Monday, October 15, 2018

This summer

There was a pine tree by our driveway that had died. I decided to chop it down before it fell over
Hudson brought along his chopping stick to help me out.
I ended up buying a gas chainsaw to cut it up, but I did bring the ax along to chop up some bits at the top of the tree.
Whenever it is time to get a hair cut, instead of going out and paying a professional, the kids eagerly volunteer to do it for free. If I wanted to push my luck, I might even be able to charge them for the privilege of cutting my hair.
Sara and I went up to Colorado in June to go hiking. We stayed at my parents new house now that they have moved back to that state.
The first day, we went up to explore the flatirons with my parents.
Sara was really good at climbing up to the top.
We had my mom take a picture from the bottom.
Then we convinced her to climb up with us.
As is tradition, any time we celebrate a birthday with my parents, there has to be at least a small risk of burning down the entire house, and this trip was no different.
Mom was not all that excited about using propane at the dinner table.
We went up to the continental divide in Rocky Mountain National Park. Sara had never seen snow piles that high before
I got several good shots with them in the parking lot.
In this picture, we are actually standing on some rather slippery ice. Sara is gripping onto my head with a death grip to help me not slip.
As we went hiking down the trail, Sara noticed that there was still snow in the shade. She decided to bring some to show my brother.
We hiked out to a rock pile. Dad and John rested while Jill, Sara, and I went of to the edge of the cliff.
Sara and Jill posed for a photo.
Sara liked all the marmots that were not afraid of her. I suspect they were hoping to get fed.
Sara collected some "unicorn rocks" which were extra sparkles in them. Jill and Sara washed and inspected them once we got back to my parents house.
John took apart one of my parent's wooden puzzles and then had some trouble putting it back together. I thought that was funny.
Our carrots are growing in the garden. The green tops are a nice size so now we just are waiting for the roots to catch up. Hudson was pretty excited with the current status.
We had several weekends filled with picking blueberries. Both kids picked for a bit then went off to play somewhere that the plants are not actively trying to draw blood. 
Hudson is very proud of the fact that he can now cook is own breakfast on the stove. We make "One Eyed Egyptian" sandwiches. When they don't turn out well, he calls them "One Eyed E-floptions"
This summer we went down to Gulf Shores with my In-Laws. Of course, any trip to Gulf Shores is not complete without going to the gift shops so check out all their shells.
And, of course, we had to eat at the all the seafood restaurants.
Unfortunately, Heather does not appreciate her picture being taken.
Sara, however, will allow it as long as she can show off her broken fork collection she got while working on eating all her crab legs.
Finally, both kids are old enough to enjoy the ocean without being knocked over by the waves (unless they want to be knocked over).
Hudson asked to get a temporary tattoo. He got a paw print of his cat, Sugar Plum
Sara asked to get a phoenix on her leg. Heather even got a bird on her shoulder blade.
Hudson has been saving up and been very eager to buy his very own lawn mower. I was a little hesitant, because of the whole spinning blade thing. But Heather talked me into it so we let him by his "Sunjoe". He loves pushing it around the yard for about 15 minutes until he gets worn our and then takes it back to the barn.
The kids got invited to their cousin's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Jackson didn't like the animatronic mouse and refused to turn his back to it. The rest of the kids had a great time playing games there.
We had a great time working to burn down our huge pile of firewood. Sara decided to take some scrap cardboard and use a charcoaled stick as a writing utensil.
In the middle of July, we took a trip up to Wisconsin to visit family. We got to hang out with Aunt Sue and Aunt Teddy for a nice photo.
And a silly photo too.
We went down to the Kenosha Farmer's Market. Hudson enjoyed checking out the fish in the harbor.
When we then drove up to Algoma, both kids to got to take a much closer look at the fish.
Sara was proud of the fact that she caught a larger fish than my dad.
Sara also realized that if she brushed my Mom's hair, then she could stay up later and avoid bedtime for a while.
Hudson, of course, loves the tractor. He even brought his stuffed tiger Nicey for a ride.
While on the trip, Sara realized she had finally gotten taller than Heather. She was very excited and did the party dance for several minutes to celebrate.
Once back in Alabama, we went to Cathedral Caverns one weekend. While out there, Hudson, Sara and I went exploring on up to check out the river bed above the cave.
For Sara's birthday, she invited several friends and had a party over at Heather's parent's house. Everyone had a great time.
Heather had to start in-service a couple days before the kids had to go back to school. Since I was working, the kids got free range of the yard. They tried to lure me into traps with pretend accidents, but once I caught on that Hudson's bike accident wasn't actually an accident, they tried to catch me.
Hudson is now pretty much an expert at making himself either breakfast or lunch on the stove.
In addition to his Sunjoe, Hudson got a gas powered edger from my Dad. Hudson has found that he can use it to dig holes if he wiggles it latterally back and forth.
We decided it was cool enough to go camping. Well, by we, I mean the kids and I. Heather thought it was still a little too warm at night. So we stuffed the tent, firewood, camping bags, food and everything else into my car and took off for Bankhead National Forrest.
The kids were used to running around and yelling on our 7 acres, so having to be quiet on a small camping space was a little hard, but once I brought out the food and they began roasting things, it quieted down a bit.
Sara and Hudson found a giant 3 legged wolf spider and asked to borrow my phone to document it.
The next weekend, Heather and Sara went shopping so Hudson and I hung around the house. We went out to Burger King for lunch.