Mo' Photos

I just can't sit down and blog as much as I'd like to these days. Hopefully, when school starts, it'll be easier to record more of our lives. Here are some photos of what's been goin' on out here:

 

I created this in my backyard. It makes me happy. Giant zinnias, marigolds, bachelor's buttons, poppies, snapdragons, and a few bulb alliums on their way out. I still love veggies more, but flowers have a certain appeal and they conveniently feed beneficial insects.

Matthew and James trying out our new inflatable mattress. We plan to use it for our second ever family camping trip in a couple weeks.

James has taken an interest in learning how to mow lawns. He likes the earning opportunities it opens up.

Robert took an online class in Minecraft Redstone Engineering. He said it was a lot of fun.

Matthew hanging out in the hot tub at the condo in Perdido Key, FL. We traveled there to spend a week with some family on my side: my parents, Erin, the Barneys, and the Bennetts. Unfortunately, we got Erin sick the week before and she had to cancel. I'm still working out how to make up for that.

A wheat field in Michigan. Rachel and I rode 50 miles together in the Holland 100.

Cousins! Here are all the cousins that came on the Florida trip.

The boys looooooved the pools and the beach in Florida. Mostly the pools.

Proof that Alice came to the beach with us :) She wasn't feeling very social for much of the trip and stayed in her room reading, writing, and listening to music.

Matthew wanted to get buried in the sand SO much. Robert was happy to comply.

We had rain the first couple of days in Florida, which made little bursts of rainbows now and then. Bobby and the boys saw this one our first day at the beach.

Three generations in one place.

Garlic harvest time! Matthew and James were both great helpers.

James decided one day that he wanted to make something delicious and call it his special concoction (or something similar...I can't remember exactly the words he chose, but the name was very important at the time). It's a blackberry-blueberry freezer jam. Quite delicious!

We and the Garners had a "frousin" swap a few weeks ago. We sent Robert and James to Ohio for a week and got Rebekah and Miriam in return. We were talking about things we could do while the girls were visiting and Matthew mentioned that he couldn't remember ever visiting a zoo. And especially, he had never seen a penguin in real life. He really, really wanted to see one in real life. Ta da! Thanks, Scoville Zoo, for being close, incredibly affordable, and for having playful, vocal penguins that like to play with kids on the other side of the glass.

Sometimes we get to take Ruby places. In this case, she had just spent the morning at the groomer and was pooped from all the excitement. She perked up again when she saw we were taking her to play with friends, though :)