Cast Off the Old

Ashley is free, free at last! Our youngest is now returning to the normal chaos of her youth. Pray please. :) We let her ride her bike for the first time in 7 weeks last night. She is slowly relearning full range of motion. For background, Ashley broke her arm on a trampoline at Church camp. Oh by the way... G and I were 12 hours away when we got, "the call" That was a pretty emotional time, "Peace like a river" was rapidly fading away. Rapids... get it?

When she got her cast off she was a bit nervous about re-injuring it. But now that she has more range of motion in her elbow and feeling is returning to her pinky, things are looking up.

Enjoy the pics.

J and G.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, let's see if I can post something here. (This is Joe's job, but since he's in class all week I think I'll try my hand at Posting a new Blog)

As most of you saw on KY Transplants blog I celebrated my birthday on Sunday. I told my family that I wanted to do something different this year. I wanted to have a nice dinner at home that I was going to make. After pouring over my cookbooks I decided to make a big Chinese dinner. After I announced my theme my OD and YD got going on the decorations for the day. DH took them to town on Sat. to get all the supplies. Since Chinese New Year's is not in Aug. they had to be very creative in their shopping. Since they couldn't find any Chinese lanterns, they ended up buying little colorful take-out boxes from Michaels and strung them up around the house. Very Creative! They kicked me out of the house while they were putting up all the decorations, they all did a Fabulous job. Thanks Family!

I started my feast on Saturday and continued on into Sunday. I was so excited I couldn't wait. I made BBQ Pork, Teriyaki Chicken, Chicken and Snow Peas, Almond Chicken, Fried Rice, Steamed Rice and of course Lumpia. (and I can't forget YumYum sauce from Asahi) Melody came over in the afternoon to help with the chopping and stir-frying and we were glad to sit down and enjoy it after all our hard work.

I really enjoyed my day with my family and friends.

Berry Pick-n

Our family enjoys picking fresh berries. In the spring we go to a farm outside Waldorf called Schlagel Farms for incredible Strawberries, In late summer we enjoy picking Black Berries at Butlers Farm near Germantown. I had not seen Blackberries from vines without sharp thorns. This place has thornless vines! It took a few mins to drop my guard before picking the biggest, sweetest berries I have ever seen. The girls seemed to have a good time also. Stop buy anytime for some pie, but you have to bring the ice cream.

Summer on the Water

The heat broke this weekend, so we took the boat for a spin. The water off the Potomac was a solid 82 degrees. Sweet! and no jelly fish. Stinking jelly fish I should say.

J has great childhood memories of being at his Grandparents cottage on the lake. We thought we would post some recent pictures of the Shindigs enjoying a hot summer day with the boat. The oldest is just learning to ski, but for pure fun we all still enjoy the inner-tube. There is a contest to see who can stay on the longest. KY Wildcat does really well, but has shaky arms/hands after a few spins around the bay. It's a blast for all to watch the rider struggle to stay on the tube. B's friend recently joined in and they were feeling the thrill of victory, hence the arm pumping photo's.

Let this be an open invite for anyone who thinks they can remain on the inner-tube. Feel like being a human skipping rock? Just let me know, we always enjoy the water better with friends.

J/G

Bike Ride with the Sunday School Bunch

We pushed passed the 96 degrees (accuweather real-feel 102) to stay with the planned Sunday School bike riding event on the base today. This sign that J is leaning on says, "Watch for ice on bridge," Unfortunately the sign was cut off in the photo. The only ice around was in the coolers.

The base has a very nice road that basically hugs the water line, and on a Sat it is not busy. We stayed to this road and finished at the pavilion and play ground where G was prepared with snacks and more water. Our class averages around 20-25 4th and 5th grade boys and girls every week. G and I are sad to see the new 6th graders leaving. They exhibit a real maturity and have been a blast to work with. I think we have all learned a lot this year.

J