Locusts

Saturday was the nativity of Saint John the Baptist. In his honor, we ate the closest thing we had to locusts

Nora dove right in and had seconds

Tessa didn't mind at all and crunched away

James and Charlie were both more reluctant but ended up thinking they were pretty good. Lucy never did try.

Vacation

Grandma, Tessa, and I stayed home from the cave and played.

Tessa had fun with glasses made from pipe cleaners and Playdoh

One night we took the older kids to a murder mystery show. First they got to pretend to be cowboys

Silver dollar city

We went to Silver Dollar city several times, but didn't get many pictures

Here is Princess Tessa being assisted by grandpa as she eat her cereal in preparation for a big day

Some kids tried the stocks. Charlie looks as though he's really being punished

Tessa doesn't like loud noises and was pretty unhappy, so I got her some candy sticks. Hours of sticky contentment!

Showboat

Our first day in Branson was both Charlie's birthday and Father's Day.

We went to the Branson Showboat and saw a princesses and pirates show with lunch.

We surprise the kids with costumes and the girls and James were very excited. The girls wore their costumes pretty much every day and are still wearing them now we're home.

There was dancing 

And James got to go up on stage!

Nine

While we were on vacation, Charlie turned nine.

We had cake before we left.

We had cake again but I didn't get a picture. We love you Charlie!

More Camp

More farm camp! She had so much fun, she was upset it was over

She really loved the chickens, and got "best bunny finder"

Riding in the truck while eating ice cream was another hit

Most of these I stole from instagram! My little suburban girl had the best time on the farm.

Park

We came to the park while Lucy was at camp. Tessa was having none of it.

Then we were sitting on the bench and the sprinklers came on and sprayedbus and she was MAD.

But the other kids had a blast.

The boys got all wet and then ran after the ducks, who seemed to also be trying to get wet.

Tessa tolerated sitting away from the mowers and sprinklers.

Here's a picture of her looking happy, just to even things out. Grandma Margaret made the dress!

Camp

Lucy is at farm camp this week and she is having an amazing time. Since my dad was raised on a farm, we joke that we are paying for our kids to do all the chores he had to. Except fun and with no responsibility!

I really love this picture of her and the chicken, it just seems to capture something about her.

Ride

She loves this 

Selfie

Tessa can press the button to take her own picture but she doesn't have posing down

Picture

She says "see!!!" Oh, I do 

Cat

The cat feels this is his bed. Tessa says, "my! My!" Who will win??

She does this head touching with Owen too. Who even knows?