Just Another Trip to Town…

This winter, we took many weekend trips to town.  Picking up groceries, heading to the man mall (a.k.a. Lowes), eating at McDonalds.  You know, just ordinary stuff.  Most of the time however, these trips include some fun sights.  We have watched army helicopters land at the little airport in town, seen a HUGE semi truck in an abandoned parking lot (I think it had over 30 tires on the rig!), picked up a few geocaches, gone to the farmers market, bought a couple of rabbits, and the list goes on and on and on. 

Now that I have my sometimes smarter than me Android phone, I am able to document more of these everyday moments.  Here are a couple of collages that I put together on my new PhotoGrid Android app then emailed to myself so that I could post it here.  Really like this app so far.  Amazing what phones can do today!  Amazing what all this technology can do!  You know, I never even used email until I was out of college a couple of years!  So many changes in such a short time.  Imagine telling these guys about the days when I was a kid and the phone was attached to the wall with a cord and you could not leave the house to talk.  Since the phone is our go to communication to keep in touch with family across the miles, I think that will be more amazing to my guys than life without so many of the other modern conveniences.

Here are the men planning out their manly irrigation system for this year’s garden.  Plants will go in soon.  Very soon!  TanMan did take a little extra time to peruse the many options for painting his room now that his crib is gone.  Yep, no more baby bed for this big guy!  Time to put together a bigger boy room now.  Out with the yellow stripes (it isn’t as bad as it sounds!) and in with the new…  He hasn’t picked the new color yet.  =)

On our way to Wal-mart, we had to detour to the next door parking lot to take a look at these mighty machines.  Guess their drivers were eating lunch.  The boys were all in awe, and walked around and around the trucks to take in every detail. 

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the daily grind of life.  To focus on the mundane tasks.  To think that life is boring.  Simple trips to town like this are a good reminder that there is excitement and opportunity everywhere you look.  Sometimes you just have to remember to branch outside the box to find those moments.  It helps to be looking at the world with the youthful eyes of our little guys too!  Search to find ways to overlook the mundane of your world too.  Let us know what you discover on your next adventure to get groceries!

A Giant Adventure…

Wow!  We have had a busy few weeks.  I was going to show what we did this weekend, but I still have to figure out how to get my pictures off of my new phone.  Not sure if I have the right cable to connect to the computer, so I might have to email myself the pics that I was going to share with you from our trip to town.  Technology…

So instead we are going to take a blast back to the very, very recent past…  Sunday, March 6, 2011…

The weather had been cold, damp, and dreary.  The weather forecast was promising for this day though.  Sunny and mid to upper 40’s says the weather man.  Braden has been wanting to go on a picnic and take a picnic basket.  Why not?  We haven’t been to Southern IL for a while.  Let’s get up and go in the morning.  4:30 pm, decision made. 

6:30 am, Morning comes, we look out the window.  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.  Pack a picnic lunch, grab some coats, camera ready, head out the door.  Load up kiddos, load up dog, load up us.  Roll on down the drive.  The boys have no clue where we are going, just that we must be going to have a picnic.  Fun! 

Driving along, we look out the window.  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.  We arrive at our destination.  Lunch now, or hike first?  It is still cold, lets hike first.  Everyone will be ready to eat by the time we get done.  Everyone is rearing to go at this point.  It is still cold, bundle up boys!  Coats, gloves, hats… A hiking we will go!

TanMan and I headed up the rear of the pack.  The bigger guys and Nova darted on ahead.  There were rocks to climb, clues to find, adventure awaiting.

 

There is always time to take a moment and share a cool find with your brothers, or take the more adventurous route to see what lies ahead of us.

And when you reach the top, take another moment to hang out with your buddies.

As we trudge on, I look around.  Still cloudy, still cold.  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.  I certainly hope…

Whoa!  Look at this!  Can we move it.  Riley recruits his strapping little brothers to help him out, and they didn’t budge it one little bit!  But, they sure gave it a go.  I think it might take a bit more to get that log further off the trail.  Maybe that is why it is still there.  ;)

   

Someone was getting tired, and cold, and had worn out little legs.  Daddy saved the day and carried him the rest of the way.  A catch twenty two though…  This led to getting colder than everyone else.  Those muscles weren’t getting used, made for a cold little man by the end of our little one mile hike.  We trudged on.

Giant City State Park near Carbondale, IL is such an awesome area!  We love to come hiking and camping here.  So lucky to have this spot so close to home.  We can be here within an hour.  So many areas to explore close to home…  We have vowed to do these kinds of trips more this year.  It is awesome to watch the expressions from the boys while they explore.  Even when it is cold. 

I looked away from my camera…  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.

   

 

 

After stopping at the “alligator rock” near the end of the trail, we continued on down the last stretch of trail and finished up our hike. 

Everyone was cold.  And hungry.  And cold.  And thirsty.  And cold.  (oh, did I already mention that?!?!?!)  Time for our picnic on this sunny, bit warmer day.  Darn it, the weather man lied!  You shouldn’t lie ya know?  Anyway…  We now had tears, maybe wails, from TanMan (he was cold, and he does not like to be cold, and he lets his unhappiness be known very loudly!) We had other cold, hungry boys.  But a picnic we shall still have!  TanMan and I gathered our rations from the picnic basket and hopped in the van with the heat cranked as we sent the others on their way.  They headed to the pavilion to have a picnic, at the picnic tables, with the picnic basket.  Hardcore folks. Hardcore.  Little bit of cold is not stopping this crew!  They shivered and scarfed their food down and then came back to pile into the nice, cozy, warm van to finish their picnic.  We stopped in the little visitor center at the park, grabbed a geocache, and finished thawing out a bit before we headed home.

