Ericka - Volleyball

Ericka has enjoyed playing volleyball the last 3 years.  It's so hard to get good shots....

The seniors

Byler's Emplyee Picnic at Fifer Orchards

This year we were able to do our annual employee picnic at Fifer Orchards near Wyoming, DE.  It was a great evening for employees and their families.  They had all kinds of fun activities which included a 6 acre corn maze, a hay ride, zip lines, pedal carts, a big slide, human hamster wheels and other fun kiddie stuff.  Here are a few pictures of the evening.

Bouncy horses

Pedal power

Renae on the zip line

Ericka and Shari Sapp did the corn maze in 21 minutes to come out on top.  They were moving!

Pouring the Cement floor at Maranatha

We are in the middle of a big building project at our church.  A few weeks ago Lyn got to help pour the concrete.  It was quite the process.  Basically, Lyn's job was to run the little cement buggy from the trucks to where they needed the cement.  They used 4 buggys and a Laser Screed and poured the entire building in 3 hours.

Cape Henlopen

We enjoyed a beach day mid September with several other families.  The water was nice & warm even if the air was a bit cool.

 

The mermaids and their sculptor

Back to school

Well, this is Ericka's last "first day of school" in high school.  It is also Dwight's first year in high school and Devan's first year in middle school.  Everyone seemed ready to go back....though they would never say so.  It was just a year ago that Renae & Devan both were "sick" and stayed home the 3rd day of school.  They have adjusted well since then.

They are standing by the old van affectionately named "the kidney bean".  At approx. 230,000 miles, we are hoping it will give us another 12,000 miles to get us through this school year.

Cherrystone Campground, VA

After several years of talking about doing this, it finally worked out for us to spend some time with friends at Cherrystone.  It is a big campground located right on the Chesapeake Bay about 3 1/2 hrs. south of Dover on the Delmarva Pennisula just north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  This is not the "roughing it" type of camping.  There is an activity to suit just about everyone including 4 fishing piers, a pond with paddleboats, 5 swimming pools with a splash zone, putt-putt, tennis courts and several playgrounds all free with your reservation.  There is also a nice place to clam at low tide and swim in the bay too if you prefer that.  Kayaks and small boats can be rented as well.  We borrowed 3 kayaks from Lyn's sister, Maryann, which got a lot of use.

Ryan and Dwight

We tried crabbing and fishing off the piers......

....but had minimal success.

On the pier

Renae & Mary

Cody, Devan & Josh

We ended up putting our 10 crab pots out away from the piers and used the kayaks to check them.  We had much better success and we took turns checking them all day long.  By night we had about 3/4 of a bushel.

Yummmm

We also enjoyed going out at low tide looking for clams.  After the first night, we got smart and took all the nets with us the next evening and netted some crabs as we looked for clams.  The water was clear and we also saw puffer fish and stingrays.

The pictures just never do justice but the sunsets over the water were spectacular.

It was a long drive and lots of packing for 3 nights and 2 days, but nice to be able hang out with 4 families from church.

Flashback

Earlier this month I was able to fly to MN to help my mom clean out and sort through her belongings.  We were working so hard I didn't even take pictures (much to my regret) except for these few.  We found my sister Joy's dresses that she had worn as a bridesmaid in my brother, Bill, and my weddings.

This was worn to Lyn & my wedding - Aug. 8, 1992

Check out that bow.

This was worn to Bill & Tammi's wedding - Oct. 1993 (I think)

Pretty impressive, Joy, that you can still fit into them. Especially when you consider that you were not quite 14 at our wedding.  The dresses look the same color in the pictures, but the first one was a teal green and the second one a teal blue.  Both dresses had the same big butt bow.  Watch out--it's been about long enough for them to be back in style.  The shoes were the kind you dyed, so they were redyed to match the second dress.

Wheww! It was pointed out that I needed to get a post in for this month.  I made it!