Spilsbury Visit 

Week 1

Sela and Eli spent nearly two weeks at the pond.  The rest of their family were not able to stay as long.  Jonna and Jackson visited during the first week with us and Andy came later.

Although Jonna's birthday was actually in July and her family had already celebrated, Sela and Eli decided it should be celebrated again with a homemade cake.  While Jonna was enjoying the chance to sleep in, Sela, Eli, Mike and I snuck off to Walmart and the Dollar Store to get our supplies.  Then while Jonna spent the day catching up on her reading, the rest of us kept busy elsewhere.  The kids secretly made her a gift and cards behind closed doors in the sewing room and later went over to the shed apartment to make the cake.  Somehow we pulled it off and Jonna was surprised.

On Thursday, Laura organized a trip to Edwardsville that included movie viewing.  She and the younger kids went to see 'Christopher Robin' while Jonna and Jackson saw 'Mission Impossible'.  There movie got out later so the kids squeezed in some shopping at Target and Michaels.  At Michaels, Laura talked them into some 90's crafts kits- beading and shrink art.  The shrink art was a big hit.  

Eli coloring a soft toy.  

Mike and Lilly trying to get in on the action.  

Grabbing popcorn and watching the shrink art shrink in the oven.  

Of course, no trip to the pond would be complete without water activities.  Suzanne and Heath were with us in spirit as they were the ones who sent the bull float.  It was very popular with Eli and Sela.

Other water activities include fishing.  That became an evening activity with Mike.  The most excited fisher person of the week award would have gone to Jonna.  Each evening she would leave a trail of fish food crumbs right to her pole and the fish would just swim by it.  Finally on her last evening she had a bite and what a great one it was.  She caught an eight and one quarter pound catfish.  

Mike had to run some errands while the rest of us were busy playing at the pond.  He brought back some water balloons for us to use.  Laura invited Jackson and Jonna to join her, Sela and Eli but they preferred to stay indoors and play ping pong.  

Andy arrived on Friday and we planned a big party.  The party was not for him though.  It was for Eli's birthday.  Stay tuned to this blog for more about that event.