Jack and Jonah go camping again!

We took a super quick camping trip this weekend with Rob & Shanté (and kids). It was a short enough trip that we had our very first camping pizza. It felt a bit like cheating, but I've decided that whatever it takes to actually get camping, even if we only have 24 hours, is worth it.

Jonah declared himself the family fire builder. Josh said that meant his job was now to sit in the chair and silently judge. The circle of life is complete! (In reality, he just waited for Jonah to ask for help and then helped him improve the fire.) 

The best part of the camping trip for me was remembering taking the older boys camping together back when they were the only children in their families. That time we ended up camping next to some loud and obnoxious neighbors, but like I said: whatever it takes to get out and camp!

This year:

2010:

When the kids were throwing rocks in the lake, Caroline found the biggest rock. She was so proud! 

...until she found a toad, that is. Then she was doubly proud:

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Just some stories, and some RANDOM quotes [By Jonah]

Oh, nothing much has happened at all lately.....Did I mention that we went to Philadelphia last week?


                                             THE CHEEEEEEEEEESY CHEESE STEAK
I had a Philadelphia cheesesteak in Philadelphia!  Even considering it was the first cheesesteak I have had in my life....It was (literally) the best cheesesteak I have ever had! We were out seeing the city, we had already looked at Quintin's office/school/building/whatever and Quintin wanted to take us to this place- which I have no idea what is called - and that is where we got the cheesesteak! And the doughnuts.....Oh My Goodness, the doughnuts!!!!!!!

                                      WE  ALLLL LOVE DEREK (but I do the most. Obviously)


Aw, I missed that cat the moment we got in the car. He was too darn cute to be mad at when he crawled in my hair at night. (seriously, why would  I put an exclamation mark there?) At night, I would wait and wait and wait for him, and he would come. *Upppppp the ladder* scratch, scratch. *feather in which was (WAS?) attached to cat toy flies off bed* He jumps to the side of the bed, meows, and I go down the ladder and get it for him. Then he plays with it, and goes away.



                           WERE YOU EXPECTING QUOTES?????? Why were you expecting quotes?!
Okay, here's one: "WHY WERE YOU EXPECTING QUOTES?!" (those grandmas, always spreading rumors......................................................................................................................................................)



                                     MORAL: if you want me to come home, don't take me to Derek. By the
                                     way, did I mention am typing on Quintin's computer?

the time I ran a yellow light and (luckily) didn't go to prison

Driving home from church yesterday, it was just me and Caroline in the car. I went through a yellow light, prompting the following conversation:

C: If the light was red and you went through, the police would arrest you and take you to prison, right?
Me: Well, they wouldn't arrest me for running a red light. They would write me a ticket. I wouldn't go to prison unless I ran red lights lots of times and didn't pay my tickets.
C: You'd have to get lots of tickets, right?
Me: Yes.
C: Lots and lots?
Me: Yes.
C: How many?
Me: I don't actually know how many tickets it would take.
C: Like as tall as a house?
Me: Um..I don't know how many tickets that would be.
C: I would miss you if you went to prison.
Me: I would miss you too.
C: And Daddy. And the whole world. If everyone in the world went to prison except for me, I would be lonely. I would have tears in my eyes.
Me: I'm not going to prison.
C: No. Have you ever broken the law?
Me: No.
C: Not even on accident?
Me: I don't think so.
C: If you run a red light, I'll just tell the police officer it was an accident.

Easter in Philly

We spent Easter weekend with Quintin and Molly in Philidelphia. It was so great to be together! We stayed up way too late and played games, the kids loved being together, and we crossed 2 more states off our list. The GPS took us on a different route home than the one we took (both took the same amount of driving time), so we drove through Delaware and close enough to New Jersey to justify a trip across the bridge to say we've been there.

First, we did the Easter egg thing. Here is Jonah looking very old and an action shot of Molly and me in the mirror:

Then we headed downtown to see Q's office and explore the city. We rode on the metro, ate Philly cheesesteaks (amazing), walked around the Philidelphia temple, and all around enjoyed the day. Caroline and Miriam took turns riding in Quintin's stroller and holding hands with Aunt Molly. I don't think either one missed me all weekend long.

