Day 212: The Tracks

This train track runs straight through my grandparent's property and Daniel kept begging me this morning to go see them. Glad I grabbed my camera. I'm loving these pictures! Now I need to get some with Micah.

Later morning, Chris, Annie, and Joshua arrived and then this afternoon my parents and James, Amy, Adie, Gabe and Oliver got here too! Sadly Steve and Jenn's family may not make it out this year due to sick kiddos. I'm still holding out hope!

It's also my 4th anniversary! Happy anniversary honey! I love you!

Day 211: Grinders

Thankfully, it wasn't quite as cold today as yesterday. Jackets only needed to be worn earlier in the morning. And Davey never needed one. It actually turned out to be a really nice day with just a little rain in the evening. For lunch we went to Grinders, a favorite place of our out here. I wish we had something like it back home. 

Micah and Elijah were cleaning the cabin porch.

 Grandma and Micah taking a walk. So sweet.

Out to Lunch!

We stopped at a train car that is displayed in town. We didn't stay long (and could only see the outside of it) but the boys still liked it.

Day 210: Geocaching and Fish Food

Joanna and Tim took us geocaching with them today! I had not heard of this until Sunday at which point I still didn't understand what it is. Basically, it's a nation wide "treasure" hunt. The fun is in finding the geocaching site and filling the log to show you've been there. Many of the sites have a little "treasure box" that you can take something from it if you leave something for the next person. The place we found today was in an old abandoned 1800's cemetery on a country back road in the woods.

The treasure was in a rather wet plastic baggie. We (Joanna) left a geocaching coin in exchange for some silly bands that the kids loved.

Then this evening my cousin Sarah and her 3 boys (aka The Ohio Boys as Charlie calls them) and Uncle Kenny and Aunt Val came down to get the camper set up by the pond for this weekend. While they were setting up all the kids went with grandpa to the dock to feed the fish in hopes of seeing some catfish.

 Mikie was making too much noise for the fish to come up so we took a little walk away while the rest baited them with food.

Grandpa let the kids throw the food in which was probably as exciting if not more than actually seeing the big fish.

Daniel (and Micah) are having such a fun time. Daniel has a really difficult time when we tell him it's time to come inside. He would probably sleep out there if we let him. It was also pretty chilly here today. If I had realized how cool it would be we probably would have packed more than one warm outfit for the boys.  So chilly that even Davey wore a sweatshirt this morning and that is completely unheard of!

Day 209: Ohio Bound

First stop, Mom-mom's! Daniel is still not sure about dogs but really wanted to play with Sandy as long as she wasn't too hyper. Micah just loves her!

Then we were off to Ohio! The trip took about 7.5 hours with stops and a little bit of traffic. The boys did so well the entire way. Only getting a little antsy now and then. Usually gold fish solved that problem if we weren't stopping any time soon.

We decided to put Daniel in a diaper for the trip so we didn't have to stop as often as I know we will next year. He had a really hard concept with being allowed to go in his diaper. (I guess the whole potty training thing has really worked!) The first time he asked to use the bathroom we told him he was allowed to go in his diaper and he was not having it so we pulled to the side of the turn pike and let him go. Each time after that he would ask politely if he could go potty in his diaper. (So cute!)

We made it! The boys (and us!) were SO excited to be done with the car. It was even more exciting for them when they saw Charlie and Eli.

Yay for lots of room to run!

Day 208: Let Vacation Begin!

This morning I had the privilege of hearing my husband preach at church. (Here's the video). After church we headed out to PA on the 1st part of our vacation. We got the boys to wait for lunch before falling asleep. When Daniel was done eating he seemed to get a sort of 2nd wind until Davey told him he could take a nap. Then he was out in about 6 minutes. 

As soon as we got to Davey's parents Daniel went straight to the pool ready to swim!

We're just here for the night  and then tomorrow late morning we are off to Ohio! Here's hoping the boys travel as well for a 6 hour drive as they are for a 3.5 hour trip.

