Summer Fun on the River

Allie being her normal happy self.

The photos from my camera were finally uploaded to my computer, so I'll be doing a series of catch-up blog posts from most of the summer.  My children read my blog and so do some of our extended family.  I hate to have a huge block of time missing from my blog, because I use it as a journal of our family life.

We live near several rivers.  One of the small rivers runs about 200 feet south of our property line.  It joins a large river about 1/2 a mile from our home.  We spent a lot of time of the river this summer.  The following is a

Paige posing on the shore.

series of photos from some of our river days.  One day while we were waiting to pick up some of the children in the canoe, Paige and Allie cooled off in the river near the island.  I love the fact that the current is so calm and the river is only thigh deep.  The younger girls spent a great deal of time at the park playing in the river with their neighborhood friends this summer.  The weather was so warm that the girls were still going there at the end of September. 

The last time they went swimming, Allie discovered a leach on her leg.  One of their friends discovered two leaches.  I'll need to keep a better eye on the river depth next summer.  

 

 The canoe with Katie, Madelyn and George FINALLY navigates the bend in the river.  

George hops out of the canoe to pull it closer to the shore.

All together now!

A Wonderful Surprise

Last summer, my poor children spent many hours mowing our two properties.  The only mower we owned was a 10 year old push mower.  The push mower had seen much hard use over the years and had one tire that refused to hold air, a slightly bent mower blade and was difficult to start.  Madelyn, Paige, Steve and Joe helped mow the smaller yard which is approximately .45 acres.  The other property is almost one acre and is almost all incline.  It’s a difficult lawn to mow.  The two houses are only ½ a mile apart, so we walked the mower between the two houses.

By the end of the summer, Joe did almost all the mowing of the larger property.  Everyone was discouraged about the lawn situation.  The phrase, “We REALLY need to get a riding mower,” was heard frequently.

When we returned from vacation, my father-in-law called to say he had a surprise.  He had gotten an old riding mower from a neighbor (for free) and had purchased parts and got it going again.  My children were thrilled! 


The mower had a few break downs during the remainder of the summer, but we were able to use it several times.  Mike finished repairs on a few small fidgety  things last week and  Madelyn finished our final mowing at our current residence.  Not only is the grass cut, but most of the leaves are chopped up enough that they don’t need raking.

Thanks Grandpa!  You’re the best!

Wordless Wednesday

The Glorious Fourth

 

We had a fun Independence Day this year.  Mike had to work until 7pm, so the children and I headed to my mom's for her annual Fourth of July party.  It was incredibly hot, so Katie drove down with her boyfriend.  The rest of us piled into the Mountaineer.  There was some grumbling from the troops that the back seats of my vehicle aren't very comfortable.  At least WE had air conditioning.  Katie's car doesn't.

We weren't sure about traffic, so we gave ourselves and extra half and hour for traveling.  The traffic was light, so we stopped off at McDonald's for a snack and to let some of us cool down.

We were the first to arrive at mom's house.  Most of my sibling tend to run an hour late for gatherings.  We were able to visit with my mom before everyone else arrived.  I'm glad that we had that opportunity.  Mom is usually so busy during her gatherings that we don't see much of her.

After everyone arrived, we headed outside for some water games.  Mom gave all the minor grand-children small water pistols.  The adults all received a few hits before the children turned on each other.

Then the grand children used sponges to fill a bucket with water.  Everyone got a little wet and cooled down.  Katie played with her cousins and had a blast!  She wanted to bond with the younger cousins who don't see her too much,.

After eating hot dogs, burgers and all the traditional side dishes, we headed for home.  Mike beat us home and began grilling corn on the cob and cooking burgers.  I felt terrible letting him know that we had just finished eating.

We headed to a small town about 15 minutes away and watched the fireworks with some good friends.  This town gets so many people from the surrounding area to watch their fireworks that it took us almost 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot that was on the highway.  It was fun, but took us much longer than we had planned.

Katie picked Steve up from work and after everyone had made it home, we set off our small fireworks.  Michigan began to allow larger fireworks and firecrackers this year.  Unfortunately, the drought is so bad, I wouldn't let the older children set off their Roman candles and other traveling fireworks.

We were all so tired from the heat, that all the fireworks didn't get set off and we forgot about the sparklers.  So on July 5, we had Independence Day 2.  All the remaining "safe" displays and sparklers were used and the kids had a great time.  It was fun to see all the neighbor's children watching from their windows.

Missing Summer

I uploaded a ton of photos from Madelyn camera. There were many photos from our summer. I hadn't realized how much I miss summer and having the children around, listening to the play together, watching them be silly together, and spending time with them. Only 9 more months to go. Come on summer!

Working Outside

I've been forcing myself to work in the garden lately. The heat has been terrible, but my enthusiasm has waned on the garden. I enjoyed preparing the beds, planting the seeds and plants, and watering. I even didn't mind weeding.....at the beginning. It's a good thing that my children are excited about all the produce we've been picking lately or the garden wouldn't look as good as it does.

The reason for my lack of enthusiasm finally occurred to me yesterday when I walked into Walmart. I didn't plant ANY flowers this year. Beds of black-eyed Susan's, brightly colored morning glories and other flowers lift my spirit when I'm outside doing mundane tasks. As much as I love fresh green beans and ripe tomatoes, they don't make my heart rejoice like roses and snap dragons.

Walmart has shipments of mums at all the entrances right now. It's time to clean out the lettuce patch and plant some flowers!

