Love, Canning and Zoo
There's very little in this world more fun than getting together with your brothers and sisters for some good ol' fashioned fun. It started with the drive to Derby. My anticipation grew with each mile traveled and by the time we arrived, I was giddy with excitement. Hugs were exchanged and we caught up with each other on everything that had been going on. Then the planning began. My sister would be celebrating her birthday while we were there and we wanted to be sure we had a blast! There was also a requisite trip to the zoo for the kiddos, family pictures and summer canning to get done.
Saturday (June 20) was the busy day. I had scheduled with a photographer friend to do a morning session of pictures. If you are ever in the Wichita, KS area and need pictures done, contact Pics by Bec. Rebecca does a fabulous job and captured not only my children's beautiful smiles, but each of their personalities as well! And she didn't let me forget to get pictures of just Jonathan and I. Now that I'm back home, I have to decide which pictures to make prints of and how best to display them!
After pictures, we went to the zoo. I've always loved the Sedgwick County Zoo, perhaps because it's the one I always went to as a child. It's a part of home just like the playgrounds and schools I went to. But it is also a fabulous zoo. There are tons of animals and they are always making improvements to their exhibits. Other than the fact that it was unseasonably warm for the end of June, our zoo trip was great! My kiddos enjoyed feeding the giraffe and my four-year-old just couldn't stop grinning. Giraffes are his favorite animal and being up that close, with Uncle James to keep him safe of course, was the best thing in the whole world. We enjoyed the improved rainforest exhibit, the petting zoo with the farm animals, and many other exhibits. We had hoped to see the new tigers, but a snake crossing our path changed our direction. But even with missing the tigers, we saw tons of animals, took hundreds of pictures (and I'm not exaggerating!) and had a lot of fun together. Even though it was hot and we were all tired by the end. In fact, there may or may not have been several napping by the time we all got home...
June 22 was my sister's birthday and that's when the fun really began. She and I had gone to the store to acquire the proper materials to “wash the cars”. Some of you may know exactly where this is going. But we also bought fruit and jars to do some summer canning. Ah, if you've never had homemade jam you don't know what you're missing! Nothing tops homecanned jam and jelly! Friday we had made some blueberry lime jam and Monday we were back in the kitchen doing strawberry lime and another batch of blueberry lime. The only problem with canning is it's hot work. And you have to do something to cool off. So bathing suits were donned and a mix of Schofields and Elliotts went out to “wash the cars”. After all, driving is dirty business. Look, there are bug splats! The only proper way to get out a bug splat is to shoot the car with a water gun. And if you happen to see a bug splat on your brother...
Yep, full-scale water war! It was a blast! We ran around the cars spraying water everywhere, but funnily enough, the cars didn't get too wet at first. Then I cheated, as I always do, and grabbed the water hose from Bekah who was using it to fill the chest for the water guns. If everything wasn't wet before, it certainly was now! I got our van, my daddy's truck, and every person involved in the water fight. Which was pretty much everyone but my sweetie and the baby he was holding. But I'm not a total tyrant. I allowed myself to be shot quite often. On a hot evening after canning, nothing feels better than cold water running down your back. And for those of you who like to share the stories of kids paintballing and such with their moms and being unable to take the shot, let me tell you something. My kiddos feel no such guilt! I was their favorite target! And it was fabulous! :) I love that we were able to enjoy that time together.
The next day would begin the next leg of our journey: a trip to Topeka area to visit my husband's family. So we gave lots of hugs and my sister and I planned on doing one last jam in the morning. Mixed berry with the leftovers from our jams and fresh-picked mulberries from Mom's front yard. Good heavens that stuff smelled good! As much as I love writing, canning just might be my very favorite thing to do. The smell is to die for and the results? Deliciousness that will last the whole year...if you don't gobble it up right away. We laughed and talked as we worked, as we have been doing for years during summer canning with my mom. The only difference is she wasn't there. She was out in Reno visiting her mother.
So that was the first part of our adventure. Tune in next Monday for the next Elliott adventure...
Saturday (June 20) was the busy day. I had scheduled with a photographer friend to do a morning session of pictures. If you are ever in the Wichita, KS area and need pictures done, contact Pics by Bec. Rebecca does a fabulous job and captured not only my children's beautiful smiles, but each of their personalities as well! And she didn't let me forget to get pictures of just Jonathan and I. Now that I'm back home, I have to decide which pictures to make prints of and how best to display them!
After pictures, we went to the zoo. I've always loved the Sedgwick County Zoo, perhaps because it's the one I always went to as a child. It's a part of home just like the playgrounds and schools I went to. But it is also a fabulous zoo. There are tons of animals and they are always making improvements to their exhibits. Other than the fact that it was unseasonably warm for the end of June, our zoo trip was great! My kiddos enjoyed feeding the giraffe and my four-year-old just couldn't stop grinning. Giraffes are his favorite animal and being up that close, with Uncle James to keep him safe of course, was the best thing in the whole world. We enjoyed the improved rainforest exhibit, the petting zoo with the farm animals, and many other exhibits. We had hoped to see the new tigers, but a snake crossing our path changed our direction. But even with missing the tigers, we saw tons of animals, took hundreds of pictures (and I'm not exaggerating!) and had a lot of fun together. Even though it was hot and we were all tired by the end. In fact, there may or may not have been several napping by the time we all got home...
June 22 was my sister's birthday and that's when the fun really began. She and I had gone to the store to acquire the proper materials to “wash the cars”. Some of you may know exactly where this is going. But we also bought fruit and jars to do some summer canning. Ah, if you've never had homemade jam you don't know what you're missing! Nothing tops homecanned jam and jelly! Friday we had made some blueberry lime jam and Monday we were back in the kitchen doing strawberry lime and another batch of blueberry lime. The only problem with canning is it's hot work. And you have to do something to cool off. So bathing suits were donned and a mix of Schofields and Elliotts went out to “wash the cars”. After all, driving is dirty business. Look, there are bug splats! The only proper way to get out a bug splat is to shoot the car with a water gun. And if you happen to see a bug splat on your brother...
Yep, full-scale water war! It was a blast! We ran around the cars spraying water everywhere, but funnily enough, the cars didn't get too wet at first. Then I cheated, as I always do, and grabbed the water hose from Bekah who was using it to fill the chest for the water guns. If everything wasn't wet before, it certainly was now! I got our van, my daddy's truck, and every person involved in the water fight. Which was pretty much everyone but my sweetie and the baby he was holding. But I'm not a total tyrant. I allowed myself to be shot quite often. On a hot evening after canning, nothing feels better than cold water running down your back. And for those of you who like to share the stories of kids paintballing and such with their moms and being unable to take the shot, let me tell you something. My kiddos feel no such guilt! I was their favorite target! And it was fabulous! :) I love that we were able to enjoy that time together.
The next day would begin the next leg of our journey: a trip to Topeka area to visit my husband's family. So we gave lots of hugs and my sister and I planned on doing one last jam in the morning. Mixed berry with the leftovers from our jams and fresh-picked mulberries from Mom's front yard. Good heavens that stuff smelled good! As much as I love writing, canning just might be my very favorite thing to do. The smell is to die for and the results? Deliciousness that will last the whole year...if you don't gobble it up right away. We laughed and talked as we worked, as we have been doing for years during summer canning with my mom. The only difference is she wasn't there. She was out in Reno visiting her mother.
So that was the first part of our adventure. Tune in next Monday for the next Elliott adventure...
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