A Picture Post

Of our trip to see Royal and Jenn and Company.  This is a long bunch of pictures.  Sometime I should think about finding a better way to load and arrange pictures on here.  But we've had computer issues for a while now and laptops are not as easy so....

We've been wanting to see our friends down in Georgia for a long time.  It had been 4 years.  So finally we took a flying weekend and went to see them at their very own place!  What an amazing good weekend!  On our first evening there Jenn made a wonderful huge feast of grilled steak and the works.  And we got the first of the strawberry season.  I could live there.   It was summer...and laid back and so very very soothing to my weary soul.

She stretched the table out and set the table and treated us like honored guests.  As you all know....at our house we're very casual and it's always plopped out on the bar and a come and go kind of thing.  Also I must say something about her cooking.  She's not scared to try a new recipe and she makes some delicious food.  The Chicken Lasagna was AMAZING.  I must have her Ceasar Salad recipe.  And my confidence in pizza making has gone down hill.  I shall be calling her for more food tips....oh and the mint tea.....just wonderful!

Playing with the lincoln logs when they were inside was a highlight.  Those kids played HARD.  There were hours at a time where I didn't see Zerrick and Giles.  I think those two are made of the same character.  Definitely eight and full of bright ideas that aren't always realistic.  They had a lot of fun together.  Keagan said he liked them lots too.  But he keeps coming back to Gianna causing him some sort of stress!  :)  They are too close in age yet....someday they'll be scared of each other and won't even dare to talk to each other!  I'll remind them of the evil glares they gave each other at 4....that should be lots of fun!

They have a lovely house set back way off the road.  With a big big yard and space for gardening and place for the kids to run.  Keagan had lots of fun with this Frisbee out there in the big wide open spaces.


Here's Bud and Bozo!  They went for a little walk with us out to the end of the driveway.  Bud is a most interesting spaceman of a dog !

Here are the two four year olds and the one who keeps all the ducks in a row nicely for when they get out of line!  I think Jenn has the most beautiful daughters.  Mikayla especially is VERY pretty.  It's a good thing she can't read this yet!

Having fun taking pictures on our little walk.

Mathias can't figure out how to jump like that.

Look at Mikayla's hair and Giles' jump!  What fun!

This picture just makes me laugh!  What a funny dog!
Ponderously watching over the home.  

Keagan took this picture of us!  BTW....today is our 11th anniversary!  Looking very 30ish  and 3 kids later....we're still happy to be together.

Pretty precious Addison Delight.  She's very precious.  Her hugs make me
feel soothed inside. 

Ice cream bars for dessert on Saturday evening.

On Saturday afternoon Jenn and I left and found a little antique store to wander through and a dirty little thrift store and a coffee shop.  Sweet little highlight of the day.

All packed into a big long van and headed to the coast!   What a level of high excitement!



Look at the two precious babies in the front .  Love them lots, I do....

This picture is not exactly complimentary for me....but it was an interesting moment.  When we were 13 we both moved to separate states.....back then letter writing was VERY important to our lives. So here we are rereading some old letters from years gone by.  What a most interesting and embarrassing and funny and enlightening thing to do.  Wow!   At least we're still smiling! :)

At the ocean at last!  They were a bit disappointed because the beach was very very overcrowded and they couldn't get a real taste of the amazingness of God's HUGE pond.  But they did figure out it was salty and we did get to see dolphins jumping real close to us.  And we did bring home a handful of little shells.  And we brought home sand too.

He loved the sand and did not love the waves of water.

I learned this was a live oak.  Very HUGE and pretty and amazing. 

After our little peek of the Ocean we went back to the old city of Savannah and meandered through the beautiful city streets and down to the river walk.

The history here is interesting.  Someday I want to go back and take a real tour and learn and see.

We were just getting down to the river when this big thing came through.  There were many big impressive ships like this out there....they looked like stacked building floating on the water ...

The tugboats.  They had a lot of fun watching these things.  They were friendly little things...and would toot their little horn for us and especially this one...

Walking walking and enjoying the wonderful evening and sunset and I just want to go back.  Sometimes home is good but getting into a different culture and being with good friends is just what we needed.

And the silliest thing....I didn't take any pictures of this dear family we visited, on my camera!  What's with that anyhow!

And there's a little picture post of our time together in Georgia.

On our way home we stopped for a little walk along the Ohio river in Paducah, Illinois.  There would be some interesting history to learn there too.  Someday, all this travelling and seeing things is going to start to mean something to these boys and I hope they enjoy the history of these old places as well as I do.

So we got home on Tuesday evening and by Wednesday noon my boys were sick.  It is Saturday afternoon and I think we're finally getting better.  I don't know if they think the trip was worth it or not.  But I'm just thankful we had such a good fast trip and waited till we were home to get sick.

Tomorrow night MBS Chorus is coming through and I'm hoping to keep Dan and Ruthie and Alex and a couple more guys here overnight.  So just a little bit more of socializing and seeing dear friends and then we shall get back to the reality of life again.

School will be hit hard for the next three weeks and then we shall call it good enough for the year.  YES!  Garage Sales coming up soon.  And then Market.  Summer is coming down upon is in a whoosh.  In the midst of all that Matt is getting roofing season started up again and we're praying and hoping and negotiating on buying a house.

 Sometimes life seems like a web of lots of different threads that all have to be part of our lives but it's hard to know what to do with each thread and not lose hold of the most important one.....and not to get tangled in the mess of it all but to patiently do each one as it comes up.  So just now, we're praying and waiting through each thing.....I think the whole picture will be good in the end.

Have a good week!