The Hazard Chronicles

Right now it is Saturday night. Rachel is out having a relaxing night, probably sitting in a restaurant somewhere reading a book. The kids and I just finished watching Rescuers Down Under, and they are now in bed sleeping. I am outside sitting on our deck, smelling the fresh-cut grass, and watching the sun go down over the mountains while drinking an orange julius. I love my life.

In my last post I mentioned that Addy and I went exploring and found a campground that's just 15 minutes from here. Well, last week we packed all the kids up and decided to try it out for Father's Day. We had a blast! Highlights included the campfire, a hiking trail, the lake, and the bullfrog we caught. All of our kids were great campers and we are excitedly looking forward to the next trip. (This is a huge improvement over our last attempt, which took place last year and was a complete disaster). I love summer.

Besides camping, I have to mention that I had a great Father's Day. The kids made me breakfast, and then later in the day sang to me at church, and then even later gave me a present they had been working on with Rachel. It was a big picture in a nice frame that had each of their footprints on it and a caption that said "We are following in Papa's footsteps." At the bottom, Evelyn wrote in her Beautiful 5-year-old handwriting "We love you Papa." I hung the picture in my shop, and I think it will stay there for a long time. Also, I've got to mention that I got another present- a new computer! It is actually a Father's Day/Birthday/Rachel-broke-her-computer-so-we-need-a-new-one present, and it is super cool. It is a Dell XPS 12 for those who are interested, and it has a convertible tablet touch-screen, awesome battery life, a full suite of features, and is big enough to be a primary computer yet small enough to fit in my day planner. I've got to say, it beats an ipad (which I could get for free anyway) hands down!

Anyway...

Rachel just got home so we are going to sit out here for a while and read our book together, and then we might go down and finish a movie we've been trying to get through. Have a great week!

Here are some pictures from our camping trip...

Also, I thought I'd put these pictures up of some yard furniture I made out of some old pallets. I think they turned out pretty nice for being quick, easy, and totally FREE projects.

 Our deck- we spend a lot of time out here.

 We keep these in the shop because it's right next to the fire pit. We now have much-needed seating for 10 around the fire, and that's just counting the furniture that is devoted solely to that purpose.

 I recently made the park bench and the big long bench/coffee table. The chair was done toward the end of last summer and actually comes apart and folds together for portability.

Alright- that's all the pictures. Have a great week!