Special Guest for our next adventure

 This is how Farrah found out......

They knew we had more fun ahead in Virginia with all their friends, and we'd be seeing the Leadbetter's again in West Virginia in less than a week. But, they still didn't want to go. It was Sunday morning and I was about done asking them repeatedly to go pack up when the phone rang- and it was Brian. I answered in a snarky voice, and said perfect time- you parent them now, and tossed the phone to the kids. He asked me to stay around, and the kids whined about not wanting to leave for Virginia... he then said "would it be easier to go back to Virginia today, if you knew I'd be there tomorrow night?" WHAT?!?!? HECK YES we all yelled! 

It cracked us up to hear all the questions that followed and we were thrilled to know they would be together the 4 of them soon.  

May it never cease to amaze me how Farrah handled all of this - being displaced, traveling to different homes bringing joy and yet constantly carrying the uncertainty of when their life would be re-joined and somewhat normal again.  Finding joy in the moment and knowing she was completely torn.  I was thankful she could be with us and will be even more thankful when they can all know when the can permanently be together again.

More fun in the life with the McCulloughs

 One afternoon we all went out and floated the Farmington River- 

The river was crazy slow at the end, and Macy & Shane pulled us all along!

Strawberry picking we go-

Macy pretty much only wore Shane's clothes when we were there, and this particular day they almost all dressed alike-Lots of fun in Goomba and Oma Sue's pools-

We even had a kid & adult volleyball game, and I was on the winning team!

Glad Chris was feeling a bit better - 

https://youtu.be/shK4ZNBSDHA

Because Sara and Chris still needed to work each day, I tried to be the best sister wife I could be- from homeschooling to childcare- one afternoon I was able to take the kids swimming for a few hours, and somehow I managed moments like this with 5 kids too!

 

My kids have driven by The Matterhorn Mini-Golf Course for the last 6 years and we've never been. So I vowed that this would be the summer-

Another summer that Sara got to cut Tate's hair-

Macy really wanted to go to the BMX track that Tate went to a few years ago, so off we went one morning-

We had the place to ourselves, minus one legit BMX-er, who was great to watch. I think our kids could have stayed all day!

https://youtu.be/XWOYRa9Zpdg

One morning one of the boys spotted a bear in the backyard of a neighbor, outside the fence line. Well, within about an hour, that GIANT guy was in our yard and tried to tear off the door which secures the trash cans. A neighbor took this picture of Sara's house while the bear was working on that door-

See his body on the left hand side of the house? Chris estimated that he was about 400lbs! Glad the kids weren't sleeping on the trampoline (yup, they did that one night...) when he was around. 

On our last day, we went to say good-bye to Stormy- 

This time it wasn't nearly as hard as it was last time. While I am almost certain that we will never see her again, knowing she is in good hands and happy, and having this bonus visit, made it all good. 

The last it rained- and the kids were psyched to be able to have LOTS of screen time! 7 hours I believe... and for 2 weeks, Sara had been asking me to teach her how to knit, but we never made it a priority. So the last day, we did it! We sat outside, while the rain fell, relaxed with seaweed on our face, and knit together!

That evening her parents came over and we had our traditional lobster dinner. It was a lovely send off and ending to another fun summer vacation in Connecticut together. 

Learning & Sushi

So very thankful to have a sister wife to keep such awesome schedules, to keep the kids fun learning, and to bring fun surprises.  She made this week so memorable for ALL of us and I cannot thank her enough.

A typical summer day in the Leadbetter-McCullough house:

Yup, that's right- home school! I was thrilled to be able to monitor the kids doing some school work for an hour each day-

They seriously loved learning Geography using the "stack the states" app and we learned about Alexander Hamilton a few days too!

Tate finally got some SUSHI- and it was delicious, even if we were in small town Connecticut!

