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.

Pinebrook 2017

It wasn't long after we arrived that a bit of rain began. Evan and Esther may have gotten a little wet and dirty riding bikes in the rain. 

 But the rain didn't last. Soon enough we were enjoying the pool.

And friends!

 Meghan spent a lot of time with these friends.

Derek and I relaxed a good bit this year with the children needing less attention.

 Meghan had to borrow Esther's bike to catch Derek when he took her bike for a spin.

 One night Esther and I went for a little walk to the pond. We didn't see frogs, but we caught some fireflies.

 Wednesday was a "hillbilly invasion." This is Pastor Bill in his finest.

 There had been a doughnut on that string. I took it off in one giant bite.

 Evan enjoyed this little cricket. He even took bunches and bunches of pictures of it since it didn't get away. Eventually, it was put in the grass...but unfortunately didn't overcome its injury.

 This is one of Evan's best buds at camp. We love C and his family.

 A fun ribbon...

 Before the banquet dinner.

 And all of us.

 We also had visitors on my birthday. Derek's mom and aunt came to share the day with us.

Pinebrook 2016

This was our eight year vacationing with Pinebrook Bible Conference (which is just as long as I've been blogging). See more of our Pinebrook posts by clicking the link under "labels."

We began our vacation with a bang. On Friday night, Derek took the children to a Wilmington Blue Rocks baseball game. I suspect too much funnel cake led Meghan to being sick five or six times between 5 and 6:30 a.m. She then returned to sleep for a couple of hours. When she woke up she was almost herself and wasn't sick again.

At one point, she missed her bowl a bit in bed. While I was changing her sheets, she went to the bathroom. She must have been tired because she climbed into the tub and fell asleep. Later when I asked her about it, she had no recollection of it.

Every afternoon at Pinebrook was spent in the pool in some form or another. Below are some of the kids' friends and swimming buddies.

 And a year can't go by without some nighttime rain for bike riding.

Pinebrook 2015

We had another great year at Pinebrook. The weather was cooler than in the past, but it also rained at least for a short time on most days.

This guy enjoyed eating from the garbage can.

Meghan captured this dragonfly. I think it was a bit injured (the wing).

Cheesey.

Evan loved his independence.

Esther took this of me.

More swingin'

Meghan found this bug, too. Thankfully it was dead.

I looked it up. It's a dobsonfly.

Cute!

Evan rang the dinner bell with Pastor Bill.

Before the banquet. 

(Bad hair day)

Nighttime bike riding in the dark! 

Got ya!

She loved the rain!

Night time ice cream

This didn't even include all of the shoes.

Friends!

A Growing Vocabulary and Recent Adventures

It's been a month since I wrote here on the family blog.  Thanks for returning time and time again.

Since then...

Evan has lost THREE teeth all together.

Derek and I celebrated our 11th anniversary.  The five of us went out to dinner.
(The photo is actually from Pinebrook...and missing our son...)

We went to Pinebrook for a week of family camp.  While there, I had my 38th birthday.  Meghan told Pastor Bill about it...and the entire dining hall sang to me.  Actually, everyone but Meghan sang.  She spent the whole song giggling.  09.

Meghan made the flag (at home) for the patriotic door contest at Pinebrook.  The ice cream face was after celebrating my birthday at the snack shop.  Someone may have enjoyed playing in a little bit of mud.  That is not ice cream on Evan's hands.

  

It was our best week at Pinebrook, and we've been going every year since 20
Here's why...
2009- Evan was a baby.
2010- Evan was still little.
2011- Evan was bigger, but I was rather pregnant AND had untreated bronchitis.
2012- We had screaming, not-willing-to-sleep Esther.
2013- Derek and I shared a full-sized bed with Esther just so she would sleep...even if we didn't sleep well.
2014- Esther slept in her own bed.  No babies were in our room.

This month has been a whirl-wind.  We had lots of overnight company.  We also visited Brandon and Stephanie (Derek's brother) in Virginia last weekend.

Amy, I, and our friend Christy came for a visit.  We went to the local park for a walk.

This is of our kids and BnS's.  A and R are sweet cousins, too.

Summer fun...

We've had quite a few thunderstorms recently.  A week or two ago, we allowed all three children to sleep in Meghan's bed since we knew they wouldn't fall asleep on their own. Two nights ago, it was really shake-the-house-bad.  Esther woke up asking to go to Meghan's room.  Before Derek even made it in she was truly yelling.  The next day I asked her if she heard the thunder.  She did.  I asked if she was scared of thunder.  She said, "Yes.  And lightening."  I was surprised she knew the word, but her vocabulary is growing.

Another strange word she knows is roller coaster.  She has lots more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

I'm so proud of Evan.  He has gained a lot of confidence recently.  This picture shows it.  He isn't nearly as adventurous as his sisters, but he is willing to take a few more risks now.