The Previous Week or So, Part 2

Easter day was in full swing. I knew that I'd be blessed to watch baby Chloe Monday through Friday the following week, so I wanted to get out on Sunday with the kids and visit my daughter, Rebekah. We had planned on heading to the university to visit her on Thursday, but decided it would be best to take advantage of the holiday and drive over for a visit. We were rewarded with TONS of fun...

We picked up Rebekah and her fiancee, Nick and found a place to sit down and have lunch:

Took a moment to confirm that Joseph is now taller than Bek... (she's 5 foot on her tall days):

Then we headed to a fabulous park:

Before I could look twice, four of them were on a teeter-totter. There was so much laughing and carrying on, you'd not believe it!:

We had SUCH a laugh when we saw the sign where the kids had picked to "play".
After a quick photo, we headed over to the bigger kids play ground!
The rope/web/climbing "thing" was loads of fun:

I LOVED that Victor was up for the challenge.

First, there were three at the top... then there were four:

And as soon as they got "reaching the top" out of their system, their play turned into the classic "tan bark is lava... you can't touch the ground... two hand touch means you're tagged and "it"!!" Here is a favorite of Nathan, being stealthy:

And, in the middle of the "tan bark is lava, let's play tag" game, there had to be a simultaneous "King of the Hill" game:

Bek wasn't playing that the tan bark was lava...

(When I spun around to take another shot, I would occasionally forget to check my camera settings, so some of them had too much exposure... so, I played with the coloring...)

There was a lot of chasing and a lot of laughing...

A new King of the Hill??

Here's a larger scope view of the playground:

And while these boys were busy chasing each other, Victor thought about making his own way up to the top:

I love his sweet smile!

Half way through the week we had a picnic and went for a hike. Just moments after we ate, my mountain goats were headed up the side of the hill:

It took a few more minutes to convince Victor to hike up the "hill" with me...

And here are my dirt covered jeans... from sliding down the path that I climbed up... I have to say it was fun... but it wore me out!

If only I could write those two finishing words... "The End" But, life isn't that easy, is it? When we come down from the mountain, we have to face life. Life. With constant change. So, after some lazy days with gaming, occasional quick trips to the store, and heart to heart talks, I said good-bye once more to three of my kiddos. I love them so much.

Blessings,

The Previous Week or So, Part 1

Nine days ago, I woke up with eager anticipation. Three of my teens were arriving to spend their spring break with me. Nervous energy filled me... I wondered if I could pull off a week of "fun" in their lives... I felt great pressure to give them one exciting day after another so that they could say their time with me was amazing. The week was nothing like I expected. I did try to make the best of each day, but some experiences left me weary. I could share the heart breaks, but that's none of the public's business... so I will share the joys. Oh, and about those heart breaks... I am convinced more than ever that difficult marriages should be endured until children are grown (unless there is abuse) because there are no words to describe the pain in my heart when I see my children struggle... when the children just want mom and dad and their original "family". (I do tend to avoid many controversial statements... 'cause I am a chicken... I wear my feelings on my sleeves and hate offending people... but, there you go... divorce should be avoided if at all possible.)

Now, on to the moments that blessed my week:

When I slipped out for groceries to stock the pantry, I came back to this:

(We have three large buckets of this stuff!)

The next day we headed out for this: