June 30, 2007

Getting ready for Sunday morning "church". We slept real good again in our tent with our little fan.  Unfortunately, our little man woke us up Sunday morning at his normal time of 6:00.  We tried to sleep in for a while but with him carousing around the tent, it was difficult.  We snacked on Canteloupe, yogurt, cheese etc. for breakfast then around 10:00 we all met inside the air conditioned comfort of Royal's camper for our "church".  Halfway through the service the neighboring camper knocked on our door and asked us to help him push his boat off of the shore.  What should we have done???  After church Jenn made us a delicious dinner of baked macaroni, zipper peas, fresh cucumbers & tomatoes and "wheels". 
Watching the water... The wheels were made by cooking sweetened condensed milk until it caramelized in the can, cooling it down then slicing it about 3/8" think then putting the caramel on top of a slice of pineapple then topping that with whipped cream & a cherry.  What a delight!  While Jenn was cooking dinner we folded up our tent and packed our stuff away in the van so that after dinner we were basically ready to roll.  We left for home a little after 2:00 and got home by 4:00.  We bathed the children then all took a nap before going to church in the evening for a scrapbook program of songs and testimonies.  Ina Sue read a story.
Landon loves nothing more than a mess! We got up and exercised on our bike Monday morning.  We were both a bit out of shape after our last week of barely being home to ride...  It was a really hot day.  Ina Sue finished putting away our camping stuff and did the laundry.  I had a busy day at work catching up from time off.  In the evening we had a quick supper of ham & asparagus gravy over toast then I rushed to mow as much of the rest of the yard as I could.
Ina Sue kept Patrick & Bethany's children on Friday. I went in to work early on Tuesday but when I got there around 7:00 I realized that I had left my shop key at home.  So.... I took a nap in my car until Adam & Richard got there for the meeting at 8:00.  The meeting was a bit unorganized since I did not have time to put the agenda together.  Ina Sue ironed clothes all morning long.  In the evening Bonnie Brubaker came over for supper.  We had a really nice time visiting with her again.  (She is down visiting her folks one last time before they move to Virginia)
Carolina says she likes to comb her hair like Prince (Our cocker spaniel). I spent another day at work on Wednesday while Ina Sue tended the fires at home.  She needs to teach Sunday School next Sunday so she tried to study a while for that.  She said the children did not want to cooperate so it didn't go very well.  In the evening we went with our small group to the Carrigg Manor Nursing home to sing for our friends there.  Carl & Aden both needed to be at some kind of bio-safety course that is required for farmers.  Thankfully Josh & Richard were there along with Carl's other boys so I wasn't singing by myself.  After the singing we went in to McDonalds for ice cream.  It was a very nice evening with a nice breeze so we ate outside.  Carolina and the other youngsters loved the playground equipment. 
Decorating Landon's 1'st birthday cake. Thursday was another hot summer day!  Especially for me.  William and I went up to Plain or Fancy Signs to begin putting in their new surveillance system.  Running cables through the ceiling and up in the top of an unheated metal building was a recipe for heat stroke!  Ina Sue picked some delicious sweet corn out of Naomi's garden and served it to us for supper along with wonderfully tasty BLT's.  After supper I finished mowing the back yard while Ina Sue worked on weeding the flower bed.  After we knocked off she also baked Landy a little miniature birthday bear cake and lots of little cupcakes for his upcoming birthday.
The newly wed couple (Tony & Julie Good) We had ponhaus and eggs for breakfast on Friday then I rushed off to work while Ina Sue started on the cleaning.  Bethany Heatwole brought Caroline & Michaela to stay with our children from 10:00 to 2:00 while she went to help get the gym ready for Julie's reception.  She fixed us a zucchini lasagna for supper then I made Puerto Rico calls while she iced Landy's teddy bear cake and the little cupcakes.  We were honored to have a wedding guest stay here with us for the weekend.  His name is Emmanual (Manny) King from PA.  Unfortunately I neglected to get a picture but we did thoroughly enjoy our time visiting with him. 
Landon admires his cake. Saturday was Landon's birthday and Julie & Tony's wedding day.  I got up at 6:00 and made corn bread and sausage gravy for breakfast.  Mannie left for the wedding around 8:00. (He was in the wedding party) and I took the children with me in to town for some errands.  We picked up my suit from the dry cleaners, programed our answering machine at work for the day off,  and gassed up and washed the minivan.  By the time we got home it was just about time for us to leave for the wedding.  Ina Sue had spent some of her free time finishing up her studying to teach Sunday School.  I rushed to get myself ready then we dropped the children off with Ina Schrock before going on to the wedding.  We were asked to be co-hosts at the reception with Joe & Crystal (Good) Miller, so we walked down to the gym first to give everything a look-over then still got to the church in good time.
Playing softball with friends. Julie and Tony had a very nice wedding service.  The music was very good.  I especially enjoyed the congregational song and wished we could have had more of that.  With that many good singers packing out our church it really makes the anthem ring!  After the marriage everyone retired down to the school gym for the reception.  We were to greet everyone after they came through the recieving line and give them instructions for the reception.  After everyone was seated and the food was ready we released each table in turn to go through the line for food.  The main course was a delicious rice and chicken dish from Belize.  Julie had taught Bible School down there and become good friends with a lady there.  This lady came and made the meal for her reception. 
The cheering section. After things wound down at the reception we came home for a short nap then went in to Barnwell to pick up pizza from Pizza Hut for our young-marrieds ball game in the evening.  Unfortunately, we do not hardly have enough young marrieds to play a game of softball so we begged some youth to come over and join us.  Since the youth at the school were divided into 12 different volleyball games, they could certainly spare a few...  Ina Sue and I were originally appointed to the same team but she requested to switch with another lady so that we could share a ball glove and also take turns watching Landon.  Bad choice!!!!  Our team won 22 to 4.  She said she got really tired of playing outfield. 
Landon enjoyed getting down & dirty. Some of the people left after the first game so the rest of us just sat around and talked for a while while we ate our floats.  We had a little birthday party there for Landon since we didn't really have time for any event at home.  He didn't seem to know what to make of it...  After we got home Ina Sue worked to fix food for the carry-in meal tomorrow while I bathed the children and put them to bed.