Aunt Lisa's

Last year, my mom and sister, Lisa went to Germany with Patrick's mom and sister. Patrick's family is originally from there, so they still had family and friends there. They had a wonderful time and met some really great people. This year, three of the people that they did many things with, while in Germany, came out here to visit. My sister had a little beach party at her house as kind of a welcoming thing last Saturday. The weather was kind of dreary, but the kids didn't seem to mind and still had a ball just playing in the water.

Picture with Granny and Papa.







Ryan and Papa eating cake.


Scott and Dad, watching all the kids.



































Jake learning how to skin board with Conner's board. In the background is Amaya swimming, and that is where she stayed, so I don't have many pics of her.

Ryan and Daddy playing. Ryan is a little timid when it comes to the water. He will go in after a while.



Here, Ryan is actually drinking the gross lake water off his hand.



Daddy pulling him out of the dirty drinking water.





When Amaya heard something about tubing, she was the first to ask if she could go, so she and Paige went first. Amaya LOVED it!!


Ryan's attempt at skin boarding.


The kids found a turtle, which is funny, because Jake has been asking for a pet turtle lately. He wanted to keep it as soon as the thing was found. I said, sure, we can keep it, but as soon as it made it's way back into Cole's hands. He let it go. Who knew he was such a softy when it came to animals. Awe!


More beach fun. TJ. Taylor and Jake.













Cole, Mark and Amaya hanging on the float. Amaya is the jumper.










Here I am....Amaya.


The boys sitting in the pontoon boat.


All the grand kids, except Tiffany, she had to work.
Here we are with Timo, Klaus, and Lisa's neighbor, Beth. Klaus made us all a drink that is very popular in Germany. It is called Pitu. It is what they call a "short drink" and is one of the very few drinks that they actually drink with ice. It is made with limes, small amount of brown sugar and this Pitu. It didn't taste very good, kind of a very limey kamikaze. "The Germans" are staying in the US for 3 weeks, then will go back to Germany.
In Germany, it is their tradition, with the first drink, you always do "cheers". So....Cheers!



Me with all my siblings...Mark, Lisa (Aleschia), and Heidi.

What are you thinking about?

What are you thinking about????

That is such a great question. It is one that I have asked Amaya and Scott many times, but never Jake. I will definitely do this. I am pretty sure Ryan's answer will be "UGH", or bankie (blankie), or binky....Amaya's will be something that will be of horse content, and Jake....well you just never know!

More to follow after I actually ask the question.

Rainbows

Jake: Hey Mom..

Mom: Ya, Jake?

J: Did you know that once you have rainbow teeth, that you don't need to brush your teeth anymore?

M: No, in fact, I have never heard of rainbow teeth.

J: Ya, if you brush your teeth really, really, really good, then you get diamonds, then they turn into rainbow teeth. That means that you don't need to brush them anymore, ever! Then if the rainbow goes away, then you need to start brushing them again.

M; Okay, we'll have to watch out for those rainbows then, won't we?

J: Yup!!

Poolside

We were poolside today, again, at Renae's. Ryan is starting to really enjoy the water. He has been a little apprehensive the last few times, but today was doing his grunt to get back into the water.

He finds the goggles, hands them to me and talks in his own language, telling me to put them on his head. Then he smiles and walks off. He wants to wear them because Jake and Amaya wear them and he just HAS to be like his big bro and sis!

It is such a feeling of relief to have him in all of this floaty gear. I know he looks silly, but this way, he is able to stay afloat with his head up in case he falls in. This little guy is fast, so better to be prepared, than sorry.

Itty Bittys

Amaya and I were on our way to GH to deliver some caterpillar eggs, and decided that we should stop and get some fresh milkweed for our teeny tiny little caterpillar that hatched yesterday. Amaya, within 30 seconds, found a little caterpillar which is only a few days old. Then we saw another patch of milkweed and decided that we should look really quick, and once again, she found another caterpillar. She has such a keen eye for these!

