Family Adventure Day

Eli thought the ketchup for his fries was soup. He ate it with a spoon!

The trail at Crowley's Ridge Nature Center

We had fine dining at Sam's!

We have had a busy summer! It seems like our weekends have been packed with activities or yard work, and we have not taken much time to have fun together as a family. I was ready for a change of pace, so earlier this week, I announced that Saturday would be Family Adventure Day (FAD for short).

Our FAD started before we even left the house. The lots (which are several acres each) across the dirt road from us have not been mowed in over a year. Someone came with a tractor to bush hog the "jungle" today, which was very exciting to the children. So, we spent some time watching the tractor do its job. It was pretty impressive to watch (especially if you are a one year old or his daddy!). We then loaded into our big blue bus. To make our adventure more exciting, our battery was dead. We all unloaded and watched the tractor some more while our hero (Mark) got it working again. Then, we were off!

Our first stop was Lake Charles State Park. This was not a planned stop, but Anna Grace had not heeded the advice to use the bathroom before we left. We were close to the middle of nowhere, so we pulled into the state park and visited the visitor's center. While we were there, we decided to drive around and check it out. It had two lakes, one for swimming and one for boating, and a campground. It was small, but very scenic.

We then drove on to the "big city" of Jonesboro. Compared to the last three cities we have lived, Jonesboro is small, but compared to our current town, it is huge! It usually takes a little over an hour to get there, but we took the scenic route, so it took about an hour and a half. The next stop on our adventure, was Fuji Japanese Restaurant. This may not seem very exciting, but it is a treat for us. There is not one in our town, and it is not cheap to take all seven of us there. My birthday is in a few weeks, so we celebrated early. Eli and Anna Grace did not like the fire during the cooking, but everyone enjoyed the food. Isaac took a bit and said, "Family Adventure Day is great so far!" It was very yummy! I was very proud of how the children branched out a bit and ate veggies that are outside their normal tastes.

After lunch, we headed to Crowley's Ridge Nature Center. The children and I have been there a couple of times, but it was Mark's first visit. The children were eager to show Daddy around. We watched a movie about how the ridge was formed, then we explored the nature center and took a short hike. It was hovering around 100 degrees, so our hike was very short! At one point, we were looking out the window at an area where they have a small fountain and food for the squirrels and birds. A raccoon appeared and started eating. It was the first time the children have seen a raccoon (not counting the dead ones on the road!).

The last stop on our adventure was Sam's club. The children love to go to Sam's and eat the samples. Saturdays are prime sampling days, so we had quite a meal! We did not buy much (which is very rare for us!), but the kids enjoyed it. It was a very full day, and everyone was ready to head for home!

Our very first Family Adventure Day was quite a hit! I hope there will be many more!

What was your favorite part of Family Adventure Day?

Isaac-- "All of it!"

Bailey-- "I liked all of it. I really liked the movie."

Olivia-- "I liked the Japanese food the best. My second favorite was the movie at the Nature Center."

Anna Grace-- "Going to the Nature Center."

Mark-- "I liked the Nature Center."

Kim-- "I loved making memories with my family! The food wasn't bad either!"

Every Boy Needs...

Boots!

Eli loves shoes! He is going through a phase now where he walks around the house wearing everyone else's shoes! He especially loves to wear his sibling's boots. Since 75% of his siblings are girls, the boots he wears are usually pink. I decided it was time to buy him his very own pair. I was shopping at Target today (which is a luxury now that I live over an hour away from the closest Target, but I digress...), and I found a cute pair. I tried them on his feet to see if they would work, and he loved them! He did not want to take them off. Thankfully they fit, and he has been proudly showing them off all day. He loves the fact that he can put them on all by himself. He does not quite have the concept of which feet are the right feet, but that does not bother him one bit. Good-bye pink boots!

Van Woes

We had quite a stressful morning! I had a few things to do at church this morning, so I took our van (which is our third vehicle) and went a little early on my own. I was almost to church when Mark called to let me know that I had Anna Grace and Olivia's booster seats with me (aaahhh!). I had taken the girls to the tea party in the van because Mark was running errands with the boys in our big blue "bus". So, I was a bit frustrated, but I turned around and headed back home. About half way there, the van started acting strangely when I stepped on the accelerator. I was able to continue on for a while, and then eventually had to pull of into a parking lot. Mark had to come and get me (without car seats), and he was able to drive it the rest of the way home. We did eventually make it to church, quite a bit later (and a lot more stressed) than I had planned. Oh well, these are light and momentary troubles...

Tea Party!

Our girls were invited to a birthday tea party (the girly kind, not the political kind) this morning. Our sweet friend Eleanor turned three today, and her mom Stacy planned a wonderful party for her. The two older girls wore their dresses from my brother's wedding (thank you Aunt Rebecca!) and Anna Grace wore won that Mamaw had sent (thanks Mamaw!). Each girl was supposed to bring her favorite doll. Anna Grace brought Bitty Baby, Olivia brought Josefina, and Bailey brought Felicity.

