Des bulles (in English: Bubbles!!!)

Sophie and the girls stopped over the other evening before Papa came home from work. As we sat in the back, we decided it would be good to go find something for the girls to play with. Kevin went to the basement, and with Inés' help, came back out with bubble wands! What a great idea!




Inès and Apolline were so excited with all the bubbles floating in the air as it was all new to them. They ran around the yard and chased them with the bubble wands.





The girls knew the wands needed to be inserted into the tube of liquid soap, but couldn't quite get the hang of making the bubbles come from them.




I love this photo...




Sophie and Kevin made lots of bubbles for the girls to chase. Sophie explained that the girls have never seen bubbles...have never done this before. She said that she and Rémi had those tiny bottles of bubbles at their wedding, but that was the only experience she'd ever had with bubbles. So this was new for all of them. We had so much fun.




Here the girls are trying again to make their own bubbles. They would flip the wand out of the tube and lost all the soap needed to make bubbles. So they just went back to chasing the ones Kevin and Sophie made.




Inès




Apolline






The thrill of being a care-free child

Lots of chopping and slopping.....
My dear friend, Nancy and I went to Genghis Grill for our evening of fun.


It was my first time there, but Nancy was an old pro. We are each given a bowl to fill with our choices of meats, veggies, spices, and sauces. Then we hand them over to these 2 young gentlemen who proceed to toss the contents onto this huge grill. Individuals' dishes are separated by the long sticks you see. The sticks are also used for stirring, then scraping the cooked food into the red bowls, along with your choice of rices or pasta. Sometimes they would even strike the gong you see on the wall, just for fun.





Nancy with her dish....




...and me with mine.

Preparing for a good old fashioned Iowa farm meal...

Grandpa, Ethan, Kaylin, and Krystin husked the sweetcorn we were to eat for dinner. Great Grandma and Grandpa were coming up to join us for dinner. Later, other extended family would be coming for dessert.




Krystin is focused on getting those "hairs" cleaned off the ears.




Ethan concentrating on the task at hand.



Peeling off the husks takes strength




Kaylin has a thing about strings....doesn't like them hanging on her clothing, so these silks are probably just more strings to her. Actully, all of the kids did a great job cleaning their ears of corn. Kevin and I did not have to do any additional cleaning after they'd finished the pile of corn.




Then there was time for another game of Brain Qwest, which I believe was Ethan's favorite entertainment the whole time he was here visiting. He's pretty smart.




Then Great Gma and Great Gpa arrived for dinner (noon meal here). The kids love being read to. The "George and Martha" books were the favorites. So, Great Gma read to the girls while....




...Great Gpa stepped out back to see Ethan, who was reviewing their trip across the country in his very own atlas. Let me tell you, that boy knows the way home...which highways to take, which exits to take, which towns to go through, which pages each state was on that they would go through. Here, he is explaining the trip to Great Gpa.




I asked Dan to grill the steaks. We also had a pork loin roast that I'd grilled. Oh, there's nothing like Iowa meat!




Britt enjoying a good old Iowa meal...with grilled meats, corn-on-the-cob, cottage cheese, homemade applesauce, homemade bread, (no ripe garden tomatoes yet).



Then our other company came....

Makenna (due in Oct), my sisters Lori and Deb, and nephew Zeke.




Kevin, Dale, Deb, Lori





Cousins Britt and Makenna don't have many opportunities to see each other.




Dale is a child magnet. Can you tell?


Time for dessert....

My sister, Marti was gracious to cut this ice cream dessert for me. (It's Ida G's dessert she used to make when my family would go there to visit). This is a favorite dessert; graham cracker crust, dark chocolate syrup, then cut up vanilla ice cream, then more chocolate syrup, topped with more graham cracker crust. (I finally figured out the right ratio of graham cracker crumbs to butter to make the perfect crust...after all these years.)




We ate our dessert outside. Ethan enjoyed making bubbles.




Then there were games of Snake Toss. Pretty soon, Andrew was paying Kaylin a quarter for picking up his "snakes".




She was carrying around this little purse from another game we have, to keep her quarters in. She's seeing how they're accumulating.




"Mom, are these real?"




Dale, not to be outdone by Andrew, asked Kaylin for a quarter. She hesitated and thought about it briefly, then generously gave him a quarter. He proceeded to pull out a $1 bill and gave her that in return. This is her thank you.




She has no idea what's going on, but the adults were having fun with it.



Then Great Gpa quietly gave her a larger sum. Here, she is thanking him.





The innocence of a child. She really didn't know what was going on, but she was grateful (and happy) to have some money. In the end, she had 3 pieces of paper currency. And she told her mom that she wanted to give one to her brother and one to her sister. After all, isn't that what God asks of us when He blesses us? "And a child shall lead them."

Off to the Raptor center....for crippled birds.






Grandpa (the water carrier) and Kaylin




First we saw the owls




Barn owl (?)




Looking at another owl. A great field trip for everyone.




I believe this is a screech owl. This guy looked to be only about 8" tall.




This injured bald eagle has been at the raptor center since 1989.




Leaving, but still looking about and taking it all in.




Ethan read the sign on the way out. It says to be quiet. At one point, Britt and I looked down at Krystin (3 yr) and she was even treading verrrry carefully on the gravel to minimize the noise.




Grandpa has precious cargo.




There she is.




On the way back to the car....
Kaylin looked back at her mom and me as if to say, "Are you guys coming?"




It wasn't too long, and she came back with us. We did more exploring along the trail on the way back to the car. The guys were just heading to the car, not to be sidetracked.




Ok...Ethan found something of interest. Maybe a rock?




Back on track. Ethan is so much like his dad in many ways. Dan is the best dad Ethan could have.




The girls however, did get sidetracked. There was too much just to pass it all by.
Here, Britt is pointing out to Kaylin how the sunlight is shining down through the trees and the beauty of it all.




We found more gooseberries. As sour as those berries are, Kaylin really liked eating them. She wanted to share her cache with her brother and sister who were probably almost back at the van already, but Britt suggested Kaylin just go ahead and eat them. The other 2 weren't really all that interested in the berries.
A fun day...