The Eat-It-All

Some kids are a know-it-all, some kids are a take-it-all.

But Julianna?

She's an EAT-IT-ALL!!!

Earlier this summer, Julianna noticed that I would daily pick some lettuce from my little pots for a salad. She thought it looked like great fun, and wanted to pick them, too. She would SHRED my plants and make a big mess uprooting them. This made me very upset! There went all my fresh green salads! So I told Julianna, "Look, they are for EATING! Not for THROWING! See?" I demonstrated putting the lettuce leaves in my mouth and chewing them for her benefit. "Yummy Yummy leaves!!!" Julianna looked curious, and she immediately tried it out. But the first couple of times, she crumpled up her face and declared "YUCK" spitting it out.

Next week while Julianna was feeding Lucy her breakfast, this was what I found. Julie sat there and ate my lettuce, leaf, after leaf, after leaf....till it was ALL GONE.

Was she just hungry, or did it taste good to her? I don't know....But Now Julianna has decided that ALL plants are for eating, and I'm pretty nervous about the situation. She literally walks up to plants...any plants, and just begins eating off the flowers and leaves. I'm okay with it when it's the mint leaves in my yard...but now she's eating apple tree leaves! Every time she jumps on the trampoline, she grabs apple leaves off the tree and chews them up till they're gone. Hopefully there is nothing poisonous in our yard. I'm glad that she likes her vegetables and wants to eat them, but how am I to keep her safe? What if she grabs something inedible from a neighbor's yard and gets really sick?

I'm not sure how to handle this. Sometimes she eats weeds before I can get them out of her mouth. At least some of them are bitter, and she spits them back out. But what am I suppose to do, never let her play outside?

By the way, she doesn't eat greens when I give them to her, only when she is getting them for herself. She's mighty proud of her newfound talent.

She walks around my yard, grazing for edible food. I feed her, really, I do! She must be really excited about hunting and gathering on her own.

Courtney used to do that when she was little. She'd pull up Rhubarb and eat whole stalks of it. She also would pull up corn stalks and suck all the juice out of them. Crazy kids!

So at all the parks and playdates, I guess I'd better watch her like a hawk!

Summer Fun

One of our favorite parts of Summer is that we have time for lots of playdates. During the year, most people are too busy between school and activities to come and play. During this playdate, the kids had a blast with Play-doh.

Dorathy, Christopher, and Courtney opened up a bakery shop with all the
goodies they created. They got out the play money and wanted me to take pictures of everything. This was serious business to them: Arguing prices and handing out change. So fun to watch! My kids love to run pretend businesses. They're not ready to do it in the real world yet, though. Christopher has a few ideas for making a side income next summer, though. He's finally big enough to mow other people's lawns!

Julianna is fascinated with glasses. Funny thing, she ONLY likes Daddy with his glasses on. If he ever takes his glasses off, Julie will say "Daddy glasses, glasses? glasses? NOW!" And she won't stop till he puts his glasses back on. It's hilarious. Julianna prefers people with glasses!

Christopher proves that being almost 12 is NOT too old to goof off with Play-doh! I think he re-discovered just how much fun it was. He created a swirly road for everyone's creatures to drive down. It looked great, but was a pain to clean up. I felt grateful all over again for my laminate flooring!!!

Here is Julianna getting ready for the Dallas Summerfest Parade. It was so chilly we shivered in coats! It was so weird...parades should be hot! In past parades, people would spray the audience with water as they drive by. Not this year, though!

The girls ate our packed picnic before the Candy-throwers arrived. Everyone loves the parade, but the Candy is everyone's favorite part. We got several bags worth this year. This was the first time ever that Scott didn't get to come...he had to work. We missed his enthusiasm and silly shouts to all the floats.

After the Parade, I went to the Library book sale and got about 50 books for only 5$!! It was amazing...I'm definitely going to do that again next year! I needed to borrow a wagon cart to haul the books to my car. What an amazing deal. :0

July Family Reunion

Most years, our family has a July family reunion at the Discovery Park in Mcminnville. This is a great favorite of my kids because of the awesome play equipment, but most especially the water feature.

I was surprised that Julianna was afraid of the sprinklers. She was tired, and spent a while happy in the playpen. All the kids loved eating plenty of food. The kids happily divided their time between the sand, the water, and the playground. The only part I don't like is that our pavilion is far away from the kids stuff. It makes it really hard to keep an eye on everyone. Julianna liked going down all the giant slides. It was a HOT HOT HOT day. I had to poor a lot of water on the black swings so that Julianna could go on them without burning her poor bottom.

Dorathy hangs out in the shade with baby Luke.

The hot sun affected a couple of my kids, giving them headaches and heat exhaustion. Lots of liquid, shade, and rest helped.

Play-Time!

Cousin Spencer.

Our Matriarch, Grandma Alice Blanchard

On the way home from this reunion, I totally scored a great find. There was a yard sale in Amity that closed up shop, with a big sign that said, "Everything, free!" I felt prompted to stop, even though I was late for a cherry picking date with Scott.

I found several boxes of free clothes, books, and best of all...a free desk for Courtney!!! yay~~~ I painted it pink and Now Courtney has a desk identical to Dorathy's blue one in their room.

It's funny, my house is so small and crowded now that just adding one small piece of furniture made me need to rearrange half my household! I'm glad it's done now, though.

Camping at the KOA

Grandpa cooked some VERY tasty "black clams" over the campfire. I was really afraid that they would be nasty, or too salty....but they were really delicious and tender. I was pleasantly surprised.

