Corn Shuckin' & Barge Watchin'

Saturday morning, July 26, the kids and I went to my parents' house to shuck corn.  Alvin and I had bought 5 dozen from the Lindauers, and my dad told me that he would help me shuck it, cut it off the cob, and cook it, so that we could freeze it.  The kids really enjoyed helping us shuck.

At first Easton just wanted to pull the ears out of the bag, and hand them to the others.

Avari did a lot of "multi-tasking"...she shucked corn and watched TV at the same time. : )

Owen letting Easton help him.

Avari still watching TV.  I don't know what was so interesting.  It was just one of the really old shows that my dad likes to watch.

Easton decided that he wanted to shuck his own ear.

I wish I would have had the video camera when we finally got down to the corn...it was really funny.

It took him at least 15 mins to get to the corn because he pulled each piece off individually.  When he finally saw that corn, it was like he won the lottery!  He was so excited!  He kept saying "Look mommy, corn!  Mommy, look corn!"  Then went to my dad and said "Look papaw, corn!  Papaw, I see corn!"

I love how Owen sticks his tongue out when he's working.  It reminds me of my Grandpa Schum.

After the corn was shucked, and cut off, my dad started cooking it, while I ran into church.  Adam's brother and sister and their spouses were getting their babies baptized.  Since his brother has twins and his sister has one, all of the Schipps had some kind of role in the baptism.  They were either the parents, or the godparents, or even the parent of one baby and the godparent of another.  In other words, nobody was going to be able to take pictures.  Emily had asked if I would care to do it...of course I didn't mind. 

After working hard on the corn, Owen and Avari enjoyed playing in the sandbox, while Easton enjoyed a nap.

I helped them build the sand castles, while they dug the trench.

That evening, Alvin and I went into the Ferdinand Fireman's Ball to pick up dinners.  We took them back to my parents' house, and spent the rest of the evening there.

Sunday, after church, we went to Chicago's Pizza with my parents and the Schipps.  After we ate, we went to the locks and dams.  We were lucky enough to see a barge come through, while we were there.  The kids thought it was really neat to watch how the locks and dams work.

They had to open this side to let a boat through before they opened the side that the barge was on.