Oh my...
Another week has begun and I have yet to post about the past two or so. Not too much going on really, but I better get started...
We headed to the Fort Worth Wildlife Refuge Sunday the 13th to do more geocaches. There were 2 there, but we only found one.
The first one we tried to find was way off any trails deep in the woods and brush. I wore shorts...bad idea! Hubs didn't mention that we would be trekking through half of the refuge, over rock, by cactus, through weeds waist high, under mesquite trees with thorns the size of dollar bills(maybe not that big, but still...). And when we got to the co-ordinate location, after all of that, we didn't even find it! So it had either been moved or was buried under the ground! Poor hubs had to make his way though all sorts of stuff just to get to the exact spot, amongst a huddle of trees! We searched high and low, as best we could, but no ammo box! And you would figure an ammo box should be sort of easy to spot. It wasn't all a bust though, we barely saw two fawn deer as we were hiking around. They were in some undergrowth and ran as soon as they heard us. The trek there and back really wasn't that bad. But pants/jeans would have been nice.
On our second search for a box there at the refuge we had to go up toward the visitors center. Hubs spotted the hidden coco container shortly after we got there. YAY! We stamped our stamp, left our name and the date and took a monkey's skeleton paw(Hunt insists it's not a monkey's paw, but I think it sounds more interesting saying that), and left a spider ring. After replacing everything and rehidding the box we took a quick stroll inside for a bit.
{touch and feel table}
{Hunt looking at a prairie dog}
{hey there Little Miss!}
{Em checking out the fish}
Our third and last geocache for the day was supposedly hidden along a road near Benbrook Lake. Well we searched up and down the road.
Driving forward, backing up, driving forward, backing up...back and forth, but never found the "bison tube"(whatever that is). We were grateful this road was not a busy one.
After our geocaches we drove over to Kelley's and had a nice swim. Her pool is so nice and was a welcome sight after being outside, sweating, hiking, hot and a little tired. Hunt and Em had a blast! It was Em's first pool to play in. She's played in the hot tub at Mrs. Black's house, Hunt's swim teacher, but not the pool.
Hubs and Ken tried to show Hunt how to dive from the diving board, but it's not as easy as it looks to teach a 5 year old how to go into the water hand and head first instead of your whole body or belly flopping. It was funny to watch. I know I've said it before...but Hunt LOVES the diving board!
Thanks so much Kelley for inviting us over for some pool fun!
Afterwards we all went for dinner, boy were we hungry!
{looks like he's walking on water}
{Em and mama}
{Em would rather you hold her and let her splash than sit in the crab}
{Em was getting tired and hot so we sat out for a while under the umbrella. See our "Knot E Celtic"(boat) there in the background? It has yet to make an appearance at the lake house this season. The lake came up so much that it flooded the yard there and a whole lot of cleaning still needs to be done!}
{teaching Hunt to dive...hahaha}
{here's what happens when you turn your back for just a minute.}
{Hunt we aren't at the lake house or deer lease...geez}
I tried the recipe I found for homemade fruit roll ups on the 12th. I didn't have the exact amount of strawberries ready and may have added too much applesauce. The roll ups were still a bit squishy in the middle of the pan and that was after cooking them 12 hours instead of the 8-10 the recipe recommended. And the outside was getting a bit hard. The taste was good though! And it cut and rolled up good, just a bit too soft. So I WILL give it another try with less applesauce. Or maybe use other directions. I searched online and found a couple more ways to do it. I'll be letting Hunt help me on the next version. I wasn't sure how it would end up since I had never made them before. But now since I know, he can easily help out...and will love using the blender!
I also tried some pies in a jar. I didn't do a homemade version of the dough or the filling just yet. Like above...since this was my first time making these to. I used refrigerated already made pie crusts and canned peach pie filling. I filled them and froze all but one...I had to give at least one a try! It baked up SO nice and the crust was flaky and crisp! Such a cute little pie when I took it out of the 4 oz jar and cut into it! UMMMMM!!! AND tasted good too! So I will be making more of these to! I have the strawberries and blackberries from the farm just begging for me to use them. And soon a trip to the peach orchard for peaches! I LOVE SUMMER!!!
Sadly I didn't take any photos of the pies or the fruit roll ups! But I will next round!
