Home again, Home again

I'm taking a break from unloading to cool in the a/c. It was a hot weekend. Not completely unmanageable,but quite muggy. We had fairly shady spots, lots to drink, and a really great swimming pool to retreat to in the afternoons when the humidity became oppressive.

Meredith is sleeping in her crib. Lou and Ben are relaxing on the couches in the basement watching the '60s version of Spiderman shows. And Charlie is on the couch in the living room watching Tom and Jerry. With a big gash in his head. No, this didn't happen when we were camping, just minutes after we got home.

I carried him in the house because he had fallen asleep on the way home. But he had other ideas than sleeping. He wanted to watch Grandma and I unload the van of Grandma's things and he pulled the blind down out of the wall, on top of his head. We have a pretty big window and the blinds that cover them are also very big.

I was outside when it happened and I heard the crash, saw that the blinds were no longer hanging, and I heard the screaming. But I didn't rush inside. Terrible, I know, especially knowing what I know now! However, this was a "Charlie cried wolf" story in that he complains or cries about everything, and most of the time the hurts aren't as serious as the screams are making them out to be. This was not the case here.

There was quite a bit of blood but I think that's common with head injuries. I got him to slow the tears by having him suck on a popsicle while I took a look at the cut. I couldn't find it, partly because he didn't want me touching his head and partly because there was already blood drying in his hair. I called my mom, knowing that she wasn't far away and she came because I was not sure how serious it was going to be.

Grandma saved the day in helping Mommy clean up the cut, put ice on the big growing bump, and put on a movie to calm down poor Charlie. The bleeding pretty much stopped when he stopped crying, so we figured that even though we can't see the cut it mustn't be that bad.

Charlie is resting comfortably, has finished his popsicle, and is trying to talk me into taking a shower tomorrow as opposed to when I'm finished unpacking. That's not going to happen, but I better get out there and finish unloading the second vehicle before I decide that a shower sounds better than a car full of camping stuff.

Oh, and not one picture was taken this weekend. I feel bad for that. It was such a lovely weekend, despite the heat, and we had a wonderful time. We must have enjoyed it too much to stop and take get out cameras. The only thing missing was our favorite camper: Daddy.

Labor Day Tradition

My Uncle John and Aunt Mary put on quite a production every Labor Day weekend. They have a great piece of land about 45 minutes away from us that they have shaped into their own. Every year there is a neat addition that they have obviously put a lot of work into. The log cabin, the pole barn, the pond, the landscaping--it's all gorgeous and such a nice place to visit. I can't imagine what it must be like to live there, coming home each night to a resort home!

This year my friend Katie was in town from L.A., so we wanted to get her reacquainted with the Midwest and there's no better way to do that than to go out to my aunt and uncle's. We got there late afternoon, setting up the tents while the boys got to work on catching fish. They absolutely love being out there, whether they're fishing, hitting golf balls up the hill or playing their version of pool. It's so much fun for kids and adults.

The green girls--Katie, Meredith and Lisa

The boys' version of pool consists of a free-for-all of rolling the balls to smack others in the holes. No pool sticks are involved. Somewhat good, somewhat not. Or maybe I should replace "good" with "safe."

There's a contest to see who can hit the ball closest to the pin up on the hill, over the pond. I should have done a better job of photographing the land so you have a better idea of what's going on!

Jimmy was just one of many successful fishers--Rosemary won with 15 fish caught!

Gracie had fun, that is, until someone gave Meredith a brownie and Mere started pushing Gracie around like she was her brother. Poor Grace!

Not too hard to put down three little boys who ran and ran and ran until they ran out of gas. Fresh, country air helps too!

Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle John for another wonderful Labor Day campout!

Grab Bag 3

The last weekend in July we went on our annual family camp out. I was nervous about going this year because Meredith was more mobile than on our last camp out. Regardless of what you might think, taking an infant is so much easier than taking a 1-year-old! Fortunately, my mom has a "cage" that was a big help. Meredith was able to be part of the action, but we could limit was she was exposed to (i.e. rocks that she wants to put in her mouth; hills to fall down; cars that want to run over kids). What was neat was that it was the cool place to hang out for the older kids. They all took turns getting in there and playing with her. Meredith was in heaven!

The kids and I went up on Thursday, after the boys' swim lessons. My parents were going up that day, as well as my aunt and uncle. I hated to leave Kevin at home, but it's such a hike for him to go from our campsite to work that it really isn't worth it. The rest of the group would come after work on Friday.

Did you know that Charlie had a black eye? Amazingly enough, his brothers had nothing to do with that. He fell into our coffee table an instantly looked like the offspring of Rocky. Here, it is a few days old and looking quite a bit better.

My dad had to go into work on Friday so Mom and I took the kids on a hike. The boys are extremely into hiking and exploring these days. The trail wasn't very intense, which was good because I had Meredith hanging off the front of me while I was taking pictures and hiking. I'm pretty sure I was chewing gum, too, so we are lucky that no major catastrophes occurred!


I didn't get the camera out the rest of the weekend. I can't remember why. The days were filled with playing games, riding bikes, and swimming at the pool. At night we stargazed and sat around the campfire. This is the stuff that summers are made of and I wish we would have done more of it this summer!

Family Campout '09

We left our house on Thursday with the knowledge that there were tornadoes in northern Indiana and the exact time we were supposed to be setting up our tent, the entire campsite was covered in "green" on the national radar. This would not be good.

Turns out that it was a beautiful day, in fact, a beautiful weekend save for the forty-five minutes that it rained on Saturday. Without offending any family members, weather people are quacks. It drives me absolutely nuts that we schedule our days based on what the weather is supposed to be, and then I get upset when the weather is nothing like it was supposed to be. But that is for another post.

Again, sidewalk chalk made an appearance on this trip. These are shadow drawings of the boys. They got a kick out of seeing themselves on the ground. Charlie didn't fully understand what I was doing and changed position and also opened and closed his hands while I was drawing which made for an interesting outline.

Another Louie drawing of me with my fantastic hair.

This was Meredith's second campout and she proved once again that she is indeed the happy camper.

The group that went this time had tons of kids, which was great for the boys! Bikes, baseball, s'mores, what more could you ask for?

And although Abby doesn't have anyone around her age to play with, she certainly is developing into quite the babysitter!