Nick had recently swam out to an old bridge pillar in a neighboring town with buddies to jump into the river, and he really wanted to do it with Tate while we visited. And of course Macy and Shane wanted in on this also. So off the swam, up they climbed and out they jumped while Sara, Drew and I cheered them on from the river bank! 

https://youtu.be/p_QYd3IsuVw

Father's day weekend

Here I am cheating a bit again - 

For Father's Day weekend, Sara and Chris planned a new adventure for us all- RV camping!
The kids slept in a tent the first night, and in the RV with us the second night because it was HOT

Camping food is always a challenge for me (where's Brian??) so I was thankful to be able to hit up Costco for some easy stuff! And Tracey had recently served us similar veggie packets like these, so I made them to go on the fire one night-

When there is a need, these two will figure out a way to fix it! They carried this heavy cement block quite far together- We'd recently been introduced to competitive marble racing by Kristen, so the kids decided to give it a try for themselves and they spent hours and hours at it!

We camped in Clinton, CT just minutes away from the Long Island Sound and we made it to the beach both days. Day 1, not so crowded. Day 2- crazy crowded!Capturing these 2 being sweet - the next photo should be of them stuffing their shirts with sand until they bustFarrah is the cool mom with lollypops - we let the kids eat them while Chris was out cycling.  We all know he loves a good lollypop -)!https://youtu.be/ZWn995N-fMI  Should be titled Shane and the seagul 

The second night was a little warmer - so we optted to pile into the camper and crank the AC.

https://youtu.be/HyW_0fiJgm4

Now keep in mind - the camper had a toilet, the toilet has a tank - the tank filled 1/2 full at the first night.  Because the only way to empty was to drive the camper to the emptying spot, we opted to drive to McD's if you needed to go  - posh right?

The morning as we are prepping to leave, drew went fishing and caught one!  Love this shot of Tate rushing out there.

Fisherman Drew.

We got home from camping and Macy crashed out-

Sara planned to make grilled pizzas for Father' Day dinner, and i was her sous chef making plates like this for each pizza we would make- 

And boy did they come out fantastic!

Thankful to have this guy as my kids dad, my husband and the person to live each day with forever and ever.

Putting together the father's day gift!

 

Birthday time!

Time to celebrate this guy - how about a little Al Fresco breakfast to start?

There is a theme with this years gifts.

Time to build up the quarantine gym.  Good stories on how I obtained this new assortment of highly sought out weights.  Now if only those wisdom teeth would stop bothering him.  They are gone right?  Pour guy!

Pictures like this never get old.  Sadly the kids do

Birthday dessert with help from the best.  What could taste better on a swollen mouth?

Delicous!

 

McCullough time - I am cheating a bit....

Saturday we took the kiddos mountain biking to blend some of our favorite people.  Farrah needed some time to finish her job application and to just be......

I was so proud of Tate.  He doesn't mountain bike nearly as frequently or at all really.  Nick offered him his new bike and we headed off for a loop.  It was a challenge but he never complained.  He took our trips and did the best he could as the other pedaled on.  Macy and Shane rocked the kayaking and waited for us there.

Confession - I am writing this blog over THANKGIVING - yes, I am that behind and while I would like to think one day my kids will treasure this and read over it.  I am also thankful for the words and capture of others.  So for this one (and a few others) I give thanks to Farrah!!

 And then we headed over to see Stormy- and the minute we pulled in, I got all teary eyed! I sat on the stpe with her and just loved on her for a bit, and I think she recognized us- but how confusing it must have been for her to see us again, and without Brian. She had aged- she was skinny and her back hips were weak- but she still had moments of unbelievable energy and agility that were jaw dropping at 17 years old!

Les recently put in a putting green in the yard, so the kids got busy and Stormy tagged along-
Same with the pool, Stormy was right with the kiddos-As always, it was so heartwarming to see the kids back together, picking up right where the last left off.

A little water fun with Chris - 

https://youtu.be/shK4ZNBSDHA

And Brian called while we were with Stormy, so he got to see her too!
That night Sara had a special birthday celebration for Macy- 

And the boys made her a fantastic ice cream cake- 

I didn't take a picture, but one of the gifts that they gave Macy was a giant wearable, thick blanket- which we now call the Purple People Eater and she loves!

For the record - Tate is now officially DONE celebrating Macy's Birthday.  Apparently she got to celebrate in CA, VA, and CT - enough is enough right??

Sunday morning we watched church all together in the livingroom- even had communion together- and we left for the next stop on our New England adventure- Jamestown, RI.

Back to me

Yes, you heard it, they left us!  We had a few more days of school and they had some friend visiting to do.

we took a little time out by the river rock stacking.