Stoney Creek 2

Today we went up to Stoney Creek to tube again. It was just me, Scott, Amaya, Jake and Conner (my nephew). Again, it was a beautiful day. We decided to eat at the Country Dairy again before the float down the river. My kids, of course, like the cows the best.



A game that the kids were playing.




Checking out the cows.

I had to put this pic in. It cracks me up that I caught this in a photo. How gross is that!

Getting ready to float down the river.

Done with the float, now, on the the beach.

This is the last week off before school starts and Scott has vacation. It is so nice when he has consecutive days off for us to enjoy some family time. (Ryan went to daycare today so we had less to worry about floating down the river) Jake has a bit of a hard time tubing. He is scared, I am not sure of what, but he takes almost the entire way down before he is comfortable on the river. This river is actually walkable by him, but he thinks that it is too deep.

I am sad for the summer to come to an end. It took a long time for the warm weather to get here, and we have been enjoying it since, but I am not ready for the fall and winter weather. It has been a nice summer. I feel that we have been doing a lot of summer-outside activities. Next week school starts and Jake will be going everyday. He is going into Young 5's. I am so excited for him. He really will enjoy it, as he is a social little boy!

Full Serve

Full Serve?? Is this real? I saw this tonight as I was driving in Muskegon. It is actually quite refreshing to see. I can't even remember the last time that I have seen a full service gas station. I remember them, having my windows washed, my oil and tires checked, and not having to get out of my blue escort wagon in the snow to pump gas, but they seem to be a thing of the past...sadly.

Around the yard...Jake

Jake playing a little baseball with Daddy. He was more interested in having his picture taken by me for a part of the time. Then when he started hitting poorly, he got mad at Daddy and blamed it on him.


J: Daddy, you are throwing me a curve ball, I am not playing anymore til you throw it straight (and he proceeded to sit down).


Daddy explained to him about sportsmanship and not always playing the best and just trying your best and he started playing better very soon. Then he told him that when he was Jake's age, that he couldn't even play as well as Jake does

Daddy loves to go out and play catch, or whatever type of sport that they want to play. It is so wonderful that he does this with the kids.

His face cracks me up in this picture. He missed the ball here and it shows!

Around the yard.. Ryan

Wheeee.......




Going down the slide.














Playing some golf.

Trying to get into the car.


We still haven't cut his hair. It is so cute, with it's little curls. I just can't do it. Maybe it's because I still think he looks like a baby, and if I cut it, he won't still have that baby look. He is our littlest, and we want to cherish that "baby" for as long as we can.

I have decided that he looks a little like Matthew McConahey with his long locks of hair. What a good looking kid Ryan is.

Around the yard

Tonight, while outside, I saw a few things that I thought warranted a picture.




It's hard to see a grasshopper really close up without them jumping away. It really is amazing all the different parts that make up this bug.

Chomp, chomp, chomp goes the very hungry caterpillar. The last 2 years, I have tried to plant milkweed in the yard so that I could get THIS, without even hunting for it or keeping it in an aquarium. This year, we are leaving them alone on their LIVE milkweed.









Gross dead mosquito, but not as gross as a live mosquito.








One of the many, crab grass, weeds that Scott has picked out of the grass.

Blackberries!! We are getting so many weeds, that it is becoming harder to get into the bushes to pick these berries.

This is what is left of a tree before all the "vines" have taken it over. If I don't "liberate" this tree from these vines. It will smother and die.








I LOVE hydrangea's, the big ball of flowers that they get. I could never have enough of them in my yard.













This wasp's nest is right over the driveway. It is about the size of a football, and needs to be removed. I think we are going to cut either the tree, or just the branch down to get it out. (probably the entire tree) Scott is allergic, so this will almost be comical to see in action.

Awe..

This is so far my favorite picture of all my loves.

Looking at these pics, I have to think about Ryan and the character that he is certainly becoming.

What a clown!!

