The Kids

Outtakes

These are a few of the other photos from our little photo shoot. Some are goofy. Others are awkward. But I thought I'd share them.

August 2015 Photos

Pictures from our yard this morning...

Beach 2015

We made our annual trek to the beach on Friday. We like to go to Lewes, Delaware since it's not actual ocean waves there that may frighten me a bit.

As you can see, the water was not very clear this time, but it was still fun.

Meghan's a better artist than me.

 I hate sand but love my daughter.

 Meghan makes friends everywhere we go. It's amazing.

Apparently I forgot to take a picture of Esther when she went out in the deeper water with Derek. I think I may have been buried at the time.

We also went to Dutch Wonderland this past week, but I didn't take the camera with us. Unlike the rest of America, we don't have smart phones, so no pictures were taken. It was Esther's first time. She loved it all, including the smaller roller coaster. Evan opted to not go on the big roller coaster, but Meghan and Derek went a couple times. We all had a lot of fun.

We arrived by 10 o'clock when they open. It began raining after 1. It let up for a bit and then we got soaked on the Sky Ride. It was pouring. If it rains for 60 or more consecutive minutes, you get tickets to go again. We did take cover for about 45 minutes (which included a show) during a thunderstorm, but there was still plenty to enjoy despite the rain. We didn't leave until about 4 o'clock-with (wet) tickets to return before the end of the year in our hands.

Hellos and Goodbyes

We made the trip to northeastern PA earlier this month. It was a whirlwind, but so good to catch up with some family.

We actually left the children with my dad on Sunday. Now that Amy lives right next door to him and Karen, they tag-teamed taking care of  enjoying the kids for a few days.

On Monday, some ladies had a goodbye luncheon for my dear friend, Letty.

John and Letty will be moving to Indiana to be near their sons. 

She knows she will be dearly missed and how much she means to me. 

Tired?

One evening after the kids were tucked in, Esther came downstairs to tell us she heard a "noise." We sent her back upstairs, but she didn't quite make it to bed before she fell asleep.

Slip N Slide

Saturday morning I asked Meghan how she wanted to spend her time outdoors that day. She quickly said the Slip N Slide. Unfortunately for her, she's a bit big for the kiddie pool. After a week at camp, it was a great way to enjoy the sunshine.

The Art of Bricks: LEGOs

Derek and I acted out of character today. Not only did we take the children into Philadelphia for the first time, but we even did it on a Saturday. We intentionally avoid crowded places like the beach, amusement parks, and other tourist attractions on Saturdays. However, Derek's vacation days are limited, and his Fridays off this summer are pretty busy.

The Art of Bricks is a LEGO exhibit now located at the Franklin Institute. We arrive at 9:30 and left around 2:30. Though we did have a granola bar snack (and a banana in the car before parking), we survived without lunch. I'm not saying we survived well. (In fact, when we had a 20 minute wait to be seated and another 30 minutes or so to wait for the food-when the kids' food was supposed to be rushed-one child may have been wiping tears.)

Ben Franklin greeted us at arrival.

 Before going into the special LEGO exhibit, we watched a short video.

 This LEGO dinosaur took a summer to build. Rather impressive.

 After the LEGO exhibit, we enjoy other special hands-on fun at the Franklin Institute.

 The children operated this machine.

 They sat in a cockpit.

 Experimented with sound...

And so much more.

I'll be writing a post more about the LEGO exhibit over at This Simple Home...hopefully in the next couple of days. But this gives a bit of the taste of our day out.