October Events

The year just continues to march right along. October brought us three grandchildren birthdays! We started out on October 9 with Bryce's fifth birthday. This year he started preschool at Mt. Nebo Church and loves it. He is the oldest of the younger group of grandkids that live nearby and he genuinely seems to really love his little cousins. Jake and him get along splendidly and recently he and Cassidy have begun to really play together when it is just the two of them. He adores Kyle and Seth and it is so cute to see him converse with them. He and I have a wonderful time together on Wednesdays and his cheerful smile always makes my day.

All smiles for the birthday boy!

Cassidy turned three on October 26. She has matured so much in the last couple of months and her vocabulary has grown in leaps and bounds. I love to listen to her tell me about something that happened to her as she uses big, grown up words to describe it. She often appears shy, but she has a smile that lights up the room. I love to see her bound into our apartment with BaaBaa (her stuffed sheep) tucked securely under her arm. We have all learned that if Cassidy is upset, we need to make sure she has BaaBaa and soon she will be all right. She still loves trains so Julissa put one on her birthday cake.

Such a sweetheart and she looks just like her mother! :)

Finally on October 29, Mark turned twelve! Mark just recently had a growth spurt and suddenly is beginning to look like a young man. He is very capable and knowledgeable with equipment  and he and Alexis did most of the combining of the sunflowers for Jay this year. He also seems to have a knack for electronics which is very handy in this computer crazed world. Every time we see him, he engages us in conversation, asking about our lives and telling us funny jokes. He is such a pleasure to be with and I always look forward to spending time with him.

Next year he will be a teenager!

October was also vacation month for Steve and me! One of the couples in our small group owns a timeshare in Hilton Head, SC, which was gifted to them by one of their parents. They invited our small group to go for a week  and we were more than happy to take them up on their offer. It was just a wonderful time of relaxation and rejuvenation and spending time with friends. It's hard to believe that we didn't even know these people four years ago and now they are such an integral part of our lives. God sure knew what we needed when we stepped into Victory Church.

Full moon on the beach

Outside of our condo

Beautiful fountain

It was a little windy!

We climbed to the top of the lighthouse

View from atop the lighthouse

Amazing sunset over the water

Palm trees

We were so excited to see an alligator!

Our wonderful, amazing, caring small group

One other thing I did in October was take Awstin to the Choo-Choo Barn. If you have followed my Blog you will remember that this is something I started with him when he was quite small. Although all kids like the Choo-Choo Barn, Awstin LOVES it and can never get enough of it, so I try to take him once a year. Even though he is older now, he is still just so excited and we had such a wonderful time.

His favorite place

Can't go to the Choo-Choo barn without taking a picture on this train

Selfie!

Well, that pretty much wraps up October. I'll be back at the end of December to close out the year. 

Seth's First Birthday and other happenings in August & September

This little cutie turned 1 year old on September 10! He is such a sweet little guy who is rapidly trying to catch up with his sibling and cousins. He likes to walk around things and is standing on his own so it is only a matter of time until he takes off. I enjoy watching him and Cassidy every Wednesday morning while Julissa works the store. He likes anything with wheels so Julissa made him a wheel cake! But Cassidy had to blow the candle out for him!

He definitely enjoyed his cake!

The wheel

Is this for me!

Another birthday that we celebrated was Alexis! I can hardly believe that the girl that made us grandparents is 15! Alexis is wonderful to chat with and is a very capable girl. She helps with all her siblings and especially enjoys the baby stage of Naomi. Her favorite thing in life is Bible quizzing and she is  delighted that the new season has gotten underway the beginning of September.

15 years old!

Steve and I also enjoyed some time away in August to the 1000 Islands. We toured several castles and climbed a lighthouse.

Singer Castle

More than a castle is seemed like a mansion

Beautiful gardens all around

Boldt Castle

Rock Island Lighthouse

We made it to the top!

Another thing that I enjoy doing with the grandkids is taking them to watch trains that go and come back to the Strasburg Railroad. I took Bryce on a Wednesday in August and then in September, Thomas was at the Strasburg Railroad and I went with Megan and her boys to catch a glimpse of him. There is just something about trains that I enjoy and so do the grandkids. It is a fun, free thing to do with them.

Waiting patiently for the train

I don't have a video of Thomas but we sure had a good time. Sometimes it is just too difficult to take a video. They also had a little petting zoo there and the boys enjoyed that.

