James Turns 8!

This big guy is eight already!  Everyday he grows to be a more practical, caring, smart, sweet and thoughtful guy.  James has one of the more amazing brains and active imaginations I have ever come across.  He is so passionate about space, science, Star Wars and everything in between. If he doesn't understand how something works or if he is really excited about something, he literally can't stop thinking about it until he figures it out or there is some other resolution.  

He loves his brothers and sister more than I could have hoped and although there is often fighting, James is getting better and better at being empathetic and thoughtful when offering a solution or he blindly defends whoever he thinks is being wronged... either way:)  James loves climbing trees, swimming, skiing, running and riding his bike.  He may also love Legos... not following the instructions of a set (he gets Noah to do that part for him), but instead creating elaborate scenes and buildings. James is an outside the box thinker who will one day change the world with his ideas and imagination!  We love you, James, and can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Random Things and James' 8th Birthday Party!

James had a blast at his birthday party this year!  As it turns out, a Friday afternoon at the end of the school year is an awesome time to have a birthday party... there was almost no one else at the trampoline park.  The kids all loved the ball pit, dodge ball and just bouncing.  Thankfully, everyone walked away injury free!  James really wanted a "chocolate cake with only white frosting that looked like clouds on top and colored dots on the sides".  It was super specific, where he came up with it I am not sure, but his mind works in crazy ways I don't even try to figure out anymore... he was happy:)    Thank you so much to all of our friends who made the trip to join us during this busy time of year!

In other happenings, the chickens still love crashing our picnics, especially Matilda. We finally got the boy's beds put together... I didn't get a picture of the beds, but I did get a picture of the kids playing with the boxes;)  And, summer swimming is in full effect now that we have new swim suits.

Birthday Parties Galore!

After Children's Sunday, we headed north to Brewer to celebrate Lily's 4th birthday party at a gymnastics venue. They kids were a sweaty mess at the end, but had a great time!

James insisted on a trampoline park birthday party this year, but I didn't think he would actually go through with it since I have been trying to get the kids to have their parties anywhere but our house for years and no one will take me seriously.  Needless to say, he was serious and I waited too long to be able to schedule something convenient for everyone this time of year.  So, to compensate, we invited all of our family who wouldn't make it to the party to join us at Govenor's Restaurant in Orono after Lily's party.  This may have been one of the top ten days in James' life... we all had dinner and then ordered the "Federal Deficit". Honestly, I have wanted to order this dessert for years, like since I was a kid, but I have never had an occasion or enough people to do so.  The Federal Deficit is "A delicious combination of our Banana Split, Brownie Delight, and Strawberry Shortcake, as well as six large sundaes! We start with vanilla ice cream, then add hot fudge, caramel, peanut butter, blueberries, cherries, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, marshmallow, a banana, a biscuit, a brownie, nuts, jimmies, and a pile of whipped cream!" As it turns out, 18 is the number of people this is appropriate for.  Thank you for everyone who came out with us to celebrate. It is probably obvious, but James had an amazing time!

Children's Sunday

Today was the church service to celebrate the conclusion of the Sunday School year.  This is by far one of my favorite services.  The kids all do an amazing job stepping up, showing off their talents and accomplishments from the year.  They all greeted and sang.  Noah and James even got to read scripture and prayers throughout the service.  We are very proud to be part of this church:)

Spring Violin & Last Day of School- Boston!

Noah has completed his first full year of 4th grade violin.  The concert was impressive to see how much they have learned in one year!

We have finished up our school curriculum for the year!  For our last day of school we spent the day in Boston taking in some sights of the Revolutionary War to close out our unit on it.  The kids and I drove to Boston as soon as Noah's concert was finished, pulling a U-Haul trailer.  Our first stop was Ikea to pick up new beds for Noah and James.  This was a bit later than I had expected, but the kids held it together to get back to the hotel. I think Gabe was super glad he had to work for this adventure;)

Our first stop was the Boston Tea Party Museum.  This was a very well done interactive historical experience.  The kids got to participate in a town hall meeting to plan the tea party.  They also were able to throw tea crates into the harbor after exploring a cargo ship.  

We hopped on the subway and had a snack on the Boston Common while we waited for our tour of the Freedom Trail to begin.  We had a fantastic tour guide named Jeremiah Poop (that's right, not a typo).  He was so entertaining and tolerant of the barrage of questions from our kids.  They did a wonderful job throughout the tour despite the adult nature of it.  It was the perfect time to do this kind of tour right after studying the Revolutionary War.  

After the tour we ate our bag lunches and unanimously voted to be finished and head home.  I am sure everyone was very tired after a late night and full day already!  We had a smooth ride home with a full trailer in tow.  We are all thrilled to be finished school for the summer... Hello summer vacation!!

Spring Chicks!

We are all recovering from our hours of driving! We had some fantastic caretakers of our house while we were gone and our seedlings, new strawberry  plants, and new raspberries look fantastic!  Our grass is growing amazingly where the pigs did all of their pooping during their last weeks with us.  We wish we had thought to spread it around the yard a bit more.  

Our baby chicks have arrived!  This year we ordered 8 new layers and 25 meat birds.  We have never kept meat birds this year, so this will definitely be an experiment.  Hopefully at the end of 8 weeks we will have a freezer full of chicken meat! This years names include: Feathers, Egbert, Chewbacca, Jill, FN2183, Darth Vader, Yolk and Jack & Annie.

May 2018 Road Trip Adventures- Lake Placid, NY

Today was a long day of driving, but it was beautiful driving through western New York.  We made it to Lake Placid , checked into our hotel room, did a little swimming and ate breakfast for dinner in our room.  We followed it all up with a stroll downtown and found some great deals in the shops.  We are grateful the weather continues to be gorgeous! 

Saturday morning we took on all things Olympics.  Our first stop was the ski jump complex where we watched the Canadian team practicing their jumps.  While there, we headed up the hill to the top of the 120m long jump tower. This was another gorgeous view from the highest point in the area.  Next, we visited the bobsled/luge track and had to walk to the top. Normally you would get to take a bus to the top, but since it was the off season and literally no one else was there, we were on our own.  The kids were troopers and it was really spectacular to see the whole track from the top.  I visited Lake Placid in 1998, I think, and this new track was installed in 2000, so that was a bit bizarre!  We got to walk down for a ways in the old track which was neat.

For lunch, we went back to the ski jumping arena to watch the Russian team practicing their jumps. Finding parking was difficult in downtown Lake Placid because of a few other events happening at the same time, so we ended up walking to the Olympic Museum from our hotel. This was a bit underwhelming, even for us, so we were glad we didn't make special plans to see it.  The kids loved the bobsled simulator in the stadium though.  We had a nice dinner at a local brewery followed by a ride around Mirror Lake and to see the actual Lake Placid (which is not the lake in downtown Lake Placid). The weather has continued to be warm, so we finished our trip with a stop for ice cream!  Heading back home tomorrow:)