Lots of trips to the Grove aka longest post ever!

As our summer progressed I knew it would not be complete with out several trips to the Grove. The first one, July 2nd, was a must because I was out of Maple Syrup. These are a few of my favorite Funks Grove landmarks. The old Antique store is now run by Rey Jannusch and her daughter and only open a few days a month and the train station that was moved to the Grove from Shirley. They've been the all my life and they just feel like home.

There were a lot of birds and ground squirrels feeding in the bird sanctuary that day. I couldn't catch a picture of the humming birds, they were all too fast.

This is proof that despite what they say, Catherine and Aaron do love one another.

My pretty girls!

My friend Donna and her family met us there. After an afternoon of playing with Jesse, Jared, and their cousins, Aaron was worn out and took a little rest before going home. Poor Donna, right after I told the kids to stay out of the nettles she was pushing a swing and fell into a big bunch of stinging nettles. She thought she was going to die! Luckily, they only sting for twenty minutes.

Just this one more picture of scenery. As I sit here in October freezing, it is good to see some spring! The flowers were beautiful!

Even after she turned a year old, Cora was not so sure her feet should be in that green stuff.

This child has an opinion about everything and oh boy will she let you know what it is. The other day in church she felt she should have seconds in bread during the sacrament. She was pointing and 'talking' very loudly. We quickly broke out the Cheerios. That calmed her for a minute until she saw me and decide all this would be washed down nicely with some milk. She dove for my shirt and had it half way up before I stopped her. Needless to say, at the point, we left the room!

Our next trip to Funks Grove was a more somber occasion. On August 1st, we went to the funeral of Willie Farris. My dear friends buried a wonderful husband and father. He had a pretty hard last month which prepared them for the loss, but it was still a sad occasion. He is laid to rest a few yards from my father. After the services, Joe took Cora to visit her grandpa's grave. It was raining slightly that day. Like the heavens were crying with my friends. The flag on Dad's grave indicates his service in the army. He was deployed in WWII. He wanted to be a fighter pilot. He cheated on the first eye exam to get into pilot's school, but failed the second one. He ended up repairing radios in a jungle somewhere.

The final trip to the Grove happened on August 7th and 8th. It was the Funk-Stubbfield 125th family reunion. It was so much fun.

We started Friday night with a meal provided by Funk's farms. They provided the meat for the burgers and the corn that they picked that day and grilled. Cora would take a bite and hand her fork over for another one! It was raining pretty hard when we got there, we ate under a big tent and it rained just long enough to keep the kids in there seats to eat. Then it cleared and was a beautiful evening.

There was a hula-hoop contest, which to the surprise of all of us, Aaron won. Catherine had her hopes up because she is our master hula-hooper. She did, however, get a dollar from some long lost relative for shaking her hips so well in practice. I'm not sure how I feel about strange men giving my daughter money for shaking it!

There was also tug of war. Jacob got started a little early, but no one else seemed to notice!

Then the water balloon toss, which quickly became the water balloon fight!




The fire was started in the early afternoon and burned hot enough to survive the rain. Little s'more packets were made up, and the kids, I mean Joe, loved them!

Cora was a good sport and spent her time getting past between Joe and I.










Parking is a little way from the nature center so a couple of guys hooked up big people movers to the backs of their tractors. The kids loved to ride and we took several unnecessary trips back and forth. The view was amazing, so I didn't mind a bit!

When it got dark the amateur astronomers, who have an observatory at the nature center, came out. They brought some powerful telescopes with them. We saw the craters on the moon and three of Jupiter's moons. Jacob, Catherine and I went on a night hike. We saw bats and several different night insects. It was the first time Jacob has ever stayed that close to me!

The next day was a catered picnic lunch at the church. It was super hot that day. We took the family picture and then there were these cool reenactments of different ancestor's stories. Kind of a day in the life. A group of actor had been hired and they were in period costume. We thought it was amazing, but so was AC. Lucky for us they tape them all and put them on you-tube! So we went into April's house to cool down.

Then back to the nature center for a scrumptious dinner and live band. As soon as he finished eating Jacob went right down in front to hear the music. Followed shortly by Joe and Catherine. The band covered a lot of our favorite artists and people were shocked to see Catherine and Aaron singing along to music from the 70's and 80's.

Jake, Cora, and I went on a wagon ride through the prairie. The horses that the Prairie Home has are 18 hands high. I don't remember the type that they are, but they went to Europe to get them because that is the type the Funks had back in the day. Rick was trying to get people on and off the wagon and I wanted to get a shot of the horses. I handed him Cora and after people got settles he only half jokingly said, "Whose grand baby am I holding!?"

When the sun went down the fire and some icicle lights provided the light. It was pretty. Catherine spent her time dancing.

Cora and I checked out the nature center.

She was thrilled to be able to touch anything she wanted to.

Then not sure she wanted to!

Jacob and Aaron ran around being a nuts. There is something about kids outside at night.

The day was just perfect and there is nothing that says we had a good day as much as this.