Rain, Leaks, End of Summer

I'll start from today and work back. Tonight and the rest of this weekend is/was our intended trip to Chalk Creek for a group camp. Well, today it is raining here, and it is raining there, and it is predicted to keep raining here and there all Saturday. It might clear up a little on Sunday. Apparently we are making up for our serious lack of perciptation this summer this weekend. Oh, and it is cold. It is only 52 here in Littleton right now! After a lot of hemming and hawwing, not wanting to wimp out, we have decided to cancel the group camp. A few brave souls might venture down there anyway. The hot springs still sound sooooooo tempting!

And to top it off, my bathtub is leaking. Into the bathroom below. It seems to be in the drainage mechanism. That is a problem, since the kids REALLY need baths/showers, school starts next week, and they haven't been bathed for a long time. Seriously, I don't remember when they last bathed. I think we'll be doing some plumbing, wall ripping, ceiling repair this weekend.


Last night our SC left us. It is going to Texas for a new life with another family :-( We had some fun times with that car, and some not-so-good ones. Ah well, that's more space in the garage for John to play and rearrange his current collection.

Thursday we made homemade ice cream using half-and-half and baggies. It was pretty messy, with leaky bags and salt, so no pics of the process, but here is everyone enjoying the final product:We had vanilla, chocolate, peach, and blueberry flavors. Yuuummmmm.

Wednesday was our LLL Summer Picnic/World Breastfeeding Week Celebration. We had about 10 moms there off and on with lots of babies, toddlers, and big kids. Afterwards we headed over to the Littleton Historical Museum for some visiting. This is one of my favorite places to hang out. I'd love to volunteer there some day.

Here are some pioneers in the blacksmith shop:

In the garden at the 1890's house:

In the hayloft:

We found a friendly cat named Tiger:

I tried unsuccesfully to focus on this large dragonfly!

This snake is really cool!

In the school house:

In the pumpkin patch:

Children of the corn?

Next folder - Halloween 2004 - the LLL Party:

The traditional Halloween Limbo Dance:

Kids always end up on the floor:

Families:

Happy Birthdday John!

John had a birthday party this weekend. Cajun food was the theme, beer, margaritas and mosquitos rounded the evening out.

I didn't take many photos, but got one of the party lites and lanterns made by the kids.

Massive playgroup here on Monday, the kids had a ton of fun. There were so many different activites going on, I'm not even sure what this group was about!

A bit hit was the soundtrack from Mary Poppins - the kids wouldn't stop playing this particular song:
Other activites included mining in the creek, exploring the "wilderness", lego building, bee catching/petting (and a sting!), kitchen "cooking", kitties, doggies, dress-up, and who-knows-what-else :-)

I just had to put in this cool pic of Heather !

At one point we had 17 kids here, I believe. And 6 moms. ;-p

Last week's art project for Elise (from Art Projects for Kids) is calm side/wild side self-portrait:

In honor of our upcoming trip to Chalk Creek, here are a bunch of photos (campground and St Elmos) from the last time were stayed there - September 2004:

Busy Thursday

Today was a super busy day for us. We were up and out of the house by 8:30 for me to go to Nia (okay - the kids stayed home with John as he was working from home that morning), came home, changed, got snacks and riding clothes and swim clothes, headed out to Redstone Park. We haven't played there for years! We met up with some of Owen's school friends (all from kindergarten class!) and played for a while with them, oh, I also picked up Tokyo Joe's for lunch - one of our favorites. There is a pond at Redstone Park, the kids saw crawfish, ducks, and found lots of cattails. After lunch, A and S showed up, more play time. We also saw Heather and T there, who we haven't seen in forever.This park has lots of fun features, including a cool man-made stream that the kids used to love to play in. No one played in it this time, really. Today was a little overcast, too, so maybe they didn't feel the need toget wet.


After Redstone we went straight to horse class, last day. The kids all feel ready to move on to the next classes, we'll see about that. They are more comfortable around horses, my main goal for them right now.


After horse class, we rushed home and I was off to my pottery class. Still attempting a teapot - this time around I got an interesting pot, but still not a teapot (first try, not even close!) Got home after 10.
Ah, love those busy days! Now to prepare for tomorrow morning's meeting.... sigh.

Next folder - August-September 2004:
Another trip to Berry Patch Farms, they have flowers too!


And new outfits from Grandma Bertie!

Horse Class

The kids are taking a horse riding class this week. This is an introductory class, good because our kids really haven't had much to do with horses at all.

Learning the rules
Introducing yourself:
Brushing:

Owen teaching others knot-tying:

Leading:

Bareback riding:

Owen riding:

Elise riding:

Giving treats:

Petting all the rest afterwards:

Next folder:

Visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa in Phoenix