Bible School Catch-Up

As I wrote in the Grandma post, the kids went to a week of Bible School in June. They went to the church that I grew up in and that most of my Smith family still attends (and also where Michael and I were married and the kids baptized). Bible School was from 6-8 every evening, we were up a bit late all week long but the kids absolutely LOVED it. They enjoyed every part of the program: singing, snack, stories, games, and crafts.

Getting ready one evening...



I am amazed at how well they learned about SIX new, long, and complicated songs to sing in church on Sunday. Aunt Sue was the song leader and, boy, did she get them to learn a lot in five days! They are STILL singing them three weeks later! Especially "Praise Ye the Lord, Hallelujah!"

The Sunday following Bible School the kids always do some skits and songs for the congregation as part of the service. When the leaders were handing out parts, they announced "If anyone wants a speaking part, come see Becky!" and Colin immediately told me he wanted one. I sent him to Becky and he got a part! He did a GREAT job with it too! He had one line, "No matter where you go, TRUST GOD." He said it loudly, clearly, and with enthusiasm!

Ready for church!




Singing with all the kids (with cousin Sarah sneaking in the side of the shot!):


Fun, fun week! And Becky did a FANTASTIC job leading Bible School! Good thing they liked it cause I have them signed up for a week of local Bible School this week too!

The Hot New Couple

BlueBlue and Cinderella.

Fun With Grandmas

The kiddos spent a whole week with Grammy and GraGra last week. After dropping C&G off at Grammy's house on Father's Day, I came back home for a crazy day of carpet cleaning, window scrubbing, and tire getting. Thankfully the kids were having more fun than I was! They got to visit Grammy's school and its resident turtle, they got some playground time, and lots and lots of giggles with Grammy. Oh, and their first evening of Bible School! On Tuesday I drove back up in time for lunch. It was too quiet without my little noisemakers!

On Wednesday morning it was hot and steamy, but that was ok! We were invited to swim at Grammy's friends the Sevin's pool. And it was lovely! The kids loved it! Especially Mr. Sevin's rafts with squirt guns and his pool-cleaning-robot!

G was ready to go!


Lots of fun in the water!



After our swim, we packed up and decamped to GraGra's house for the rest of the week. More fun to be had there!

Pancakes with Papa Greg,for one!

(I know it's not nice to put pictures of people in PJs on your blog. GraGra will just have to get even somehow.)

Then some backyard hay bales....for bayhales as Colin INSISTS on calling them.



And some sort of game with a measuring tape and a paper towel tube....I don't know.


Puzzles and piano lessons on the computer (again, I don't know).



(And apparently we wore only underwear a lot.)

Callie really enjoyed our visit because we produced a lot of boxes for her to sleep in. Even this double decker!


On Saturday morning, I took the kiddos for a walk up to the barn (and impressed them with my ability to open an electric fence) and we tried to find the donkey with no luck. BUT, we did find some tractors!




Gillian was picking wheat with a hay rake. Very talented.

And Colin was sad because I wouldn't let him wiggle every lever on the tractor. And he was exhausted. He was so dirty by this point that his tear left a mud track down his face!


Just some examples of our fun, fun week with our Grammy and GraGra and Papa and even lots of Great-Grandparents! Hooray!

Father's Day Adventures

All I do is catch up on here lately! We are too busy having fun and recovering from fun, I guess!


Father's Day we woke up and munched on some fresh baked cinnamon rolls for Daddy, and then we were all packed up and in the car and headed north! Daddy had the pleasure of dropping the kiddos off at Grammy's for a week of fun and Bible School....all on Father's Day! Added bonus of getting stuck for half an hour on the interstate after an accident in a construction zone! AND grilling his own burgers for lunch. Do we know how to spoil him, or what?

I did take him out for dinner once we got home and he SAID his Father's Day was just fine with him. I hope it was, he's an awfully good Daddy.

Idlewild Family Fun!

Last Friday we surprised the kids with a trip to Idlewild, a local amusement park. On Thursday when they asked what we were doing tomorrow (like they ALWAYS do), we told them we were going on a "surprise adventure." Colin quickly discerned that we were going to the Children's Museum. Gillian guessed that we were going into the city to get a lemonade. Hmmmm. We just let them mull it over all night long! In fact, we didn't tell them where we were going until they were buckled in the car.

Now, they were greased up with sunscreen and we had packed a huge picnic lunch, but they were STILL convinced we were going to the Children's Museum. So finally we told them, "We are going to IDLEWILD!" We got immediate HUGE grins and a long "WOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH" from Colin. They were pleased.

The rides open at 11:30 and that's just about when we got there. So first up we ate some lunch. Well, Daddy, Gillian, and I ate some lunch. Colin kept taking two bites and saying he was done.


Ok, finally it was to have SOME FUN. First we hit the log plume ride and then the ball bit. Gillian loved the ball pit last year and, boy, she did again this year. She was in HEAVEN. The pictures were just the kids in line, the netting prevented any "inside" pictures! I wish I would have gotten one of G's smile though.


Next up Colin spotted the HUGE shaky bridge and accompanying climbing "stuff" and he was off like a rocket. He was about 20 feet ahead of us for a while. Finally we had to sit him down and explain the "stay WITH US" rule. A picture of his BIG, favorite bridge.


We wandered over in the "old" park that has most of the "big" rides in it. What's nice about Idlewild though is that even most the "big" rides are approved for kids 36" or taller with an adult rider. The kids pretty much had their pick of rides! We started with the balloon ride that we could all ride together.


(The only picture of me from the entire day. Notice my super chic sunglasses "rope." I just got new, EXPENSIVE prescription sunglasses and I was terrified that they would fly off on the rides. So I swallowed my fashion pride and tied them to my head.)

Colin really, really wanted to ride the ferris wheel. Gillian did not. So Colin and I rode the ferris wheel and Daddy and G took a ride on the Paratrooper. It took FOREVER to load (and then unload) the ferris wheel and we only got about a 45 second ride in between. So, skipping that next year. Colin and I did take some NICE pictures up top though!



Look, Daddy and Sissy!


Then we headed for "kiddie land" for some more fun! First up was the bumper cars. I have no idea where the kids saw or heard about bumper cars, but they KNEW they HAD to ride them. It was funny to see them try to push the "go pedal" and "turn the wheel" at the same time. They weren't very effective, but they did move and bump a bit!




BIG smiles on that ride!

Then lots more fun!










Added bonus at Idlewild this summer: Live Thomas the Train Show. Although, in our opinion: very, very lame. Just awful. Even Colin, lover of all things Thomas, was ready to leave after a few minutes.



(Michael's pained expression)

We had more fun riding the "real" train that acts as sort of a transportation system from one side of the park to the other. We were headed back the car to get our swim gear so we could get wet!

The "engineer" warns of "two loud toots" of the train's whistle. The kids took him seriously.




We picked our swim stuff and left the camera in the car....but we had a great time in the water! Last year it was so incredibly hot (upper 90s) when we were there that this year (low 80s) it felt kind of COLD in the water! In fact, the wave pool was too cool for the kids. They didn't even make it through one set of waves! They did enjoy the "kiddie pool" and some little water slides. And Gillian sunned herself like a lizard on a lounge chair.

By that time we had two tired kiddos. So we got dressed again rode the carousel and Tilt-a-whirl and scarfed a funnel cake (yum) and headed for home. We all had a fantastic day. Happy kids, beautiful weather, and a great time together!