A Hunting Daddy Goes

Nate left for his annual hunting trip in Canada on a Friday in early October.  Henry, Walter, and I started planning some fun things to help the week go quickly.

 

*For whatever reason, BlogSpot has a mind of it's own tonight and is doing it's own thing when it comes to layout and other random things, so please excuse the mess.

 

First off, we decided to do some science experiments to learn about crystals.  We each chose a type of crystal to grow, and spread it out over the week.  Of course, the first experiment was to make rock candy from slow-growing sugar crystals.  Each day they checked the progress of the project and asked how much longer until they could eat the results.  We also grew salt crystals on sponges and alum crystals.  Here they are in the lab after starting the sugar crystals. 

On Saturday we went to spend the day with the Mimis and Gramps and Grandma L.

We went to a dine-in movie theater with Mimi Erin and saw Monsters University.  They couldn't wait to play games in the theater arcade with the quarters Mimi gave them.  After supper, the four of us played at Edinburough Park.  Walter loved going through the huge climbing area with Mimi while Henry's favorite part was running, riding scooters, jumping and playing basketball in the gym.  After Mimi Erin's missing phone was found, we went to DQ for a treat and picked up some dinner for Mimi Megan after her day at work.  We drove home after going to church with Mimi Megan, Grandma and Grandpa.

 

Playing Mario Kart



On Tuesday Grandma Jo took us on an adventure at the local state park.  Grandma treated them to Happy Meals for lunch and then it was off to some hiking.  They loved looking for creatures in the mud where the water was low.  They found lots of water snails (I think that's what they were?).  While they were investigating with Grandma, Dottie managed to track down and flush an enormous wild turkey out of the reeds, which soon had four more turkeys running behind it!

Checking out a water snail.

 We kept walking and made it to the Oak Tree Savannah, where we took a little rest.

In the above picture they are pretending to be lion statues (like the ones you might see at an

 important building).

 

 With Grandma Jo

  

Pretending to be lions again - "Look out Grandma!"

 

 

 

 

It was time for a snack break and Grandma came prepared! She had packed a huge basket of treats to snack on while playing games with Grandma. They actually had her jumping from bench to bench!

 

 

Next on our agenda was a pizza supper with Grandpa Will, Aunt Betsy and George.  Then we all went to see Charlotte's volleyball game at school.  Henry and Walter thought it was exciting to find Charlotte and watch her play - and they enjoyed getting at treat at the concession stand.  We didn't get to stay for the whole game because the boys had school the next morning, but we did get a few pictures with Charlotte before we left:

 

The essential bunny ears...

And, of course, a silly picture.

 

Thankfully, the rest of the week flew by.  On Thursday, we spent part of the day working on some stuff for church at a friends' house.  Grandpa and Grandma A joined us for dinner and afterward, the boys and Grandma walked to the park and played.  I picked them up so that we could pick out pumpkins for the front steps and Grandma got some for her house, too.  Then it was off to bed.  We were all happy to have Nate home the next night and I was grateful for all the special people who helped make our week fun.

October

We finally made it to October! 

 Dot and the boys - wherever they go, she goes.

 

And as soon as one of them sits down, she sits as close as she possibly can to them.

(This was a sick day - thankfully we visited the library the afternoon the day before so they had plenty of Star Wars books to look through.)

 

School Days

 Nate drove Henry to school one morning and as they pulled out of the driveway, Dottie watched from the kitchen window and whined a little.  Initially, she had her front paws on the window ledge. 

Timber!

Towards the end of September we had one of our  black walnut trees cut down.  I felt sad about it because it's a beautiful tree and gives part of our yard nice shade on hot days....BUT every summer it covers everything in a nasty, sticky sap.  So sticky, it's hard to open the car doors after you park under the tree.  In addition to the sap, it drops rotten walnuts all over the yard and driveway - I don't know how many times I've slipped on a walnut while carrying in groceries.  So it was time to say goodbye to this tree!

Watching the action from the kitchen.

As soon as the tree came down Walter and Henry were climbing all over it!

The estimated age of the tree was 115-125 years.

A Few More Pictures

Walter and Dot:  Dot loves to sleep on the bed with the

boys at bedtime and she tries to sneak into their bed each morning. 

Another favorite spot is on the steps in the entryway.  The last step isn't installed yet and for awhile she would climb under it in order to rest on the cool concrete.  Once I was coming down the steps and right before I put my foot down, Dottie stuck her head out from under the last step.  Scared the living daylights out of me!

Reading the Bible together while resting after lunch.

Walter and Dad taking a break from prepping the garage siding for new paint.

Last Lake Day

We spent one last weekend having fun at the lake. 

It was sad to think the summer was over.

 

Henry and Dottie on the raft.



Going for a boat ride.

Uncle Jon, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Betsy picking up acorns - there were a ton of them.

Getting in some fishing time with Dad.

Henry's Commercial

Here's his first commercial!

Transcript:

(?)....Sketchers.

One, jump with them.

And even bicycle with them.

You can find/buy(?) them at target

(Wait 'til I say "Cut" okay?)

And then give them...you can play basketball, run, and jump into the action!

And you can also let them be at school.

And you can even do that.

(Henry making sound effects) 

Sign out!