Of Sandboxes, Blueberries, and Kittens

One of Junebug's birthday gifts was new sand for Grandpa and Grammy's sandbox. Yes, we are thankful the sand stays at their house instead of ours. Although, some does get carried home in his pockets. 

All the children enjoyed playing with Junebug in the sand.

It all had to be sculptured just right to make...

A Kubota tractor. 

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This year we picked at least 7 gallons of blueberries to freeze and eat. We used frozen blueberries as a treat during potty training for Junebug and he liked them just as much as the chocolate chips.

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It was cute to watch Junebug play with the kitten. He was surprisingly gentle with it.

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For Junebug's birthday his Uncle and Aunt sent him a block set that can be used to make a barn. We set it up so he could put his John Deere tractors inside.

Our family self-portrait picture

Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

Since Ike had Monday off of work for the holiday we decided to take JuneBug to the Zoo. JuneBug loves animals and it was a great time to show him some real (instead of pictures) ones.

A sign by a statue of a lion right as you walk in. 

JuneBug's first expression upon seeing the lions.

They were very photogenic.

Way in the back in the bamboo is the tiger. I didn't get a good picture of him but he really gave us a show. He was up walking (most of the animals we saw just laid around) and started roaring. I interpreted his roaring as "it's hotttttt" it's hotttttttt" :D

Do you know how much flamingos stink? Well, a lot. So we didn't stay here long.

JuneBug would either point and say "Wook Mom!" or want to get up out of the stoller. One thing I noticed at the zoo is it is not kid-in-a-stoller friendly. Before he could actually see an exhibit he would have to stand up or be lifted up because railings would be in the way.

A very big gator. It was scary how close you could actually get to him. You definitely didn't want to stick your hand over the railing.

A Galapagos Turtle and JuneBug

 

One exhibit we hit at the right time was the elephants. A zoo keeper was throwing hay to the elephants and we got to watch them eat.

An ostrich looking at us looking at him

A Zebra

JuneBug really enjoyed the giraffes. They are one of the first animals he remembers when we talk about the zoo. 

We also enjoyed seeing the aquarium and reptile exhibits but didn't get any pictures of those. If blogger co-operates I might be able to upload a video of JuneBug at the aquarium. I'll close this post with a picture of JuneBug 5 minutes out of the parking lot...

A Confession

Have you ever walked out of a storing feeling like you stole your purchases? We have. I know, I know, it's weird. But we are weird and very happy because we know we didn't steal our purchases.

See the picture below?

If you were to walk into Target on any given day pick up these items and check out your total would be $31.77. Well, on May 21 we walked out with these items for $1.15. Um, yes that is a savings of $30.62. In other words: 96% off! And no, they weren't out of date, dented or open. How did we do it? I can tell you the details but how they worked out was beyond our control. So here is the story.

A few months ago a Target baby catalog came in the mail. It was addressed to us but I hadn't ordered one and we don't normally shop there. So I don't know exactly why we got one. Thankfully I didn't throw it away immediately but set it aside to look at. After going through it on the back was a peelie that in the fine print said if you start a baby registry you get a $20 gift card. No strings attached. Do you know how easy it is to start a registry? Easy and you don't even have to use it. Well, I started one and put a couple things on it that I wanted to look at anyway. Then one weekend when we went to the city for a Psalm sing we dropped into Target.

Not knowing what Target carries (having only been in one once when I was little) Ike and I headed in with a general plan. Our first thing to check was if they carried Kashi cereal. It is our favorite and we only get it every once in awhile. I even had a $1 off coupon to justify paying full price if we found it. Find it we did. The Lord also provided extra blessing for us as it was on sale. But it wasn't just a cheaper price sale it was also the kind of sale that if you bought 5 boxes you got a $5 gift card. So we put 7 boxes in the cart and added a big thing of coffee since we needed some (coffee was not on sale). Then went to check out.

At the check-out 5 boxes were scanned and we were given a $5 gift card. Then 2 more boxes were scanned and the coffee. We were able to use the coupon and our total was $26.15. We handed the cashier our gift cards and the ending total was $1.15. As we walked out we almost felt like thieves because we had to do practically nothing to get our favorite breakfast treat for so little. Yes, we could have used the gift card for more practical items but when you save, save, save a little splurging is fun. The Lord was very good to us.

For numbers people here is the price breakdown:

7 Boxes of Kashi Cereal @ $2.88

1 Coffee Tin @ 6.99

Sub-total=$27.15

Coupon@ - $1.00 

Gift Card@ -5.00

Gift Card@ -20.00

TOTAL= $1.15

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4 

What a Cutie

JuneBug wearing my shirt from when I was two.

One day he was playing in the sunroom and I found him "dressing-up"

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Last month JuneBug and I made monkey bread muffins. 





Yes, they were good.

Trip to MN: The Third Leg

The third leg of our journey began in the wee hours of Thursday morning. 7 days, 1500 miles, hours of talking and 14 people in a 15 passenger van (with JuneBug's potty chair) we were finally headed home. The long way. Our first stop on the return trip was in Indiana. We were so grateful to be able to stop halfway at the M Family's home. 

On the road again!

Catching some ZZZ's they lost somewhere along the way. 

 Serving up ice cream after supper.

I wonder how they knew Vernon's love ice cream?

Mmm, I can see my "cream"

After filling their bellies the kids went out to use up some of the pent up energy by playing basketball.

Chatting outside while the sun goes down. (This was the only picture we got

of Mr. M since he left for work the next morning before the cameras were awake. )

Girlies inside having a grand time.

With little ones to bed and older ones being rounded up some of us sat around enjoying the quiet found in the living room. As the night wore on comfy beds were calling our names so we said goodnight.

The next morning the older boys played air soft. 

J's first time on roller blades...

Genny's too. At first it was Look! I'm getting pretty good. Then...

Ow! :)

Scout

Piano in the morning light.

(Most of) The M Family. Thanks for your hospitality!

Next stop- South Carolina! Or wait you mean we're going to....