Camping 2025 - Girls

Well, we did it again. After camping for the first time last year with the grandkids and knowing that they liked it we decided to go for round two, however we made some changes. Instead of going a couple of days with some of the kids and then a few weeks later, taking other grandkids for a few days, we decided that Steve and I would stay the entire week. We brought one group in the beginning of the week and another the end of the week so we only had to pack up and tear down once. We also switched it to an all girls camp and then an all boys camp.

We went to the same campground, Country Acres in Gordonville, where are friends, Randy & Diane Lapp live and we borrowed Josh & Julissa's camper again. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and Josh came and helped us set everything up. After we were settled in, Steve and I went grocery shopping for all the hungry mouths that would soon be descending on us. We grilled burgers and just relaxed around the fire, enjoying the beautiful evening. It was really nice to have a quiet, peaceful evening before the grandkids arrived. I can honestly see why many retired couples buy rv's and use them for rest and relaxation. There is not much that can top sitting out in the coolness of the morning and sipping a cup of coffee while listening to the birds chirping.

Monday morning at 10:00 the girls descended on us. There were six of them--Alexis, Lydia, Hannah, Clara, Janae & Cassidy--all sisters except for Cassidy. This was also Cassidy's first time to camp with us and she was so excited. Just watching her joyous expressions made my heart sing.

All ready for a game of mini-golf!

We had a great time with all the girls. We took them min-golfing, rode the Strasburg Railroad, treated them to ice cream and did a few crafts. Janae had the stomach bug over the weekend so we were a little concerned about her health as well as the rest of us possibly getting it, but it wasn't something we could just easily reschedule. She seemed fine on Monday but then in the evening she said her stomach hurt and she wanted to go home. I wasn't going to take any chances so Kristen came and got her and she went home for the night. She was fine on Tuesday morning and Jay brought her back and she had no other problems. I found out later that Hannah threw up doing the night on Tuesday and didn't even tell me. She managed to make it through until Kristen picked all the girls up around 10:00. Thankfully, no one else got sick.

Craft time! My friend Diane helped me come up with some crafts and was generous enough to allow us to do them on her nice big deck.

Clara lines up her next shot!

Cassidy getting that ball into the hole!

Concentration from Alexis

Janae taking a break :)

These two had a lot of fun together. They also enjoyed the playground but I didn't get any pictures of them there.

Sweet pose from Hannah

Lydia smiling for the camera

All aboard the Strasburg Railroad!

These two were so great! Even though they are teenagers they were always happy to be involved and to do what ever activity we had planned.

Trying to hide that smile but she just couldn't help it. She was always smiling. 

Clara wasn't going to let a small thing like a broken arm stop her! The only thing she wasn't allowed to do was go swimming which disappointed her very much. However, the weather was cold and when Hannah and Janae went for a swim, they didn't last very long, so she didn't miss much.

Posing at Down on the Farm Creamery where we ate our lunch and got ice cream!

Just playing a little shuffleboard.

Meal Time

The two older girls really enjoyed this swing in Randy & Diane's yard.

It was a great couple of days with the girls. They left around 10:00 on Wednesday morning and then the boys arrived. See next post.

It's Been A Little While....

Wow! How can it be June already and I haven't posted anything on this blog in 2025. Well, I guess there is no time like the present so here is a little recap of the first half of the year.

I spent many of the cold winter evenings putting puzzles together. This is a very relaxing activity for me. I enjoy the challenge of the 1000 piece puzzles but I like when they have a lot of variation of color and the pieces are different shapes. I call them easy 1000 piece puzzles. Here are a couple that I put together.

Also in January we celebrated Jake's 4th birthday.

It was a "Cars" themed birthday :)

In February we kept Hannah & Janae for a weekend while Jay and Kristen went on their annual cabin getaway. This was the first year that Alexis & Lydia stayed home by themselves. I have a feeling that next year the children just might all stay home together. How quickly they grow up. We enjoyed the weekend with the girls.

Playing games

Silly, sweet Janae :)

Hannah :)

I treated Hannah to ice cream since Janae got to go over to Cassidy's house to play and Hannah was stuck with me.

March 15 was a big milestone for me as I became an official Medicare recipient. As we get older we tend not to enjoy birthdays that much, but I must say that reaching the age of 65 felt like a joyous occasion. I was happy to start receiving my health insurance through Medicare.

In April this little cutie turned one year old.

Sweet Naomi - how can it be a year already?

Also in April I spent a weekend away at a cabin with three other ladies from church. It was such a good time of enjoying each other's company, eating, playing games and laughing. I am so thankful for my friends from Victory church.

April also brought Easter. We enjoyed going to church and celebrating our risen Savior and then spending time with family later in the day. The traditional grandchildren picture... 

Thirteen is the lucky number! We are so thankful for each grandchild.

May brought two more granddaughter birthdays.

Lydia on May 19

14 years old!

And Janae on May 27

The hat says it all -- she is 5!

Also in May we kept Jake & Kyle for a few days while Megan & Jeremy enjoyed some time away celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. They kept us busy but we had a lot of fun with them.

