Horse Camp

The girls enjoyed their week long horse camp. They learned all about horses, made horse crafts which included cleaning, painting and decorating a real horse shoe, rode horses and even had to pick up a few piles of poo.  On the last day we watched the girls ride and the boys had fun playing in the dirt and seeing the horses. After dropping the girls off the boys and I went on our own adventure. We found an old covered bridge and explored it.

Off to Horse Camp

Raquel riding Lady

Natalya on Steel

Redneck Jewelry

You might find this gross or you might find it cool but this is what we call redneck jewelry.

They are wearing firefly abdomens on their ears.  The kids would catch the bugs and wait for them to light up, then you separate the bottoms and they continue to glow.

Midnight

After giving up her favorite bunny Raquel was able to pick out a new one.  Her new bunny is a Black New Zealand named Midnight. When we got her she was only 5 weeks old and wasn't held much and a little wild.   Raquel and Natalya have made sure to give their new bunny lots of love!

Raquel & Midnight

Bike Rider

Natalya has learned to ride a bike.  She is only 4 years old and we are so proud of her.

Grey Nose

Raquel had to sell her beloved bunny Grey Nose tonight.  A mix up in identifying the gender of the other bunnies left us with only 2 females which we had promised to sell to a couple driving more than an hour to get them.  Raquel was a very brave, big girl and gave up her bunny that she was promised she could keep. As you can see from the picture she cried her little eyes out.  Besides selling grey nose the kids have enjoyed selling their bunnies and making a little money.

Raquel and Grey Nose

Marcus taking a bunny for a ride

Our last 2 does ready to go to a new home.

Carowinds

Mike had a few days off so we took a quick family vacation to Charlotte, NC and played at Carowinds.  Carowinds had lots of fun rides for the kids and a big water park to cool off in.  Raquel and Mike had fun riding the big rides and Marcus and Natalya were brave trying new ones.  I think Erik enjoyed the Rockin' the Decades show the most.  It was a high energy performance that showcased hits from the 60's, 70's and 80's.  Erik was the loudest screamer and clapped his hand along to the music. He had as much energy as the performers. The kids were real troopers, we spent over 10 hours playing in the sun and everyone left happy. 

Enjoying the carousel

Marcus was a brave rider.

Enjoying a snack.
The server thought the kids were so cute she gave them free icee's.

The one ride Natalya really wanted to do all day.
It was the last one to end our  fun day.

Enjoying a good nights sleep after a long day.

Cute little kids sharing a bed

Not long before we won't be able to fit 4 in one bed.

Wheels & Wagons Bus

We took the kids to see the Wheels & Wagons bus. Back in May they drew pictures and they were put on the side of a bus. Its always fun to see the bus driving around town and getting to see their art work drive by.

Exploring the bus

Showing off their artwork.

Natalya 

Marcus

Raquel

and Erik driving the bus

Curls

Raquel tried out a new hairdo. She slept with her hair curled in straws and in the morning she had fun springy curls.  They lasted all day which is amazing since her hair does not hold curl.

Teepees

Family Art Project

Everyone helped. The kids helped cut bamboo from our neighbors yard to use as sticks and we all had a good time cutting out and painting our teepees.

Erik got a little more paint on himself then the teepee

The girls painting.
They used both their hands and feet. 

Mom painting the little teepee

The boys painting themselves.

One of the finished teepees

Berry Picking

The whole family went blueberry picking.  The berries were fewer and far between compared to previous years but we did get our 4 gallons.  The kids were great little pickers and Erik loved eating them right out of the bucket.

We headed to Home Depot for their kids clinic after picking berries.  The kids enjoyed building a car, eating hot dogs and ice cream and seeing all the classic cars.

The 4th

We had a fun 4th of July! 

The rain decided to stop long enough for us to enjoy the town parade and join our good friends the Brians/Folkarts for a yummy BBQ.  The kids were excited to watch the town fireworks and had prepared the back of the truck with an air mattress, pillows and packed lots of snacks.  Unfortunately they all fell asleep before it even got dark, so no fireworks this year.

Enjoying the parade

Getting the truck ready to watch fire works.