Hunt's swimming lessons ended Thursday. He did really well and I'm proud of him!!!They worked on the usual plus swimming the length of the pool a bit and taking breaths while doing it. Tuesday Hunt started jumping from the diving board and swimming the length of the pool(had to stop and get help a bit). But he did good! They have also been learning how to swim then turn over and float then turn back over and swim. It shows them that if they get tired, they can always stop and float and regain strength to swim on. Even with the weakness on the left side he has been doing good. Swimming is where you can see Hunt's left side weakness the most.
{Here are a few of the final swim lessons photos I took}
{splashing fun}
{Em was such a good girl the entire time Bubba swam}
{I was sure to bring toys and snacks}
{hey Bubba, you're doing so good!}
{look at that hiney in the air, he swims like this alot}
{more pool safety}
Last week was one of those weeks!!! With one little one not sleeping well(maybe more teeth coming soon)Wednesday thru Friday. She was running a temperature Thursday night and some Friday. My poor little girl!
And the other child trying his hardest to drive us crazy...and it may be working!
And just a lot on my mind and so much that I need to do, and the list keeps growing! UGH!
With us not attending any activities this week with the group, it has been kind of nice! We didn't make it to do the Forest Park Train on Thursday, which I was planning on doing. This week we may attempt, and I say attempt Roller World skating rink. It should be interesting! Hunt is clumsy anyway, so this is sure to be a mess! May be cute to watch though. And a Burger's Lake day on on Friday. Two kids by myself at Burger's Lake...not so sure. I like going there, and haven't been since Hunt was a lot smaller. We'll see.
Our past Saturday was spent just trying to keep mostly indoors and cool! It's so dang hot! Didn't do anything special. Still a nice family time.
For Father's Day we hung out around the house until close to 3pm and then left for grandma and grandpa's house. The kids played(and drove us all a little crazy)! And our Little Miss pottied on grandma's bed while I was changing her, so we had a wardrobe change. Sorry grandma! Then we left to have dinner at Texas Land and Cattle. It was good and not crowded at all!
We got daddy a wood and metal ice chest.
He has been eyeing them for a couple of years now and I've been thinking about getting him one for about that long to, but never have. Tractor Supply Company had some nice ones for a good price, so I ran up there and got one. I also picked up a bbq utensil set. Hubs didn't have one, so now he will be well equipped to cook outside on that big ole cooker of his!..hint, hint...the shrimps waiting in the freezer!..HAHA!!!
Hunt and Daddy made PaPa a leather tooled flashlight and leatherman case for hunting and a leather book mark for his gifts.
And Hunt made both hub's and papa's Father's Day cards!
{Daddy's Father's Day card...a drawn and cut out T-Rex, with cut out water and grass}
{glued on a card}
{Papa's card...he drew a truck and water colored it}
{then wrote inside}
{he's getting really good at writing}
Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there! And a special Happy Father's Day to the father of my heathens! Thanks for all that you do for us, We Love You!!!
{Daddy and Em}
{trying on Hunt's cap}
{even Grandma...}
{cousins...belly up at the bar...at Texas Land and Cattle}
{our little family}
{Grandma and Papa with the grandkids}
{Grandma and Papa with the "boys"]
Other weekend activities included a "make believe" hunting trip in daddy's deer blind and shrinky dinks!
Today the kiddos and I went to story time. We had not been in almost a month. I signed Hunt up for the Reading Express. It's a summer reading program that the libraries do. The kids read books and get prizes after reading so many hours. If your child is young and doesn't read yet then you read to them. Since we read books alot anyway, we might as well log the time down and get goodies.
School may be out, but I still work with Hunt on school type work a couple of times a week. I get asked by some moms in the group and other people, what I do with him. So here are some things we have been working on...sight word cards, reading/phonics, kindergarten and first grade work books and what ever else I throw in there. We've done sculpting this week as well as painting and the usual coloring with crayons, markers, colored pencils...etc. We work out of several different workbooks.
I've also started reading to Em, although she mostly wants to "taste" the books right now. And going through other small stuff with her.
I've been thinking about ideas for Em's first birthday. I have SO, SO many great ideas, but not sure on one for her first. I have roughly 3 months(OMG...really that's ALL!) to make my decision. Most of my thoughts for parties will have to be when she gets a bit older.
Have you ever been so sick of seeing swimming photos in your life? HA!
That's all I got for now...
