The last weekend of June was a fun one! Lots of pictures here.
On Saturday morning Destiny and I took Elizer to a "Touch a Truck" event put on by our Parks and Rec. Elizer had so much fun getting into the driver's seat of a tractor, a fire truck, and a school bus.
That evening our church held our second annual Strawberry Festival. It was so much fun, and we had a lot of community participation. Some of the men grilled hot dogs, there was also sloppy joes, chips, homemade chocolate croissants, drinks, and best of all - strawberry shortcake with ice cream!
Beautiful hanging baskets!
Of course a little fun! Freckles the Clown did so many fun things with the kids. She made of balloon hat for one of the men and he wore it proudly as he served ice cream! Pastor Lynn wore her strawberry costume for a while before it became unbearably hot.
Lori and the boys came too!
Some of the ladies had made theme baskets to be raffled off. I won the Sweet Frog basket and the Strawberry Wine basket!
On Sunday morning we left home at 7:00 and drove to Camp Hebron for our day with the Stauffers. We had so much fun at the lake and the pool!
Destiny had picked up her sister Jada the day before. Here are some short videos of her in the pool.
In the morning we had a worship service together, then we had a lunch of Mexican Pile-up and fruit and desserts. Later in the afternoon we ate a light finger food meal. We left soon after 5:00.
On Tuesday I did my annual cloroxing of the white porch furniture in my old white outfit that I wear once a year! Don't I look lovely??
Can you believe the difference? I spray the chairs and table with straight Clorox then scrub them with soap and water. But I don't need to scrub hard because the Clorox works its magic!
Of course while I was out there I had to get some pictures of my flowers! The lilies are blooming!!
I got some pictures from Sam on Sunday. He and the kids had been on vacation in South Carolina and were back home again. Here are some pics he sent.
Last weekend Jeremy and Mike were camping with friends, and he sent me these pics. He said, "but I think I look like one of the monks in Sister Act II. I cracked up because I knew exactly who he meant, hahahah!!
Last evening Dick took Elizer for a tractor ride around the neighborhood. Nothing makes him happier!!
First off, some flower pics from this week. I'm loving my porch planter, but I wish I had gotten taller spikes for the middle. We had our first lily open up yesterday. And my lone tomato plant has a bud! The purple salvia are showing off before they get dwarfed by the lilies which are ready to POP!!
On Monday night we had Elizer here for a sleepover. In the evening we took him to nearby airport park. First time he'd been there and he loved it. I actually didn't get pictures of the part he loved most - the high slide with tall steps. He climbed those steps over and over and over again. Dick would catch him at the bottom of the slide. Another fun thing was how many airplanes took off from the airport while we were there. We would always watch them and he would say, "Bye bye, airplane."
His favorite book that night was "All Better" with all the animals' booboos and the necessary bandaids.
He wanted to play ball, any kind of ball. He likes to throw balls, he likes to kick balls, and he likes to hit anything and everything with his golf club! I think he and Alex play ball a lot!
At one point he found two game controllers in our toys, and he gave one to Dick. They sat there "gaming" haha!!
The next day I took him for a long slow walk around the block. Once again a neighbor was mowing with his tractor and we had to stand there and watch him. Elizer would wave to him every time he made a round and the man would wave back. It was so cute! We played in the playground behind our house for a while too. He really didn't want to go inside when we got back, so I sat on a porch rocker with him. There was a really nice breeze and before long he was sleeping!
Wednesday afternoon and evening we had heavy rain and thunderstorms. Destiny's wifi modem was struck by lightning. She heard it crack!
After the storms were over the sky turned an eery pink. My phone camera just couldn't produce the color that it was. The bottom left pic is nearest to how it really looked.
The weather seemed rather appropriate on the 50th anniversary of Pennsylvania's worst flood - Agnes. Dick and I watched a special on WGAL in Lancaster Wednesday evening about Agnes. Wow, it brought back so many memories. Dick's parents' farmhouse had 18 inches of flood water in their first floor. I'll never forget helping to clean up and the smell of mud. Ugh!! Here's one picture of the mess.
