Cagle Mills Lake - Trip 2

So, part of Graigry's Traveler badge, for which was part of the original Cagle Lake trip, was to calculate mileage for the round trip. Well, I forgot to refill the gas tank when we returned, so we went again on Labor Day. One final hurrah to bid farewell to summer. We brought the same big ball, but within minutes, due to wind and some disagreements, the ball floated past the buoys and was picked up by one of the boats, on to a better life.

They had a LOT of fun burying each other in the sand. Xela and Neta became one sand person.

Bury me!

Xela with her "baby."

Now only two heads can be seen.

Time to escape their sandy bond!

Neta was able to escape first.
Smaller body was easier to pull out.

Xela required assistance from her brothers.

While she was in her sandy self-inflicted semi-casket, Xela decided to role play a scene from the movie "Frozen" before escaping.

washing off the sandy remains

Nate grabbed the feet and ran!
Obviously didn't get far.

Eric spent a most of his time people watching or...

...catching up on some sleep.

I think we'll be visiting Cagle Mills Lake more often next year. It's a great day trip.

Cub Scouts & Truffles

Sunday, August 17, Eric was still out of town for the wedding in Alabama. Nate needed to visit an important community location for one of his Cub Scout things, so I decided we would go visit the 911 monument Sunday after church. We'd been there before, but there is a special something there as you read the poem and stand by one of the steel beams from one of the towers. 

Neta will never forget those heroes who lost their lives.

Nate stands in honor of heroes gone.
You can see the steel beam in the reflection.

Graigry reflecting on the past.
(shot by Xela)

Graigry, after thumbing through a cookbook, had been asking to make some mint truffles. When we got back from downtown, he and I worked together to grind up the grasshopper cookies, blend them with cream cheese and form them into balls. While they sat in the fridge, we melted the butterscotch. I couldn't find the prescribed mint chocolate, so I worked with what I could find.

We rolled the balls into the butterscotch and then put them back in the fridge.

Looking sooo tastie!!!

After waiting for the butterscotch to harden, each of us got an awaited for treat.

Not the best picture, but here is what the inside looked like.

After exercising much patience, come and get...
...TRUFFLES!!!

This is a treat that I'm gong to have to make again, maybe with white chocolate. I like making treats with the kids and I like it when they want to help make them.

Cagle Mills Lake - August 16

Neta - the proud architect!

Eric went to Alabama for his nephew's wedding, so we took the opportunity to go to Cagle Mill Lake. I wanted to go to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, but when I looked at the weather I wasn't sure it was going to cooperate and I didn't want to drive three hours to play in a lake if we were going to get rained out. Cagle Mills Lake / Lieberman State Recreational Area is only 45 minutes away. I figured that was a better use of time and gas.

It rained on the way there, and was cloudy when we first got there, but then turned into a fairly good day on the lake. Here are a variety of pictures that were taken of the day.

Xela wrapped in her towel,
walking toward the lake.

I think that is Nate wading in the lakeshore.

Girls splashing in the waves.

Neta liked to jump over the waves.
Others just have fun doing whatever comes to mind.

Water brings out the smiles in the Scotts.

Aurora chasing the BIG ball from
"Grandma" Cartwright.

Splish, splashing together in the water.

Ball time!

They attempt to play a game.
Can't remember if it worked or not.

Volley!

Building a sand fortress.

Xela's waterfront property, under construction.

Nate and Neta attempting to make hand prints.
The waves successfully erasing them faster than N&N want.

Sand castles!

If you look close, you can see
the immensity of the boys' creation.

Nate found a triangular shaped rock and called it the titanic.
The Titanic is carving out its path. 

Ta-dah! Ro's castle is complete!

Graigry adding a mote to his fortress.

It was around 2:00 when the kids decided
that they were hungry. I had packed makings for sandwiches.
We made sandwiches, had chips, grapes and cucumbers.

Aurora attempting to deflate the ball
that I had spent 20-30 minutes blowing up.
That ball was LARGE and
took A LOT of breath to inflate.

When we were here a few years ago, we took a picture similar to this one. I can't remember if I suggested it or one of the kids, but we took an updated picture:

We played a few minutes longer after lunch and left around four o'clock for home.

Graigry & Nate turned Neta
into a Sand-maid.
You can kind of make our the tail.

There was still Saturday night prep to complete in preparation for Sunday church. We were able to spend time as a family, in the pursuit of "wholesome recreational activities" (see The Family, Proclamation to the World) and got some things done for Graigry's Webelos Traveler Activity Badge.

Have I mentioned that I enjoy very much making memories and playing with the kids? I want them to have good memories of their childhood and know that, even though I had to work and couldn't be home with them as much as I wanted, I love them and want them to be valiant in their beliefs and defender of each other. 

