Corbin's World Speeding for the Sharp Bend

We have soo loved our summer together.  Looking back we have stuffed so much into our summer yet I feel like we barely got started.

Some of Corbin's highlights that I have been terrible about blogging, I'll jump through now.

Corbin played soccer in April and May. From day one he said he didn't like it, played and had fun, but come the end of the season he said he still did not like soccer. We had amazing coaches and great kids on the team, just not Corbin's thing. Maybe another sibling will like it. We had a great experience into the sports world. Perhaps we will try basketball this winter.

At the end of the school year Mrs. Mathes' class put on a Kindergarten program to show what they had been learning all year. It blows my mind that they are able to read by the end of Kindergarten.

Most of the boys gave this non committal hug to the young teacher. Mrs. Mathes is the best teacher.

We will miss the kind heart of Mrs. Mathes. I know God is already preparing our teacher for 1st grade.

 Our biggest summer highlights have been anything outdoors.
We went on a family camping trip to Buffalow Trace Park. Great place for family camping with a lake, beach to swim, fishing, and bike riding at every turn.

 Okay, picture the Murphy five all in one canoe. Hold still everyone!
We made it across the lake, but Aiden was done with his confinement and needed out.

 The kids tried to fish. Nothing was biting.

 Beautiful weather and camping.

We had borrowed my parents camper so there was a little relief from the outdoors when needed but Aiden just hated being in there to sleep. Aiden and sleeping made our weekend very challenging.

Corbin also went camping with Matt and Grandpa Murphy for father's day. As you can see he was in the water non stop. Matt said he really didn't leave the water except for meals and sleeping. He had a ball fishing, catching frogs and swimming.

He had much better luck here at Lake Celina. They had this special spot they canoed out to and Corbin never took his life jacket off. Matt said most of the fish were this small but Corbin could not have been happier. Corbin made Matt fry them up for dinner.

 Corbin likes setting up for a picture and wanted to photo shoot all his animals. These three have been inseparable and follow each other everywhere. Mostly it's Corbin leading the way and the other two following.

Both kiddos have become little fish this year. Last year Corbin almost had it, but this year he is unstoppable. He can swim in the deep and even dive off the diving board. Corbin was doing flips off the diving board by the end of the evening. Addie has even surpassed Corbin this year in swimming ability, although as Matt put it she looks like a cat with her head barely above the water. She is fearless.

It is fascinating watching my children grown in skill and knowledge. Corbin is always wanting to learn how to do things for himself. Yesterday he was asking me to show him how to fry his own egg for breakfast. While he is to young to cook on the stove I offered to show him how to scramble his egg and cook in the microwave. He is not a fan of the scramble so he said that I could go ahead and cook his egg this morning.
Both kids make their own beds being only 6 and 4 I am thrilled. When I look at Corbin I just see such a big boy, he is no longer the baby/toddler/or even timid new school boy any longer. This week he told me he didn't want his toys anymore. That big boys don't play toys. I said that dad has toys his shop is full of them. Corbin didn't buy that. He says he wants to be big like a dad. :)
I can't wait to teach Corbin new things this year, both spiritual and earthly. It will thrill my heart to be able to talk to him about a relationship with Jesus and we still have not tackled tying his shoe.
My precious first born getting so big.

Wild (Murphy) Krats

So Corbin and Adaline are both fascinated by wild life. There is this show on PBS called Wild Krats and they love to watch and see the animals on the show and learn all about the animals characteristics.

Here are a few snapshots of our experiences with creatures the last few months. 

Corbin has been begging for a pet. What a better idea than to catch some tadpoles and watch them grow and change in our fish pond? Free and easy pet.

So, we set out for grandma and grandpa Murphy's farm and the creek was pretty cold.

No luck at one side, so we hiked over to the other.

We saw a few tadpoles, but no catch...

 Blowing some dandelions during the hunt.

Dad joined in the action, and we caught a tiny minnow.

I have such good memories of playing in the creek when I was little. Looking forward to many days out at the creek.

So, while we had no luck at grandmas. (the minnow has never been seen in our pond. Either it hides really well, or something ate it). We did have fun catching two frogs at Chuck and Lorillas. Two water frogs have been added to our pond. As you can see, Addie just loves hers.

