May 2013

In May, we took the kids to James and the Giant Peach at the Children's Theater.  They had a really fun time dressing up, going to dinner, and then to a live show.  The show was just over an hour long.  Kate started asking, about halfway through, if the show was over yet (the lights would dim while they switched scenery).
Recently, Kate and Max have been playing James and the Giant Peach.  Kate insists on being James.  If Max calls her "Kate", she simply won't respond!  It is pretty cute.

 

Before the how, I let the kids run some energy out on the steps.

Max gave Kate an umprompted kiss!
 

 With the garden in the yard, we attract a lot of unwanted visitors.  This Speckled King Snake is actually a really good snake (it eats venomous snakes), so Rob decided to be a good Samaritan and free it from the netting.

 

It was a tedious process.  Kids were instructed to stay back.
 

Kate is measuring Max.  He waits very patiently while she puts her hand on his head and "measures".
 

The snake kept coiling itself up in an effort to get the netting down its body.
 

Finally it was free!  Rob let it go under the fence.
 

A few weekends ago, the weather was too perfect to not go camping.  It was over Memorial Day weekend, and so we packed up all the gear and went out to the middle of the Ouachita National Forest.  Rob looked up a lot of maps, and then found a shelter that we could hike to that was about a mile and a half or so from the road.  We started out in great spirits.


I probably carried too much weight on my back, but Rob's pack was incredibly heavy so I couldn't complain.

 

When we arrived to our shelter area, we were very surprised to see someone had beat us there!  Two guys were in the middle of a 100 mile backpacking excursion, and just so happened to be there!  It was actually a blessing, as they had a campfire going and we were arriving at dark.  Everyone was hungry, so we were able to quickly set up our tent and get the food cooking.  There were a lot of ticks on the trail, but the kids were champs when we pulled them off.  Rob, Max and Kate all slept really well.  I hardly slept a wink, and I paid for it on Saturday.

Here we are getting breakfast going.

Kate and me!

 

Max and Rob eating breakfast.
 

I brought glitter glue and markers for the kids to decorate rocks.  It was a big hit!
 

 

Kate's grumpy face!  It made me laugh. 

She couldn't hold a frown for long.
 

 Max attempting a grumpy face.

 

In the morning, we took a short hike to find a watchtower.  We were instructed, by Rob, to wait here while he searched for it.  He only found the foundation.

 

to be continued...