Cousins Come To Visit

In mid-July, my brother and his family came to stay for a few days.  The kids all had a lot of fun together.

Showing cousins the chickens.

One hot evening we hung out down by the pond.  The kids all took turns kayaking.

They had a blast.

Everyone was glad for a popsicle break.

All of the cousins together.

Anthony got to go alone in the kayak for the first time.

Joseph and his little cousin compare popsicles.

Anne and Emily went together.

The girls got to have a "sleepover."

These pictures were the best I could manage to get. :)

Hula hoop time!

Fun to watch all the activity.

All Through August

Lots of lost teeth.

The kids took swimming lessons in the first half of August.

It was Anthony's first time!  Big boy!

Anthony at breakfast.

Hanging out with chickens.

Wearing Daddy's hat and hugging a chicken, what more could a 3 year old ask for?

A treat in the backyard.

See my ice cream cone?

Fun with friends on the last day of August.

A Weird Summer, Weather-Wise

The second half of July and the first half of August were very rainy this year, which is very unusual, as normally that time of year is hot and dry, and all the vegetation turns brown.  At one point we had 5 inches of rain in 2 days!  The following pictures were taken on August 4th.  Everything looks so green!

On the plus side, we didn't have to water the garden.

On the minus side, most plants do not like to sit in water for very long.

As you can see, one side of our garden was more affected than the other.

To the kids, it was a puddle playground.

Especially Anthony.

Whee!

Splash!

It quickly turned...

...into a...

...biggest splash contest.

Dominic just might be the winner.

One of the problems during early August was that it was raining almost every day, so the garden did not have time to dry out in between.  Finally, I bit the bullet and went into the garden to get produce, mud or no mud.  These pics were from Aug. 8th.

Did I mention there was still standing water in the garden?

I was up to my ankles in watery mud.  I quickly ditched the boots and went barefoot, because I  just couldn't move in the boots without getting stuck.

Anthony thought it was great fun to "help" Mommy pick the garden in all the mud.

July Jumble

In early July, two friends from different areas of the country came to town in the same time period, so a bunch of us got together at another friend's house to visit while all of our kids played together.

Sheila, Tonya, Julie, Me, Karen, and Myle.

Also early in July, Dan's brother, Al, and some of his kids came over one evening to fish in our pond.  Al brought their kayak along and he took the kids out one at a time paddling around the pond. There are fish in our pond, in fact several different kinds. 

No one fell in!

Catherine with a fish she caught.

While the other kids were at Totus Tuus,  I took Anthony to the dentist for his first ever cleaning and checkup.  He did a great job, but unfortunately they found two little cavities.  They worked him in later in the week and boy, was he a little trooper.  He held still, opened his mouth when asked, and gave them no trouble whatsoever.  I couldn't believe how well he did!  He didn't even fuss when they put in the numbing medication!

Anthony at his first dentist visit.

 After the numbness in his mouth wore off, I took Anthony to Dairy Queen for lunch.  He deserved it!

We shared chicken strips and fries.

He got his own pop!

And an ice cream sundae!

 We started getting lots of eggs in July, of course the chickens were getting bigger.  At this point the kids loved to pick up the hens and carry them around. 

Dominic with unnamed hen.

Anne, with Goldy, aka Flipper.

Now you can see why the kids say we have so many pets!

At the end of July, we happened to go to the library when the firefighters were there with their firetruck.  The fireman below let the kids climb up into the firetruck, then he took them all around the sides and the back to show them where they store everything.  They enjoyed their tour very much.

Checking out the hoses.

Where the ladder is stored.

The Jaws of Life.  He let the kids try to pick it up.  They couldn't.

July Garden Was Loaded

Towards the end of July, I was picking buckets and buckets of cucumbers, so what else was there to do but make pickles?

Bread and Butter Pickles

Dill Pickle Spears

Dill Pickle Relish

Then the corn started coming.

The kids mostly liked to shuck the corn.

Especially Anthony.  He really liked finding worms and tried to collect them.

Into the pot of boiling water they go.

Oh, yum!

A portion of the many ears of corn that got blanched in preparation for the freezer.

Next part was cutting corn off the ears.

Quart bags ready for the freezer.   This was a little more than half of what we ended up putting in the freezer.

Anthony by the garden in late July.

View of the rest of it.  We were getting plenty of rain at this point, but not yet flooding.

Speaking of loads of cucumbers, guess what this bread is?  Yep, cucumber bread!  That was a new one for me.  The difference with making it is that you have to let the peeled, seeded, and shredded cucumber drain for at least 30 minutes before you mix it in with the rest of the ingredients.  It was tasty!  I froze some of the shredded and drained cucumber as an experiment, so I'll have to see how that works later.

When you have tons of cukes, you'll try about anything to use them up!

Our first watermelon was very large and heavy - about 28 pounds!