Final week of July

I can't believe it's the end of July already.  I was remarking to one of my kids that in my previous life (as in, before we had quite as many kids), I used to know what I was getting everyone for Christmas in August (and was usually done shopping before Thanksgiving).  Crazy!

Anyway, this past week was rather nice...minimal appointments, lots of time at the pool.  This week we have Backyard Kids Club (otherwise known as Vacation Bible School).  Because of that, I'm not sure if we'll get to the pool as often...especially since it stormed last night so I'm sure the water just got a lot colder!  :-)

Today's agenda?  Laundry...lots of laundry.  The kids are actually still sleeping (it's 7:00 a.m. here).  It's very rare for them to sleep this long, so I'm taking advantage of it by not doing anything.  :-)  Well, I am blogging...and I finished my first cup of coffee and want to get a second one.

I have been trying to drink more water.  Last week it took me a week to empty my water bottle.  Last night I drank an entire one...but I was sitting on a park bench while the kids were at VBS...so I guess if I want to drink more water I should just hang out with my friends!

I think I do hear a bit of stirring around....have a lovely week, y'all!

Summer Time

We have reached the half way point through summer vacation.  The changes are subtle, but gradually the days are shortening.  It will soon be time to make sure the kids have the proper clothing for school.  And for the first time...all of my kids will be in school.  I'm not sure what I think about transitioning to this next stage in my life...the stage of no preschoolers.  Well, because our kindergarten is a 3 day one week/2 days the next (all day), I'll still have Micah with me part of the time.  So many possibilities...but I'm pretty sure that cooking, cleaning, and laundry will still dominate my life.  :-)

While frequently we have the a/c on to combat the heat and humidity, tonight the windows are open, the breeze is blowing.  I can see the day coming to the end through the windows.

We've been enjoying our summer.  Since we've come back from vacation (that's right, I never did blog about the truck rally), we've enjoyed going to the pool as we are able.  Zach got his tonsils out (as I probably previously mentioned).  We have a week where we were pretty much home bound, but we are now all back to normal.  The wax beans are coming along nicely and every other day or so we are picking/blanching/freezing beans.  I tried a new pickle recipe this year and made sweet pickle sticks.

The cat that hangs out at our house (we have no idea where she came from) had 5 kittens while we were on vacation (let me know if you want one).  They are so much fun to watch as they play...

Mark is taking a break from therapy for the summer.  He and Zach have been going to tutoring once a week.  We have started working with a new therapist team to help us with some issues.  Josiah continues to work and play softball with our church team.  Autumn is continuing her violin lessons.  Janae spent a week at summer camp.  Micah does not currently have any regularly scheduled events...other than playing Legos regularly.  :-)

Earlier this week I enjoyed spending a morning with 2 friends from out of town.  After a lovely breakfast, we went to a local consignment store.  I was pleased to find that the kids books were on sale for $0.25 each.  I love books!  We then stopped at a coffee shop before returning to our respective kids.

After a very busy June, I'm enjoying a more relaxed July schedule.

2015 Road Trip....the end...

We started Thursday morning by celebrating Zach's birthday.

Then we headed for Pennsylvania.

We arrived at Spruce Lake Retreat where we spent the weekend camping with our church family.  (Yes, it rained while we were there.)

I neglected to take any other photos while we were there...Randy & Autumn rode the zip line and I wish I had taken my camera with me to document that.

We had a wonderful trip...two girls from church housesat for us to care for our animals and that was such a blessing...

2015 Road Trip - Day 12

Wednesday we continued to meander down the coast of Maine.  We wanted to be close to the southern border of Maine as we were planning on driving straight through to Pennsylvania on Thursday.

Before leaving Camden Hills S.P., we drove up the Mount Beatty Auto Road for the fabulous views of the area.

and across the road to the lower section on the coast part of the state park.

Then we continued our way to southern Maine.

We stopped at the Portland Headlight (Cape Elizabeth).  There were a lot more tourists there than the other times I had been there...I guess being a week later in June made the difference?  Or perhaps it was the lovely day!

We then proceeded to our next campsite at York Beach Camping Park...a small campground nestled into the town of York within walking distance of the beach.  We walked what we thought was a short distance to the Nubble Light...but by the time we got there we knew it was farther than we expected...so Randy & Josiah hiked back, got the van, and took us back home.

While they did that, we enjoyed the views of the lighthouse...which is billed as the most photographed lighthouse in the US.

In the evening, we drove up Mount Agamenticus (Maine).

From here we could see the Presidential Mountain Range (New Hampshire) in the distance...although that doesn't show up so well in the photos.

2015 Road Trip - Day 11

Tuesday we started working our way down the Maine coast...in the rain again...

View from a random overlook...the sea is in the distance.

Penobscot Bay Bridge and Observatory.

We had stopped here 3 years ago but just drove over it this year.

Campsite - Camden Hills State Park

2015 Road Trip - Day 10

Monday morning we packed up (no rain!) and headed south east.  Destination:  Cobscook Bay State Park, Maine.

We stopped at Reversing Falls in St. John, New Brunswick.

Tide was in so the water was high and swirling...and flowing up stream.

Getting here was interesting.  This was a case when our GPS took us to the wrong spot.  A lady stopped and asked if we were lost.  She then told us to follow her.  When we got there, she stayed and talked to us about the Reversing Falls.  Turns out she was a tour guide!

After we left Reversing Falls, we headed for the border.  En route we had our trip's scariest moment.  Shortly after we passed the St. George exit, Randy yelled.  I looked up to see another vehicle coming directly towards us.  She had lost control in the other lane, went through the median rolling/flipping, and landed in our lane.  Randy pulled over and called for help.  So we were all rather shaken up...and sat there waiting and praying while we waited for the emergency services to come.

I looked up the accident since we were home and found that the driver died but that the passenger survived with minor injuries.

Very scary and sobering...a spring from the car hit the front of our camper so we will always have a reminder of this incident as long as we own this camper...

We then proceeded through the border.  We did not find a place to stop for lunch, so we ate late when we got to our campsite.

This site had a picnic shelter on it.  It was a beautiful site...but I neglected to realize that it did not have water or electric.  But we stayed anyway (we had water in our tank).  It was lovely.

Here again the tides changed drastically.  When we got there we were on a beautiful inlet...which became a field of mud at low tide.

In the evening we went to Lubec, ME...to West Quoddy Head Light...the easternmost point in the US.

2015 Road Trip - Days 8 & 9

Saturday morning we packed up (yes, it rained as we left the island) and headed back to New Brunswick.  This time our destination was the Fundy Bay National Park.  We stayed at this campground 2 nights as well...and this was one of my favorite places.  I was quite fascinated by immense differences between high tide and low tide.

We went to The Rocks Provincial Park, NB.  We were there at low tide so we walked on the ocean floor...places where at high tide had 35 feet of water!

Because of the great tidal changes, the water is very muddy...all the time.

The mud flats totally fascinated me...in fact, they remind me of the topography of Pennsylvania.

Then we went to Fundy National Park (Chignecto Campground) and set up camp.

The next day we went back to The Rocks Provincial Park (also known as Hopewell Rocks).  The mud flats were now a large bay.

And where we had walked was under water...

On our way back to Fundy National Park we stopped at this covered bridge.

And the Cape Enrage Lighthouse.

Next we went to Wolfe Point in Fundy National Park.

An overlook at Fundy...overlooking the Fundy Bay.

In the evening, we went hiking at a water fall, went to the coast at Alma, and got an ice cream treat at the general store.