Dewberry Farm

Last Sunday our pastor told a story about when his kids were younger.  At the dinner table, they would read from a book full of "sticky situations" and then discuss how his kids could get out of said situation.  One example stated, if you were in school and someone was trying to cheat off your test, how would you handle it?  A second example said, if you were at a sleepover and someone pulled a six pack of beer out of their backpack, what would you do?  So, come Monday morning, our kids asked me to come up with a sticky situation.  We talked about doorbell ditching - running up to someone's door, ringing their doorbell, and running.  Seems harmless enough, but is it wise?  Do you know who is behind the door?  Is that homeowner really frustrated with doorbell ditching dashers and they're ready to do something about it? (Doorbell ditching is a popular thing around here, which is sort of crazy because everyone has the Ring doorbells taking videos of the culprits.)  Then the kids wanted to come up with scenarios of their own.  There was a lot of laughter as the scenarios got increasingly ridiculous.  There were assassins involved, kidnappers, YouTubers, etc.  Josiah finished out the discussion with another beer scenario.  What if he was at the neighbor's house and his friend offered him some beer?  That morphed into: what if Josiah and his friend drank beer (which gives me his answer to the first scenario), then Josiah bought more beer, and when I came to pick him up I asked why he had beer in his backpack.  At this point, Caroline burst into the conversation, "Josiah can't buy that!!  It's $7.98."  At which point we all looked at her.  How do you know the cost of beer, dear 9-year old child?  I saw it at the grocery store.  Her point, however, was that Josiah, our spender, would not have enough money to purchase said product.  Not that he was underage, just underfunded.  We did learn that the kids would probably not doorbell ditch, but they would all walk away with a YouTuber at the park.  And that is why we talk about these things.

Our school days were very long this week.  There was no spare time between school and meals and activities.  Todd's birthday fell on our CC day, so we rushed home to get an apple cake in the oven.  We celebrated it more this weekend with a breakfast out and a Frito pie dinner.  Frito pie is a Texas thing and is basically chili served over Fritos.  No pie involved.   (Photography by Henry)

We finished out our school week with a fun day at Dewberry Farm.  The weather was perfect.  The mornings have finally turned cool and the days are not quite as hot (88° is way better than 98°).  The five of us headed straight to the pedal cars, which was a favorite for both boys.  There were fewer big cars, so the boys tried out the smaller rides as well.  Their knees nearly hit their chins when they pedaled.  

We did all the fun things.  Jumping pillows, carpet slides, train rides, and hay loft rope swings (Caroline's favorite).  

Caroline, friend in the middle, Henry. They jumped in tandem.

They rode on things that spun so I filmed them with my eyes shut.  

There was a splinter-giving playground fort where they played tag with their friends for a long time.  

The younger two tried their hand at the corn maze, but Josiah opted out of it this year.  

We finished our day with churro fries, which were very similar to the funnel fries we ate at the beach this summer, but with a lot less powdered sugar.  

We came home completely tired.  The kids had muscle aches and splintered hands, pink cheeks and tired bodies.  Poor Caroline had Awana that evening.  I don't know how she made it through, but she loves to see her Awana friends, so that kept her energy up.    

This weekend the kids were finally able to get their bikes out again.  The temperatures were better, but now the mosquitoes need to get the memo and die.   

They spent time creating a puppet show Saturday evening.  They interspersed their dialogue with two musical numbers.  They were sung by a very naked Al Dente while Henry's police officer tried to arrest him for indecent exposure.  The middle school puppet shows are a bit edgier...

We're back at it tomorrow morning and relying on God's grace to get us through.