Our Zoo at the Zoo

We took advantage of our zoo membership and took part in the Members’ Night festivities.  Our local zoo plans these member nights three times a year and they are always a treat and less crowded for our crew.

We thought Y the Brave had been to a zoo before because he lives in a city where there is a zoo.  But, he told us over and over that he had never been.  It was so much fun watching his excitement over seeing the animals up close.  DSC_2266 Spot our bunch…I have to say tie dye shirts are my favorite family shirts so far.  They were a lot of fun to make and easy to spot.DSC_2268 New sea otters exhibit is so interesting!DSC_2270 DSC_2271 DSC_2272 But, Emmie loved the bears.  She “oooohed” over them the most.DSC_2274 DSC_2276 DSC_2284 A volunteer singing about koalas.  We can’t call them koala bears now.DSC_2287 Feeding the Lorakeets.  They were so full from the whole day of eating but we managed to get them to take a bite or two.DSC_2295 DSC_2298 DSC_2299 Flamingo impersonation.DSC_2313 Y the Brave told us that he wanted to see elephants most of all.  I think he was thrilled when he got to see them.  But the smell…well, it always knocks us all off our feet.DSC_2315 A bunch of Characters in a small train car.  Mostly all smiles.

DSC_2321 Rock wall climbing.  I was a bad mama and forgot to open the flash so half the pictures were unrecognizable.DSC_2330 Zoe and Ace were proud of their checkerboard accomplishment.DSC_2334Here’s the traditional family portrait with the lions.

IMG_20150724_200957330_HDRThis is our family,our neighbors next door and our neighbors across the street.  Right now, we have twenty kids between our three families (we have some amazing neighbors who are foster parents!).  I can’t remember how many are in this picture though.  Pretty close to that number, I believe.

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At the Lake

We had a hosting gathering at the lake in July.  It was a truly wonderful time with our friends and fellow hosters to reflect and visit.

DSC_2102 DSC_2103 DSC_2109 I didn’t get to go out with the kids, but one of the hosting families had a boat and several of our kids got to go “tubing!”  It was all fun and games until Zoe broke the innertube. Just kidding.  It did break but not because of her.  Even though I didn’t get to hang out with them on the boat, I got to hang out with the littles in the sand.DSC_2118 DSC_2126 DSC_2128 DSC_2132 Yeah, awesome shot.  Silly face.

DSC_2140 We also had the pleasure of seeing the kids when they got back.DSC_2143 And hear about how it went.DSC_2148DSC_2147

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A 4th Family, Part 2

Not only did we have some fun inside, but outside was a source of a lot of activity.DSC_1878 Yeah, Papa has a zipline in his back yard.DSC_1880 DSC_1882 DSC_1885 Y ziplined so much that his poor hands got calloused.  He loved flying through the air.DSC_1889 DSC_1897 Then Papa broke out his lawnmower and trailer.  DSC_1900 DSC_1903 DSC_1909 DSC_1926 Hula Hoop time!DSC_1931 Emmie getting a swing from cousin H.  He had lots of questions about Emmie’s brace but he also had to tell me a lot about what has been going on in his neck of the woods.  He always keeps us up to speed about what the other bunch is up to.DSC_1936 DSC_1945 Eek.  I have prettiest nieces and handsomest nephews.  Can’t tell me otherwise.

DSC_1950 DSC_1961 DSC_1963 Emmie was none too thrilled about riding on the lawnmower.DSC_1968 Sweet cousin A loved it!DSC_1972 Papa let some others drive.

DSC_1974 And the big girls jump roped.

DSC_2016 Mark got to try out his new birthday gift.  A hammock.DSC_2017 His audience.

DSC_2020 He said it was comfy.

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DSC_2059 Beautiful rainbow after a bit of rain.

DSC_2078A trying out sisters ear phones.

IMG_1219 Pretty cousins.IMG_1221Brothers.

IMG_1238 IMG_1246 IMG_1264 The big kids table.

IMG_1281 IMG_3308 IMG_3344 IMG_3390 IMG_3395 Hula hooping Zoe.

DSC_2066Releasing the fireflies.

IMG_3414 Time for some watermelon eating with good ol’ seed spitting off the deck.IMG_3419

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A Family Fourth, Part 1

Like I said, we traveled on Mark’s birthday and enjoyed some awesome family time with fourteen of our closest family members.  DSC_1872 DSC_1875 DSC_1978 DSC_2001 Eighteen kids all lined up in a row.  In age order no less.DSC_2004 DSC_2009 DSC_2014 The two littlest cousins got to enjoy some food.

DSC_2024 And play time.

DSC_2027 DSC_2064 The girls caught lightning bugs.

IMG_1210 This was our supply of paper products for the weekend.

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Uno with Papa’s cousins.IMG_1273 Games are a definite fun part of our family time.

IMG_1312 So are books!IMG_2171 Ceili Rain and K were the “baby” sitters during family worship time.IMG_3401Little A learning to be a kitchen  helper.
IMG_20150704_111649_620 Y found a love for etch-a-sketch.IMG_20150704_162545_041

Sometimes connect four makes your eyes pop out!

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Fireworks on Base

Moving along to July!  I’m only three months behind now.  There is an end in sight!

