Camping in Ludington

This past summer we spent a few days camping with our best friends, the Guymons. It pretty much rocked.

The boys immediately found some branches to use and guns/grenade launchers.Bekah and Keturah loaded Paisley up with some rocks to help her get dirty too.
After settling in, we noticed the wild life coming to greet us.Prepping for dinner.There was a lot of shuffling of babies while we enjoyed our tinfoil dinners.Poor Pais was still not walking and therefor spent the majority of her time in the highchair.We had fun introducing the kids to Jiffy Pop!
One of the best parts of the trip was the hike we took. Part way through the hike we realized that it might not have been the most brilliant with 7 kids under 6 years old. Alas it was fun none the less.

After a few minutes we ran into a dock. The kids thought we had reached our destination. Unfortunately for them we still had about 5 miles round trip left. Opps!This is where Paisley spent most of her time. Except for the time when I was carrying Benny in the carrier and Pais on my shoulders. Yeah that was awesome. I totally clothes lined Paisley with a branch. Thanks for catching Sarah. lol. (Don't worry Jason had his hands full with other kids as well).Pais was pretty happy in her seat.
Keturah was pretty happy with her ride too.After a while Tab became the water carrier.
Tab and Alex, although they whined their fair amount, had a great time making up stories and being all around silly.About 1/2 of our hike was on sandy ground or pure sand hills, etc. as we were headed to a lighthouse. It was kind of awful to be truthful. But Benton was a trooper.Lo and behold. We made it. Lucky we love lighthouses so much because that was quite the hike for us and the kids.I think that they liked it too.There was also a beach nearby where we were camping, so we headed over for some fun in the water and sand.The girls loved playing together in the sand.
Jason and Matt had fun throwing around the football.Sarah and I enjoyed hanging out. Don't mind the hair, it was windy ok.But that is not the worst that my hair was. Just think, my hair + camping (aka a few days without a shower + the beach= thisThanks Jason for asking me to smile for a picture not realizing I didn't have my hat on, that I wore pretty much the entire time. Sigh..

YMCA Summer Fun!

Our local "Y" has quarterly member events. Over the summer they had a great one that we attended as a family.

Tab was most excited about them having roped off a section of the parking lot for roller skating. This was pretty soon after he bought his skates. With all of those pads on, he had loads of confidence.It didn't phase him much when he ended up like this.
Of course Benton felt a little left out, so Jason let him wear his skates and with a little help from the stroller and Dad, he had fun skating too.
I can't imagine how that could have been comfortable.
They also brought in a big bulldozer (or whatever this thing is). The kids were amazed by how huge it was.
They also had a fire truck. The firefighters let the boys hold the hose.
And wear their clothes.
They had lots of outdoor activities, like the beanbag toss.
And water balloon fights...er...I mean toss.
Inside they had the hockey goals and sticks and such out, so you better believe we spent some good time doing that.Pais has even learned how to play.The best part was the rock wall. They usually have it closed, but they had it open for the activity. As we love us some good climbing, we were excited to get the boys on the wall. Benton was pretty gutsy.
And didn't mind when his feet would slip out from under him.Tab enjoyed it also.But I dare say he prefers being on the ground.

A day at the zoo

There was a sponsored day at the zoo, so I took advantage of the $1 admission and took the kids, all by myself, kinda crazy, I know.

They had some fake animal bones that the kids could handle. Tab thought this was awesome. He insisted that they were real.Pais spent most of the time in her stroller, content.They had some fun performances going on as well.They also had Steve from some local PBS show. I'm not familiar with it as we don't get PBS with our rabbit ears. Alas, the boys enjoyed his songs and dances.They got their hair "Spray Painted". Benton was funny about it. He only wanted his mohawk done.
I just had to take a picture of this lady. All I can say is what a sport.They really enjoyed climbing all over these wooden trains.This is how we ended the day at the Zoo. I would say it was a winner.

We had a pet!

Yes.... had. It lasted about 5 days. Can you really expect much more from gold fish? The boys won them at a community event that we attended. They were ecstatic.

I made sure to explain to the boys that these were magic fish and that in a few days they would magically disappear. So when they went belly up and flushed them and filled the bowl with new water and they bought it. Yeah, yeah, I should have explained death to them perhaps, but lets be honest Tab still freaks out on me when I try to tell him that Jesus died. Sigh...two fish weren't worth the effort.Jason was showing them how to feed them.

Bring on the Street...er...driveway Hockey

As I have mentioned, the boys are obsessed with hockey, Tab in particular. This summer we played a lot of "street hockey". It took Benny a while to figure out how to hold the stick properly.
Occasionally Tab would get angry with his dad for pulling stunts like this. He thinks it should be a rule that you can't touch his stick.
GOOOOAAAAL!
Dad, you are just rude. "I know I look small, but I am not your ball, so get off of me."
Paisley was mostly happy just to be outside and play with rocks and perhaps snatch the ball now and again.

Some Blackmail Pics

The boys have learned a lot about girls and what joy they can provide. For example they can provide these fun little things to stick in their hair.Tab couldn't have been more thrilled with his selection.

Home Made Gak

Just doing some more catching up....it will be a while. I'm trying to be better. I think it is my "New Year's Resolution".

On one, WAY to hot to dream of going outside summer days, the boys and I made some home made Gak. It was fun!

The playing..I just love Benton's expression in this picture... truly amazed at how cool it was.And this was the part where I smacked my hand against my forehead and said "Doh". I should have stripped the kids down before letting them play with this. Once it finds it's way to clothing, it doesn't really want to let go. Then I remembered this little trick that I learned once with silly putty. Hand sanitizer! Squirt it on rub it in, rub/scrape off the goo. Worked like a charm, coloring and all! Good thing I had this handy. It also works great getting it out of hair. (I can think of a sister who could have been spared an awful haircut if only my angry dad knew this trick)