What the...hail?

Friday evening we got a very exciting hail storm!

Kids at play

Alice loves to do imaginative play with her collection of creatures.

A lot of Simon's activities involve folding and stapling paper.  Good thing I can bring a lot of scrap paper home from work!

Alice reading a book to Simon.  Oh, the joy!

Simon Slurps Pickle Juice

The things we keep discovering about this child....

Simon Reads The Foot Book

I read this book to Simon a gazillion times when he was a baby. And now he's reading it to me. 💚

Some things about Simon...

1. He loves to climb poles.

2. He likes to mush bread into a ball and then eat it like an apple.

3. He enjoys curling himself up in his pillowcase.

Pool time!

Memorial Day Weekend was hot, so we went to the pool together on Sunday and Zac took them back again on Monday.

Simon and Elli play so well together! What cute kids!

Raven Rock State Park

Today, we went to Raven Rock State Park in Lillington, NC, about an hour south of us. We stopped at McDonald's right before the park to get some lunch and ate it at the picnic area.

Simon took forever to eat. But while he was sitting there, he was studying the forest and would keep having to get up to investigate something that didn't seem quite right. Once, it was to check on what appeared to be a small tree with two trunks about two feet apart (it turned out to be an optical illusion--it was two trees, but from his point of view they looked connected).  Another time it appeared that pine cones were growing from a grapevine weed, but when he investigated, he discovered the pine cones had just fallen onto the weed.  Don't underestimate this kid--his brain is working! I remember this from reading books to him when he was very young. He would always notice when things in the pictures weren't quite right--like a train that wasn't actually hitched together or a sandcastle with windows.

Once he finally finished eating, we set out on this hike down to Raven Rock.

Wait a minute....

are you trying to kill us?

Zac wishes he had a fish tank big enough for this piece of drift wood.

Lookout point!  (Don't worry, it's not a drop-off like it appears.)

Worst family selfie ever.

And finally....Raven Rock!

Never leave home without an ample supply of bandaids. They fix everything!

Breakfast of Champions

Sometimes when we sleep in on the weekends, Alice will get the kids breakfast. This is what she prepared for Simon this morning: strawberries, powdered sugar donut, cinnamon raisin bread, and a cheese stick.

Alice's Art

Some recent drawings by Alice:

Iceberg Lettuce Lovers

We recently learned that our kids love eating iceberg lettuce.  We normally never buy it (opting for the more nutrient-rich romaine) but now that we know it makes the kids so happy....we might splurge and indulge them.

School & Snakes: A Disturbing Look into Simon's Mind

More Mother's Day Cards

Mother's Day just never ends around here. I got two more cards from the kids.

From Simon:"Happy mothersday everyone! Hey what about turkey day!!! And don't forget to eat your turkeys on turkeyday!"

From Alice: "Happy mom day.  Mom. Mom's are great because they: wash the dishes and do the laundry."

I told Zac this was the worst mother's day card ever, and his comment was: "You don't even do the dishes that much."

Rainbows

Camping at Izzy's

We had our spring campout at Izzy's this weekend. They got hit pretty hard by a storm that came through on Monday, so the brush pile was quite large. Simon was super excited to have a bonfire taller than him!

Alice and Izzy

Izzy, Anna and Alice

The kids all enjoyed some refreshing home-made popsicles created from the storm damaged strawberries.

Once it got dark, I didn't try to take any pictures. But the bonfire was indeed huge and satisfying, the hotdogs were delicious in a way they only are when eaten outside, and the kids had a blast with the glowsticks. They ran around the field like energized fireflies. And, finally, Simon actually played with the other kids! (When he wasn't pounding in a stake with a hammer over and over again.) It's so good to see him finally joining in the reindeer games, rather than just hopping around in the field trying to catch bugs by himself.

We finally went to bed around 11pm. Ironically, given that we finally got Simon a proper sleeping mat, he spent most of the night curled up on the floor of the tent.

In the morning, Zac stirred up the fire again, and the kids all ran around and played and ate donuts.

After breakfast, Eric took us all on a "hike" through their property that includes a lot of woods, a river, and a swamp. Simon loved the swamp.  The hike was tricky because there wasn't really a path and we all got our legs scratched up a lot on the swamp grass and brambles in the woods. Zac carried Simon a lot, so that's why he was the happiest.

It started to get really hot and we headed home around noon.

Mud Day at Walnut Creek Wetland Center

Our friend Everett (Donovan's dad) told us about Mud Day at Walnut Creek Wetland Center.  Zac took the kids and they had a blast!

Siblings

They fight a lot, but they share a lot of cute moments too. I'm not able to capture them enough, but I like to remind myself of the good moments.