Another baby on the way

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Having fun in spite of sickness

Our jack-o-lanterns:

All lit up:

While boys watch in the darkness and hear scary stories from daddy:

The following night, Iron Man made an appearance,

and Mario. The mustache lasted for about 10 milliseconds. :-)

trouble

Lots of ingenuity + serious lack of judgement = trouble!

In our house on Saturday mornings we usually let our boys play together while we sleep in a bit. I am a light sleeper so I usually am aware of where they are in the house and what toys they are playing with, but I'm still dozing. We typically have no problems with this - they create crazy contraptions out of couch cushions or elaborate train tracks or sweet pictures with paper and crayon.

I wasn't sure what they were doing this morning, but I heard both of them laughing gleefully and having a great time, so I figured it was hot wheels cars on the trick tracks or something. WRONG.

Ian has figured out how to get up and get the things I put on the tip top of the bookshelf in the playroom. This is almost to the ceiling. He got down the aquadoodle sheet. It's a sheet that they can color on with water, and dries and is reusable. Pretty harmless. Except when they forego using the pens, and want to get the whole thing to turn dark blue. So they spread it out on the kitchen floor and proceed to dump "about 15 cups" of water on it. Or so I'm told. Then they run and slide through in order to spread it around.

We wised up when Caleb slipped and fell of course, bashing his forehead and proceeding to scream. It took Ian two beach towels and some parental assistance to get it all cleaned up. I asked him if at any point in the process he thought maybe what he was doing wasn't such a good idea. He said, "I didn't know water could damage the floor mommy." Well, now he knows. (Thankfully, it didn't do damage, because it was cleaned up in time)

In days to come, the boys will be staying in their beds looking at books until we are ready to go downstairs together! And, Ian gets to learn how to do the load of laundry with those beach towels in it later today.

First Day of School, New Wheels, and a Sandbox

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Some pics from the last day of our trip, spent at the Kentucky Horse Park...

Andalusian

Shire

Friesian

Arabian
Pony Ride

How they really felt

coerced smiles

The End

exhausto day

Day 3 of our trip was probably everyone's favorite. We went canoeing on the Green River, through the national park. 7.5 miles, about 3 1/2 hours. I didn't take the camera for fear it would get wet. There was even a place to canoe into the caves a little way... we did and heard an animal in there with us... maybe a beaver? Ian was worried it was an octopus. :-) There were several times when the boys were totally silent in the canoe. We'd stop with our paddles and all just listen to the woods around us, floating along. It was so peaceful. They dangled their hands in the water and caught leaves and let damselflies land on their fingers. By the end we were all as filthy as we've ever been. Thank God for baby wipes (next best thing to a shower) because Matt wanted to go see Lincoln's birthplace.

Oh my it was cool! I doubt I can do it justice in words, but the main thing that struck me was the family Bible. It was huge - one with lots of commentary in it. It was VERY well used. The binding and the pages were all very worn. It just hit me - that was the actual Bible that Abe Lincoln's mother sat and read to him as a child. I pictured his very long fingers holding that big book. Above the display case was the quote:

“In regards to this great Book , I have but to say it is the best
gift God has given to man."

The original quote goes on to say: "All the good the Savior gave to the world was
communicated through this Book. But for it we could not know right
from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and
hereafter, are found portrayed in it.”

Powerful stuff. I just stood there thinking about it while the boys built mini log cabins with Lincoln logs.

We walked around the grounds and Caleb decided to try pulling mommy in the wagon:


The sinking spring which the Lincoln family used as a water source:

Two exhausted kids... passed out (in the Courtyard Marriot we stayed in for $48... gotta love priceline!)

Vacation day 2

The second day of our trip we took our last tour of the caves. It was the Historical Tour which begins with the beautiful natural entrance to the caves.

Right inside you find the site of a mining operation - people used to get saltpetre from the limestone and make gunpowder with it. You also find some graffiti. I took this shot of a 170 year old signature, because the guide mentioned that this person also owned another cavern, which Tom Sawyer explored. The boys are enthralled with the "Tom and Huck" stories their grandpa tells them.
It goes from huge high and open passageways all the way down to this tight squeeze:

A few times I noticed something fluttering about the cave... I decided to take a shot of the rock formations and then found right in the middle of the shot I had managed to capture the bat flying! (it's blurry but it's there) This was especially exciting for Ian "Batman" McElheny. :-)

On the way back out... everyone tired and hungry...


Out and on the way to lunch (the only bribery that worked to get them to pose like this):
The rest of the day was spent swimming and going to Dino World...