Monday:
Sigh, errands. We booked our cabin for Indiana Beach, sent our money in for homeschool fieldtrips in the first quarter, signed the kids up for the National Spelling Bee, then stopped at the grocery store to buy a few things for a cookout at the dam.

The water coming out of the spillway at the dam was violent. The river was high and it would have made Nana VERY nervous to see the kids on the playground about 30 feet from the river bank (an unfenced playground at that). We didn't turn our backs on the kids for one second, nor did we take them to the lookout deck for our usual peak at the river.

Ended with our 2.2 mile walk at Hummel park.

Tuesday:
Chuck found out that a senior agent wants Sun/Mon off again. That means he can't come to church with us, nor can he attend several of the fieldtrips we set up with his old schedule. Looks like Thur/Fri off with two 0430 starts, a 0530 start and two 0800 starts. Wah wah!

Made chicken soup for dinner. Brandon ate two bowls, lol.
Picked up a few items at Walmart for school and by the time we got back, it was bedtime. Chuck was exhausted anyway, from playing cards with a few guys from church and getting home at 12:30am (uh, 3:25am comes early on the ol' alarm clock).

Thursday:
The kids LOVE to watch an old show on Boomerang that Scot and I loved as kids. The Banana Splits (The Arabian Knights, Danger Island, etc) are one of their new favorites. Fleagle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky. La la la!
I realized today that we have to start school earlier than planned. We're starting a week from today, on the 28th. Crazy start, too. 3 days on, 2 off, 5 days on, 2 off, 2 days on, 2 off, then finally normal 5-day school weeks. Eek! Pray that I'll be organized and efficient.

Friday:
Liv surprised me with an english muffin and a clean kitchen this morning. It was a sweet surprise. Brandon is learning by leaps and bounds. He literally wants to do EVERYTHING the others do. They get vitamins and he's not old enough. So I have to give him 3 mini chocolate chips each day. He pulls on the fridge door, knowing I keep them in there. He brings our shoes to us when we're headed out of the house, throws his clothes in the dirty clothes, etc. And he brings us the sunscreen when he wants to go outside (knows how to work the child safety lock on the cabinet).

Went to a 6-hour crop night tonight with a few girlfriends from church. Um,...those women are CRAZY. There were 40 people there. At least 5 of them brought the Cricut machine that Jackie has. Yes, they dragged it out of their house to have at their workspace at a crop. The lady next to me was using an electric toothbrush to clean her rubber stamps. Sheesh!

It was a good deal though; $15 and that included $10 of in-store credit. I made a dye-cut horse for Liv, golf bag for Reece, and ballerina for C. Brandon will get a blue flower I have left over, lol. I scrapped Chuck and Dad's fishin trip and it's one of the most special layouts I've done. So much family tradition in it.

Saturday:
Olivia is on a sweet roll (pun intended). Today, she made me a bagel with cinnamon, banana, yogurt and water for breakfast and served it to me in bed. See, told ya. Sweet! She and C went with Chuck to get his hair cut and to pick up the few grocery items we need for our trip to Indiana beach tomorrow.

Reece is coming out of his skin excited, telling every stranger he knows. He even made a prayer request for safe travel in his Sunday school class last week, lol.

Ate at Denny's tonight, then did a little shopping at Kohl's. Brandon took off from us when we left Denny's, bolting for the front door. He entertained two elderly couples when he found he couldn't push the door open so he proceeded to complain to them in baby gibberish. LOL!

Sunday:
(Because we were at Indiana Beach Sun and Mon, I'll include Monday with this update)

Headed up to Indiana Beach for our annual Kick-off/Send-off. We send off the summer (sniffle, sniffle) and kick off our school year. Stayed at Jellystone park in a cabin again. I can't say enough good things about a Jellystone campground. They are METICULOUS. The bathrooms and showers are absolutely spotless. The cabins are very well maintained and sealed (not a bug to be found inside). Not a weed in a flower bed. Playground equiptment new. Pools are heated and in wonderful condition.

Last year we forgot linens and our diaper bag. This year? The pigpen and jackets. We were able to barracade Brandon into a bottom bunk, but I sure wish we'd checked the overnight low temps before going. Even though we all had a blanket, we froze our buns off (the cabins have a/c but not heat). The kids swam for hours, then we roasted hotdogs and had S'mores over the fire. Chuck used those match-light charcoal briquettes like fire starters. Worked perfectly (you might recall it took almost an hour to start our fire last year). We took the kids into the amusement park after dinner to see all the lighted rides. They give us passes to get in free just to walk around. The park closes at 7pm during homeschool week so the kids don't get to see everything lit up. That's why we walk through on Sunday night, the day before we actually ride.

Had to laugh because Chuck and I were sitting by the fire about 10:30pm, when neighbors arrived at the cabin next to us. They were "Canadian". While they were off at the showers, I asked Chuck to find something from the van to keep me warm. Remember, we forgot our jackets and it was VERY cold outside at this point. So he brought me a sheet. A white sheet. There I was when they returned, all covered in a white sheet. Sheesh!

Monday:
The kids had a blast. Reece finally rode the pirate ride (cried and still didn't want to, but I was able to convince him and he discovered it wasn't so scary after all). He also rode the largest coaster in the park 4 times. Cierah, who had previously boasted she was going to "ride it again and again" only rode it twice (and only a second time because there was no line so Chuck told the operator to fire it up again, lol. She wasn't gung-ho.)
Liv and Cierah were able to ride the twirlie rides without us this year, PRAISE GOD IN HEAVEN!!! And Chuck and I took enough Bonine to stone out for the second half of the day. I tell you, we were mellow alright.

Brandon was tired from not sleeping well in the cabin, so he wasn't keen on riding. Though he did ride the "ish" (fish) and a few other rides. Chuck bought all the kids one of those candy necklaces, which Brandon munched on in a semi-comatose stupor. He then immediately fell asleep in the car on the way home. We stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel and I had to crack up when Brandon, still very much out of it, began munching again as we woke him, thinking he still had candy in his hands. Poor little bubs.

If anyone ever wants to join us for this fun trip, let me know by mid-summer. We have to order tickets in advance for homeschool week. They were only $9 per person. Non-riders can enter the park for $2.50. The cabins are $80/night and sleep 6 and the campground is only about 1/4 mile away from the park.