LOL...

Three Men on a Hike Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, Violent river. Needing to get to the other side, The first man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength to cross the river.' Poof! .. God gave him big arms and strong legs And he was able to swim Across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice. After witnessing that, the second man prayed: 'God, please give me Strength and the tools to cross the river' Poof! . God gave him a rowboat and strong arms And strong legs and he Was able to row across in about an hour After almost capsizing once. Seeing what happened to the first two men, The third man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength, The tools and the intelligence To cross the river' Poof! .. He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, Hiked one Hundred yards up stream And walked across the bridge.

Back from vacation...

We just got back from the best vacation ever. It has been so long since Sandy and I have done a road trip. There will definitely be some more in our future!

First we went to the Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio. It was a complete surprise for Jake. He just kept saying how lucky he was when we pulled into the parking lot. It was a beautiful hotel with an indoor waterpark. The waterpark included two huge waterslides that went in and out of the building, a four story water fort, a small "river" to tube on, a baby pool with geysers and tree fort, a pool for swimming and for basketball, a huge hot tub with waterfalls. They also had a cub club for crafts. Jake decorated a pillowcase and he made a stuffed animal for Laura. Laura played in the cub cabin for young children. They had blocks, computers, puppet theaters, baby toys and a huge chair for mom to relax in. It was the best place! We have one in Williamsburg and I want to do a winter weekend there. Definitely a place to recommend!

Next we were off the Amish country in northern Indiana. We toured the flower quilt gardens in Elkhart county. What a friendly beautiful place. We had the perfect weather with none of that humidity we have here! The gardens were so gorgeous and each one had a unique story. We tried to visit local shops as much as possible. We went to a 100+ dime store and a 100+ year old hardware store that had hundreds of wooden drawers on the wall. Everyone was so friendly. We loved driving the backroads and having the Amish farmers throw their hands up to wave. So many pictures I wished I could have taken. The Amish woman on a motorcycle in a yard with her son, lol! The line of bicycles at the MacDonald's. etc.

We loved the Amish style restaurants with the family style serving. Menno-Hof museum built by the Amish and Mennonites was incredible. It taught me a great respect for what the Anabaptists went through. They were true religious heros!

On our way back, we visited Humpback bridge in Covington. It was incredible. It was such a peaceful place that if we go by there again, I want to picnic lunch there. Jake loved playing in the creek and skipping rocks. Then we visited Natural Bridge. Jake had never been there. We had a good time, but couldn't keep Laura out of the water, my little water baby!

It was such a great trip and I hope to be able to one day visit Indiana again. It was a little too flat for us, but we felt so at home there! We have tons of photos, I hope they all show up in the slideshow.

Happy Birthday, USA!

Here is Laura at our July 4th celebration. She is in the cutest flag dress, I love it! She loves to wave good bye likes she does in the video. We watched the fireworks at the fairgrounds. We had to park far out, but ended up hanging out with a good view from where we parked. And we were able to get out easily, hahahaha! Laura did great with the fireworks. She kept looking at me to see my reaction and just kept saying Oooo! Jake and Sandy had fun playing catch. It was a nice evening.

Laura is now 11 months old. It is hard to believe she is almost 1 years old. She is toddling more. She says the words "Dah-dee, Jay (Jake), Than-ooh (high pitched thank you" and she is finally saying ma-ma-ma-ma sometimes. She is enjoying our summertime fun. One of her favorite things to do is go outside. She has an awesome tan, lol! Laura loves to watch our bird feeder. She just laughs and laughs when the squirrels get into it. She actually pays attention to the bird hopping on the branches!

I have to say I am proud of Jake this summer since he has not yet complained about being bored. Above we made a fairy garden. It has real water, a potting shed with little tiny terra cotta pots. We took moss from our back yard to cover the edges of the pond. We even have a hidden gourd/pumpkin garden in the ivy.

We have been going for walks, going to the pool, having campfires, watching netflix movies (I love netflix!), and reading books. Jake is very motivated in our summer home school. I have been printing off worksheets for us to do. He is keeping a reading log. We are beginning to work on a famous Americans lap book and I think I am going to have Jake keep a vacation journal/scrapbook for our vacation this week to work on his writing skills. We are in our "school" for 2 hours 3 days a week. As long as it is fun and he is enjoying it, we are going to keep it up. This way, he keeps refreshed in his studies from second grade so he can just step into 3rd grade. We are working on cursive and some math items that he will cover in 3rd, but mostly this is just 2nd grade review.

We are also keeping busy working on Cub Scout activities. Jake has cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have learned about Mars, worked in gardening, and worked on outdoor adventures. It is a lot of fun and Jake is sure to earn a lot of arrow points next year.

Jake's swim lessons are really coming along. We have been practicing at the pool and he is doing so well. He just needs to get the breathing part down and he will be swimming longer distances soon. I am so proud of him. I can't wait for his instructor to see him today and see his improvement!

We are heading out to Indiana today and won't be back for a week. We will be seeing a flower garden tour in which the flowers are planted in quilt patterns. This is Amish country so we will be looking at crafts, quilts, etc. There is a museum that I want to see that has a tornado room that simulates what it is like to be in a tornado! It should be a nice relaxed vacation if we can survive the car trip part with a baby! Notre Dame is only 20 minutes away so we might try to fit in a field trip there. Jake will get to see his first Great Lake. The best part is that he doesn't know that we will be staying one night at a Great Wolf Lodge tomorrow that has a indoor water park. It will be a total surprise!

It will be good to just get out of town!