Cool Down

It was quite hot and very humid at the fair. When we got home, we took a wonderfully refreshing swim in the pool. Nothing beats the total cool down that is provided by the pool.

I usually just grab a noodle and float around, but Bri and the kids have a rousing time of splashing and play. Brian and I played "toss the children" for a bit. A couple of them are almost getting too big. Not sure whether we will be able to toss them quite so far next summer.

Look at that red hot, steamy sky. The end to another wonderful summer day.

Slip N' Slide

We do have a pool, but some days, the kids just love playing with one of the sprinkler things we have or the newest addition to the water fun, a Slip N' Slide.

Check out Dan's face in this picture...priceless.

Gabe takes full advantage of the whole slide and the little pool at the end.

After repeated runs down the slide, they did go into the pool, but I guess there is a special allure to running and doing a belly flop down a wet, slippery piece of plastic.

An Evening on the River

It is sometimes hard being an "older" couple with younger children. Most of our contemporaries have children in highschool, college and or even married with children. We often laugh that we are raising our "grandchildren" age wise.

Brian and I are not the type of people that spend a lot of time socializing with other couples or families. It happens occasionally, but not often. I think the main reason is that Brian has a very demanding (time wise) job and we tend to cherish any family time we get. That being said, I do enjoy very much getting together with people and we are blessed with some wonderful friends.

Recently we enjoyed a wonderful evening with Wayne and Liz. They have a beautiful home on the Hudson River and invited us for an evening of dinner and boating. We had a terrific meal on their screen porch and then went out on their boat.

Brian is a boat lover. He loves to look at boats, read about boats and work on boats.

Wayne and Brian enjoyed talking about their boats.

Our Filipino children had never been out in a boat before and they were so excited and maybe a bit nervous about it all. What a joy to cruise up the river. Their boat is a nice sized cabin cruiser and you sit up high above the water. It was a perfect evening to be out on the boat.

Wayne found a wider spot in the river and Liz dropped the anchor. She went in the water with Dan as he was a bit nervous. Swimming in the river is very different than the pool...you can't see the bottom. Even though the three older children are very good swimmers, everyone put on life jackets. It is very fun to just "hangout" in the water.

The swim platform off the back is perfect for jumping and diving. The children climbed up and jumped over and over.

Gabe and Rachel decided that jumping a bit higher would be fun and they started climbing up onto the deck and jumping off the corner. What freedom!

The older children finally took their jackets off and enjoyed riding the waves as the other boats would pass.

Thank you so much, Wayne and Liz, for opening your home and your hearts to our family. We had a tremendous time and appreciated your hospitality.

Even When it isn't Hot, We Stay Cool in the Pool

Even though our summer has been quite cool and often rainy, the children have been enjoying the pool almost daily.

What a blessing the pool continues to be for our family.

Dan has gotten quite good at swimming...well underwater anyway. He continually jumps and swims around and around. Sometimes into one of the donut floaties, sometimes just into the water.

Hannah has been learning to dive this summer....bottoms up!

Gabe and Bess love to dive through the donuts. Gabe's style is a bit, well, interesting, Bessie's are graceful and spot on.

I guess when you are a kid, (and I do remember those days) it doesn't matter whether the weather is warm or the water is warm, playing in the water is just so much fun.

Fun With Water

The weather has not been very hot yet and we have had many rainy days this past week. The children did take a swim in the pool on Memorial Day, but have not been in since.

During the brief times when it seemed warm enough for water fun, we have hooked up the hose to the sprinkler. This cools everyone down enough and provides some great fun.


Hopefully we will get some nice hot summer weather soon. Then the pool fun will begin.

Late Summer Sun

What a run of glorious late summer weather we have been having. It has been warm in the day and cool at night with beautiful blue skies and lots of sun.

The pool temperature is holding in the 70s, which is warm enough for us if the sun is warm. The kids have been swimming almost everyday.

One day last week, Brian and I joined the kids and this always means lots of "tossing the kids" fun.

Even Dan is game for a few tosses. We don't throw him very high.

Soon enough, the weather will get cooler and then the pool will get too cold and we will close it up for the season, but for now, we are thrilled that the weather has been so nice.

Creation Club-Last Installment of 2008

The kids had their last session of Creation Club for this summer. The topic this month was animals.

They did an activity where they each got a card with some fact on it and then they had to figure out which animal it went with. Some were pretty simple, but there were a few more difficult to figure out.

They made puzzle out of popsicle sticks. I really liked this idea. The sticks were taped together in a "raft". The kids drew pictures of animals on them and then you took the tape off and had to put your animal back together. I think this activity would great for any topic.

After a yummy snack, the kids went outside and played games. The one had the kids running all over. Each child was given a toy and had to find the other child that had a match...two tigers, two horses, etc. You can see that Gabe and his friend Ben were thrilled to have the same animal.

Creation Club was a great activity for out guys this summer. It only met once a month which made it very doable for us. We were so glad that the H family included us in their special summer time kids club.

Berry Picking

The other day, while visiting my mom and dad, we took a drive up to our land to see if the Black Berries were ripe. It was a beautiful day, clear blue skies, nice temps and a pleasant breeze. Perfect weather for picking and the berries were ripe!

We could see many places where the bear had been rambling around, enjoying the bounty as much as we did.

I enjoy berry picking, but I was not dressed for the bushwhacking that I also enjoy along with picking black berries. You know, the best berries are always just a bit further into the brush. I didn't realize it at the time, except for places where I had actually drawn blood, but by the time I got home, my arms and legs were crisscrossed with scratches and it looked like I had been in a fight with several cats. Ouch! Bessie also ventured further in and suffered many scratches herself. Taking a shower was an interesting experience for a few days.

I told the younger kids to stay out on the edges and they gladly obeyed.

Don't these look luscious? If we get over again in the next week or so, I think we will still find some worth picking. But this time I will wear pants and a long-sleeved shirt.

Fun in the Pool

We have been having some great days for using the pool and the memory of all the problems of earlier this summer with getting our pool fixed are fading and we are once more glad for our big blue "pond".

Here are a few shots from yesterday.

Canon Ball!

Bessie has been swimming laps. That can be quite the challenge with so many other little swimmers, but she manages to run the gauntlet of little bodies. After she is done, she relaxes with the little ducky.


The lifeguard A hug for dad!