Here's the scoop. My loving father facilitated a purchase of 20 acres in East Texas for our entire family to use as an escape from the rest of the world. (The cabin will be used weekends and vacations, not a permanent day to day home.) Since we officially signed the papers a couple of weeks ago we have been camping @ the property on and off during the process of building a small cabin. Dom is unable to help since he is still under Dr.'s care after his back surgery so my dad and Brother Beal have been doing the work.
This past weekend we all ventured out to the cabin to do some "work." My sister came with us for the first time (YEAH!) and we camped for a couple of nights. There is no running water @ the camp and no electricity. There are plans for a small hand dug well but I am uncertain how long it will be until an indoor outhouse will emerge!
Jess and Niki and Luke and Ezra and I explored as much of the property as we could this weekend. We discovered 1 awesome deer blind and 2 small deer stands as well as some animal scat trails and many freshly dug animal dens. The property is overgrown with briars and thorny raspberry bushes (note to self-add machete to the camp box for next trip.) We had a bewildering time finding our way back to the cabin once we ventured off the road. Our saving grace was the dead tree about 50 yards northeast of the cabin...oh and my dad cutting a path with the chainsaw after we were yelling Marco Polo to him! The weekend was relaxing and full of educational opportunities, right up to the end, even the part where someone nailed their own thumb to the top of a corner post of the cabin. I have debated about posting this for many reasons, one of which is I didn't want to appear to be an irresponsible parent because I had the kids around a construction zone. In the end, I have to post this because this is our on-line scrap book and without the picture and this post, part of this history would be missing...not that any of us could ever let my dad forget he nailed his thumb to the cabin. Now it truly has his blood, sweat, and tears!
In other news, my sister made it into the police academy. Today was her first day and she said it was what all the cadets expected with the trainers yelling and having cadets stand @ attention for half the day. Jess does not recognize what a unique individual she is. I am uncertain what the statistics are but she is in the small percentage of Americans who have never tried any illegal narcotics, doesn't drink, doesn't lie...she is a shining example of a good person. I am the mean big sister! Everything bad that has ever happened to my sister started out with my handy work. It's ok, I have accepted my role in the grand scheme of things! LOL!
In still other news, Dom has re-enlisted in the Army National Guard for another 3 year stint. He is still on Medical Hold after the back surgery so he will not resume his duties until he is released. Once he is I am certain it is off on another deployment he will go. Secretly, well not so secretly now, I kinda want him to go active so we could travel. We would probably be stationed somewhere nasty @ the end of the earth so maybe it's for the best.
Yes, more news, Mady has her first job. She is scooping dog poo for a whopping $100 a month! This is an awesome job. It is one day per week after lunch and shouldn't take more than an hour. Mady is excited! Of course she is already speculating about her extravagant purchases. Her 10th birthday is this week as well. Wow! 10! Where does the time go? I am so thankful we started this blog so I can keep up with day to day happenings. I like to reflect on what we have been up to. Even though we haven't done much with our homeschool groups lately, I still feel so busy. Niki has gymnastics, Mady has art and the rabbits with 4H, the cabin, now it is time for our garden, and the boys are talking a blue streak. Luke and Ezra repeat every word we utter lately. The rate their vocabulary is growing is amazing. Each of the boys recognize and respond to everything we request of them as they mimic every action any adult around them is engaged in.
Enough rambling. Here are some recent pix.
1 comment:
Oh my gosh, your poor dad! OUch! There is nothing irresponsible about your children around the cabin you are building. I am sure they are in no danger and they will have these memories of "helping" out!
Hope your dh heals from his back surgery. My dh has a bad back, 3 herniated disks and it's no fun. I didn't know yours was in the military. My dh was in the Marine Corps back when we got out of high school. We were desperate to get stationed somewhere far from home, somewhere cool and exciting but ended up in 29 Palms, Ca, 3 hours from home,lol.
Congrats to your sister! That's awesome!
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