This will be a fun weekend! Tomorrow our church is having our second annual strawberry festival. We're serving grilled hot dogs, sloppy joes, strawberry shortcake with ice cream, chips, and drinks. We'll have canopies and tables for people to eat outdoors. We had a lot of fun last year. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures next time.
Then on Sunday we're going to Camp Hebron for our annual day with Dick's family. I'm really looking forward to that as well.
I love June!!! I'll start this post with a collage of some of the beautiful things around here. Before long it will be the lilies. They're about to POP! And I'm hoping that tomato plant that's growing like a weed will soon produce a blossom.
It's a rather quiet Father's Day around here. We of course had our worship service at GBRV this morning, and it was a good one. Brenna was there with her flute and Dick had someone else doing the video for him so he was able to play his bass, so we had our "praise band" for the first time in a while. AND the choir sang finally!! Not very polished, but we made a joyful noise!!
After that service we decided to go to Calvary's 10:45 service for the first time in a while. We were so surprised to see the parking lot PACKED. I suddenly remembered that they were having just one service today - outdoors, and it was already in progress. It was actually quite chilly this morning and I wasn't dressed for being outdoors, nor did we have our camping chair along, so we sat in the car for a while and listened from there. But the wind was too cool for having the windows open very much, so we left before it was over.
I had a gift card for Cracker Barrel, so we went there for Dick's Father's Day meal.
After our meal we sat on the rockers for a while.
When we got up to leave Dick decided we needed to have a picture of us "off our rockers!" How crazy is he???
Now I have to go back about a week to catch up here.
Last Sunday we had Elizer for the day. Always lots of fun, of course! I walked with him slowly around the block and we ended up at the little playground behind our house. And we hung out on the porch a lot because he hates going indoors.
When we were indoors I had used the stepladder to reach the Connect Four game in the front closet. He decided to use the stepladder for his new workout routine, hahahaha!
On Monday evening I took him to Talleyrand Park. These long summer days are so glorious!! It feels like there's so much more time to do everything I want to do!
On Tuesday Austin was here. I roped him in to playing Scrabble the old fashioned way. We are a good match for each other! We didn't get to finish the game, but when we quit he was slightly ahead of me. Then we had ice cream! He used up all my sprinkles, so I gotta remember that before Christmas cookie time!
Austin is crazy about frogs if you haven't already figured that out! When we stopped at Sheetz to get him a drink that afternoon he saw a frog fidget popper at the checkout, so of course I got that for him. Then we went to a used furniture place, Centre Peace, and in the toy section he found a tiny stuffed frog and some big frog fridge magnets. He was delighted and so was I. Everything was cheap, haha!
Later in the day we went with Destiny to the pet store so she could buy crickets for her chameleon. Elizer had fallen asleep, so I stayed in the car with him and Austin went into the store with Destiny. Of course he found a frog in there too. But why buy a real frog when you can catch several of them in your own pond any time you want? He has found that they like when you rub their bellies. Who knew??
Wednesday was a HOT day! Lori was at the pool with Hunter after 5:00. I went to pick up Elizer and then Destiny came after she got off work. We stayed till close. What a perfect evening for being at the pool!! Both Hunter and Elizer hate getting their heads wet, but playing in the pool helps them to get used to it. By the end of the evening Elizer was getting REALLY comfortable, just bobbing around by himself in his floaty!
Thursday was an exciting day in Oregon at two different places. Sophie, as well as several others of her track team, had qualified for Nationals in Eugene, Oregon. They had flown from Tampa to Portland on Wednesday, stayed at Mike and Jeremy's overnight, then went to Eugene Thursday morning. It was a dream-come-true for Sophie to be at Hayward Field!
In Portland that evening there was another happy crew! Tasha graduated from high school!! She has come a LONG way in the two years since she came to their home. We are so proud of her and of Jeremy and Mike for providing the love and stability and encouragement and structure she needed to reach this goal. She'll be starting at their local tech school in the fall. By the way, how cute is Brennan in his glasses? He graduated from kindergarten last week! How he has grown up in two years!