We always think of Caroline and Charlotte as being so close in age (they are 19 months apart), but we realized on this trip that Miriam is only 11 months younger than Charlotte too. Both girls took turns following Charlotte around:

If you ask Jonah, his favorite part of the trip was visiting Quintin's cats. He loved nothing more than waking up in the morning to find one of the cats asleep on his bed. You can't tell what's going on in this picture (because I took it when I was still trying to sleep), but Caroline, Miriam, and I are all loving on the cat in a rare moment when he wasn't with Jonah:

At the end of the summer, Q and family head off to Wisconsin. The next time we visit them, it might be in the snow! Jonah was pretty sure we were going to see snow on this trip anyway, so I know at least one child will be happy about the trip to WI.

devious Snowball

This afternoon, Caroline and I sat down on her bed to play a round of Go Fish. My childhood teddy bear was sitting on Caroline's bed too.

"Don't give any cards to Snowball," Caroline said. "She just rips up the cards."

it's all fun and games until Miriam destroys everything

I found the children playing Go Fish a few mornings back. I was so pleased to see Jonah and Caroline patiently explaining the game to Miriam when it was her turn. It lasted all of five minutes before Miriam threw all the cards on the floor, but it those five minutes sure were great!

peanut butter and LOTS of jelly

When I was a kid, my dad used to say he could tell what I'd had for lunch by what was stuck to the bottom of his foot. Sorry, Dad.

Caroline has been making her own sandwiches and I'm trying so hard to be supportive. I want her to grow up with the confidence I had. I knew I was adored, even if I dripped honey on the floor. (But seriously. So much jelly!)

Besides, who could say no to this lovely face?

MINECRAFT CROPS VS. OUR CROPS [BY MYNAYA, PLAYER NAME OF JONAH]

Minecraft, in relation to real life, is actually very realistic. Of course, in the real world, big green monsters do not sneak up on you and explode! But farming is almost completely the same. Today, as you probably guessed, our topic is farming.

                                             SEEDS

Farming seeds include wheat, pumpkin, watermelon, beetroot, and rutabaga. And the rest [carrots, potatoes, etc.] are Non-seeds. This means that you just plant carrots in stuff in the ground because they don't really have seeds, and then wheat and stuff you can separate the seeds from the plant by harvesting them.

                                             THE BASICS

The first thing you need to do is fence off your area. I could make a whole other paragraph about this, so I'll leave the subject alone. Then, every couple rows of dirt, you dig a hole in the ground 1 block deep and one row long and fill it with water. make sure you have an infinite water source, which you can create by filling a 2x2 hole with water. Now you must craft..............................................................

                                              HOES

In Minecraft also, you have hoes. These you can use to till the earth. [I have a PC/Mac version of Minecraft, so things may be different on different versions.] Right-click to till the earth. Go up and down your rows tilling which will let plants grow by getting rid of the "weeds."

                                                DIFFERENCES

There are, however, differences between real life and Minecraft. One example is Bonemeal. This you craft by killing skeletons then using their bones. adding bonemeal to your crops will bring them to their full grown state immediately.

                                                AFTERWORDS

Other than bonemeal, Minecraft can be very like real life. For example, things are STILL as yummy...

our future farm

Josh went to visit a small farm last week while doing some water quality research with students. He fell in love with the baby goats and came home promising to take the kids back sometime to see the animals. This morning we loaded up for a quick trip to the farm and ended up staying for 3 hours!

Here's Josh with the baby goat last week. If we owned our house, I guarantee he would have come home with Josh.

Today, Caroline really wanted to milk the goat. I was surprised when Ms. Amy let her! Caroline decided it was kind of weird, but she was so happy to try. Jonah eventually got the hang of it as well and volunteered to stay and milk her goats forever.

We played with the baby goats (which Caroline kept calling "cubs"), collected eggs, walked the trails, tried the goat milk and cheese, and had a grand time. Both Caroline and Jonah loved on the dogs (including these gigantic Great Pyrenees dogs) the whole time. Miriam wasn't so sure about the dogs, but she was happy to watch them from the safety of someone's arms.

When we got home, Jonah drew us a future house plan, including our very own goat pen. I don't know what I'm going to do with a family full of farmers, but we had a great time today. Jonah even spotted a swarm of bees which Ms. Amy rehomed and named the Jonah hive in his honor!