Good Ground

Everyone has been clamoring for pictures of our time at the Good Ground Mannings' house, some angrily.  So, here they are.  Forgive the quality as they were all taken on my phone.  We really had fun playing with the kids.  They have a huge basement playroom that is perfect for intense Ring Around the Rosie, board games, and jumping rope. Zach is pretty much the best Dad and Uncle ever and gets right into the thick of the fun. 

 

 The Mannings now own a huge 25 acre property that has a creek, lake, and rolling woods.  It's such a nice piece of land and surprising to find in the middle of cornfield Illinois.  The morning after we arrived, Owen was excited about swimming in the lake.  He put on his swimsuit and headed out to the lake unaccompanied, though Zach quickly got out there too.  Soon Joel, the girls and even Cae-baby joined them.   

 

The lake outing was hilarious. I was holding Carly and got to watch the fun of Zach trying to get the boys to the floating dock while avoiding getting nipped by the fish in the lake.  Caelum hopped right in with his life jacket on and immediately rolled onto his face.  Owen and Zach tipped while on their float, and from that point on Owen preferred to travel with Uncle Joel.  Poor Zach also had to get Caelum back from the floating dock, after he was falling asleep on it. Haven and Cadence are awesome swimmers and love to be in the water.

 

 

 

 

 Carly June is a sweet little baby.  All the kids adore her, including my own, seen given kisses to her in the following pictures.  I definitely plan on using a pacifier with my next kid (that is NOT a subtle pregnany announcement, if you're wondering) because those things are great.

 

 

 After church on Sunday, the Mannings took us to the Rainbow Resource warehouse so we could see where Joel works and do some shopping.  The kids very patiently played on carts and conveyor belts as I giddily spent way too much time looking at school materials and toys. Their selection and prices are unbeatable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Steph's parents' house so the kids could take a ride on their ATV.  It was a muddy and fun ride.  Joel was able to return with all the kids still on board.

 

 We have missed hanging out with Joel and co. on a regular basis and hadn't seen them for a year.  We fell right back into the groove of eating big meals together and playing games.  Joel even caught and prepared a few bites of fish from his own lake. Haven was right there with him the whole time as he skinned and cooked it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We learned, and purchased, lots of new games and the kids played really nicely together as we did so.  Avery and Caelum became fast friends and could usually be found in the pantry together, sneaking a cereal snack. Owen has already been asking for a repeat visit, and he remains unfazed by the long drive to get there.  Steph, sorry I don't have more pictures of you.  I know you really wanted to see some since you were so excited for a post about you.   Sorry!  I'll be more intentional on our next visit.  Because yes, we'll be back.  

 

 

 Thanks for having us, Mannings! We love you guys!

In the Backseat

Let's say, hypothetically, that you were planning to take your two kids on a roadtrip.  A 12 hour road trip.  Let's up the ante and say that these two kids were one and a half and three and a half year old boisterous boys.  Would you be nervous? No, you wouldn't.  Would you go on Pinterest to find some ideas for entertaining the little guys, and then hit up the dollar store to implement these ideas?  You betcha!  So, here's a quick look at the drive.  Pictures of the actual visit will come at a later date.

 My first step was to take the boys to the park near our house, and then proceed to tire (pun!) them out as much as possible.  After we got back home, no they were not allowed inside...they stayed outside and played more!  Then we carb loaded on their favorite mac and cheese for lunch until Zach got home and we hit the road.  I thought these steps would almost guarantee a three hour nap from each of them, but that was not the case.  Alas.  We did get a solid hour out of Owen and about two from Caelum, and every minute helps when you've got a long way to go. 

 I asked Zach to string a rope between the handles and put my little blue car mock-up on it.  We moved the car the appropriate amount for each hour, so that the boys would have a visual of how much more we had to go, and hopefully keep Owen from asking, "How much longer until we're at Uncle Joel's house?" as is his tendency.  They loved seeing the car make progress and I think it helped them see just how very long the trip would be.  The other Pinterest idea I used was bringing along pipe cleaners and a colander.  What a hit!  This was probably the favorite activity and they were very entertained with the hats Daddy made and threading the pipe cleaners through the colander.  Caelum particularly enjoyed the part of the trip with lollipops.

 Another great Pinterest idea was punching balloons.  We tied them right to the rope between the handles and the boys went crazy for them.  It did not take long for one of them to pop, but the other made it the whole way there and back.  The boys were able to throw it to each other, kick it, and of course punch it like madmen.

 A nice long break at Cracker Barrel was helpful too.  My favorite part of it was the mom sitting at the table next to us (toddler was sitting next to her), who had a giant marijuana leaf tattooed on her forearm.  Welcome to Indiana, folks!

 I brought a bin of toys from the playroom, which Caelum quickly emptied.  Boo for boring old toys that have been seen before!  Bring back the lollipops!

 Playing Peek-A-Boo with blankets is always fun. It came in handy for the trip home when I realized I hadn't saved much for the drive back. 

 But of course the best thing about playing with blankets is when the child falls asleep while still "hiding" underneath it.  Our plan worked, Caelum.

 Zach and I both felt like the 12 hour drive was definitely long, but doable for a holiday weekend.  To sum up, we made great time and the boys enjoyed most of the ride.  We pulled out all the stops: books, books on tape, coloring books, little crafts, a band-aid free-for-all for their stuffed animals or selves, and a disgusting amount of snacks.  Owen watch one movie each way, but otherwise we didn't have to resort to that as much as I had thought.  And finally, when all else failed, we pumped the music loud and the air guitars came out in full force.