2012 Trip to NY - Part Two

Part One

On Long Island we surprised my Grandpar.  He wasn't expecting to get to see us this time.  We made his day by making him feel special.

We helped pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

We went to the Long Island Sound.  I wanted the kids to see a rocky beach so we have a point of reference when we study the seashore later this year.

 We had a get together with family on Long Island and had cake to celebrate everyone's birthdays.

Clark with Uncle Jimmy

Clark's first taste of birthday cake.

Rebekah and I visited Grandpar's Bottle Shop.

My Grandpar and Grandma's house.

This is where my Dad grew up.

Clark with Aunt Rebekah

Auntie Cat with all our kids.

Auntie Cat and Aunt Rebekah with Clark.

Clark's Birthday Cake - in pictures

Since Clark thinks that people eat terrible food, Jeff wanted to see what would happen if we gave him a big piece of cake.  Enjoy!  We had strawberry shortcake.

Yes, my very own bowl!

All right, I'll try it.

ewww

That was a mean trick.

I'll try it again.

I don't know what I was thinking.

This is much more fun.

He actually did try it several times and even seemed to begin liking it.

Happy Father's Day - 2012

We love you Jeff.  Thank you for taking the time to spend with your kids.  They love you and love to do things with you, too.

NOW!!!

We can go camping anytime.

Happy Birthday, Clark! -2012

2012 Trip to NY - Part One

A few weeks ago we loaded up our van and started on our Journey to visit my family.

We had a great trip up.  The kids did great in the car and we didn't even watch any movies.  They had their backpack, leap-pad and a few other odds and ends.  I gave them something new to do each day around lunch time.  We also spent a lot of time looking out the windows.

We drove through the Smokey Mountains and saw lots of farms.

We drove through New York City.

 Interesting Parking.                                                                     Chinatown garden center.

After 3 days we arrived at My Aunt's home in Long Island.

This is also the same home that my Grandmother lived in when she was a little girl.

Gardening to Lower Food Costs

Fresh produce is great.  Growing it yourself is even better.

My mom grows all the ingredients she wants to make a salad.  She and my Dad eat fresh salad from the late spring through the fall from her garden.  She only has to buy what she didn't grow if she wants to add something else to her salad.  She also grows enough green beans to last a year, cucumbers, herbs, tomatoes, onions that will keep most of the winter and several other foods that I don't remember right now.

My mom's lettuce and radishes.  Tomatoes are starting under the milk jugs.

While we were on vacation I had someone caring for my garden as needed.  When I returned home last night I was excited to see how well everything is growing.  This morning I got to pick a handful of green beans and a onion.

I need to thin several of the onions to allow for some of them to get a large bulb.  I planted them like that on purpose so we could begin eating them early.  There are so many buds on the plants, that it makes me excited to see how well our garden may do this year.

I like to freeze or preserve extra produce so I can use it in he winter.  If I grow it, I don't have to buy it.  Plus, I like to know where my produce comes from.


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Out of Touch

Driving through a tunnel

We've been out of touch with a large portion of our normal technology lately.  We've been traveling and visiting family and friends.  I'm looking forward to sharing pictures from what we've done over the next couple weeks.

Mississippi River

Last weekend we were traveling and Kent was very excited that we were going to go across the Mississippi River.  He had learned a little bit from history and geography about it this past school year.

We decided to stop and get out to see the river.  We weren't in a good spot to get down to it very easily so we stayed up and looked at it from a pathway.