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

Wow time flies when you are having fun! The past few days have been quite busy now that school is out! Wednesday was the last day of school for both Paige and Sam....Paige is now looking forward to starting grade two, while Sam is headed up to the high school! (And Ben of course, will be headed to Kindergarden!). For a bit of a celebration, I took the kids to see 'Curious George' at the theatre on base after the half day of school on Wednesday (Sam was already at a buddy's house and so escaped the torture of a 'little kids movie'!). Shelby had never seen Curious George, and while Paige and Ben both had, they all LOVED it (sometimes a movie is even better the second time around!). Mark was able to come home early on Thursday, so we all went grocery shopping and ran errands, thrilling I know!
Today started out fun, and became rather eventful! The boat (USS Alabama) was volunteering to build a split rail fence at Scenic Beach State Park ( the same park I blogged about where Shelby held crabs!), and so the kids and I all went too! While at the beach, Paige unfortunately cut her baby toe QUITE badly on an oyster shell! It bled pretty profusely and required a trip to the ER for Paige and I! Yikes! We no longer go to Naval Hospital (yay for us!!) and so it was quite a treat to go to a civilian hospital and be whisked in and out of the ER (instead of waiting FIVE hours, yup, you read that right, FIVE hours at Naval Hospital!) and treated like royalty! Paige was given alot of attention and fuss and came out with quite the bandaged toe (no stitches as ocean water is quite yucky they said and IF it DID become infected, they want it to be able to drain out and not be held in with stitches!) and a nice big teddy bear to add to her collection! Not the way to start the summer holidays, but hey...it was an adventure! The picture above is Paige in the ER...at this point, it had become 'fun'! lolol...

Tomorrow, my good friend Bobbi and her hubby and headed to the Kenny Chesney concert and so I have her two kids as well as my four (am I completely nuts?!)...and we are headed to the steamer trains in Port Orchard, so will have nice pics and another adventure for you all tomorrow!

Hugs,
Mark, Jaye and Gang

I've been so busy the past few days, I haven't had time to post, and this is going to have to be short and sweet as well!
Fathers Day was fun! The morning started out with Mark getting breakast in bed from Paige! She brought him a glass of orange juice, a croissant and a red potato! While eating, Mark got to open his gifts and cards! We all bought him an automatic tape measure....that way, when he needs to measure something, none of us has to hold the other end! hahaha...We also got him a strap wrench (look it up online if you don't know what it is!) and two new shirts for Church and dressing up. Paige also made him the cutest place mat at school which matches the one she made for me for Mothers Day! After breakfast we all headed to church. I sat in the van as I all of a sudden got horribly sick. Mark and the kids left services early so they could bring me home, and I was tucked into bed. UGH. What a way for Mark to celebrate fathers day! I didn't want to stay in bed while he looked after the kids so I got up and after much puking (lovely I know!) I felt 100% again. It seems I ate something that just didn't agree with me! (NO, I am NOT pregnant!!)
Mark took the kids to Wild Cat Lake while I made an Angel Food cake and chocolate covered strawberries!

When Mark got home, he fired up the grill and made the most wonderful pork ribs! He is definately the Grill KING! Yummers!

Yesterday (Monday June 19) was Paiges 'field day' at school (in Canada we called this Sports Day!). Ben was able to join her class and I think he earned her class a whole lot of points as he was kept busy busy running races! The weather was perfect, not too sunny and not raining like last year. Although, if you ask the principal, Mr. Corsetti, I'm sure it was WAY too cold for him. He volunteered for the dunk tank- Silly Rabbit! Shelby and Ben and I were able to have lunch with Paige as they had a school bbq, and then we just brought Paige home for the afternoon as there wasn't a whole lot going on in her class after that.

The girls have found a 'cave' on our property and some neat trees. I believe they are making their own little 'kingdom' as they are busy out in the forest every day and talk about 'clearing branches' and 'climbing'. I remember playing outside in the forest as a kid, what a way to spend a summer! Fun fun fun! I am jealous! I may have to go out and join them! hehehe.

I will post more later, and maybe I'll have a picture or two!

