Harder Family

Harder Family

Saturday, July 11, 2015

A Week of Family Fun

Psalm 34:10 "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."

I chose this verse because as we have been driving around having fun this week, we have been listening to our Seeds Family Worship cds. This song is one of many that has been stuck in my head. 

God has been so good to us this week...we have not lacked one good thing, despite our circumstances. Wayne had a good week at work and has felt decent. He is just leaning on Jesus to get him through each day. The girls and I have had a fun filled week. 

Here is a summary of our week:


Tuesday:



Tuesday we went and watched the movie "Inside Out". We all really enjoyed the movie. I am glad that we decided to pre-buy tickets the night before because when we arrived, the next two shows were sold out! It was a great day to go to the movies-it was raining all morning. When we came out of the movies, the sun had come out! When we got home, everyone went outside to play. I'm so thankful for the neighbor girls that live up the street. They keep my girls plenty occupied during the summer months playing outside, swimming, riding bikes, and playing on the trampoline.


Naomi has been "growing" some butterflies. She was excited to see that two of them had emerged from their cocoons. We have to let their wings dry and then she'll get to release them tomorrow. On the sad side, our little cooper hawk died a few days ago. We discovered that the mom had five chicks and kicked the runt out. We didn't realize it until it was too late, but they weren't feeding that baby anymore so he/she died. There were some sad kids around here that day. They've gotten over it now as they have been watching the other ones learn how to fly.

Wednesday: Brookfield Zoo


Grace showing her sisters the animals.


Group shot


The snake was following Micael's finger as she moved it on the glass. She found that fascinating.


Double trouble.


Look what the kangaroo delivered!


Checking out the Przewalski Horses.


Up close


Naomi wanted a picture as well. 



Micaela


Abigail, Emma and the giraffes.


Micaela and the zebra


Naomi and the zebra


Watching the giraffes.


The girls and the Okapi.


Grace, my big helper, pushing Joella.


Sophia


Sisters




Sophia and the grizzly bear...the thing was huge. I wouldn't want to meet that in real life.


Micaela was a little more intimidated by the bear.


The Polar Bear jumped into the water when we got there. It was fun to watch it swim.





Pretending they were Jonah and the fish was eating them.




Penguins


Chasing bubbles!!!




We found another peacock and had to follow it around. They were hoping he would spread his wings to attract the female.



Festival of Flight!! This was an amazing show.


This bird grazed our heads...pretty amazing.


The girls were thrilled to see this Harper Eagle. They learned all about them on Wild Kratts.


The zoo was so much fun that we stayed longer then anticipated, so we made a quick trip to Taco Bell for some nachos for lunch.


Naomi releasing her Painted Butterflies!


We came home for them zoo and I got to work. That morning at the Farmer's Market they had a special on raspberries, Wayne's favorite fruit for jam. Sophia helped me make him 5 pints of raspberry jam!


Yep, crazy woman. I also decided to bake two fresh blueberry pies for company. I bit off a little more then I should have that afternoon. I had to bake the pies after I returned home from Bible Study.

Thursday: Great America


I rode Goliath with Naomi and Grace. It is the tallest, fastest and steepest wooden roller coaster!! That was an intense ride (especially after not being on a roller coaster for over a year). I have to admit that my eyes were closed until after the initial drop. I have a crazy fear of heights and yet I enjoy roller coasters. I do keep my eyes shut until we're done clunking up the big hills and start to drop...once we are dropping I'll open my eyes. I think that I'm almost getting too old for roller coasters...my neck has been sore for almost two days.


Abigail, Joella and Micaela enjoyed the little kids section of Great America. Abigail is a little afraid of roller coasters and enjoys the less "intense" rides that Joella and Micaela enjoy. The great part is that they have someone to ride with them on the rides.








I asked Micaela if she wanted me to ride in the tea cup with her and spin them and she said, "No Mama, I can do it all by myself." Needless to say, they didn't spin very fast. 


Waiting for their sisters on the swings.


Abigail didn't want to be filmed on the "baby ride". 




While I was riding Raging Bull with Naomi and Grace, my friend Toni watched the little ones for me. Joella took a tumble and skinned her knees. To make her feel better, she bought a boot of slurpee for Joella. The boot was meant to share, but Joella drank about 3/4 all by herself. She was very proud of that boot!


3/4 of a boot of slurpie = many bathroom trips. Unfortunately, we had a 2.25 hour drive home (due to wonderful traffic). Thankfully, I had a diaper in the car that the girls were able to put on her. There was no where to stop or take her when the slurpie hit.


Fun day at the park with my girls!!

Friday: Splash Park

Friday we met up with friends at a splash park. It was a nice, warm day and the kids had a blast playing in the water, playing at the park and eating a picnic lunch.


















Note to self: always check Joella's shoes. When we got out of the car at the park, this is what Joella was wearing. Cowboy boots and a swimsuit!! Not exactly park friendly shoes or apparel. Thankfully, we still had extra outfits in the car from our trip to Great America for Joella.


We finished the day at the park with slurpees from 7-11 to cool down. That evening, we had our pastor and his wife over for dinner. Paula, our pastor's wife, is also going through chemo for uterine cancer. They wanted to get a picture of their two bald heads together. It was a great evening of fellowship!


Saturday: Free slurpees and a birthday

Saturday morning at 7am, I went for a run with my friend Kathy while the kids watched morning cartoons and Wayne slept. After doing some chores around the house, we took a drive to our local 7-11 and got our free slurpees for 7-11 day. We then took a trip to our library for the girls to turn in their reading logs for the week. Abigail set a goal to read 800 minutes this week and she did it! Later on today, we are going to be celebrating Wayne's birthday. His birthday is actually Monday, but why not make it a weekend of celebration? We went and bought him his requested ice cream and Mrs. Richardson's caramel. Guess what we are having for dessert tonight? Maybe we'll have to go on a sugar detox after this weekend of slurpees and ice cream...nah, we'll just eat more fruit next week. It is summer after all.


After looking through all of these pictures, no wonder I'm tired today. That was a lot of fun and activities!! Please pray for Wayne as he started his second round of chemo last night. So far he is just feeling extra fatigued. We are praying that this month goes smoother for his treatment and side effects.

Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him."








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