We got a kitten!

Lukey is just a little excited about our new kitten, Dodge.  Needless to say Dodge is not quite as excited about Lukey, but I think he's growing on him.

Saturday when Margaret, Sara, and her kids got in the Dodge Caravan to leave Kathy and Dale's cabin and go back to Kathy's house they were sure they heard a cat.  They stopped and checked the van but couldn't find one.  They stopped again and still no cat.  They got to Kathy's we all went to church together the next morning, we went for breakfast at Friendly's and then came to our house.  Around lunch time Randy was watering the flowers and said, "Come here guys, I think I hear a cat." So Alex and I opened the hood and their down next to the engine was a little kitty face peeking up at us.  Surprisingly Randy wanted the cat as much as the rest of us and after going back and forth about the idea of keeping him we decided to do so.  Here you see Sara, Randy, Alex, Margaret, and Max checking out the kitty.

Timmy happy to pet Dodge.  We went through lots of names, Ralph, Lucky, Master Builder, Sneaky Ninja Cat, and Nobody to name a few.  We finally settled on Dodge, because we found him in the Dodge Caravan.

Alex with the new little kitty.  We took him to the vet, who thought he was about 8 weeks old.

Max has probably taken to the cat the most. He spends a lot of time cuddling the little kitten. All the kids love him and want turns holding and petting him.  Even Henry (who is very cautious around animals) has said, "I'm so glad we decided to keep him."

Grandma, Sara, Oliver, Parker, and Julia visit

Grandma Steffen, Sara, Oliver, Parker and Julia got to New York Thursday (July 3).  The next day we headed out to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale's cabin.  Here are the grandchildren with grandma (minus Lukie, opps!) Henry, Sophia, Max, Alex, Timmy, Grandma, Julia, Parker, and Oliver with with popcicles.

Sophia, Julia and I playing a game.  We spent a lot of time outside, having good time and slowing down a little.

Nice Aunt Kathy and Nice Aunt Sara taking Oliver, Henry, Sophia, Timmy and Parker on a paddle boat ride.

Need to keep Julia and Lukie busy, so you don't have to chase the for a while.  Put out bowls full of crackers and chips to share and those two will stay right there polishihg the snacks off.

Lots of us had a turn with the bb gun.  Here's Henry having his turn.  We also brought the bow and arrows but didn't get any pictures of that.

Alex's turn.

Now Max.  Even Oliver and Aunt Sara had a turn, but I missed it with my camera.  I was probably chasing Lukie.

Alex built us a fire!

Henry with one of the many sparklers Aunt Sara and Grandma brought to celebrate the 4th of July!

Sophia

Buddies, Timmy and Parker.  These two boys spent a lot of time together and had a lot of fun.

Happy 4th of July!

Lukie and Randy doing a sparkler.

Oliver and Aunt Kathy celebrating the 4th of July!

As we were finishing up the sparklers it began to ran.  While the rest of us ran for cover in the cabin, Randy braved the rain and kept the fire going.  Which he and Dale watched burn well into the night, while Margaret, Kathy, Sara and I played Scrabble and the kids slept.

Parker and Timmy, best buds, waiting for breakfast.

Sunday we all hung out together at our house.  Oliver and Sophia rode the tire swing together.

Checking out the tree house with . . .

Julia!

Our neighbors have a bull dozer in their back yard! A perfect time to get an upclose look at the truck.

Story time!

Lego time! Everyone spent some time doing that!

The Farmer's Museum

After leaving the campgrounds on Sunday we went to the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown. It was much bigger and much more geared for kids than I expected, a terrific surprise.  The first building had a traveling automobile exhibit and kids section with the biggest copy of Little Blue Truck  any of us had ever seen. (That book is a huge favorite at our house.)

Next was the carousel, that you needed to buy wooden nickles for to ride.  Scattered on the lawn was a variety of tractors and a few other little cars/trucks to ride on.  Up above is Timmy and Henry.  Below is Max and Lukie.

Timmy, Henry, and Max also had a try at the bean bag toss. The carousel was taking a break, so we finished our day with a ride, but forgot to get a picture.

We visited the school, where there we lots of games school children would have played about a century ago or more.  You can see the teacher in the back ground, she had a voice so over-the-top all of us were ready for the next house.

Timmy trying his hand at an old bowling set.

There were many buildings.  A doctor's office, a pharmacist, a church, a blacksmith, a newspaper office, a hotel/tavern,  a couple houses, and some barns. And many, many animals. As always, Randy and I could've spent more time in the different buildings, but we had a good time.  Here's Timmy checking out a goat or is it the other way around?

Randy, Lukie, Sophia, and Alex trying to pet a goat.