Labor Day

Mike had to work on Labor Day, so the children and I spent the day with some friends. Everyone had a wonderful time skateboarding, biking, swimming, playing Guitar Hero, and eating. My friend made a huge mound of taco supplies for a taco bar. The children were thrilled with the delicious Mexican food. They are getting a lot less Mexican food, due to my food restrictions.

My favorite part of the holiday was the adult conversation, which seems to be missing in my life lately. Too many things to do and too many children who need chauffeur services.

Here are a few photos of our day.

Gone Fishing!

The younger girls have been begging to go fishing this summer. The problem is that I don't fish. The worms are yucky. The fish feel slimy. It's boring. Fishing is Michael's job. Today, he took Madelyn, Paige, and Allie fishing at a nearby lake. The girls were thrilled with their catches. They didn't get any "keepers", but the experience was the important part.

A Lazy Day

Instead of continuing to clean out the school cupboards and organize all the books cases in preparation for the upcoming school year, we played hookie today and went letter boxing with some good friends.

Our trip wasn't hugely successful. We only managed to locate 1 out of three boxes. Even with our less than stellar finds, the day was a lot of fun. We went to yet another park in a large city to our north and enjoyed walking in the woods.

The kids climbed up logs and 1/2 fallen trees.

They observed a deer from a short distance.

The kids also jumped on stones in a creek. Some of the children fell into the water. (I wasn't surprised.)

More importantly, everyone had fun hanging out with people whose company we enjoy. The older children were kind to the younger girls. Boys and girls all hung out together. What a nice break for all of us.

Letter Boxing with Friends

Today was our second day of letter boxing this week! Steve, Joe, Madelyn, Paige, Allie and I met up with friends to search for letter boxes. Our friends are seasoned letter boxers, having found hundreds of letter boxes. They graciously offered to go letter boxing with us and help decipher clues. We located three boxes and enjoyed playing at three different locations. Kim (the mom) showed me some pointers. My favorite one was that she brings M & M's for the kids to celebrate finding each box! Why couldn't I have thought of something like that to inspire my brood?

One of our favorite stops today was in an undiscovered park.

The park encourages visitors to use their 5 senses throughout the park. The kids touched lambs ear plants, mosses, ornamental grasses.

They ate blueberries, green beans, and banana peppers that they picked off the plants.
They saw a profusion of colors in various fragrant flowers and plants.


One of our favorite activities was when the kids stood in the middle of a brick circle that amplified their voices.

The park is an undiscovered gem.

A Little Crowded?

This is the view of my pool on a very hot summer day. Do you think we might need a bigger pool? As a side note, only three of the kids in the pool belong to me.

Did You Know....

Did you know that if you fill a pool with slightly rusty water, the water could be rusty enough to not let you see the bottom of the pool?

Mike set up the pool last Thursday. He didn't make sure that the bottom was completely flat. After getting about 1/2 full, I realized that we were going to have pool failure if it continued to fill. Enter Mrs. Fix-it. I emptied the poll to 1 foot. Then grabbing the bottom of the pool liner began to slowly pull the wrinkles to the edge, so they could get out of the bottom of the pool. After wrestling for an hour by myself, I had the older children come out and help. We removed all the wrinkles and the pool is now level!!!!!

After refilling, I learned that out water was rustier than I thought. Off to the pool supply store. We're trying metal remover...rust is metal, right? If this doesn't work, I'll need to empty the pool again. This could get expensive.

Summer Pasta Salad

Last night, I prepared a favorite summer dish from my childhood. It's been several years since I last made this dish, because my oldest daughter hates mayonnaise and turned the other children against this meal-time offering. My oldest daughter isn't home this summer and the weather was sweltering, so the decision was made to try this meal again. It's super easy to prepare and a delicious cold supper. Four of the remaining 6 children returned for second helpings and requested that I make this again. It's amazing how much more receptive the children are to meals when the "I don't like that" child is not present!

Summer Past Salad

16 oz pasta (elbow macaroni, shells, bows or curly pasta)
water to cook pasta
8 oz. cooked ham, cut into bite-sized chunks
8 oz. colby cheese, cut into bite-sized chunks
3/4 cup chopped carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 jar mayonnaise

Prepare pasta until al dente. Drain and run under cold water. Cool in refrigerator until cold. Add all other ingredients, stir well. Use more or less mayonnaise to reach desired consistency. Return to refrigerator. Let sit 2-24 hours. I usually prepare this in the morning before the heat of the day.

Serve with grapes or other fruit and crackers. Makes wonderful leftovers for the next days lunch.

Meandering Around

Mike took the day off of work. It was so nice to have him home for a day, when we are racing around doing projects. After sleeping in late, we loaded up the van with the 3 smallest girls (the boys are at their grandparents and Kate is at school) and went in search of new sights.

I showed Mike the lake that the kids and I found yesterday. As we were headed back, Mike suggested we follow signs to a nearby covered bridge. The ride was through a large farming area. The farmers are frantically trying to get in their crops, due to the huge amounts of rain we've had recently.

The bridge is a one-lane covered bridge. Paige and Allie thought that it was weird to wait for people to get across the bridge before we could cross in the other direction.


After lunch, we picked Katie up from school and continued looking around the area. We ended up in a tiny town about 10 minutes south of where we live. The town sits on a large river and has a couple of parks with river access for fishing and boating. We walked a trail through some wooded land near the river and then went to the playground. Paige and Allie were getting a little antsy sitting in the van.




I talked to Steve later in the day and learned that Joe, Steve, and their grandfather caught 51 fish. Thirty-six were keepers! I sure hope that they enjoy cleaning and eating fresh fish!