We were so worried that our traditional fireworks viewing at a local military fort was going to be  canceled since we were heading out of town to visit family.  It’s usually held on July 3rd, Mark’s birthday.  We always say that everyone on base decided to celebrate Mark’s birthday with a bang.  Anyway, this year, for whatever reason, it was held July 2nd.  And ya’ll, for summer in the south…it was cold!  We were not prepared for the crisp, er, summer, air but we made the most of it and Y got to see professional American fireworks for the very first time.  DSC_1867 DSC_1869 IMG_20150702_204245774 Y and Bryant also got to check out some awesome army vehicles.  Considering that his home country is currently at war, we were a bit worried about how he would react at seeing soldiers and army vehicles.  In all appearances, he seemed to handle it very well and loved hearing the marching soldiers and seeing their equipment.  He begged Mark for pictures.IMG_20150702_204316933 IMG_20150702_204331869 IMG_20150702_204344535 IMG_20150702_222112785He was definitely impressed with the fireworks.
IMG_20150702_223614516But towards the end, we had three really, really tired kids.

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Summer Readings

Back to June.  I’m determined that I will catch up soon.  I have a work day coming up and there may be several days of photo dumps but by the end of the year this blog will be caught up.  I hope.

Our summer programs at our local library are wonderful.  The kids always enjoy trying to hit their goals as quickly as possible.  They can usually do it pretty fast too.  The library staff always works hard to bring in great local talent to encourage the kids to read.  This year was no exception.

Right after Y got home, we attended a summer music program from Dan the Mountain Man.  He told vivid stories.
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And sang several fun silly songs.  Then he had the kids create their own jug band.  My kids all volunteered and some got to participate.

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Since Zoe was the tallest kid there, she got “volunteered” to play the jug bass.

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This is what Y thought of the all children jug band.  Yeah, it was pretty noisy.IMG_20150630_152538_523Ceili Rain didn’t get to participate in the jug band but she did get to help with the finale.

 

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Welcome Home!

We didn’t think it was going to happen until Y actually got on the plane to come to America.  None of the 90 plus hosting families knew what God was up to.  There was a worldwide visa shutdown in June.  At first, they thought hackers had gotten in to the system but then later it was determined to be a computer glitch.  Regardless of what happened, it caused visa systems everywhere to completely shutdown.  No visas anywhere were being issued.

Y was scheduled to arrive on a Monday.  The Thursday night before, through tears, we read that there was nothing that anyone could do.  The systems were coming back up but they were slow and in Y’s country there were 39 plus people ahead of our kiddos.  We had begged, pleaded and finally contacted our congressional members who also did the same.  There was just nothing they could do.

We accepted this.  Trusted God had another plan and found comfort in knowing we would see him very soon.  But God.

Friday afternoon, I sat down to work quietly (something I get to do on occasion) at a coffee shop.  I pulled up my email and burst in to tears.  The embassy workers had agreed to come in on a holiday weekend to process our kids visas.  All of them.

And so, I got a bit emotional and almost tackled our poor Y when he came walking through the airport with a hint of a smile and excitement in his eyes.

IMG_20150629_131317_021 The car got covered in window chalk.  And Zoe made sure to put “Welcome to Y” in his native language.IMG_20150629_200634_389 Our flight attendants recognized several peoples shirts and came over to tell us how the kids did on the flight over.  They sweetly smiled for pictures and told us the kids really enjoyed coke.  Oh yay.IMG_20150629_201355 IMG_20150629_201420 Super excited sisters having fun with the camera while waiting.IMG_20150629_201551 Still waiting. IMG_20150629_200249820_HDR IMG_20150629_200254732 We totally forgot his welcome poster at home so I made Mark stop at a Walmart and the kids decorated one while waiting.IMG_20150629_201311246 Super excited Mama.IMG_20150629_202627181 Here they come!IMG_20150629_202653774 Yeah, I think he had a bit of trouble breathing and really wanted to see his brothers and sisters too but I had trouble letting go.IMG_20150629_202743613 IMG_20150629_202750149

IMG_20150629_202820 IMG_20150629_203024642 We had to look at his welcome letter from us.IMG_20150629_203413877

One of my favorite pictures.  Look at Malachi and that sweet little brother face!

Our summer adventures were just beginning.

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Just Down the Street

We have discovered a wonderful trail system just five minutes from our house.  It’s beautiful and has several different trails to walk and explore.  The kids enjoy climbing the low hanging trees and giant rocks.  It’s a fun after dinner trip and we headed over there in May.  The only complaints I have are the mosquitoes were vicious and we met a baby copperhead.  The mosquito attack was thwarted by our bug spray and the copperhead made sure he stuck to the side of the trail far from us.
DSC_1631 DSC_1634 DSC_1640 DSC_1654 DSC_1663 DSC_1665 Saving the day by retrieving the bug spray!DSC_1676 What’s this?!  A raging river?

DSC_1686 Nope.  Just a bunch of rocks over the creek.  Low enough to enjoy exploring.DSC_1688For the past several years, we haven’t take the dogs with us anywhere.  Mainly, because our goal is to not lose a kid.  But, the kids are older and they enjoy running with the dogs.  Ginger is our “nervous” dog and gets carsick so she can’t really go out much.  But Sunny, is always up for a ride.   Our Sunny girl loves to run with the kids and explore.  She will be 14 in November and doesn’t have a problem keeping up with even Malachi!

 

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Down on the Farm

Right before Emmie’s surgery, we attended our local home school organizations Farm Day.  A wonderful family opened up their dairy farm to the whole organization for the day. Honestly, I didn’t want to go.  I had so much to do at home.  But, there was that nagging feeling that I knew if we didn’t go we would miss out on some great, fun family quality time.  So, Mark took the day off and all ten of us headed to the farm.

We had such a wonderful time learning about a working farm, petting animals, playing in corn, and visiting with friends.  It was just what we needed the day before we had to leave for Emmie’s surgery.  I definitely don’t regret going!

Please note that I left out the random picture of cow…um, stuff and yes, my children took their shoes off to run across the hay bales.  That’s how we roll on my side of the family.

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