Amy: Go ahead and put your cup in the dishwasher.
Zach: Which dishwasher?
Amy: The only dishwasher we have.
Zach: You mean this one?
Amy: Yes, that one. Will you put your cup in it, please?
Zach: You mean... put my cup in it?
Amy: Yes. That's what I mean.
(Pause)
Zach: What?
Zach: Mom?
Amy: What, Zach?
Zach: What?
Amy: You said "Mom".
Zach: Oh, well...(mumble mumble mumble)
Amy: What?
Zach: What?
Amy: Can you say that again? I didn't understand you.
Zach: What did I say?
So we made our annual trek to the farm to get our pumpkins. This year the trip was especially important, as the pumpkins pretty much constitute our entire fall decorating... I don't fancy risking life and limb trying to dig our autumn box out of the downstairs closet anytime soon.
The highlight for Zach is always the animals. The child needs a farm (or a zoo) of his own.
"I can carry this one," he says, picking up this 30-pounder. And he did. For about 20 seconds.
Then he hefted this 16-pounder back to the wagon. And was tired when he got there. But much happier than he appears in this photograph.
It was rather a windy day. In your comments, I'd prefer terms like "sexy" and "windblown"... over phrases such as "tangled" and "blurry" and "what-kind-of-rodent-has-taken-up-residence-in-your-hair". Thank you for your kind consideration.
Isn't he, though? Rockin', I mean. What a cool kid.
Fighting for truth, for justice, and for the chance to show off his slick moves.
And here we have... um... Catwoman. Created mostly to amuse myself.
And so help me... it really did.
Because, really, how could I resist?
One great thing we saw (but I wasn't allowed to photograph...wah) was the National Quilt Museum. It was awesome! I can't get over the creativity and craftsmanship of some people. Mike tolerated the museum quite well. And Zachary...well... although he claims to have enjoyed it, he did spend an inordinate amount of time rolling around on the floor groaning, "Exit...exit...exit!"
But there was certainly plenty for the boys to enjoy on our vacation as well.
We observed marine life up close:
We saw war vehicles. We saw A LOT of war vehicles:
And various other unusual vehicles as well:
We experienced crafts and trades of the 1800s:
We saw Orlando Bloom:
(Okay, not really, but doesn't he look like him? Close enough.)
There are of course a lot more photos, but as I doubt anyone is reading even this far... I'll spare you.
Okay, the vacation was a week long, so I had to split this post up a bit. Today I'll share our beach adventures. We spent a few days on St. George Island in Florida, so I got to relax and play Gidget for a while. So fun.
1. My fearless outdoorsy boy heading into the waves. He wanted to spend every moment in the water. (Click on this one to make it bigger. I LOVE this image!)
2. His favorite activity was letting the waves crash into him and knock him down. If they weren't big enough, he knocked himself down.
3. In front of the house we stayed in, right on the beach. That was awesome.
4. The sunset view, obviously. No, nothing is on fire.
5. Mike, blinded by the light, watching Zach's first venture into the ocean.
6. We were trying to stay dry that morning going shelling, but the ocean kept calling Zach's name.
7. And he kept answering the call.
8. Observing hermit crabs we found.
9. Our Family Home Evening lesson was about building our "house on the rock".
10. Heading back to the house for the morning.
11. A sunset view from our backyard.
Stay tuned for a quick summary of what we did in the other seven(!) states we passed through.
So, being a big eight-year-old has its responsibilities, but it also has its perks. And for this curious, sweet, enthusiastic, helpful, outdoorsy kid... cub scouts is a huge perk. Seriously, this boy was born to be a scout.
He has been going all out... studying the manual on his own, asking to do the activities, and passing off requirements like nobody's business. I'm loving it, too, because it all fits in beautifully with our homeschooling, our family nights, and well... just our life. I'm actually one of his den leaders, and I'll admit I was reluctant about it. Boys still confuse me, you see. But I'm having loads of fun with it, after all.
A few photos from back in his first week of scouting, which happened to include day camp...
(Isn't he cute?!)
Strange to be tapping the "compose" button on typepad just now. That hasn't happened for a while, eh? How long has it been, you ask? Well... remember my new little nephew from my last post? The little dude just graduated from college. We're so proud.
Okay, put into perspective, I guess it hasn't really been so very long. He is, however, growing to be quite a handsome little devil. And a happy one. We like him.
And speaking of growing up, get a load of this kid...
Eight. No, seriously... eight?! I mean, don't get me wrong. So far it's been a really great year for him. This summer I've seen him becoming a lot more mature... leaps and bounds, really. But eight is the year a child officially becomes a "pre-teen". 100% Big Kid. And I'm not entirely ready for that...
Round One... in which I struggle against nature, as Andrew apparently needs constant feeding and is also an insomniac. When his eyes closed, I moved quickly.
Come play again soon, little one.
