Corn Maze Fun

We all had a four-day weekend. Overall, it was fairly quiet and relaxing-just what we needed after a long, hot week.

However, we needed to have some fun together-as a family. So Derek and I took the children to Cherry Crest Farm on a blazing hot and humid Labor Day.

Evan powered up the misting fan for us.

Northeastern PA Summer 2018 Trip #2

If you're keeping up with us, we spent the first week of July at Pinebrook. The second week Evan and Esther stayed with grandparents in NE PA while Meghan attended jewelry camp. The third week of July we were all home. I think it was a fairly quiet week.

The last week of July I attended a writing conference in NE PA...in Montrose. So I stayed with Derek's parents and the children stayed with the various grandparents during the week.

I think Monday through Thursday was nothing but rain. On Monday Evan and Esther spent the day making dams in the driveway. They loved it. 

 In fact, the next morning it was raining and we had to ask the kids to wait a little bit before going outside to play in the rain. Later on, I heard they got chilly pretty fast in the rain since they went out so early.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Phyllis were in town for a brief visit, so I extended our stay to be able to see them. I planned to see them Sunday evening. As it turned out, Sunday afternoon my sister Amy and Aunt Pat planned an impromptu family gathering. It was perfect!

 Four of the eight siblings were there for an event planned that afternoon! Not bad!

 Cousins!

 Cousins' kids! This was my favorite part! Meghan and Brynn became fast friends. The boys had fun together and so did the younger girls. AND They all played together, too!

 When these girls were running around, we had to look carefully to see which was which.

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.

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. 

February's Blessings

1. January is over! I lost count of the 2-hour delays, but we also had multiple snow days during that month...along with 2 scheduled days off from school and 5 sick days between Evan and Esther.
2. Meghan sick on a snow day. She didn't want to change her perfect attendance.
3. Clean and disinfected bathrooms. (See #2.)
4. Watching the kids' basketball skills improve.
5. Solid writing time.
6. Enjoying the Olympics with the whole family.
7. Valentines.
8. Volunteering at a book event for teens called Festival of Words.
9. A night out for Derek and me.
10. Derek's family coming to visit.

11. Tons of leftovers after the family visit.

12. Janice's cheesecake. I think it is the best I've ever had!

13. Germs not spreading to the rest of us when Esther had yet another fever and cough.

14. The second half of the month being pretty healthy.

15. My writing time well-focused.

16. Meghan's cute, new haircut.

17. Hope of a possible book contract that's been on hold for a long time.

18. Evan's fun Curriculum Night at school. Meghan joined me to make it extra fun. 

19. I didn't attend, but Meghan had a fun and successful Curriculum Night, too. 

20. Meghan finally finishing her quilt...but so far has refused pictures.

21. Esther spotted the first robin of spring on 2/28 on the way to the bus stop. After she was on the bus, I saw another dozen or so on my walk around the neighborhood.

(Boy, I didn't do very well at keeping track of them this month!)

Family Visit

We had visitors this weekend. Derek's mom arrived Friday. His brother and family arrived this weekend. We had a really nice time. 

Despite what the photo shows, Meghan is the tallest cousin...by a half-inch. 

Christmas Eve

The children were all dressed up for our candlelight Christmas Eve service at church.

Somehow, they all have the same smile.

A Park, a Wedding, and a Whole Lot of Driving

We made a long weekend of our trip to northeastern PA and upstate NY.

Our shoe basket had boots, sneakers, dress, and flip flops in it. We had to be prepared.

Thursday night we drove to the home of Derek's parents. We made it in record-breaking four hours. However, by 7:10 the next morning we were in the van for another three hours as we drove out near Buffalo, NY to Darien Lake.

So much for being prepared. I forgot my bathing suit bottoms. I was sopping wet or damp ALL day.

 I didn't take a lot of pictures at Darien Lake, but this shows Meghan and Evan pulling themselves to the top. Esther and Derek were on the back side.

 This was taken at the end of our day. It might be our first family selfie.

 The drive through upstate NY was lovely. Lots of rolling hills and farmland.

Saturday my dad picked Evan and Esther up. (Derek and I couldn't bear to drive the hour there and another back again.) Meghan attended her first wedding. I took some pictures of her before we left.

 She had fun! So did we.

 Meghan took this picture of us dancing.

Sunday we had dinner with Derek's family at his grandparents' home. It was lovely to see those we saw, but with the park and wedding (and exhaustion) we really didn't get around to see my family like usual.

If you're curious what our first trip to Darien Lake looked like, this is a photo my friend shared with me recently. Derek and I weren't even dating then (but were within the month). This is from August 2000, Kingdom Bound!

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.