It was so neat seeing Adrian ask to have the butterfly on his nose today. He was watching Audrey play with their newest butterfly and he decided to try it himself. The cool thing is, last year he would hold the butterflies, but he was very timid about it and would get upset if we did not remove them quickly enough.
Yes, there is a secret to getting a live butterfly to land on your nose and stay there…but I am not telling!
We have raised butterflies for the last four years. We started out with a store bought kit and then moved to Monarchs. We find the eggs or caterpillars in the wild, feed them and observe them.
This year, Oma is giving us most of our managerie. There is construction down our road and it seems to have destroyed the Monarchs habitat. Out of the thirty something caterpillers we have, only two have been from our road. The remaining are from Oma’s three plants!
Yesterday, Pastor was talking about taking time to see God. He does so much and his evidence is all around us. I love watching the caterpillers grow and change. Observing them change from a caterpillar to a chrysalis is cool. But watching them emerge from their chrysalis is better.
Only God can change a tiny egg into a beautiful butterfly!
We made our first trip to Blueberry Park today. With Allan’s help, we picked 42 pounds. We love their policy of keeping half and we can take the other half home for free. We hope to go again soon, because 21 pounds of great tasting berries will not last long at this house!
One of the best ways to spend a lazy summer evening!
Happy Father’s Day!
On our last day of vacation, we were not sure when Allan’s class would be over. Knowing how much Audrey loves horses, we tried to schedule a tour on a horse farm, but that fell through. We discovered a cute little park with some horse statues that the kids really enjoyed.
We were told about the Lexington Cemetery which was near by that we went to and enjoyed. We found an old Burr Oak that had a plaque saying that it was around during the signing of the Constitution!
Allan got off at noon so we started heading back home. We stopped for lunch in Cincinatti and milk shakes nearer home. Our trip back was good and we were all glad to be home.
I loved these pictures of Mark from vacation.
He is growing so quickly! I am eagerly (or not so eagerly) watching to see him become what God designed him to be!
While the kids and I got to go exploring, Allan was stuck in a classroom learning more about designing on computers. We often wished he could be with us and we knew he would have enjoyed the hike very much.
Our trip started out interesting. There was a little girl off on a boardwalk crying. It turns out she was lost. She was mad at her parents and took off running and then could not find them again. We walked with her up the path until she found her sister and she was taken to her parents.
We went back down to see the cave and Mark found a little one. We also discovered a lot of poison ivy! Adrian picked some and God protected him from getting a rash.
We walked to the the Natural Bridge which was bigger than I thought. We ate lunch there, admired the scenery and talked about how far we walked. We decided to go to the scenic overlook to see the “whole” bridge.
Mark spotted the balancing rock on the way back or we would have passed right by. A little further, Mark found a bigger cave that was boarded over. He tried to look inside but it was too dark.
We kept teasing we should have counted the steps, there must have been a few million of them. Then Audrey got silly and kept saying she needed steps or she would not be happy.
More water and snacky food would have made the walk better, but everyone did a great job hiking. The kids spotted two different types of lizards and some huge dragonflies.
This was a great day! We enjoyed seeing God’s beauty and being able to enjoy the sun and fresh air.
I knew that I wanted to take the kids to Fort Boonesborough. Mark really enjoys history and we thought being able to interact with interpreters and learn more about early American history would be great!
Allan printed out directions to the fort for us, and Mark practiced being the navigator. He did an excellent job all week! The drive down was easy and we got there just as the fort opened. We watched a short introductory video that was mostly about Daniel Boone and then went exploring.
We were disappointed that there were only three or four interpreters, but they were kind and offered lots of information. One complimented the children for their good questions and how they listened quietly to the answers. She said she enjoys when homeschoolers come to visit.
Mark was very curious and asked many questions. His “winning question” though was about a stick he found in the weaver’s cabin. We learned that it was an atlatl dart. People used it for hunting. We all learned how it worked and how to throw it. The arrow was too long for all of us, but Mark was able to throw it the furthest. We were told that boys Mark’s age would leave home for a week or two at a time and hunt with these darts to help feed the family while Dad was off on larger hunts.
We enjoyed walking around and then tasting maple candy and dried buffalo jerky from the store. We drove to the original site of the Fort and were surprised on how little it looked.
We decided to look for a Civil War field that was nearby. Even using the maps and the brown information signs on the road, we were not able to find it. After much searching, we gave up and headed home.
Somehow we got lost going around the circle near the hotel. We never did find our turn off. I finally stopped at a gas station and asked for directions. The gentlemen who showed me was very helpful. He took me the “short cut” so I “wouldn’t get lost”. The circle was full of “spokes” through the city, and the spoke we were on was the one we needed to go straight to where Allan was having class! We drove that road every day we were in Lexington.
We enjoyed walking to an Indian restaurant for dinner. We tried some new foods that everyone liked and had a little leftover for lunch another day.
We went to the Creation Museum and it was as interesting as the first time. We enjoyed seeing the new exhibits, petting the animals and learning even more about God’s wonderful plan.
Mark and Allan got to attend a lecture that they both really enjoyed. The younger kids much preferred the petting zoo,”daring” momma to feed the camel and riding the dinosaur!
The gardens were beautiful and we spent a good amount of time just exploring them. The kids all liked the swinging bridge, and running across is a lot more fun than walking!
There is a lot more to write about, but the kids want to also. So, watch for their vacation blogs coming soon!
