Horseback riding over the weekend!

This past weekend we went camping at Oak Crest Campgrounds then horse back riding at Marmon Valley farm on Saturday.  The campground had this beautiful pond where you can fish apparently without a permit. The kids enjoyed walking around the lake. However when we got home we noticed red welts all over Jenna's legs. Turns out Jenna got bit by chiggers. I thought she had chicken pox - they were everywhere! Apparently you are not supposed to roll around in the grass. 

the lake at the campground

the kids at the lake

 Marmon Valley was great! We rode horses for about an hour. Sarah rode Angel, Matthew rode Meshach, Jenna rode Eddie, I rode Rusty, and Erik rode Samuel. Matthew was nervous about riding until he realized he was riding a Matthew sized horse. We all had a great time! After horse back riding we went on a hayride and halfway through the tractor broke! We thought about walking back but just waited for a new tractor. Erik and the girls picked some blackberries by the side of the road - yum! That was an adventure! Then we went to the petting zoo and back to the campground for dinner and smores.

Horseback riding

Broken tractor

Erik on the rope bridge

Matthew playing in the barn

Matthew - he quit shortly after this

Jenna did not quit

Sarah did it too

 We had a fantastic trip but I don't think we will go back to this campground. Everything was tight. There were trees and stumps everywhere and it was hard to get around. Plus there were a lot of backroads to get there. Our Explorer really has trouble pulling the camper. But we made it out without hitting anything!

not much space between the tree and the camper

Orange is the New Black!

We've had a fun-filled June. Matthew turned 6 yesterday - and it was a perfect day! I'm loving the ages of my kids now. They are so much fun. Obviously there are challenges but I really enjoy spending time with them. 

Kids playing in the sand

The first week of June we went camping at Alum Creek. I love camping here because of the camper beach. The kids played from 10am - 5:30pm with only a break for lunch. Erik and I set up our camp chairs and read. Erik even took a 2 hour nap! It was amazing!

They love the zoo

 This summer I haven't scheduled as many camps as I did last year. Last year I felt like I was running all over the place and it wasn't relaxing. This summer we have gone to the zoo, the park, the library, the pool all on our own time and it's been relaxing. Just the way I like it!

The second week of June we went camping in Cincinnati. We got to see our friends Randy and Julie from college. We haven't seen them in years and it was good to catch up with them. We also went to the Cincinnati Children's museum. This was SO fun! The kids loved it. There were several different museums combined but the kids liked the natural history cave part the best.

Outside the Cincinnati Museum center - our kids and Mast kids

Being silly at the museum

Matthew acting as a veterinarian

Sarah and Maddie being silly at the museum

 I signed up all three kids for a one day robot academy camp. They each won medals (everyone does!) and had a great time. The kids are so creative. Jenna made a robot that would tell you if your outfit doesn't match (it would beep for every outfit Sarah wears). Sarah and Matthew worked together on a straw that would prevent brain freeze because it would spin. What great inventions!

Jenna

Sarah

Matthew

 Matthew's 6th birthday was yesterday. To celebrate we went to Adventure park and played with his friends: Nicholas and Brendan, Camden, Austin, Addie and Tyson. Then we went to McDonalds - his favorite restaurant for lunch. After that we went swimming at the Delaware Y. His favorite pool! After that we had all his favorite foods for dinner. He loves the color orange so we had oranges, orange peppers, cheese quesadillas, and corn on the cob. For dessert we had orange jello and an orange cake with orange buttercream. After that he opened presents. He loved his presents although Sarah took over some of his presents, ie the legos!

Matthew's birthday celebration with my family at Bob Evans in Mansfield

 Erik loves riding bikes so for Fathers day we had the idea of riding bikes to Old Bag of Nails pub. Halfway there Erik got a flat tire so Jenna and I had to turn back and bring the car to pick up everyone else. We still went to Old Bag of Nails and got fried pickles. Yum!

Fathers day

 Even though it was 91°F yesterday for his birthday he still wanted to wear his favorite orange pants. In fact, Matthew loves his orange outfit so much and wears it so often people may think he escaped from prison!

