A few Saturdays ago we spent a fair amount of time at Barnes and Noble. Brenna had some gift cards to use from her birthday. She picked out two books and a book light. We agreed that she could get the book light as long as she promised to not abuse it by staying up after bedtime reading. We decided that on Friday nights she can read as long as her little eyes can stand it after our bedtime routine. Of course, Piper wanted in on that action. I found a light for her to use on Friday nights. I don't know how late they were up last Friday, but they loved it!! I could hear them giggling for a long time after I turned out their lamp. They even wanted to go to bed early on Saturday so they could read for a while after the bedtime routine! I LOVE IT!!!

Dash at the Zoo

Last Wednesday the girls and I were invited to join cousin Erin and her out of state friends at the zoo after school. Micah joined us because he is always up for an adventure!

Did you know the zoo closes at 5:00pm?

Huh. I didn't.

We got there around 4:00pm and quickly headed for the children's area. We got to pet goats (and let them be free...we were not the favorite guests of the day), pigs, sheep and I think we were watching a chicken actively die. Erin's littlest friend wanted to see the owls so we headed to the Oklahoma Trail. If you are familiar with our zoo, you realize these two exhibits are not located next to each other...and the owls are in the BACK of the Oklahoma Trail. Erin, Marlea and Kate got there just in time for a zoo keeper to unlock the door so they could go in quickly and look. My crew wasn't in such a hurry to go in the bat cave to see the owls, so we moseyed and enjoyed the deer and buffalo while they visited the nocturnal crowd.



Even thought it was rushed, I really enjoyed it. We pretty much had the park to ourselves and all the animals were coming out in the cool of the day. I think we will go back and just visits bits of the zoo until it is too cold.

I leave you with this...

Being 'in the trenches' is hard.

Can I get an amen?

Grandparents day

Brenna drew this as part of a project at school for Grandparents Day.

In case you are curious, Granddaddy has hair above his ears. Grandpa had a fu mancho of sorts. And Grandma has a ponytail. Not a soul patch.

P.S. while looking to see how to spell fu mancho, I found this website.
Enjoy.

Lake Murray - Sunday

Sunday morning we all met and had church together. It was great to sing and praise God out in His world. Brenna told someone she hoped it wouldn't be an hour long because she didn't have her church bag. haha. It wasn't very long, but it was memorable.

These pictures were taken immediately after church.

The girls rode their bike everywhere at the lake. This is a shot of them coming down the hill from the cabins to check out. I drove the van, turned in the keys and waited for them. Nic went to the rescue because they were both picking up speed faster than Josh could keep up with both them.

After we checked out, we all drove to Tucker Tower to go up in it.

The kids looking over the side of the ground floor of the tower, which was about 100 feet above lake level.

The kids really lucked out on the walk up

The whole group, half way up to Tucker Tower

Lake Murray-Saturday

This past weekend we went to Lake Murray with some friends and had a wonderful, relaxed time. We got down there Friday night late. We pretty much just got acclimated a little bit and stayed up late talking. It was a great start.

Saturday, our family got up and had waffles, eggs and sausage for breakfast then investigated the park a little bit. The group played a round of mini-golf. I'm sure some were keeping score, but most of us were just trying to keep the ball on the green.

After lunch we went swimming.

Piper would yell "I'm the Queen of the World" then I would drop her in the water.

A little game of Chicken

The money shot!

I love B's expression!

We went back to our cabins and had a potluck dinner, then we headed out for our Sunset Cruise. It was a wonderful night for it. We got to tour around the lake, see the Marina, Tucker Tower and Buzzard's Roost. The kids even got to drive the boat - including Morgan.

Tucker Tower - originally built to be a Governor Summer home, but never was used that way.
After the cruise, we had Smores at the cabin.

It was a great day. We were all worn out and didn't stay up at late as I thought we would.
Sunday's adventure tomorrow....

Rainy Day

Wednesday it rained off and on all day. The girls were thrilled to be able to wear their rain coats to school.


Piper invited K to come play at our house after she got out of school. It was a great day to have a play day since they were stuck inside. This is what they looked like most of the day...or at least the parts of the day when they were fully dressed.

Bike riding through the park

On Tuesday evening, we headed for a bike ride. We just put training wheels on the bigger bike, so both girls have bikes they enjoy riding now. I think both girls were nervous at first because they were both talking non-stop. P would be riding along just fine and then SLAM on her brakes and say, "Can I tell you something?". Then she would say something minor and ride on. I am pretty sure it was her excuse to slow way down. B never stopped peddling or talking. She was far enough ahead of me that I couldn't hear anything she said, but she needed to talk.

By the time we made it to the bike path at the park, they both got their stride and I had to yell ahead for them to wait for me to catch up. They loved it!

Yes, Piper has on make up. Thank Heather F.
After doing the circle, we stopped at the park and burned off a little more energy.

In the wooded loop of this path, there a stretch on a decline where you have to choose left or right. Straight is not a viable option because it leads directly to grass and trees. Well, B was way ahead of me and I told her to meet me at the end of the bridge. I could just see here as she approached the 'fork in the road'. She had picked up enough speed that she couldn't maneuver the curve, either direction. She used her breaks and headed straight. By the time she got stopped, or just was stopped, her front wheel was over 1/2 way in the 3 foot tall grass. I really thought she would be frustrated and shaken by having lost control, but she just moved her bike out of the grass, got back on the trail - pointing the right direction, and took off. I was proud of her.

So much to catch up on...

While I have been waiting for you to teach me something interesting, life has been busy. It will take a few days to catch up.

Piper will play any where. Any time.
She stayed in there about 20 minutes playing with the barbies in the window sill. She had no idea of the world going on outside that room.

This is Piper smiling at big as she possibly can. She wanted me to take a picture of it so she could see just how big she could make her smile. I didn't have the heart to tell her the only difference from that smile her usually smile is her eyebrows are more pointed. I guess it is sweet to know that when this kid smiles, she smiles with all she's got. And that happens a lot!!

I love when I find things like this on my camera.

Something interesting I learned today

Overnight Express shipping with the US Post Office is not guaranteed overnight. It is guaranteed for 48 hours.

I guess that is why it is $50 cheaper than their competitors.

What interesting things have you learned recently?

Rainbow