 

Many days followed where they would rush out to the pond and pick up the frogs and mom fusses at them to put them down and please be gentle. One frog did not make it through one week of this abuse. But the other made it about a month. I think it finally decided to run away.

Corbin found this snail while I was working on getting poison ivy the landscaping. It is so cool to see a large snail with its shell still in tact.

 See it now...

 I talked Corbin into letting it go back to his family. He did.

Corbin has also managed to catch a salamander which he kept in a jar for a day and then let it go.
A friend also gave us a gang of tadpoles to watch in our pond. While we saw them a little bit, we have not seen them since the big rain. Don't know if they have settled to the bottom or if they have lost the cause.

Now I am petrified of snakes and cannot stay around when one is found. Matt took this photo. Yikes! Addie seems to have no fear sometimes. Yet she wouldn't hold her guinea pig tonight. Go figure. This was a garden snake I would guess. It was bright green and black with a little bit of a pointed head. It must have eaten something because there was a lump in its belly. Maybe it got one of the moles that pesters my garden. We do not keep snakes for pets ever! Corbin will just have to get over that fact.

 But we have adopted a real pet over this last week! Two guinea pigs that one of Corbin's classmates had given us. I thought this might be a good way to jump into pet ownership. They can be pet, picked up, played with and fed. Great things that Corbin asks me repeatedly to do everyday.

We were blessed by Mark and Kara (ultimately Lauren's old rabbit cage) with this awsome cage! Much better than the aquarium we had planned to use.

These two little buddies, whom we are praying are sisters, are getting along at the Murphy's great.

Corbin has no fear, and is learning to hold them and be really careful with them.

 The one above is Adaline's. She picked her out as the only smooth haired pig they had. She calls her a different name ever time. Mostly Reah. We have not settled on a name for her.

While we are praying they are both girls. The nicest of the breed. We are letting Addies be a girl and Corbin's a boy. If this is true we are in trouble. I have not noticed any love making.

Corbin has named his Smokey the Lollipop King. He is so sweet and soft and cuddly.

 Corbin thought the word mustache was just hilarious last fall and this spring his word has been lollipop, thus the use of it in his guinea pigs name.

 Matt wants to call the pair Lewis and Clark. I told Matt that these are the kids pets and they get to name them no matter how cleaver his names can be.

 Corbin really had pure joy with his new little buddy. The cage is in Corbin's room, but we have a lock on the cage for fear they will not be left alone or even lost.

So our adventures will continue. Hopefully no more snakes will be spotted this summer, but I would like for our frogs to come back.

The Mid America VW Funfest

If you didn't know I love the old beetles. I have a 1979 Convertible Super Beetle. I just love it. We have had it about 8 years. Bought before children and now that we have more kids that seats we have decided to sell.

Recognize these hippies?

Matt and I tooled on up to Effingham, IL to this spectacular car show. We had an ulterior motive to sell our bug, but that didn't happen. 

Mid America puts on the midwests largest Volkswagen car show and I'll tell you they had all the details taken care of. Everything was simple and smooth with registration and questions. The only problem was the rain. It rained both days. Not just a sprinkle but a good douse several times. The field was a monsoon. The ground was so saturated there was nowhere for the water to go.

My favorite part of the whole show was our fun run. We signed up to drive in the "parade" of vw's. It was a twelve mile drive through the country and then into the old square.

This bug was a pixar executive made car. Can you tell why? Here's a hint - Bugs Life.

This is the world's Largest Baja Beetle. It was rocking the square. All 10,000 pounds of her called Big Red

The square was filled with all kinds of volkswagons. There were dumbuggies, buses, and beetles. There were so many in the fun run that we ran out of room on the square to park.

Doesn't this make you think of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?

So cool. These owners have thought of every detail.

Everyone had their cars all shined up. See me in the hubcap?

Matt thinks our family would look good in a bus since we have outgrown our bug.

Good weekend for Matt and I to have some couple time. But not a great weekend for a sale. No one sold their bug. I guess buyers didn't make it through the rain.