Friday was a special evening here in State College. It was the first day of the Juneteenth celebration. Austin had an exhibit in an art show! He had to overcome a bit of discomfort, standing there by his exhibit and talking to people. Destiny overheard someone ask him, "I want to know the process your brain goes through to come up with these things." She said Austin lit up and talked freely to answer that!
His origami is truly spectacular! Click to enlarge this collage to get a better view. And there were so many more pieces at home!
We were there for the evening, looking at the other displays, listening to the little band that was providing background music, talking with people we hadn't seen in a long while. Lori was a greeter at the door. Hunter was having fun playing with his friend Junior. While we waited for the awards ceremony to begin we took Elizer for walks around the block a few times. The awards were given out in several categories. Austin was in the middle school category. He eagerly listened for the announcement of first and second prizes (bottom left picture), and my heart hurt when they called out two other entries, both drawings. He handled it with grace and I was proud of him.
Right next door was Panera, so afterward we and Destiny and Elizer got some food and ate on their porch. The weather was prefect, the food was delicious, and the downtown atmosphere was delightful.
Saturday and Sunday were big days in Eugene, Oregon. On Saturday Sophie ran the 100 meter preliminary and made it to finals (the top 9 make it to finals.) In the finals she came in 7th! Seventh in the nation and she still has another year of high school!! Woohooo!!!!
On Sunday she ran the 200 meter preliminary and came in 10th. Just missed the finals by .03 seconds!! Later I found out that two of those top nine girls did not even run in the finals. What?? But it's against the rules to replace them. Sophie said she was cold and tired, so that helped to handle the disappointment a bit. They had weather in the 60's out there, quite a change from Florida temps!
I took this pic on Saturday evening when I stopped over at Destiny and Alex's after her long day at work. Nothing like snuggles with Mamma!
And now it's Monday morning and I'm trying to wrap this up. After our meal at Cracker Barrel yesterday Dick did one of his favorite things. He hiked in Anthony's woods, checked his trail cams, and sat in his hunting shack. In the evening we stopped by Destiny and Alex's place and took Elizer with us to get a few groceries then took him back home. He was NOT ready to go indoors, so I took him for a walk and some fun at the sliding board. It was after 9 pm!!! It could seriously be June all year long if it were up to me!
Wow, it doesn't take long for almost a week to go by! And do I have SO many pictures!
On Thursday morning I drove to Hershey Gardens, about a two-hour drive, to meet my "Pennsylvania sisters" - Mary Ellen and Doris. The weather was PERFECT for strolling that beautiful place!
Beautiful roses!
Beautiful landscapes!
Lots of sister photos and lots of laughs!
Afterward Doris rode with me to go to Mary Ellen's house in East Petersburg near Lancaster. Along our way we passed Gretna Springs, the community where our dad and Mary had lived, so we turned in and drove by the house. We knew something looked different - probably the shutters. But we couldn't remember what color theirs had been. So I looked up an old photo, the one on the bottom. That house holds so many fond memories for us.
We arrived at Mary Ellen's beautiful town home, and the relaxing and the talking and eating around the table commenced! Lots and lots of it! First we snacked on veggies and dip, chips and salsa, crackers and hummus. Then we were full and had to wait till 7:30 to eat the scrumptious tacos Mary Ellen had prepared for dinner. And that yummy strawberry dessert!!!
It was very late when we finally decided to get some sleep. Unfortunately I had forgotten to pull the curtain shut in her guest room, so the bright morning sun and the garbage collector woke me up way too early!
We made "Grandpa's Breakfast" - a concoction of bacon, fried potatoes and onions, bread, milk, and eggs. We felt very pleased with the way it turned out and we ate all of it! It was a beautiful morning to eat on her patio. We sat out there for a long, long time - talking of course!
