G H I

Grass and Geese

I have always taken grass for granted. Grass is amazing! It is outdoor carpet! The softest most refreshing place to sit or lie down and simply enjoy. Kids instinctively know that grass is great to play and run and tackle....you get my point. I know that sometimes it gets dried up and sometimes there are living creatures in it, but come on. This stuff is awesome! Why do I think that? Because where we live, grass is pretty much non existent and if you do happen to see it is usually in some sort of formal garden that never gets played in by anyone! So, I got really excited about go

ing to camp this summer. We were going to see so many birds, bugs and other creepy crawlies that belonged to the animal kingdom, experience some awesome midwest thunderstorms, and just be out in the great outdoors. When we arrived, the first thing I did was grab my 2 oldest boys and take them to the water hole to check out the swimming opportunities. It seemed there would be a bit of a shortcut on the grass so, of course, I want

ed to feel the grass tickle my feet while my shoes flipped and flopped! Upon arriving to the luscious green we immediately spotted random droppings placing a massive amount of obstacles to our shortcut! No matter, we were in the grass, we can work around it, besides the alternate route is now too far out of the way. Needless to say, what started out as a great memory of grass gently brushing our feet turned into a high anxiety drama of narrowly escaping geese droppings.

Hot Holiday

If you are ever in Indiana during the summer months and need a place for cooling off fun, I highly recommend going to Santa Claus, Indiana. That's right, there is a town called Santa Claus and yes it is decorated for Christmas year round, and I'm pretty sure the mayor is actually Santa Claus himself. They have an amusement park, called Holiday World divided into holiday lands (would you expect anything less), and a great water park! We enjoyed the slippery slides on the hottest summer day while the baby slept the heat away in the rental wagon (in the shade).

Ian

To Ian Warren Manbeck, the cousin of my children. We love you and we miss all your crazy antics and you are just an awesome kid! We love you!