Summer Days Have Come and Gone!

We always end our summer vacation with a trip to the beach. And what a wonderful week it was! My parents came down for a few days and it was even more relaxing for Arlan and I since they keep the kids entertained from sun up till sun down!!Every day on the beach grandpa built a massive castle for the kids to help with and then wreck at the end of the day.The kids really got into riding the waves this year too.

When I was little my family went to Rehoboth and always spent an evening at the sports complex. So this year they took our kids. We picked a good night because we had the place all to ourselves.

But the pool.......the pool was the hot spot this year! Bre could not get enough of it. She swam, she jumped, she dove for toys, she repeatedly wanted Arlan to throw her in so she could do flips.

And the mini golfing. Sometimes I wonder why we pay to go considering our scores are in the low hundreds but it's all about "quality family time" right?

Summer....we love you. You will be missed!

Up, Up We Go!!

The kids and I were invited to the mountains this weekend by my aunt and my great friend and cousin Kara. It was the most relaxing and refreshing time away so far this summer. The kids were in heaven!!

There was a small creek behind the cabin which we visited every morning and it brought hours our imaginative play for Trey, Bre and Maddie. I was completely amazed at how well they all played together, worked as a team and made each other laugh. Such treasured moments!

Bre was in her adventurous and exploratory mode. She would wonder up stream on her own until I'd yell for her to come back. She just "needed" to see where the stream lead.

We also headed out to the "big" creek every afternoon for some water fun!!

And the highlight of every day was aunt Kara's chauffeured four wheeler rides around the property. (I'm pretty sure by day three Kara was rolling her eyes at each request.)

Maddie loved to read to the kids. (even when one of them was easily distracted)

We watched movies!

Roasted Marshmallows

It was a fantastic time. Thanks so much Aunt Sheryl and Kara for letting us join you at the lodge. We loved every minute of laughing, chit chatting and exploring!!

Oh, this is Spikey. Spikey was adopted by Trey into our family at the cabin and came home with us. He was a fun and accommodating member. I say "was" because, well, lets just say Spikey got a little too much sun exposure while we were in McDonald's chowing down our supper and he was waiting in the car. You had a good life little guy!

When I Grow Up!!!

I was informed last week that my little girl is going to be a cowgirl when she grows up. Ever since then her dress up attire has included this spiffy mixture of cowgirl necessities!!

Apparently bull riding will also be in her future. And who knew cowgirls wear shiny satin skirts while riding......bulls??!!??

To throw more confusion in the pot. During quiet time that day I found her fast asleep with her pirate patch on. I'm confused that's all!

Costa Rica

As many of you already know we took a missions trip with our church youth group this summer to Pura Vida Missions in Costa Rica. Amazingly enough the base we were staying at was just down the street from the Cowboys With A Mission base.

This trip brought back so many memories of our Mission Adventure days. The program our group went through was exactly like the MA program we ran at CWAM.

We had a hard, challenging, life changing, fun, amazing, hot and sweaty time during this missions trip.

This was our sleeping quarters for several nights during the training phase of our outreach. I ran for the bottom bunk. There was no way I was climbing up to the third bunk when lights went out.

Our outreach was at Jaco Beach with a Mennonite church that was just establishing their congregation about 1/2 mile from the beach. It was 95 degrees and 100% humidity while we were there. By far the hottest and sweatiest outreach I've been on.

Jaco Beach is a surfing town. Can you tell??
Arlan had a lot of fun kicking around the soccer ball with one of the kids from the church.

At the church we did several work projects. Fixing the moldy ceiling was one job that required you to drip in sweat.....no, let me rephrase that......get completely drenched in sweat. It was a mess.
Fixed some of the holes in the floor with concrete.Every afternoon we had kids club or vacation Bible school for the community kids. Everyone was involved with this and it was a great time to interact with all the people around us.

It was great to see the youth grow deeper in their relationship with God and go to many uncomfortable lengths to serve those around us. We are very proud of them and all they did and gave up during this trip.

Where's the Beach Boys when you need them??

The last day of school was this week and as Trey got off his bus for the last time I'm pretty sure I heard, off in the distance, the Beach Boys song "Surfin' USA" floating through the air. Summer is here!! Ahhh, the joy!!! So much to do and so little time.Of course the source of the most excitement around here are trips to the pond. Bre was ready months ago. She loves to swim!We finally said goodbye to Bre's favorite puppy, Rosie! It was a little hard but Rosie went to a sweet couple living in New York.

Of course summer always calls for those days of just "laying around". Wish that was penciled in my calendar somewhere. Couldn't find it yet.It's not all fun and games over the summer when you live on a farm. The kids are helping out with the chickens twice a week and I am taking on the task of painting all the house windows, sills, spouting and trim this summer. Some days I find my hand is permanently bent to the shape of me holding a paintbrush. The aching pain.

In between paint jobs we took time out to take a day trip with the kids. They just finished 12 weeks worth of Bible memory so Arlan and I rewarded them with a day trip and they picked the Baltimore Aquarium.

I was shocked at how much they loved this place. Sometimes we would just sit in front of a shark tank for 20 minutes watching them swim around in circles! The kids were in awe. Trey loved the sharks and I'm pretty sure he's contemplating how to get one as a pet. Bre on the other hand is in love with dolphins.The dolphin show was right up her alley!!

And me, well I just loved those crazy jellyfish!! All the beautiful colors.

I forgot to mention that it was smokin' hot that day and I'm pretty sure I sweated away a few pounds while walking around outside only to be gained again with one of those yummy ice cream pops! Yeah well , you take the good with the bad.

Whats a trip to Baltimore without a ride on the floating dragons? Boring that's what it is. It all would have been good if I hadn't decided to wear a short skirt that day. I tried to be as lady like as I could but it's hard when the hubby is yelling , 'put your back into it girlie!'. (ok those weren't his exact words but it translated to that in my brain)

Summer days!! Got to love them!!

Birthday Joy

I celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago. Just a normal day....mop the floor....pick up toys....make numerous persons sandwiches to their personal liking. However, the weekend before was a hoot!!

Saturday evening my parents, Arlan and the kids took me up to Mt. Gretna for ice cream at the Jigger Shop!! If you've never been there you got to go!!

Nothing ends an evening like a fast spin on the merry go round with a cold, ice cream filled tummy. We had to limit the number of repetitions.

Then on Sunday afternoon we got two great babysitters (thanks Britt! You girls had the house clean as a whistle when we returned and happy and excited kids! They loved you guys) and took me to Longwood Gardens. We just walked, talked and relaxed. Fabulous!!