Run, Paul, Run!

This past Tuesday we had an out of the ordinary experience!  About two weeks ago now, some friends from back home met up with a man from England who is running across the United States.  He started at the Golden Gate Bridge and he is headed to the Brooklyn Bridge.  He has been mostly camping with the exception of getting one motel per week.  

His route took him along US 24 and he made a stop in a park where our friends saw him setting up camp in a park while out on a family jog/bike ride.  They started talking to him and ended up offering him a place to stay for the night.  He mentioned that in his daily update on facebook which then started a domino effect you could say of other friends who lived along his route offering to host him.  I didn't think he probably would be coming too close to our house, but just in case, I messaged him and let him know we'd love to keep him if he was going past.  And sure enough, he did!

It was an honor and a lot of fun to have him here!  He has no shortage of interesting stories to share from his journey thus far.  AND, I had the privilege of introducing him to the American classic PBJ sandwich:)   

Paul, I don't know if you'll ever see this, but if you do, know that you've got a whole slew of people cheering you on til the end.  Keep going, mate!

Not Always A Fairy Tale: The Non Sleeping Family

 Once upon a time, there was a dad and a mom.

They lived with their little girl

and their little boy.

One day, the mom put both kids down for a nap and neither one of them went to sleep.  She decided to just leave them in their beds though so she could enjoy a little alone time.  Even though it wasn't peaceful and it wasn't quiet because she could hear them alternately playing and crying.  But still she left them.

Suddenly, the smoke alarm decided to go off for just a few short seconds for no reason.  This caused both the girl and the boy to be very very sad and the mom decided to get both of them up and snuggle a little bit.  So she did, but the snuggles only lasted about 30 seconds before the boy and girl moved on with their lives.

Time went on and eventually the little boy did take a nap, but the little girl never did.  While the boy was napping, the smoke alarm started to chirp periodically, signalling the need for a battery change.  The mom did not want to risk setting it off full force again while the boy was sleeping, so it continued to chirp until supper time when the dad came home and fixed it.

Meanwhile, the girl decided to come down with a cold out of nowhere and by the time bedtime arrived, she was sniffling and coughing all over the place.  The mom gave her some Tylenol hoping for sweet dreams.  Unfortunately, until about 3:00 in the morning, the girl kept waking up crying because she couldn't breathe very well.  Each time, either the mom or the dad would go in and try to comfort her and give her something to help with the sickies.  A melatonin gummy... a drink of water... vicks vapo rub... another melatonin gummy... a different kind of medicine...  at last, the little girl calmed down and was able to sleep peacefully and the mom and dad also fell into a deep sleep.

THEN, approximately 4:11 in the morning, what should rouse them from their sleep but the chirp chirp chirp of the smoke alarm that was thought to be fixed!  So the mom went to the garage and got the ladder and the dad took the battery out.  FINALLY,

they slept happily ever after.

That is, until the alarm clock went off.

This Year At The Lakes....

Another great year at Lake Webster has come and gone!  We sure appreciated our time with the family and have some good memories to look back on.

We had two little awnings set up for some shade.  Holding onto the two posts was Saywer's favorite spot to watch all the action.

On the boat with my honey.

Maybe in a year or two Summer will be game for holding the turtles.  But for now just touching them is quite enough for her thankyouverymuch!

Lots and lots of cousin time!

A little family bike ride to Dixie Days in town.  We were planing to get ice cream at a booth we saw right when we got there, but when we came back just 20 or so minutes later it was already closed:(  But root beer floats were on the menu for that night's supper so all was well.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay....

Those nets were a HUGE hit!  And they also were the cause of an increase in my blood pressure from watching Summer almost topple head first into the water all week long.

Summer's first jet ski ride- she was a little unsure but she did go for a second ride later on so it must not have been too bad!

This was Sawyer's hang out when he couldn't contain himself and kept heading straight for the water.  Pack-n-play in the shade.  He was only sort of okay with it.

Tubing time!  Don't worry- me and Cassie joined them for the actual ride.  They loved it!  Even Summer, who has her mother's wimpy overly cautious genes had a blast:)

A family friend who lives in the area has a mini old time town in their backyard that we went to see.  Complete with a general store, barber, doctor's office, church, jail, and more- it was so cool!

That is one patient dog.

No non-life jacket wearing babies were actually taken on a ride in the kayak.  They just sat there for a quick picture.

Those nets again.

And now my final excuse to hold off on potty training is over:(