Eventually we got ourselves showered and dressed and set out for our next adventure - Lancaster City. Here are some familiar sites. The parking garage is one my children always loved because they liked when we drove down the spiral driveway. They always wanted me to park on the top level!
We spent most of our time on "Gallery Row" - art galleries all on one block. My favorite gallery was Liz Hess's. She was a good fried of our daughter Miki - actually her team leader when she went to Sweden on a missions trip in 90-91. Liz was not there on Friday, but Angie was. Angie is another American girl who married a Swedish guy. They have lived in the US and actually were in our home in 2008 when Miki and the kids were visiting for a few weeks.
We stopped in at the little cafe that Liz also owns - Pop and Perk. We got cold drinks and some popcorn. Then we walked to the Lancaster Square, going through Lancaster Market on our way. It was closing time, so no crowds as usual.
We were on our way to the Griest Building on the square. Mary Ellen's former house mate works on the 12th floor. So we went up to her office and got to look out in several directions! How about that patio on someone's roof!
And one more special building in Lancaster City - Jeremy's first house! One of those typical three-story city homes. Unfortunately the leaves obscure the beautiful bay windows. He was just 22 when he bought it for $50,000! We and his friends helped to paint and do flooring and other things, then two years later he sold it to move to Florida. He made good money on it!
Now for a very unexpected part of my weekend!! On Thursday evening I got a text message from Miki, "I HAVE JUST BECOME A GRANDMA!!" And believe it or not, it was Jess's birthday!!
On Friday when we were at the art galleries I got a call from Bjorn. I told him that I was in Lancaster! Talk about timing!! So after we left downtown Lancaster we went to Women and Babies Hospital a few miles away and I got to see this darling baby boy!! His name is Bjorn Charles and they will call him Charlie!! I love it!!! That family picture is the sweetest thing ever!!
That evening we took our sister-in-law Nancy with us to Greenfield Park. We ate on the lovely patio at Issacs. Scrumptious food and such a good time together! It was the first I have been with Nancy since my brother passed away in October.
Then we strolled around the beautiful park. It was quite overcast, so the pictures are not as beautiful as they might have been in sunny weather.
We got one picture of all four of us when Nancy set a timer on her camera.
That evening when we were sharing our pictures with each other we were CRACKING UP when I zoomed in on pictures of myself!! From a random shot of us girls like this -
You would NOT want to meet me alone in a park, hahahahaha!!
On our way to take Nancy home we started having the most incredible sunset!! When we got to her house we stood there and took so many pictures!! I narrowed mine down to three, but it was really hard to pick. I really don't think I have ever seen anything like it.
I think we all slept good that night!
On Saturday morning we ate our breakfast (baked oatmeal) at the kitchen table because it was starting to rain outside. Again we talked and talked and reminisced and looked at lots of old photos that Mary Ellen brought up from her basement.
Eventually we got ourselves showered and ready to go. Our destination was an Amish farm nearby where they make barbecued chicken meals each Saturday. They also have three greenhouses of gorgeous flowers and vegetable plants. They had a LOT of business!! We each got flowers and of course a chicken meal.
Once again back at Mary Ellen's table to eat that scrumptious chicken, baked potato, cole slaw, and buttered dinner roll. Mary Ellen had some her delicious homemade applesauce as well. I had taken a pan of my peanut butter rice krispy treats, and we all ate WAY too many of them!!
After lunch we sang around the piano for a while. Here's a short video of one of our songs.
Mary Ellen had changed into her shirt that is like mine. We had to get a picture of ourselves "twinning." And then one final picture of all three of us. These two sisters and my other three sisters are my very best friends! We six have texting conversations all the time, from sad to hilarious.
I made the two-and-a-half hour trip home before it got dark. I LOVE summer!! In fact, when I got home we took the flowers I had gotten for Destiny's front flower bed over to their place and Dick planted them I think they are Verbena. I also got a new hanging plant for myself.
I had fun with Elizer during the short time we were there.
I just love his "Oh no!"
I have so many more pictures from the past few days, but I'm going to stop here till next time!
