I think it is the final weekend for PYO around here. Glad we made it!

Twins? I can see why people might get that idea.

I regularly get asked if my kids are twins. It happened at the science museum this afternoon. We were eating lunch (under the fancy new pavilion!) and a nice man came over and asked if the kids were twins. I said no and gave my usual half-hearted laugh and explanation that she is just tall for her age. Then taking a guess I asked if his kids were twins. Yep. They looked nothing alike and were only barely the same size. I would never have thought they were twins. Funny how people often think Lex and Eve are though.

Lex insisted on one of just him alone. In fact, the "sitting on the earth" photo shoot was his idea and Eve elbowed her way into the first shot. :)

The mud table. Eve's favorite outdoor activity here. She will stay put for as long as I let her, building sand houses and islands and creatures and whatever else her imagination comes up with.

Where's Waldo?
The place was packed today! Camps and daycares and tourists, oh my!

Last week I told my librarian that we were going to the country for vacation and she looked around, somewhat jokingly, and asked “And where are we now?” It made me laugh, but even despite my rural state, I don’t really live in the country. I can see more neighbors than I can count on both hands, I own a third of an acre, and on a quiet night I can hear either the sounds from the highway or cows mooing, depending on which way the wind is blowing. We are rural, for sure, but not country.

My parents, however, are country! And my kids love it! This week we went to visit for my mom’s birthday and some good old fashioned country fun. I’d love to give long, detailed, descriptions, but it’s late (again!) and I’m tired (always!), so as usual I’ll let the photos do the work.

We took several walks up the tractor road (I think it has a real name, but I don’t know it) and we had fun looking at rocks and tractors and frogs and butterflies. On the way back we collected as many types of flowers as we could find. I think we had over 20. I was going to do a project around identifying and drawing them, but that never happened.

I LOVE that he poses for me now!
I have so many great shots of him smiling for the camera.

Eve, selecting which grass she wants to chew on for the walk up the road.

Hay bales in a row

I had a lot of fun playing with my camera settings on this trip. I took a ton of pictures of flower and small creatures.

The problem with taking so many pictures is that it's often hard for me to decide which ones are best.

Calm and peaceful at the pond (this lasted about 5 seconds!)

I love them.

Who taught that guy how to row a boat?!

Isn't this an interesting looking caterpillar? I haven't bothered to do the research yet to figure out what it is. Any guesses?

My mom called this a Christopher Robin moment.

I love the flower and the way her curls stick out under the hat.

The next day was my mom’s birthday. We went out to breakfast and then hit an awesome playground where everyone had fun. Everyone!

The best photo I took at breakfast :)

Alan did some serious climbing, showing all the little kids how it's done!

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!!! Look at you go!!

She is on a cool spinning thing that she loved.

This slide took a little practice, but then it was one of the favorites at the playground.

Coming down!

I love this picture and those people! :)

After the playground we headed home for lunch and quiet time. We all needed a rest! For afternoon snack we decided to skip right to dessert. Strawberry shortcake a la mode! :) Yum!

Dessert time! (the obligatory photo of Rosy)

Then it was time for presents…

The kids helped, of course.

The money shot! Literally! :) I have a bunch of photos of present opening, but this was definitely the most fun. Thanks Katie! Mom will enjoy the present but we all enjoyed the unwrapping!

After the excitement of dessert and presents we headed out for another walk.

Up the hill this time, heading to another pond.

King of the hay bales!

Another pond, this one had tiny tadpoles and beautiful blue dragonflies. Neither of which I was able to take a good photo of. The kids played happily until I dragged them out of the water.

Tuesday started with a trip to the local library, my library growing up, where they had a musical performance. The kids had fun with the music and fun picking out a few books to take home.

Watching the music show at the library. Lex remembered this place from our one visit last year. He even remembered where the bathroom is and commented that they had new paper cups this time.

Reading after the show.

Look at this giant bird we saw. It had a huge wing and tail span. When it flew we saw yellow and blue (?) in the tail. It was huge!

Another shot. Any guesses?

Lex sat down on a pile of rocks to take a break. When he was rested he stood up and peed off the rocks then jumped down and kept walking. He's a country boy at heart! (aren't all boys?!)

Canoeing

Rosy knows how to relax!

Primo Paddlers!

