Summer Fun in '21!

July 1st we embarked on our journey to Florida. My father-in-law's desire was for his ashes to spread at sea. He was a navy man and we set out to fulfil that wish. It was a long drive and it rained most of the time, unfortunately, but we had a good time. 

July 1st also happens to be a very special day in our home as it is Isaac's birthday! We started the day with gifts for his 7th birthday before starting our road trip. He also got to pick out where we ate that day. He chose Mexican. It's a staple for our family. ha! 

We took a small detour so we could visit NOLA. It was really cool to see. We hope to go back sometime when we can spend more time there. 

Lots of water! We saw some really beautiful scenery and sites along the way. 

Fancy houses in Tampa. Plus more rain. 

We got a little break from the rain for a couple days and enjoyed some wonderful seafood and beach time. 

July 5th is our anniversary. It rained that evening, but we still snuck away for dinner out while Aunt Miss watched the boys. 

Hurricane Elsa was predicted to make landfall early on the 7th so we decided to leave the evening of the 6th just to be safe. We spread Lloyd's ashes in the rough waters of the gulf outside of Tampa and then we headed north. We drove until around 3 a.m. and stayed the night in Dalton, GA. The next day we did a little sight seeing at the site for the civil war Battle of Chickamauga.

The beautiful smokey mountains. 

After we lost Henry, I reached out to Olsi's bassetts, the breeder from which we got Henry, to see if they would have a sibling to Henry. They didn't have a full sibling, but they did have a half. So, we welcomed Huck to our home. He's helping patch that hole in heart from losing Henry. We could never replace Henry, but at least we can still have a part of him here with us through his half brother. 

Eli's birthday sleepover! 

The net was supposedly broken. lol

Summer fun!

Our chickens got big!

July birthday party!

 

Henry

On May 20th, the day he turned 2 years old, I got a call that my Henry basset had been hit and killed by our neighbor. To say I was devastated would be a gross understatement. I sobbed for days. My heart was broken and it ached in the depths of my soul. I loved that dog. So much. He was truly one of kind. There will never be another Henry. It has taken me awhile to catch up on blogging and this one is especially hard as it's gut wrenching to re live. I miss you Henry. 

 

School Year Wrap Up!

Spring brought some new life to our home. We participated in an embryology program through the University of Missouri extension office and hatched 8/12 of the eggs we received. Naturally, we kept them ;) I've been wanting chickens for awhile now so this just worked out! 

Noah has been a great help to work with his little brothers on their lessons. 

In May the boys participated in a soccer camp that was held weekly through the month of May and was sponsored by the University Extension as well. 

Lots of fishing. Eli could fish all day every day I think. He loves it. He really enjoys learning about pond life and the pond ecosystem as well. 

May and June brought baseball. 

June brought us our first family vacation of the year and we were able to incorporate some fun learning into the trip as well. 

Scenic Railway in Branson. 
 

We made a trip to WonderWorks Branson and we had a blast. So much fun learning within those upside down walls. We spent around 4 hours there! I didn't get a ton of pictures because we were busy! 

We also visited the Titanic museum and learned a lot about the ship and its tragic demise. 

We visited top of the rock and got to take the golf cart tour. It was an absolute blast. The scenery was incredible. 

We wrapped up our school end of June as we're doing "year round schooling." Our first year of homeschooling is in the books. We learned a lot about what works for us and what doesn't. I'm sure we have a lot more learning and tweaking to do to get that "just right" fit for our family, but we're working on it constantly. We are planning on taking a break for the month of July and possibly August and just having fun with a little learning thrown in here and there. That will hopefully give me time to prep for our new school year and get my plans in order. Year 2 here we come!