(Me and the bean, on Tuesday. When I was a mere 32 years old.)
I am now 33. That was my "lucky number" when I was a teenager, so I'll assume this will be a great year.
We are cutting out TV entirely and really limiting computer usage for the whole month of June. So far, I'm really liking it. Zach is surprisingly fine with it as well.
Making a pinwheel quilt has some difficulties I wasn't anticipating. My brain just isn't wrapping itself around it. Anyone know of a spectacular tutorial in a book or online? I want to be able to do this, without a bunch of weird seams.
This made me laugh really hard. Yes, I'm a geek.
Otherwise known as Andrew Wyatt. We adore this little guy!
(Poor kid. Just a few hours after birth, and here come all of us, swarming in like the Portokalos family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. What can we say... we love with enthusiasm!)
We love you, tomorrow. Because my little sister is finally (ten days late) going to bring my newest little nephew into the world! My camera is charging...
Incidentally, I'm hoping this little guy will be more cooperative in front of the camera than the other five grandkids have often proven themselves...
We spent last weekend camping in beautiful Nauvoo. What a great place... lovely scenery, historical sites, and a sweet spirit that always presides.
But for the boys (my son, my husband, and my father-in-law), one of the main highlights would be... the fishing. I thought I'd share a few images I caught at around 6:00 AM on Friday, after a VERY long, sleepless night in a tent.
1. Dawn breaking, with a jetstream that made the sun appear to be smoking.
2. Zach
3. Mike's dad (also named Mike)
4. Zach and Mike
5. Look at the size of the catfish Mike reeled in!
(Okay, so maybe my Photoshop skills came in handy here... this is a fish story, after all! But they really were enormous fish. Mike's luck holds.)
(Okay, technically these showers took place in December and March... and blast it, looking at my calendar, I realize it's not even April anymore as I post this... but hey, I gotta have a title.)
Rewind to December for a bit. A friend of mine was getting ready to have her baby, and I called dibs on throwing her shower. I had a few things to work around... like the Christmas tree in the living room. So I decided on a woodland/bird theme in red and white.
Kristin already had five children under the age of eight, and the baby's gender was unknown, hence the invitation. The back had the info, and said, "Come celebrate the newest egg in the nest!" (I love the little rooster boy!)
And for favors, I whipped up some super-quick ornaments and placed them on a little tree.
And now in three weeks my little sister Karen is due to have her first baby, and we are all way excited. Bursting to meet the new little one in the family. A few weeks ago we had a little lamb shower for her.
Karen made the little quilt in the second picture, and my mom made the cute little sock bouquet. We hung the clothesline to display any clothing she was given, and had jars set out for people to offer up their baby name suggestions.
(Now I'm humming "Shower the People You Love with Love". Oy. Stop me.)
Nine years ago, I married the best guy I've ever known. And it's been really good since then. So we decided to take the weekend to celebrate and relax and just be together, without any distractions at all. Mike let me choose where to go, and I immediately took advantage of that situation and announced that we were headed to Kentucky. ("Ummm... Kentucky?" says Mike. "Oh, yes," says me.)
I have always loved Shaker-style architecture, furniture, and craftmanship. And then one day I found out about Pleasant Hill, where you can stay in the historic Shaker buildings and visit the farm and walk the trails and enjoy the stillness that is there. And we did.
The location was beautiful. The workmanship was inspiring.The history was fascinating. And spending two days alone with my sweetie... the best.
We had a lovely, quiet, normal Easter weekend. Surrounded by family, eggs of various shades, and oh, yes... about 80 pounds of Easter candy. Courtesy of beforementioned family. It's all good.
Zach and I are still in egg-hunting mode. Well, Zach is. And it isn't too much to ask to hide eggs around the yard for an extra day or two. Not when I get that sweet snaggletoothed smile in return.
Hope your holiday was just as happy.
We had big plans today to visit the science center with the cub scouts, but everybody canceled out at the last minute. Since we go there pretty regularly anyway, and today was gorgeous, we decided to do some exploring. Off to the lake!
I can't wait till the weather warms up enough to go camping. Just being out in the woods today was so refreshing for both of us. I believe Zach used his new favorite phrase fifteen times this afternoon, "Oh, yeah, baby!!" My only regret is that I haven't made Zach an explorer bag yet, because my pockets were stuffed with all kinds of treasures (and dirt) when we came home.
Check it out... we found a honey tree! And with my love of The House on Pooh Corner, and Zach's love of classic Berenstain Bears... we were embarrassingly excited to stumble on a honey tree in real life. There's very little in this world that's more awe-inspiring than the intricate pattern made by a simple honeybee.
And here's Zach's find of the day... a completely intact turtle shell. Remind me that I need to drop a big bottle of hand sanitizer into that explorer bag when I get it made.
All said and done, I finally put together our nature display, just using the items we brought home today. This was a good day.
Oh, yeah, baby.