Visiting Coles Knob Part 2

Here are a few more pictures of our trip. Thanks Grandma and Granddaddy for such a wonderful trip. We relaxed, we played, and we ate good food:)

Shooting Granddaddy's SKS. I actually learned how to disassemble and put it together all by myself. It was fun to work with-even if the gun is too heavy for me to hold steady:)

Picking blueberries is always a highlight. We love the picking/eating off the bush time and all the future food- the pies, cakes, breakfast food, and fruit salads we make with it. Yeah for blueberries!

Stan's good friend and best man at our wedding John Curle came down to Cole's Knob and the boys did an 8 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail. John has a 10 year goal of hiking the entire thing.

The kiddos on the trampoline. The kids got on so well with Addie this time. It was fun to watch them together. Israel especially appreciated that she'd play the car arcade game in the basement with him. We're looking forward to Travis's family's visit to CA sometime in the near future.

Visiting Aunt Jean's house. She gave us the banjo she'd found at a yard sale a few weeks before. We had a nice visit and Israel was mesmerized by all the collections (thankfully the girls were asleep in the car or we might have had a few disasters)

Sunday afternoon we played a lot of music. Travis taught Stan and I to play on our new banjo- We can play Cripple Creek, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, and Boil Them Cabbage Down. And this is a big one for me- Travis's teaching method totally works for me. I have all 3 songs memorized and memorization has always been a bear to me. Thanks Travis!

Stan getting Corban Stanley to sleep. We both enjoyed all the baby time we were able to take. Corban is 7 months old and really a good little guy.

Highlights not pictured:

-Going to the Floyd County Branch for church. It was so good to see the branch we've heard so much about and bonus- we even got to hear Grandma give a talk.

-Watching Toy Story 3 in 3D. The adults liked it at least as much as the kids. We recommend it.

-Spending the night at Travis and Renee's playing games and the girls having a big slumber party.

-Travis setting off an impressive SC style firework display on July 3rd. We watched the show laying down on the trampoline. It was perfect.

Going to Cole's Knob (Part 1)

We went to see Grandma and Grandaddy Hall over the 4th of July. On a wagon ride at the Wickam Reunion at Alta Mons.
Looking for craw dads at Alta Mons

A beautiful dead butterfly Eliza found

At the Double Springs School in Check, VA

A picture of what it looked like before they painted and renovated the school

Israel and the Outhouse. Israel noticed right off it looked just like Shrek's outhouse moon and all. See his Shrek face and hands?

Julia on her slate

Working math on his slate
Eliza discovering the microscope. She enjoyed being the teacher and telling us all what to do.

Me by the door. I even rang the school bell.

ABC123

Israel passed Kg with flying colors and is looking forward to 1st grade. We are all going to miss Mrs. T. his amazing and loving teacher when she moves to Kentucky. Israel won the Kg writing contest, this is what he wrote on the prompt "I Wish"

I wish I had a baby brother! I like babys. I want one so bad. I am fine with my baby being a twin or a normel baby brother. I do not wont a baby sister. Becaus I have a lot of sisters.

(spelling and grammer are all his)

I'm right with Israel- I wish he had a baby brother too.

Here's pictures from the last day of School Luau

Finishing his last worksheet in kindergarten

Israel and his best friend Jimmy (who won 1st place for Kg art) with Mrs. T

I'm sneaking in Eliza and Julia's last day of storytime at the library with Mrs. Kasey. She moved to Idaho last week and we're sure going to miss her-especially Julia

The Newest Member of Our Family

Zeke the nocturnal Austrailian Tree Frog is our family's first pet. He's rather quiet and spends most of the day hidden in his moss. Stan is grossed out by him and as of yet hasn't touched him. Israel and Eliza hold him. Julia wants to but I won't let her. Mainly we leave him be, but today we took him out and he climbed our smooth broom handle.