An afternoon with Cole

Yesterday I got to babysit Cole, my great-nephew. He is almost 18 months old now and is always on the go. We went to the park first off and of course he wanted to climb up the ladder to the slide which was a little muddy from the rain the day before so from then on we stuck to swinging which he was surprisingly content with, mostly because there were 4 kids playing there also and he was busy watching them. Judah, the little 3 year old came over and swang(is that a word?) with us and wanted me to push him high. He was so cute. All the kids were siblings and their names were Jacob, Isaac, Judah and Grace. I thought I would have been better if Isaac would have been the oldest but I suppose it was one of those things the parents didn't think of at the time. Anyway, when we got back from the park we had lunch and then I introduced Cole to the wonders of the trampoline. He was so cute as he was testing it out, first he would just bend his legs a little and then he got both feet off at once and then he got the seat drop down pretty good. It was just so fun watching him and he learns things really fast. You really have to watch him all the time because for some reason little kids just seem to zoom in on everything that they shouldn't have. You can have all kinds of toys for them but they will always find the breakable stuff to carry around. We did have a little mishap with a snowglobe he dropped and broke. Thank goodness he didn't get cut on any glass. I have this fake bird nest that has little styrofoam eggs in and he picked up one of the eggs and would not let go of it so I thought since it isn't breakable he could keep it. While I was in the office talking to Curt I saw him run in the bathroom and then come out into the hall and look at me and then run back in the bathroom. Well, we discovered that he was checking the density of styrofoam by floating it in the toilet. Boys will be boys! It was a fun afternoon but he sure keeps you on your toes. (Someday if Curt could figure out how to do a link thing we could let you see a video clip of Cole jumping on the tramp)

There shall be showers...

of blessing, oh last night they did fall!! I don't think I've ever been so excited to see rain. In fact I don't think I've ever know it not to rain for such a long time. When I walked out into the back yard this morning I felt like I was out camping because the scent of pine was in the air. I can't believe how the grass greened up overnight! It's amazing how transforming a good rainshower can be. And the lightning last night was really crackling. It looks like we could get more today. I hope so!
Remember, God is good-all the time!

Checking In

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged, but no, I have not died or dropped off the ends of the earth. Actually, a lot has happened that I should have blogged about like my son Ben getting married to lovely Ashley Bohlender on July 2. It was a beautiful wedding and a lovely area to visit at Estes Park. Unfortunately most of my pictures of the wedding didn't come out too well so I am waiting for some more expert ones. But I do have some lovely ones of Colorado that I could share .
Angela has come and gone, my sister and neice came up for a week-end and spent it out at the cabin with my mother. Due to the exceptionally hot weather this summer I have spent more time out at the lake than other summers. In fact it is of one of these days that I wanted to share.
It was on Monday, July 31, not as hot as some have been but i had been out to the lake and funoodled with my mom on Sunday and I hadn't showered when I got home so I still smelled a little like the lake when I got up the next morning. I thought of going to Curves but because I didn't want to shower and then go to Curves and shower again I decided that I would just go back out to the lake and go for a swim for my exercise for the day. So i did. And it was wonderful! Now you see funoodling could be considered exercise for some but to me it's just a great way to relax. But Monday I actually swam with no floatation device and it was exillerating! I felt like I could have swam across the lake and back but thought it might not be wise so I just swam out a ways and then headed west almost to the fish hatchery and then back to the cabin. There is something so freeing about swimming. You feel so light and strong, it makes me feel young again! I love it. I'm looking forward to some more great swims out at the lake before summer is over.