Next Door Real Estate

The house right behind us (back yard neighbor) is now listed for sale. This is the neighbor that was foreclosed on. It's listed at 42,900. Sigh. Property values are so low. She bought the house for about 80K. More pix on the link. You can see our house at the far left of the pic.

June Flood

The flood this afternoon was quite impressive. I've NEVER seen this much water around here, and we've lived here almost fifteen years. There was water OVER the road to the north (top right pic) and our poor neighbor's down the street had water pooling on their lot and running into their garage and I assume into their basement (top left pic - that's all water in their driveway and over their yard - hard to tell). The large middle pic is our kitty-corner neighbor's back yard. The rest of the pix are our own yard or the view from it.

Wow! It rained all day, something like 4.25 inches!

Perfect Summer Friday

Yesterday was THE MOST PERFECT weather! Mid-70's, sunshine, no clouds, slight breeze, no bugs. Idyllic!

We trekked over to a local park to share Park Day with a few other homeschool families. Perhaps ten families? The kids ages 1-16 got along great! There were no "issues" - parents, you know what I mean! LOL The moms had several hours to sit and chat and catch up while the kids played near (in) the creek, ran on the grass, played baseball and soccer, and just generally ran around.

Emily went home with a friend and James brought home a friend. Before dinner, I made the drive to get the kids back to their proper homes.

On the way there, we saw two turtles in the road. Yep, we stopped. Picked them up. Brought them home. James' friend took one and we have the other. We won't keep him forever, just long enough to learn all about him. He's a fairly big one. I'm sure James will snap his portrait before long. His name is Skipperdee, Jr. (Pic in this post is from the web, not taken by me.)

Last night we walked down to check out the carnival down the street. Wristbands were $15 for just five or six inflatables and some carnival games! (School fundraiser) I'd warned the kids ahead that if it was expensive that I wouldn't pay. So, we talked to people for a while then walked to the gas station and bought frozen pop. (Yep, even me! I drank REAL pop, although I didn't finish it. But, it's one of my pet peeves that the scientists can't seem to make a Diet Frozen Coke. Sigh. But wait, if anyone KNOWS of one, you'd be my best best friend! Really! I'll buy you one! hehehe)

After that, the kids watched a movie and Bob started a campfire. On the spur of the moment, we'd decided to make S'mores and allow them the opportunity to sleep in the camper. Bob popped it up earlier today to check it out before camping seasons starts. I posted pix of the campfire time below.

Suzy chose to sleep in the house with me, but Bob and Emily and James took the adventurous route and camped in the yard. (Remember, David is at Cedar Point.)

I exercised (4th workout of the week! Met my goal!) while watching He's Just Not That Into You and then finished entering the soccer registrations. I'm amazed at what passes for PG-13 nowadays. No WAY would I let my young teen watch THIS.

Went to bed FAR too late, but slept in this am. The weather looks lovely, although maybe a tad chillier than yesterday. I think we'll hit some garage sales and maybe cook-out.

First S'mores of the Season

From Campfire June 5, 2009

From Campfire June 5, 2009

From Campfire June 5, 2009

From Campfire June 5, 2009

From Campfire June 5, 2009

From Campfire June 5, 2009

From Campfire June 5, 2009

Snow Play

Stay-cation

Wow, what a weekend! GORGEOUS weather EVERY DAY! Too good for me to even have conceived it! Today is lovely still!

After the garage sales yesterday, we had dinner and then went for a bike ride. Yes! Me on a bike ride. Bob and the kids finally dragged my bike down from the barn (upstairs). It was fun, but then David got a flat tire.

S'mores by the fire, fireworks in our front yard. I have some pix of that, but they are still on the camera. We pitched a tent in the side yard for a backyard campout.

We played Scattergories Jr before we went to sleep. The Jr. version has the great adaptation of allowing you to put an answer that DOESN'T start with the key letter, but gives you two points if you DO start your answer with the key letter. This avoided meltdowns in our family! lol They all enjoyed it, except Suzy who declined the opportunity to play. Likely a wise choice since she can't yet read or write fluently.

Yes, we slept all night in the tent. Yes, all of us. Woke up before 6:00 and tried to sleep more, but it didn't happen for a long time. Finally drifted back off and woke up again around 8:30 when Suzy was the first of the kids to awaken.

We went to church and had lunch before heading out to a friend's pool. It was a PERFECT day for swimming. The kids had a great time (even David) on her floatie toys and swimming back and forth. THEN she brought out snacks and pop which made her even MORE favored among the Wagner children!

After that, the kids put on a movie and I headed out to spend scads of money at the grocery store. Now, it's bedtime - and after THREE late nights, every kid is good and tired!