First Days on the Farm

The mornings are crisp and clear. We love it here. It's so fun to have our own home! It's a lot of work too! (No, we don't sleep in our tent in the barn, by the way).
Wow, moving in. What can we say. It's a mess! Especially when all we're doing is painting and painting and painting. Jarad and I took turns taking care of Cai--then, as soon as he was asleep, we'd get back to painting.
Peek-a-boy, yeesh, the biggest carrot! We hope to grow carrots this big next Summer.
Hey, look, there's a kitchen after all! WE finished painting on October 6th (except for the bathroom).
Cai and I love gardening in the afternoons, we were pruning the wild tomato plants behind him.

Finishing the Scavenger Hunt~

Remember what's left on the list? One motorcylce, five Blue Mailboxes, three bikers, and a new friend.

Okay, here it goes Jo, on September 13th, when we were driving down to Outer Banks, we found this...so, motorcyle check. I'd like to introduce to you, mailbox #2. Found not long after a short pit-stop to Food Lion (that's the weird name of the place where our food comes from out here). That very night, in camp, two biker ladies pulled in. I ran over, introduing myself of course and told them off the Scavenger Hunt. They were glad to pose for a pic! They're from Pennsylvania.
Two in one! On September 14th, we met another biker! That's three...check. She's been biking for three days with her husband. We were kinda confused with her story, maybe she was dehydrated, but we couldn't tell if she was saying she biked over from Charlotte, NC or up from Emerald Isle. Any who, here's our new friend. We'd like to introduce Krammer. He's a cutie who's 13 years old! Check.

September 17th~ out on a walk around Norfolk. We found this...Blue mailbox #3. and this...ha, thought we could trick you?
Cai thinks I'm funny.
Mailbox #4...and the double wide counts for #5 and 6!

WE had so much fun, thanks to your creative mind.

(okay, so we gave in and drove to the Post Office down the street).

Outer Banks, NC~ Family Trip

WELCOME TO OUTER BANKS, NORTH CAROLINA.

A family excursion to Jockey Ridge State Park to hike the Sand Dunes.

Mmmm steaks and rutabaga on the grill...camping in the woods, mosquitos all around, the ocean down the street, sand dunes and lighthouses. Outer Banks, North Carolina. Can you get any better than being together with family and friends in such a sweet place?
Our campground, Adventure Bound Campground, had many great features like running water, horseshoes and Peacocks. Random? Yes, there were three males (the pretty ones) and one female. They make the weirdest caw noises.

Orange you happy to be in our family?
Ummmm...let me think about that....

YES, I AM!!!
Bodie Island Lighthouse. It's so beautiful. That's all I can say, I love Jarad and Baby Cai. You guys are the best! At Currituck Lighthouse, we found a baby Aligator Turtle. Cai loved it! In fact, he wanted to eat him! He wants to eat everything!

Hiking along the marshes at Heritage Park. See...there's Cai, eating his shoes. Isn't he so funny...I snapped this just at the right time! Two seconds before, he was sucking on his toes and I popped them out of his mouth. He just laughed and laughed.
I asked Jarad what his favorite part of the trip was, he said, "Playing on the beach and boogy boarding with the Asay's family." I said, "No way! That was mine!" We love you guys! It was so good to see our friends, Hailey and Savannah, who Jarad and I taught in Valiants class in primary in our Sand Lake Ward, Alaska. They've grown up so much, they're 14 now going to seminary, dances, and EFY. It's so awesome to see them!

KITTY HAWK, North Carolina ~Kill Devil Hills, where the first powered aircraft took off from here!

WE LOVE OUR PILOT! Thanks Daddy for working so hard getting people places where they need to be all around the East. You're so awesome. Genius.

This granite monunment was built in 1933 to commemorate 30 years of flight. It's in the shape and form of the racing pylons that pilots used to fly around.

We hiked the 70 skinny steps to the top. The Ranger gave Cai a "Jr. Ranger" badge. He loved it!
A little known, but true history fact:

Orville Wright and Cai and I helped pushed off the right wing as Wilbur and Jarad took off into the air! The fourth flight measured 852 feet over the ground; the time in the air was 59 seconds.

Thanks Jarad for making history so fabulous, fun!

Jojo's Scavenger Hunt is on!

Jo sent us a letter to find the following. Cai's given himself til September 17th. Here's the list"

1 Golden Leaf, A motorcycle, 3 Bikers, 6 Blue Mailboxes, 2 birds, A Bird's Nest, and a new Friend One BLUE mailbox...check
A bird's nest...check and cross off the list

One golden leaf...check and cross of the list. (Cai's a sicky boy with yucky cold...as you can see)
Two birds...check and cross of the list! These are our adoptive birds. We fed them when they were little yellow duckies (whoops!) Now they follow us everywhere on our walks around the lake! Cai loves them, but not when they get too close. They'll eat right out of our hands (not anymore...we've stopped feeding them). Thanks for the fun Jo! We'll keep you posted!