Hershey, PA

Hershey was fun and nobody got heat stroke.

Fathers Day

Happy Father's Day Dad and all you fathers!  I woke up this morning and Erin had made cinnamon rolls. Lily gave me a card that she had made and Kena made these videos for me.

Lake Erie

We went up to Presque Isle on Saturday with 6 other families from our ward.  We spent the day playing in the sand, bumping the volleyball, and avoiding Cody and his 5 gal. bucket of cold Erie water.

Princesses and a frog

It was really rainy here this spring. This little guy was hopping around in our front yard. 

Odds and Ends

Z surprised Erin today by rolling over from his front to his back and then back to front.  Erin called me all excited.  Those are the 'Firsts' that I wish I could be home to see.  Guess I will just have to take her word for it.

We have all been battling through a cold.  Z and Erin have it now while Keeks and I just got through it.

This weekend we are going up to the beach in Erie with a group from our ward to play for the day.  There are supposed to be some good beaches.  The girls are very excited, they love to play on the beach.

I cleaned out our rain gutters last Saturday.  They were stuffed full of those helicopter swirling maple seeds.  The front gutter was so packed that hundreds of maple trees had begun to grow.  The smell of the rotting seeds was horrendous.

Finally, we made arepas for our friends who ate over on Sunday.  They were good and we had a great time getting to know them better.

Add to your vocab

Keeks always comes up with the best ways to pronounce things.  The latest had Erin and I laughing for quite awhile.  The family came down to Beckley, WV with me for the day.  While we were driving, we passed an amusement park all lit up and Kena started screaming she wanted to ride the Holy Ghoster.  Our uncontrollable laughter only prompted here to yell it louder.  Holy Ghoster goes right to the top of the list followed by: torn gogs, aguymond in the sky, Daniel and the Lion King.

VA Beach

We had so much fun on our recent trip to Virginia Beach, VA.  As you will see in the pictures, we took advantage of the beach for the short amount of time we were there.  We were the first ones out on the beach playing. 

Lils became very good at timing the wave just right, as it washed up on shore, by jumping over and splashing down in the water.  Keeks had a blast inching close to the departing wave as it swept out to sea and then turning and running all the while screaming as a new wave came crashing back to the beach.  Z slept the majority of the time in his car seat which allowed us time to bump the volleyball. 

We met a family just after breakfast the first day who hung out with us on the beach.  They had two boys who loved playing with our girls.  The kids even wrote notes to our girls saying how sad they were to see them go home.  On our way out the door, the little boy gave Keeks a football. 

Wish we could have stayed longer and look forward to going back someday!  Enjoy the pictures.

Our friends brought a kite

I stood close by so the kids didn't get too crazy

Timid at first

Wanting to be buried

New pair of sand shoes

 

View from the balcony

Water was freezing, she didn't care

How does that not hurt the knees?

Run away from the wave!

Ryan and his brother played with the girls

Anything I built, the girls smashed. I gave up quickly

On the way home

Kirtland Trip

We had an awesome time this last Saturday going up to Kirtland, OH.  We drove up with the kids and Keri, who was in town.  The drive up went quickly.  We stopped first at the John Johnson home.  There was only 1 other family ahead of us on tour with the Elder's wife.  It was very peaceful and the kids were quiet for the most part.  The Johnson family played an integral part to a young and growing church.  Here are some pictures of their home.

Kirtland.

Before and After

I was going to post these awhile ago, but have been very busy as of late.

After

Did You Know

Canonsburg, PA is the birthplace of this strapping lad.

Who is that you ask???  It's Bobby Vinton of course.  Who is that you still wonder??? Go ahead and google or youtube him, that is what I did after I saw the street named after him.

Ornithology

I am very intrigued with all the different birds I have seen in the last few days. I may even start carrying my binoculars when we go out for a walk.  Okay, that is going way to far, but I did tell Erin we need to get some bird seed for them. 

The view from our kitchen is perfect for bird watching.  All of the trees in the area are also perfect for watching the birds.  This morning we saw several Orioles fighting in the air.  Last week Lily spotted a woodpecker in our Birch tree pecking away.  And on our Sunday walk we saw Bluejays and Cardinals.  Very colorful birds out here.

Didn't Grandpa Graybill have a bird book he would sketch in??  For some reason I remember seeing that as a kid in his office.

Aguymond

Babies - Do they look alike??

Little Pup

Our Turkish neighbors!