Matthew's orange outfit on his birthday - no he is not in prison

Happy Birthday Matthew

In other news:

1. I'm very nervous right now about my job. Most of my friends have been laid off at my company and I don't know what to do. My job is perfect right now. I have so much flexibility and freedom. It's hard to say if it's better to just ride this out or to look elsewhere. I'm just so sad for my colleagues - they are so hard working! I feel like I'm the only one left. And that's probably just because of the PhD. 
2. This has been the summer for me reading fluff books. I'm loving it though. I finished a Hero for Wondla (the second in the Wondla series). I also finished Winter, the fourth book in the Lunar Chronicles series and the second book in the Boreal Moon trilogy by Julian May. I think I need to read something more meaty but haven't figured out what that is yet.
3. Jenna and Sarah are taking Summer Enrichment Experience camps through our school district. Jenna is taking creative writing and Sarah is taking art. They are really enjoying the camps! It is only from 8-11am Mon-Thurs. Just enough time for me to go to the Y and bring Matthew. 
4. I've been doing two workout classes on Thursday and Friday. I've noticed such a difference and feel like I'm in the best shape I've been in several years. Age is just a number!

May camping

club 456 overnighter

In May I had two weekends of taking kids camping. The first weekend was our annual club 456 weekend retreat at Skyview Ranch. Jenna brought along her friends Saatvika and Lauren. It was a great time filled with horse back riding, archery, lots and lots of carpet ball, hayride, sledding down a big hill, and fun times. I was one of the adult chaperones along with the youth leader at our church and another chaperone. 

hanging out in the bunks

Jenna on a horse

 This camp is perfect. It's only 2 hours away and has really comfortable bunks with great amenities. The kids had a great time and the weather was 70 and sunny. Couldn't ask for a better weekend!

Horse back riding

 We have been eating a lot of ice cream lately. Jenna, Sarah and I shared a banana split - yum!

Sharing a banana split

 The following weekend Jenna's troop went camping. It was a little more primitive with platform tents. The girls screamed about all the bugs and spiders but it was still a fun time. We roasted smores and sang girl scout songs. We also did several hikes. Near our tents were latrines (non flushing toilets) that the girls were also not fond of!

Girl scout camp

In other news:

1. The kids got out of school May 20. It's been a spectacular summer so far. Last year I put the kids in a lot of camps. This year we've just been taking it easy and I'm loving it. Lazy summers are the best!
2.  Our game night group is playing EQ 2 again. This brings me great joy as I really like EQ2. 
3. I've been reading several fun and simple books lately: Marissa Meyer's Winter, Julian May's Boreal moon trilogy, and the Search for Wondla (a book that Sarah read). I'm ready for a more challenging read.
4. I dragged my friend Joy to zumba. She had never done zumba but one of my favorite teachers started teaching a class near Joy. Unfortunately during the class the teacher rolled her foot and broke it. So she's out for 6 weeks. I guess Joy gets out of zumba for 6 weeks.
5. I've been lifting twice a week lately and have really noticed a difference in my arms. Our Y has body pump which involves a barbell that you can easily change the weight in the middle of the class for different exercises. I love it! So I've replaced  yoga with body pump for the time being.  
6. I've been studying quite a bit for the Certified Ethical Hacker exam. It is much harder than I realized and I am woefully unprepared. I hope I can pass though!
7. Since Jenna is going into middle school we have decided to separate the kids. We repainted Sarah's room (previous baby room) and are repainting Matthew's room too (he will be in the kids current room). Jenna will move into the spare bedroom which was already purple (her favorite color). So it will be exciting that each kid will have their own room before the start of the new school year.
8. Erik finished staining the deck at the new house and will be starting on our deck soon. It's exciting that he is almost done with everything at the new house. 
9. Jenna has already finished the summer reading program - obviously and Sarah and Matthew are doing okay. I have to say I read a lot with Jenna, some with Sarah and I've been much lazier with Matthew. That might explain why he would rather build than read. I need him to read sometime!!

Our Colorado trip

Climbing at Garden of the Gods

Last weekend we went to Colorado Springs, Colorado for Erik's Grandmother's funeral (Grandmommom). It was actually a great time. We got to meet some of Erik's cousins that I had only seen once and the kids had never seen. It was a good family time and I hope we can see them more often. AND Colorado is beautiful. I mean I would move there - it's gorgeous. There are beautiful mountains everywhere. We went to the Garden of the Gods and the kids were able to climb on rocks and had a great time. We had to leave when it rained. 

garden of the gods

 Sarah finally got to meet Erik's Aunt Sarah. She was very excited to meet her since they are both Sarahs ;).