Kyle and the pot-bellied pig

Feeding the goats

Just a boy watching the train come (yes Thomas is backward in this picture but that's how they do it.)

Waving

Here is comes! "See, I'm pointing!"

Another annual tradition is the Solanco Parade. Shawn drove the truck and Awstin, Bryce, Jake & Cassidy rode in the little trucks. Jay and Kristen and family didn't come this year so the other trucks were filled with children from Josh & Julissa's church.

All shined up!

There they go!

I guess that's it for summer. Fall is just around the corner and we are looking forward to a vacation to Hilton Head, NC with our small group the middle of October. I'm sure there will be other things to share as well. I do love Fall!

Kyle's First Birthday & The Rest of May & July Birthdays

 

On July 7, this little guy turned one year old! We certainly remember his birth well. He was all of three days old, when Steve had his heart attack. We are so grateful that Steve is alive to celebrate Kyle's first birthday.

Megan had a party for him with cute decorations. The theme was "First Trip Around the Sun." Kyle was semi-interested and enjoyed some of the festivities but for most of the time was really wanting to just get down and play. He is a loveable, feisty fellow who is always on the go and trying to keep up with his big brother. He has almost mastered walking, but right now it is faster to get somewhere by crawling.

Lots of balloons!

Love the theme!

1 year old!

First taste of cake

"It's ok, but nothing great."

"I'm done. Get me out."

We love you Kyle!

We celebrated quite a few grandchildren birthdays in the months of May and July.

Lydia - 13 years old

Janae - 4 years old

Clara - 7 years old

Awstin's pie

Awstin eating his pie - 11 years old

So very, very thankful for each and every grandchild.

Camping

Rookie Campers

Well, camping was interesting to say the least. We borrowed Josh and Julissa's camper and set it up at Country Acres Campground along Route 30 in Gordonville. Our friends Randy and Diane live at the campground and Randy is on staff. He works another job during the day but is on call most evenings and weekends for any camper that has (or thinks they have) a problem.

We started out with the four oldest grandchildren-Alexis, Lydia, Mark & Awstin. Of course the two days that we chose were the hottest days of the year. The heat and humidity were suffocating. It was so bad that no one wanted to go outside. We had planned to eat all our meals outside but that just wasn't possible. Steve couldn't even bear the thought of making a fire. Being novices when it comes to camping, we naively thought everyone makes all their meals over the fire. (Later, I asked Alexis what they usually have for breakfast when they go camping and she said cereal! I learned from that and took cereal along for the next 4 grandchildren.) So, Wednesday morning when it was too hot to make breakfast we went to Plan B and took everyone down the road to Dienners Restaurant. It was definitely more expensive but oh so nice and cool!

We did have a very nice time in spite of the heat. Swimming was a popular activity. We also went mini golfing, played games, decorated caps (this was my friend Diane's idea and the kids loved it), and ate a lot of food. During the very hottest part of the day when the camper was a little crowded with six of us, we opted to watch a movie. Although I didn't intend to go camping to watch a movie I will admit that it was nice to have a quiet activity to do in the camper where we had air conditioning. We did make a fire the second night and enjoyed hotdogs, marshmallows and mountain pies. Overall, it was a good experience and nice to spend time with the grandchildren. 

Here are some pictures of camping with the oldest grandchildren.

All lined up with their new shirts

Mark

Alexis & Awstin

Mark & Awstin

Lydia eating her mountain pie and wearing her decorated hat

Awstin wearing his hat

Two weeks later, we packed up again and did just one night and two days with the next four grandchildren--Hannah, Clara, Bryce and Janae. The weather was so much nicer for which we were very thankful. We did pretty much the same activities--swimming, mini-golf, hat decorating, and games. These four also enjoyed just spending time at the playground which was really nice. We had fun roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire along with some mountain pies. Again, it was just nice to spend time with the grandkids.

Here are some pictures from the second crew.

Proudly wearing their new shirts

Showing off their names on the back of their shirts

Bryce

Clara

Hannah

Janae

Playground

Steve making mountain pies

Overall, it was a very good experience and I think we might do it again next year as long as we are still in good health. Being able to use Josh and Julissa's camper was wonderful and we really appreciated their generosity and allowing us to use it. We would definitely make some changes but for not really ever camping before I think we did all right. The grandkids seemed to really love it and that is why we do it--to make memories with them. I think Alexis and Lydia will probably always remember and laugh over Grandma calling mountain pies, mud pies!