Tennis Ball Golf

Last year Jed and I learned a really fun game called Tennis Ball Gold from Natalie and Caleb. You have wedges and a tennis ball and you pick a random location and the first person to hit the target or hit through the target wins. It is so much fun. Saturday June 18th we played this game with the Shelby and Ryan Parrish. We played at the Greenbelt park on Mud Island along the Mississippi. It was a blast. Luckily it wasn't to hot either!

Jed and I recently got Zoo memberships! The Memphis Zoo is really neat.

This summer my work hours have increased a lot since the girls are out of school. We have had a really fun time though, when the girls are not at camp. We are trying really hard to take advantage of all the fun things in Memphis. This week Addie and I went to the Pink Palace Museum. Jed and I got a free summer pass. It's a really fun museum. There was a reenactment of a Civil War leg amputation. I found that a little life like for the younger crowd. But other than that it was good.

It was Izzie's birthday this weekend and she turned 11. Jed and I feel as if we can have a really deep impact on these girls and it showed when we gave her, her gift. She was really touched that we put a lot a thought into it. I gave her a journal so she can record the fun things we do together and with her family. She told me it was the best present ever and she will keep it forever. It's neat to see that I can have a positive influence on these girls.

Jed and I finally got our racket's restrung and played tennis twice this week! FINALLY! We have missed it so much. We had to play when the sun was down because this week was so hot. With heat index it was 120 degrees! Being outside was miserable this week. Luckily Jed got to work inside when it was too hot. He works for physical plant at SCO.

Hannah and Jenny visit 6/10-12

Jenny and Hannah came to visit for the weekend with Nora and Emma. We had a really great time with them. It was Hannah's first time here so we naturally had to take them to the Mississippi River and the Pyramid. It was so hot that weekend that we wanted to go Arkabutla Lake. It's only 30 minutes south of us and we heard it was really great. Well after driving to two different beaches we were sad to find out nobody was swimming that day. The water was too high from all the rain we were getting and they couldn't ensure that the water was safe. We were all really sad. We came home though and had a party in the backyard. We filled up the kiddie pool for the girls and played badminton and volleyball. That night we roasted hot dogs around the fire. Though it tasted delicious the experience wasn't super awesome because we all felt like we were melting away! It was really fun having them come and visit for the weekend.

Back Packing in Shawnee National Forest Illinois

Jed and I have wanted to go backpacking ever since Jed got a new backpack for graduation last year. We finally had some time off and decided to take advantage of it. We decided to go with some of our best friends the Fassmanns. They live in Indianapolis so we wanted to find a location in the middle. Exactly four hours from both of us is Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. In our four hour drive we covered five states; Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. Jed planned out a three day route. It was a little ambitious but would  be fun. In total, had we done the whole thing, it would have been a 40 mile trip. As it was Maren was pregnant, and Jed and I had been really sick just days before so we only went about 25 miles. It was still really fun though.
The first day we went the longest. We had a slow start and stopped a lot but we were all newbie hikers. Looking back we would have packed very differently but that was because of our lack of experience. We had way to much food and clothes. Had we not had so much of that our packs would have been significantly lighter. We also didn't have the money to buy the ultra light backpacking gear, but that will come with time.
Zoey came with us and she was amazing. By the end of each day though she was so exhausted. We originally wanted her to sleep outside the tent but she was freaking out and so we let her in. As it turned out it was for the better. She was away from the ticks (and I probably picked off about 100 by the end of the three days), and she was so tired she just slept at the bottom of the tent. She loved being outside and climbing on the rock formations and running up and down the trail. She is a fantastic adventure buddy. We also all agreed that Zoey made us all feel a little bit safer.
The first night we camped by a small stream. It was really pretty. That night a coyote came into our camp sight and it was really scary. What was even scarier was that I had gone out of the tent to go to the bathroom and felt like something was watching me. I shined my flashlight into the forest and saw nothing, I got back in the tent and as soon as I zipped it up the coyote started howling not ten feet from our tent. Jed and I were terrified. Zoey got up but didn't make a noise. She just stood stiffly over us and then when she thought the threat was no more she relaxed and went back to bed. It wasn't so easy for Jed and I. We both were so worked up it took us awhile to calm down.
The second day we were delayed getting started because it was raining so hard. After the rain calmed down we had to decide how far we were going. This is when we decided our too heavy of packs, pregnancy, and sickness was going to cut our trip shorter than we expected. We still had a great time and camped a another beautiful spot. This time it was an overlook.
The next day we headed back to the cars. It was a really great time spent with really fun friends. Zoey was so tired that when we got home she slept for almost 24 hours.