But that is not all, folks.  Oh, no…

I was still looking around…  Where is the sun?  Where is the inkling of warmth?  It is coming, it is coming.

It was at home!!!!!!  Who knew!!!  That sun and little bit of warmth was waiting for us in our own backyard!  So we took advantage and got a teeny bit of yard work done.

Goodbye little dogwood tree.  I will miss you so.  You just could not endure the drought from last summer.  Goodbye little pine tree.  You also did not fare well…

Of course this job meant getting the old Case out, and getting the old Case out means rides for boys, and that makes everyone forget being cold.  We will have another picnic and hike on another warmer day soon.  Ross always says that good things come to those who wait, so we will just have to wait a little longer.

You know what I love about my guys?  That no matter what the conditions might be, they trudge on and are such troopers.  Despite my repeated reminder of how cold it was, everyone had a blast!!!!!!!!!  These guys are the greatest in the world!  I am glad that the four of them are mine!

Looking forward to spring days and  more adventures for 2011!

Waiting…

As 3:30 rolls around each day, there is anticipation and excitement in the air.  TanMan and Braden get anxious.  Waiting…  “Is snack ready?  What are we having today?  I want to take my fire truck water bottle today.  Does Tanner need his drink?  Did you get something for Riley?”  Braden’s verbal checklist.  Every day we take the same steps at the same times.  Every day, the same scenario.  Getting ready to go wait.  Yet the waiting is always eagerly anticipated.  So far it hasn’t gotten old.  And I hope that it never does.

At 3:30 we get snacks gathered up, shoes on, and head out the door.

Trek down the drive.  Some days they walk, and some days they RUN!

 

Look at the horses.  Look at the chickens, turkeys and ducks. 

                              

Get to the end of the drive and sit under the ash tree.

Enjoy snack, have a couple of drinks, and watch the road.

Waiting…

There it is!  Here it comes! 

Riley is home! 

Running to greet his brothers.  Home from a busy day at school.

  Awe, so sweet.

(The snack they bring might be great motivation too.)

“ See?”  Riley is home! 

It makes their day.  The waiting is worth it. 

“How was your day ‘Iley?”

No matter how much they fuss at one another, their closeness runs deep.  They have a friendship that we hope lasts a lifetime.

What we have been doing lately.

A little of this and a little of that…

T-Ball

Opened the pool and swimming is in full swing.

Visited the Glenn side grandparents and went to the cool Children’s museum in Bloomington, IL

More T-Ball…

Playing outside…

More Swimming…

Our summer is in full swing.  How about yours?

Crazy.....

WOW!!!!! Time Flies!

Things around here have been crazy busy lately! Whose idea was all of this? Oh!!!! I guess most of it was MY idea!

1. Get new puppy
2. Swim lessons 3 nights a week for boys
3. Drive 40 minutes to get to swim lessons 3 nights a week
4. Birthday party for boys
5. More swim lessons
6. Lose Internet--suffer withdrawl.
7. Holiday weekend--Dye easter eggs, get ready for easter bunny
8. Riley's spring break next week
9. Ross to Mississippi for a night soon
10. More swim lessons in the midst of all this.

Sometime we have found a little time to sleep and eat along the way. I will be glad when the middle of April will be here. Then we can trade swim lessons for T-Ball! Sure do have a great deal of respect for those who do this kind of schedule all year long! I don't think I could at this point! Wouldn't trade it for the world though.

Meet Nova

We would like to introduce you to the newest member of the household…

Nova, is a 6 week old chocolate lab pup.  What an adorable bundle of fur!  She has wrinkles on her legs, nose, and face.  Those eyes can melt you in a second.  She definitely loves to be with people!  The family that we got her from had 5 pups and had them all hanging out in their living room every evening.  Nothing seems to bother her at all.  Her favorite thing to do is curl up on your lap.  Little does she realize that there will not be room for 80 pounds of lab on our laps in just a few months.

She has taken to the boys and follows them wherever they go.  The other day they had her running all around our six acres.  She was one tuckered pup.  She did her best to keep those little puppy legs moving so that she could stay right next to Riley and/or Braden.  She usually picked which ever boy was leading the way.  By the second trip back in the trees, I gave her a bit of a break to ride in the bottom basket of the stroller.  She fits right now, but won’t for long.  She liked it but at the same time was not content either.  She could not see those boys then.  Every time she bailed and caught up with the leader of the pack.

The boys are all crazy about her.  Everyone keeps a close eye on where Nova is.  She and Tanner do have a bit of a love hate relationship right now.  As long as things are on his terms all is o.k.  If Nova licks and he is not ready, No good.  If he pets her, all is great!  =) 

Riley helped us pick out the name.  I had a list of some that I liked and planned to show Ross.  Well…  Riley decided the other day that he wanted to ask to take the puppy outside for a while while the other boys napped.  He had been calling her Anastasia because that is what the girls from the family that had her picked as a temporary name.  Well…  He came over and said, “Mom, can I take (Long pause)… Can I see your list of names?”  Looks at the list.  “Nova.  Can I get Nova’s leash and take her outside for a while?”  I told him we had to talk to dad and decide on a name as a family.  He just said that he was calling her Nova until then.  Well it stuck.  =)

Oh, it will be an entertaining spring.