Bees, Birds and Blooms (+ a Lot of Slipping)

Michael and Adellelyn spent the week with us while their parents were chaperoning a youth camp last month. They are now 11 and 8 years old (HARD to believe), and are busy, busy, busy. Ron was on call the week they were here, but fortunately didn't get called out much at all and was able to spend the evenings and Saturday with us.  I picked them up on Sunday afternoon and they were excited for the adventure!

On the way home, we played car games, made a grocery list and discussed what they wanted to do while at our house. The top things on their list were:
        *Slip & Sliding in the backyard
        *Picking Blueberries
        *Going to Sewing Camp
        *Going to the Duck Pond
        * Going to a bee Farm (added after hearing about buying honey at the Farmer's Market)

Since Callie's boys don't go to school on Mondays, we used that day to play outdoors with Toddler D.

They climbed the fig tree and picked figs. . .

Looked for lizards & bugs, played in the sandbox and on the swingset . . .

And had tons of fun on the Slip & Slide!!! Toddler D even got brave enough to try it out!

And that was just the morning!!! In the afternoon, they began the Kids Sew Camp at Fabric Boutique. Before signing them up, I made sure that both wanted to attend (they did) and that there would be boy-friendly projects to make (there were).

Tuesday morning, I made a call to a local honey business and when I didn't get a response, we decided to drive over to check it out. Hummer & Sons is small establishment and though they don't normally offer tours, the owner came out and offered to show us around.  It was great! We learned the process of getting the honey, getting the water out of it, packaging it and even got to taste honey from the comb.

We drove out to the Sunflower Trail near Gilliam one day and the kids had a great time running down the dirt road and selecting flowers to bring home with us.

We even found a nest tucked in the stems.

With two eggs inside!!  Soon there will be 2 tiny red-winged blackbirds babies begging for food!

We kept busy around the house on Thursday morning, creating Father's Day gifts for Papaw and their Daddy.

We also tie-dyed some shirts in patriotic colors to wear on the Fourth of July.

It was the last day of Sewing Camp, so they had a small ceremony to receive their certificates and show off what they had made.

That evening, Michael and Adellelyn joined us for one of the Summer Fun Runs.  Michael ran the 3.1 miles with Papaw and I joined Adellelyn for the kids' 1.5 mile run. It was quite hot and humid!

On Friday, we went berry picking with Callie and the little boys.  It was hot, but fun!

Miles enjoyed the berries as much as anyone, picking them right off the vine or out of the bucket and popping them into his mouth.

Adellelyn helped me make some cobbler that afternoon and we enjoyed dinner on the deck that evening.

There was more Slip & Sliding in the afternoon, and Luke and Adellelyn spent some time talking to the fairies. (She is so sweet and patient with the little cousins)

Ron was off on Saturday, so we were able to work at the food pantry in the morning and explore Norton Gallery and the Refuge in the afternoon.

I've said it before, but anytime these kids are outdoors, they are happy!!!

We had such a good week together. I was pretty exhausted when it was finished, but Michael and Adellelyn seemed to have lots of fun and I enjoyed being with them.

What have you been up to lately?

For some strange reason, I thought that once I retired, I would have all of this extra time on my hands. Time to lounge around out on the deck, time to work in my garden, time to paint, time to practice photography, time to volunteer and even time to blog.  It hasn't really panned out that way this year, but it's totally fine with me. It has been crazy busy, but somewhat relaxing at the same time. When my friends who are still working ask me, "Do you ever get bored?" I want to laugh!  Not at all!! I have a list a mile long of projects that I want to tackle and am slowly, but surely checking them off my list. At times, I get a little frustrated with myself for the lack of progress in certain areas, but then I remind myself of what Valine told me: "It doesn't all have to happen the first year!" I guess that I felt like it was a short vacation--like spring break or summer--and I needed to cram every single project into that time. But, it's not! I'm going to be retired for a long time. If I do a little bit here and there, it will all get done.  And if it doesn't, oh well.

Ron and I slipped away for a short weekend camping trip over the Easter weekend. Because his work has been so busy and unpredictable lately, it is unlikely that we will be going on a real vacation until sometime in the fall. But, having a place to go that is only 45 minutes away gave us a much-needed break. I didn't break out my "big girl camera" the entire weekend, so he is an unedited, iPhone look at our time.

Callie and the crew came out to visit one of the days we were there and after dinner and s'mores, Luke stayed to spend the night.

While he was sort of interested in fishing, he REALLY just wanted to hide and hunt Easter eggs.

After a bit of a rough night away from mommy in the camper, we awoke to a happy toddler who was thrilled with camping again. We went on a little hike and to a visit to the nature center.

While we tried to interest him in more fishing, he really just wanted to hide and find Easter eggs again.

And again and again!

Oh the joy of being 2 years old!

When Callie came to pick him up, we all visited the small zoo where the peacocks really put on a show for us!

That night, Ron and I did a little more hiking and some fishing as well. I was on a roll---I caught 20 fish, many of them nice-sized catfish, while Ron only caught 6.

Easter morning, I got up, showered & dressed and headed into town for church before returning to spend the rest of the day at the campsite.

We had such a nice, relaxing weekend filled with family, fishing and fun!

And in case you're wondering, I have indeed reminded Ron of my fishing prowess several times since then!