Spring Break Part 1

We had a very exciting and fun spring break this year. We started our activities in Birmingham, AL, by meeting Lee's Aunt Melinda and family for lunch. We had a great time visiting at Ruby Tuesday's.

Then our family split up into two groups - the boys and girls. Lee took the boys on an overnight hiking trip to Oak Mountain State Park in Birmingham. They had a delightful first experience at overnight hiking despite the constant mist and night time downpour.
Ella Beth and I passed on that invitation and continued the journey across AL and into GA heading to Aunt Jenni's house. We took our time traveling though some towns in Alabama that my father grew up in and that I had visited as a little girl. When we made it into Georgia, we were very grateful to be at Aunt Jenni's house and not battling the damp weather, bugs, lack of potties, etc. that the boys were tackling (and as the story goes loving every minute of it). The girls had a very relaxing time visiting, shopping for toys, and sipping lattes at Starbucks.

Until next post when I share the exciting time had when the two vacations become one again.

Don't Give UP

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I have been up to my eyeballs in VBS this week. I promise a post on the happy occurrences of our spring break as soon as I get a few more moments. Until then...

Beavers

Our home is located in front of a small pond. It has been great for the kids. The boys have fun fishing and skipping rocks along the shore. They even had some remote control boats that they played with last year. Lee and I have also enjoyed it. It is relaxing to sit out and enjoy the peacefulness that comes at sun set. I like to watch the ducks and geese.

But everything isn't great about the pond. We have a BEAVER! Come to find out beavers really like crape myrtles. We had three large ones near the edge of the lake. Now they look like this:It took the beaver several nights to chew down all three. It was somewhat amusing at first to go out and see what the beaver had done the night before, but now he has come to close to home!
This past weekend we were playing in the back yard and I found this:
This is a bush next to our back patio. I never would have thought the beaver would be brave enough to come this close to our house. Here is how far apart the bushes are:
You can see the 3 chopped down crape myrtles in the background and the edge of our patio in the corner. We must stop the beaver!!

VBS

VBS, boy that brings back some memories: glitter all over everything, handmade crafts on the fridge door, butter cookies and kool-aid, and shrinking if you don't read the Bible (you remember the song). This year, however, Vacation Bible School creates all kinds of emotions for me because (drum roll...............) I AM LEADING OUR VBS PLANNING!!!! I don't know if I should be scared, excited, honored, or overwhelmed. Well, I guess I am a little of all four. Scared - Can I do this? Excited - This will be fun! Honored - They really think I can do this? and Overwhelmed - What have I gotten myself into?

Our theme is "Down at the Farm." We will be spending 3 days learning about Jesus' parables that have farm themes. The days are June 8-11. Hopefully on the fourth day we will have a petting zoo and lunch for the kids. If the petting zoo doesn't pan out, we will have a 4th story on the last day and still serve the kids lunch for an end of VBS party. Now is when I ask for help. Does anyone know of any great, but cheap, crafts to go with an animal theme? Also, for my friends from church, will you be willing to lend a helping hand? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Stories

I guess I should start my story with a little information about why I am starting this blog. When I was young, I had the habit of telling stories. These stories were never short. I would go on and on and on. Even if it was just a small amount of information I could talk about it for quite some time. (Sorry, I am doing it again!) My family use to watch the Golden Girls. That is were St. Olaf comes from. One of the characters, named Rose, would tell these very long stories with not much point and her co characters would sigh about them being a St. Olaf story again. My family soon picked up on that name and called my stories St. Olafs too. I hope to share with you some of my St. Olaf stories through my post. Hopefully you will not leave them with a sigh, but instead with a smile!