slurpies and the farm

The heat has finally arrived in Michigan. Which is just fine with me. I need to warm up. I need to store as much of it as I can to get me through the long, cold winter. But we do need to stay somewhat cool, and hydrated. Solution: Slurpies from Target. Or 7-11. Whatever is nearest. Target has this new flavor - lemonberry - total YUM. I got one for Emily, and one for Paige and I to share.

Last Saturday, we had our annual gathering at my Aunt Joan's farm. I look forward to this every summer. So do my kids. I barely see Emily the whole day. There are kids everywhere. Even a little one the same age as Paige. My Aunt also has a little beach at the top of her pond, and Emily is pretty much camped out there.
We played batball, of course, ate fried chicken, played a new game called Children of the Corn, had s'mores, played basketball, and all sorts of other things. We didn't want to leave. But we had to - we were leaving for Muskegon at 7am the next morning, and we hadn't yet packed.

I don't have any pictures of this year's batball game, because I was playing, and it's a bit hard to take pictures while batting and fielding. I can tell you that the boys kicked our butts this year. But I am going with the story that we allowed them to win because we don't want to damage their egos. :)

The Children of the Corn game was this: Matt went into the corn field with a megaphone and a pole that had an orange handkerchief tied to the top. The kids went in teams of two, into the corn field, and looked for him. The winners received a prize - gold dollar coins.

Of course, Matt being Matt, didn't yell out like he was supposed to, didn't stay in the corn field like he was supposed to, basically cheated in typical Matt fashion. Even Eric gave it a try. Of course, he attempted to play by the rules....By the end, they were all covered in corn pollen, and VERY itchy.

They had a BLAST.


Next year, we are staying for fireworks and flashlight tag. I promise.

(and NO, Paige was not drinking that soda)