Look, I was on this vacation too! :) I got a turn to refresh my paddling skills and handed the camera to Rosy.

We had a lot of fun with this frog!
It was HUGE and just sat there while we got super close.

Dad took the kids out in the rowboat too.

That silly frog just sat there while Lex caught it.

Wednesday, time to head home. On the way we decided to stop at Howe Caverns and do some spelunking. (or mild guided touring, as the case may be) Mom drove up with us and we had lunch then did the tour. After that it was a straight shot home. No breaks or anything.

In the cavern.

They call this the pipe organ. There is another spot across the walk way that you can hum into and the hum sounds like it comes out of the pipe organ.

It's hard to take pictures in caves. I need a special cave lense or something :)

This is the stuff of horror films!

This one is for Alan. He was super happy to have an average MPG over 60. :)

Well, that took me over two hours! Sheesh! I probably should have broken it up into several posts, but alas, I did not. Have you seen enough?

What? What’s that you say?! You want more photos?! You mean 41 is not enough? How about 307? Will that be enough?

1106 – Franklin, June 2011

Want a few more? I’ve saved the best for last. Check out Rosy’s fancy photos over at A Very Rosy Year.

That’s all I’ve got, there ain’t no more. I need to rest now.

I have other ideas that I may add here as well, such as our theme for the week, field trips, upcoming changes, etc.

I was hoping to have a summer schedule posted and ready before the school year ended, but that didn’t happen. Then I told myself it’s good to have a few days “off” before implementing the new schedule. Sure, that sounds good. Wednesday night I posted our new schedule, most of the way completed. Thursday was an “off” day because we had a WW meeting and tons of errands and car troubles. The kids both looked at the schedule, whined about their Thursday chores, and that was about it. I spent the day mentally debating about how and when I should start following it (I keep thinking “enforcing it” but that sounds a little too intense for summer vacation!) and then I began wondering if we really need one at all. I like the idea of chores but I’m just not motivated to enforce them and I’m still unsure what to do when the kids flat out refuse. I don’t want to fight or punish and we don’t (yet) have a motivator, such as an allowance or reward. That may come, or it may not, I’m not sure.

This morning we were playing Sorry and the clock in the living room chimed. Suddenly Lex jumped up and ran into the kitchen. I asked what he was doing and he said “Just checking the schedule!” The schedule which, he quickly noticed, had not been updated for Friday :) I updated it and they got super excited about today’s chores. Huh?! It was past chore time but both kids agreed they needed to be done, so upstairs we went to do chores. Eve got bored part way through, but with some gentle help and encouragement she made it to the end. Lex happily dusted the whole upstairs, at one point even announcing “Chores are fun!” I wish I had that on tape!

Perhaps my worries about how and when to follow the schedule were for naught. Perhaps, like the Field of Dreams, if I post it, they will follow. At least the reading-and-rule-abiding boy will follow and hopefully the eager-to-be-with-big-brother girl will tag along :)

As for themes (this week is butterflies), I decided to let the kids be involved in that decision as well. Next week we will be vacationing in the country and I was thinking bugs or lakes, but Lex decided that we should learn about flowers. So that will be our theme for next week. Flowers. I think there is a lot we can do with that theme!

Fun in the neighbor’s kiddy pool…

Three big kids and one little pool.

Isn't she elegant? In this moment :)

I love the braids!

sharks!

Strawberries…

Our little strawberry plants are growing like crazy! The kids pick them as fast as they ripen though :)

A crafty day…

Eve with her "helmet"

First thing this morning the decided to finish making the sunflower craft project they started at the library yesterday.

Little flowers

This afternoon we did the butterfly project (below). It was a crafty day. They also made necklaces and bracelets for themselves and for me. So far I love summer vacation :)

Amanda and her family pulled together a beautiful memorial service for Lynn this weekend. It was held outdoors and the weather was perfect, warm and breezy. The location was beautiful. The grownups were comfortable and the kids had a great time exploring the property and discovering treasures (rocks) and radiance (marbles). The ceremony was beautiful and touching. I learned more about Lynn than I had known before and had the chance to relive some fond memories as well. I think she would have really liked it.

I put all of my photos online in a Picasa album. Click the little picture below to view the full album.

Lynn's Memorial Service

If anyone else wants to add their pictures to this album just let me know and I’ll make it so.