June-July 2010 Summer so-far Whirlwind

June and July have had us traveling quite a bit. It seems we get home, Peter leaves for work, kids and I regroup, do laundry, etc and then we either meet Peter at the airport for another trip or have the trailer ready to go as soon as he is home. It has been this way since the beginning of June. We are blessed to be able to travel during the days in between his working, though I must say we are all wearing a bit thin. Peter and I laugh at ourselves as we just keep on going! However, tomorrow, we nap.

Ashley rescues chipmunk from Uncle Jim and Aunt Carol's pool.
Brave girl!
Then it bites her. This is how the trip began!

Who didn't shut the frig door before we drove away? Nothing like milk all over the floor and having to deal with those stinky clean up towels for the remainder of the drive! ;)

Can you smell the chocolate yet?!
Hershey Park
Need I say more?

"Come on kids! Come one! This is Mommy's favorite ride from when she was little!"

Yep, almost 30 years later and I still dream about swimming in the chocolate vat.
Ummm--Yum!

Some fantastic camp site somewhere between Hershey Park, PA and The Creation Museum. We stopped here for the night as we were so tired. It turned out to be a great park. The children were fascinated with the abundance of skunks!

A Zorse and a Zonkey

What did you read today? This skeleton read John 3:16.

We were going, going and Daniel was gone! We had been running at full speed and he just couldn't wake up for fishing. I was able to make him stir just enough to get some yogurt down and pjs on, then right back to bed. He slept through the night 5:30pm-morning. Fyi, he is 5!

Next day fishing before heading back to the Creation Museum.

Show us your scared face.

On our way towards Western Maryland we decided Bob's Big Boy would hit the spot. We had never taken the children to one, yet we had both been there as children. We arrived only to discover this place is called Frisch's Big Boy--with the same picture out front and same motif inside. The servers had never even heard of Bob's Big Boy. We thought that was pretty weird. I mean weren't Bob and Frisch at least brothers--cousins--estranged 5th cousins?

Ahhh, Western Maryland and a sweet visit with cousins. We went hiking.

The fabulous cousins.

Isn't God so creative?
In our culture we tend to praise the creation over the Creator.
Look at what He made for us to enjoy.
If we do not praise Him, the rocks will cry out. (Luke 19:40)

Fishing with the cousins at the spring fed lake on their neighbors organic co-op.
Coooollllddd.

These two are almost exactly a year apart.
Daniel loves his big cousin.

Peter cleaned 30+ fish and to our dismay we did not get a picture of cousin Kim pan frying the whole lot of them. She is an excellent cook and we enjoyed every bite.

The next week the cousins came our way and we all enjoyed playing together at my parents pool. We never get enough time together when they are out our way. I guess another trip to Western Maryland is in order!
End June

We do not have enough pictures of the end of June and beginning of July. We took at trip to CA to visit more family and cousins whom we had not seen in three years. It was a wonderful trip and as usual we can't get enough of being with them.

Then it was off to San Antonio, Texas for the Baby Conference. We met up with several friends and made even more. The conference dealt a lot with adoption (which you may have noticed we have a connection with!:). We enjoyed hearing the latest on how adoptions are proceeding in Haiti as well as personal experiences from a panel of adoptive parents. It was a blessing to be with so many people who see children as a true blessing from the Lord. The average family size was 7 children. When the conference was over we hit The Alamo!

The Alamo!

The Nashville airport is so cool.
Seriously, where else has five drinking fountains of differing heights?
All perfectly sized for my kids!
We actually got stuck here on our way home this week as the storms had grounded the planes. Besides having fantastic drinking fountains, they also have a kids play area for the under 42 inch crowd. We were not the only family letting our kids run around in the play area at midnight.

We arrived home on Tuesday morning at 5am and finally went to bed. We are still getting back on schedule. I have been a bit tired this week, so please forgive any typos. I would usually re-re-re-re-read to make sure they were not there as I do not want to give homeschooling Mom's a bad name.
Ya know: "See, look at her grammar! And she thinks she can teach her kids!"