Hot Dog Roast at Kate the Great's (and a passing Step score!)

 These uploaded in a funny order. But Saturday night at Kayli's we had a hot dog roast with Aleesha's family. It really was so awesome of them to drive all the way to see us. Too bad that with seven kids between us it didn't seem like we saw that much of each other!

I love campfires. They are just the best! And it really felt like the evening was so relaxed and enjoyable. OH I FORGOT!!!!! 

On the drive to Kayli's house Sterling got an email that said his score might come that day, Wednesday. Then he got an email from a professor saying "Congrats!" and he thought it might be from something the week before but couldn't help hoping it was because of his score. But every time he checked the site it wasn't updated yet. Well, I finally checked it around 11am and it was posted! But it is a pdf you have to download. I downloaded it, opened up the document, searched around a second (it wasn't just at the very top, it was a graph) and THEN THE COMPUTER DIED! Sterling was DYING! And I was sitting there going, 'I swear it said pass' but Sterling wouldn't believe me. So we had to pull over and frantically try to find a plug-in. Which we couldn't find one compatible to our van. So then he had to try logging in on his phone, but his computer remembered his password, so then he had to get a new password and THEN check his score. Which was PASSING! YAAAAAY! After that the trip was pretty much the best vacation we've had since starting med school. Sterling was so relaxed and happy the entire time. He had nothing he had to be working on and no stress to speak of. STEP ONE IS OFFICIALLY OVER. Will still prays in every prayer that daddy will do well on his test (we've been praying for over 8 weeks now) and we've tried to remind him that his prayers worked and daddy did pass--but habits are hard to break. Haha. Oh goodness, it was such a relief and such perfect timing. Sterling and I had such a great time the rest of the drive and just ENJOYED life so much. 

I know this is blurry from the camp fire smoke but Ruthie and Sterling are just too cute.

See how Orrin's marshmallow caught fire?

See how hard my kids laughed about it?!?!?! HAHAAHA

I think I asked her to smile. Typical Molly. Today Will called her Molly-Dolly-Lolli-pop. It was hilarious.

One time Brett drove by, Kayli hopped on, and they drove off into the sunset/woods. It was awesome.

These kids played so well together. It made for such an awesome trip. Cousins are the greatest!

All the kids just roamed around playing on bicycles, getting dirtbike rides, swinging, playing on the tramp, getting pulled in the bike trailer, roasting things in the fire. It was a perfect evening. With perfect jacket weather. And perfect people.

Jethro took Will on a ride! It was intense!

Ethne and Finlay. I thought this was such a great capture.

He also took Ruthie on a ride and went down the straight-down huge hill they have behind their house. I thought she would be scared, but she loved it!

Any yes, that would be tiny Molly on a bike!

She never looked very sure about it, but she said she loved it afterward!

Thanks to Kayli Russ got a pink beanie and a witch sweater to put on. Poor kid doesn't have warm enough clothes for a cool summer evening!

Will learned how to ride without training wheels while we were there. Appropriate, since Ruth learned how to ride without training wheels during our last hurricane Matthew.

Look at Wyatt doing pull-ups! And look at that set up. Isn't it so beautiful? Doesn't everyone want to live by these beautiful woods? With a tramp and swings?

That night after putting the kids to bed we played games. Or tried to. Russ was fussy (remember he was sick) and Sterling had SAID he would stay up late no matter what even if he stayed up late the previous night..but of course was tired. We pulled out Sushi GO that Sterling had picked up because we LOVED it with our friends. But, we had never set it up before (our friends always had) so there was a bit of a learning curve and it took a bit to get going. And then, it's not always everyone's cup of tea to play our favorite games. Methinks we would have been better off chatting the night away that night. But it was still a lot of fun. A lot of snacking and good times. Not quite as much  hilarity as the night before---which was awesome and I will just have to quote from Kayli:

K, so the funniest thing that happened while Lindsay and Sterling were here. We were gathered around the table and we pulled out all the icecream and were happily eating and trying out all the flavors, then dished ourselves out big servings. So I was ready to put the icecream back in the freezer, but Sterling had been on his computer and so hadn't dished up as quickly as us, so before I took them all I asked him, "Do you want any butter pecan?" And LINDSAY, who LITERALLY had a big old bowl of chocolate icecream held up to her face, guzzling it down, answered, "I'm good." I almost choked I was laughing so hard. She thought I was talking to her!! 🍨🍨🍦

The second funniest thing. We were playing a game which asks questions and then everyone writes their answer down and tries to see if they can guess who wrote which answer. The question was "What is your greatest hidden talent?" and the answer Jethro put was, "Drive like a merman." 🧜‍♂️ We all died laughing because it was so hilarious. We came to find later that he had written "DIVE like a merman," but Lindsay just read it wrong, but driving like a merman is better (also, Jethro rode his motorcycle side-saddle the next day to try to drive like a merman). Hazel's answer was pretty amazing too. She said her greatest hidden talent is "I can belly dance and take down a bad guy at the same time." 💃💪
Final funny story. During the same game one of the questions was "What is the biggest inconvenience about the place you live?" and Sterling said, "It might not be there soon." #hurricanehumor