Yesterday brought another adventure for the Greene's! What a fun summer we are having! We started out running around doing a few errands (that's what happens when you have a big family, always an errand to run!)...then we met our very good friends Paul and Lillybug (Lilly and Paige were 'wombmates', as Ami and I were pregnant with the two of them when we met!) at McDonalds for lunch. Remember, we also had my other girlfriends two kids with us, so we were quite the group going from place to place! After lunch, we headed out to Port Orchard to the Kistap Steamer Trains. A bunch of train enthusiasts have built a miniature train track through the South Kitsap State Park for the trains that they have built (see an example of one of the trains in the picture above!). They have over 5000 feet of track through the park, so a ride takes about 15 minutes. It is SUCH a lovely little ride through the forest. Yesterday was a perfect day for it too as the sun was out and the air was warm. As the train moved through the forest, the cool shade was a welcome respite from the sun and the beauty of the sundappled forest was just what a soul needed to find a bit of 'calm' in an otherwise hectic day! :)

After the trains, Mark and I and the kids headed to Walmart to pick up all the flowers we would need to plant behind the retaining wall that Mark built on our back patio. Once home, Mark dashed back into town to pick up the lumber to build stairs from the house out onto the back patio as we hadn't yet done that. With Mom and Terri coming out on Wednesday - YAY - we thought it prudent to have stairs for them! The kids played out in the park while I planted all the things in the garden and then Paul and Mark started to build the stairs (Mark is finishing them up today and once they are done, I'll take a few pictures of the finished back patio!). Paul and his wife Ami, and lillybug stayed for dinner and a visit. Once we had all the kids (five in total!) washed, teeth brushed and tucked into bed, Mark and I sat out on our back patio...it is so lovely and peaceful out there. No sounds of traffic or people, just the soft wind whispering through the forest. We had put tiki torches into the flower bed and had them lit, so the atmosphere was just like sitting out on a balcony in Hawaii! We just love our new little piece of paradise, and how handy to have it right outside our back door! Once the stairs are done, we won't have to take a giant leap from the house to get there either! hahaha.

This afternoon, I am off to take a much deserved (if I do say so myself!) break, and so am headed to see "The Lake House" with Ami! I'll let you know how it is!

Have a wonderful weekend! We have a BUSY week ahead of us, and I'll try to keep you all up to date with what is going on around here through this blog!

Hugs

Mark, Jaye and Gang