College bound

Less showers, less loads of laundry, less dishwasher loads, less milk and food in general, and a lot less activity coming and going.  While there are parts of this that are nice, we are all looking forward to Darryn & Ericka coming home for a long weekend soon.  It is neat to see the younger kids excited about seeing their older siblings.

They are both at Rosedale Bible College this year which is located at a crossroad in rural Ohio just west of Columbus. It sounds like they are learning to know people and seem to be enjoying it!

It's nice they like each other most of the time!

At work

Making hay

This is how Devan helps with hay.

Crabbing

Lyn was able to go crabbing several times in late August and September with the kids & I and several other extended family members.  The crabs were nice and big and we usually came home with close to a bushel.  The kids love to go and love to eat them too!

Crabbing in the Wye River

Crabs have to be 5 1/4 in. from tip to tip across the shell to keep.  The biggest one was 9 in. and the runner up 8 1/2 in!  Biggest crabs we have ever seen.

Back to school, part 2

Off to another year at GMS....

Devan, 6th

Dwight, 10th

Renae, 8th

Back to school, part 1

Darryn left last week for a 3 week adventure called Akwachink.  He is planning to attend Rosedale Bible College this year and this is something the college offers before the first semester.  We are not exactly sure what all he will be doing, but it is a leadership/survival/emergency training type of thing where they take canoes out into the wilderness.  We are not sure how many days of the 3 weeks they are actually in the bush.  They may have some training/class time before and after since it counts for 3 college credits.  They are in the Sudbury, Ontario, area.  It's kinda hard for us to have him leave home and then not be able to talk to him (or at least text) for 3 weeks!

On another note, we are proud of how Darryn did in his studies the past 2 years at Del Tech.  He decided that paying $25 for his diploma was enough and that he would not bother buying a cap and gown.  Also, he was at the top of his class in his department!  The plan was to take a picture of him holding his diploma and his award, but we never thought of it at a time when he thought he was dressed appropriately.  So here is at least a picture of his award to prove it.  Way to go, Darryn!

Our summer.....

Well, once again it is time for school to start and summer has gone by in a blur.  I have very few pictures to show for it too. The older the kids get, the more they dislike Mom's camera so I don't remember to get it out like I should.

Here are some highlights from July & August....

- In July, we all went to Hartville, Ohio, to our church conference.
- Darryn was gone for about 10 days to Alaska visiting his cousin, Kayla.
- In August, the other 4 kids were away to a camp with our church youth.
- With Darryn in Alaska and the rest at camp, Lyn & I had 4 days at home with no kids here!
- We took 3 days (in a row) to do some day trips for a little vacation this year with a few pics to prove it.

The first day we went to Chincoteague Island.  Dwight & Devan had been camping with friends for a few days down in the southern tip of the penisula.  Driving to Chincoteague was about 2/3 of the way there so it was a good place to meet the boys.  We had lunch at a "hippie" lunch stand.  The kids thought the hammocks in the trees were pretty cool.

We did spend about an hour sitting on the beautiful beach before we met up with the boys.

And then for the evening we went to a dirt racetrack which is near the southern DE line.  Some friends met us there so that made it more fun even if it was a bit too loud to talk the whole time.

The second day we drove about 2 hrs. to the west side of D.C.  Someone told us about Great Falls National Park which we had never heard of.  It is only about 10 min. off the D.C. beltway and the Potomac River runs through it.  There is a "waterfall" area and some nice hiking trials.  We would like to go back again sometime and hike the other side of the river which has a separate park entrance.

We had some extra time so we stopped in at the Smithsonian National Zoo on the way home.  I got pictures of the 2 most interesting things we saw.

A mouse-deer type of critter

A lion king that stood up and gave us a couple of loud roars

By the end of the day, the kids were getting silly and were having fun running around and posing by the animal statues.

On the third day everyone was ready to sleep in and we had laundry to catch up on.  In the afternoon we headed for the Cowtown Rodeo in New Jersey which is just over a hour drive.  On the way, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for supper.  Someone had given us gift cards.  That turned out to be a bad experience.  It took them forever to wait on us.  Finally half of us got food and it was lukewarm.  They were mostly done eating before the others got their food.  We had gotten in traffic earlier and then with the slowness at the restaurant, we were running late and afraid there wouldn't be any seats left at the rodeo.  We took the last meals mostly to go and thankfully found some seats.  Once we were seated about 7:10, we realized the rodeo started at 7:30, not 7:00, and we could have breathed a little easier.  On the plus side, Cracker Barrel did cut our bill in half!

I know I took my camera to the rodeo.  I guess it must have stayed in my bag because there is not one picture from it!  Aaagh!!!

The next day was Darryn's last Sunday here at home so he and Ericka invited a group of friends over to play volleyball, swim and eat.  The rest of us hung out down at the pond with them.  It wasn't really the same as getting away for vacation, but it was ok for this year.  And we got to check out some "new" things for us not too far away from home.

Visit from the Freeds

It was very nice to have my sister, Joy, here along with her husband, Shaun, and 3 kids, Elena, Greta, & Landis.  Their children have never been to our house in the summer time.  For those of you who are family, you already saw a bunch of Joy's pics of their time here.  I have a few more beach pictures and some from our house down at the pond.  These are for you, Joy.

 Elena is actually standing up in a very deep hole that was filled in around her.

The finished sand fort, mostly built by these girls.  Dwight & Devan are building a moat around the front to protect it from the incoming waves.

A picture to prove that all my kids were there.

They all had off on the same day without planning it!

We had a lot of fun just hanging out at our place and it was a hot weekend so the pond felt nice.  Actually, it was so hot we were trying to find the cold spots in the water!

 The zip line has had fishing lures (and tangled line) stuck on it since last summer.  Lyn, Shaun & Dwight got them cleaned off and the kids had fun just using the zip line from the low end and swinging out over the water.

Ready.....

 ....hang onto knot and start running....

Wheee.....sail out over water and let go.

(Sorry, Elena, my picture of you doing this didn't turn out.)

Of course, Renae thought that Dexter had to join in the fun!

And this last picture is to prove that Joy was actually here too!

I don't know why we didn't take a picture of Joy's whole family together!  And I only had 1 picture taken in the house....the one Joy put on her blog with the girls on the couch!  Oh, well.....  Thanks for coming!  We really enjoyed having you here.