Grandpa loves to try new things. I sometimes believe there's nothing that he isn't willing to try!

Everyone was brave and tried some. Most of the kids loved them. Grandpa got to eat most of them, though! We had hot dogs and S'mores to finish off the meal.

It's Orange...and squishy...and SURPRISE! It's GOOD!

Camping at the Koa was an interesting experience. All the state parks were full. And most of the private campgrounds refused to accept 5 children. The only place we could find that wasn't a hotel room was the KOA in Wallport. However, we had to pay $80.00 for a small piece of dirt! I couldn't believe it! Our group was so big, I had to pay extra per person, plus lodging tax and other fees.

The only good thing was that we were right next to the playground. There is zero privacy. It's like everyone camping squished next together in a tiny park. It really made us realize how much better the State parks are. Large camping sites with greenery, privacy, and more at only $21.00 is a MUCH better deal. We had to pay a ridiculous amount for firewood. But at least we found a place to stay! With the size of our party, we probably would have had to get 2 hotel rooms, and that would have tripled our costs.

Well, I've learned my lesson. Don't try and camp unless you have a reservation! I'm feeling grateful for the fact that our family usually gets to camp in the off-season!

The next morning, Scott, Christopher, and Grandpa all went Clamming from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Koa is stingy with their hours. You can't check in till 4 p.m., but you have to check out by 11 a.m. So Scott had to rush back to us early to help me pack up. I had a really relaxing morning. I put Backyardigans on for the kid in the trailer, and then I just read books. I put Julie down for a nap and watched the older kids play at the park and make new friends. It was soo nice.

After we packed up, We spent a little while watching all the men go Crabbing. It's boring for the little kids after a while...and COLD. Plus I couldn't relax with Julie for a second since we were on a dock surrounded by open water. So I took all the girls to play at the Aquarium.

When the men finished crabbing and bought lots of ice to soak their critters in, we spent the rest of the day checking out the Newport Coast Aquarium. They have a new exhibit called Swamplands, and a GIANT Anaconda. We had a terrific time, but Courtney was Very sad that Oddwater was gone. She had loved that exhibit. Once again, it was not as nice an experience because the new exhibit had just opened and it was a Saturday. I had never seen the Aquarium so CROWDED.

It was a long drive back home, and we all struggled to stay awake. It was so nice to get back and take showers to wash all the sand and salt off! *phew!*

Our last day with Grandpa was spent at church and listening to stories together.

I was blessed to be able to get lots more information from Grandpa on finishing Marlene's history. I'll start working on that again as soon as the weather cools down and harvest season is over.

That night we had a big wart-burning party. Grandpa was kind enough to bring all his equipment. He burned off 4 of my warts, and several of Scott's as well.

OUCH!!!

At the Beach with Grandpa!

We decided to spend the weekend camping at the Beach with Grandpa. Since this was a last minute decision, we had to trust in fate to find a camping spot. It was also a weekend, and so it was VERY crowded. We are spoiled and used to mostly going out during the day in the middle of the week when places are open.

We decided to play at Pacific City because it is a beach with the best of both worlds. It has tide Pools & A Giant dune for sliding down. It turned out to be a good choice. We enjoyed watching the Dory boats launch and fly inwards on the sand. The kids enjoyed the water. It was especially fun to see a little river of fresh water flowing from under to the Dune to the Ocean. I don't think I've ever been at the beach when there's been one before. It was rain-run-off from a late and wet summer. Grandpa and Christopher helped dam the creek into a swimming pool for the littlies.

Courtney and Angle enjoyed damming the creak up with muddy sand and rocks. As always, it's the process the kids love, not the product. It was more fun to build than it was to play in!

Courtney loves anything that is Hands-on!

Angel buries her feet in sand. Everyone insisted on wearing bathing suits even though it was chilly! (except Grandpa, that is, remember...he is from Texas!!!)

You have to admire a man who isn't afraid to get his jeans wet & cold!

Christopher loves being a leader. He found a group of kids building stuff in the creek, and he marched up and began organizing everyone. The kids were happy to listen to his ideas and team up to create new stuff.

What every boy needs is a shovel, some dirt, and lots of free time on his hands!

I can't believe how much my boy has grown! Just 2 more months before he is twelve! Isn't he handsome!

Julianna took while to warm up to being on the beach. But after a few hours, she began to revel in it. She was rolling around in the sand and happily bouncing in and out of the waves. She wanted me to take her SWIMMING...but no way was I going deep in that freezing cold water!

How about some sand with that snack? We had some chips and a WHOLE bucket of cherries to eat at our beach spot...all liberally sprinkled with sand!

Would you like some sand with that?

All the kids enjoy "Conquering" the mountain of sand. It takes quite a while to hike to the top, and no time at all to slide down it FAST!

Trying to keep out of the wind!

Grandpa returns triumphant from an exploration of the tide pools. He had several specimens of fish for the kids to examine. As well as plants & seaweed. Best of all, he had two buckets full of Mussels to cook for dinner that night!

The "Kiddie Pool" grew very big and deep before it finally burst it's boundaries and raced off to the Ocean. It was quite a show. The kids tried to fix the dam up again, but were unsuccessful, because it was time to hit the road!

It's much more fun to hike out to the beach with bucket loads of stuff than it is to hike all the way back. We got all packed up and began our hunt for a campsite. Little did we know how difficult it would be!

It took almost 4 hours to finally find a place that would accept our large group of children. We had to pay and arm & leg for it though!