For Father's Day

When you have no "real" job,........you have to get creative where gifts for Daddy are concerned. So for our Father's Day gift, Rebecca and I finished some of Daddy's weekend tasks for him on Friday, so we could all enjoy the weekend together!

First, we "blew out" (that's what we call it) the garage, the deck, and the porch. This just means that we took the "blower" to get all the dust and leaves out of the garage, etc.

Then we washed off all the nasty pollen that had stuck to the rocking chairs and the front porch.

A lot of water and a little soap made for a fabulous fun time on a warm June day!

Then, on Saturday, we attended the art festival in Cave Spring.


There were lots of vendors selling jewelry, photography, paintings, and various other crafts, but mostly,.........we ATE!

We ate cotton candy and funnel cake..........

Then we ate bar-b-que and roasted corn! Delicious!

We did make a couple purchases. A kitty cat pin that Rebecca decided she didn't like to wear on her shirt, so we are going to pin it to her bookbag this fall, and the "Three Little Pigs" finger puppet set. Rebecca is just obsessed with that wolf!



But the most fun was had exploring the cave, and wading in the spring. The cave felt wonderfully cool (only 60 degrees!) and we fed the trout that were swimming in the stream.



The color in the photographs taken inside the cave didn't turn out very well. I wish you all could have seen how beautiful it really was!

It was a wonderful weekend spent together as a family. I hope Daddy had as much fun as we did. The next day, there was an aerial photograph of the festival in the local paper, and we were in the photo! Even if it was a "where's Waldo" type of search and find, there we were,......in the paper! One of my favorite quotes is, "Today's experiences are tomorrow's memories. Live what you would like to remember". (Anonymous) I love it when I feel that I have really accomplished that!

We love you, Daddy!

Sum - Sum - Summertime!

We are having so much fun this summer! We've found ourselves at the pool more days than not, and Rebecca is doing so well in the water. She's a little too brave! She forgets she sometimes doesn't have on water wings, and one day walked right off the end of the steps. She sunk like a rock! But I was encouraged; when Mike fished her off the bottom, she was startled and did cry, but she wasn't choked at all! Maybe she'll be ready to put her face in the water "on purpose" soon.

Also, I loved Betsy's story about Owen and his "baby in the tummy" comment. I have a similar one, too! Rebecca and I were discussing her upcoming birthday and how old she will be (three). She asked, "Mommy, how old are you?"

Me: Mommy is 36 years old.

Rebecca: WOW! That's A LOT of birthdays!

Funny thing is, I can vividly remember when my own parents were my current age, and I thought they were old too! Oh, how I now know better!

And now this! My not quite three year old told me yesterday, "Mommy, I want some tennis shoes with a Nike swoosh on the side. A pink swoosh!"

Where could she have gotton that? Oh, no!

A Few Recent Faves for the Relatives

One of Rebecca's favorite past-times this spring was blowing dandelion "fuzzies".

I just loved this sweet little dress. With her new haircut, she looks like such a little girl.

Rebecca also loves bugs and worms and lizards. We found this fuzzy caterpiller and entertained him for a while. She finally agreed to let him go.

I took this photo right before I stepped into the laundry room to transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer. When I returned.......I found that Rebecca had painted herself and the kitchen table rather than the paper. Now that would have been the more interesting picture, but that was a "straight to the tub" moment!

The Strawberry Patch

We had so much fun! The strawberries are grown off the ground in pots, without any pesticides, so you can eat them right off the vine! Because of the shallow root system, you have to cut them from their stems with scissors; Rebecca did a great job with that! We "picked" 2 pounds of strawberries and I had grand plans of making a shortcake. However, Rebecca ate probably one pound in the car on the way home, and then we all ate the rest that night for dessert! They were wonderfully sweet, red all the way through. No splenda needed! Isn't God's creation a fantastic delight? We will be back to the strawberry patch several more times before the end of the summer!

Mother's Day Weekend

What a blessing to be able to spend Mother's Day with my wonderful Mom (and Dad too!). Here is a favorite picture of Rebecca with her "Grammy" and "Da".

Makeover!

Before...........

After!

I was so hesitant to get rid of her "rocker" hair. It was just so "HER". But her new big-girl haircut is so cute and convenient. Her response,....."I LOOK GORGEOUS!"

Scenes from Six Flags!

And we're off! Here we are at the front gate. We had told Rebecca she might get to see Bugs Bunny. She was beside herself with excitement. But to my knowledge, she has no idea who Bugs Bunny is!

The first few rides were tame, located in the "kiddie area".

Then she wanted to ride the "balloons". They went up and down and around and around,.........really fast! She loved it! She flapped her arms and squealed "we're flying like birds!" I don't have any pictures of her doing that, because I had my eyes closed,......I was VERY close to getting sick!

Ice-cream for lunch.........

Our favorite ride,.....the sky bucket! Because we all got to ride together!

The ride home. A very good day!

And now, this past Saturday..........

I just realized, that as everyone reads this, the posts will be in reverse chronological order, starting from the top of the page. So to all my family, scroll down to "Mike's Birthday" post, and then scroll back up. There! That should make more sense!


Anyway,.......this past Saturday, we attended the "Riverfront Festival" at the park. To be a rather small town, Rome has a tremendous amount of opportunities for families to enjoy. The river festival was a small event based around the idea of wildlife, and keeping the rivers clean. There was a fish tank filled with native fish from the river,......(and let me tell you, after seeing those fish, I will NEVER get in the river!)........and there were alligators and snakes (Rebecca's favorite). There were several craft booths, and Rebecca "made" a dragonfly and a monarch caterpiller. It was a beautiful day with only one disappointment,..........no cotton candy!

That boa constrictor was so HUGE, there was no way to get it in the photo entirely! Rebecca was thrilled to be petting the snake; she even kissed it! Then she wanted to know why she couldn't hold the "little baby" rattlesnake! Needless to say, we had to have a VERY long talk about "snake safety".

Meanwhile,......Back at the Ranch

While we were in Mexico, Rebecca stayed with her Papa and Shug. (Mike's parents) Of course, she always has a great time when visiting grandparents, but this trip was special. While there, Uncle Scott and Aunt Lyndi took her fishing on her first fishing expedition, and she caught her first fish! Actually, she caught a "Daddy" fish AND a "Baby" fish! I hate I missed that experience, but Uncle Scott said she took that fish right off the hook and held it up for her photo without a second thought. Then she carried the poor dead fish around with her all day!

April 11th,......To Mexico!

We left on Friday the 11th for Cancun. The resort was beautiful! The weather was beautiful! We spent a relaxing day Saturday on the beach,........just reading and napping. Sunday, Mike began to have some trouble with his leg, though we thought at first he had just perhaps strained his knee. However, by Monday night, he could not walk at all, and when he awoke Tuesday morning, his right leg was completely paralyzed. We saw the physician at the resort, who wanted to send us to the hospital in Cancun. We thought it best to take our chances on flying back to the States, so we spent Tuesday trying to get a flight back.


I did manage a few photos the first few days we were there, though they don't do the actual views justice!

We wished so much those first few days that we had brought Rebecca. Everyone else had their children with them, and it was a fantastic trip for little ones. There was a kiddie pool, a splash park, a playground, putt-putt, and of course,.......the beach. And there were lots of "lizards",........Rebecca would have loved them. I took lots of pictures to show her. She would have loved the beautiful flowers, as well. But would have probably picked them all!