Camping at Pokagon

Looks like it was a long trip but Pokagon was only an hour and half away.

Joseph and Isaiah...showing some love.

...testing the COLD water!

Ben contemplating the vastness of Lake James.

ahhh...the good life!

..fun in the sand!

Getting some more freckles!

A perfect seat for Meredith!

Amber wore out after a big day!

Storytime!!

How come the little one always gets buried???

If you look closely you'll see dead mosquitoes at the top of each of those little stakes. It was Nate's shrine to scare off all others...uhhh...didn't work!!

Our camping buddies the Quicks...Nate, Amber, Ben and Isaiah

Our other camping buddies the Santees...Kent, Angie and Meredith

Joseph getting a much needed bath...the cleanliness lasted about 10 minutes!!

Lot's of fun...lot's of memories made...lot's of pictures to share!! Considering we had over 200 pics...I think I did pretty good narrowing down to this many!!!

Random-ness

My Beautiful Mother's Day flowers! I vow to water them often and not kill them!!! That first basket seems to have a strange bird lurking in it!!

Joseph talking to G-Ma on the phone...really looking forward to her visit the 1st of June!!

Joseph still enjoying his Jeep...pickin' up girls too!

My lilacs were beautiful this Spring!!!

Wesley's 1st broken bone! Skateboarding accident...Break is right below the first knuckle on his right index finger...lucky for him he is a lefty!! :) The dr said he couldn't participate in gym the rest of the school year...he was really bummed about that. Boy, the girls would've soaked that for all it's worth!! I would've taken a picture of how he has to wear it all balled up but it looks pretty dirty and disgusting after the camping trip!!

Our Weekend

We spent Memorial Weekend at Pokagon State Park with a couple of friends from church. It was a great time. You will read more about it tomorrow if you come back. Let me just say it will be nice to sleep in our own beds tonight.

It Happens....

Last month Brian pulled out the trusty, old charcoal grill...

...only to find some patties left over from last years BBQ!!
Even Wes wouldn't dare eat them...they made nice frisbees out to the field!! :0)

Ahhh...now that's more like it...and there were NO left-overs!

This past Christmas I was taking a wreath off the wall to hang up my Christmas one and guess what fell out from behind the one on the wall...yep...two plastic Easter eggs full of candy!! 8 months hanging on the wall...that candy was still good!! :)

Daddy Day

For Wesley's 2nd birthday we got him a Power Wheels Jeep. He loved it. He drove that Jeep all the time, so much so that one day we watched him drive around the house and around the house until he fell asleep at the wheel. It was cute. Well, today I took that same Jeep over to Yorktown, Indiana to have a recall repair done. I bought a new set of batteries and charger. Joseph was so excited about this repair. Today Joseph took over the wheel and is following in his brothers footsteps, or should I say Jeep tracks.

Crazy Day

Let me share with you my day yesterday.

• I took the kids to school, and on the way home I thought "It would be nice to take Jaye breakfast" so I swung into McDonald's for a pancake and sausage breakfast.
  
• Later that day I met with a friend from church to talk about dealing with stress in ministry (very encouraging by the way) at Subway. We eat and chatted.
  
• From there I met with another friend for our "couple times a month" hang out time at Fazoli's. From there....
  
• I have a standing get together each Tuesday with one of our youth group students after school, we usually go to Arbys and yesterday was no exception.
• And to end the day, Jaye took Jessica to Drivers Ed class and came home with a bucket of chicken from KFC.

Here's the good news....I didn't eat at each of these places. I did drink a lot of Diet Soda yesterday. I was just doing my part to keep our Marion Economic Strength growing.
~ Marion Fast Food Industry , you are welcome.

Connie the Quilt Diva!!

Let me introduce you to our friend Connie. She is a wonderful lady and a faithful reader (and commenter) to our blog. This weekend was our Ladies Dessert Fellowship at church and Connie was our special speaker. Our theme was Women of Passion. Connie spoke of her passion...which is quilting. She especially loves taking the many pieces of fabric and putting them together to make something new and beautiful. She showed us many beautiful quilts she has made over the last few years. I would love to someday make a quilt. Maybe with her guidance I can accomplish that (hint, hint)!! Anyway, she challenged us by asking if our passion (for whatever) meets or exceeds our passion for the Lord. Do we desire to spend time with the Lord as much as we desire to spend time with "our passion". Hmmm...something to think about!!!

Saturday

This blog comes to you from the back porch. The grill is lit, the kabobs are cooking, that would be beef/pork/shrimp/mushroom kabobs. What a good day it is. Here's a little update for you...yesterday the big kids and I went to the picture show in Marion to watch X Men. Good show, lots of fighting/action/mixed in with a love story. If you're an X Men fan it's a pretty entertaining movie. Today was a run around day. Jess had several appointments and I ran over to IWU for a taste of the Jr. High Weekend. After the rush this morning, I went to work in the back yard. I moved the Buick from its winter resting place into the "if I get some money I will work on it" summer place in the other garage. One of the rear brakes was hung up....so before I moved it I had to do a little work on the brakes...but it's moved. I really miss driving that car, maybe this summer we can get it back on the road. I got the swing put up out back. Today is one of those days Granny would have joined us outside, especially after I got the swing out. We miss Granny. It's going to be hard to get use to her not being here anymore. That's it, I've got to flip the kabobs. Boy do they smell good!