Earth Day, Nature Walk, New Friends and a Meteor Shower

Happy Earth Day!

Today was made of awesome sauce!  We decided to meet up with a new-to-us group of homeschoolers that the Crawfords have been doing things with.  They had scheduled a nature walk and play time at a park...perfect Earth Day activities and the weather could not have been better.

Generally speaking, a lot of homeschoolers are late.  We're not.  Ever.  We actually got there a little early and waited...

and waited...

and waited.  Brit even sat on the roof for a while snapping photos with my camera :)

Soon, the Crawfords arrived and all was well.

Then everyone else started coming in.  The kids immediately started playing and everyone got along REALLY well.

Duck Duck Goose

The real geese soon showed up

Then the kiddos ran off to explore and play.

The mommas sat and chatted for a long time and when the kids were ready, we walked the little wildflower trail.

Ben poked Dakota in the face a lot today!  :)

This little guy didn't have a head so Jake helped him out.

Block Head

POKE

They decided to make a pyramid with many different body combinations.

Lunch time

Look at my girl's smile!  Pretty much sums up the day :)

We had really great time!  Brit just loved the other girls and Dakota had Ben poking him in the face and hugging on him so he was good :)  I think we'll be joining the group more often.  Yay making new friends!

Esther had brought a quiche for lunch.  I hadn't ever made one before and with all the extra eggs we have, I thought it would be a good idea to try making one.  It turned out great!  Dakota ate a whole piece!

I sauteed up half of a small white onion in some olive oil.  Then added three handfuls of fresh baby spinach and wilted them down a bit.  I beat 10 eggs with some milk (didn't measure), added a little sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and a dash of garlic powder, what was left of the bag of shredded cheese and then mixed in the onion/spinach.  Poured that into a lightly greased 13 x 9 and baked for 25 minutes at 350*.  It was delicious!  Thanks E for the idea :)

Tonight, we should be able to see the Lyrid Meteor Shower...if we can stay up any later.  We're beat!

 Awesome day!

The Beast, Flint Creek Trail, AC, Art, Sunset

We finally got a chance to sleep in a little later this morning. We've had to be up and going pretty early every day this week. Theron's not home yet from his cruise so we're still letting Patton out twice a day. So between that, insurance issues, rental car, appointments, etc...we've been busy in the mornings.

At 11:30 we got the phone call that The Beast was ready! We weren't expecting it to be ready until Tuesday. We finished getting ready, ran a couple errands, picked up The Beast, dropped off the pretty, red, HORRIBLE gas mileage car (seriously...it got 11.4 mpg) went to pick up Britney, who had spent the night with Cathy and Kaitlin, came home to eat lunch and then went to find something to do outside. I've been in a funk lately, and being outside with my camera usually makes me feel better.

We ended up at Flint Creek Trail. I wanted to go to the refuge, but they were shutting the gate when we pulled up. Oops!

We came home to a VERY hot house. I had noticed how hot it was before we left, but when we got back, it was HOT. There was air blowing out of the vent, but it wasn't cold. Bobby checked the unit and it seemed that the fan motor was the culprit. Bobby decided to put it back together and when he did, it started working. I suppose that means there's a short in the wiring, but I'm so very thankful it's working now. I nearly cried. The whole thing was quite emotional.

Britney wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and pick up some art supplies with the gift cards she's gotten. She said she's in a very artsy mood! She was able to pick up 2 2 pack canvases, 9 tubes of paint and 2 packages of paintbrushes...and still has almost $12 on that particular card. The paints and brushes were on sale and we used a 40% off one item coupon for the canvase.
We dropped Bobby and Cody off at the house (He wanted to make sure nothing was going on with the AC) and Brit and I went to Walmart so she could look at a few things. Plus I needed to pick up some groceries. She bought herself an Alabama hat and t-shirt. Both look really great on her! When we walked out of the store, we got an amazing treat. The sunset was extraordinary!


When we got home, Bobby and Cody were watching the new Thundercats show:) We ate dinner, watched a little TV and now I'm ready to crash.

River Rats