Home again home again jiggedy jog…

We had a wonderful trip, I don’t remember ever feeling this relaxed at the end of a vacation! 

Saturday was my cousin Jenna’s graduation party.  Sunday was her graduation and then Sunday evening was another cousin Amy’s wedding.  It was a very nice weekend.  We are very blessed to have some strong family ties.  So many people have broken families and poor relationships.  I look forward to seeing them again in 3 weeks in OKC (Oklahoma City, OK) for another cousins wedding.

I am looking forward to getting back on an earlier routine, but… when in Rome do as the Romans or as applied to my family, when with the Brinkers do as the Brinkers do… soooo, Friday night through Monday night (or should I say morning), we stayed up till at least one and sometimes later.  I had some wonderful visits with my sister, Mom, and Aunts.  We got a bit crazy, especially after Cori took her pain medicine before bed and got a little loopy for which we took advantage of her for a few good laughs!!!!  :)   Why is it the best talking happens at night when we should really be sleeping?

We left Tuesday morning at 8 and the children and I  spent part of the day with Cherie Manz in Junction, OH while Chad went with Larry to do some business.  The children enjoyed playing with their children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Manz’s around 4 and went to Clint (Chad’s brother) and Bethany’s (near Ft. Wayne) for supper and a short visit.  We left there around 8 and within an hour of leaving Clint’s we had a blowout on our van.  Thankfully we had a spare and Chad and a couple of the boys were able to change it out and get us back on the road again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to get back into some sort of routine and try to stay focused on priorities… building relationships!

I have a friend that told me her mom didn’t do much with them as children, she was always busy keeping her house in order, I DON”T want to become like that so a couple summers ago I wrote a note and stuck it to my mirror, it says…

Don’t be such a Mom!

HAVE FUN!

Get dirty!

Get WET!

So among other goals for the summer, my priority is to have fun and build relationships with the children!

Family Fun

Cousins and second cousins at Jenna’s graduation celebration.

Jared watching Grandma Riley water her flowers.

Jubilee and Grandpa Riley

Jubilee, Grandpa Riley, and Aunt Cori

The children had lots of fun playing with their cousins on the slip n slide on Monday afternoon.

Johanna enjoyed watching the fun…

                                                                    for awhile…

Then she went exploring to see what the fun was all about! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Riley got Jonas a tractor for his birthday.  He LOVES his tractors…  Thank you Grandma!

And Jolene received a remote control truck, I think I’m gonna have to try my hand at it.  Thanks Grandma!

Grandma Brinker

We were very thankful for a very nice visit with Grandma Brinker on Friday.  She sang a couple songs with us and we got to see her smile.  She told us she loved us as we said good bye.  Our visits become more precious as time goes by.  Each smile, each song, each I love you will be remembered for years to come. 

A few more hiking pics…

The children climbed in the window of the shelter where we ate our lunch so I took the opportunity to have a photo shoot!  We may need to print some of these.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the few of me with my Sweetie!

I thought these roots looked really neat.

This was part of the trail!  Lots of fun but Chad carried Johanna for me – I don’t trust myself, I’m too much of a clutz!

 

Johanna stuck her toes in her mouth before I got them tucked in to the sling.  We tried to get a pic, but I guess we weren’t quick enough!

More vacation

Getting ready for bed.

 

 

Bedtime snack.

The camp site.

 

 

 

Hocking Hills had some really neat hiking and I would highly recommend it if you haven’t been there and are in good enough physical shape for some good exercise!  The following pics were from a ridge trail.  They were neat trails but also caused no little stress trying to keep the children far enough away from the edge and at a snails pace… 

 

This gives a pretty clear idea of the cliff and the closeness of the trail.  See trail on right and cliff on left in picture below.

 

 

 

 

Chad purchased framed back packs for the older boys last summer and we made good use of them.  Two children carried back packs with water and lunches for the trails.

One day we chose to take the children to play Putt – putt golf.  First we went to a place that said they were opened on the internet, but they were closed getting ready for the weekend.  Next Chad called another place and they were actually closed but offered to open up for us and did just that!  What a kind man!

Jubilee played games on my Palm while the older ones played golf.

It was a hot day and since no one was around they took a few liberties we wouldn’t usually allow if it was normal business hours…

Here Jesse just rescued his ball from the pond with a fish net!  I think they were purposely sending their balls for a swim!!! :)

Did I mention it was HOT?

These are the stairs leading up to the rock house.

The entrance…

There were all sorts of nooks and crannies in the rock house as well as a few windows.  We could imagine the Indians making a home in here.

 

 

A picture window!

1 little, 2 little, 3 little indians, 4 little, 5 little…