It's Over: Part 1

The worst thing about vacation is that it has to end! And the end always comes way sooner than it should. So, this last week Aaron had one of his three weeks of vacation this year. We couldn't afford plane tickets to fly home so we decided to take two mini trips during the week. On Monday and Tuesday we went camping!!!

Note: due to the high volume of pictures (which I was mocked for by loving husband), I will try to limit the narrative.

Have snacks, will travel.
And we also brought necessities like Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear and a light saber to fight off all the bears and wolves.
Ohhhh, look! A hill!
Little hikers ready to go with Light Saber in tow. Unfortunately, the light saber was left on the trail somewhere. Destroy is heartbroken.
Across the suspension bridge. Every time we crossed this the boys never failed to notice the good sized glob of poo on the bridge. Search was convinced that it was hippopotamus poo. We never did see any hippos though :)

Hiking normally went in this order. Search running ahead, Daddy close behind, and me and Destroy bringing up the rear. Destroy is a bit slow and unmotivated.

Daddy and boys on the top of a big rock.It's never to early to start rock climbing :)Mom and Search. Search is almost entirely out his his momma's boy phase. I'm happy and sad all at the same time. He's such a sweet kid (when he's not dumping hand fulls of flour on the floor or repeatedly kicking his brother in the stomach).

Family picture attempted in a cool "T-Rex" cave.

This hike was so cool because we got to climb up three or four ladders. The kids were in heaven, but I was a little scared about the combination of high ledges and spastic children. Aaron didn't tell me until after the hike that the trail map said that this particular hike was "very rugged". He's not going to let two little boys get in the way of his fun :)

Climb on!

Climbing...

Hi Mommy! Does our insurance policy cover dumb parents who take their toddlers on dangerous hikes?

You're not really supposed to look at the camera, right?

We asked Destroy to take our picture. Third...

time's...

a charm?

Break time. Do you notice how Destroy takes every picture with his arms out? He got this from his cousin Darci. Funny kid.A little bribery never hurt anyone (except for the fact that it's high fructose corn syrup)! They LOVE candy corn.Coming out of the narrow ravine where Aaron and I had to scale steep walls with a kid on each back. Obviously there are no pictures of that.

Braving the cold, cold water.

Cutie boy.

Finding rocks to throw into the water.

This tree is amazing because it grows off the end of a rock! I tried taking a picture of it last time we were there but it was the wrong time of day. I'm happy that this one turned out.We thought this giant rock looked like a shark fin, so they were pretending to be sharks.Making up for a lack of camping chairs. No wonder the car still smells like smoke...All tuckered out after hiking two miles! And I didn't even position them the same way or anything :)

We eat better breakfast while camping than we do at home!The next day we hiked 2 more miles and we saw a turtle right in the middle of the trail! I also caught a frog to show the boys. All Search and Destroy wanted to do was squish it though (their nicknames still fit them), so I stopped pointing out the wildlife.

Search has slowed down by this point, tired of all the hiking, to just walking with Daddy instead of running in front of him. I pretty much carried Destroy the whole two miles on my back.Next we went canoeing. We stopped a couple of times along the way when we found sandy beaches so the kids could play. Look, even Elmo grows a beard while camping. This photo looks doctored but Search just has a very poky rib. Little boys are made to play in the dirt. But somehow they weren't made to be cleaned up afterwards.On the canoe. Aaron and I decided to be daring while canoeing. About half way, when the river split, we decided to take the fork with a few rapids. All was going well until an unavoidable obstacle attacked our canoe and threatened to tip us. Water started gushing into the canoe, kids were crying, and parents were laughing (the water was only a couple of feet deep). Aaron had to step out of the canoe to turn it against the strong current. It was kind of funny. I thought about getting out to take a picture, but decided the boys might have issues if I abandoned ship while it was "sinking".No swimming or wading allowed in this river, but we can always pretend.

Proud parenting moment. Letting your two-year-old lead you across a slippery narrow ledge with a big fall (for a two year old).Search and Dad.I can blame blogging for inhibiting my compassionate motherly instincts. Instead of consoling my little boy who just face planted in the cold water, I run and grab my camera. Of course, my action to grab the camera was taken only after the promptings of the compassionate, consoling father :)So now he gets to be nude.A favorite, the covered bridge. And, no, that's not Destroy stretching his arms out, that's Search, the little copy-cat.

I'm finally done. That was too long of a post for such a short vacation!

What we do on saturdays...

