July 17, 2009 Yup! Back up to our favorite spot to camp...Circle Park!
Michael built a great campfire and we tried to teach the kids fire behavior:
never run around a campfire
Daddy stokes the fire
no blankies by the fire
cuddle with Mommy by the fire!
The next morning, we climbed our favorite rock in Circle Park. This is Annisia's second "bouldering" experience. She did great!
My kids are hams! Don't worry, Aunty Janice, (because I know you will!!). They really aren't on the edge of the world. The rock is only a few feet tall here.
And down she comes!
Then Jonathan got to lead us back to the camper. He does very well. Gets a little sidetracked by things like cool tree branches and rocks and stumps and things, but does very well!!
Well, this afternoon, a hailstorm came through. Ugh! So! I'll take a minute from updating you on the past month, to updating you on my currently pathetic garden and trees...
Here's what it looked like in action...
This area of the deck is where 3 roofs come together. All that water runs off the 3 roofs, down into the drain field under the deck and comes out right by a plum tree which has grown tons since we added on in 2004. (The walls you can see, the one with the window and the one to it's left, are all part of the addition. The logs you see on the right side are from what used to be our west facing end of the house.)
You can see here where the 3 roofs come together, and the plummeted plum tree.
Out to the new garden, (which I just spent about 2 hours weeding on Saturday.) The poor corn was already having a dickens of a time growing. These 4 rows have about 3 packs of seeds distributed through them. First, they were getting drowned, then grasshoppers, then this hail! Poor things...
My peppers...bell, heart-shaped, and anaheim...hmmm...will they survive?
Here's a close up of the largest of the pepper plants...
An acorn squash plant...
close up of some corn...
But our upside down tomatoes seem to have escaped any thrashing! Yay! They are dragging along though. The initial seeds for these were started in the sunroom in February! C'mon...grow!
Here's another shot of the pile of hail on the picnic table!
I begin to have an appreciation for the pain farmers have when hail comes through. A smidgen of appreciation, maybe I should say. For if my corn doesn't amount to anything, I can still buy some corn on the cob at the store. I know that's not the case for farmers who have sections of land invested in field corn. A hail storm like this one could wipe them out. It was hard to believe the amount of hail and the fury of the storm. It just pounded down! Anyways, no one was hurt, maybe the garden will grow something, and our well can have a rest from running the sprinkler system for a day or so!
Michael's parents have a pond in their pasture again this year. This is not an every year occurrence, mind you. But when the girls were little, Michael's Kayla, and nieces Brady, Mandi, and Jami, they often played in the pond. They even rode the horses into the pond. Since we've been married, 9 years now!, I have only seen this size pond twice, I believe. And this year is the first I have seen the pond last for a entire month. What is the difference? I don't really know. We have had a wet spring and summer. Maybe when Lillian has the time to spend a little time on the computer relaxing and looking at the blog, she'll have an answer...;-)
So, one Sunday evening, we went out to the ranch and rode around in the pedal boat. It was fun...lots of mosquitos on the shore, but fun.
Papa told us to watch for a crocodile, so Jonathan was crocodile hunting most of the time!
Michael came and picked us up for lunch in the Thunderbird again. We went up to the job site again where the guys were sanding the closet doors. Uncle Bret had his 'do'rag' on his shaved head and Annisia wanted to wear it. Daddy posed her beside the T'Bird. Isn't she just a hoot?!
We are enjoying the summer and the bike rides we get. I spend some of my week in group cycling classes, so Michael does some morning bike rides alone. (Between you and me and the fence post (which we don't really have any of...hmmm, an expression that doesn't really work for me...), I think he really enjoys that!) This was one morning in July. He rode off around 6:30am. Jonathan met me in the living room just after 7am and asked where Daddy was. I told him Daddy had gone on a bike ride but should be coming in soon. So we looked out in the garage, but he wasn't home yet. Then we looked down the road and here he came! Jonathan was SO excited, he squealed and hopped around. Then he asked, "Can I go on a bike ride with you, Daddy?" So he got his shoes and helmet on and off they went, down to the stop sign and back, 1 mile. Jonathan thought that was SO cool.
Annisia wanted in on the action too! Daddy indulged her!
Michael built a great campfire and we tried to teach the kids fire behavior:
The next morning, we climbed our favorite rock in Circle Park. This is Annisia's second "bouldering" experience. She did great!
My kids are hams!
And down she comes!
Check out this jump by Jonathan!
