High Adventure

Well, this week is High Adventure week. Boo. But, the kids and I managed to survive together, and Ben comes home together. The bad news is that Ben's car didn't survive the first day. He took it with him and half way there as he was going up the hill it just stopped. Turns out it was the clutch and will cost us dearly to replace. Guess they started off with an adventure before they even got to the Boundary Waters.

I'm pretty excited for Ben to come home. I'm pretty sure Russell and Meghan are excited, too. Russell has asked me everyday if daddy was coming home today. Meghan has not been quite so excited every morning when I go in and get her. And, she has been very sad every night when I put her in bed. Oh well. If she is lucky Ben will be home before bedtime tomorrow.

If you are lucky, maybe Ben will put up on of his epically long posts after he gets home with pictures of his trip.

Good thing I finally found this today even though I've been looking for it all week!

Their put in place and exit place are about 7 miles apart.  hope they were doing something productive on days 4 and 5 since they are barely covering any ground.

My famous husband

With summer comes high heat and the need to be prepared



I don't know how he always knows where the cameras are. His five minutes of fame are being stretched to more like 10 since he seems to always be in the paper, on school pamphlets, etc.

Plants

One of the positive things about our lovely house is that we inherited some pretty nice plants in the yard.

There were some bushes at the back of the yard along the neighbors fence that Ben kept talking about cutting down. I convinced him not to. I'm glad I did because it turned out they were lilac bushes! They were beautiful and full of blossoms early in spring, but unfortunately we had a very rainy season while they were at their peak, so I couldn't get any pictures.

We had these iris bulbs out in the front lawn. Ben dug them up and replanted them in the front flower bed and in front of our front porch/stairs. Russell has loved watching them bloom. He has asked to smell them every day when we go outside. He says they smell like the ice cream treat that our back neighbor gave us. He is right. They do.

Oh, and we think those little ones are chives. They smell and taste like chives.

Hosta in the front yard. It is pretty big, but not nearly as big as our neighbor's across the street. Ben tried getting rid of them, but he didn't even come close to getting rid of all the bulbs. I think we are both glad because it gives a nice change to our weed bed/mushroom field known as our front lawn.

Our peony bush falling over from the weight of all the flowers. I told Ben I wanted peonies somewhere in the yard, and was so happy to discover this bush by the kitchen windows! They remind me of our home in Mt. Vernon because they were the plants at the bottom of the stairs. I even think they are the same color.

I had to bring some inside.

This has nothing to do with our plants, but I am so excited about the color of our front door!We wanted something to give the front of our drab house some life, and I think this does it. I have also made a new house number sign to go in between the door and window. It's a big J painted the same purple with white numbers. I can't wait for Ben to put it up.

Summer Bucket List

Well, Ben's last day of school is Friday. Then we get a nice break from our daily grind for 3 months. This was a rough school year, so I think all four of us are ready for a break. Here is what we plan to accomplish before Ben heads back to school at the end of August.

Ben
1. Work on the house specifically put in the basement windows, get the garage cleaned out, replace the hose bib, vent the dryer outside, put the last two doors back in, finish all the trim.
2. Not have any injuries while on High Adventure.
3.Create his LLC.

Joanna
1. Survive the week Ben is on High Adventure.
2. Survive being in the van so long with Russell and Meghan.
3. Lose 5-8 lbs.

We picked Russell and Meghan's for them.

Russell
1. Get himself dressed.
2. Be potty trained.
3. Learn all his letters and numbers.

Meghan
1. Learn how to use a spoon and fork.
2. Grow some hair.
3. Grow taller.