Watering the Lawn

So, for those of you who do not live in the midwest, we have not had rain for weeks now. Actually I do not remember it really raining since we have been home from our vacation. We have worked hard to water the garden and it seems to have paid off, but the lawn is simply dreadful. So, today we decided to kill two birds with one stone. Jacob has been home alone with mom and dad all week while his older brothers are off at basketball camp, and while we love him we all needed a break. So, we put out the sprinkler to water the lawn and plants by the house and sent him out.

Here he is headed out.

Then, bracing for impact. . . .

IMPACT . . .
Followed quickly by pure joy!

And the moment wouldn't be complete without a victory pose.

After such a successful afternoon we decided to send them all out later to water the backyard, but they had to start with a little trampoline time first.

But then we had to move it to water the pumpkins and other squashes. But it didn't seem to be too miserable of a change.

Overall it was a super fun watering day for the plants and grass as well as the boys. Hopefully we will get some rain . . . SOON!

Day Camp

This past week was Cub Scout Day Camp for Michael and in extension for the rest of us as well. Since we have the flexibility to do so we took a couple of days and joined him as a family. The first day we went we got to watch Michael make a leather notebook holder, learn about trees and plants, fish and shoot a BB Gun. Michael got to fish with his own rod which was very exciting for him.

I was impressed by the fun and educational activities that they have for the boys. I was also impressed by how well the boys did them.

We then returned on Friday for family day in which we got to choose what activities to do. Joshua was excited to do the archery and did really well-much better than I would have.

Michael wanted to shoot BBs again. He is getting quite good. I did learn that shooting a BB gun is much easier than archery. But who doesn't want feel a little like Robin Hood every once in awhile. :)

As I look at these pictures I realize how quickly they are growing up! It amazes me how time flies and how quickly they grow. After shooting they wanted to go in the dunk tank but Jacob was content to sit with his daddy. Jacob loves his daddy time!

After playing we got to join in for the fishing derby. We didn't catch anything but had fun doing it! Then, we enjoyed lunch, skits and awards. Then, to end the week at camp they have a huge water fight which the boys love. And it was a nice end on a super hot day. In the picture below I managed to get Michael and Joshua but it is kind of like 'Where's Waldo.' So, good luck finding them but while you do so note the huge vat of water that pumped water out for the boys to use to soak everyone and everything. There were two of those full of water. It was a lot of water and a lot of fun.

It was a great week and the boys are already looking forward to going back next year. Joshua, in particular, is excited as he gets to go as a scout next year. Hopefully they can wait that long!

Liz took the boys to the library the other day for some free fun. Joshua made the paper for it. I think it's because he jumps up and down so violently when he's having fun. :)

Helper Boy

Jacob said something the other day that just made me laugh and made me change the way I treat him. While the older boys were off riding their bikes I asked Jacob to help me with a few things while I cleaned up. It is pretty normal that while I clean I assign little jobs to whomever is around. In this case it was just Jacob and myself, so I asked for Jacob to help me with a few things I knew he could do. Instead of just doing it he stamped his foot and said, "I am not your helper boy." He then proceeded to tell me that Michael and Joshua are my helper boys and that he is not. So, today I declared Jacob my helper boy and have made sure that anytime I need help he is the one I go to. I don't think he likes his new title but I think it will do good things for him now and in the future. Now I have three helper boys, and life is good!

Rearranging Furniture

Anyone who knows us expects to find something different every time they come to visit. I don't know why but you just have to change things up every once in awhile. Well, this time it was the boys room. They have all three been in the same room for quite some time while we left a spare room for guests. Well, we just don't have guests that often and Michael had pretty much moved into the spare room anyway. We felt that it might be good to change the room to "Michael's room" instead of sending him to the "Spare room". It just felt right. :)

As we looked at the furniture and discussed the boys needs we decided to make some pretty fun changes. For the younger boys we decided to pull out both bottom bunks and give them each a loft with reading and playing space underneath. They also have a bigger dresser that fits most of their clothes!!! They love it!

Michael just wanted a bed, dresser, book shelf and desk and we were excited to be able to give him all three without getting any new furniture! He has already worked to decorate and make everything his own as you can see.

Our room is next on the list but it isn't quite finished, so you'll have to wait just a little longer to see how it turns out. Everyone is thrilled with the new arrangements, has plenty of room to call their own and they are all working hard to keep their own spaces clean which makes for a happy mommy and happy boys. It was a long afternoon of hard work which seems to have paid off! Hopefully this arrangement will last for some time with lots of happy boys!

