Wipe Out!

So, last night the girls talked Matt into making a fire so they could roast a giant marshmallow. We were all sitting around the fire down by the creek. We hauled down chairs and enough wood and the roasting stick and I even took my book (wishful thinking!)
The girls had found some sticks and were poking the fire and then making designs with the smoke.
Finally, we got to roast the marshmallows. They were big. We only did the strawberry ones, and they were quite flavorful. However, they were more, well, slimy, for lack of a better word, than normal. Shelby had to go wash in the creek after she was done with hers.
Well, then the girls went to jump on the trampoline, because sitting around the fire is only fun for old people! :)
After that, Colesy was wandering around the yard looking for sticks and twigs to put in the fire. She had found a lot, and then burned them all, and she was starting to make us batty. (2 marshmallows is PLENTY!) So, Matt told her to go look for more firewood.
She had made it to the top of the bank and was pretending to be a mountain goat. Then she had her hands full of sticks, so she decided to run full-tilt down the bank. That in itself, well, I could see it wasnt going to end well. But then...
Last winter, the kids had tied a chain around a tree to help them climb back up they sled rode down the bank. Colesy had been playing with it earlier in the evening, and had left it pulled down the bank. Somehow, as she ran full tilt down the bank, she tramped on that chain and the end of it reached up and wrapped around her ankle, causing her to stop short. It also sorta flung her up and jerked her back and then dropped her. It all happened FAST, but also in slow motion! She was shocked/stunned and in pain. I ran to her and picked her up and then thought that if she had a back injury, I should put her back down. I laid her on her back and she was kicking her legs and trying to get up. I got right over top of her so she'd know I was right there, and got her to calm down. She had sores on her ankle from the chain, but nothing else apparent. Matt thought she was okay, so I picked her up and we snuggled for the rest of the evening. She was quite content to sit quietly on my lap!
She told me later that her shoulder, arm and back hurt so badly she couldnt feel them. Yikes! She is sitting pretty still this morning, but I think she'll be just fine.
Scared me pretty good!

Oh my!

Imagine how delightful this must be! Colesy doesnt like cake, pie, or many cookies, but she DOES like marshmallows. She found these at the store today and her eyes lit up and I got the "Please Mommy?!"

They are gi-normous! One pound of giant marshmallows! I put a bag of regular sized ones beside it, just in case you were unable to comprehend the size!Matt will have to reinforce our fire sticks before they will hold one of these puppies!

West Park

This park is in Carmel, which is next to Zionsville. Traditionally, this is the park we have gone to for the past several years. We tried the other new water park, and it was great, but we thought we needed a day at our original. The day started out cooler than any other day we had been in Indy. But it quickly warmed, and we got sunburned worst here. Shocking, I know! :)

West Park has this lovely wooden walkway around and through a pond. I've always wanted to check it out, but it has always been too hot. It still was too hot, but we went anyhow. It was really pretty, and had it been cooler, I would have liked to explore further.

West Park is a park, with water features.

Isaac. Solitary. Nut!

There are these piers of big rocks for people to sit on. It makes for an enjoyable place to watch the children. The trees are getting bigger, and soon they will provide ample shade. Until then, we just have to keep applying the sunscreen and dipping our feet in the water! I dont mind.

Cousins

I'm not sure why we didnt sit them all down and take a "real" picture, but here are a few snippets of cousin pictures.

Holliday Park

We went to this park, near-ish to downtown Indianapolis (I think!) It was lovely, despite the humidity being at dripping point. The shade was nice. These pictures ended up backwards in order, but at the end of our hike, we let the kids play at this park. I took the above picture because we had a lovely bench under this tree. The shade was marvelous! And we could see the kids play. Where they got the energy, I'll never know. It was stinkin HOT!

I love the roots sticking up out of the ground. Looked pretty neat.

There were these trails all around. It reminded me slightly of Silver Creek Falls. It was cooler under the shade canopy, but still it was hot and humid!

She is a ham~ball!

The other kids ran ahead and Shelb stayed back with me. She was very kind!

The park also had these ruins - I never was quite sure why they were there, or what they were there for. But we had fun looking at them. Sorta. It was HOT. I may have mentioned that. Let me reassure you, it was borderline miserable! :)

Shelby Colesy and Isabel

There was a Nature Center at this park (air conditioned!). It was very kid friendly, and the kids all had a great time exploring. This is inside a "cave".

Outside the Nautre Center was this marble ball that was sitting in water. You could make it spin and it would just keep spinning. You could stop it and make it spin in a different direction. It was fun, and that it was in water on a sweltering day, well, it was a favorite!

Shelby Colesy and Isaac

The end of an era.

We got this car 9 years ago, almost to the day. We had to get a car that 2 car seats would fit in. This is the one. 2 months later, Colesy was born! This little silver car has been good to us. Took us to Indiana several times. 7 at least.... Ohio more times than I can count. Out to Iowa, down to South Carolina and up to Maine. And everywhere in between. It now has 182,500 miles on it.
For 2 more days, it is ours, and then it is going to a new home. Silly to be this attached to a vehicle.
And we search for its replacement...... not quite frantically, but almost! :)

Indiana

Jill found a new water park close to her house. We had a great time on a hot day. Okay, everyday we were there was a hot day, so we spent one of them here.

I didnt take too many picutres. But we all had fun here. Kinda down behind this water play place, is a "creek bed". We had lots of fun there. Nathan and Isaac spent a lot of time building a dam. There were big boulders along its edge where we sat with our feet in the water to stay cool. We all agreed it was a great park, but we really wanted to go back to the original one where we have gone each year.

Playing hookie has never been so much fun!

So, Grammy went to Pittsburgh to watch Jack over night and asked if the girls could go along. Hello!!! So, I took them down to her house about 10 on Saturday morning. Matt had to work all day, so I came home and got lots of house work done. Yuck! But it was nice to have several uninterupted hours to crank things out.
Matt got home about 5:30 and we got cleaned up and jumped on the bike and rode for about 100 miles, ending up in DuBois with dinner at the Bamboo Garden. Yummy! It was a lovely evening.

Sunday morning we woke up, looked at each other and said "Lets jump back on the bike!" So we got ready and took off. This time, I remembered to bring the camera - although it is difficult to take decent pictures while ON the bike! Ha ha!!
I tried this one several times before I got it. I was so focused on pushing the correct button I forgot to smile! silly me.

We hit Route 6 for a while. Makes me smile to be on that road for some reason.

This is my view. Course, I can look to the sides, and I do, but if I look dead ahead, Matts crown is in my way!

We went to Kenzua Dam (another place I had never been). It was really pretty.

Kinzua in Indian means place of the big fish. Look closely and you can see how appropriate a name that is for this place!

CRAZY!!!!! And it was too far away for people to throw food to them. Guess the dam brought all the food to them and they know where to lay in wait...

And of course, there were these beautiful waterfalls along the roadside.

Hard to get them from the bike, but I sure tried!

It was super hot, and humid too. Summer in PA!

We ended up going for about 6 hours and about 170 miles! My sit-downer is sore! But my heart is happy. I love being in love with my husband! He is the best. And spending time with him does me good!

Vacation Bible School 2010

Ancient Egypt is this years theme. The girls dressed up at Grammy's today. They are sweet!

Shelby with her leader-mom Deidre

Colesy and Erin

Prayer time.