Hugs

Mark, Jaye and Gang

What a busy day we had today! We got up fairly early (not sure this would be an easy task as Paige and Shelby giggled late into the night!) and packed a picnic lunch and headed to Point No Point beach and lighthouse! The lighthouse itself was small but full of factiods (it was built in the 1800's). One of the funniest facts (we thought!) was that the first lighthouse keepers wife was pregnant when they moved to the lighthouse. For the first 40 years there was no road to the lighthouse so everything came by barge. Well, it seems they needed to have milk for when the baby came, so they had a cow brought out to them. It was sent out on a barge, dropped over the side and it swam to shore! Viola! Fresh milk! You can see the lighthouse itself in the first picture. In the second picture, we were teasing Shelby about the sign and asking if she should be allowed to go in (notice the no pets part! hehe). She thought that was pretty funny.

We then went to the beach and the kids found some really neat sea creatures and shells. There seemed to be quite a few sea snails today! We all played flatball (a frisbee that turns into a ball when you throw it!) and football, built sand castles and ate a yummy lunch.

On the way home, we saw what is literally a 'boathouse'! You can see it in the third picture, someone made a house out of an old boat wheelhouse! How cool is that? We also stopped on the way home at Kountry Korners store, bought ice-cream bars, and saw the neatest carvings, all done with a chainsaw! Someone has alot of talent and patience!

Once home,we all quickly changed clothes and headed to the neighbors for a high school graduation party. Now, the girl who graduated isn't just ANY girl, she is the worlds BEST babysitter! And we all love her to pieces. Congrats on Graduation Charley!

After the graduation party, Mark took the kids to Wildcat Lake for a quick cool-down swim! I had to stay home and do laundry (my excuse to have some quiet time around here! haha). The kids all had so much fun that they want to go again tomorrow! So after Church and lunch we will head back (maybe we'll take our lunch there!)

To all of you who are fathers, Happy Fathers Day! We will post pictures tomorrow of our celebration! We have a nice day planned for Mark, and I am sure we will have yet another fun filled day!

Hugs and love to all...
Mark, Jaye and Gang

We've been busy busy the past few days. Yesterday, Ben, Shelby and I did all our grocery shopping and errands (like getting crickets for the lizard!). We also went shopping for Fathers Day! Shelby was quite thrilled to be able to buy a card and pick out a present for her Dad. She has only been able to do this one other time (she was with us for Fathers Day a few years ago), as she isn't able to do this when she isn't with us. The kids all played outside last night, some sort of dinosaur game that they've made up, and they played till almost dark!

Today we are taking it easy as we ran around almost all day yesterday....Shelby and I have played several games of Yahtzee, and when Mark came home, he joined us. After we picked Sam and Paige up from school, we went to blockbuster to pick out some movies for our 'Family Movie Night' . The kids picked out two movies for themselves (Duma, The Pink Panther) and we picked out two for us (Munich, An Unfinished Life) so we'll make popcorn and drink root beer and have fun! We are also going to do an experiment! Mark and Shelby both heard on the same day (Mark from work and Shelby from her mother) about this trick, apparently when you take a 2 litre bottle of diet coke and put some mentos in it, it explodes! Mark said that a bunch of guys actually did this at work today and it was pretty cool! I'll take pictures to show you what happens! Shelby asked us what would happen if you put some mentos in your mouth and drank the soda? We said "DON'T try it!"...silly rabbit! :)

Tomorrow we are going hiking to Point No Point beach. It has the only lighthouse in Kitsap County on it and is apparently miles of sandy beach. I will take pictures and post those!

Hope you all have a great weekend! I know we are going to be busy busy busy. Hiking on Saturday and Church and Fathers Day on Sunday! YAY!

Hugs to you all

Mark, Jaye and Gang

Today after Mark got home from work, we all went
to Scenic Beach State Park. Shelby had an absolute ball looking for and finding crabs! She has two hermit crabs at her moms house in WI and was fascinated to find small ones on the beach and learn that her big ones started out this small! We taught her how to tell the difference between a male and female crab, she saw a beach full of oysters, and found really neat rocks and shells.
We then went into the park itself and saw an old log cabin built in 1936.
Shelby commented how this home for an entire family was a third the size of her bedroom! Amazing how we didn't used to 'need' so much 'stuff' all those years ago.
We were content to simply have our families around us healthy and happy!
We then went to the playground in the park and the kids
were doing wonderful impressions of being Monkeys!

In this series of pictures, Shelby is looking for a crab, shows off the crab she finds, and then when she and Mark get ready to have a picture taken together, she starts to lose the crab! Once we lost the crab, we were able to get a nice shot of Shelby and her Dad!