Summer Adventures

This has been a busy, fun week! The kids got Darin a tent for Father's Day, and really wanted to try it out. We set it up in the backyard for our Family Night activity and the three oldest slept outside with their dad. I held down the fort inside with David (someone had to), so sadly I missed out on the great outdoors. I was willing to "take one for the team" even if it meant sleeping in my own bed as opposed to a sleeping bag. They had such a great time! They loved exploring the tent and finding all the nooks and crannies. One great feature of our new tent is the shoe keeper. It stores the shoes in a handy little spot at the front of the tent, and even though Warren went out to the tent with bare feet, he had to come inside to get his shoes to put in the shoe keeper so he would be sure to know where they were in the morning. The next day we were able to go to the zoo. We had SO much fun!

The kids got to see tons of animals, including the "Ghost of the Bayou" white alligator. Liv, Sean, and Warren also got to pet two snakes and a ferret. They almost got to pet an armadillo, but he was "freaking out a little bit" in the words of Ron the animal show guy, so he (the armadillo) had to go away. It was so nice to be able to take our sweet time, and to be a "yes" mom for most of the day. The kids were all happy and exhausted at the end of the day. Tonight we all went to Strawberry Days rodeo. (This has been a big week for us...we don't usually party it up this much, I don't know what's gotten into us!) The kids' favorite part of the rodeo happened before the rodeo even started...strawberries and cream and mutton bustin' (kids riding sheep). Sean and Warren had fun under the stands where several calves were eating hay. David was ready to sleep about the time it started, so I enjoyed the last half of the rodeo down in one of the aisles trying to bounce him to sleep. When all was said and done, it was a successful family adventure. All this fun, and summer doesn't officially start till tomorrow!