Painting the Bell!

 Even though we'd been up for 16 hours at this point we decided to paint the bell the first night. Camp didn't start until the next day so there weren't many people around yet and we figured we could go at 9:30 instead of waiting until 10:30. The girls came up with a fruit of the spirit theme.

 

 

M and S came to help too.

 

 

It was a lot darker than these pictures make it seem and it was hard to see but they did a good job!

 

 

We let the younger ones do whatever they wanted on the back.

 

 

Here they are the next day! Good job bell painters!

 

 

Sweet cousins!

 

 

All five little ones have so much energy and barely stopped moving all week! While the rest of us waited in line they were climbing trees and playing with rocks and running all over the place. They kept each other quite entertained!

 

 

Peanut loved little J and did a great job keeping him safe while he ran after the big kids!

 

 

 

Up next: Fort Davis! 

 

Texas!

 Peanut got home from camp Friday afternoon and brought Boo's suitcase with her so I could do a quick turn around on their laundry. Boo got home at 8pm that night and seven and half hours later we left our house at 3:25AM! Lou hitched a ride to the terminal.

 

 

We met Noni, got our bags checked in and got through security in record time. 

 

 

We were ready for Texas! 

 

 The girls usually don't sleep that well on the plane so I was very happy that Lou was out within minutes of being airborne.

 

 

We had a short layover in Denver...just time enough to grab some breakfast before boarding our next plane. Daddy was trying to teach Lou how to cut her pancakes. :)

 

 

Our next flight was quick and easy and we landed in Texas! We grabbed rental cars and jumped in for a little road trip to camp. Two trips to McDonald's in one day made for happy girls, haha, and thankfully they passed out the entire way there!

 

 

This trip we got two small rental cars instead of one larger vehicle. Noni and I had the littles and Daddy had the three big girls. They did a little napping too.

 

 

They woke up just as we were pulling into the town.

 

 

We got some groceries and headed to camp to open up the cabin. Thankfully Daddy and the big girls got there first and cleared out the SIXTEEN mice in traps before I got there. :P Aunt Karen had gone this spring and set off bug bombs and put out new sticky traps which were quite effective! I only saw two ants and a couple tiny moths the whole week! No spiders or scorpions this year! Thanks Aunt Karen!!!

 

T had to fix some leaky pipes and patch a big hole in the back where the mice had chewed through the spray foam. Noni did all the vacuuming and bleaching while I unpacked everything and set up all the beds and carpets. We were hot and tired, but managed to finish in just a couple hours and then we headed to town to meet the family for dinner.  

 

 

We ate at a restaurant we'd never been to before and it was really good!

 

 

Cutie J!

 

 

Sisters!

 

 

After the kids ate they went and played outside.

 

 

It was really pretty there and not too hot. We enjoyed the sunset.

 

The kids play really well together and can make all sorts of fun with just some rocks and sticks. :)

 

 

Funny kiddos!

 

 

The best part about camp is being with the family! We were just missing Auntie E and Pawpaw!

 

 

Lots more pictures to come! 

A Rebirthday!

Peaches' rebirthday was a few days before we left for Texas so we decided to go run some errands in town with Mama and Noni, and then she picked Dairy Queen for lunch. :)

 

 

Boo and Peanut were at camp that week. 

 

Lou really wanted me to get a picture of her on the "How Many Cones are You?" wall. Looks like she is 7 1/2 ice cream cones tall. :) 

 

 

And Peaches is 8 1/2. 

 

 

We had dinner later with Daddy and sang to her.

 

 

And gave her the traditional Odyssey album. 

 

 

We have all the newer albums so now we're going backwards and getting the older ones. 

 

 

Happy rebirthday Peaches! 

Funny Friday!

 

 

Happy Friday! :) 

Shop Progress!

 We have made some great progress on the shop! Grandpa and T and I spent days leveling out the main floor with gravel. You have to spread the gravel, wet it down, go over every inch with the Whacker Packer, and then do it all again until you get it to exactly the right height everywhere! It's quite the process.

 

 

Jax had the time of his life with us spraying the hose for hours on end. I think his favorite thing in the world is water!

 

 

He literally did this for HOURS and then he would have to go potty every thirty minutes for the rest of the day. Haha.

 

 The couple that Whacker Packers together stays together. Haha.

 

 

 

Finished! 

 

 

 

After the gravel was all level...which took several days...it was time for the plastic frost barrier.

 

 

And then insulation.

 

 

T bought these cool foam boards that you could just lay down so it went pretty quick.

 

 

Finished!

 

 

Unfortunately we found out they contract and expand with the heat and were all popping up the next day.

 

 

Peanut helped us turn each one over since they had bowed upwards. At least we had a beautiful sunset to work by!

 

 

We are going to be heating the shop with hot water pipes in the floor...apparently this is the most cost efficient way to do it. So we spent one very HOT Saturday laying the pipe. Thankfully T found this tool that shot the staples in and saved us at least a day's work.

 

 

Pipes...check!

 

 

We had to make a Lowe's run for more supplies.

 

 

The following day Grandpa came over to help us and they got the pipes all set on the board while I laid out the rebar in the grid and then the three of us tied off all the rebar for a couple hours.

 

 

We are now ready to pour! Unfortunately we found out they are booked out over a month and that you aren't supposed to pour over 90 degrees so it looks like we'll be waiting for a while. I'm sure we can find some other projects to do until then. :P