#8 & #9 and why I think we live in our own orchard

Oops I have already gotten behind by a day...don't worry it will happen again :).

On day #8, we had a great day with Take a Trip Thursday...now that we are back on our summer schedule!  The rain hampered our original plans to go to the park so instead we headed to Crown Center to see the new free Curious George exhibit with friends...apparently all of KC also had the same idea, as it was VERY busy!

{The only decent picture I got with all 3 kiddos in it together since they were going 3 different directions!}

{You can't come to Crown Center without lunch at Fritz's}

{We also headed over to Union Station to see some trains too!}

Then on day #9, on Fresh & Fun Friday the superheroes and princess chose to go to the library this morning.  I thought it was a great idea on such a rainy, yucky morning so after the gym we headed to get some books...and movies because my kiddos can't leave there without their movies!

{Avery takes the job of picking out books he can read himself VERY seriously...it takes quite a while in the Easy Reader section.  Although it is the "easy reader" section they aren't all easy...I wish they would order them from EASIEST easy reader to the CHALLENGING easy reader!!!}

{E & E reading their books they picked out in under 2 seconds :) while they wait on Avery}

{Although we have a library bag they always insist on carrying their own things out...maybe they need to each bring their own bag!}

Okay on to an unrelated topic :)...I think we live in our own orchard...

Yes, we love trips to other orchards and loved our recent trip to the strawberry patch, but I think our backyard is starting to resemble our own orchard/farm.  I won't name names :), but someone here seems to think the more fruit trees we can fit in our small suburban backyard the better.  So let's count how many fruit bearing trees we have shall we....

#1

{Apple Tree.  This isn't technically in our yard, but it leans over it and we claim it all as ours especially since no one lives in the house it belongs to anyways.}

#2

{Cherry Tree.  Apparently it is supposed to produce 3 different types of cherries on it.}

#3

{Plum Tree.}

#4

{Lemon Tree.  We have had this tree for a year now and it has to come inside with us during the winter.  It has gotten some green lemons on it now just waiting for them to turn yellow.......but it is so slow.......}

#5

{#2 lemon tree.  I guess you can't have enough lemon trees????}

#6

{Clementine Tree.  Another brand new addition.}

Quite a few, right?!  Don't worry we don't just have fruit bearing trees we also have...

Some raspberry bushes.

And a few strawberry plants.

BUT wait we didn't forget our veggies!  Here's our garden that tripled in size of the weekend we were gone...

So don't be surprised if we open our own "u pick" orchard in our own backyard in a couple of years :)...

#7 back home & strawberries

After waking up this morning and spending some more time playing in the sand...

and catching a TON of rollie pollies and some caterpillars...

we headed back to our house after lunch.  The kiddos and I had a great trip, but we did miss our home and Ryan!

I decided I wanted to get some strawberries as soon as possible after seeing everyone's pictures of theirs!  So we went and picked up Ryan from work and headed straight there. It was nice since it was so late in the day we were the only ones out there picking!  They were beautiful strawberries and they had a ton!

Someone {I won't mention names} may have been spending most of her time eating the strawberries ;)....

The boys bucket they picked all by themselves!  They are old pros at berry picking after our trip to get blueberries last year.

We ended up with almost 13 pounds!  The plan is to make some jam, freeze some just to munch on and add to things, maybe dehydrate some?  Does anyone else have any good ideas of what to do with strawberries?  Now I want to also pick blueberries, peaches, and blackberries this year!!

#6 why not swim in 72 degree water?

Today was our last full day at the grandparents.  All weekend the kiddos have been begging & BEGGING to go swimming.  However,  since the pool temperature was still right around 70 degrees we kept telling them no it was too cold.  Those little boogers ;) are persistent so we finally gave in today thinking they would be in for two seconds before getting back out.  Well we were wrong....with air temperature at 75 degrees and pool temperature at 72 degrees they stayed in for a whooping 33 minutes!  Man do kids even have body temperature sensors?  I would have froze to death!  At least they got in their pool time while here.

{swimming with cousin Kassi}

{at least Ellie was a little smarter and just enjoyed hanging out in her swimsuit :)}

{that's one cold boy}

The boys have also been helping Grandmommy set the table for dinners.  They did a great job all by themselves...hopefully they continue this when we get home!

There's always time for four wheeler rides with Granddaddy too!

Ellie finally gets her own bamboo stick like the boys have at our house.

And a final swing before getting ready for bed.

Back home tomorrow afternoon and back to more work for me ;)....

#5 going to the creek

After taking over an hour with my parents' slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow internet connection to email myself the one picture below...this is all your getting to see from the kiddos trip with the grandparents to the creek this morning.  They really enjoyed themselves and two kiddos came back without their shorts on {from getting them wet in the water} so I classify that as a good trip.

Here's another one from today.  Nothing like waking up and playing in the sandbox with your pjs on in the morning!

Evan got so sleepy this afternoon he fell asleep sitting up.  Nice time to take a nap while the thunderstorm rolled in!

#4 our Sunday in pictures

Our day consisted of...

a boy who claims to "love" turtles, only getting this close to one when we actually find one...

boys digging for worms and getting dirty...

a little fishing by this boy...

and this one...

and this girl...

a very tired puppy...

a trip to a great park that still has the "old school" playground equipment...

and this thing {great memories from childhood, right?...how can we deprive kids of equipment such as this these days?}...

I am pretty sure they have banned this thing everywhere else...but these are the best...

running in sprinklers...

you can't beat this...

a wet & dirty girl...

finally catching that big fish then getting a little scared because it jumps out of the water at you...

of course boat riding...

finally, trying to see the catfish come up at night.

And we will do it all over again tomorrow!!!

#3 over the river and through the woods....

...to Grandmommy & Granddaddy's house we go!  

After helping Ryan trim down a bunch of branches this morning and the kiddos helping him get compost {I should have taken a pic of how DIRTY they were when they got back!!!} the kiddos, Bella, and I headed to the grandparents.  Ryan stayed behind to finish the fence and make our garden bigger {I can't wait to get back to see it all ;)...I am just happy I don't have to work any more on it!!}, thanks honey!!!!

For the next 4 days it's all about relaxing and having to do a little less work while the kiddos enjoy the time out in the "country" and of course swimming {hopefully it gets warm enough for that}!

{always time for a game}

{tic tac toe on the porch}

{on a walk with Granddaddy}

{feeding the fish}

No need to take our kiddos on a fancy vacation when they get so excited just to come to the grandparents!!