Road Trip Memories {Summer 2012}!

I have finally had a chance to start looking through photos from the road trip we took earlier this summer – what a fantastic vacation it was! We traveled over 3000 miles in the course of 11 days, passing through 14 states, plus some of Canada. We saw amazing sights and tried new things, as well as visiting some old favorites. I am so thankful for the beautiful land God has placed us in and for the wonderful people he has blessed our lives with! I was originally going to try to fit the highlights of our trip into one blog post, but when I started looking at all of the pictures I realized that would make for a really REALLY long post :)! Here are some of my favorite memories of the first few days of or trip. Our first stop along the way was for supper in Louisville, Kentucky. The kids and I had never been to KY before, so that was new. Chris had asked his friends for restaurant recommendations of places that would offer us a uniquely “Louisville” experience, and someone suggested Mike Linnig’s. We loved that there was a large open air eating area with a playground for the kids. We were adventurous and ordered the fried alligator and frog legs (we also tried to order a side of turtle soup, but they were out).
We spent the next morning at the National Museum of the US Air Force. We saw rockets, many different types of aircraft and even the Apollo 15 Command Module, Endeavor, that landed on the moon :)!

That evening at sunset we saw American Falls with Niagara Falls in the distance. We crossed over into Canada and stayed overnight in a skyscraper hotel overlooking both waterfalls, which were so loud that you could hear them even way up inside our hotel room with all of the windows closed! It was really cool at night, because the falls were illuminated with a colorful light show. The kids took a bath in a big whirlpool tub with a window for watching the beautiful scenery. It was quite an experience. I am so glad people suggested that we bring our passports and see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.

By the next evening, we had finally made it to New England. That’s where the fun really began :)!

Fourth of July Weekend 2010

We had a lovely Independence Day weekend filled with patriotism, friends, family and FOOD of course! On Saturday we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers with my family and our friends, the Wellers. The kids enjoyed lots of water play and it was a nice time for the adults to relax and enjoy being together.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, then we headed off to another cookout – this time at the Eckleys’. They really know how to throw a great party! Lots of fun was had by all :).

Today we just enjoyed some time together as a family. We went shopping for more rose bushes for the yard and spent some time outside in the afternoon. We had such great weather all weekend!

I feel SO VERY blessed to live in this wonderful country and to enjoy the things I often take for granted. I know that freedom is never free and I just want to say a big THANK YOU to those who fight to keep us living this blessed life!

This was only a tiny sampling of our photos from the weekend! I hope I will have a chance to share some of the fun crafts, learning projects and recipes from the weekend too!

First Day of Summer!

Scaling Back on Blogging this Summer

Before I get to today’s photos, I just wanted to let you know that with the start of summer, I plan to scale back on my blogging a bit. There seems to be a shortage of free time and I don’t want blogging to feel like a chore! I am pleased to say that I have blogged every week day for at least three months now and I hope to get back into that routine in the fall when Gabe goes back to school. For now, I will be popping in when I get a chance – I sure have plenty of photos and stories to share!

Fun Day Outside

Today I celebrated the first day of summer by spending lots of time outside with the kids. It was pretty hot out, high of 96, but I’m sure it was much cooler on our shady deck – we are blessed with lots of shade in our backyard in the morning and afternoon hours. Gabe and I were outside during Julia’s morning nap washing off his toys with the garden hose, cleaning up the deck and getting Julia’s new play mats ready.

Then, after the kids got up from their afternoon naps, we all played out on the deck for literally hours! Julia enjoyed the cushy play mats I picked up for her at a yard sale (Gabe had fun putting them together like a big puzzle). We played with everything from bubbles to chalk. It was a fun day.