NY Botanical Gardens

Kurt had Friday Afternoon off so we decided to check out the Botanical Gardens...Stunning!

He is the photographer in the family and not in many of the photo's but he is getting pretty good, he adds so much to our family where I lack!...and I'm SO grateful!!

And I guess I should mention it is an iphone he's using so how good can you really get??

This years camp out

Lake Taghkanic

Lots of Rain...and therefore a need for creativity and positive attitudes. Good friends, no dad or Van, moon watching, love story telling, birthday partying, poor sleeping, good eating, water fun, BEAUTIFUL surroundings!

Breakfast--Homemade cinnamon rolls, fruit, sausage and eggs, juice
Lunch--Gourmet Deli sandwiches
Dinner--Best dutch oven chicken and potatoes
Dessert--Birthday Peach Cobbler (could have used a few more coals)

The leaf the girls brought back to prove we'd rowed all the way across the lake!

 

kiddie pool

Cape Cod

The ferry ride out to Martha's Vineyard

The surprisingly GORGEOUS Atlantic White Cedar Swamp

Why wouldn't Michael stick his little boy up in a tree??

Flying kites on Marconi beach that both got blown away with in 20 minutes...at least one was miraculously recovered. 

The men's golfing trip

--word has it that they could both use a little more practice.

The servers were all begging to take us on!

and...we heard it was really cool to get all matching Cape Cod sweatshirts!

What we don't have documented here are....

-- the 5 or so rounds we played of miniature golf--the competition getting a little fierce among adults.

--the mulitple food experiments with the newly purchased Blendtec

--The hot dog roast

--the many trips to the indoor pool

--Kurt and I putting the tennis court in its place--or was it the other way around??

--Marci's 'office' themed birthday party

--Kurt and I seeing the Hunger games, then buying the book and starting to read it the very next day

--Our trip to the glass museum

--Our short lived saunter into Provincetown

--and the fact that it RAINED like crazy that week!! Almost all of our actitities were done in a drizzle or in the sparse hours here and there...but that didn't get us down!

--The SHEER delight in the childrens eyes at being together virtualy every minute of each day, running back and forth between the condo's and marveling that they had a giant bed, a desk and personal bathroom in their own room!

This was a super fun and relaxing vacation.  How many parents with kids ages 6 and under get to say that?  I think we are figuring some things out!

little things

painted a room

changed this one a bit

Cleaned up many toilet paper messes, in and out of the toilet before Van decided to start obeying 

Made Kurt an awesome b-day cake

My favorte Valentines from my neices.

Below demonstrates a little healthy competition that goes on sometimes between Kurt and my younger brother Scott.  My sister-in-law Anna and I share the same birthday.  Kurt was showing off the cake he had made me.....so a few hours (and a very messy kitchen) later my brother sent us a picture of the cake he made for Anna.

Kurt made this for our ward...I thought it was amazing, he has such attention for detail.  It is a box/book.

This years Easter Eggs...at least the best of the 60 or so we dyed

Trying out the new recipe and cookies cutters my Sister in Law sent us--wow YUM.  Owen asks me to make them now all the time.

lucy wanted her cookie to be just as beautiful!

The Artisan bread Kurt is working to perfect

Experimenting with a lot of new recipes

And using the old blender to make paper--also Kurts project....How is it that such a creative guy ended up in with a degree in business???

Cleaning up after this little guys many messes!

Wishing I would buy more bibs that are not pink...it just works and fits the best and is most comfortable bib we've got...but the curls, the eyes, the long lashes...probably need to get rid of the pink!

A little planting

--took me hours to dig out all the rocks the boys had thrown in the pots and ground through the winter!

Kurt's Chili Cook off at work

And as always....more fun with our COUSINS!!

Silly fun

Preparing lessons for Owen's preschool group

Modeling one of the many things kurt has bought for me this year.  I am determined to never shop again...he is doing that well!

TRYING and failing miserably to keep these two dry...they LOVE water!

Getting the oil changed in the car--very interesting!!

Making use of the wild flowers dispersed in the yard

Caring for Van with a nasty case of the Hand, Foot, Mouth Virus

So Cute

 End of the Year Class party