Our Backyard and Beyond

Last Summer Adventure

So the other day (Tuesday) Ross called while he was at work. He does this… Nothing out of the ordinary. Here is how the conversation went…

Ross: “When does Riley start school again?”

Me: “Next Wednesday. Why?”

Ross: “We never did get to go to the Magic House this summer. You really wanted take the boys before the end of summer didn’t you?”

Me: “Yeah. But that is o.k. Maybe we can go some weekend this fall.”

Ross: “So… Want to take the boys to the Magic House tomorrow?”

Ummm… I am much a planner. I don’t like to do big things last minute. I must have time to absorb and prepare, mentally and physically. This was a mere 16 hours before we would be leaving to drive to St. Louis the next day if we decided to go. I tend to worry and fret when I am rushed. I need to pack snacks, drinks, and and and stuff! That takes TIME! And an extra set of hands would sure be nice to take 3 boys to a big children’s museum. Are we sure that we can make this work?

Me: “Let me think about this and absorb a little.” (And see if anyone else can go with us!)

Ross did convince me that everything would be fine. I got everything together and ready to roll everyone out the door quickly the next morning. We got around in good time and didn’t run too late. (Run late? Like we had a strict timeline to keep! I do that to myself.) The boys were excited! Riley settled in for the couple hour ride. Braden was trying to absorb what exactly was going on.

Braden: “Where are we going?” a few minutes later… “What are we going to do? Where are we going?”

When we finally got to the Magic House, the fun began! We spent almost 5 hours there and still didn’t do everything. We covered most of the museum, but passed a few parts here and there. Check out the fun. It was awesome!!!!!!!!

Riley hoisted himself about 5 feet in the air! He thought the pulleys were really cool!

TanMan took right to going across this plank. He had to try a couple of times to get brave enough to start, but then there was no slowing him down. He just grinned as he looked through the net at the people below, and shimmied his way to the other side. Then back again, and across again. Over and over for a few minutes.

Boy in a bubble! He got it almost up to his waist before it popped. The bubble room was pretty fun. Too bad it was soooo crowded. We decided to move on so that we could check out more areas.

Time to “eat.” Braden is serving up some pizza at the Pasta House. Every children’s museum that we go to, the boys are pulled in to the cooking/eating/grocery stuff. It is fun to watch them in action. Then we repeat the scenario for days at home afterward. Braden has been cooking cinnamon rolls almost every day this week. Even Tanner has been cooking up some sort of concoction and offering it to us. “Here. Here. Here.” Tanner is sharing his pizza.

Braden is busy cooking, cleaning, and talking on the phone in the kitchen. Riley and Tanner showing Daddy how to play the piano.

We had a bit of a hair raising time while at the Magic House! The electostatic sphere has been there for years! Braden and Tanner both thought it was pretty cool. TanMan’s hair did a great job of standing up! Having a great time! This was a tunnel under some sort of long cabinet. A sign at the beginning said something about wiggle like a worm. Not sure what kind of connection it had to anything in the area since I did not read the rest of the sign. Oops! All I know is that the boys loved this! All three crawled through the tunnel, got up, and RAN back to the start over and over and over and over and over and over…

A rare picture of all three boys at the same time. This might have been the only one of the day that everyone was facing the camera too! Again wiggling through the tunnel.

Tending to the fire at the Lewis and Clark encampment. I love the fact that Tanner and Braden are working together.

Definitely a fun day! The boys were all exhausted by the time we loaded back into the van. I am sure that we will have to go back again sometime. We will pick a cooler time so that we can enjoy a few of the outdoor areas of the museum too. There was no way we were going to spend more time than it took to eat on this 100+ degree day!

We are now counting down the days until the start of school. Riley is getting excited and nervous at the same time. He is like me, doesn’t care for change. He will do great and have a blast in first grade though! Riley and I got to spend a couple of hours in the pool today and hope to do pool time again tomorrow. We are going to head to the nature center near us on Tuesday to finish up the last days of this sweltering summer vacation! We are looking forward to fall, cooler days, camping trips, and just getting outside more!

Fresh from the garden

Hello y’all! Been a while again, I know. Seems like we have not slowed down since before the fourth of July! When things have slowed down a little bit, I have spent my computer time completely veging. We are getting ready to be gone again for a few days, so I thought I better take advantage of a nap to try to get a post put together.

