Family Golf trip

Emily swung a few clubs but she mostly enjoyed driving the cart!

Hiking with the kids

I know, where is Jake you ask??? well he was at home exhausted from a night spent at his friends house. Little girls are evidently not the only ones who think trying to stay up all night is a great idea. Anyways, the rest of us, at Daddy's request went to hike up to the top of the mountain on the Berry College campus. While this is not the most difficult hike I have ever been on it was not a cakewalk either. Lucy(that's the dog) was so tired that she would simply not go forward anymore and I(MOM) had to take her back down. But the great news is that John and the kids stuck with it and made it all the way to the top. Martha Berry's House of Dreams is at the top and so they were able to see the house and enjoy the view of Rome from atop the mountain. I hope we can do it again real soon because we all had a great time.

Beans and Corn

The beans are finally getting big. They are putting off little bean shoots that I expect I will be able to pick in about a week. I was beginning to think that they were going to just give me pretty plants. You can also see in this picture that the corn is now well above my head and the silks are appearing. I think that means we are close?? I don't really know because I am a newbie. We, my mother-in-law Jane and I, canned fig preserves today. Her mother made wonderful preserves so I am looking forward to trying our batch. Some days I feel like I am turning into a little country bumpkin. I Love you all!
Connie

Harvesting Time!

I finally got food from my garden! I have been so excited about bringing in new veggies pretty much EVERY DAY! I have fought the horn worms, squash bugs, pickle beetles, and bugs in the corn, but with any luck and Sevin dust we will come out OK. I wanted so bad to keep it organic but my crop was being threatened in ways that I simply could not prevent any other way.

This is Emily and Nick on the tractor. She had a great time! Thank You Nick!!!

Garden

I thought I would share with you all my new garden. Now some of you I know have been gardening for years but this is still pretty new to me and has brought me a lot of joy. Our friend Nick came over and plowed up the grass and then he started us off by planting 2 rows of corn, 2 rows of beans, a couple of peppers and 4 cucumber mounds. When I got home from Anna Maria I added to those plantings a row of yellow and zucchini plants, some more peppers and tomatoes. I also planted watermelon and pumpkin. (All seeds except the tomatoes and watermelons.)

I was nervous nothing would come up because I have always used plants from the garden center to start the small patches I have done before. Anyway- it is growing!! All of it. I love going out each day to check on the progress. I do not have huge hopes for veggies this year because we did plant a few weeks late(like 5), however I am still feeling pretty darn good about our progress.
I am actually looking forward to getting started next year earlier so I can be harvesting in June!

Emily, Jake, and I went to the pool today. Jake was having a great time diving and
doing tricks off the board. Emily was playing with her friend Hannah. We are
missing Austin who is at scout camp and McKaila who is at Young Scholars...but
we did have a great time without them. Summertime is fun today!

Hi again. Tonight I went to Kindergarten Graduation with Emily. This is her teacher Mrs. Mull. She is nice! There was really good cookies and punch afterwords. I miss you Nicholas.
Well- keep scrolling down and I will tell you more about my trip. dont forget to read comments on the sunset picture!
Stanley

Here I am riding along in the Hutchinson's truck. I love this place! Rome is Beautiful and green and the kids are real nice. I pretty much am riding up front because if I am in the back with the other kids I might get squished!
Talk to you later!

Uncle Mike and Jake

Uncle Mike and Jake(and McKaila and all of the neighborhood girls!) are playing basketball. We are about to take you home and Jake does not want you to leave. We LOooooooooooooove our Unkle Mike! Thank You for taking care of us while Mom and Dad wnt to Cancun!

Stanley's last known location

This is Stanley Lambchop. He came to visit our family via air-mail from Utah. Our Nephew Nicholas cleverly crafted him and sent him to visit our family. We spent a few weeks together in Georgia riding carpool, attending Jake's baseball games and even going to the airport.(He tried to get on the flight to Italy with Mrs. Elena but we restrained him) He obviously has a wild spirit. Little did we know that he was a wanderer. Unfortunatly this is his last known picture. He fell in love with the chrystal clear water and the cool summer breezes. Hi current whereabouts are unknown.....We will miss you Stanley. Maybe we can hook-up again next summer.

Jake has a mohawk. well really a fo-hawk because I was not going to shave his head bald and then expose him to a week at the beach. I know you are all shocked I did this to my boy but John promised him he could have it for the week we were at the beach. I have to admit however that he still has it because it has grown on me. Jake can just pull it off and it gives me a bit of evil satisfaction for the peeps at church to be shocked and horrified that I let him have it. heeheehee. Love you buddy- Rock on!

Austin enjoying the waves- not real waves like on the west coast but the only kind we get at AMI. It was really rough this morning because of the weather in the gulf.

Ahhhhhhhhhh Anna Maria Island. A week of sunshine and Family fun. This is an indulgence that I pray I will never have to stop! The Bentti's and Hutchinsons sure do enjoy the peace and quiet of the beach and of our children playing so well together that they give us much less... hmm how do you say...whining then we ever get at home.

I have always believed that the water and the beaches in Anna Maria Island Fl were the most beautiful I have ever seen. Cancun was the closest I have ever witnessed. Cancun was remarkably turquoise and because we were on the tip of the coast the water was also pretty calm.

Cancun

John and I were very lucky to be able to go to Cancun Mexico this spring. Michael came and watched the kids so that we could go. We had a wonderful time visiting the Talum(Mayan) ruins, snorkeling, dining, golfing(of course), shopping, dancing(a little), swimming, and just enjoying the wonderful 5 diamond resort.