The first activity of the day was to make a hat, picture frame and mirror for the doll guests. Stacy then handed out hats, fans, boas, purses and gloves for each girl and did a photo shoot. She is a gifted photographer, so I can not wait to see the pictures she took! Right as the picture taking was coming to an end, the doorbell rang. The birthday girl opened the door, and Snow White was there. Apparently, she was in the area, and dropped in for some tea! The girls had fancy snacks, followed by birthday cake and ice cream. They had a wonderful time. There was lots of laughter and lots of pink fluff flying in the air. Happy Birthday Eleanor!

Olivia's New Friend

Olivia received a new friend for her birthday. I had said before that I was not buying any of the girls an American Girl Doll before they were seven. I ate those words and bought Josefina for Olivia for her sixth birthday. We are going to be in an American Girl book club this year, and I decided to bite the bullet and get her one. I was a little worried that she would not take good care of the doll, but that has not been a problem at all. She has cherished her new friend. Olivia is growing up.

Working From Home

Mark in his thinking cap!

This is what happens when Mark tries to work from home. I wonder why he does not do it more often? He gets lots of help!

What Have We Been Doing, Part 3

Visiting
We have been blessed to visit with lots of friends and family the past few months. Our friends, the Boyds, started our visiting season off in May. They travelled from Alabama to spent a couple of days with us. We had a great time catching up with them, and the children loved running around with their three boys. Our time with them was much too short!

We travelled to Baton Rouge for the Memorial Day holiday. Despite the fact that we moved away from there almost three years ago, we still cherish the time we get to spend with our Loiusiana friends! My friend Laura has a great talent for serving huge, delicious meals, and we were blessed to be able to eat her yummy cooking upon our arrival. Our dear friends, the Callahans, opened their house to us (which is not small thing when you have seven in your family!), and we loved spending time with them. I was able to sneak off to the outlet mall with Connie and Maryellen, and scratch my bargain shopping itch. We spent the last two nights at the "Morris Family Resort" swimming, fishing and bonding with the Stuarts and Butners. Our time in Baton Rouge seemed much too short! Unfortunately, I did not spend much time taking pictures!

Mamaw came for a visit for the Fourth of July, and she brought two special friends with her. The children were thrilled with their visit, and Bailey was especially happy that Mamaw was here to celebrate on her birthday! We loved our visit, and the time flew by!

My parents came for an extra long visit last week. We are used to only having them here for a couple of days, but this time they were able to stay for almost a week! It was wonderful! My mom helped me do a bit of "summer cleaning" and my dad helped in my flower beds and the garden. Mark and I were able to slip away on a date, and my mom and I snuck away to do some shopping. We all loved spending time with Nanna and Grand-Bob!

My friend Laura and her two boys are here right now, and we are having a great time visiting with them. There has not been a lot of sleeping going on, but there has been lots of bonding! I have really enjoyed my chats with Laura, and the older kids have loved playing hide and seek in the dark!

I am truly thankful for visits with friends!

What have I been doing? Part 2

Playing in our Pools!

We decided to "splurge" and get two new pools this year. I shelled out a total of $25, and we have most definitely gotten our money's worth! The thought of taking all five of the children to the public pool, is quite overwhelming to me, so they have had back yard fun instead. We really know how to have a good time!!!

What Have I Been Doing? Part 1

I have a hard time jumping back into the blog world after a lapse. I keep thinking that I should blog, but then I think, "No, its been too long. I have too much to catch up on!" So, today I decided I should just jump back in. I decided to simply answer the question, "What have I been doing?"

Gardening--This is my first year to have a "real" garden. By that, I mean that someone actually came on a tractor and plowed a portion of my back yard, and I actually planted seeds and plants down in the ground. The past couple of years, I have done square foot gardening, but this year I decided to kick it up a notch and put some of these 3+ acres to use. It was lots of fun to work in the garden back in March and April when the temperatures were mild. I was a bit ambitious, and planted 36 tomatoes (it turns out that is a lot!), peppers, onions, green beans, potatoes, corn, zucchini, squash and cucumbers. I started thinking sustainable thoughts and feeling all farmerish.

Then, June came, and it turns out that Arkansas moved a bit closer to the Equator. "Farming" is not all that much fun when the heat index is hovering around 100! I pretended that the garden was not there for a week or two, and a lovely crop of grass moved in. Mark suddenly developed an interest in the garden when he realized there is heavy machines available. He started talking about buying a tiller, and I started thinking that I never wanted to say the word garden again. I made myself get back out there, and I ended up pretty pleased with our first year. We had lots of cucumbers, zucchini, squash, tomatoes and peppers. We had one "mess" of beans (I have no idea how three rows of beans only makes one "mess". There is some weird garden math at work!) Just when I was getting tired of figuring out what to do with squash and zucchini, they died, and I did not mourn their loss too much. I made tomato sauce and froze 12 quarts, which made me feel a bit like Ma Ingalls stocking up for the winter.

Even with the heat, I really enjoyed my first "real" gardening experience. Mark found a great deal on a tiller, so we are officially committed to trying again next year!