Jared's Village

August 7, 2016

 

 Jared had a day when he was really getting into setting up a little village. He was very intricate and imaginative about who everyone was and where they lived. Karl would come sit down and ask Jared to build him a house. They were having a really good time of it, so I had to take a couple pictures.

 Jared also invited me to sit down and build a couple myself. =) It's so fun playing with these boys! ...and Emmaline!! She did a very good job of playing with her own blocks and not messing up Jared's. :)

JR Company Picnic

Thursday, July 28, 2016

This summer JR Automation had their company picnic at Windmill Island here in Holland. The island is famous and we were really looking forward to going.  The first hour or so of it was pouring rain like crazy! So, we stayed inside the pavilion where we were offered cookies (because the grills outside wouldn't work in the rain and wind) and musical chairs to entertain the children. Soon after we got inside and sat down, a lady came over and asked to hold Emmaline. She seemed nice, so I let her, then she went and sat back to her table and played with her for a while. Haha! As a mom it's always nice when someone else asks to hold or play with your baby for two reasons: because it's gratifying to have someone else notice and adore your baby and it also gives you a break for a few minutes.

Jared enjoyed watching the musical chair games that were going on, but he was too shy to join in. Finally for the very last game, when it was starting to get sunny again, he was ready to go try it. Luckily there were two other kids who wanted to play still. Jared made it through the first round and sat smiling on his chair. He lost the second round, but he was still happy he got to try it.

The first thing we did when the sun was out again, is go for a windmill tour. This windmill has five stories that we were able to tour. The sixth and seventh floors were narrow and you could only get up there by ladder. But, it was really neat. We even got the tour from a true Dutch lady from the Netherlands.

(I did not take this picture, but this is about how it all looked that day.)

The boys were pretty good during the tour and looked at all the interesting stuff. This windmill kept up with it's traditional ways of grinding wheat; it was impressive. Before leaving each floor the lady, Thea, would ask if there were any questions; there usually weren't. But when we got to the fifth floor she asked and... Jared raised his hand. Thea hadn't noticed, so another lady pointed it out to her. She asked Jared what his question was and he quietly and bashfully asked, "How much longer do we have to do this?" Some people laughed, but Thea couldn't quite hear him and asked what he had said. Ryan smiled and said, "Oh, nothing," so people laughed again. The lady closest to her told her what Jared said and Thea kindly told Jared that we were all done now and he could be the first one to go down the stairs. Jared was happy about that (I think he really wanted to get to the bounce houses) and our family started down. Come to find out, Jared is afraid of heights. He struggled to walk down the stairs and, since I had Emmaline strapped to me, a nice lady offered to hold his hand. Jared didn't want to hold a strangers hand, so Ryan turned back and carried Jared and Karl down the stairs. It was a fun little adventure!

Once we got out on the lawn, Jared and Karl booked it over to the bounce houses. Karl loved the teetering ladder and the big slide. He was very slow at climbing both, but people were patient with him, and he had a blast!

Jared really liked this ball you could get inside and run around in. Ryan helped push him around.

 

Before we left, Ryan got back in line for the ball. When he got in he ran all the way down the mat by himself. ;D Haha! He looked like he had a lot of fun with it.

That's not something you get to do everyday! :)

There was also a really good bbq dinner and I think we all had a great time. =)

Camping in the Smokies

July 16-23, 2016

This past summer, we had our first week long family camping trip, and I believe it will be a long time before we have another that tops this one. We had a really great time!! We traveled down with Ryan's brother, Eric, and his family, Becky, Thomas, Phillip, and Olivia. They were very prepared and more experience so we were very grateful to be their camping buddies.

Sat, 16th
One the first day, we drove the six hours from Evansville to the Smokey Mountains. It's a tradition of Eric and Becky's to stop at Panda Express right before getting there, so we were happy to join them for that. Along the way we had a couple clothing changes with Emmaline and Karl have diaper blow-outs and throwing up. But, we made it and were happy to be in the fresh air of the beautiful mountains! That evening we set up camp and got to taste the beginnings of what would be a week of very good food. Becky had her cast-iron dutch ovens and a camp chef, and with that she made breakfast and dinner for us all week, and it was soo good!!

Sun, 17th
The second day we had our longest hike of the trip, to Charlies Bunion. It was about 8 miles. I carried Emmaline, Ryan carried 34lb Karl, and Jared walked for the most part. Olivia also got to ride on her daddy's back. We got to see what great hikers Thomas and Sup were; I don't think they had any trouble or complaints the whole way. Jared ended up being carried by Uncle Eric a few times; eight miles is a long ways for a four-year-old boy, but I'm proud of him for how much he did walk.

Mon, 18th
For the hike on this day, we split up a little more. Ryan stayed near the parking lot with Karl while the rest of us hiked the 4 miles to Andrews Bald, which ended up being a nice meadow to eat lunch and a pretty look out. In the evening, the boys also went on a backpacking over-nighter trip and hiked a mile and a half or so from our camp ground to get to their site.

Tue, 19th
 On the fourth day, our family decided to stay in camp to recover and relax a little from the previous days hikes. I did some laundry and Ryan took us to the creek near by to do some fishing and rock throwing. The boys had a blast!

Wed, 20th
The fifth day, we went to a great fishing spot on the river. Ryan got his canoe in the river and he, Eric, Thomas, Sup, Jared, and Karl went for a fishing trip. Becky, Olivia, Emmaline, and I stayed at the dock for a while to play and relax. The boys took so long we went to town and looked around at the shops. When we got back to the docks, the boys still weren't back yet. We started to get a little worried about whether or not they were okay. It was about six hours that they had been gone by they time the got back. We were relieved that they were okay. They had caught a few fish, but kept only one, which Ryan later cooked up and seasoned. Yum!!

Thur, 21st
One morning the boys had some fun bike riding. Jared and Karl still have a lot to learn about bike riding, so Ryan and Eric helped them to ride. We took the afternoon and went into the Cherokee town to swim and play in the Oconaluftee River. It was a beautiful, warm day and there were a lot of people there. Eric and Becky had a big inner-tube raft that they all rode up and down the river. They looked like they had a ton of fun on it. I didn't bother with a swim suit that day and stayed on shore with Emmaline.


Fri, 22nd
On our last day, we got to go hiking with the Wells family who joined our camping group that morning. We hiked Cucumber gap, which was about five miles and very pretty.

Sat, 23rd
On our way out of the Smokys, to go home, we went through Pigeon Forge to see what it was like. There were definitely a lot of interesting buildings.

 

It was a great trip and I'm so glad we got to; but, by that time, I was so glad to be going home to showers and washer-dryer machines!!