We are gathered here today...to celebrate...another birthday. Seems that birthdays and holidays are all we get now on this here blog. Boo. Life sucks when you have to work and take care of kids all day and cook, do laundry and clean, then more work and don't have time to blog...(kidding...ish)
We had the pleasure of ringing in a new decade for my wonderful husband this past week!
The BIG 4.0. !!
He picked one of his favorite things...hanging out in Hocking Hills. And it was a perfectly wonderful weekend. A HUGE thanks for mom, dad and Margie for taking care of my kids, especially since Silas had the flu and was sick. Probably made him easier to handle though.
And a HUGE thanks to a few friends that made time in their crazy schedules, got sitters for their own kids and battled their own sicknesses to make it for the weekend!
This cabin was a first for us and we were greeted by a lovely, long driveway that would be hell to get up an ice/snow storm.
And a gorgeous front porch with all these rocking chairs on it. It was WAY too cold to sit in them but they looked lovely!
Had I been sitting in the rocking chairs, I would have enjoyed all of this very nice sunset. Since it was 20 degrees, I took a step out the front door, snapped this picture and ran back inside.
A hike on Saturday for some (I may have been napping)...Rock Stull, our favorite hiking spot, with some frozen falls.
Followed by a healthy fire, with snow falling all around. Cold but fun! (and Lee learning to whistle with an acorn :)
and some hot tubbing with Bloody Mary's.
And then MORE fun when we decorated the cabin while Justin was out by the fire after dinner.
And sang the Happy Birthday song...and ate some DELISH carrot cake (thanks to Beth!!)
Carrot cake is Justin's absolute favorite cake on the planet. He was a very happy camper!
And then, suddenly, it was Sunday and time to pack up and come home.
The time with friends and celebrating goes WAY too fast.
So happy that we had the time to share it with my husband and our friends.
(And thanks again to YOU who watched the kids and held down the forts while we were gone!)
Back to our camping trip...we continue to talk about how much fun we had 2 weeks later. We'd love to get another camping trip in this fall but with the soccer schedules, it will be hard to make happen!
We hiked on Saturday - went to Old Man's Cave. It was beautiful but crowded.
I love this picture of Silas - big blue eyes and his toothless grin :) And of course, another bug bite on his forehead!
Managed to get a few pictures of the 3 together...that is very hard to do these days!
Silas was trapped between 2 rocks :)
Ella and Silas in one of the caves
I love this picture of Silas but he looks like such a little man. I asked him to smile and he gave me a pose too.
This was a strange little creature that buzzes around Tara and Steve's farm down in Logan. We looked them up after getting home. They are Hummingbird Bees which are actually a type of moth. Very neat to watch them fly around - their wings really make them look like little hummingbirds.
Mason needed a challenge while we were hanging at the campsite. He climbed the big tree and then started trying to get one of the dead limbs down (the one jutting out on the right side of the tree he's in).
He ended up spending about 45 minutes with a rope (with a scrub brush tied to the end for weight) trying to lasso the branch and then pulling on it. He did finally get it!
We took a little walk down by the river that ran beside the campgrounds.
The inside of the condo tent - Silas is burrowed down in the black sleeping bag. Our 2nd night of sleeping was much more comfortable than the first night. The air mattress lasted longer and it didn't get as chilly that night.
After another yummy JP prepared breakfast, we started tearing down camp and packing up. Amazing how much stuff we had for just 2 nights! Seemed a lot harder to get it all back into the van!
Though we were all looking forward to getting home to a nice hot shower, we wanted to take the kids on another hike to Rockstall - the spot where we hike when we go on our couples' weekend. It's beautiful and MUCH less crowded than Old Man's Cave. In fact, we only saw one other person on this hike.
Ella took this picture of me and Justin. Yay! I'm finally in a picture! :)
And a rare picture of me with all 3 kids!
Miss Boo taking a breather at we finish up the hike.
Here is a video of the kids swinging on the vine.
We had so much fun on this little camping adventure. It was great to get time with the kids, unplugged from the TV and Wii games. Can't wait to do it again!
We had our 3rd annual couples' weekend in Hocking Hills this past weekend. As usual, we had a ton of fun!
From the looks of it, you'd think the weekend is all about booze...
And some of it is...we dance, laugh hysterically, make fun of each other...and ourselves, tell jokes and just hang out. Oh, and cook wonderful meals!
But it's really just a fabulous time to get away for a weekend and spend time as couples. The girls get time to chat, read, hot tub and snooze. The boys get time to fish, build fires and chop wood with sharp axes and be manly.
We all got to go on a pontoon this year - after the rain on Saturday, it was a perfect evening on the water. There was a festival on shore and we got to hear some bands playing.
I got some time to escape into the woods and take some pictures - and Greg is the perfect spotter for a good subject.
I feel very, very blessed to have not only a great husband and friends to get away with, but great support from family to watch my {wonderful} kids while we are off in never-never land.
So, it's finally been nice enough weather to get out and do some gardening, planting, hang out outside...it's a super busy time of year with the spring sports for the kids, finishing up school / end of year activities, outside yard work, busy times at work for both of us and sick kids...Si and Ella have both recently had a pookie bug.
Last weekend was my lovely book group and it was our first gathering of the season in the gardens at Susan's. I could go over there weekly and never tire of taking pictures of her wonderful garden.
I'm finding that May is routinely becoming a very busy month. This year I did the Race for the Cure again and it was an incredibly beautiful morning. We had SO much fun. And we stopped afterward and had a yummy breakfast at great little cafe in the Arena district.
(Sarah's - I would never eat such an atrocity of calories! ;)
This week started some of the final count down stuff at schools. Ella had crazy hat day on Monday. She pulled out the perfect hat. Tuesday was mismatch/backwards day and she wore striped pants and flowered shirt - both backwards. But i forgot to take a picture of that.
This week has also been "first corn on the cob eating" week. Yay for Florida corn! It was yummy and made Silas very happy (something that has been very hard to do these days...)!
And speaking of corn, we also planted our own this year. When we first plant the garden it's so disappointing - how barren it looks. But I know within a month it will be absolutely bursting. We planted some corn, 3 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets, snap peas, lettuce, some herbs...and we have a rhubarb plant the size of Texas. Looks like a big weed!
I was able to sneak out last week and take a few pictures - lilies, a bull frog hiding in the grass at Tara's,
we have a nest and eggs in our shrub, some gorgeous roses have been blooming and I finally planted some pots and hanging baskets.
For our far away families to keep up with the gang, and so that I can look back at all the fun of life with 3 kids :) This is my rememberer. We are: Mason (20), Ella (12), Silas (9), Dad/Justin (old), Mom/Christa (older)
Words to Live by...
“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” Anna Quindlen (Loud and Clear, 2004)
Mom of three, wife, sister, friend. Love being with family and friends, having a cup of coffee with sunrise and a glass of wine with sunset. Life is Good.
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