Gearing up

To get in the 4th of July spirit Rachel and I made something colorful for Independence day.  We made 2 of these streamer/windsock things to hang up.  I'm still deciding on what red, white, and blue dessert I want to make for Wednesday. :)  4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, and this year we're going to have to work a little harder to find some fireworks to enjoy.  Brownsburg & Danville have cancelled theirs because of the dry conditions.  Perhaps Plainfield????

Also tried out 2 new recipes tonight.  Both of them successful.  :)

Warm Mexican Corn Salad

Recipe here

And with our recent abundance of zucchini I wanted something different to do with it.  So here's tonight's zucchini cakes.  Made with parmesan and garlic....yum!

Recipe

Rachel's Baptism

Today was a wonderful day as we celebrated Rachel's baptism.  She had been talking to us for a while now about getting baptized.  We wanted to not rush her and make sure she understood what baptism and committing to follow Jesus was all about.  So after discussing it with her at length we made plans for her baptism.  PaPa was able to come over and baptize her.  Dusty's parents were also able to be here.  A fun and happy weekend with family.  Rachel's friend Talia was also baptized today.  They were both excited before the service.

Aaron reading Rachel's testimony 

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  --Matthew 19:14

Last day

...before the kids start coming back home. :)  Aaron will be home from camp tomorrow where his band has been playing all week.  Rachel will be home on Saturday after a candy-fueled week at Grandma's.  Dusty took today off of work and we headed to Cincinnati.

First stop the Cincinnati Art Museum.  A nice museum and free which is even better.  Most interesting to me was an exhibit of instruments from around the world from the last 400 years.  We spent some time wandering around and enjoying the fact that the air conditioning was on.

Dusty takes his art seriously!

Next stop...IKEA

Didn't purchase a lot, but it's always fun to stroll through.  

Next we headed to Jungle Jim's.  I can't fully describe what this place is except a grocery store with a huge amount of international foods and odd or unique items....in every variety imaginable.  Some of the odd and unique...

Quail eggs

Some kind of green bean frozen popsicle thingy

Yummy flakes anyone?  Shrimp flavor of course!

And even the normal stuff came in every variety imaginable.  This is one row of the hot sauces.  They were alphabetized.  This is only M-Z

And one of my favorites...olives as far as the eye can see. :)
 (This photo is especially for Paul since I know how much he loves these!)

Next time I'll have to look up some unique recipes so I have an idea of what to buy.  A fun day with my favorite person.

Summertime....

...and the living is easy!  Three of the Hackney 4 headed out to the Morse Reservoir for a cookout for Central Indiana Operation Christmas Child volunteers.  A big thanks to the Anderson family for opening their beautiful home.  We had a tasty dinner and then headed out on the boat for a turn or two around the lake.

Rachel spent the next hour taking it easy with some new friends.

Rough life isn't it?

Then Monica asked me if I wanted to take a turn on the jet ski.  I'm 36 years old and have never been on a one.  She didn't have to work too hard to convince me.  Ton of fun zipping around the lake.  I headed back to the dock and told Dusty that he had to get on too.  Off we went for another go round.  

Beautiful day, beautiful surroundings, and a lot of fun with a great group of people.

Rachel's buddy

Rachel's little buddy Avalyn has been staying with us for a few days this week and the two amigas have kept busy.  They have been shopping with me to Trader Joe's, had ice cream, went swimming, saw "Brave" at the theater, went to the splash pad, played outside until filthy, caught lightening bugs, and went to the fireworks.  Today we took in the splash pad in Avon and then headed out to Pittsboro for their 4th of July celebration.  Yes, I know it's only June 23rd, but just roll with it.

Oh yeah, & someone lost another tooth!

Father's Day

Here's our 2012 Father's Day photo for you to enjoy...

We finished up a relaxing, slow paced day with a trip to the Ice Barn.  They were a little heavy handed on the flavoring tonight...much to the delight of my kiddos!

Aaron got a Bulldog Bite which is a super sour grape concoction.  Here's a reaction shot after a big slurp of mostly syrup.  However he loves sour stuff so this was right up his alley and he kept on slurping!

Chillaxin'

Spent a relaxing evening out in McCloud Nature Park hanging out by the creek with the Painter peeps.  Creekside picnic while the kids waded got soaked in the creek.  Showers with anti-bacterial soap were to follow.

Artsy tree

Artsy Dusty??