Sarah with Aunt Sarah

Our family at the gravesite

Some of the kids at California Pizza Kitchen (Sarah, Jenna, Matthew, Malachi, Ethan, Stefan)

The hotel we stayed at (Academy Hotel) was fantastic. The breakfast was great - we had waffles and omelets every day!, the pool was nice and warm and it felt like a nice getaway. One night Erik's aunt Shelby watched all the grandkids so all the cousins could go to the bar and have some drinks. It was nice to talk to the cousins and get to know them better. We had great food also. This really was a celebration of Grandmommom's life since she was a strong believer and we know we will see her again!

The kids did fantastic on the plane ride. So well that I continued bugging Erik for us to take a trip to New Zealand. The kids and I really want to go and meet their cousins but it will be really expensive. Jenna read about 3 books on the trip - she is such a reader! I'll post more later about the two camping trips I went on with Jenna.

Life marches on

My best friend Jen turned 40 yesterday. She is 10 months younger than me even though she insists she is a year younger than me. To celebrate we went to get pedicures and then to the Cheesecake Factory. It was a great time! She picked the 7 of us to go: Joy, Dana, Jen, Me, Sherri, Melissa, and Angie. We all had a great time!

Cheesecake Factory

Our toes

 Our tenant moved in May 1 to our new rental. She is still looking for a roommate and I'm hoping she will find one soon so she won't have any problems paying the rent. The house looks amazing. Erik has been working so hard on it and I can't believe the transformation. With new vinyl, carpet, a fresh coat of paint, and just cleaning it up, the house looks fantastic. I would move in there!

The new floor in the new house

 We went to Great Wolf Lodge last weekend with my family. The kids LOVE Great Wolf Lodge yet we always come back with some sort of disease. Jenna and Matthew had strep throat and Sarah was throwing up. So yeah. That happened. It was fun while we were there though. Jenna, Sarah and I rode the water slides quite a bit while Erik played with Matthew. He rode two slides then got sick from motion sickness. Sucka! More rides for me!

Erik and Sarah going to the Daddy daughter dance

 On Saturday Jenna had her saxophone recital. She played a duet with Jackie her teacher then played a solo. She did absolutely amazing. I can't believe how great she is doing! She is so good at the saxophone - just call her Kenny G. Hear her recital here. After Jenna played Sarah threw up in the car. Yipee! That basically culminated the week for us.

Jenna at her recital.

 Erik's Grandmother (Granmommom), his mother's mother passed away yesterday. She was his last surviving grandparent. Neither of us have any surviving Grandparents. We are going to Colorado for the funeral and I have convinced Erik that the whole family should go. Our kids haven't met many of the people in his family and I'd really like them to meet the family. It is sad she passed but she had a full life and was well loved.

Granmommom and Grandada

Ticket to ride

Twinkles loves Erik

My art project - teacher gifts

In other news:

1. I've read several Melanie Dickerson books. They are fun, easy books to read.
2. Our Cooper book club is reading Mistborn: The Secret History. I was happy to see one of my favorite characters resurrected. Can't wait to read future stories about him.
3. I'm reading For the Love by Jen Hatmaker. She is hilarious and my best friend I'm sure. 
4. I love my new diet as a vegetarian. We went to Fazolis for dinner and I replaced the chicken and bacon on my chicken bacon tortellini with broccoli. Seems like a good trade ;). 
5. Last week I took a Certified Ethical Hacker training class. I thought it would be a breeze since the Android class was easy for me. The issue is that - the more you learn the more you realize you don't know! I can do programming (which was basically what Android app development is). System and network admin (which is the bulk of CEH) is not something I'm terribly familiar with. So there is quite a learning curve here and I need to study a LOT for this test. And Erik refuses to let me hack into his machine for practice. The nerve! 
6. We only have a few more weeks left of school. They pack everything into the last three weeks of school too. Field trips, enrichment day, field day, parties, band concerts, art shows. AAAH! I'm ready for this school year to be over. 

Our new house is coming along!

Our new house is coming along nicely. We have put about $9200 into it as improvements but since it is an investment I guess that means it's okay.  We ripped out all the carpet and the kids ripped out the carpet pad. Duane came over on a Saturday and helped us fix it up too. They are buying their own rental so Erik will repay him with a day of work as well. 

putting those kids to work

Matthew actually ripped carpet pad out of an entire room himself!

