Day of Amusement

Thursday Rick was able to take a day off so we could all go to Knoebels! It's our favorite summer park. I was watching the sky the whole way up there. There was a 20% chance of rain, but looking at the sky I was sure it was more likely than that. Sure enough as we walked into the park, the clouds opened and it poured! We were able to get under a shelter just in time to escape getting drenched! My concern grew for the days outlook, but little Kate had prayed the whole way up that the sky would clear. God was so kind to hear and answer her prayer! The clouds were gone within minutes and we had blue sky (and a cooler day) for the rest of the day! Oh to have the faith of a child!

Knoebels has not only become an annual trip for us in the summer, but it also serves as a gage of sorts in our kids growth. It is really neat to see how God has helped Tyler to overcome some of his fears as we watch him get on more and more rides each year. Not only on more rides, but he wanted to ride on some of them in his own car! Danny and Kate also added more rides to their lists of favorites this year.

The kids also did a wonderful job of being grateful for this time. With so much to choose from to do, it turned into a good opportunity to help them make choices and be thankful for what they could do and not whine or pout when they couldn't get or do everything that they wanted. As we all wearily climbed back into the van for the ride home, it was such a blessing to hear them say 'Thank you' to Daddy completely unprompted!

Sunday Driver (okay so it was really a Thursday)

Dad and Dan on the Sail plane

Kate on the "Horsey Up/Down" as she always called it. Now it's a Merry go Round:-(

Dad and Dan on the roller coaster-Danny's first time!

The "Airplanes with the teeth."

Dan on the Balloon Race ride.

Ty-the first ride he ever went on at Knoebles was this train!

Ty riding alone on the Whip

Kate's new favorite-the go carts! She was actually a pretty good driver!

Dan and I on the Paratrooper ride-Danny's new favorite!

The end of the day indulgence!

Engineering Prodigies?

The other day we were coming home from the library. The farmer down the street was cutting down the wheat in his field. "Look guys. Mr Duncan is cutting down his wheat." "Oh yea," they replied. "Do you think he'll be cutting the wheat in our field today?'' "I don't know what his schedule is. Why? Did you want to watch?" I asked wondering. "No we just have some things in the field." A little more than curious, I asked "What things?" "Oh nothing. Could you just let us out here Mom?" they asked as I got to the edge of our field. I stopped and opened the door and waited as they collected their 'stuff.' 2 shovels, AA batteries in a plastic bag, a tape measure and a headlight flashlight in another plastic bag. I had to laugh, even as I thought of the accident that could have occurred when the unsuspecting farmer ploughed over the shovels.
Why is this funny? Well you had to be with us the week before as we were pulling weeds out of the garden. All 3 were discussing plans for building a tunnel to the Schell's and Madison's homes because then 'they could go there whenever they wanted.' Not to put a damper on things, but I reminded them that it would still be quite a walk, even in a tunnel. So they decided they were going to build a train. We discussed how they were going to finance this. Well, the plan is for Tyler to design it, Danny to build it and all 3 of them to dig it. Sometimes they'll even have the other boys over to help-or maybe they could start building from their homes and they could all meet up. "How are you going to pay for the gas to run this train?" "Oh. Well it will have to be electric." "What about the electric bill? Who's going to pay that?" "Oh. Well we'll design it to work on AA batteries." As this conversation went on, I had NO idea that they were actually making REAL plans to do this!! Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between what is real and fantasy around here!
I am just thankful for the friends that God has given us, that my children are willing to move mountains (well maybe not quite mountains) to be with them.

An update on Danny. I took him back to the doctor on Monday and thankfully his arm is healing well. It hasn't slowed him down much-except it seems, when it is something he doesn't want to do! We go back again next Thurs. to evaluate whether they will put a different cast on or not.

Be looking for the new suburban subway system soon! I can just imagine how fast it will go on AA batteries! Hope they put in seat belts!