Important Camping Rules

We have one tried and true rule we follow when we go camping. Never believe the weather report. So with rain in the forecast on all but one day of our Annual Byrd-Memorial-Day-Weekend Camping Trip, we left with our rule firmly in our hearts. And, thankfully, it served us well once again. I don't think you could ask for better camping weather. Cool nights, warm days, but not too warm. The sun was shining and there was no wind, (My personal favorite).

We traveled to Backbone State Park this time. I grew up going to this campground so there were many good times to reminisce about.

We spent our weekend eating lots of yummy food,
hiking The Backbone,

and enjoying campfires started by our truly gifted pyrotechnician...
We were joined by my parents and my brother Joe and SIL Carrie. The kids LOVE Joe & Carrie. They bring along dogs and let you "walk" them. Joe takes them fishing and fixes up their bikes for them. What's not to love! At any time the kids are clamoring, snuggling, and just down right vying for any lap space on either of them. I might need to get the kids to not love their Aunt and Uncle SO much... :)And, of course, Gma and Gpa, the best bubble providing, food preparing, nature walk helping, bestest Byrd grandparents 4 kids could ever have. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go camping with them again! It won't be long, our whole summer is planned just like this...

Some Like it HOT! HOT! HOT!

I workout in the mornings. It's just my thing. So I'm usually updated with the LATEST weather forecast. All the TV stations were forecasting that Monday would be hot (it was), Wednesday would be hot, but Tuesday..., we'd have a shot of COOLER air on Tuesday. Could they have been more wrong!?!?!? I just read the latest local weather news. It was 97 degrees here today!!!! They said that the last record was 80 some degrees back in the 70's. It was REALLY hot today.

After school this morning the kids spent the rest of their time outside. So we have officially been ushered into summer. (Well, it's more like thrown, head first!) According to the forecast, tomorrow isn't supposed to be any cooler. (We'll see how well they do this time...) I momentarily thought about turning on the air. But after this cold Frozen Tundra winter, I have to let the heat seep into my bones a little bit more....


Why does everyone pile onto the tricycle! You wouldn't believe how many OTHER wheeled objects we own.

My hydrangea crop will not be doing well this year...
It's finally time to don all the cute summer clothes!
There's that tricycle again...

Poor Mike, it important that he wear all the gear when he's riding his motorcycle (his wife stays home with his 4 kids ya know! :) ) But on these kind of days, it gets really hot! I'm actually looking forward to the COOLER weather this weekend.

Forced Family Fun

My MIL decided to host a large Wolfe family gathering to be celebrate a pluthera of different milestones for family. I think we celebrated 3 birthdays and 1 Anniversary!

It's always a cute, tongue-in-cheek aspect to any Wolfe get together that everyone is mandated to be there, whether they like it or not. :) Though I don't think there was one soul at this latest Wolfe family fest that wasn't happy to be there. It had been awhile since we had all congregated together. It was nice to catch up and spend some time with the ones we all love.


Here are some of the highlights of the party. (Well there were more highlights, I just didn't get them captured on "film" ):

My kids love having some special bonding times with the family. It was the highlight of their weekend!
My Father in Law and Uncle John, one of the guests-of-honor.
Jake with a snake wrapped around his neck. Oh how I miss being a teenager!...
And, of course, lots of good food!

For Mother's Day

This year I had a fabulous Mother's Day. My husband took me on a weekend getaway to the beautiful Falls of the St. Croix River!

I received a beautiful bouquet of hand folded paper flowers from a renown origami artist... I languished in a beautifully furnished suite. Complete with turn-down service by a 5 mo. old cherub.We spent our days hiking and exploring.

I was treated to some fabulous trails by expert wilderness guides, and seasoned spelunkers.

In the evenings I dined on fire roasted "Poulet" on a bed of wilted greens. But what sent it "over-the-top" were the seat warming services, compliments of the house.
I had a WONDERFUL Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day

I am the most blessed Mama. My kids have been bringing these into me all afternoon, saying "Happy Mother's Day!" as the give them to me. I couldn't ask for a better gift. Oh and Lilia added, "Make sure you don't break them! There for 'Happy Mother's Day!'"

Surprising Saturdays

When I woke up on Saturday morning I got a surprising call from my baby brother, David. Their plans for the weekend had been canceled and being the random souls that he and Andrea are, they wanted to take an impromptu trip up to see us. Yeah!!! So I quickly, but CALMLY tidied up the house, and we enjoyed a fun afternoon at Sofie's J.E.L.L.Y.S. Spring concert before going home and meeting our guests! It was so fun to have them at our house! My nephew, Eli, is getting so big. I just saw him a couple of weeks ago and I can still see how much he's grown. We grilled and sat out by the fire. The kids could not get enough of their Aunt and Uncle.


(Here's Sofie's JELLYS performance. She did so well. It's over for the summer so she is excited about next Fall. Should Momma take the plunge and use her musical background to help out in the children's choir?...)

(my camera has a crazy close zoom on it. We were sitting in the back row up on the bleacher seating! I could even get just her nose. Though at that much zoom I couldn't hold the camera still enough to get a clear picture)
Ah David, I guess he needed to do some work? Mike has been removing all the ugly rock from in front of our house. David decided to be creative and use the rock to make a nice fire surround in our backyard. He did a great job!

Here he is loading up the last of the rock.
See! Mike does do heavy manual labor!!!
David filling in the fire surround. (he did all this work with little, plastic Crocks on his feet... now that's some dedication!)David's cheering section. :)
"Why'd you put a silly hat on my head Mom?!"
Sofie does this look WAY too well...
Job well done. You can come back ANYTIME!!!

When is too much TV?

Part of our daily routine is to let the kids watch a show while I'm getting ready in the morning. With having them all be occupied for 30 min. I can get a lot done!!! So we have pre-recorded shows on TiVo that they can watch when it's time. One of them is the show on TLC, "18 Kids and Counting" I guess they've been watching a lot of it lately...

(Sorry for John's muttering, he was embarrassed. He was even blushing by the time I stopped recording him! He's such a sweet boy.)