End of Summer Fun

Our summer officially ended last week, but not before we squeezed in quite a bit of fun. The highlight was a trip to Santa Claus, Indiana where we camped at Lake Rudolph. It's right next door to Holiday World, a really fun amusement and water park. There was an excessive heat warning almost the whole time we were there, but we found some memorable ways to beat the heat. One was "the avalanche" at Santa's Candy Castle.

This was a half gallon of frozen hot chocolate. It really hit the spot!

And yes, we were able to polish off the whole thing.

We rented a golf cart to get around the enormous campground. One of our favorite activities was to just ride around and enjoy the breeze.

We went fishing at the campground pond, but Joel and Maci mostly just wanted to take in the scenery. This picture was completely candid, we didn't ask them to do this! Before getting lost in their adorableness, notice that one of the roller coasters at Holiday World extends out over the pond in the background. We got a kick out of listening to the riders scream as they zipped by.

Once it cooled off enough to finally make a fire, we enjoyed roasting marshmallows. We couldn't end our trip before we did that! I included this picture, since it's apparently the only one from the whole vacation that had me in it!

After all of our fun, we were all pretty tuckered out and ready to head home.

After a day of unpacking and a few more outings, it was time for Jonah to start second grade. Here we are gathering with some of the seminary kids before we walked to school together on the first day.

Jonah was so excited to reunite with his friends from first grade, Jonathan and Leo. They all found each other within seconds of arriving on the playground.

Jonah had a great first few days of school. The rest of us are settled back into our routines too. We're looking forward to all that this next year brings, and the adventures that are to follow.

Blessings to you and yours!

G is for Gratitude!

I'm realizing that I may have unintentionally turned this blog into sort of an electronic gratitude journal. I need to find a way to narrow down all of the things that I'm grateful for. Today I'm going to just share some of the blessings that start with G!

Guitar: Micah has wanted to learn to play the guitar for a while. For Father's Day, we found him a great deal on a guitar and some instructional materials, and he's been trying to teach himself some chords. This past Friday night, Jonah and I had a mother/son date to see The Sound of Music at the Muny. I love the song "Edelweiss," and we've been humming it off and on since Friday. This afternoon Micah taught himself how to play Edelweiss on the guitar and sang it for me. Golly gee, do I love that guy.

Go Fish: Today our favorite three week old was baptized. For her baptism gift, we gave her a copy of our most beloved kids' CD: "Snooze" by the group Go Fish. They're a Christian a cappella trio that sings beautiful kids' songs. Those songs have been played countless times in our home, we all have them memorized, and several of them remind us of special moments in our kids' lives. We played those songs again this morning before we left for church. Gave us goosebumps.

Girls: Specifically, the one that lives at our house. Now, don't get me wrong, I am absolutely crazy about my boys, but there's just something about that girl. She's only 2 ("I have a birthday coming up," she keeps telling me), but she is every bit of a girly girl already. Before attending the baptism this morning, she asked to have her fingers and toes painted, a ponytail with a bow in her hair, her prettiest dress on, and she had to try on nearly every pair of shoes she owns to find just the right look. However, mere minutes before this she was delighted to smear her entire face with chocolate. Micah made us banana/Nutella crepes for breakfast this morning. Maci decided to skip the crepes and bananas and go right for the Nutella jar. Gorgeous.

Grandparents: Last weekend Micah's parents and Grandma were here visiting. Next weekend my parents come to visit. It's so fun for the kids to have their grandparents here. They get so excited to see them, and count down the days on the calendar until they arrive. We always wish they could stay longer, but it just makes us look forward to the next visit with great anticipation.

Garden: The seminary installed several community garden plots this spring, and our family was able to plant one of them. We have cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and herbs like you wouldn't believe. We've been having so much fun sharing our harvest with other families, and coming up with new ways to use all our veggies.

We're so grateful for all of the gifts we've been given. God is good!