Sliding into Summer

Evan had a week of Skybacher's Basketball Camp to kick off the summer. If you look really closely, you can pick Evan out on the court (look for the curly hair!) Below are the three amigos....Zach, Joseph and Evan....good friends!
Yesterday was our church's Family Fishing Event....a couple from our church graciously opens up their lake once a year and lets us come and fish and picnic. This is our third year and we always enjoy it.
Ann-Marie just likes playing with the worms...what is it with my family and worms????

Darrell did most of the fishing with the kids...I don't enjoy fishing as much. He had a good time and even caught himself a Father's Day present (although all the fish are catch and release).

I'm going to take this opportunity to thank my husband for being a wonderful husband and father. Darrell is selfless, loving and giving and our family would not function and thrive the way it does without him. I love you and appreciate you, Darrell!

On another note....next adventure - Iowa! We'll be heading there on Monday...I'll try to post updates on the road.

Finishing Well

We did it! We finished our first year homeschooling with PACyber. This post is labeled "finishing well" because, quite frankly, we all experienced a bit of burn out in late May/early June. I thought February would be hard to school through, but that was a breeze compared to the Spring fever I caught! We persevered and I couldn't be more proud of my kids. To celebrate, we invited another family to come with us to SportsWorks in Pittsburgh. What a fun day!

On another note, we are trying to "finish well" the myriad of home projects that have popped up in the last couple of weeks. There are just not enough hours in the day! A dead bush (which is now a big hole in the front yard), stripped and not-yet repainted garage doors, and a basement office that had some water leakage due to the torrential rains we've had complete a list of never-ending projects. We figured that the home office was one of those projects we would get to eventually.....but since we had to empty it, dry it out and clean the carpet, we might as well complete the project now. We had some left-over paint from last summer's painting projects....a light shade of blue that Darrell took to Home Depot to tint what we hoped to turn out an Air Force Blue.....instead we have more of an tropical island blue, but we like it. Ann-Marie decided she was going to get in on the painting and she did quite well.

Pap will be proud.....a little painter apprentice to follow in his footsteps!

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Not many pictures from this weekend, but lots of wonderful memories. I sat back and enjoyed the time with our family and PA friends, so the camera was left behind. Here's a recap:
Friday, we headed to Idlewilde for a PACyber field trip. It was hot, so we rode some rides and then spent the majority of the time in the water park, until 4:00 p.m. when the thunderstorm came through and closed the park down. Alec rode his first adult-sized water slide. Good times!

We stayed overnight with Toni (Darrell's oldest sister) and family...this overlapped with Micheal's last day of high school, so we met several of his friends as they were having a sleepover in the basement. On Saturday, we left for home, but Ann-Marie stayed and spent some quality time with her Aunt Toni.

Sunday brought the annual family gathering at Karen's house and we had wonderful weather for enjoying her swimming pool. It was nice to see everyone there, as several of our nieces and nephews are now college students with busy schedules. Ann-Marie got to show off her new plants (compliments of Aunt Toni) to include a tomato plant named Juliette. I'm hoping to keep Juliette alive this summer!

Monday, we met a group of our close friends in Beaver to watch the Memorial Day parade. We then all gathered at one of their houses for a cookout and stayed for the majority of the afternoon. Adults and children had a great time.

This weekend we were blessed with a wonderful combination of family time, activities, time with friends, and great weather. We hope that you enjoyed an excellent start to your summer also!

Moraine State Park - Spring 2010

Our favorite activity on a sunny, Sunday afternoon in the Spring is to head to Moraine State Park and hang out. This year, with two of our three children being proficient bike riders, we decided to add a twist to things and declare a bike ride day on the paved trails. The problem....too many bikes and not enough room....the solution: a creative husband who took the bike rack that fit the car and made it fit the minivan. Marvelous! There were two bikes on the outside, two on the inside plus one bike trailer, a portable grill and food enough for dinner. Impressive!
The kids ended up riding for about 7 miles.....above, we are taking a break at the halfway point. They're still smiling!

We ended the day playing on the beach (no swimming yet, as signs were posted - but it was warm enough!) and grilling out. A stop in Ellwood City for an ice cream cone at our favorite ice cream shop (Berry's - cheap and good!) and we rounded out a very fun day.

Carnival

The homeschool coop that my children have been involved with during this school year put together a carnival, which was Friday night. The kids spent part of the year planning it, and the proceeds were given to one of our families to help them with the cost of adopting a child from China. Everything at the carnival was donated or lent or homemade, and it came together quite nicely. All who attended had a great time!

I love being part of a community that comes together and actively supports one another! I also love that my kids are learning what it means to be a part of a community and what it looks like when you give back to that community. We had such a good time and learned some valuable life lessons through this experience.

Living Treasures Animal Park

We are certainly enjoying our field trips - they have really helped with our "spring fever". We visited Living Treasures Animal Park on Tuesday. It was cold and rainy, but we still enjoyed this small animal park. We were rewarded with a guided tour by a man who bottle-raised many of the animals at the park (lions, wolves, and leopards included!) He was very interesting and we learned a lot about the animals at the park. What a great experience!
Some of the reptiles he brought out for a closer look.

Alec was able to hold a baby turtle (above) and the peacock was gracious enough (or mad enough) to show us his feathers.


Yes, they really are that crazy!
Ann-Marie and Alec fell in love with the foal!

Raccoon Creek State Park

On Friday, we went on a field trip to Raccoon State Park, hosted by PACyber. We went on a guided wildflower hike, led by a park ranger who has a specialty in botany. The kids really enjoyed it, even Alec who pointed out that we have small Bluets in our backyard. Ann-Marie took her sketch pad and sketched some interesting plants and insects (above, they are looking at a caterpillar that is curled up.)

As a bonus, we met up with another family we knew and hung out with them after the field trip. What a nice way to end our week!