Fall activities

 While it is not officially Fall, when school starts kicks in a new year with new schedules and activities.  It is tradition for us to kick off school with a trip to a local doughnut shop......

 Alec is now in first grade....

 Evan is a 6th grader.....

 and Ann-Marie is in 4th grade.

 We are not always great at doing art, but all three kids enjoyed making "stained glass" windows while beginning to study the Middle Ages.

 We love it when service opportunities come our way and our family has a fondness for a local nursing home.  We went with other homeschool students this week to paint chairs at the nursing home.  The chairs were auctioned off with the proceeds going to the Alzheimer's Association.

 So our busy fall schedule includes middle school travel soccer team, soccer for Alec, gymnastics for Ann-Marie,  Mom teaching preschool twice a week as well as preschool gymnastics at Ann-Marie's gym, youth group, AWANA,  and Plants and Pillars Coop.

What we did not schedule for, however, was a bad case of strep for Alec.  First illness of the season means Fall is truly underway.

snapshots of Iowa

 Here are a few snapshots from our trip to Iowa.  Thank you to all that came to see us and that we were able to spend time with.  A week is never enough and we treasure the time with family and friends!

Cousins......Tyler - college bound!

Riding with Grandpa is always memorable.

Cousins "taming" new kittens.

My sister's children and mine (Carla's)

More cousins....Janelle's kids and Alec

Newest cousin - Shane.

Showing her country and city side!

Exploring the Effigy Mounds visitor center.

At Effigy Mounds

The view over the Mississippi

A precious picnic with Great-Grandpa and Great- Grandma and Great -Aunt Pat

At Volga Lake

My Grandparents with my kids

My Aunt Pat with my kids

And Great-Uncle Kent gives golf cart rides

Kids in Grandpa's new "toy"

Fishing with Grandpa

The new landscape of Northeast Iowa - wind turbines

Until next visit....saying good-bye is never easy.

Raccoon State Park

 We spent Sunday as a family and visited Raccoon State Park for canoeing, kayaking, and swimming.  When the weather cools down, we'll get back to hiking, but this was more appropriate for the end of July.  We highly recommend the canoe and kayak rentals....$8 per canoe/kayak for one hour, after an hour half price.  PA state law states that you cannot have over four people in a canoe, so we rented one canoe and one two-person kayak for us.  Talk to Larry.....he'll help you out!

 And yes, I had to post this picture.  Ann-Marie needed new t-shirts and socks....so this is current "Ann-Marie" style.  And yes, we did let her go to church like this!

1 Samuel 16:7

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Where has July gone?

 It is July 23rd and it is hard to believe another summer month is almost gone.  Our family blog has been pretty quiet, as we have been busy.  The 4th of July brought the Midland parade (in about 100 degree weather) and a get together with friends....

 Look Grandpa Shippy - there are Farmalls in Pennsylvania parades!

 We enjoyed Kennywood with New York Life Company......Alec still wanted to ride some rides in Kiddyland, but he also enjoyed some bigger rides.

 Who doesn't love getting wet at the bottom of the Pittsburgh Plunge?

The rest of July was filled with planning VBS at our church, which was last week.  In the midst of the wonderful craziness, Darrell and I were able to spend some time together (compliments of some dear friends).  Above is one of our favorite summer lunch meals.....very Mediterranean.  We pray that you are enjoying your summer!

Settlers Cabin Park Hike

 Last Thursday, Darrell and I took one last opportunity for a couple hike (as the kids were still at summer camp) and decided to conquer Settlers Cabin Park trail hike.  The hiking trail is very well marked - we followed the blue to the green and back to the blue again.  If you stick just to the blue trail, it is very family-friendly.  The green trail gets a bit tricky and I wouldn't take young children on it.  The hike is short, but the park itself has a lot of great things to do with kids.  There was one handicapped-accessible new playground with plenty of baby swings, as well as a larger playground still being built.  We also discovered that there is a wave pool, although we did not bring our swimsuits to enjoy it.  For the hike - bring bugspray...it is very wooded and damp, so the bugs abound!