We have been taking the kids swimming every week (sometimes I brave it by myself but it's much nicer when another set of hands can come!). Today was the first day that I can remember that neither kid puked while swimming. So, I thought I would post in celebration :)

Destroy is pretending to be a shark I think. Da Na, Da Na, Da Na... (Jaws theme. I think I'm the only person I know who likes that movie... ok all those movies).

Search has learned how to dive. When he dove he saw the diving toy on the bottom so he was freaking out to get it. I pushed him down there really hard and he got it!

Their favorite thing to do is to go under water. Destroy mostly sticks to the shallow end where he can still touch if he needs to. Search can't touch the bottom yet so he likes to go everywhere.

Leave to to the pros

Don't try this at home:

Don't try to stand on a soccer ball while holding onto the bathroom counter at the same time while your mom is trying to get ready in the morning. The ball might shoot out from under your feet. Then you might smack your chin really hard on the counter which in turn might cause your teeth to involuntarily bite through the sides of your tongue. Then you might start bleeding. A lot. And then you'll start freaking out at the sight of blood, and then the taste. So then you'll start screaming probably. And while you're screaming you'll spit all the blood out of your mouth. But it will be less like spitting and more like spraying a stream of blood anywhere within a 6 foot radius of you. You'll start wiping blood on your shirt, your mom's shirt, anthing you can get your hands on until your mom finally gets you a washcloth. You'll take turns screaming and spray-spitting for 25-30 minutes until you've stopped bleeding. Then you will stick your tongue out at anyone you see and say, "See? Ah Baw Mah Tawn". So, please don't try this at home. Leave it to us professionals to get the job done.

Pity party for me.

Last may we came out to Indianapolis to look for a house. We knew we only wanted to rent... so our options were limited. Well, we looked and looked and we finally found the house that we live in today. Yes, it's pretty cute with a sweet little cottage feel, but why didn't we look around the yard last year and think, "Wow. That's a lot of yard work. Wow". I don't remember the thought ever going through my head as we were signing the lease. Why oh why?

Now, I feel like a weeder by profession. Just "letting the yard go" is not an option. I can't stand to go outside and be surrounded by weed infested flower beds. I just can't do it. So, instead of playing baseball with the kids and going on bike rides, I find myself spending all of my outdoor time WEEDING. I'm done. I'm ready to Round-Up the entire yard; echinaecha (a cookie for the first person to spell it right: it wasn't in spell check), tulips, daffodils, ferns, lillies, everything. Anything to get rid of the weeds. Of course, we could always hire someone to come and do our yard work, but then there's A) the cost (which would not co-exist well with a resident's salary) and B) The yard care guy would never make it to other yards because ours would be so time-consuming. So here are a few pictures to enjoy of our beautiful yard. It is for once all weeded at the same time (well, almost).

FRONT YARD (small flower bed):

One more patch in the front yard:

Here's where the real weeding starts. I could spend (and have spent) 2 hours just in this section. When we first got here last July the weeds (you know those poky ones?) were easily as tall as I am.

More in the backyard. That big planter box used to have a pond in the middle. When we got here last year it wasn't running and there was a dead mouse in it. So, we took the pond out, threw it in the forest and filled in the big hole. With dirt from the forest. We love that forest. Our last Christmas tree resides in the forest now too, all shriveled and dry. So do all yard clippings, lawn mower waste, etc. As long as it's something plant-related, we throw it in the forest. I don't love the Poison Ivy and Poison Sumac in the forest.
Wild strawberries grow in here during the summer. Too bad they aren't bigger than my pinkie finger otherwise we'd eat them!
More in the backyard. See that cute little cobblestone walkway? It doesn't look so cute after you have sprayed Round-Up in every single little crack and crevice. Oh, and the moles think it's fun to dig tunnels under the rocks and move them up and down all the time. Hmmm, I wonder. Does Round-Up work for moles too?
There is a rose bush under our bedroom window in this picture (which you can't see). I have yet to see roses bloom from it. But then, we've only been here 9 out of the last 12 months. So maybe they'll bloom yet.

This flower bed is the longest in the whole yard. It stretches all the way to the road. And, no, I don't weed this one. It's too much. This flower bed divides the front yard from the backyard with dirt on either side of the fence. We plan to grow pumpkins along it this summer. Here's the flower bed on the other side of the house, the side that no one sees. I take the "If you can't see me, I can't see you" approach. It's never been weeded.Search's hair looks much like a weed also. How's that for bed-head?