Vacation 2008

Vacation 2008

It may have the appearance of being a total "Snoozer!"

But we had plenty of fun along the way!!!

(Javan reading The Road Runner)

Hinckley with Mom and Cori

Jared peaking through a crevice he was about to crawl through.

Javan crawling through crevice.

Wiener roast and camp out with Mark and his boys. LL and Andrea went home with the little ones. I figured I would have two nights at the end of the week to sleep in a tent, I would enjoy the bed while I had it!

All the children enjoyed their new cousin Jordyn. I'm not sure if they all got to hold her though.

Jolene just wants to be a mom!!!

Grandpa let the children dig up his garden, they loved it and spent hours in it.

Nathan Daniel Riley ~ you sure are growing up!

Ben playing with a refrigerator box.

Jubilee on Nathan and Ben's 4-wheeler. Note the leash in Marks hand, it is attatched to the 4-wheeler and he is able to keep the 4-wheeler from going where it shouldn't.

Javan describing a fish he just saw.

Jared baiting his fish hook with - fruit???

Jolene at the zoo snacking on Strawberry Twizzlers that Grandma brought to share.

Anyone for a camel ride? This one was free, the other one cost $4.00 per person.

So, what does one do when stranded in a bathroom with a child with slow bowels?

Play with the new camera, of course!

The Creation Museum near Cincinatti, OH. Well put together and worth the trip to see it.

Noah's Ark display.

The last couple days we camped at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana. We chose a camp site close to the play ground so the children could go over and we could keep an eye on them without having to be there constantly.




Getting the fire ready...

Getting the marshmallows ready...

Get the wash cloth ready!!!

We're off on our hike, so far so good!!!

Well, so far, but no farther!!! Jared didn't like the suspension bridge that ran across the river. It took some effort each time we needed to get across.

We enjoyed the hiking. The rugged terrain makes it a lot of fun. Having to pick your way through and across the streams by stepping on rocks and logs makes it an interesting hike.

Where do we go now?

We ended our trip with a prayer of thanksgiving for our safety and a petition for continued safety as we traveled home. We had several opportunities for the Lord's protection to be upon us. Chad and I both had minor slips which amounted to nothing. The first night at the campground Jolene and I were walking back to the tent in the moonlight and she tripped into the fire pit; thankfully, we had not had a fire there, but she did bruise up her leg a little.

Here, Javan had just fallen out of a tree in which he scraped up his arm and bruised his hip. It was a really neat tree and a good climber, but he was trying to stand up and lost his balance.

This was the scary one. On the trail we were on you climb ladders up the side of a rock to get to the top. Chad and I were both at the bottom and Javan had already climbed up. He wasn't using good judgement and left the safety zone. He was near the bottom of the second ladder but got too close to the edge. He slipped on some rock and fell. Thankfully there was two levels so it slowed down his decent. It shook us all up pretty good (except Jared, he has to learn the hard way). He walked away with the discomfort of cold wet clothes the worse of it all - Thank God! (The above three photos are the scene of the accident.)

Here, Jesse had just slipped on a rock and hurt his head, he recovered quickly and again Jared has to learn the hard way!!!

After Javan fell, Jared didn't take warning and was hopping around like there was no need for carefullness. After Jesse fell, he was going back and forth over the same area like he was on dry ground. Well, he paid his dues and hopefully learned his lesson, although he will never admit it ;)Jared slipped on the wet rock and fell and then was determined that we were going to turn around and go back the way we came from because he was too afraid to continue where he just got hurt. Reasoning with him was of no use. I just walked on and when he finally decided to join us, I retraced my steps to help him over the difficult areas. Thankfully we were about done and ready to load up to drive home. Hopefully they all learned a lesson and will be more careful in the future.

The beginning of our day!

The end of our day!!!

I really felt out of shape trying to climb stairs with Jonas on my back, but once I unloaded I had a new spring in my step. Maybe I'm in better shape than I realize. How many people do you know that carry around approx. 30 extra pounds on their back when they exercise?

Photo update

The climber!!!
Jonas 1st birthday!

O.K. I'm feeling REALLY dumb right now. I have tried to upload pictures a couple times since my last photo post and was only getting the symbolic details of the photos and not the photos themselves. I thought it had something to do with our Internet safety whatever you call it. So tonight I finally tried to put words to the pictures that I had already uploaded on our computer that does not have the safety. I got the same thing and then I realized that for some reason when the pictures were uploaded it was taking me to Edit Html instead of Compose and so I wasn't seeing my pictures. All that said I am not taking the time to tell much about the pictures, but maybe you will start hearing more from me again.
Morelle mushroom above in center of picture and below our lot for the day (two weeks ago).

Jonas climbs everything now!














The circus?

O.K. two stories.

First ~ Why Jolene got bandaids with her birthday money from Grandpa and Grandma Riley! Jolene thinks she needs a bandaid for every owie. I finally told her she was going to have to buy them herself. She can use ours when they are needed and she can use hers when she has an owie but a bandage is not necessary.

Below is a picture of Jolene after Jonas knocked a book off an end table and it landed on Jolene's head.

Case in point ~ If you will look with me at the close-up below you will notice the red mark below her eye-brow AND below the bandaid! I rest my case!!! :)
Chad gave me some roses "just because!"

Right after he presented them to me, Jared, who had been with him when he purchased them and wanting to be a part of the "moment" blurted out "they were really cheap!" That brought the house down in laughter and tears (well Chad and I anyway). The children didn't know why it was so funny but had they known Chad's history and frugal personality they would have understood.

To keep the record straight. Chad had every intention of buying me roses but when there was no price he asked someone nearby how much they were. Jared heard the lady at the store say that they were a really good price, Chad hadn't said a word.