Summer's last 'hurrah'....

We were blessed yet again to join our special friends, the C family (we also vacationed with them over Memorial Day) on their trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What a fun, refreshing time our families have together. I brought along the small vacation album I had compiled so that we could reminisce over how our families have changed and grown over the past 10 years of vacationing together. When we began doing this, we had 2 children who were then ages 3 and 1! The C's had 4 kiddos ... now they are blessed with7 (they adopted 3 siblings from Panama 3 years ago) and a new daughter- in- law too! It is wonderful to see our diverse families interact together as we make memories with our newest additions! We create quite a clamor when we are all together but the 2 separate cottages at this timeshare we stayed in were spacious and easily housed our rambunctious crews! Thanks C family for inviting us to join you for another memory filled vacation! We were also blessed by the surprise visit of Mimi and Pop-Pop as they took a detour from their Indiana trailer on their way back home...only the big boys knew the plan so it was great fun to see the 4 littles jumping up and down when they realized their grandparents car had just pulled into the driveway!
Enjoy the pictures :)
With a full heart!
MamaB

I just love this picture :)!!

After 10 hours in the car our kiddos were anxious to see the ocean. After dinner that first night we took a walk to the beach...of course a few of the kids didn't quite listen to the instructions NOT to get wet (except feet of course!) and we had a load of laundry to take care of only hours into our trip ...thank goodness for laundry facilities right in our cottage!

The bigger kiddos joined us with their Frisbee and football and we stayed on the beach until the sun went down and the moon reappeared :)

One nite' after dinner we took a walk to the local park. There was no one on the baseball field and we had equipment so between our 2 families, we filled the field and the kids played until dusk.

L found a kindred drawing partner in F... these 2 were so cute together!!

The 7 youngest do so well together playing games or just hanging out.

Meal time! Daddy C , Mommy C, and their 17 year old son with M in the background.

The older gang spent their spare time in marathon Risk games...

Mercy was very comfortable in the ocean and totally enjoyed being tossed around by the waves!

Fun in the sand and sun!

SURPRISE!!! Mimi and Pop-Pop took a detour on their way from their summer trailer in Indiana to PA...they decided to make visits in Cleveland, N.C., and then us in Myrtle Beach. I came back to the house to get showered while the rest of the kids were at the beach...then Mimi called to say she was here...I ran a few blocks to meet her and on my way,Daddy was pulling in with the van load of kiddos.While he was getting the kids showered and changed, I met up with Mimi and Pop-Pop (thank goodness for cell phones) and jumped in the van with them. As we rounded the corner to our cottage, we saw the kids out on the porch . We had hoped to surprise them with the 2 of them just walking in the front door but the next thing we knew Mercy was screaming, " Mimi and Pop-Pop are here!!!" Soon, the 4 littles were tumbling out the front door, down the stairs and straight into Mimi and Pop-Pop's waiting arms. What a great memory!!

Nothing like a big hug from your grandma!!...we had not seen them since our visit to Indiana in June~

Even the big dudes need hugs!

It didn't take long for Pop-Pop to get wrangled into a game of UNO!

G and Mimi enjoy a little snuggle time on the beach.

Thumbs up after a good ride!

The boys and "Flat Stanley" :) For those of you scratching your heads in wonder: Flat Stanley is a character in a children's book who traveled in an envelope to visit friends in California. Each of our youngest 4 sent one of these to someone hoping their Flat Stanley would have some adventures traveling as well. Mimi didn't disappoint us and this picture is part of a large album of Flat Stanley's escapades as he traveled with Mimi and Pop-Pop. We were able to share his adventures with our geography class today :) Thanks Mimi for your creativity!!

L riding in style!

The youngest kiddos thought riding this to the beach was such a hoot! L called it the' gypsy' (aka: jitney/shuttle) Our gangs filled it up--no room for any other vacationers with our families!

Having fun looking at old vacation pictures... K is 'admiring' the hair style of her new groom in one of the old pictures!

