Cousins (NE PA)

Last week we went from Pinebrook to northeastern PA to visit grandparents. We especially wanted to visit Grandpa Jones. He was in rehab after a fall. (He is now home.)

We also saw some other grandparents and cousins.

But we didn't stay long. Well, some of us didn't. Last week while Meghan attended the jewelry camp (during the day), Evan and Esther hopped from grandparent to grandparent.

My mom sent this picture of Esther with her cousin, Evelyn.

My sister, Amy, didn't get to see much of Evan and Esther, but she did enjoy them when she wasn't working. These are fun photos from a walk in the creek.

Meghan's Handmade Jewlery

Last week Meghan attended jewelry camp locally. She loved it. 

She made a lot of jewelry, mostly from paper beads. Meghan has always been a crafty and artistic girl (even winning two art awards at school). Check out this talent!

Meghan's friend also attended jewelry camp. They made another friend, too. 

Pinebrook 2018

Pinebrook celebrated 50 years and celebrated with some seriously good fireworks our first night there. 

I didn't take many photos during the week, but here are a few. 

Esther had a pony ride.

 LOTS of time, day and night at the pool. With the heat index well over 100, I was even in the pool a lot.

 Check out Meghan's dive.

 We also ate a lot of ice cream.

 Unfortunately, Esther was sick for a while with vomiting and a fever. I suspect it was heat exhaustion, but don't know with certainty. Friends lent us DVDs for entertainment.

Our next door neighbor is also a writer. We had a lot of fun talking about the publishing world and our writing projects. She blogs at Read the Hard Parts.

 Esther with some friends...

 Evan's friends...

 Meghan's friend and little buddy...

It was another good year, overall.

June 2018

Um...It's actually June 24th (though I plan to finish this later). It's been a good month, but starting more than three weeks late means I will definitely forget some important blessings.

Here are some June blessings I've experienced.

1. Strawberry picking with the kids.
2. Enjoying pound cake to go with the strawberries.
3. A new microwave. (The microwave was only four years old. Derek repaired it after it died on Thanksgiving Day. This time...the microwave could not be repaired.) 
   
4. Evan found his lost sweatshirt at school. Not the one he lost earlier in the year but the new sweatshirt.
5. A fabulous day at the Children's Book Festival in North East, MD. Derek even brought the kids at the end...and then it began raining.
6. Visiting friends from northeastern PA at AI duPont Children's Hospital before their little girl's heart surgery. Surgery went great!
7. Signing a contract for a book idea I had back in 2014. This will be the first book I can potentially earn royalties on. (This is a fairly big deal.)
8. Taking the kids swimming on their last day of school.
9. A nice Father's Day for Derek.
10. Fresh chocolate chip cookies. 
11. Chocolate chip cookies out of the freezer.
12. Meghan having a great week at the Summer Career camp.
13. A cleaner basement. Granted it still needs to be disinfected due to septic leaking onto the wall and floor. But we lost very little. The basement is significantly decluttered! 
14. Derek being home to find the leak. 
15. Getting a plumber here within a couple hours...instead of the Friday to Tuesday wait two plumbers told us of. Number three worked out for a diagnosis and temporary fix. Number one is who we hired to do it though since they were thousands less. 
16. Evan being in a group of all boys for swim lessons. For the past few years he hated being the only boy in his group.
17. The children having a good dentist appointment. They're also more committed to using their electric toothbrush after a talk with the dental hygienist.