Day 207: Packing Day

Today was packing day for vacation. As soon as church is over tomorrow, we are headed to PA for the night and then to Ohio for the rest of the week. Yay for vacation!

The boys "helping" daddy clean out the van.

Micah found Davey's check list and double checked it for him.

Day 206: Morning Walk

After stepping outside to wave goodbye to daddy this morning we were amazed at how beautiful the weather was. I couldn't resist taking the boys on a morning walk to the boardwalk.

While were there we ran in to this lovely lady! She is a good friend and mentor from my youth who recently moved to North Carolina. It was so nice seeing her and getting to catch up at least for the few minutes my boys would "cooperate." They were sort of running rampant up and down the pier while we talked. I'm pretty sure they were concerning a group of people who were also on the boardwalk. We were trying for selfies (which was successful with Mrs. L's phone but not my camera). A random guy, who almost let his dog be in our picture, offered to take it for us. Daniels is very unsure of dogs and he didn't quite get that. Thankfully he got the hint and kept the very friendly dog out of our picture.

(As a side note, I love dogs! And were I home full time during the year, we'd probably have one. I just don't like when strangers decide that their dog is nice enough to let them walk right up to you to sniff and lick with no invitation. Especially when my kids are unsure of them.)

Day 205: Cousins Over!

Today I had the pleasure of watching my niece Allie and nephew Josiah. Sadly Allie and Micah weren't feeling 100% today (they're both fighting colds or something)  but we still managed to have a good time.

They pretty much fought over this car the entire time but I love this picture.

Post nap sleepy girl watching some Bubble Guppies and waiting for mommy to come.

Day 204: Couldn't Resist

It was too hot today to stand to the side and watch them play in the water. I had to get in too. It felt really good. Of course, a pool would have been nice but this certainly worked! The boys thought it was pretty fun that mommy got wet with them.

Day 203: Water Fun with Friends

This afternoon the boys and I met some friends at the sprayground in Lexington Park (about 40 minutes from home). It's a neat little playground filled with sprinklers and water fountains for lots of safe water fun. We had a good time though by the end my boys were pretty tired and ready for dinner.

 I would love to have one of these closer to home! Such a fun alternative to the sprinkler on our deck..

Day 202: Doctor Daniel and Nurse Micah

I got a check up by a pretty cute doctor today. His nurse wasn't that helpful but he was cute too.

Day 201: Sleepy Day

The only thing I wanted to do today was take a nap but this kid had a different plan. He slept during church so decided he didn't need his regular nap. I have to admit I wasn't a very happy mommy. And daddy was working on a sermon for next week so it was me and the little stinker. He is cute though!

We were all kind of sleepy this evening (with no naps for Mikie and I and all) so it's chill time with the boys and Bubble Guppies on DVD.

Day 200: Open House

We had our open house/house warming party today. It was a lot of fun and we proved that we can fit a lot of people spaciously in our humble home. It was such a blessing to share this celebration with friends and family. We have been encouraged by each of those who were able to come as well as many who couldn't make it. We were surrounded by so much love and support as we searched for this house. We never could have imagined affording a place this nice in this area. I believe that was through prayers and God's grace that we were able to find a place that can and already has been used for ministry. What a blessing! We certainly don't deserve it but we hope to be good stewards of what our Lord has given us.

Sadly I didn't get very many pictures because every time I picked up my camera I got distracted. Here are the few I did get.

Cindy and Me

Niecy looks very deep in thought. Guess I should have told her I was taking a picture :)

JT and Mikie. Such cuties!

Found this cutie half way up the steps.

Marie, Uncle Greg, Aunt Donna, and Gayle came all the way from PA. (So did Dave, Abby, and Mommom but they had to leave early and I didn't get any pictures of them)

I'm only posting this one because I think my hair looks pretty (vain, I know.) and Mikie was patting me on the back. He was getting a little sleepy after a long day of entertaining visitors.

Also, I just realized we announced last week that we are expecting a 3rd baby in February 2015 and I hadn't shared that on here. We are very excited! This has already been a year full of blessings for us and it is only half over. This was our announcement photo.