Trying out the Tent

Mark and I have been slowly coming to the realization that we need a bigger tent. For the last few camping trips we've been borrowing Mark's parent's tent. Their tent is larger and taller than ours (the taller makes is so that more people can actually fit in the tent, instead of having to crawl while in the corner). With the new addition, we were worried that we might not fit so well into their tent anymore, and we were feeling guilty about always taking their good tent and leaving them tent-less on camping trips. So, a couple of month ago, Mark and I bought a new tent. We have three other tents, but they were all wedding gifts. This one is the first tent that we've bought for ourselves. It was an impulse buy (meaning we've been talking about getting one, but hadn't been looking at all - and we were killing time in between a wedding and a dinner at Cabela's), it was on sale. And it's HUGE! It has three rooms, three doors (the main one, and one for each end/room) and 5 windows (8 if you count the windows in the doors), and to reach the roof in the middle/main room I have to stand on my toes. I can stand upright in every corner of the tent. Each of the rooms has almost as much sleeping space as our old tent (ours, not the borrowed one). I think it will be a while before we outgrow this tent...

Grandma had promised Ethan that she would 'take him camping' this summer. I think she meant that she would set up a tent in the yard and sleep outside with him, although I can't guarantee that's what she meant. Summer started late this year, and went quickly. There was another snafu. Ethan has to have his tonsils and adenoids out, and tubes put in his ears. There's a two week recovery for that surgery. Julibeth scheduled the surgery for 2 weeks before school starts, so that we didn't miss any school and would be recovered in time to start, but that also cut two weeks off the end of summer. So, suddenly there was two weeks left of summer: Time to cram in all the stuff that had been put off until later. Mark and I decided it would be fun to crash their camping and try out our tent at the same time. I don't think they minded, but I'm also pretty sure they wouldn't tell us it they did. Gotta love family! :)

Here we are pulling out the new tent and trying to figure out how it works.

That's me! Reading the instructions.

Go Mark! The kids enjoyed watching.

Emily loves to swing from this pole on the porch. It makes Grandpa super nervous!

Here's Ethan inside the new tent.

And Shelly dancing in the corner

Jason playing with a door.

Emily laying down in between two open windows (with the flaps hanging down)

Mark staking down the fly.

Here's the upright tent from the side.

Ethan playing in the pool
That poor pool. The top 2 layer got a hole in it...
It never fully recovered.

I'm not sure why Shelly is standing in a bowl of water...
The tent behind her is the tent that Ethan and Grandma put up before we got there. It's a one man tent - I think it's the one that they set up to use, but once ours was up they decided there was room for them in the big tent.


Here's the tent from the front.

Yea, it's huge...

Emily Hair Cut

It's time. It's actually quite a bit past time. I've been in denial for a while, so I waited a lot longer than I should have. Tragically, it's official. Emily needs a hair cut.

She just doesn't know it yet.

Here's a picture of her hair before the cut.
Something about the flash makes this look much thicker than it is.

I love that it looks like there's an intentional layering going on.

And I also think that curl in the back is quite adorable.

But really, it's quite the mess.
And it's time for the strange, almost layered, sorta curly hair to go.

So, we headed off to the hair school.

And Emily sat.
Calmly.

And let a complete stranger wash and cut her hair.

She was like this the whole time. It's her 'I wonder what's going on here. Maybe I'll just watch and find out' look.

Here's the finished product.

I have a new camera. My old one had issues, so we bought a new one to take to the hospital. I don't like it. I tried to return it, but having a baby distracted me, and I missed the return window. I'm stuck with it now. And now I can't find my old one!

Can I tell you how much I really don't like this camera?

It did focus, I promise! Just on the blue thing in the mirror. I'm not sure why it thought that was the subject of the picture...

Here's Emily's new hair cut!

From the side

And the back is already getting curly again! It's cute, but it promises adventures for the future...

Habitats for Bunnies and Snakes

Shelly and Ethan decided to build habitats for bunnies and snakes. I have no idea where they heard the name, or how they decided what bunnies and snakes needed for a habitat, but they were sure inventive and having fun doing it!

Of course, no habitat is complete without grass

Or water

And we all know that mud is an essential ingredient for bunnies.

Shelly was taking care of the bunnies.

Ethan was hooking up the snakes with some watery mud.

Bunnies and snakes everywhere can rest easier now, knowing that Ethan and Shelly are on top of their habitat needs - at least in the garden by Grandma's house...

Love the Farm

All of Us

I've been trying to get some fun family pictures lately. We were all dressed up for Hershel's farewell, so we tried to take some at Martin and Emily's house. They didn't quite work out.

Annie is falling over, and none of the kids are looking at the right spot.

Annie is still falling over, but I love that smirk on Shelly's face, and the giggle on Emily's, and even the almost patient expression Jason's.

Yea, pretty much a failure. Maybe next time we should do it before nap time... :)

Fun in the Pool

I was going to comment on all of these, but they seem so self explanatory.