A long, but definitely worthwhile, trip

 I just took a crazy marathon trip through six states and across about 1875 miles in order to attend my cousin's wedding.  And I did it with 5 children (and 5 butterflies, but I'll get to that...) and no husband!  Jack had to work and couldn't come.  I thought a lot about how crazy it would be to do this by myself, but I really wanted to go to the wedding.  And I knew my kids would want to be there.  So I did it.  And there were horrible moments.  And I was tired sometimes.  But I'm so glad I went.  The kids and I got to see almost all of our family again even though we just saw them last month.

The first leg of the trip was at my in-laws' house.  The next post will have pictures of that....  Second leg, Cincinnati, Ohio for the wedding.  It's always fun to be able to get the kids into a hotel swimming pool.  Aidan loved it.  He was in for a long long time and never fussed.

My crazy Lauren girl will jump in the pool all. day. long.  Fortunately, I had some adult help with Aidan and Lauren in the pool and throughout the weekend. 

We celebrated the birthdays of my June boys, Aidan and Corban.  Doesn't Aidan have the sweetest smile you've ever seen?

There may have been a few hints about how much Aidan loves balls....

An almost nine year old boy can never have too many Lego sets

Aunt Lisa, the mother of two boys, couldn't resist making sundresses for her two nieces!  Beautiful!  The girls love them!

Thomas "helps" his cousin Aidan play with his new birthday present

Aidan all dressed up for the wedding

Everyone changed clothes for the more casual reception.  Jakin gets a few minutes with his little cousin Josiah.

My siblings and I

Lots of kids.  Just like the last cousin wedding, it's so fun for me to see my kids having so much fun with my cousins' kids

The guys without Jack.

The bride and groom!  Caycee and Susanne

My sister and her husband just bought a new house in Lexington, Kentucky.  Since I don't know when I will be closer than the hour and a half away that I was in Cincinnati from their house, I decided to pop down there to check out the new place.  It was lovely, a really nice place for them for many years to come.  In addition to the six of us, my parents also came down on their way home to see the new house.  This was the first time Alli and Micah had all of the bedrooms of their house full!

Ok, the butterflies.  So, Jack and I gave Annie this kit for her birthday.  You send away for the butterfly larvae.  After they arrive, you watch the process of metamorphosis.  I didn't time up our order very well because the butterflies hadn't hatched before we left for our trip.  I knew they would hatch before we came back and we certainly didn't want to miss that.  What's a home school mom to do other than cart the butterfly net along with us on the trip?  Since we had observed the butterflies for a few days by the time we arrived in Lexington, and since Alli and Micah live in a nice neighborhood, we decided to release our charges in Kentucky.

Even though the kids weren't able to be with their own Dad on Father's Day, they had the great good (and rare!) fortune of being with BOTH of their grandfathers on Father's Day!  That was pretty cool.

It must be summer!

 ... Because THE Bonfire was last weekend!  (If I knew anything about computers, I could link back to my post from last year's Beginning of the Summer Bonfire.  But, since I don't, I won't.)  Started in 2004, this was our 9th year.  Great traditions, great friends, great fun.  We don't measure the beginning of summer by the solstice, but by The Bonfire.

The big boys

The girls are ready for the trip on the tractor to get sticks for roasting marshmallows.  Brandi had a broken arm for this event a few years ago.  This year it was her sister Lainey with the broken wrist.

Aidan wonders if he can go, too?

Up to 13 kids.  Same as last year.  We're all praying that our friends, seeking to adopt a baby from the The Democratic Republic of Congo, will be able to make this group a group of 14 for next year.

 Campfire will burn!  And another summer begins!

A visit with great friends

 Our dear friends Matt and Kori came to visit a few weekends ago.  There was a time, a long time ago, when Jack and I had the privilege of seeing Kori just about every day when we worked together at Colorado State University.  The last time we saw her was in 2001 just after she and Matt had gotten engaged and Jakin was about 3 months old.  They live in Kansas now, and despite our good intentions, we just haven't been able to get together for the past 11 years.  BUT!  They are working this summer in Vermont.  Thinking that would be as close as we will be to each other for who knows how long, we jumped on the chance to get together.  It was such a treat to be able to host their family - now with three kids! - for the weekend.  Even though we haven't seen these friends for 11 years, and we had never spent much time with Matt before this weekend, there are some friends with whom you can easily just pick up where you left off.  Catching up was easy.  And the kids got along reeeeaalllly well.  It was just a happy time all around.

These pictures are from the hike we usually take visitors to.  Pretty easy, nice views...  The kids had fun catching little red newts.  Red efts, I think they are called.

Matt and Kori's three kids are about the same ages as our youngest three.  That made for fun times. 
Elsa, Lauren, Annie, Corban, Sophia, and Jakin

Aidan had fun riding in the backpack with Daddy

Asher dutifully took his nap while riding along with his mom

Later in the afternoon the girls headed down to the brook

Aidan and Asher traveled around the house together.  It was really cute.  It was like Aidan was showing his new friend around.  "And here's the pantry... there are lots of things to pull down in here!"  

Back from the brook, which was quite chilly, the girls wanted to warm up in the mudroom sink.  They started out by just warming their feet.  It didn't take long for Annie and Sophia to be all the way in the sink.

And of course Elsa and Lauren wanted to have a turn as well

After the sink, Annie and Sophia moved up to the bath.  These two little ladies really are kindred spirits.  The liked each other from the moment Sophia stepped out of her van.  They were inseparable all weekend.  And not a nasty word or mean moment for the whole time they were together.  I sure hope we can get together again this summer.

The family with kids in jammies ready for the late night drive back to Vermont

One last hug

Mr. Big One-Year Old

Warning!  This post is heavy on the Aidan pictures.... My littlest is a year old!  There go those years marching along again.  This has sort of been Aidan's "birthday weekend".  Jakin was gone all day on Aidan's actual birthday, so we didn't celebrate then.  We had cake tonight, but it got a bit late for presents.  Rather than hurrying through the presents tonight, Jack and I decided to postpone that piece until tomorrow morning when we can be more relaxed.  I'm tempted to lament, "Poor Aidan...." but there really isn't anything disagreeable about any of this, or in his life in general.  He's one!  He doesn't care when he opens presents!  The following are some birthday pictures and some random recent pictures.

Greasy hair after eating noodles

Up until very recently, I inspected every bite of popcorn I gave to Aidan.  I would bite around it and make sure that he was only getting soft, popped corn.  Not having patience for such nonsense, Jack just lets Aidan grab whole handfuls from the bowl.  Aidan and Jack are perfectly happy with that arrangement.

We never had a mudroom sink (or even a mudroom!) for any of our other kids.  Now that the kids are getting dirty outside, I'm definitely taking advantage of this sink for feet, bum, or even whole body washings at the end of the day.

This is how we started Aidan's birthday - singing "Happy Birthday" to him in his bed.  He was pleasantly surprised to see all of us coming in to wake him up.

"So big!"

He also likes pretzels :)

 Finally opening two packages that had come in the mail earlier in the week

A gift from my aunt and uncle

Helping Daddy install drawer fronts.  Shims are placed for Aidan to pull out, right?

Chocolate pudding cake!

What a wonderful blessing Aidan's four siblings are in his life

We haven't given Aidan many sweets in his first year of life.  He was very happy about having the opportunity to eat this cake.  He cleared his tray, licked his hands, and then asked for more.

It's been a good day!  Presents in the morning.  We're so grateful for our little man!