Getting Back to Normal

Normally it doesn't take long for us to snap back to reality after a vacation, but this past week, we've been taking everything slowly. There's only 1 month of summer left, so I guess we are trying to soak it all in!

While Lee was mowing the lawn, Amy was wandering around looking for bugs- something she normally does. She flips up rocks, cement blocks, leaves... anything in search for any kind of creature. This particular day, she struck gold as she found a box turtle! It quickly became a pet she and the boys named Herbie.

He got put into a plastic container and was given a plethora of dining choices. The bowl of water seemed to be his favorite as he would climb in for awhile, and then climb out. And repeat.

She was quite disappointed with me when I told her we could not keep him. She and Tyler plead and plead but I finally let them realize we did not have the adequate equipment to keep a turtle alive. Apparently box turtles usually live near water and eat meat (slugs, worms, etc.) Lee took her to a nearby creek where they released him. But not without a few more pictures!

This girl and animals!! We had a bird stuck in our garage the other day. I kept trying to coax him out and the bird finally dropped into a scrap wood pile and refused to move. It looked terrified. I was afraid it would break a wing or something but Amy walked right up to it, gently lifted him and put him outside where he flew away. She was quite excited about the whole ordeal!

I've been drying herbs from my garden. So far I've got some basil, parsley and mint tucked away. I'll harvest more all season to stock up for winter.

I took Amy and Will (you can only see his legs in this picture) to see the Goonies at a local theater. I can't remember why Amy was laughing.

Tyler all dressed up as ..... I have no idea.

Will hard at work with his legos. Each kid built a house and they played for hours.

Tyler stubbed his toe and it swelled so much we were afraid it was broken so Lee took him to the Dr for an x-ray. It wasn't and after a few days it looked like normal again.

We sent some Happy Birthday wishes....

The boys were supposed to be asleep one night and I saw them like this. Pouring over some book and laughing about it. I thought it was too cute of a moment to get onto them. So I took a picture instead.