Yuck

This spider is right off my front porch, on the hydrangea. I saw something it the web earlier, but came out tonight to find this huge spider eating, and because this stuff interests me....it goes on the blog.

Mr. Spider (or Mrs.?) has caught himself a bee or wasp. It looks dehydrated. I don't know, I was trying to get cool pics, but wasn't willing to get that close to it.

Dentist

Jake and Amaya went to the dentist today. This was Jake's first actual visit to the dentist. He has gone and watched multiple times, but has never sat in the seat. Amaya has only been one other time. I know, I may be a bad parent for this, but I never went to the dentist, ever, when I was a child. Jake is 5 now, and Amaya is 7. A great time to be going to the dentist.
Amaya was excited, and even giggled while she was getting her teeth cleaned. She thought it was fun, and hey, she has NO cavities. Good girl!!




Amaya in the seat.

Dr. Weber says that Amaya has a very small upper part of her mouth, and she has a cross bite, that will have to be fixed in a couple of years. ( much like her mom )

Jake's turn. He was a little apprehensive, but asked many questions while Amaya went first. He hopped right up into the chair and finished like a champ. He even had to get xrays. Upon the initial exam by Dr. Weber, he saw NO cavities, but after the xrays......4. I can't believe it!! 4-are you kidding me? Poor little bug. They asked me what his habits are....does he drink a lot of juice (no), does he eat a lot of candy (no), drink pop (no). He eats a lot of fruit (she says that is okay). Ahhhh, it is coming back to me.....Jake used to be obsessed (well not really, but he really liked them) with fruit snacks. AKA gummies. He used to even sneak them, and I would find many, many wrappers hidden throughout the house. (under my bed, under the couches, under his bed) That is the only thing that I can think of as having a lot of sugar, and it is really sticky and stays on the teeth longer. The cavities are all hidden, inbetween each of the molars on the upper and lower teeth. (only seen on xray) Tonight, Jake said that he had many tickle spots (25 to be exact) in his mouth and the cleaning actually made him giggle.

Jake has a great alignment of his teeth, and appears to have a good amount of room for adult teeth to grow in. But, yikes, he still has 4 cavities that need to be fixed. This makes me sad.

For the love of....

For the love of horses. Amaya continues to go to horse lessons every Thursday, or "horsing", as we tend to call it. It makes no difference if it is hot out, cold out, she has been stung by wasps, and even has had her toes stepped on, but still looks forward to this day each week. It definitely is still her passion. I am so happy for her that we are able to help her in this dream of hers. She was even excited to watch the "horsing" on the Olympics today. (I personally found it very boring) She knows all the horses by name, knows there temperament and the story behind each horse there. She has told me many times that she would even like to sleep there.

Jake and Ryan love to go out there too, but we tend to not bring them that often, because it is usually a quick drop off and in the mix of dinner, Scott getting home from work, and even bedtime.

This day, her lessons were at 3pm. We stayed for a while, then went back early so that the boys could enjoy the farm a little. They, too, love it out there.

Jake, checking out the horse.

To really look at a horse, is amazing. They are such big, beautiful, strong, massive animals. I can't believe that I actually put my daughter up on one of these big things. It only takes a second to have something terrible happen (I see it enough in the ER), but I keep sending her to ride. I couldn't possibly take her away from it because I am scared, but I do think of it every time that we go to drop her off.

Even Ryan likes the horses. He even sat on one, bareback today. (with me at his side, and with the horse standing still)

Checking out Daisy.

Who knows what the future will hold for Amaya and her horse riding. Maybe, one day, she will be the one in the Olympics riding her horse, maybe she will have a farm, or even could be a vet, but I am sure this love of animals will continue. I appreciate that she loves living things, is nurturing, and caring. It is so great to see her grow into such a beautiful, loving girl who respects life.

*&$%@# Deer

This is what is left of these 2 sunflowers after a hungry little deer helped themself!!!!


This is not the first time that this has happened and I am sure that I won't be the last.