We’ve taken up the habit of visiting parks as much as we can. And we are trying to visit a variety of them. I don’t take pictures each time. And I’ve lost count how many we have been to these last two weeks. But we are having fun and getting outside. Combating loneliness…
Sometimes we pack a picnic. Sometimes not.
It’s been fun.
Wanna join us?
Tabitha won two free tickets to Seabreeze. Which is great. But that still leaves a lot of tickets to purchase, know what I mean? But, with the rest of us sort of moping around without Marie, it seemed like as good a time as any to use those tickets.
I had planned on taking all the kids, and we all hoped Nan could come. She had some repair person scheduled to come by her house, however, so she passed on the invite and instead offered to have Katriel hang out with her. She told us to bring some milk for the baby. Katriel took care of that. (Oh! She’s so cute!!)
Seabreeze is one of my most favorite places ever. We had a great time. The weather was incredible and the crowds were very modest. They’ve updated the Kiddie area and Johanna had a grand time there. We spent a long time on the water activities and even did water attractions two separate times of the day. Johanna was too small for any water slides (first time in a long time I’ve had a 4-year-old too small for water slides!) but she loved the lazy river. I think we did that 5 times over all. Maybe more?
We stayed until after 9 PM. Something we wouldn’t have done with Katriel with us. So THANKS NAN!
We had some treats…
And enjoyed ourselves as best we could without Marie.
I did something totally crazy, too… see my stroller in the back of that picture? I took the stroller even without a kid to push in it!! YES! I did!!! How else would I cart around all the food? We like to eat on the go. I. LOVE. STROLLERS!
This year I had three beautiful girls attend VBS at Pittsford CC, and I had two young men help out with the ministry.
Firstly – both boys helped in the two Bible classrooms. This was Stewart’s third year serving this way and Nigel’s first. Nigel also helped out performing in the VBS drama. He had FORTY-SIX hours of rehearsal!!! (This was more than we met for the Passion Play at church a few years ago!!) He played Max Devlin, Chancellor of International City and all around bad guy.
This was Johanna’s first year to attend. She had a blast. AND she didn’t realize she was going to go more than one day! 🙂 After the first day, when we were tucking her into bed that night, I mentioned returning the following day. She was SO excited.
This is me and my “Chancellor” on Thursday night during the parents’ assembly.
Nigel with the other bad guy…
See Tab peeking out in the row? This was just before Nigel ran to get away. He went tearing down the aisle with a member of the Truth force right behind him.
It was a great week. All the kids had so much fun. I was exhausted driving them all back and forth. Baby and I ran some errands and met some friends one day at Panera. In a few years it will be her turn to go. Maybe I will volunteer then!
We’ve had the chance once or twice to help out in a small way with an AMAZING ministry here in town. Once a year they host a picnic for a community within our community and this year John, Stewart, Marie, Tabitha and I were able to lend some hands.
This ministry is a mobile soup kitchen which also hands out food and clothing. Our part was just to paint some faces, man an info. table and lead a kids’ game for a few hours. It was a gorgeous day and we met lots of beautiful people who came out to partake of the donations and hear the Truth as it was preached by a local pastor.
I’m so glad we could do something small with this awesome ministry. I hope we can do more with the mobile kitchen as the kids get older.
The new trampoline was not yet assembled
So they found other physical activities.
They each had their turns.
I shocked myself as much as them when Marie asked me today if I would teach her how to sew and I dropped everything to give them a lesson on the sewing machine. Hey, she asked in June, not November. This is a GOOD time of year.
I taught them how to thread the machine and sew a straight (or semi-straight) line. That was enough.
My mom suggested teaching them hand-sewing first. I’m not a huge fan of hand-sewing, but it dawned on me they should know how to sew on a button.
As soon as dinner was cleared I got out the stuff and away we went.
I called in to Stewart and asked him if he knew how to sew on a button. He readily admitted he did not and rapidly joined in the lesson. I brought him up to speed quickly and gave him a pair of his shorts to put the button on. He’s a pro.
Nigel already knows a bit of sewing.
OOOOoooooo – I just got an idea for them to raise money for another CRUISE!!!!!!
See how happy we all are that it is summer?
Actually – we are still doing a little bit of school, and they have been more than agreeable to do yard work and building projects. Nigel has even drawn up building plans to turn the swing set into something of a water park. … to be continued, I am sure…
This book was “only” $19.95 at World of Disney. Amazon had it for $9.96. I put it in my virtual shopping cart to check out the day we started our drive home. I’m sure this is not how Bob Iger wants us to shop.
Dayspring Disciples 