When looking for caterpillars, sometimes it helps to look at milkweed that has tiny holes in them as shown above. It is from a itty bitty caterpillar eating......for example...

(warning, objects are smaller than they appear in the picture)

These pics are actually the bigger of the two that we found tonight, but we gave the smaller to Caity to enjoy (along with some eggs) with her kids!

This is a pic of the caterpillar that hatched yesterday. If you look really close, you can see the hairs on it.

What a big head you have Mr. Caterpillar!!

Goin' on a bug hunt

We're goin' on a bug hunt....we're gonna catch a big one....we're not scared....


Julie and I went on a hunt today with our kids and Julie's sister, for butterfly eggs and caterpillars. Not just any butterfly egg, but the Monarch butterfly. We found 2 itty bitty caterpillars and 12 eggs!! I'd say that it was a pretty successful endeavor. Plus the kids all had a ball.


This is a pic of the Milkweed plant, it is what the Monarch butterfly lays it's eggs on, and when the caterpillar hatches, it eats all the leaves.

We're on our way...

hunting, hunting, hunting and just waiting to hear someone yell "I found one!!"

Amaya and Cheyenne inspecting the leaves for the eggs, they each found an egg or two! Good eyes girls!!
This little egg on a leaf, is what they were looking for.

Here is one that is going to hatch a very small caterpillar, very soon. You can tell because the head of the egg turns a little black, then out pops a baby caterpillar.


Oh, and just to show you what a little caterpillar looks like the day that it pops out.......this popped out this afternoon. I couldn't find him at first, but after multiple searches...I found him. He is so little, it is no wonder that I couldn't find him/her. (so tiny in comparison to my fingerprints)

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. ~Jeffrey Glassberg












Josh and Ryan watching me through the screen at Julie's. They are so cute.

Butterflies

This is such a fun time for nature with the kids. We have done caterpillars and monarch butterflies for years. This year we have already had 2 hatch, and still have one very hungry caterpillar left in the aquarium. These pics are from last year.

All of these are from this year so far. I expect to get plenty of caterpillars over the next few months. Amaya lives for this stuff!

I love to have been able to catch this stage. It is just after the caterpillar turns. It is even still wiggling around at this point, and if you look directly underneath it, the skin will be in a little scrunched up pile. This usually happens very fast and is easily missed. Good eye Amaya!! ( she alerted me to the change going on)

Pool Fun

We went to the pool today. My friend Renae let us use her crystal clear oasis for a nice break. It was fantastic. My friend Julie and her son Josh went with us. It seems like this summer is going by so fast and we haven't even done much. Usually we are outside everyday, in the pool or going somewhere. The weather hasn't been great, and we have been busy doing I don't even know what... I don't know where the time is going. I was actually supposed to work from 11-3 to day, but they called me off. (it was extra anyways) But, since I got up at 6:30 and started getting ready for the day, I was feeling ambitious to go do something....so I called Julie. It was Renae's or the beach! We decided on Renae's (Thank you Renae, sorry that you had to work!!)

Of course, the kids found the squirt guns first. Amaya, the fish, got in the water right away, and was never ready to get out, even when it was time to go. Jake had a ball too. Ryan and Josh were a little apprehensive, but after a while they got in and out without any problems. Ryan liked running around with the squirt gun the best.





















Time for snacks, yummy!

Little guys inside us.

Jake: Hey Mom... (as he is sitting on the toilet going potty)

Mom: What Jake?

J: Did you know that there are a ton of itty bitty people inside of us? Everyone has them.

M: No, I didn't know that.

J: Ya, they are inside of you and they help you poop.

M: Really?

J: Ya, there are also little things inside of all the food that we eat, they are magic, spicey metochlorians. They have little vitamins that go inside you and then the little guys put that in a little machine that makes the poop. Then the machine throws it up into a water slide, and then it makes it go down really fast. Then the little guys, who have shovels help it go down and it makes you poop.

M: How did you know this?

J: Grandpa told me.

M: He did? He is a really smart man!!

J: Ya, he is.