Some of our expenses are:

• New Garage door $940
• New Sliding glass door $1400
• New water heater $995
• Paint indoors $2286
• New dishwasher $275
• New carpet $2438
• New vinyl flooring in 2 baths and kitchen $720
• Locks rekeyed $160

More expenses will come up but these are the bigger items. The house looks incredible. Honestly I would move in there now. Not kidding! There is only one full bath upstairs. Erik is thinking about putting in another full bath in the master. We got an estimate of $7500. Yikes! So we may do this later but it would really be great for the house.

While Erik was gone for 2 weeks in Boston Matthew lost his first tooth. He was unbelievably excited! He got to pick any treat he wanted and choose these artificially colored cookies from giant eagle. This is what he chose over ice cream, candy, etc. Whose kid is he anyway? The tooth fairy brought him bubble tape and a $5 bill. Only for the first tooth - the rest of the teeth are only worth 50 cents. amiright?

bottom tooth gone!

?????

 The kids have gotten a lot better at board games. Jenna is actually really good at pretty much all games. She beat Erik at Lords of Waterdeep! I won and Jenna came in second place. Normally Erik wins every game so this is rather exciting. Lords of Waterdeep is a good game because Matthew can play too. I help him with his actions and he really loves the little blocks.

Lords of Waterdeep

 On Sunday Erik and I did an indoor triathlon at lifetime. I was pumped because I have done this twice before and was hoping to beat Erik. Wrong :(. 10 minutes swimming: I beat him at swimming - I had 14 laps and he had 13. But he beat me considerably at biking. 30 minutes biking - he rode 9.4 miles while I only rode 8 miles. So we split the swimming/biking. I was ready to win at running. 20 minutes running - when we got on the treadmill I kept bumping up my speed. But then he kept bumping up his speed. We kept doing this until my legs felt like jelly. So I backed off and ran at 6.3 most of the way. He was up at 6.5 then up at 7.3 for the end. I couldn't keep up. Grrrrrrr. Well I need to train harder next time.

Post-tri selfie

 I am a sucker for all new marketed sweets. I saw these three new types of M&Ms. Coffee nut, chili nut, and honey nut. So we all tried them and picked our favorites. Mine was coffee nut. Yum!!

New candy? Of course I'll buy it!

Getting a new house while everything breaks in our old house!

Erik was gone last week in Boston for training so naturally everything broke. We closed on our new rental house - which I'm so excited about! And Erik had to get a power of attorney so I could close without him. It was a pain but we were able to close. Then my washer and dryer broke. Actually our dryer has been broken for awhile but now that the washer broke - it was a mess. The water didn't drain and our house started smelling awful!  Luckily we got it repaired!

One thing that didn't break but was unfortunate was that Panda started peeing on the carpet in the kids room. Cat urine is particularly difficult to get out of carpet. We tried many things and finally Erik had to pergo the two front rooms in our house because we never did get the smell out. Yikes!

Matthew and Panda

 While Panda was marking all of his territory Twinkles decided her new favorite spot is on top of our refrigerator. She loves this spot.  Poor Panda is very old. He hobbles around and really doesn't look that great but he absolutely loves the kids!

Twinkles on top of the fridge - please ignore all the papers on our refrigerator!

Even though last week was busy with the stinky washer, stinky carpet, and closing on the house (not stinky), my parents kept the kids for 2 days. Erik was gone, the kids were gone so I was home alone. It was spectacular! I worked the entire time on my new Android class and went to zumba - Yay. I only have 2 more labs to design for my class so I've made quite a bit of progress.

One game everyone loves in our family is carcassone. Even though Jenna is not making a weird face, she still likes the game!

Playing carcassone

 I made this lemon meringue pie for Easter. It turned out pretty good and I was happy with it. Looks are everything you know.

Lemon meringue pie

 We love to play April fools jokes around here. I got a leek and put it in our sink. When we skyped Erik the kids showed the leek to him. He thought it was hilarious. Well - he thought it was hilarious when I showed it to him. He can't really look at the screen when he skypes with the kids since they move the phone around so much - it gives him motion sickness!

A leek in the sink.

 We have been working nonstop since we got the house. Erik and I spent all day at the house tearing out carpet, cleaning, mowing, and getting it ready for our tenant. The basement was "finished" however the person who finished it must not have owned a level since everything was crooked. Erik is tearing it all out. We had a good day but my back was so sore at the end of the day. Back again tomorrow though! We have a lot to do. Here is a link to our new rental house. It has a lot of potential especially once we get it painted, new carpet, and all the other upgrades we are doing!

Erik ripping out the basement. 

Our new house