To Michigan

Well, I took the girls on another trip...this time three airplane rides and long hours out to see my sister in Michigan. Of course, they were great and I couldn't have been prouder!

Day 1 and the cousins were already cuddling up and reading to each other. Ah girls!

Then it was out to their garden to see the chrysalis growing in the green beans.

This was amazing to me. I had no idea you could see the wings inside the chrysalis and certainly loved the ring of gold around the top!

I'm in love with the tire swing in the back yard.

In the afternoon we went to the splash pad.  K has never really played on one of these before and finally, finally, she was brave and had a great time!

The next day we went to a nature preserve where the girls had a ton of fun checking out the animals, living and otherwise, and all of the pathways around them.

Elk

They even had quite a variety of birds of prey, my favorite. Eagles always look so mad to me!

I love the speed of falcons!

One of the old huts from the natives around here.

My obligatory pic of Em running.

Em found this piece of bark and was so enthralled with it that she carried it around with her the entire time we were there...in this moment, she had another stick and was calling it her drum as she walked and banged on it.  Crazy kid!

I have spent a little time working in my sister's garden and have come across some beautiful critters that she wishes I dispose of.  So I have taken a couple pics to document their beauty before their destruction.

We went blueberry picking today.  To keep both hands free, you tie the bucket around your waist so it hangs there as you go.

Most of the low-lying fruit had been picked so Megan was helping Em by lowering the branches for her.

They may have gotten distracted once or twice by a particularly ripe looking berry.

Auntie Bethany and Em were hiding from us...

All done!

We are having a blast in the unseasonably cool weather of the mid-west right now!  Having a good time hanging out and being girls.  Poor Uncle Andy is the only boy in the entire house!  Have a wonderful day!  God Bless!

Ready to Go

Well, it was two weeks without seeing Dad so he flew up for the weekend. He says now that he has taken that flight the drive is only going to seem more torturous when he comes up for good (45min flight vs 10hr drive). Two more weeks and he comes up for good.  The girls have been really good through all this and I am quite proud of them.  K keeps 'taking care of Em', though she doesn't really need it, I think it helps both of them.  This is K braiding her hair.  She has also started brushing her teeth and basically bossing her around in a more kind way. :-)  

When Dad was here, the very first thing they did was wrestle and get lots of whisker rubs!  They miss the wrestling the most, I think.  I wrestle but apparently not like Dad.

Yes, that is our window AC over there. Three technicians have told us they had never seen a Trane AC burn up like this (they keep sending out guys 'just to take a look at it')... :-(.  We are a novelty but since we didn't have our last maintenance check done, it is not covered under warranty and we are on the hook for the whole thing.  We are still waiting to determine if the unit in the attic is all right but since the breaker is shorted, we can't test it until we get a new unit outside...you get the idea...it is a mess.  Thankfully the window units we found are cooling off the house just fine.

We also cooled off at the lake. For those who have heard about the fires, yes, there are several up here.  They were zero percent contained then we got that random rain storm and it gave the fighters the edge they needed and now they are finishing putting them all out.  The air has been smoke-filled for quite some time, though it has kept the temperatures a little lower.

As far as the ranch we are in escrow on, the games continue.  Waiting on a paper from the state and we are supposed to close this week.  Please pray with us for this.  This ranch is amazing and seems so right for our entire family.  We even got permission for the permits for the renovation of the downstairs to fit my parent's needs.  Everything is lined up except one paper but waiting for the state to issue a paper is a little like...well, I'll let you finish that with whatever you like, but hoping on a shooting star comes to mind.  Thankfully our God is bigger and greater and He can make a shooting star, so there really is some hope.  M is not getting any sleep though as he is working all night and then doing paperwork and phone calls during the day.  Pray for his safety as he fatigues himself before he even goes in to work.  Thank you!

Let's see, so much going on.  I enrolled K in a homeschool program through the school district.  She will go in to school one day a week with all the other kids in the program and the rest of the week she is home with me.  The teacher gives us two weeks of curriculum at a time, we do it, she does all the paperwork and voila, K will graduate kindergarten.  I hope it's that easy anyway.  She will also get violin lessons through the school.  Em isn't old enough to get in yet, but we are working on getting something through her IEP in special ed.

The girls and I are headed to Michigan to see my sister and family tomorrow so we are busy, busy.  Hope your day goes well.  God Bless!!