What a Great Weekend

We started out the weekend Friday at the Inner Harbor. The kids and I went to the Science Museum (free thanks to the Christmas gift membership from Nana and Papa), Spanish classes (free thanks to Waterfront Partnership), and the Sondheim water fountain (free thanks to Baltimore City). Beautiful day out (thanks to God!) James came home early and cleaned the basement- now we have a nicely reorganized basement with tons more empty space for plasma cars, rainy days, beating the heat! Then Friday night we had homemade pizza, wok popped popcorn, and family movie night- we loved "The Perfect Game"- a little old for KG but everyone else loved it- great motivational movie based on a true story.

Then Saturday morning we went to Patapsco Valley State Park for Park Quest #2. We checked out a backpack with compasses, a tarp for shelter building, ropes for knot trying, and headed out on our hike. K was really into the being our pace man- he did a great job figuring out counting how many paces for each leg of our hike. I love seeing James teach the kids things- like using a compass, doing your pace count, and lots of other things along the beautiful hike. We built an emergency shelter, found some wild raspberries, and just had a great time. This gorgeous state park is only 30 minutes away so we got home in time for a nap.

PCIs 

here's our emergency shelter

found a turtle cruising down the path- we saw a baby deer too!

The boys and I went to the library (less than a mile away) before starting our Great American Backyard Campout.  We grilled hamburgers- so good- we made them last week and froze them so yesterday we just grilled them- yum! After dinner we set up the tent

played cornhole

cheered James on as built the fire

roasted marshmallows for s'mores

caught fireflies, sang songs, told stories, and
went to sleep with no screaming (trust me that's a big change since last year!) 

 In the morning, we enjoyed yummy Captain Crunch French Toast, scrambled eggs, Tang, and blueberries, played Uno, bathed our dirty kiddos and headed to church. We loved the Freedom Celebration at Trinity Assembly of God- what a great way to honor God, country, and those who serve. Beautiful music (including kids choir), meaningful videos and talks, fire trucks to see and ride, and even pies for veterans! What a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend!

Summer Travels

We just returned from the first of our summer travels- we drove almost a thousand miles each way to Meridian, MS to visit Grandmollie. We stopped at Grandma's house in North Carolina on the way down. We enjoyed seeing everyone, a break from our drive, and Papa Murphy's pizza- our KS favorite take out pizza. We left early Friday morning for Mississippi and were very thankful for a good drive.

James and the boys stayed at a hotel while KG and I stayed at Grandmollie's. We had tons of yummy food, good catching up, and got to enjoy several MS traditions. Snowcones- probably 50+ flavors. The Dentzel carousel. Counting carousel horses around town.

 Church at Grace Fellowship. So good to get to see Grandmollie! 

 We found out that our "scary turkey ducks" are actually muscovy ducks  and good at eating mosquitos and bugs.

Then we drove back up to NC to spend a few days with Grandma, Uncle Brian, and Pops Leon.

K was super surprised when we celebrated his birthday early with Aunt Velma. 

Yummy cookout and K's first gun. He spent a lot of time the next two days like this:

and the other kids spent a lot of time like this:

 watching Daddy teach big brother how to fire. He'd been counting down the days until he turns eight to learn to hunt.

 The next day we had the kids' graduation. C's still a little unsure about going from K-1 to 1st grade- he's sure he's ready for 2nd grade but we had a nice graduation. K read the star spangled banner. C sang Amazing Grace. T read about rats. KG said Psalm 23rd. Daddy passed out certificates.

 Uncle B hung out with T.

After graduation we went to SciWorks a Science Museum in Winston-Salem- we so appreciate Blue Star Museums.  instead of around $10 each, we got in for free- nice! A great day!