Summer Adventures

This summer has just about flown by. I can not believe that we are now in the count down till school starts. For our family this year it will be filled with all kinds of changes. Not only has our oldest, Jaron completed elementary school he is now considered a pre-teen, middle school age student. He is in those middle years where it is hard not only for him but for us. This school year we are onto a new adventure! HOME SCHOOL! Yes home school. Wow did I just really say that? Oh my word what am I thinking?! Seriously though, I have wanted to home school my kids since Jaron was a toddler. With the younger ones being so close in age it just was never something I felt I could accomplish to the best of my abilities so this year we are starting with Jaron. Although I have full confidence in the school system here we want to have a stronger influence in his life during these young preteen years. So 3 of them will be heading off to elementary school and Jaron will be home with Sean and I. But I get ahead of myself don't I!

I mean this post was suppose to be about our summer adventures...My parents, brother Ron and 3 of his kids, as well as another niece Kaelyn came up for a couple of weeks from Florida. Kaelyn stayed here in KY with my Dad as he continues to work on his wonderful cabin. Last week we were blessed to have Kaelyn come and stay with us for five days. I use to watch Kaelyn when she was younger, she was like a big sister to the kids from the time Jaron was born till we moved to IL in 2006. So having her with us was a real treat (smile)!! They all got along really well and for that I am grateful. Sara was in heaven having her older "girl" cousin here to spend time with.Yesterday we took a detour before heading out to the cabin. Along the way I found a bunch of the barn quilts but only stopped this time to take a few pictures. I do plan to head back to take pictures of the ones we missed along the way. We headed to Broken Leg Falls in Menifee Co, Ky. What a beautiful place.Kaelyn and Sara on the way down the trail to see the falls.

Sadly my camera batteries died while there so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted but here are a few I did get as well as some of the barn quilts I found along the way:Right along that line of concrete directly under that rock ledge there is a dirt path that you can walk along all the way around the falls. It wasn't moving very fast just a gentle stream that day but all the rock walls were definitely wet and slimy. The kids LOVED walking under that ledge!
My diaperheads...and Kaelyn was once part of the crew, a little older but most definitely like a daughter to me. I love this picture of them because of how the sun rests on Kristofer. He was so excited about being there. Part of the adventure of going to places like this is Kristofer's excitement. He wants to see everything as fast as he can and it doesn't matter if what and how he wants to see it is dangerous or not. This picture was taken after he had gone to look at every aspect of the area with Sean or I after him to keep him safe. The picture almost looks like an angel is sitting next to him or he is sitting on the angels lap. I know he keeps his guardian angel on guard at all times. I am thankful that God "places His angels in charge of him...us"!
This was our favorite find I believe. Kristofer and Eli were amazed that in that little hole was a small pool of water that was flowing down the rock wall. They as well as Sean and I had to put our hand in and feel the water and look inside. Had the camera batteries not died I would have figured out how to take a picture of the inside just to see if we could see where they water was coming in. The water was very cold, clear and refreshing to wipe your forehead with. The kids naturally wanted to taste it but we said, "NO WAY!"