Cast Your Vote!

Is he insane? It's the question of the day! In order to get his runs in (and bike rides too!), Rik regularly goes out at about 1pm to work out. While this is all well and good when it is 70º out, it is now 105º+ on a regular basis! Wednesday he was so hot when he came back, that he took a "pre" shower out in the front yard!

Honestly though, I really do admire him for being this persistent in doing this! I know it's hard enough for me to get up at 5am and do less than he does at 1pm! That and he found $35 when he was out running that day too - how come that never happens to me??!!

Cast your vote! :)

Blokus!

Recommendation: The game of Blokus!

We played this at my parent's house on the way to Rhode Island. Philip almost didn't want to go to the airport he loved it so much. We bought our own to take to Greer and everyone there loved it as well. Now we are having nightly games around here! Even Caitlin who didn't like it so much has finally gotten into it!

Desert Gardening

I was a little worried about our garden this year - we were a month behind schedule in getting it planted. It seems to be doing alright so far - we'll see for sure today - it's supposed to be 109º! I've already picked 2 summer squash, 1 zuchinni, a few okra, and one cherry tomato! I think the spinach is about ready to pick as well. The corn is blooming and so is the cantalope! We get these "personal" sized cantalopes from our garden - there is nothing better - it's like eating candy! I hope we get a lot of corn as well - it's Rik's favorite - again - you could eat this stuff for dessert! I can't wait for the monsoon to start so I don't have to water as often! Of course, that will just mean more weeds!

Greer was Great!

We're back - yet again! In the last 3 weeks I've slept more in other places than in my own bed! While it's lots of fun to be gone - it's really nice to be home again!

We are back from our annual trip to Greer with Rik's family - we were trying to figure out how many years this is - we went when Caitlin was 15 months old the 1st time and besides skipping the year that Philip was born, we've gone every year. So, does that make it the 11th annual trip?

Anyway, we stayed in this cool cabin...

I didn't get any good pictures of the inside - but someone went all out decorating it in cowboy! It was kind of cool!

The kids love going to Greer just to play in the creek. It's a good thing this part of the creek is in front of a cafe and no one really fishes there anyway, because after my kids and their cousins spend an hour running up and down the creek, there probably isn't a fish to be found for miles!

We always do some sort of hike while the big boys are off fishing. This year we picked a trail called the Railroad Grade Trail. It's pretty flat because they were going to build a railroad there at one point. We ended up hiking a total of 10 miles according to Philip's GPS. There were some really pretty views. This picture reminds me of the original screen that came with Windows XP.

And Philip was our trip leader - he was happy to be there!

Of course, no trip to Greer is complete without a couple of fishing pictures. Caitlin and Philip were having a contest - the final score? Caitlin - 6, Philip - 5. Of course, Philip will remind you that he caught 3 more when Caitlin wasn't there!

And, last but not least, our family picture for the trip...

The Canyon was Grand!

Rik and I left two days after we got back from RI to hike the Grand Canyon. We started at Hermit's Rest and hiked to Monument, then to Bright Angel at the bottom, back up to Indian Gardens, and then out. With all of our days hikes and everything, we hiked about 44 miles total! Let's just say that on Sunday down at the bottom of the canyon, I was feeling it! It was an amazing trip - I don't think you can really say you've been to this place without hiking down into it! Standing on the Tonto Trail watching the sun rise over the rock formations is a humbling experience!

Along the way we saw 2 rattlesnakes, a scorpion, lizards, lots of deer, found a hidden waterfall, and chased off the squirrel mafia! Rik caught 11 fish in Bright Angel Creek as well. What an adventure!

It was just a little bit hot at the bottom of the Canyon! Good thing we're used to it!

Rhode Island Adventures!

Caitlin, Philip, and I went to visit my sister and her family in Rhode Island Memorial Day weekend. It was quite exciting to begin with as the kids had never flown anywhere. Philip was sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off and told me that "This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me!" I suppose we must live a slightly boring life!

Some fun things we did in Rhode Island include...

Visit the Cliff Walk and see the "summer homes" of the rich during the late 19th century. Of course it was lots of fun to see some actual water along the way as well!

We rode a ferry out to Block Island, 13 miles south of RI. While we were there, we rented bicycles and rode out to the beach. Too bad my nieces were in a baby trailer and screamed the whole way and Philip was on a kid's tandem behind me and the bike was broken. It leaned to the side so much that it showed some talent to keep it up - good job Philip! Thanks Caitlin for taking this photo - great talent was shown by taking it from the back of her moving tandem!

Thankfully the beach was a lot more fun than the bike ride!

And, another really fun thing we did was visit Boston and walk the Freedom Trail. It's so amazing to see so much history up close!

Of course, I can't forget to mention the beach that was near my sister's home. Though called Mackerel Cove, we refered to it as "Philip's Beach" because he begged to go visit it every night after dinner!

And last but not least, the real reason that we traveled 3000 miles east... to bad they weren't selling T-shirst there!

School's Out!

May 23rd has come and gone! The kids are out of school for 10 whole weeks! It's hard to believe that we have a 7th grader and a 5th grader now! The end of school was especially neat for Caitlin as she was named "6th grader of the year" at a special end of year assembly! Look at the cool butcher paper shirt she got to wear the rest of the day!