Jekyll Island Day 2

It's possible that we did not sleep well, but I won't say much more about that. We spent the morning doing awesome things, despite our fatigue.

We first visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on the Island and learned about the endangered creatures and what the center is doing to help turtles. At our visit, there were 75 confirmed nests on the Island, and 476 in all the state of Georgia. The greatest part of the visit, though, was not the learning about turtles, but seeing the turtles. They also run a rehabilitation center in which they care for injured and ill turtles, hopefully helping them to return to the wild. They had large and small turtles of all ages and situations swimming in tanks with placards to tell us about them and their injuries and their healing progress. It was fascinating to see them, so large and beautiful, as well as sad to see many with scars or bandages on them. There was one being released back into the wild only 2 days later; I kind of wish we would have stayed to be a part of that, if possible.

We also enjoyed some animals at the Tidelands Nature Center, including a pair of baby alligators. It was a relief to finally see live alligators, because the boys had been hoping and dreaming and praying to see them our entire trip.

We struck camp at lunch, then Michael and I went for a bike ride before hauling our over-full car to the wharf where we caught a boat to go dolphin spotting. We saw a dolphin before we left the dock, but we continued on, nonetheless, and enjoyed 90 minutes of fresh ocean breezes and dolphins aplenty. We actually went down around the South end of the island and there encountered a pod of dolphins the captain estimated to be 30-40 dolphins. There were groups of them everywhere, including several calves, always swimming in sync with an adult on either side of them. It was awesome.

If you're a scholar of the blog, or nature in general, you'll remember that the north end of the island erodes. Well, of course, all that sediment needs somewhere to go, so it's deposited on the South end of the island to the north. This is a photo of Jekyll's South end, and that is a shrimp boat that ran aground several years ago as it was trying to take a close pass during a storm. The sand from the neighboring island has slowly built up and buried it so now all you see is the masts.

On the way back, the boys got a special treat:

They didn't even crash the boat. We overnighted safely, although not without weathering a battering downpour, in Columbia, SC.

Jekyll Island Day 1

We only made one big mistake on this leg of our journey: camping. Normally, I don't really mind camping as long as there is a comfortable place to sleep and there are things to do. This much-anticipated detour, however, added one more thing to my camping list: It must cool off at night. Therefore, I think I will never camp in the South in the Summer during a raging wildfire ever again. We had planned to spend a full week engaged in fun activities, playing on the beach, looking for ocean life, and generally relaxing, but because all of our general relaxing time was so miserable and disgusting, we opted to cram everything in to two great days and be on our way with the promise to return when the weather is more temperate, the Okefenokee isn't on fire, and when we have a house in which to stay.

We set up camp on Monday, then Tuesday dawned beautiful with a morning walk for the boys while Liz slept in a bit and prepared for the day. We walked down to the fishing pier and enjoyed the high tide filling the inlets. It was a beautiful walk, although a little on the pestered-incessantly-by-bugs side of things.

We enjoyed some time at the beach looking for creatures and enjoyed lunch in the sand. We learned that low tide is abysmal for swimming, but great for exploring. We saw horseshoe crabs and jellyfish and hermit crabs and sea slugs and whelks and all kinds of other things we couldn't identify as we strolled the shores. We made our way out to the sandbar, only visible during the lowest of tides, and saw some interesting plant life exposed in the sand there.

We ran over to Driftwood Beach, named because the North part of the islands, and all the island in the area, is eroding and pulling the natural flora into the sea, the washing it to an aged beauty.

After dinner we opted for some real adventure—horseback riding! Jacob wasn't old enough, so he and mom had time together while the oldest boys rode forward. After mounting his horse and feeling the power there, Michael wanted nothing to do with that misadventure. He stuck it out, however, and soon he emerged as a natural horse rider—confident, calm, and commanding. He took to it beautifully, and I'm sure proud of him for conquering a fear.

Here's Joshua and Freckles:

Michael and Doc:

Dad and Prince:

We rode through the forest, along the beach, and even got to see a few dolphins playing in the waves off Driftwood Beach. It was a grand time, and our guide, Tay, was friendly, informative, talkative, and delighted in the way Joshua sang and chatted almost the entire time. He was even able to sing his horseback riding song later for me when I asked. It was quite spirited and had few words.

After our long, hot ride, we decided we needed to go to the beach again, especially since the tide was coming in, and we've become true lovers of ocean waves. We got ice cream and walked down a boardwalk through the dunes, and by the time the boardwalk ended, we were already in the ocean! There was no one else around that area, so we romped and played and crashed waves and had a grand time. We saw two of the 74 or so sea turtle nests on the island, and returned to camp throughly exhausted.