June days, my favorite time of the year!

 My life has gone to the pigs - and the horses!  And the sheep and the cows!

Each day when I drive Elizer to or from daycare we are always looking for animals along the way.  We go by several places where Penn State animals are kept, and it never ceases to be exciting!  I've found little side roads that we can take to get a closer look.  No one has chased me away yet, so I guess it's ok!

And now he's also interested in this purple house in State College near Dick's shop.  I remember seeing it a few years ago when the husband and wife who lived there both passed away, but I couldn't remember on which street it was.  One day last week I was cutting across some streets to go to the post office after I had dropped Elizer off at daycare and there it was!  So I took Destiny and Elizer to see it a few days later, and now he wants to see it again, haha!

We finally had a chance on Friday evening to go for a walk on the trail behind Destiny's house.  It had rained that day, so the trail was a bit yucky.

This was a mother-son stretching session on Saturday morning!  Destiny had had a very rough week with a migraine that lasted four days!  Thankfully by Saturday morning, with the help of some meds from the doctor, she was feeling much better. 

 

That afternoon they left for Lancaster for the weekend.  She took Elizer to his dad and she spent time with her mom and siblings. 

Saturday afternoon Dick and I went to downtown State College for a Juneteenth block party.  The weather was perfect and we had such a great time!  The music was awesome, and we reconnected with lots of friends from Unity Church of Jesus Christ where Lori and Anthony met back in 2002.  

Here are a couple of short clips of my favorite songs that day.

Hunter wanted to come home with us afterward, and that was fine with me!  He and I had a good time together while Dick went over to their place to mow.

He read a book to me.

He also played the piano.  I showed him the beginner book that Alaya had enjoyed a few weeks ago.  But he wasn't interested in it.  He much preferred to play what he felt, haha!

We also had fun with a bubble gun!

Meanwhile, look what Dick saw at Anthony and Lori's!  He was sitting in his truck after having finished mowing and checking his trail cams, and when he looked up, there was this beautiful deer!  

The mountain laurel was in full bloom in the woods when he was checking his trail cams. 

Sunday was Father's Day.  Here's the collage I came up with to honor Dick, a picture of him with each of our seven children.  In the middle column are our three biological children, Lisa, Anthony, and Jeremy.  Our four other children came to us as teenagers through foster care and adoption.  On the left side are Miki and Sam.  On the right side are Ray and Frank.  Of course Dick has been "dad" to many other children through the years too.  

At church on Sunday morning Pastor Jim "preached" his message through an interactive lesson with the children, demonstrating the effect, both good and bad, of what is put into a child's mind.  

Dick and I went out to brunch with friends from church.  Then we came home and did some very necessary work in our flowerbeds.  Lori gave us these plants, so we got a new planter to put them in.  

In the evening we went over to Anthony and Lori's for a delightful dinner on their screened-in porch, take out from the best Mexican restaurant in State College.  The weather was perfect, and we had the greatest time!

Most of the time our lives and theirs are so involved with work and responsibilities that even though our paths intersect we seldom have time to just sit and talk.  I cherished the chance to do that!  

Look at Lori's container garden on the deck!  

I had a great time at the pond with Austin as he tried to catch frogs.  He caught two, then released them. He was trying to catch the same big one he had caught the evening before, but no luck. 

Here's Anthony's video of that big one.  Did you know that frogs can scream??  We had no idea!

And one more video - these boys!!  

On Monday I got caught up on some things around the house and made plans for next Sunday's music at church, a rare weekday with less responsibility.  Destiny and Elizer came back home that night, but I didn't see them till I picked up Elizer early Tuesday morning.  He had gotten a summer haircut!  This picture was taken by the daycare teacher on the bus ride to the park on Tuesday.  

After I picked him up from daycare we stopped at airport park so he could practice riding his bicycle again.  Dick stopped in too on his way home from work.  Then we came home and Dick grilled some hamburgers on the grill he recently got from Anthony and Lori.  (They are totally charcoal people now.  Anthony makes his own charcoal.)  We ate on the side porch for the first time this season.    

This morning I saw this outside my kitchen window!

I went over to Destiny's to get Elizer and when we got here he wanted to sit on the porch before we went inside.  

We had fun watching this Eastern Bluebird going in and out of the bird house.  

Later I took him to daycare and now I'm trying to cross things off my never-ending list.  Soon I can cross off "Blog."  That's all for this time!