Aaah, springtime! How we miss you! While we currently suffer from record breaking heat in the low 100's, added to stifling humidity, those spring days seem even more idyllic. So, in memory of spring-time, I'm going to go back to a post I started, but never finished, from wayyyy back in May. Yeah, I'm pretty on top of things here.
Here we have an impromptu drum solo by Daniel. I guess he figured that since Sam had pulled out all those tupperware dishes, he might as well put them to good use. He is a drummer at heart and can really get those pencils flying.
This is the big, beautiful cherry tree in the yard next to our house. I love this tree. For two years the house sat vacant and finally our friends the Zimmermans bought it and are living next door. Yea!
Maggie loved the big, fluffy blossoms.
Around Easter we had a family baking day, where I had all the kids help make some bunny rolls. Everyone did a good job of rolling the dough, and then making dough snakes and balls to make the bunnies. While Dan and Maggie really got into the whole process, especially the parts where flour tossing was permitted, Josh was a little less enthusiastic but still having fun. Aaron was just putting in his time until I released him. He doesn't really love cooking, but he's still being forced to learn!
We were very fortunate to have Joe's brother, Matt, and his wife, Clairon, and 4 kids (soon to be 5!) come down from CT for a visit. The kids love when the cousins come and we always have such a nice time with their family. We had some heavy rain so to get the kids out of the house we went bowling. My kids LOVE, love, love bowling. I'm not really sure why, but they always beg to go. Maggie looked funny chucking a ball in her princess dress.
The Easter basket frenzy and ensuing sugar rush...
Okay, get ready for a lot of Civil War historical site photos. You've been warned - some are of a graphic nature.
Joe is a Civil War history buff (don't try to deny it, Joe), and since we live so near many sites of Civil War battles, we decided to take the kids to one and try to teach them a thing or two. We went to Antietam. Joe even had me draw a map of the relevant parts of the battle on a large poster board so that he could show the kids what happened during the battle. He's a pretty good guide. And cheap!
I have no idea what they were talking about, but pictured below are Joe, Joshua, Jesse, Aaron and Abel.
Okay, here's where we get morbid. This is by a road called "bloody lane" and the kids felt the need to act out scenes of war and bloodshed. Boys. Sigh.
Off to the observation tower:
All the cousins lined up on the fence: Aaron, Samuel (in Aaron's arms), Joshua, Maggie, Daniel, Abel, Jesse, Lazarus, and Gabriel.
The kids kept trying to dash up the observation tower so that they could scare their parents to death by leaning out through the windows or over the rail, so Joe had them start running bloody lane. As always, if you tell them you're going to time their run, they get pretty enthusiastic.
Jesse:
And here's cute little Laz. I don't know what he did to that carrot to make it produce so much juice, but he was pretty orange by the end!
Sammy wanted to get down and check things out too. He was sort of in jail in the tall grasses, though, because he didn't like them hitting his face when he crawled.
Then we went to a famous bridge in the battle (Joe went to bed early, so I can't tell you it's name. Sorry Joe!). It was a pretty little bridge and the kids had a blast throwing rocks into the water. Below are Maggie and Daniel conspiring to throw in a very large rock they were trying to dig up.
And here's an impromptu Easter picture of the family by that beautiful cherry tree.
And the Matt and Clairon family.
We had such a fun visit with them and hope they'll be back soon!
1 comment:
It's the "Burnside Bridge," a famous Civil War landmark. The big sycamore tree the kids are sitting against was there on the day of the battle in 1862.
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