Down By The Banks Where The Hanky Panks

I woke up at 6:15 to Spencer's voice.  "Pocket knife...Aidan...creek...."  I strained to open my eyes.  He was talking to Weston and holding a red pocket knife in front of Weston's face.  Weston's eyes were closed.  Spencer and his cousin, Aidan, had found a nice, shiny pocket knife in the creek the day before.  "Can I have it," he wanted to know.  He needed to know at 6:15 a.m.

"Go back to bed," Weston said.  "It's too early."  Spencer left the room and we fell back to sleep.

At 6:45, I woke up again - well halfway awake.  Jiles was next to me.  I didn't remember him coming in, or being brought in.  I had stayed up too late with Weston and my mom talking (Mom and 2 nephews (7 and 5) and a neice (2) were staying the night with us - my sister, her husband and their 2 oldest are on a pioneer trek in Wyoming), and I was not done with my night's sleep.  Then I thought of Spencer, the knife, 2 boy cousins.

I asked Weston 4 times if he would check on them...knife...3 little boys...zero adult supervision.  4 times he said, "They're fine."

I had to check on them. "Then you nurse the baby, and I'll check them." I said as I pulled Jiles next to Weston and got up.  Jiles started crying, and I walked out of the room and down the hall to Spencer's room.  My eyes were still so sleepy and when I looked into Spencer's room I didn't see those 3 little boys.  I ran downstairs and out the front door.  I called Spencer's name as I looked around.  I didn't see or hear anything.  I walked around the house calling his name.  Still nothing.  I went back inside and up to his room.  What in the world...all 3 of them were sleeping soundly, not a knife in sight.

Everyone in the house was still asleep, except for crying Jiles, so I climbed back into bed and fell back asleep.

At 7:15, I woke up to some ruckus coming from outside.  Wagon wheels, lots of them and wooden, and someone calling for Jeremiah (whoever that is).  It was a group doing a pioneer trek, the second one this summer (check this post out about the first passing-through trek; I just posted it, but dated it the day that it happened).  I had to laugh.  You know you live in the wilderness when a pioneer reenactment group passes by your house.

We got breakfast, I took the knife away from Spencer, and we had a fun rest of the day playing down at the creek together with Grammie, and our cousins, Aidan, Brendan and Olivia.

Brendan, Spencer and Aidan dressed as fighter pilots (hand-me-downs from the neighbor)

Aidan and Spencer

Little Livy

Kate braves the rope bridge as Spencer walks underneath

Brendan

Spencer and I hangin' out

Look Mom (Grammie) no hands!

Ezra boy

Katie Kate

Making a pond/dam using boots as buckets

Jiles was entertained forever filling up his cute little boot

You go with your adventurous self, Grammie

Sandy bum

Flower child