Target Practice

We made our own target out of hay bales, burlap, and brass paper fasteners. It was so easy. You can read more about how it was done over at my Zombie blog here. 

We spent quite a while at target practice on Christmas Day. The boys got a pellet gun and a compound bow for Christmas. Joshua got a bb gun from my brother for Christmas.

The weather was beautiful the next day, so we headed back out for a longer practice session. You can see our target improved as time went by.

 

The girl came out to shoot with us. Her brother helped her. He even pet her to show his affection. 

 

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite past-times with the kids.

Out of Doors

Yesterday, we put together hobos and spent the rest of the evening outside.

If you've never made a hobo, here's the basics: meat, veggies (we used red potatoes, yams, carrots, and onions), seasoning, herbs, and a pat of butter all wrapped up in foil. I'm not a fan of foil. If I had a dutch oven, we would have used that instead.

You wrap the foil up tight and put it on the coals to cook. A couple of Boy Scouts made this fire, so it's too big for our little pit. We had to put our hobos right on the flames. This still works as long as you rotate the packages often and don't mind a little charbroil flavor.

While the boys kept an eye on dinner, I caught up on some gardening chores. 

My sweet pepper plants surprised me with a few last minute gifts. Up until now, my sweet peppers have not produced anything at all.

It was also time to finish harvesting the herb bed. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my "planter" next year. Maybe I'll just keep using it as an herb bed. It did quite well. It would also be pretty for flowers.

My final bounty.

The kids set the table for us and brewed some iced tea. They worked hard to make this meal come together. They make me so happy.

Dinner was delicious. It was a very peaceful evening..

Labor Day Weekend

We joined several other families out at Kerr Lake. There is a fantastic group camping site. The best group site I've ever seen...although the bathhouse needed some tlc.

We spent most of the time cooking, eating, fishing, and swimming. It was great!

The kids were all a bunch of fish! They spent as much time int he water as they could.

We had a great campfire with s'mores and skits.

We even went fishing at night. Matt caught a HUGE catfish! We guessed he was around 4lbs!

When I woke up that morning, Leon and some of our friends were back at their fishing poles, the kids were swimming in the lake, and there was coffee already brewing. I could seriously live happily ever after like this.

We cooked and ate some more great food.

After breakfast the kids packed up their tents and gear, then headed for the water until it was time to leave. They swam back and forth across that gully. It was all they talked about on the way home.

North Carolina Sunrise

5am Adventures

It's the middle of August and time to see the Perseids. Because the moon is also nearly full, visibility is best just before dawn in the northeastern sky.

The kids woke me up at 4:30 am to get ready. We hopped into the car to head out away from city lights. However, we were disappointed by the intense cloud cover.

Our trip was not completely bust. We decided to head to the wildlife viewing area to watch the sunrise and "see what we could see." We were not disappointed.

The weather was cool and breezy. I brought along plenty of coffee. We are going to be okay here.

A blue heron stopped by to check us out. He watched us for quite a while.

Calvin spotted this very cool beaver dam. No sign of any resident beavers though. I think they must not be early risers.

The sunrise was full of spectacular color. Every time we looked up, the sky was different.

We spent a very relaxing morning spying on nature at the crack of dawn.

Fowler's Toad

Calvin and I were talking about the frogs that annoyed us at camp. He wanted to know exactly what kind of frog it was. So together we listened to all of the frog/toad calls on our favorite website Frogs and Toads of North Carolina

We also found another picture he took the second night.

It was definitely a toad, not a frog. We both described the call as that of a "screaming woman".

So we decided the best fit is the Fowler's Toad. The call is almost a perfect match and the picture is similar.

Camping Trip

The first camping trip a few weeks ago, was our test run. We are working our way up to a really big camping trip next year.

We're getting quite efficient at packing for a family of 6.

Our campsite opened up right to the water, so we thought we'd try our hands at night fishing.

However the bullfrogs were extremely loud...and creepy. They were everywhere, and they croaked constantly. Until, about 10:00 when they all stopped at the exact same time. Freaky.

I taught the boys how to play Kings in the Corner, a game my grandma taught me as a kid.

Jeremiah went strong until out of the blue he'd just crash. He did this both nights.

Leon caught himself a nice size catfish. He'd been frustrated because the fish were biting, just not on his line.

My favorite part about camping is camp-breakfast. There is nothing like the smell of bacon, eggs, and pancakes cooking outside in the early morning. I always volunteer to cook breakfast.

Having a clothesline just makes camp that much more comfortable. Especially for a large family (6 beach towels, 6 swimsuits, etc). Being prepared to wash dishes is also a great idea. We all take turns, except for Leon. He does most of the cooking.

When all of the work was done, I'd float. I like floating very much. It makes all the work that goes into getting a family of 6 outdoors worth it.