Fishing the cares away.

It has been a long, crazy week of school prep. and we topped that off with a school yard sale this weekend and 2 back to back up nights that Drew and I split. It all was taking its toll so tonight Drew loaded us all up and we drove about 6 miles up the river were Drew could fish and the kids, Koko, and I could play in the river. We met a "jolly little fellow" fishing there already when we arrived (Joe Kretoski) so Drew joined him, letting out a few hollers about the temperature of the river on the way. Kent and Katie enjoyed chasing crayfish and catching clams. After opening about 11 poor clams Katie was finally convinced that there were no pearls in river clams however, she opened up an "empty" shell and let out a shrieking scream when a crayfish (having a heart attack of its own I'm sure) jumped out at her. Koko did really good swimming and overcoming his water nerves. He wasn't about to be left on the shore so he waded right in after us. Joe caught 4 fish while we were there (14 total for the night), Drew caught 2 fish and after awhile Kent got the urge, picked up a pole, and on his first good cast landed a nice bass. If you look close on the picture you can see it. Then on his second cast he nailed another one. It was enough to make him feel like it had been a successful night. It was the perfect way to spend a couple of hours. We climbed into the van relaxed and happy. There is something about water that can soothe the soul and being able to say you 'caught a few' doesn't hurt either.

School

These next few weeks bring much change and many new experiences. I start as the Supervisor of the upper learning center at Daystar Christian Academy on the 25th. I am very excited and only a tad bit terrified. It is a big, big step but I know God is with me. He has helped me so much already and I know I am not going into this alone. We will have 16 girls this year (no Boys) so it should be really fun and interesting. We have some great kids and I am so honored for this opportunity to teach them. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated this year. I definitely don't want to mess up. aahhh

What time does school start again????

Just kidding!

The Cabin

Uncle David having some fun with katie on the tubes.

Oh, the Cabin. Relax, get wet, have fun, enjoy family, food and Olympics. We always love our family week at the cabin in Travers City. Katie and Kyra are part fish. They stayed in the lake at least 3/4ths of the time. Katie did awesome on the tube this year hitting some big waves and even getting some air.

Katie and I started out on a nice, friendly tubing ride until I suggested that we see who could stay on the best out of three. She grinned and said "Your on!" Round one went to mom, round two to Katie, round three was a tie with a double wipe out, and the final wipe out went Katie. OH YAH, mom is still cool. hahaha

We had a mother daughter date one night, going shopping at the mall and Toys R Us. Fishing was the name of the game for the guys, however, one night the ladies got out the poles resulting in Mary and Dana catching pikes (30" and 27" ) and a nice small mouth(27") by Sharra. Kent went shopping with mom and dad one day and was most excited over the lure shopping. He walked down the isles pointing out the good lures and informing me what kind of fish they would catch. He is quite the little fisherman. It was a great week.

Pineview Open House 2008

Open house fun. Katie and Rachael Ward teamed up for the 3 legged race and egg toss while Kent and Derek worked together taking 2nd in the egg toss with "The egg that wouldn't break" even after several drops, but look how far they had to throw it. They were pretty proud.

Drew and I took 1st in the egg toss with my Big Brothers Dan and Doug taking 2nd. Drew ended the contest by thowing the egg to me across the field KNOWING it had a crack in it. He was all encouraging saying "Come on, Babe, if you catch this one we win." I caught it all right followed by a big splat all the way up my arm and shirt. But we won ;) .

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Frogs in the bathroom.

My latest artistic attempt. I did an upnight the night before Pineviews open house and the

Pugsley house bathroom needed some help ( it was plain off white, yuck) so I started off with painting the white on top, blue bottom, and green border. Well about 2:30 a.m. inspiration struck and these little frogs started appearing. It turned out pretty cute.

Farmer Boy

Farmer Drew.

This is for all you city slickers who just can't see Drew as a true, country boy, farmer. Here is the proof. He is true, John Deer Green. He can drive a tractor with the best of them and look good doing it. hahaha

Drew is raising his second batch of meat chickens (50), he decided not to do 125 at once like last year. We were all pretty tired of chickens after butchering, plucking or skinning, gutting, and packaging 125 chickens. We also got 35 egg layers this year and turkeys. Only 3 of our 10 turkeys made it.( they are in this last picture with 10 black egg layers. The little brown and yellow chicks will be layers too. We will be starting the whole "chicken death row" thing in about 2 weeks. Chicken anyone?

Don't worry the little finch is safe. He was freed due to good behaviour.

Going to the fair is always fun. We all love seeing the animals. This year there were some surprises. The fashion world has found its way to the fair. AAHHH! We were shown a side of sheep that we had never seen before or at least not quit in that way. This bunny stole my heart. Isn't he adorable? As for the goats they were deceptively cute until they lured you in, then you find out what they are really after. "Uh, MOM! DAD!"

Betsy and I (still best buds) are enjoying actually getting to sit down together and catch up as we watch our men show us that they've still got it.

This is a "little" late but before I catch up the rest of our summer I wanted to finish off our camp experience. The Drakes brought a petting zoo to camp. The kids loved it! They got to ride horses (Katie's favorite past time), watch a sheep and lama get sheered, play with a 2 day old baby pygmy goat and a very tolerant billy goat (as you can see with Connor, he like to wrestle). It kept them busy which made everyone happy.