Not Earth Shattering News, But It Made Me Smile

One of my all time favorite brain candy books (that would be a book that really has no substance to it, but it's fun to read and makes me smile) is being made into an indie movie with an amazing cast. This made my day, which is not saying much as I woke up with a headache and my kids are driving me crazy and I have a house to clean as the lady that lived here for 40 years is coming over to meet us.

Here's where you can read about it.

Eight is Great

My little girl turned 8 last week. It's hard to believe! She's a little miracle, one that we were not sure would make it the full 40 weeks to make her debut here on earth. But she did and she let her presence be known and she still does. She is quiet and reserved, but should not be easily overlooked. She can be feisty and full of fire, if she feels strongly about something. She is loving and kind, but no pushover when it comes to her big brothers. She's a great big sister and a great helper. Sophia, I'm glad you decided to wait out those 40 weeks and come to our family. You add so much to it and we are grateful for that!

Raging Waters

The Thursday after we moved into our house it rained a lot in our area. After about 2 hours of pretty constant downpour, Clara looked out the window and said that the creek was really big. I looked out and then walked over to take some pictures. I met a lot of neighbors over by the creek. Some were worried for their houses. Some were wondering what made it flood so fast. Some others were wondering if they were in for a repeat of last years floods. Things like this leave me in awe at the power of Mother Nature.

This is what this area normally looks like. We looked at a house two up from the one in the picture above (not seriously, because it was being flipped after someone bought it dirt cheap due to flood damage and fixed it up), where the people that had just bought it and moved in around the same time as us had everything out on the lawn. It makes me wonder, "Did they not know why everything was new and the house was so cheap?" Sad that they had to deal with the mess though.

Down By the Bay

Crabs and kayaking down by the bay is how we celebrated the 4th of July. It was worth the drive. My brother-in-laws sister lives down on the Chesapeake Bay and we tagged along for the celebration. The crabs were freshly caught that morning. The weather was beautiful. It was a great day. That's Sophia learning how to take the meat out of a crab.
Ethan taking a break on the water

Jakob by the dog Molly, who really enjoyed having all of the extra kids around to throw the ball for her.

Andrea and Sophia

Clara and Uncle Adam relaxing. Clara came out on the bay with me in a kayak, but she didn't last long. It might have had something to do with the fact that I kept bonking her head with the paddle.

Bombs Bursting In Air

And one vendor selling various glowing objects. It was quite the assortment and made for and interesting picture.

We went to the Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival, which is always over the 4th of July weekend and a summer must growing up. Ahh, the memories. It used to be the only time you could get Swedish fish in Gettysburg. I would buy 1/2 a pound and eat them myself. Then there was the ferris wheel ride with a boy, a rite of passage in junior high. My niece took Clara and Sophia instead. I wish I could have gotten a good picture. They both had mile wide smiles...which was a good thing because the ride was $5 a pop. Afterwards we consumed ever so nutritious things like funnel cake and candied apples while we waited for the show. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the 'bombs bursting in air'.

Devil's Den

We have a couple of places that we have to visit when we go to Grandma and Pappap's house in Gettysburg. Devil's Den is one of those places. It's also one of those places that make my heart race as I watch the kids jump from boulder to boulder. This year we went with my sister, her husband and her daughter and her husband. Andrea, my niece, and her husband are super climbers and get to go cool places like the Alps to go climbing because they live in Germany (only slightly...okay really jealous of them). They showed the kids some tips of the trade on the rocks at Devil's Den. Even Clara was getting the hang of it.

Jakob and Ethan with Little Round Top in the backround.
Clara the super climber.

Jakob

Sophia

Sophia and Andrea

Taking a break with Uncle Adam after climbing hard

Hidden Secret of Dunwoody

There is a park in Dunwoody called Brook Run and they have an amazing skate park that is free. It's a little intimidating when you go with all of the experts, but if you go in the morning (which is actually better in the summer time) you have the park practically to yourself. We just wish we would have gone more often.
We took along a friend who has been skating a long time and he showed us some pointers. The girls had fun riding down the hills on his long board while they were sitting down.

Farewell Atlanta

So long Atlanta, we are moving on. Our 2 years in Atlanta were a nice rest from the craziness that had become our lives as Phil went through residency. Yes, he was gone a lot, traveling the world and learning about some crazy diseases, but when he was home it was a little more calm. We lived in a great house, with a great yard, great neighbors, great schools and a great ward. We will miss it all, but look forward to the new chapter of our lives. Here is one thing I am really going to miss. This couple walked our neighborhood at least 2 times a day, sometimes more. I would pass them on the street at all times. Sometimes when Clara and I were out walking we would stop and say hi. They loved her big blue eyes. I loved their commitment and devotion to each other that was evident in the way that he helped her around something on the road or how she leaned in to tell him something. Just something so simple that gave me hope for the future. There are good people out there who go on loving each other despite their age.