Lukie loved all the animals. We got to pet a long eared rabbit, we saw chicks, cows, ducks, a couple pigs, and horses.

It was really, really, really hot!  And the kid didn't hold back letting us know they were ready for a cold drink and a little break.  So we went to the general store and got blue slushies!  Did they taste good!  It was a great treat.

Max didn't want me to be left out so he got a picture of my blue tongue, too!  We finished the little bit of the museum we had left to see, had our ride on the carousel and loaded up the van to go back home.

Camping in Cooperstown

For years we have been saying, "Let's really do some camping." And so this year we're finally really are!

We arrived at the campground on Thursday afternoon.  After looking at the available sites we settled on one that was down in bog area, with lots of wonderful shade.  Pretty quickly after we had the tents up, Max and Alex went fishing.

We took a walk to check out the campsite.  This little bridge straddles a spring fed creek.  We didn't put our feet in that night, but during the day Saturday we did.

We also checked out the playground. It was a great playground. Obviously, four of the kids are spinning around here, but at one point all 6 kids were on the merry-go-round.

These see-saws and the swings were a big hit with the kids. As was the little tree-house, wooden fire truck, cement tunnel, and tractor tire.  To one side of the playground was some fenced in pasture for some goats, ponies, and a horse.  Saturday night the animals were all out eating grass and daisies, so we were able to get a good look at them, but none of the animals came close enough for us to pet them.  Lucas really thought he should be in with the animals. He tried to shimmy under the fence at one point, and then climb over the top of it a little later. (We didn't let him succeed.)

Alex found a small frog on the way home from the playground Thursday night.

We also checked out the arcade in the barn.  Someone left some unused time on this video game, after trying to get one of the older boys to play it and not having any success (what is that about?) Randy had fun playing it.  The helmet he's wearing turned 360 degrees and all the visuals were inside the helmet, so the enemy could attack from any direction.  It was amusing to watch, he said it was pretty fun to play.

Being in a small valley gave lots of climbing opportunities.   Alex and Max are going up the hill as Henry comes down.

Even little Lukey wanted to help find kindling.

Sophia, Max and Alex husking corn to eat that night.  We cooked it in a cooler, just like Uncle Steve in Kentucky.

If you look closely you can see Henry relaxing in Neil's '71 Volkswagen bus.  Neil drove and slept in his bus while camping with us. The kids loved it and were in it a lot.  He decked it out with camping gear all from 1971 (like the red cooler you see there).  Alex had the good idea that we should really get him some clothes from 1971 to wear while he camps.

Randy and Neil trying to get his old lantern lit.

Friday night the kids that wanted too went for pony rides.  Here you see Timmy he had the honor of going first!

Sophia took a turn.

And Lukey took a turn.  Henry, Max and Alex opted out.  The campsite also did hayrides. We all went on the one offered Saturday night. It was a fun little ride around the campsite.  Timmy and Henry had fun waving to everyone.  Randy got a lot of info on the campground from a seasonal camper he sat next to.  And Henry said, " This is the longest I've ever ridden without a seat belt."

The kids with Mr. Mulligan, as they call him.  We had Timmy in there at one point but for some reason he took off crying.  (He recovered quickly.) (Max, Neil, Sophia, Alex, Lukey and Henry)

Like mentioned earlier, the kids and I spent a little time at the creek. The water was ice cold but felt good on our toes.  Max had been down with us and tried to build a damn, without much luck. Mostly, everyone walked around and collected rocks.

Sophia hanging out on the bridge after spending some time in the creek.

This picture Sophia took of Timmy and me by the creek.

Neil taught Alex how to play cribbage over the weekend. Max and Henry just watched what was going on.

Lukey after swimming Saturday. We visited the pool both Friday and Saturday. The water was ice cold! The consensus among the adults was, when jumping in it felt your heart might stop from the shock of the icey water, but we all survived.

Henry got a little fishing time in with Randy has well. Even though it was catch and release, no one ever had anything to release.

Sophia took this fine picture of our outhouse.  There were flush toilet we used sometimes, but we all used this one too.  There was no light in it, so it was very dark even in the middle of the day. Thank goodness for the lanterns.

This was out sink.  We loved it! It made washing dishes, very easy!

These last 3 pictures were suppose to be at the top of the page,but somehow ended up at the end.  Anyway, this is what is needed for our family of 8 to camp for 3 nights!

And this is our crew ready to go !!

The croaking toads were such a part of our camping experience this time I felt obligated to add a picture Randy got of one of them.  This guy and his buddies sang to us all night long. From sun down to sun up.  Also worth mentioning, although we didn't get a picture of it, Henry, Sophia and Timmy all got an opportunity to explore the campground with Randy after dark on Saturday. Which proved to be exciting for everyone.