Slumber party!! We were able to have the 2 youngest C kiddos join us overnight to make room for their big brother and his new wife.

The whole gang including Mimi and Pop-Pop and the C's oldest son and his new bride who joined them for an overnite' :) I attempted to take a picture myself by setting the timer and balancing my camera on top of a trash can and a stack of styrofoam plates... a kind passerby saw our pitiful set up and came to the rescue!

Thanks to him, we have a decent picture to add to our vacation album!

We 'banished' the kiddos to the back porch to eat their messy, drippy ice pops...

All this fun tires a fellow out!! This was during video time as the littles watched Curious George before bed~

I attempted to catch a sunrise on my camera when I was up for my seaside walks...the clouds would not cooperate so this is the closest I got to seeing a sunrise~

We were able to leave together for the trip home and stopped for lunch at the BK enroute...the goodbyes are always the hardest but it wasn't too bad this time around :) No wailing and tears!!

The final days of summer...

As you can see, I have been busy downloading our latest pictures of summer.(3 posts in one night?!?) M and P are at youth group together and the littles just got to bed ...C is busy reading so I have time to blog :)!
Before the leaves start to change and the first frost hits I thought I'd better get the rest of our summer photos up! Here goes...hope you enjoy them!

Thursday free breakfast at Chick-fil-A-gotta' love it! Note that L looks less than thrilled in this picture because finishing a meal is always a challenge--in contrast to Odesco who is literally licking his chops and enjoying his meal immensely!!. We met the Kach's , the B, and H family here as well. Before leaving the restaurant , our day had been spontaneously rearranged...I brought home the girls and Mama K took home the little boys and the big boys went home with the B's...then we met up again at another friend's house for pool day after lunch. I just love the spontaneity and carefree nature of summer days and friends to swap kiddos with :)!!

L and Miss too cute Felicia

Odesco proudly showing me Liberia on the Chick-Fil-A globe :)

Fun day at the 'Deben's lake'...always a summer highlight!

I was trying to keep the troops out of trouble before we headed to a swim day...so I gave them the task of putting together a US puzzle while they practiced 'singing' the "Eastern Border of the United States" song at the top of their lungs! G was 'tutoring' them :)

L and D paddling away on another lake. What a wonderful time we had celebrating J and D's birthday with several other families at a camp in the area...it was one of those 'magical days' of summer where everything seems to go just right :)

G and Mercy have fun on the lake with Mr. G and his kiddos

P and his friend D kindly included Odesco in their kayak ride~

Another highlight for the kiddos was jumping off this dock...here is Jenkins attempting to catch a ball...

Sweet friends~

Jenkins and Odesco kept busy for much of the day just digging...their enthusiasm got the best of them and a few times they accidentally flung some dirt toward other bathers...a quick reminder from the lifeguard (before I could get to them) remedied this :)

Cousin Lexie came for a visit and the big boys went across the bridge to hang with her brother for an overnite'...we took advantage of the 'free bowling' again... I totally misunderstood the pricing of the 2nd game but we stayed cool and out of trouble for a few hours so, it was well worth my blunder!

These 2 are such characters together!

A sibling huddle ...Mercy , L and G knew Odesco was frustrated with some drawings he was working on...here they are whispering to each other that they should tell him that he is a good artist...too funny!

The other morning I could hear Odesco in and out of his closet...then he came downstairs with his bear all gussied up :)

The beginning of our Wacky Labor Day!
Our annual "back to school supply" hunt... I unearth all the great finds I purchased at the homeschool fair in May and spice it up with some great supplies for the year ahead. Then, I bag up each child's things and hide them in the backyard with a really lame rhyming clue ...it's a sneaky way to get the little ones excited about all their new school books! Even though the big guys laugh at my corny clues, I know they look forward to it just as much as the younger crew.

