Thursday, September 19, 2024

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!

Saturday, July 27, 2024

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! 

Thursday, May 9, 2024

Plumpton Zoo with Jake & Cassidy

This summer we plan to take the 8 older grandchildren camping. We will split them up, taking the older 4 one time and then the younger 4 at a later time. This is something we have never done and the grandchildren know more about camping than Steve & I do so it's sure to be interesting. Check back for Blog posts on both adventures. Anyway, we made the cutoff at age 4 so Jake & Cassidy will miss out on the camping expeditions. We thought it would be nice to do something just with them and decided to take them to the Plumpton Zoo today. We had a really nice time after an initial scare when Cassidy was terrified of the peacocks strutting around and shrieking. She stuck her fingers in her ears and refused to budge. Eventually she left Steve carry her and once we got away from the peacocks she relaxed and enjoyed herself. The Plumpton Zoo boasts about its giraffe and I realize I didn't even get a picture of it. Honestly the best money we spent was $4.00 for goat feed. They both loved feeding the goats more than seeing bears, tigers and giraffes. :)

Here is our day in pictures.


All smiles!

Uh Oh! Cassidy doesn't like the peacocks

The goats made everyone happy

Both very intent :)
I
Staring at the zebra

Hanging out with the bear.

A closer look at the zebra

Oh look! A tiger!

Trying to get a closer look



My favorite!

Watching the peacock show off

This is how Cassidy walked whenever we got close to the peacocks and Jake soon started copying her!

Lunch time! The picnic area was full with school kids so we opted for the back of the car.

Here is a video of them feeding the goats.