Back Together Again!

My girls are back!! They're so cute and smart and wonderful!   And they're back!

What Did We Do While They Were Gone?

What did Jason and I do for the almost 4 weeks that the girls were gone?  Surely we did lots of fun things together right?   A little.  We both had to work a crazy amount so we really didn't see each other as much as we had hoped.  And we didn't get very much on the to do list done either.  We did volunteer at the July 4th celebration at the Carroll County Farm Museum.  This ensured us a great seat to see the surprisingly good fireworks show.  

And we did get to go out and eat together a few times.  Which is nice.  We tried out Greenmount Station in Hampstead and really liked it.  And we had time to talk to each other with minimal interruptions.  :) 

Mostly we worked though.  Jason was getting super busy with the game he was working on so he was working lots of late evenings.  I accepted a job in June to coordinate the Living History Camp at the Farm Museum, so I got back from WY with half a week to get everything ready for that to start.  Crazy!  It was like running a marathon that doesn't end for a month.  By the third week of camp (when I incidentally had enough counselors that I didn't have to do double duty) I felt like I had a better handle of what was going on.  I did have a lot of fun.  As someone told me once, "That's right up your alley."  Yep.  I love to bring history alive for kids!  And in an environment like the Farm Museum with awesome artisans and volunteers who have so much expertise, it was amazing!  And I kept saying to myself that I can put up with anything this year, so that next year I can have a normal time frame to plan and run the camp.  I learned a few lessons this year (particularly about the teen helpers) and I have lots of great ideas for next year.  So win!

 

Before the girls and I left for WY, we placed quite a few eggs in the incubator.  Jason dutifully turned them while we were gone, and I kept it up when I got back.  We even had a few peacock eggs in with our fingers crossed.  I placed three different groups of eggs with the hopes that a few would hatch for each week of the camp.  The first week was in luck and one little chick hatched for them.  They named her (we thought) Swan because I had also brought along a 6 week old chick named Dove to be our mascot for the week.  The second week wasn't so fruitful.  No hatchlings, but they were happy to play with Dove and Swan.  The third week we had a slew of eggs because the museum director had brought me fertile eggs from Colonial Williamsburg, so we thought something had to hatch!  One did on the next to last day of camp.  I took the little chick home, but alas.  I looked away for maybe 30 seconds and Tinkerbell got her.  It was not a fun evening.  Needless to say I will not recount the events of that night here, but would like to forget them.  I just prayed that when I got to camp the next morning one more chick would have hatched.  Thankfully one did.  A teeny tiny little banty.  The campers named it Sunshine.  Whew.

Grandparent Camp

     From Wyoming, the girls went back to Mississippi with Mimi and Papaw.  They did not however, take many pictures of their time in Decatur MS.  So I have these two.  They made me a bat house.  They love getting to make things in Papaw's shop.  They also made crosses to give as gifts to people.  They went fishing.  They visited a good bit with my Great-Aunt Faye and Great-Uncle Robert.  They cooked a lot.  Some of the cousins came over and had a sleep-over in Mimi and Papaw's new camper.  They went swimming every afternoon at the Newton Country Club and drove the golf cart around.  Mimi even taught them how to do flips off the diving board.  They all went blueberry picking.  They picked green beans and Gwyn helped can them.  It was a good ole Newton County Summer.

      After about a week and a half in Mississippi, the girls went on to Texas to stay with Monty and Pop.  One of their favorite places they visited in Texas was the Caldwell Zoo.  They had a nifty sandplay area with and old car to climb in.  And there was a parakeet exhibit where the girls got to go in and have the little birds flying all around and landing on them.

 They visited an art museum that had Lego art exhibits.

 They visited another museum that had this cool caboose to play on.

 They made wreaths with Monty.  This one was for our door at home.

 And of course, they went swimming at the lake and had slushies.

They also got to go back to Splash Kingdom! 

 The girls were also introduced to the spectacle that is Buckey's.  Where else but Texas would have a gas station amazing enough to warrant tourist visits?

 The girls were all excited to see the Minions movie.  They always get to see more movies that I do!

 There is a really nice Children's Discovery Center in Tyler.  The girls enjoyed digging for fossils, experiencing earthquakes, climbing the rock wall,  and going through the caves. There is also a play town with a hospital, vet, bank, courthouse, and cafe that they had fun in.

Monty and Pop drove the girls all the way back to Maryland when their time was up.  They had some fun on the way!  They saw Rock City.  I haven't been to Rock City since I was 8 or 9 years old, but it looks just as cool now.

 They saw Lookout Mountain as well.  Isn't that observation deck a little perilous looking?!

And finally, after being away for 5 weeks, the girls were back in Maryland.  Whew!  It's good to have the team back together.  :)