Whole Lotta Summer Stuff

Here are a bunch of pictures of all sorts of things

that have gone on during the last half of July

and all of August. I decided to put them all

in one post instead of several small posts.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cousins Visit

Drew and Michelle and their family visited us

again in July and the beggining of August.

They were able to be here during

all the visits of our other kids

and their spouses.

Here is a pictue of Isabelle in one of her many

'time-outs' for either doing something she wasn't

supposed to do, or not doing something she

was supposed to do. (Sounds like the kind of

trouble I always seem to be in).

She wouldn't let me take her picture,

so she turned away.

Our kids' cousins from New York came down

for a weekend visit. We haven't seen most

of them for around two years.

This picture is of cousins from four different

families on Heidi's side of the family.

Another picture of the group of cousins.

Here is a rare shot of Isabelle and Aubree

actually looking at the camera at the same time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Town Employee Picnic

Since Heidi works for the town we live in, we all

went to the town employee picnic on a Saturday

in August. Along with having Michelle and Drew and their

family in town; Suzie and her husband Adam came to

visit as well as Sam and his wife Amber.

We haven't seen Suzie, Adam, Sam or Amber for a year.

This picture was taken at the lunch at the picnic.

The picnic is a semi-pot luck. Everyone brings a side-dish

and the town provides the all-you-can-eat crab along

with hamburgers, hot dogs, drinks, etc.

In the two pictures above, we are all diging into

the crab and making a mess of the table.

Heidi with Isabelle and Aubree as the girls

wait to get their caricature drawn.

The town provides free pony rides for the kids, free anything-

you-want ice cream truck, water-slide, face painting, a guy

that draws caricatures, a balloon sculptor, and other things.

In this picture, we are all waiting to get our caricature drawn.

Adam and Suzie getting their pictures drawn.

The finished drawing of Drew and Shelly.

Sam and Amber and their drawing nearing completion.

Me, Katie and Heidi in our drawing.

We are giving Katie wet-willies.

The two of us giving Katie wet willies.

Aubree loved her pony ride.

Here is a picture of Drew with Isabelle on her pony.

Isabelle had fun riding her pony.

Aubree eating ice cream at the picnic.

Isabelle wouldn't go down the water-slide.

I think it was too steep for her.

She was content just sitting on the edge of

the pool at the base of the slide, watching

all the older kids slide down.

I think this is Adam's third and fourth ice cream.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beach Trip

One day (while I had to work) Heidi took the family to the beach

and then they all went to walk the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD.

The group shot at Tower Beach in Delaware.

Isabelle playing with the sand-toy bag.

Isabelle was happy just holding onto Heidi's hand

on the beach while the waves came in.

On the boardwalk at Ocean City, Md.

These guys look 'tired.'

Suzie, Amber and Sam all playing tourists

on the boardwalk.

Photo-op:

Shelly, Isabelle, Aubree and Drew.

Isabelle posing by an ice cream cone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Around Home

One night, we had a bon fire in the backyard

and made smores.

Heidi bought this bike with a child seat already installed

for $20 at a local garage sale. It got plenty of use

in the time Isabelle and Aubree were here.

Heidi also found the push-car at a garage sale.

Aubree really liked this, expecially the trunk

in the front to store all her stuff.

Our neighborhood park has a climbing wall

and Isabelle is pretty good at climbing it.

Katie's turn to ride Isabelle around the park.

Aubree's turn on the bike.

Visiting at the park while the grandkids played

on the playground equipment.

The Menasco method of eating ice cream:

just a spoon and a carton of ice cream.

Adam learning how to play with the baby toys,

while Suzie supervises.

Drew and Amber and Sam relaxing in the den.

We celebrated some of the summer birthdays

while everyone was here visiting.

Heidi is frosting some cupcakes

in this picture.

Drew blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.

Drew and Shelly with Drew's cake.

Aubree enjoyed the chocolate cake.

And Isabelle liked the yellow cake.

Yum, frosting!

Looks like Aubree eats all the frosting

and leaves the cupcake.

Big sister Isabelle helping out little sister Aubree.

Drew's actual birthday was when everyone was visiting,

so now it is time for him to open his gifts.

Some of the birthday crowd.

Aubree just chill-axing.

Isabelle was the 'bling-queen' when she was Aubree's age.

Now it is Aubree's turn to show-off all her bling.

A picture of Aubree and Shelly on the deck one morning.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More Pictures With Relatives

While our kids were visiting, we went over to

Heidi's brothers house for a get-together and swimming.

Here is a picture of four generations of girls:

Top: Katie, Heidi, Suzie, Aubree and Shelly

Bottom: Heidi's mom, Clara; and Isabelle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Whole Famdamily

(Minus Brian)

One Sunday, while everyone was still here visiting,

Heidi had asked a church member to take a few

family pictures for us.

Here is the 'good' family picture...

... And here is the 'normal' family picture.

A picture of four of five of our kids:

Suzie, Shelly, Sam and Katie.

Missing is Brian who is beginning his second and final year

of his mission for our church in northern CA.

A picture of all the girls.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peach Festival

Before our town's annual Peach Festival, there is a 5K run.

Sam, Amber, Katie and Heidi all ran in the race.

Suzie and Adam had to fly home for school before the

Peach festival and all its activities.

Sam and Amber before the 5K.

We went to the parade at the Peach Festival.

Shelly and her girls Isabelle and Aubree at the parade.

There is a National Guard unit that is headquartered

here in town. This picture is of their band.

A dragon from one of the local

martial arts businesses in town.

Our town was the hub of peach growing and shipping

back in the late 1800's before a peach blight

wiped out all the orchards.

Besides the parade, there are tons of booths,

demonstrations, vendors, and re-enactors of poineer

and civil war era activities. They have wool spinning,

dutch-oven cooking, shooting, etc.

Isabelle is getting her wrist painted here.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other Happenings

Sam and Amber celebrated their first wedding

anniversary while they were visiting.

This is their cake-top that was saved from

their reception that we had last year in

our backyard.

Roses that Sam bought for Amber for

their anniversary. The sparkling water

is from a hotel they stayed at in Washington D.C.

while they went away to celebrate their anniversary.

Sam and Amber at the Lincoln Memorial in

Washington D.C. during their anniversary visit.

On another day-trip, the gang (minus me again, who had to work)

went to Philadelphia to visit the Liberty Bell

and other sites of the area.

Photo-op in front of the new building that

houses the Liberty Bell.

Group shot in front of the building where

the Decloration of Independence was signed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UGGG! Katie's Room

One Saturday, after everyone went home,

Heidi and Katie worked all day to

clean and organize Katies bedroom.

Katie is entering 11th grade, and had stuff in

her bedroom from sixth grade!

Here is a ton of Katies junk in the hallway.

She also had stuff put in two bedrooms

to make room to work in her bedroom.

Katie and Heidi and Cortez, the cat beginning

to work in Katie's bedroom.

Katie and Cortez working hard deciding

what to keep and what to pitch out.

Cortez really helping a lot to organize the dresser drawer.

And one last picture of Cortez helping.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Katie's First Day of School

Well, it had to happen- summer vacation has ended

and it's time for school to begin.

This is a picture of Katie and next-door

neighbor, Amanda, taken on the

first day of school.

Katie and Amanda are in the same grade

and we have been getting the 'first day of school'

pictures of the both of them for years.

The End(s)

It was a very busy summer for all of us,

full of places to go and people to see.

Thanks go to Shelly, Sam and Suzie for

allowing me to steal some of their pictures

for this blog, all without knowing it!

If you made it this far reading this blog,

then congratulations.

If you didn't, then you aren't reading this...

so nevermind!