School Starts 2014 - 2015

So it's October and I'm updating info from August. At least I'm updating. :)

Xela started school first. I can't believe I have a high schooler!

Little Flower School started on August 12th. Of course, I had to get pictures!

The front stairs have become
our typical first day of school spot.

Neta 2nd Grade - Ms Johnson's class

Nate - 3rd Grade - Ms Brosmer's class

Graigry - 5th Grade - Ms. Forsee

Aurora - 8th Grade - Ms Slaton

Aurora is excited to be the "big man" on campus. For Nate and Neta it is there first year at Little Flower. We prayed about whether or not this was a good move and when I finally asked the right question, my real question - would there testimonies weaken because of this choice - and received an answer, we made the move.

It will be interesting to see how this year progresses. It's nice that there are three other LDS families at the school: Turners, Robinsons and Dunahees. Dunahees also made the move this year for their three youngest. Michelle had similar concerns as well.

My week off - State Fair on Wednesday

I took August 4 - 8 off from work and spent time having fun with the kids. I can't remember what we did on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday we went to the Indiana State Fair. Every year the Indy Star (local newspaper) has one day where they print a "get in free" coupon. I always look for that notice and then buy seven papers so we can go and not pay. Perfect basically free activity! It's something that the kids look forward to and we enjoy.

Eric is not a fan of the fair, so this year just the kids and I went. Because Eric needed the big van and we don't all fit in the Camry, we decided to ride bikes to the fair grounds at 38th and Fall Creek Boulevard. Neta really wanted to ride her own bike, but I knew that the 6-ish miles one way and then walking for a few hours would lead to great frustration for everyone on the return trip. She relented to going on the extra wheeler, frustrated at not getting her own way, but in the long run she was fine.

Onward Scott bikers!

There was also a free bike parking, so we got tags on our wrists to match us up with our bikes and away we went. We got there around 10:30 and it was pretty much dead. Kind of nice to have the place less crowded for a little while at least. We hit the ...

Funny faced rabbit and chicken.

Nate is not for sale either.

Graigry is hoping to feed the chickens with his finger.
Neta is keeping her hands in her pockets.

Is Graigry the Grand Champion?
or is there something in that cage?

Having fun petting a duck...

...and then some hens.

Next we went to the art and textiles exhibit. Here the kids got to imprint a piece of leather and put that piece on some yarn to make a necklace.

Picking out what shape they want on their leather piece.

"Give it another whack."

Smack it, Xela!

This piece of artwork has the lyrics of the hymn:
"Love at Home" and was created for
Bishop and Bettie Scott's 50th wedding anniversary.
We were excited to see something for someone that we knew.

Time for lunch! We packed sandwiches and grapes (I wasn't going to buy a meal. I just committed to elephant ears.)

Neta loves to strike a pose.

Next was the goats and sheep area.

Picture taking a picture.

Petting a goat.

One of the things we've gone too since we first moved to Indiana is the little farm walk through, where the kids get to "be a farmer" gathering eggs, planting, harvesting and taking to the grocery. This year there was an age limit on who got to be "paid" at the end. Xela and Ro were over the age limit, but had fun anyway.

Collecting "eggs" from the "hens."

Such a tasty "apple."

Neta picking at the apple orchard.

Nate plants some seeds in hopes that they will grow.

Neta joins in the other trough.

Crusing around the loop in the tractor.

Neta crosses the finish line.

Ready to turn in their hard worked for harvest!

Then we went to a different area and watched a beehive. The challenge was to find the queen bee.

Looking....looking....

FOUND IT!

We found a place that was giving away free popcorn. Of course we had to stop and get a bag. This is Indiana; we're all about corn.

Lastly, an most importantly, we needed to get Elephant Ears. That's the main objective of the state fair, right? They are so big that I only had to buy three and we split them (good thing too, because they were $5 each).

YUMMO!!

I need to find a recipe and see if I can make them at home, on a smaller portion size.

It was a challenge for Neta
to eat the elephant ear
and walk with any kind of speed.

We had to get home for piano that started at 3, so we got on our bikes just before 2:00 and pedaled our way back home. I knew that after walking for 3 hours they would have tired legs and the bike ride home would be a little more difficult. By the time we got to tenth street, I told the girls to go ahead and get the piano stuff collected. The boys were diligent and kept pedaling, but slower. 

We got home around 2:45, quickly put the bikes away and everyone squeezed into the car to head to piano. I found it a little funny that Eric didn't want me to put 6 bodies into a 5 body car, but then I had no choice to do that on the way to  piano. Biking was fun and enjoyed by all (and helped make for tired beings at the end of the day).

I love being with my kids! I love making memories with them.