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2 adults + 3 kids + a baby in a pack and play = time to upgrade from the 4 man tent.  It was like moving from our Twin Creek apartment (as tiny as they come)  into our spacious 2 bdrm in Philly.  It sure was nice to spread out a little.  

* also worth mentioning:  we got started late (Nate's nights haven't been early lately) so by the time the kids got into the tent it was after 11… and even after the big kids (and Nate) had fallen asleep, Carter lay there in the dark until almost midnight with his glo-sticks pretending they were space shuttles (he calls them NASAS) taking off with the stages of the rocket falling away.  It was so darn cute.  

I can't believe we've lived here 5 years without making it out to Lark Toys – a specialty toy store with a beautiful hand-carved carousel, a toy museum, and mini-golf… what's not to love?  

We ended up making a day out of it… window shopping (of course Emma and Carter bought little rubber ducks – all they could afford), carousel ride, looking through the old toy museum (the kids loved the Santa display); then off to have lunch on the Mississippi in Wabasha (home of the movie "Grumpy Old Men") to watch the boats; and a stop before the trip home at Nelson Cheese Factory for ice cream out on the benches.  

I love drives like this through the small towns of the midwest, and never get tired of the view out my window of cornfields and blue sky and clouds.  Carter has prayed often since we went "to go back to Lark Toys, and that the Santa Sleigh (one of those stationary parts of the carousel which actually  has nothing to do with Santa – it's full of ostrich eggs-) will move".    Don't worry, Carter – we'll go back.   

even "big" kids need a nap now and then.  

you visit a toy museum and find that you owned/played with/wanted most of the toys in an entire section.  

With the big kids headed back to school on the bus in a few weeks, I decided it was time to make good on my promise to Carter that he could ride on a city bus this summer.  And despite the fact that he looks a little concerned in both of the pictures (he was full of questions and observations and wanted to be sure we were at the right stop and the bus wouldn't miss us) he had a great time.  Actually, we all did!  

PS – Godfreys, we missed you… 

Just because it's backyard baseball doesn't mean it's not serious business…

chocolate for breakfast (yep, bowls of m&ms)

lunch out with the kids – everyone happy, and lots of compliments from strangers about what lovely, well-behaved kids I had (this alone would have made my day!)

a 45 minute phone call with a sweet friend from far away (could have talked longer if I hadn't lost phone service…)

hiking out at Oxbow – the wildflowers, the butterflies, the tiny creeks and tiny bridges, going on a grand adventure, the big blue midwestern sky…

pizza hut pan pizza for dinner – like the kind we had in Amman, Jordan…

and the biggest lemon ice I could imagine.  Yum.  

It was a happy day.

you don't see a catcher in a dress like this very often…

and this little guy adores this little girl…

and chocolate zucchini cupcakes make as good a goatee as the less-healthy version…

and because you can't possibly have too many pictures of a baby in your family history.  right?!  (miss Meg is 4 1/2 mo. in this one – and yeah, she does love her daddy!)

I went outside the other day to find the kids hammering a stake into the ground… and had it explained to me that they were digging a well.  For what, you might ask, since we already have running water?  Their plan was to get cups of water from the well (they were making sure to turn the stake as they "drilled" so that it would be wide enough for a cup) and to dump them into our sink so that the water company would think it was just our water and we'd keep getting more and more extra water for free.  Pretty good plan, right?  

They worked and worked and worked on the well for hours and hours and days.  They set up cones and probably would have been OSHA approved, they had such good safety policies.  They had work schedules and water breaks and one day brought out chairs to rest on, invited friends to join the work when they came over (much more fun than playing) and were nice to each other the WHOLE time.  I would have let them dig to China.  

Unfortunately, the location of their well was also the location of the new sod.  The day after they hit mud, the well had to be filled in… most of the drillers took the news well, and the one that didn't recovered quickly with the new project of planting the sod.  

It was a big day for both of these guys.  

Emma's team was the "dream team" at the Honkers game… they got cool hats, got to hang out in the dugout with the team before the game, get announced on the field, and join the players for the national anthem.  She loved it.  

And see Zach's sunburned face?  Yeah, that didn't happen on my watch.  (If you know me at all, that will make you laugh – I am a bit of a sunscreen fanatic.  My sister reminds me every once in a while that a little sun is good for you…)  Zach got to spend the day at cub scout day camp.  When I dropped him off at 7:15 this morning I realized that when I picked him up at 5:30 that afternoon I would have sent him away for the longest stretch ever!  My morning coat of sunscreen didn't last that long… and he lost the bottle they told us to send for re-application for their second round of swimming… but the sunburn wasn't bad, and as I looked at his little red face and heard the excited run-down of the days events (bow and arrow, bee-bee gun, tomohawk throwing, trading post) I knew that life is going to be like that.  A little letting go on my part, a little "sunburn" here and there for him, and a whole lot of life adventures that he will love and I will love to let him have.  

And Carter?  Well, the big day just wore him out.  :)  Don't worry, he woke up to do the "YMCA" with Slider (the mascot) – which I think is his favorite part of baseball.