as well. Before heading down to the blueberries, we stopped in the parking lot to swipe some blackberries.


The boys are old pros, and got right down to business. Darius actually filled almost his entire bucket (Taye filled almost his entire belly - just like Daddy).

It didn't take Mya long to catch on, she is a fan of blueberries and was highly motivated.

Somehow I got roped into making blueberry pie. I'm not sure whose idea that was, but it was a first for me. It was very soupy the first day, but I think that was more to do with the fact that it came out of the oven about an hour before bedtime, and we just had to have a piece. It was much better the next day.

We also made really yummy blueberry pancakes, and really, truly disgusting (I just threw them in the trash) blueberry muffins. I have no idea where I went wrong, this recipe had over 3,000 reviews and almost 5-stars. Whatever it was, it was very wrong - disappointed!

Into the woods

Today we finally took a trek into our woods. Behind our house we have miles of wooded conservation land, it is awesome. Taye, our master critter catcher, was in his element.


We saw the usual toads (everywhere) and also discovered we have salamanders there.


We hiked along for a while, finding creepy-crawlies all over. We even climbed all the way up this hill. While we did that...

Mya was perfectly content to do this:

Fishing, take 2

We haven't been fishing since Darius' birthday, so our plan on Sunday was to remedy that. Luis' friend at work mentioned that the lake near our house is stocked every year, and is a great fishing spot, an almost guaranteed catch, sure to delight the kiddos. Sure. We ended up feeding the fishes, I'm sure they were grateful for the snack.

Not in the plans for the day: swimming. Well, Mya (and her brothers) had this to say about that:


and in they went...

(some deeper than others.)

We had a great time, nothing like a sandy baby to make it feel like summer.


Except, maybe, for picking wild blueberries for a snack while fishing and swimming in a lake next to the sandy baby. Yep, summer, let's pretend its never going to end.

Buppa!

Buppa and Val came to visit us last week, they were our first official houseguests. Lucky them, they got a nice mattress & boxspring on the floor of an empty room...so much for the guest room buildup!

Like all good grandparents should, Buppa came bearing gifts. I had been hearing about this tricycle for months, it was even cooler in person. Our neighbor told me she wanted to steal it, but thought it might be awkward since she's right across the street. :o)

~*~Insert picture of Buppa riding the trike in front of my house making a goofy face,

use your imagination, I'm not "allowed" to post it~*~

Mya warmed right up to both Buppa and Val, she used to be the most stranger-anxious of all my kids (which is saying a lot!), and has now become the most outgoing.



Mostly we hung around the house. On Friday they took the kids & I to Chuck E. Cheese, but those pictures are on my phone. Taye tried to entertain Buppa (and keep him awake) with Toy Story, but failed. He did manage to stay awake for Cars though, as Buppa is a closet Mater fan.



The kids really didn't like having Buppa around at all.

The long awaited...

camping pictures!

We really enjoyed our camping trip. There was the usual fun - playing with wildlife:

trekking through the woods:

splashing in the river:

bird watching:

playing with toys:

being cute:

making s'mores:

making fires:

cheating at making fires:

In the chilly mornings, the boys decided that a pirate tea party would be a good way to warm up.


They also liked to ride their scooters on the road...

Darius decided to take on the speed bump for a little thrill...

The big event of the trip was our day at Clark's Trading Post.

We caught the train ride as soon as we came in.

The "Wolfman" came out and chased the train away, trying to keep us away from his mine. Darius was a bit freaked out at first, but enjoyed the ride enough to go a second time before we left.

The ride took us past the Segway park - by far the lamest thing I have seen, a bunch of people in bike helmets riding those stupid things around a path - good times. But we did see Paul Blart, which was cool.

We walked around through the museums. I'm pretty sure they didn't really mean it when they put up the sign asking people to stay off this antique fire engine:

My favorite was riding the bumper boats, especially spraying Taye and Daddy :o)

We only ended up camping for 3 days instead of 4. None of us slept well at night, and the boys were cold and wanting to go home in the mornings. By Saturday they didn't even want to play at the river, they were done, but it was a good time, as always.