Running ourselves "Ragged"

It has taken us (well, me anyway) a few days to get back to normal after an awesome reunion at Ragged Mountain over Memorial Day. The kids and I have been sleeping in every day, with the exception of yesterday, when we had to get up early and go to the doctor for Rachel's two month check-up and... (duh duh duh DUH) shots. I was VERY nervous because Caleb needed his Kindergarten boosters also, and I had visions of me having to hold him down in some WWF wrestling move while he screamed profanities and kicked the nurses. I was pleasantly surprised, though - I didn't mention his shots all morning, then after her appointment I told him it was his turn for something, so he crawled right up on the table. When he saw the shots, he didn't even freak out like I expected. He said he didn't want them, but sat quietly with me while they jabbed his legs 4 times. He cried a bit but overall was very brave and was happy to eat an entire ice cream from Costco afterwards. Rachel's actually had a harder time, she's been grumpy and feverish, but hopefully in a day to two it will pass.

We've also been busy the last two weeks getting the garden planted and refreshing the yard - I finally bought some weed barrier to put down in the front flower beds since 4 years ago we had neither the time nor the money to do it. Hopefully it will cut down on the hours I have to spend weeding out there. Kip brought home a whole truckload of fresh mulch, so our beds are looking quite lovely, I must say. We did have to come inside for 30 minutes on Monday while the weather did this:

Yes, that's piles of hail.

But on to the fun - we really enjoyed Ragged Mountain this past weekend, despite mother nature's insistence on rain. All week before we left, the kids talked excitedly about going to "Dragon Mountain" and sleeping in a "cave." (cabin) The kids had a blast and Kip and I were able to relax and enjoy visiting with all the family - great to see everyone! The first night was hard to beat after a bunch of the guys left and got home late - Caleb was thrilled to tell me daddy had shot a "moosetache/mustache." (Imagine Caleb's excited face - "Daddy shot a moosetache! No, I mean a mustache!!") Really, he shot a muskrat, but mustache is pretty close and made us all laugh. I think Caleb's favorite part was (as always) the 4-wheelers, he hitched a ride with anyone that was going anywhere. But I neglected to get a picture of him on those, so here is one of them on the horse instead:


Looking very dashing, I would say. Ella's favorite was the sand box, I think... here she is with cousin Ronnie after a hard day of playing...

A little zoned out. Hence the sleeping in for a week afterwards.
On and on I babble. Time to go to the park and let the kids have some fun. woo hoo!