They love trains

Jake loves playing with Legos

And Kyle likes his little trucks and cars

Picnic at Muddy Run!

Grandpa showing them how to skip rocks

Here are a few other pictures from happenings in the first part of the year.

Handsome Bryce just completed preschool and will be starting  Kindergarten in the Fall. I have been keeping him every Wednesday since he was a baby and will still have him in the mornings next year as he will be in afternoon kindergarten.

I am so enjoying these little boys who are just 2 months apart in age. They are just too cute!

Hannah quizzing. Alexis, Lydia and Mark also quizzed this year, but sadly I neglected to take pictures. We did enjoy going to almost all of their quizzes.

On separate occasions I took Awstin, Bryce, Jake & Cassidy to the Choo Choo barn just because I enjoy it as much as they do. Here is Cassidy posing for a picture.

And here is Jake enjoying ice cream after going to the Choo Choo barn

I also keep Cassidy & Seth on Wednesday mornings while Julissa works the store. Bryce is here too and they generally get along very well, but in this picture Bryce is telling Seth not to mess with his Lego creation! :)

That's it for now. My next blog post should be fairly soon as I want to write about the camping week that we had with the 10 oldest grandchildren the first week of June.

Closing out 2024

 

Christmas Family Picture 2024

Hard to believe, but here we are at the end of 2024. I think I will combine this Blog post with November and December happenings along with a few reflections.

November was a relatively quiet month with no birthdays to celebrate. February and November are the only two months of the year where we have no birthdays or anniversaries in our family. We of course did celebrate Thanksgiving. Jay & Kristen hosted us at their place and we had a wonderful time. I did not snap any pictures just stored the memories in my heart.

Hannah has a December 21 birthday which we celebrated early in December. She has now reached the big 10! Hannah is quiet in her own way but yet is very self assured and delightful to talk with. She is the only one of the children to have braces so far and also wears glasses so that gives her a uniqueness from her brother and sisters. She is so helpful and kind and you can't be around Hannah very long until you are smiling because she just makes people happy!

Hannah - 10 years old

Megan and Jeremy hosted Christmas for us on Sunday, December 22. Everyone was there and healthy which was a nice change from last year, when we actually had to postpone our get together. The evening went so well and even though the house was full there was plenty of room for talking and laughter and I was struck by how much we all like each other. I know this is not the case in many families and I am just so thankful for the love of family.

Us and our 13 grandkids

This what our family looked like in 2011!

The day after Christmas we had all the grandchildren 4 years and older for the day. We left Jake squeak in because he is 1 month shy of 4 years old so there was a total of 9 grandchildren. We did some crafts in the morning and after lunch we had free time, movie time and game time. Then we piled them in the van and took them to Maplehof's for ice cream and to see the Christmas lights at Herr Foods. After coming back we had cookies and hot chocolate and then took them home. It was a fun day and I hope the children grow up to  have fond memories of their time spent with Grandpa and Grandma and cousins. I took a picture of each of them holding their craft that they did. 

Alexis

Lydia

Mark

Awstin

Hannah

Hannah did an additional craft with candy.

Clara

Bryce

Janae

Jake

The last four were too young to come, but here are recent pictures of them because I like to show off my grandchildren. :)

Cassidy

Kyle

Seth

Naomi

That concludes our November and December happenings. As far as the year goes, it was a good one. I really enjoyed being an employee of the store and not the owner. I still worked a lot, but it was so less stressful because I didn't have to make any major decisions. Julissa and Melissa are doing a fantastic job of managing it and I am very content just to work my hours and help out wherever needed. I also like that it gives me flexibility for keeping grandkids. Bryce started preschool but I still keep him every Wednesday and now on Wednesday morning (when Bryce is in preschool) I keep Cassidy and Seth so Julissa can work the store. Megan and the boys stop in often and I am just trying to soak up these little ones as much as I can, because I know how fast they grow up and then Grandma's won't be their favorite place to come anymore. I still offer the Wednesday night suppers to whoever wants to come. Jay's family doesn't make it, but the rest usually show up. Alexis and Lydia and Mark are doing Bible quizzing again. Their quiz tournaments are once a month and it is nice that we can attend them and it is a good way to stay connected with their family. Living in Manheim, it's not like they can just pop in often like the others do.

Steve continues to taxi Amish and he is still enjoying it. He plans to take a work group  to North Carolina the second week of January and is really looking forward to that. His health has been okay. He has had no heart issues and his meds are keeping his diabetes at bay, but there are definitely times that he still struggles to keep his numbers down. We always know when his numbers are up because his feet go numb and tingle. A lot of times he can correspond it to something he ate that he shouldn't have but there are times when we just don't know what caused it and that can be very frustrating.

We continue to attend Victory Church and teach Sunday School to elementary students. We love our church family and are so grateful to have a small group that we really feel connected with. Steve and another guy started an accountability group for men and that has been going well too. 

I will be 65 in March and realize that I am a lot closer to the end of this life journey than I am to the beginning. That is okay. I will take each day that the Lord gives me and appreciate it. 

I think that my motto for the year is this -- Love God. Be thankful for the love of family and friends. Be content.