Holiday Weekend and Friends Sept07

It was a very nice weekend. We are all sore from the fun. We started on Friday with a bike ride in one of our favorite cities, the Nations Capital. You have to try the bike trails along the Potomac, from Reagan National Airport to George Washington's home at Mt Vernon.

Sat and Sunday were boating days with the Kywildcats and the Cal Natives. My oldest daughter got up on skis for the first time. She was all smiles. I like the photo of her and I on the inner-tube. It looks like I'm telling her about an old aviator story, "And there I was..." :) For those of you who know my background, that really doesn't work, unless we are talking about subs. And there we were...


What better time is there than spending it on the water, or feasting with friends? We have been blessed with wonderful friends. We celebrated Rebecca's birthday early this year, since we are going on vacation next weekend for 2 weeks. We will be posting on vacation to keep a nice log of the memorable time with family and more great friends.


Hope you enjoy the photos.

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

Deep Question

Tonight our youngest asked, "If God is punishing me, why would He break my arm?" This prompted a very long and deep conversation. I thought I would share the question with the few that will read this in hopes that it will prompt the reader to ponder the depth and breadth of our God's Love, Wisdom, Power, Majesty...

J

Weekend Landscaping Pain

Well, it was one of those back-breaking weekends and one looks forward to returning to work on Monday to rest "physically" behind my desk and computer screen. Thanks to Kraig for the rubbermaid trailer, it has come in very handy for jobs like this.

We put in several Crape Myrtle's, decorative grasses, ground cover, and some annual flowers.

We felt jobs like this are also for quality kid/team training. Our youngest of course got to stay inside due to her healing arm, where as the older had to endure the heat and humidity. She fussed for a while and then did pretty well.

Just one note about digging in the MD clay. The shovel or pick has little affect after 3+ weeks with no rain. Tip #1, create a large hole before planting (and all God's people said "Du". As I was working the second large hole...I couldn't figure out why the shovel was bouncing. .. I'm thinking, "I know I'm hot, sweaty, thirsty, and of average intelligence, but why am I perceiving that this shovel and pick are bouncing?" Moral of the story, don't pick a spot with a buried tire. God was training dad also (Patience, Perseverance, Slow to Anger...)

J

Kids at Camp

DW and I spent some time traveling while the girls were at SB2W this year. As you can see in the photo's YD had an accident which created quite the drama. She is doing ok, but we have a follow up Dr appointment Monday.


We visited 9 States on a whirl-wind tour. I met with a prospective new employer. Not sure how that will turn out. The trip also took them by a close friend and J's sister & brother-in-law.

The girls have now returned home. Today was a day of decompression. They are tired, but miss the mach 3 pace of camp. So it has been a bit up and down today. All for now.

July 4 Fun in DC

This was our 4th time in DC watching the fireworks. We have it down to a science. It is an all day event starting by arriving at the Marina near the Pentagon at around 10am. We bring charcoal grills, chicken, steak, burgers, salads, ... the fixin's. We have tried to invite close friends to, walk, bike, sight-see and eat smores. That is always a high point.

This year we had the pleasure of being with 2 additional families. Maybe next year we can double the size of our tent/awning and attendance.