Celebrating my kids and the great outdoors!

Weston did fantastic at his first day of daycare at Miss Kathys! She was impressed with him. Ella had a fun time with Pa and even spent some time with Aunt Kris and Brady at the pool. Pa also brought her to Home Depot and Hopeville to walk around and check out campsites. She loved every minute of it. Any time spent with Pa is a good time.

On Friday our plans changed due to Joe's injury. We decided to go hiking and dabble in letterboxing at Devil's hopeyard. Laura had told me about letterboxing. It is like geocaching but you don't need a GPS and you use stamps. I like the idea of clues because it feels like a treasure hunt! Also, a great way to get the kids involved in hiking. I LOVE Devil's Hopeyard. It is so beautiful and there is always someone else around. It makes it less creepy walking in the woods with two children. You never know what can happen like falling and injuring myself to the point I couldn't walk back. There is a good chance someone would come by. It is these things you think of when you are in the woods with two small children! Also, the morning had been an emotional one after I heard that a seven year old boy passed away from CF. The mom's blog was so touchy and heart breaking, but what I decided was that I was going to use the horrible news to enjoy my children. So we enjoyed each other! We didn't end up finding any letterboxes, but we did have a bunch of fun attempting to find them. We saw some great things in the woods such as funky looking trees, and a chair made out of rocks. I had to carry Weston a lot of the way, but he did much better than I thought considering we probably walked over 3-4 miles and up hill for a lot of it! Ella has a new favorite waterfall. Thankfully since her last favorite one was the dam in Jewett City. LOL!! Weston got soaked in the river, and I thought that was why he was wet when I was hiking with him. After a few minutes I smelled the real reason. The smell of pee just gets more intense when you are sweating!!! Ewww... Oh well it was still fun. The outdoors just makes me smile. :)

We stopped at the library on the way home. Summer reading program!!! The kiddos have to keep up with their learning. By the time we got home that night I was EXHAUSTED!!! Weston had a 20 min. power nap in the car and was wide awake! He kept talking and talking all night.

Saturday, we woke up and Andy wasn't feeling well. I didn't have any set plans, but I had promised Ella that we would go letterboxing at some point because I was just too tired to go the night before. I also had to deliver tupperware to people who had ordered it. Mary invited us to her beach house since I had to get the tupperware to her. The kids actually didn't want to go! I think they had too much fun last week and wanted a day to chill. We went anyway! They fight and drive me insane when they are home all day. They ofcoarse had a blast. Both got to go in a tiny boat in the ocean for a short little ride. We only stayed a couple of hours, but it was just nice. Something about the beach just brightens your day. As soon as I pulled down the street and saw the ocean, the people walking and biking, and the boats I couldn't help but smile! Oh that summer breeze off the ocean. Perfection!

I got the kids some McDonalds on the way home and we went to my parents house because Weston's agenda for the day included hanging out with Nana and Pa. My mom agreed to keep him so Ella and I could go letterboxing. Yippee! Ella and I went to Hopeville and went searching. At first I thought it was going to go the same way as the day before, but nope, we found one!! Actually we found three and one with two stamps! Score! There is nothing like the feeling of finding the "treasure". It is absolutely thrilling! How appropriate that the first one we found was an awareness for a child with tourettes syndrome. I thought that was fitting.

That night we went out to eat as a family because Andy was feeling better. Ella wanted to use her coupon that she got to Chilli's for homework hall of fame. So we went there and ate a nice dinner.

On Sunday, we hung around most of the day. It needed to desperately be cleaned since we have been out and about so much. We also did some grocery shopping. We've been going through a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lately! Last night though we went for a bike ride as a FAMILY. All four of us!!! I can't believe I convinced my husband to go. He even towed the kids in the bike stroller and used the word FUN! He said he would go again! Yippe. We went to Hopeville and back two different routes. We attempted to find letterboxing with no luck again. Oh well. We didn't put much effort into it.

Today, we went to the mall. That is what the kids picked. They wanted to ride the little rides. We also bought them each a bathing suit. Weston has gotten so thin that none of his stay up. Lands End has ties in the bathing suit. They also bought toys with their own money.

Afterwards we went and played the game at the libruary. Ella stayed up for two hours past her bedtime reading the other night. 20 books! I'm so proud of her! That is what a competition does for the girl. LOL! She won three toys and a book. Weston won one toy and a book.

The rest of the day has been relaxing and irritating. First they were good. Now they are fighting. Ugh!! Bedtime can't come soon enough!