Summer Trip wrap-up

With Rachel here and the projects, cooking, and little outings that we're busying ourselves with, last week allowed me no blogging time.  Now that Greg's family is here in Texas as well and our household has swollen from 6 to 10 people, I really have no energy or time to properly catch up on the Pennsilvania half of our trip.  I've got everything organized in Flickr sets, and the entire trip gathered into one collection, but I'll share just a few last shots here... (I so prefer to blog in the moment -- catching up is so difficult to write about when there are so many things happening right now.)

On one of the last days of our trip, we went to a Cooperate Challenge race that Greg's dad Pete was competing in.



As we were watching the racers go by, we noticed a familiar hulking figure tear by:



...Strangely enough, with no number pinned to his chest.



(On the 2nd time around, he tore off his shirt and carried it for the rest of the race)

And here comes one of the LEGAL racers...


As it turned out, Caleb had arrived at the community college to work out at the gym, and saw a race lining up right outside the doors.  So he decided to work out by racing instead.  Apparently, even if you're a huge guy with no number, no one will notice if you just start at the back of a crowd of 400 racers.



Had he been a registered racer, he would have placed towards at least the top 10 or 15.  Go Caleb!  ...I think.

On Friday, the day before we headed back, we headed out to Fireman's Field Days in Greg's hometown, for some good old fashioned country fun: a little bit of rain, lots of sweets, and plenty of penny prizes for the children.  The night ended with glow sticks and fireworks.  A lovely ending to our road trip.



















For more pictures of our trip, click through to our Summer Visits Collection on Flickr.

Back in Texas, and a visit to the dairy farm

On Saturday morning we packed ourselves into the van and headed back to Texas.  After two days on the road, we pulled into our little neighborhood late last night.  This was one of our best visits with family ever, but it's so good to be back in our own beds!  We brought my littlest sister Rachel back with us (she's 13), and we are planning all sorts of crafting adventures for this summer.

Today we went to the fabric store to stock up on supplies for some of our projects:



So much fun!

For the next few days, I'm will be blogging the rest of our Pensilvania trip, and then it'll be back to the usual Life In Texas stuff.

One of our children's favorite things to do when they're at Poppy and Nana's house, is to go to the dairy farm up the road.  They love playing with whatever new batch of kittens happens to be around,




petting the calves,






watching the cows get milked,






and, most importantly, jumping on the trampoline in the haymow.






Farms can be a pretty exciting place!

Camp-out Date Night

On Wednesday night, Greg took me on a Camping Date out in the woods.  It's so wonderful to make time to just be "us"; to spend time without the distractions of children, technology, or any other responsibility, and focus on each other.


(Greg taught me how to drive this, although I was a little apprehensive about tipping it or encountering another vehicle on the narrow roads...)

Greg packed up his brother Keith's Polaris Ranger with all of our gear so that we wouldn't have to hike it all in.



Greg showed me how to build a fire.  I was so excited when it actually lit!



Behind the fire, you can see stacks of wood for the next morning, sorted by size to make starting the breakfast fire as simple as possible.  Greg is the most organized person I know.  Sometimes it doesn't drive me crazy.  :-)



We roasted marshmallows, ate snacks, and talked into the night before turning in, using Keith's camping cabin as shelter instead of pitching a tent.


Crucial camping gear: Greg's grandpa's old knife, cooking pots, lots of water, and our little Leica point-and-shoot camera.



Nothing like bacon over a campfire in the morning.



Eggs from Aunt Susie, ready to be turned into breakfast.






Once we had packed up all of our things in the morning, we set up a little shooting range for some target practice, using the 22 that Greg's dad gave him for his 7th birthday.



(We used our sleeping bag roll as a cushion to steady the barrel)




Our spent brass



Greg shot right through this marshmallow, although I couldn't even graze it.




I wasn't sure that I had even shot this one until we went to retrieve it -- I managed to hit it 5 times all in a cluster!  (Yes, I thought I was awesome.)

We did this little camping trip last year too, and we've decided that we should probably make it a yearly tradition.  It is so refreshing to get away together, even just for a little while.