July 7 at Mill Creek

Monday:  The countdown is basically TWO days from now that Dylan and Kelly leave for London. Both are working long hours today to try to prepare for being away for two weeks. So I picked up the four kiddos at 8:30 and we headed over to Mill Creek to do a little bit of exploring before going to my house.

I decided that since rain looked rather imminent, we should go where the access point to the creek was the closest and didn't require walking across the railroad tracks to get where we wanted to go. This little place is just off the parking lot to the public library--very handy.

There isn't quite the same expanse to explore ... it's less interesting here ... but I could better keep track of the four of them here than at our other place. Although there are "bends" in the creek over here, all four were told that I had to be able to SEE all four of them at all times. In other words, do not wander around the bends in the creek--too much can happen when children are in a creek like this--unknown stuff like getting into deep water suddenly, or tripping and hitting your head on a rock and passing out, etc. I know those are worst case scenarios, but we grandma's have to be on the safe side.

The children love to get into the water like this. We still do not have any shoes for Brendan, which is regrettable ... but he is very careful and watches where he is walking. I love to see him smile as he discovers interesting stuff along the creek.

And this little guy ... I can't even put into words his obvious delight in throwing rocks into a creek. He is one tough little cookie--he never fails to amaze me.

Ah, Brendan -- do you know how much you are loved?

I made Erin wear MY water shoes. They were too large for her feet, but they tied quite nicely around the upper part of her feet and, as long as she didn't RUN in them, she was fine and her feet were safe from whatever she might step on in the water.

Aidan has a very adventurous spirit and always, always, always pushes the limits of "instructions." I let him go as far as I could and still see him at a distance ...

He very badly wanted to keep walking around the next bend. At this point, I was on top of the little bridge that crosses the creek so that I could still see him. When I was under the bridge, it limited my vision quite a bit.

Naturally, Cal had to join his big brother.

Look how small they look!

I love these pictures. I love to watch children without SCREENS and technology to squelch their brains!

Erin got sick of wearing my large shoes and decided to stay on the side of the creek for awhile ...

Look what we found at the edge of the creek -- kind of a hollowed out tree! We thought it was very interesting.

It began to sprinkle about an hour after we arrived, so we packed it up and drove the ten minute distance to my house ...

July 6 The schedule!

Sunday:  We decided it would be best to finalize our childcare schedule face-to-face over at the Pahman Place ... so I arrived somewhere around 4:30 in the afternoon and actually had Kelly all to myself (!!) for almost a solid hour while we talked about the details of caring for the kiddos while she and Dylan are "across the pond" for 14 days. I had wrongly thought it was NINE days and I remember thinking how LONG those days could be! I was rather surprised (actually shocked) to learn it was 14, practically 15, days they will be away. SO ... I brought a physical calendar along with me (naturally, it was a lighthouse calendar) so that I could write down the details, go home and hang it back up on my wall, and therefore NOT mess this up. 

I was also introduced to Sarah, a lovely young woman from Dylan and Kelly's church, who will essentially be moving into their house for the duration. We also coordinated together some dates and times that work for us--we are making a GROUP effort to ensure all bases are covered.

Afterwards, Aidan asked if I would like to walk down to the creek and throw some rocks into it ... so away we went. Little Cal asked if he could come too, so all three of us walked to the end of their street where a little creek is tucked away on private property with zero access to it. However, if you are on the sidewalk that is on the bridge that covers the creek, you can get a glimpse of it and actually see the "plop" your rock makes as it hits the water. The one drawback is that there are not many rocks available that we can ever find to throw into the creek!

Trust me, we looked high and low, and actually found a few "stones" and sticks that we could hurl in for the thrill of it. Here are a few pictures I took:

You might ask: "Where is Aidan standing with such a happy face?" Well ... this is a rope tree house that Kelly is in the middle of constructing for the kids. It's super cool!

Here is Cal showing me his treasure trove of stones to pitch into the creek ... he was quite pleased.

Aidan was very kind and shared all of the stones he had collected with Cal. I was very proud of Aidan.

I can't remember WHERE this tree is ... somewhere between their house and the creek ... a perfect climbing tree.

I love these pictures of Aidan. Handsome young fellow.

July 4 Celebration

Friday:  This is the 4th of July "parade" at Leisure Village. People who have golf carts decorate them for the holiday; and others decorate their cars or electric wheel chairs, etc. It's actually pretty cool with everyone waving flags, etc. 

I almost missed taking these TWO photographs! The parade was over and done quite quickly, as there were only about a dozen participants this year.

But later in the evening, I asked if I could visit over at Diana's house to see the kiddos shoot off fireworks. Diana buys a ton of fireworks that the kids really enjoy lighting up. Kaity's two friends, Ayden and Royce, were invited as well. They had a great time.

And it was so wonderful to see Emma and Kota too! I rarely get to see them! Kota's mom, Tiffany, and his sister (who has such an unusual name that I cannot remember it!) were also there; as well as Diana's mom and dad.

I like these photos of Emma and Kota, especially this one:

Larry and Judy ...

Since our June here in Michigan stays light SO LONG, the real firework blasting off couldn't really begin until about 9:30 ... these are just preliminary ones the boys were doing.

Emma and Kota just got "home" from tubing--look at how sunburned Emma is! OUCH. She is well aware how to take care of this, though. She told me she has plenty of nice creams to put on it.

I think this one is my favorite picture (below) ...

Jesse was with us too--I don't think he shows up in any of these photos, however. Emma asked him how to set up her camera for night/fireworks shots and he was (as usual) super helpful in doing that. 

Here are the few photos I took with my phone ... not too bad for someone who doesn't know a blame thing about shooting at night ...

It was nice to be with family tonight. I love my family. Thank you so much, Lord, for all of them.