Lake Higgins Hike

With Rebecca's birthday this weekend, I asked her what she wanted to do and her answer? Spend time together on some hikes. She picked two hikes: one along Lake Higgins, north of Greensboro and the other at Stone Mountain State Park. 

We did the Lake Higgins hike first as a warm-up for Stone Mountain. We knew this was a longer hike, but it's flat and easy, so I gave the kids some walking sticks and we set out.

Along the way, they found some sand that had been washed up by a stream that was running low because of the lack of rain. 

The stream bed had a walkway/bridge over it that each of the kids took turn jumping from.

Lake Higgins is a beautiful lake to walk along, with gorgeous views

 and little places to get right up to water and play.

The hike was a total of 9.5 miles and we figured out that kids are good for about 8. They got tired and whiny for the last couple of miles, but they all made it on their own two feet. :)

Youth Worship Team

Olivia has been practicing with the youth worship team at church and they did their first service last month. They were fantastic! :)

While she's been learning piano for years and flute for a few months, this is the first time she's ever done singing.

They'll be doing it on a monthly basis, so we're looking forward to seeing her talents grow!

Blueberry Picking 2017

Blueberries are in season and we were in desperate need of replenishing our stock! We loaded everyone up and headed out to Watts Farm, grabbed 4 1-gallon buckets and some cups and got to work.

 Unfortunately, it was blazing hot and the kids wilted rather quickly. Of course, the littles faded first. They did more eating than picking, which is normal. Gabe was the next to fall out. Ezra powered on for a good while, picking and staying in good spirits. Olivia managed to pick most of a bucket on her own. Altogether we picked about 25lbs of berries. That should last us until next year! :)

Sewing Camp

Olivia did a sewing camp through the Greensboro 4-H last week. She spent 5 full days learning how to pick fabrics and sew by hand and machine. The made these little quilts called "fidget quilts." They have various items sewn on them that can be touched and manipulated. Generally this kind of quilt is for babies to play with, but they sometimes use them with Alzheimer's patients because the activity can be calming and stimulate brain activity.

She had a lot of fun and is now begging to go to the fabric store so she can start on a new project at home. :)

Splash Park - July 2017

WHat do we do when the summer gets hot? Go to a splash park! There are a couple in Greensboro, but we like the Keeley Park one in particular. During the week, it's usually not too crowded and the kids always find someone to play with. 

Haircut!

One thing Olivia has is hair in abundance! It's incredibly thick and, when taken care of, can be absolutely stunning. But it's also difficult to brush and is like a thermal blanket, so she asked if she could get a haircut and donate the hair to Locks of Love.

She looks amazing! And all that hair will make quite a wig for someone special. :)

July 4th

This year, we wanted to see some big, professional fireworks, but still wanted to go to our friends' farm in Pleasant Garden like we've done for the past couple of years. So we compromised and went to a Greensboro Grasshoppers game on July 3rd so we could teach the kids about baseball and get to see the fireworks after the game.

 They had a lot of fun cheering for the Hoppers, who beat the Asheville Tourists pretty handily, 12-4. There were some tense moments early when the Tourists hit 3-straight home runs, but the Hoppers had a 9-run 6th inning to put the Tourists away for good.

 We were sitting in the second row along the first base line, which happened to be where the pitchers for the Tourists sat along the wall. This allowed Emma and Irene to get up close and see the players.

 Emma spotted the little knob-thing on top of their hats and kept reaching over to poke it on a player's head until the usher came down to send them back to their seats. The Tourist player never even looked up at who was poking him. :)

 One convenience of sitting in the section we did was that we were close to the playground for when the kids got a little bored with the game. 

 At the end of the evening, it started to rain, and while it was heavy enough that I didn't want to pull the camera out, it wasn't heavy enough for them to stop the fireworks. It was a big, non-stop display that was practically right over our heads. The kids all loved it!

They've asked if we can make the baseball game a family tradition from now on. We'll have to see... :)