Last Day of Summer Vacation

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day to celebrate the last day of summer. We chose to pack a picnic lunch after church and head out to a local park/beach/marina on the Nanticoke River.

mmmmm.... seaweed

The sign says "No swimming allowed by order of the health department"

Yummy!

Bye Bye summer...Hello school!

To stitch or not to stitch?

Why stitch when you have Steri Strips?
He fell in the driveway. We knew he was actually hurt because he cried. We were starting to think he didn't feel pain at all.

I kissed a...

Tree

Well, I suppose it was much more than a kiss. In fact I attacked that poor tree.

Here's the story:

The mosquito spray truck was coming down the road and I wanted to move the van FAST so he could back all the way down the driveway and kill those wicked skeeters in our back yard.

Here's the plan:

The plan was to back in between the two trees that are beside the driveway. Imagine parallel parking...FAST. I jumped into the van, looked in my mirrors and backed up...FAST.

Here's the problem:

As much as I knew I had to avoid a tree to get where I was going I didn't see it because it was in my blind spot. So I backed up...FAST.

Here's the funny thing:

I heard a load bang and wondered what happened. In a split second I realized it was me but it took me another couple of seconds to realize what I hit. After all, I didn't see anything behind me. DUH!

Here's what's not so funny:

This is part of my light stuck in the tree

This would be the bad tree that jumped out into the driveway behind me

Last, but not least, my poor van!

I have been driving for 14 years and this was my first accident. UGH! I guess I should just be thankful it was a tree I hit and not one of the boys. Poor David saw the whole thing from the end of the driveway and it scared him so bad he cried for a while. I couldn't even cry, or look at the van because I had to console him first.

So Frustrating!

I want to help

He's not as helpful as he thinks he is:)

Water Park!

Last week we went to Killen's Pond state Park in Delaware. They have a water park that costs $1 for kids and $2 for adults! I love cheap fun. Two years ago we went and I nearly went insane it was so stressful. This year with two kids swimming and 1 almost swimming it was much more fun. The kids had a blast. We went with some moms from MOPS. Unfortunately, my kids were the biggest (except for Kaylee) so I didn't get to talk much with my friends who were all at the kiddie pools.

My boys adore Kaylee. She makes their life so much more fun!

New Family Hobby

Geocaching

While we were camping in Pennsylvania Kem's brother suggested that they go "treasure hunting"

So three generations of Carey's piled in our van and drove to a park a few miles away with some clues and a GPS.

Here's what they found...

Inside the cache (an ammo box) they found a log book, CD's some other trinkets and this boat. All items are placed in the box by other geocachers who have found this cache. You are to take an item and put a new item in. They took the boat because it had a traceable tag (travel bug) and left a dollar. I didn't get to go on the first hunt but we brought the boat home to MD to place in a new cache. We searched the internet and decided to find this cache in a park in Berlin. It took us a little while but we finally found it...can you see it?
Since this was my first hunt I got elected to climb the tree to get it. Kem thought he was being very nice...I think he just didn't want to climb the tree! I signed the log book but there was only junk in this one. I hung the boat around it (it didn't fit inside) And now we are waiting to see who finds it and where it ends up. To read the story behind the boat visit http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=9f2851dd-fbce-466d-87a6-e163c9d37b01
I'm really excited about this new hobby. It is fun for the whole family. The boys get to hunt for treasure and Kem gets his technology /puzzle solving fix. I get an excuse to climb trees!

To find out more about geocaching check out http://www.groundspeak.com/ or http://www.geocaching.com/

Camping Again

We went camping with Kem's family last weekend in PA. Here's what we did...

• The boys rode through the campground on an old fire truck in the evenings.
• The boys begged to go to the campstore (behind the fire truck) to spend money.

• The boys got to feed the animals at the petting zoo at 9am and 5 pm.
  

• Bingo with Aunt Steph, Cousin Heidi, Karch and Conner.
  
  

• We ate and we ate and we ate s'more. (Even for breakfast on the last day)
  

• We enjoyed each others company

• This is some of the clan. Uncle Kyle, Aunt Ruth, Uncle Kurt and Karch are missing. Conner is in the green on the bike in the back and Heidi is hiding behind the tree. Uncle Karl is making "mountain Pies" which were delicious but no one could stuff another bite in.

• If you think we got some good sleep in this cute little cabin you are crazy. They make the beds in these things hard as rocks just so you don't forget that you are supposed to be "roughing it".

• Personally, I loved my middle-of-the-night walks under a sky full of stars to the bathroom!

Special Request

I had a special request for this picture so here it is Steph! Thank you for being so kind as to take this picture of me getting drenched at hands of our very own (and very merciless) Karl and Jerry.
For those that do not know what I am talking about...
I was freezing cold when we went to Knoebels. FREEZING!! but my kids wanted to go on this ride so I went with them. Now, normally you do get a bit wet on this ride but not this wet! At Knoebels they have quarter machines at the spot where the log goes by. Put a quarter in and if you time it just right...the nice lady in the log gets soaked. Unfortunately for me, my brothers-in-law have good timing. Twice I got hit by a giant plume of water. Thanks guys!!

Steph, thanks for not taking a picture of me afterward looking like a drowned (and frozen) rat:)

A visit to PA

Kem had off this week so we headed up to PA for some fun with his family. Our first stop was the 110 acre park in the back yard of our first apartment (a farm house in Mechanicsburg) I walked this park nearly every day both before Eric was born and after. It was so much fun to come back here. The boys got to go for a spontaneous dip in the Yellow Breeches which runs thorugh the park. Grammie Carey and the dog got pretty wet too!

Next we went to Messiah College to reminisce about the days when we met. Cody was scared to death of the "swinging bridge" but the boys enjoyed bouncing on it. The next day we went to Knoebels which is a little amusement park in the hills of nowhere. All together there were 43 of us from PA, MD, DE, and FL. It was pouring down rain and really cold. Those of us from the warmth of Maryland were freezing because we didn't bring warm clothes. After lunch it cleared up enough to go on the rides. It turned out to be a great day because there weren't to many crazies there. We got right on the rides with no wait.

Grammie Carey bought the boys some bags of dirt so they could pan for "gold" and other gems. They loved it!

Conner and Eric enjoying the water The dads and teenagers in our group filled up the bumper cars and bumped the tar out of each other. It was rough in there but it was cool to see such a large group of family having so much fun together.

We got home and had a great visit with my mom and brother we went to the beach and I forgot my camera. This weekend we are off to PA again for some more camping. Then I think we'll start thinking about getting ready for school!

What we've been up to

We have had a crazy busy summer. We have spent most of our time visiting family in PA or having them visit us. Here we are in a few of our few quiet moments at home.

David doing the "boogie board fly" off the ladder into the pool. Of the three boys he is certainly the fish. Always the first into the pool and in long after the others have gotten out.

Levi thinks he can swim. In reality, if he fell off this board he would be in trouble but he insist he will not fall off. Needless to say I am keeping a close eye on him.

We found an empty egg shell in our yard. We looked up and found a nest in the tree. We have been watching this momma and baby bird for a while. Eric shares his binoculars with the boys so they can all see. When we came back from PA this week they were gone:( They are hard to see in this pic but you can see both of their eyes and mommas tail feathers hanging down the back of the nest.