Author: Joyce

Rainworks

RainIt has been raining on and off most of the morning today. Thunderstorms have been rumbling through too. The house is dark, but everyone is enjoying it.

Adrian and Megan have forts in the living room to do school work under. Mark is trying to finish his math because he was bribed with hot chocolate and candy cane straws. Andrea is watching apples simmer while working on English. Audrey has changed clothes a few times already because she is playing in the rain between lessons.

I am helping with school work, monitoring apples cooking, doing chores and taking time to experiment with rain pictures. This afternoon, once school work is done, everyone will have more time to work on individual interests.

Dragonfly

DragonflyThe nights are turning cooler and we are starting to wear sweaters. While Mark was roaming, he came running and told me to get my camera quick!

He had discovered a huge dragonfly resting in the woods.  It was just chilly enough that it was not moving much.  We both admired it before moving it so the rest of the kids could see it.

The branch it was sitting on vibrated for a little while, like the dragonfly was shivering.  Then, just after all the kids got to see it, the dragonfly took off and flew around the back yard for all of us to admire before disappearing back into the woods.

Sweet Apple

AppleWe went crab apple picking at Allan’s parent’s house yesterday.  There are “tons” of crab apples this year, so we might go back again to pick more. Mark says we have to “pick more so we can try to make a dent in the tree”.

So far, I have canned 5 quarts of crab apple sauce and have a large crock pot of apple butter simmering. Unless I find a better, faster way to heat the applesauce to 212 degrees –which I was told it needs to be to can it properly–I will either make fruit leather or freeze any sauce I make from now on.

Friends

Monkeys

We enjoyed playing at Oxbow Park with the Mitchells. They are getting ready to move, so our Oxbow dates are going to be much farther apart then they are now.

After playing with a baby snapping turtle that Mark found and playing in the volleyball court, the older kids worked hard getting everyone up in the tree. “Miss Ginger” and I tried to persuade Megan to sit with Adrian, but she refused.

Shadows

runningFor the last few weeks, we have been trying to walk two miles every day. Megan enjoys getting out of her stroller to run along with everyone for part of the trip.  Sometimes I take my camera because we have seen some neat things on our walks. We have discovered a family of swans in a nearby pond, found a neat green frog while looking at milkweed and was extremely close to an inquisitive hummingbird.

I had stopped to talk to a neighbor down the road when I noticed the girl’s shadows.  I was able to take one picture before Megan tripped over her feet and skinned her knee up.

McGuire Family Reunion

FamilyThe main reason we went to Colorado this year was for a McGuire family reunion.  The last time we had a family reunion was when Audrey was one month old!

We met at a small camp that Allan’s parent’s families helped to build in the late 50’s.  We had fun learning a little of the history of the camp and also some neat family stories.

I was asked to be the camp photographer for the reunion. I was very nervous about it, but enjoyed the challenge. I think that the candid pictures turned out well, but I wish I could redo most of the individual family pictures.  I mentioned to everyone that I could do family pictures and a few families got them done early.  Unfortunately, I woke up Sunday with a horrible headache, probably from the late nights and altitude. It calmed down a lot after a nap, but it never really went away.  When it was time for group pictures, I could not think of all the neat ideas that I had planned.  Since everyone was leaving after lunch, I did not have time for “redo’s”.  I guess my big lesson is…insist on family pictures early!

If you want to see more reunion pictures, click one of the above links.

Cousins

CousinsWhile in Colorado, we stopped at the Garden of the God’s for a picnic. It was a beautiful day out, and the park was crowded! We had hoped to return and explore more on the way home, but we were unable to.  It was fun admiring God’s design as we drove through it!

It is rare that all the cousins are together at one time, so we made sure to get a current picture.
Cousins back

Smile

SmileWhen we were in Colorado two years ago, Oma bought this cowboy shirt for Megan. Because the shirt still just fits her, we brought it along in hopes of getting a good cowgirl picture of her.

I think this is her “I am a rough and tough cowgirl and you can’t make me smile” look.