We put a garden in this year. We started out with grand plans. Then the birds ate many of our seeds. No green beans, no Indian corn. No sugar snap peas. Other stuff didn’t cooperate. No carrots. No lettuce. One lonely yet productive ornamental gourd. We have had great success with the rest of the garden. Tomatoes, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Green Bell Peppers, Jalapeño Peppers, pumpkins (mostly for the blossoms.)

Our tomatoes have flourished. We have six plants, and none of us actually eat tomatoes. Yeah… So what in the world did we want them for? Ross loves salsa! Riley even eats tiny amounts of it with him. So we decided to give canning a shot this year. We have so far canned about 18 jars of salsa. WooHoo! Ross can have about 1 jar a month and have a little more to share. We also have grand plans to make some homemade pizza sauce to can. We will see what we come up with there. Ross has had a great deal of helping hands through the whole process. And those hands haven’t really been mine. I hold down the fort and try to prevent any other catastrophes.

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(Make sure to click the view full album to see all the pictures a little bigger.)

We also put up a bunch of sweet corn again this year. We ended up with about 9 dozen ear, 24 bags, that we put in the freezer. Just down the road, 30 minutes away, there is a farm that commercially grows sweet corn. One of their biggest customers is Del Monte. As they harvest the corn, they have to check for insects. If any bugs are found, so much before and after that ear are culled and sold as seconds. That is what we buy. We do not even try to grow our own corn. It just isn’t worth it when we can get this corn so easily! Everyone in the family pitches in and helps with the whole process. The boys were awesome shuckers this year. Braden has been the most interested and involved, being Ross’ shadow through all the steps of everything. Riley, Tanner, and I helped out with shucking the corn by staying out of the way. We swam while the work was being done. :) We did get in on the tail end up the shucking though.

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I have also made loaves and loaves of zucchini bread. I bake 4 at a time and usually do 2 batches each time I have the oven going. It is oh, so scrumptious! We have cooked dozens of pumpkin blossoms. Have you ever had any? If not, try ‘em sometime. The process is simple. Dip each flower in egg & milk, dredge in cracker fine crumbs. Fry in butter. MMMmmmm… Delicious. No pics of either of theses. Hmm… Need to get Ross to man the camera for me sometime. I will try to get you some pics to tantalize your taste buds.

Here is a sneak peak at the newest additions to our family…

More details to come.

Whew! Time to get some more zucchini processed. I am making more bread to take with us on our trip up home. If we see you, you might just be able to sample a bite or two.

Until next time,

Playing with Our Cousins…

Last weekend was so fun! We had company and the boys all had a blast. They love when people come to visit. You know we are so boring! My aunt and uncle from Chicago came down with their grandkids/our cousins from Pheonix for a visit. They were here for 3 1/2 days. We kept busy!

Click to play this Smilebox collage: Playing with Cousins

A free picture collage by Smilebox

Our adventures included:

1. A ride on the ferry. You have to drive to the middle of nowhere to ride across the mighty Mississippi River. We got off and then ~~hopped~~ drove right back on to go back across again. The big boys all got soaked by some surprise splashes! That was fun to watch. This was a first for my guys. So easy to take for granted what is in your own “backyard”.

2. Playing on the farm. We then headed on down to visit our friend’s farm and show these guys some southeast MO country life. The kids got to see bullfrog tadpoles, baby chickens, pheasants, and quail. They all had a chance to hold some baby bunnies. Rode the rangers to the river boat ramp and threw lots of sticks in the river! Came back to play on the trampoline and collect some eggs. Then we indulged in some fresh fried southern food-Catfish, hush puppies, zucchini, peppers, and fries with pecan pie for dessert. MMMMmmmm…… Everyone was exhausted when we got back to the house.

3. A day in Cape. We headed to Cape for some more Surprises! Drove the kids crazy not knowing where we were going and what we were doing. =) Riley was a good secret keeper! We went to the nature center that I used to work at. The kids even got to go in back and see the resident snakes. They were all eager to touch one too. We also headed to the new children’s museum that just opened at the end of April. My crew hadn’t even been there yet. We then came back and hit the swimming pool for a little while after supper.

4. Lambert’s. Another night to get stuffed! Caught some rolls, ate good food, enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant. Thanks for suggesting this one Dylan!

5. Just playing. The rest of the time was spent here around our house playing. It is so awesome to see the kids play together! They all get along so well together. It is too bad that we are not able to see each other more often, but we feel fortunate to get to see these guys a time or two each year.

It was a busy few days, but so worth the tired times afterward. I think everyone has recovered now. Can’t wait to do it again!