July 4

You know, it's just not as much fun to blog when there aren't any pictures.
Our handy dandy old camera bit the dust, so we've been relying on the kid's toy camera or the tablet to take pictures.
It's not for lack of things happening, writing isn't as exciting without illustrations...

We're well into Summer routine now.  It's amazing to me how doing nothing in particular can be so exhausting...

Our ducks that nested in our AC unit hatched.  We didn't think they would because it is so late in the season.  We're assuming it's her second clutch because there were only nine eggs.  After doing research, we now know that Mallard Ducks will nest about anywhere, up to three miles from water. We were lucky to see them because as soon as the hatchlings could walk, they were off in search of a pond.
Mallards nest in the same place every year, so we should see her again.

The unfortunate excitement of last weekend was that BabyNate was lost.
It was awful.
When we couldn't find him at bedtime, Nate cried and cried.
We looked all over the house. We searched the yard. We took apart the car.
We thought he may have been left at church.
Nope.
We were on the cusp of ordering a new one of ebay when he was discovered at the bottom of a bin of dress up clothes in the blue room.  Nate cried tears of joy.
He has slept much better since.

So now the kids are playing Wii.  Jim and I are having a beer and putting our feet up, doing our best to relax.
Caroline is so bossy that it's only a matter of minutes before someone is in tears or whacked in the head with a wii remote for mouthing off, so we're resting when we can.  The  kids were going at it so bad that we said they had to be nice to each other for 30 minutes in a row or else to Wii is gone. We'll see how they do.

We spent the day up in Gettysburg today exploring the battlefield.
We walked through the Visitor Center, but did not do any activities.  Since being operated by the Friends of Gettysburg and not the National Parks Service, the cost to get in the museum is prohibitive, even with our National Parks pass.  This is a shame because with young kids, we need to go to a museum at least three our four times before the kids even start to understand things.
We walked by Meade's Headquarters and went from the Copse of Trees towards Spangler's Farm.   It was awe inspiring to think of all that happened where we were standing 151 years ago almost to the day.
It had to be obvious to the Confederates going across that field that they were on suicide mission.
Puts a lot of things in perspective, especially on July 4th.