Later on in the day we took advantage of the Chick -Fil-A freebie for all those wearing football team logos.
We all raided the closets prior to errand running and just happened to be passing by -um- a 'few' of the local stores :) I have certainly lowered my healthy eating standards for the kids these past few weeks of free giveaways. Yep, we shamelessly took full advantage of the generosity of our local Chick-Fil-A stores!! The kids had chicken several days this week due to their benevolence !!

After our Chick-Fil-A stops (remember I said they were on the way as we ran errands, really!!), we ended up at the local Walmart...it was HOT outside but we couldn't leave the car running so M and C ran in for a 'quick' stop while I waited with the others in the van. I had the brilliant idea to turn the fan on high to keep the air moving and the kids breathing . When M returned, the battery was dead...thankfully a Good Samaritan helped us out and we were quickly on our way!
Ten minutes later on the way home, we just happened to pass another(!) Chick-Fil-A...
I ran in with half the kids while M kept the car running to recharge the battery. While we were in there, a car in the parking lot had a dead battery and M was able to jump their battery. It was a comical day...oh, but it wasn't over ...

The gang at Panera~
(P was caught with a mouth full!)
After our escapades, I decided to roast a chicken in the oven since Daddy would be home on time for dinner ( I know what you're thinking--more CHICKEN?! )... I had forgotten about the Labor Day freebie when I defrosted the bird the nite' before so I had to cook it. About an hour into the cooking, all the power in the house went off..I thought I blew a fuse but walked outside to find 3 of our neighbors wondering the same thing. I called the power company and was told that there had been 'animal contact' with a transformer (in other words, a squirrel got fried!). The power was not projected to come back on for several hours so the kids were thrilled when Daddy suggested a trip to Panera- a very rare treat...the kids had bagels for dinner and I enjoyed a fresh salad. (By the way, the Chick-Fil-A was in the same shopping center but being folks of such self restraint, we declined another freebie-- we had already collected our stash at this store :)!!! By the time we returned home, the power was back on and my chicken finally finished roasting at 10 pm! It was certainly a memorable end to our summer!
Now, back to healthier eating :)
I forgot to mention that while I was cooking the chicken, Odesco was outside playing football with C. Somehow, he ended up with his own knee in his mouth?! and knocked out his other wobbly front tooth! Lots of blood but no tooth to be found...I really do think dentistry is in the future for one of our kids since they all seem to be rather adept at speeding along the tooth-losing process!

A trip to rememeber!

A few weeks ago our caregroup took a train ride out to have some icecream with our children. It was such fun just to be together and the kids loved the novelty of a ride on the train. The service at the ice cream parlor was S-L-O-W but it certainly added to the fun of the memory and gave us all a chance to catch up :)

Miss Britt and some of the gang before getting on the train.

We certainly raised a few eyebrows as we got on the train with such a huge group of us!

Handsome fellas' !

After a short walk from the train station we arrived at this ice cream parlor. I think we overwhelmed them so we all ate in shifts as our stuff slowly made its way to our tables!

The D's and B's :)

The girls gathering~

Miss Britt was one of the last to be served...looks like good things come to those who wait!

A Day with Miss Britt.

Once again, Brittany made quite the memory for our 4 youngest. Last year it was a Prince/Princess party this year it was an Indian theme. A few months ago, when Britt came to babysit, she made Indian shirts with them. They decorated old t-shirts of M's with permanent markers and then they cut fringes and tied beads on the ends...so creative. This was all in preparation for their 'Indian Party' which took place last Saturday. While I was grocery shopping, the kids were memory making with one of their favorite people. I left my camera behind with them as you will see :)!! I am sure all you moms would agree that it is very special when those outside of the immediate family take the time and energy to impact the lives of your children. Thank you Miss Britt for investing in them- you are making a difference :)

Love,
MamaB

My favorite picture of the day!!

Mercy in her Liberian 'squat stance' cooking over an open fire...

Miss Britt and her 'tribe'

How resourceful...Miss Britt set up this gazebo type structure and was able to lower it so the kids felt like they were in a wigwam/tepee!

Just chillin'

Enjoying their fire roasted hot dogs!