Helping Gramps

 Grandpa was spending a lot of time working on a house in Midway.  We wanted to see what it looked like and how it was progressing.  So we hauled the kids out to have a gander.  He put us to work.   It worked out nicely for him, since many little hands were able to haul a ton of little things from the basement to the trash pile.

Sarah and Callie helped bring the big piece of wood, while Camden struggled with the heavy tire.

The tire almost got the better of him, but he managed to conquer! 

We also helped pull up the nasty carpet.  Apparently 15 years with dogs does some icky things.  I just know it killed me with allergic reaction. 

 A (most of the) group photo before we left!

A Piratey Ship.... sort of.

 Rylee was slightly obsessed with the idea that we needed to build a pirate ship this summer.  We looked online and found some good ideas, but we could not find any good plans.  We finally found a free set of plans, but they were for a small boat.

We printed it out anyway, figuring it would be a good jumping off point.  Then we priced out the wood and I realized I could not afford to make a bigger one.  So we committed and off we went to Home Depot.

 Delaney and Grandpa shopping for the wood.  Who knew it was so pricy?!

Getting started with the frame. Callie is helping.

Ethan and Camden were also very excited to be big helpers.

Putting the frame together. 

Hammering in the final piece! Well, the final piece for the frame.

We found this awesomely perfect rusty brown paint for half off at Walmart.  It as the perfect pirate ship color.

The decking is on.

Lots of help to get the sides up.

 The side frame is hung.

 One side panel is done.  It was stinking hot to be working outside, so it was impressive we made it this far!

Even Josh helped out.

Hanging the final frame pieces.  Then we finished painting and it was done!

The finished product!
Well, we do have grand intentions of making entryways in the front and stuff. But we haven't done it.

Oops, you cannot see the Piratey Flag.

Having fun with cousins!

Josh and Marian at FSY

 Josh and Marian left June 18 for Tokyo to spend the week at FSY.  They had a great experience and several people were delightful enough to post photos on the FB page for me to see.  And now you too can enjoy the pictures of my little darlings at FSY.

Pre Fourth of July Fun

 I find fireworks to be too much work.  I am not the fun mom.  Thank Goodness Miranda is more fun!  She knows the cool stuff to buy and bought a bunch of great things.  We set them off a bit early (since she can't blow up stuff in her city, we did them at Mom and Dad's where it is legal). Here is a sample of the delightful time the kids had.

At the Lake with Miranda

 We spent one morning at the lake.  Miranda's kids and my kids and cousin Sarah.  The weather was hot and the water was lovely and th fun was plentiful.

 Getting in the cool water on a hot day is wonderful.

Having fun floaties is even better!

Delaney claomed this float and bobbed around for a while in it.

Rylee finally got a chance to be in the boat.

Baby Rachel had fun, but she was one hot baby! She was so red one of th other swimmers was worries she was sunburned. Nope, just that pesky red-faced gene.And ther may have been some sand and rock nibbling.

Camden and Ethan in the boat and Delaney in the float.  Good times.

Rylee worked very hard on a sand (er... rock?) castle and was disappointed I did not get a photo of the finished product. Oops.

 "Aunt Weebecca, get a picture of me doing a cannonball!"

Callie and Camden worked very hard on this masterpiece and the photo does not do it any justice.  It was quite impressive.