July 4th Celebration

Little late but have to share.  We enjoy going up to our little town celebration.  I remember doing this as a child so it's really neat to now be taking my children.  Unionville has games, rides, food, music and a parade (with every fire department, tractor, 4wheeler, and horse around). 

My boys think they are too big to enjoy this so Ella and I go together.

 

A highlight for Ella is the face painting.  One year we stood in line 45 minutes for this.  We did great this year.  Only 10 minutes of waiting.

 This girl discovered Funnel Cakes a few months ago.  The best part is the powdered sugar.  Yummy!

 Ella made cupcakes to take to Noni's

 Another tradition of ours, painting toe nails to celebrate.

 After enjoying the community fun, we head to Noni and Papa with the rest of the family to swim, cookout, homemade ice cream and enjoy the fireworks

 Above:  Ella and cousin Mallory   Below:  Seth, Garrett, and cousin Will

Changed clothes and ready for sparklers, glow sticks and fireworks

 Seth pretends to be a ninja every time we do sparklers.  Dad brought his new chair to the firework viewing party.  Not to bad

 July 4th is an incredible celebration of freedom.  I love the fun, fellowship and family that comes with this special day.  The best part is dad is off of work and can be with us all day.

Ella is a Ridin'

Well this little one has been on her dad to ride the 4 wheeler.  Jeff was not to happy about it.  The day had finally come for her to ride.  These were the laps we took together for me to explain to her what to do.

After trips around the yard, off she goes on her own.  

 

This little one rode and rode.

She decided to take a break, a thumb break.  She said that is was hard work pushing the gas with her thumb so long.

She was so proud when Mr. Mike and Mrs. Jeanne, our neighbors, came over to see her doing this "BIG" thing.  They have been our neighbors since we have moved in 12 years ago.  We have seen their kids grow up and vise versa.  

This is Ella talking to Mr. Mike about the 4 wheeler.  

Mr. Mike and Mrs. Jeanne gave this 4 wheeler to Seth a few years back.  He said keep it and ride it.  Their children are now 20 and 17 so cars are more important.

Fun time in the summer.

 

Storms . . . Storm . . . Storms

We had a pleasant spring, but on the first day of summer the pleasant nice was over.  Along with hot, steaming comes storms.  Well we were home when this storm passed. 

We met in the den since thunder, lightning and heavy rain.  The lightning was streaking down to the ground.  After about 15 minutes of storms, it began to be scarier.  

A pop, a bright spark and all of us looking at each other.  This is what we found after the storm passed.  Lightning hit the tree in the front yard.  

The pictures below are walking out and what we found.  We had not touched or cleaned anything. 

 This is where the lightning ran out into the ground.

The trampoline flipped 3 times before stopping at Jeff's building.  After pulling it back into it's place, here we are. 

Mess on the ground

So with the tree, we also had problems inside

A TV

Cordless phones

2 xBox cords

internet

router

We are still trying to have everything working again.  This has really tested my patience.  I like things to work the way I had them working.  So I have learned many things that God is teaching me as well as my children through this process of things not working and having to work around them.

We are almost back to 100 %.  Now we have a dead tree to cut down.

40 years old

Jeff finally caught up with me.  His birthday, June 29.  He was turning 40 so his mom and dad sent him to New York.  I was so happy to be tagging along for the trip.  We left on Wednesday and returned on Saturday.  He had his birthday while in New York.

 I love flying.  It amazes me how big planes are and how they can get up in the air.  We are in Charlotte now then 3 hours later in NYC.  Way cool. 

This is the view from our hotel window.  5 blocks from Time Square, 1 block from Mamma Mia, 1 block from The Tonight Show, 4 block from Central Park.  Great Location.

The ToysRUs at Time Square has a ferris wheel inside the store.  This was on of the cars to ride in on the wheel.  If only I had a kid with me, we could have talked Jeff into riding. 

Heading out the door to a Broadway Show.  We saw Phatom and Mamma Mia.  We had front row seats to both shows.  Amazing.

 The hustle and bustle of Time Square at night.

Day 2, we headed out to GMA, Empire State Building, Museum of Natural History

 Robin Roberts outside filming that morning.

 84 stories up

 We ate at a place where the waiters sing.  Too cool.  Most of the people working here are trying to make in onto Broadway. 

After a rest, showers and clothes changed, we headed to the subway for our trip to the Bronxs.

Yankee Stadium.  Jeff has loved the Yankees since he was a little boy.  First time in the new statium. 

Even though the Yankees lost in the top of the ninth, we had a great time.  What is better than a game of baseball with Cracker Jacks, a coke and your honey sitting beside you.

So the big 40 day, we head out to Groud Zero

This is an incredible sight.  To hear the water, see the names and know what the people went through in order to get to where they are today.  Overwhelming.

We learned the subway system pretty well. 

Later, that night we headed to Mamma Mia.  Jeff has a customer that is in this show.  He took us backstage.  We enjoyed meeting him.

 So after a crazy van ride to the airport, we were able to chill out, eat some lunch and rest before we caught the plane to NC.  We had a great trip.  We dearly love our children and family but it does couples good to get away by themselves to enjoy each other just as when we met. 

Happy 40 to the man who works hard for our family, brings laughs to everyone, and guides and directs his family from wisdom he seeks from the Lord.  We are blessed.

Fancy Nancy Camp

 Ella's ballet teacher offered a Fancy Nancy Camp for 3 days.  Ella was very excited.  Each day the teacher read a Fancy Nancy book, danced, snacked and completed a craft. 

 Each day had a theme based upon the book they were reading.

This was the snack/craft room all decorated.

 The food table

Heading out the door on Day 2. 

On the way home from camp. Tired, Tired

She had a great time.  She felt really big to be at a camp.