First Day of School

First out the door were Anna who is entering 7th grade and Julia who is in HIGH SCHOOL (aaah)!


Next out the door was Eliza who is now in 2nd grade. Everyone was excited for the first day!

Makeovers and appointments

The day after we got home from vacation, the girls all had appointments - Eliza for the dentist, Anna for the orthodontist and Julia for the eye doctor. Julia has decided to wear contacts now. She has such beautiful eyes, so it is fun to see them again. Anna also got new glasses that make her look a little more grown up.

Anna got not such good news from the orthodontist. She will have to have some more extensive work on a couple of teeth that are not coming in. Since she is already missing six of her permanent teeth, they are trying to save two that are not coming in like they should be. In December, she will have to have oral surgery and chains attached to two teeth that are still up high in her mouth and are laying sideways. She is nervous about the whole thing, but I think she will be ok. I just hope the teeth will come in like they should so that implants won't be necessary.

Both girls got their ears pierced this summer. They are so excited for that. The biggest makeover that happened was Julia's hair. We decided to get her hair relaxed so that she can actually brush it. With seminary soon approaching, I did not want her spending precious time fooling with her hair. She really loves it and she looks like a completely different person. She's never had straight hair!

BEFORE

AFTER

The Poconos

Lauren and Julia at Band Camp

Child's Park

Julia is participating in marching band this year and they spent last weekend up in the Poconos at band camp. We headed up Sunday morning to the camp so she could go to church with us at a nearby ward. While we were up there, we had a picnic at Child's Park. (Child's park was a park that my mom visited several times as a child and has often wanted to visit.) Chris and Christie also came up to enjoy the day with us since neither had been to this area of PA. A girl from our ward, Lauren, spent the day with us, since she was also at the camp.

Christie and Chris

The trip home wasn't so pleasant as we nearly got hit head on when a car had a blow out on the opposite side of the highway and went out of control, saw a motorcyclist lifeflighted as we sat on the shutdown highway, and saw another fender bender close to home. I decided after that we should probably just stick around home the last week of the summer :).

Hershey Park

Anna and Eliza on the boardwalk

The new water slides

Even with rain in the forecast, we decided to head out to Hershey Park this Friday. At the beginning of the day it was so humid with the pending storms, so we decided to go right to the waterpark. We were able to go down a couple of the new slides they had and tidal force before the storm hit.

Austin sporting his poncho

Learning from years past, I came prepared with ponchos and we enjoyed an early lunch while the lightning struck around us. While it was still raining we decided to head out to a couple of indoor rides. Soon the clouds parted and we were able to enjoy a little bit more of the the water park. With the nicer weather, the lines got longer, so we headed out to the other parts of the park. Eliza was a hershey bar this year, so she was delighted to go on new rides such as the claw, sidewinder, and lightning racer. She loves a thrill!!! Anna was brave, and tried the Great Bear roller coaster. I think she secretly liked it.

Hershey Bar at last!

Enjoying the ferris wheel with daddy

The only down side of the whole day was having wet shoes. I wore sandals, which dug into my feet. I had other shoes in the car, but we never made it back. When we finally left the park around 8:30, the girls were pleasantly (estatically) suprised to hear Demi Lamoto performing in the stadium right next to where we were parked. We sat in the car for 1/2 hour while they sang along to her songs. It was definitely the highlight of their enjoyable day.

Vacation #2 - Maine & New York

The next week after Julia's silver award project, we headed up to Maine to visit Grammy & Grampy's house. My kids find comfort going to their house and love the time they get there. I was hoping to send them up on their own this year, but logistically it didn't happen. I was fortunate, though, to get a couple of extra days off work by working extra hours, so we could have a nice visit.

On our way up to Maine, we stopped for lunch at our old neighbor's (the Ingalls family) new home in Connecticut. They have a cute cape, complete with a swimming pool, pond, and woods. Even though our visit was short, it was good to catch up and see how their kids have grown. Later that evening we arrived in Maine to a wonderful dinner and relaxation.


On Thursday we decided to check out Reid State Park. The facilities and ocean were nice, but the horseflies and mosquitoes were horrible. So we didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but had fun while we did.


Friday we headed up to one of my favorite towns, Camden. I have fond childhood memories of visiting my great uncle Wilford's store and playing on the waterfront. The town hasn't changed much in 30 years, quaint as ever. We also love to visit a great swimming hole there at the base of Camden Hills. We were able to get a nice picnic lunch in, but unfortunately were met by a quick moving storm only 10 minutes after getting in the water. So, we did the next best thing, and went shopping and home to play games and watch a Monk marathon.


Saturday was Nobleboro days. Not very exciting, but food and 25 cent books make any kid happy. Afterwards we spent the afternoon at Cousin Al & Eleanore's lakehouse and enjoyed canoeing and playing games. Later, Austin and I decided to spread a huge pile of dirt my dad had ordered. His lawn had become quite soggy with all the rain they got this year. After 2 hours, we accomplished the task, without my parents even noticing :). They were quite happy with our efforts and somehow doing all the spreading actually cured my shoulder pain I had been having for 2 months straight...go figure. Blessing do come from service!

Sunday, we enjoyed our morning at church and our last day at Grammy and Grampy's house. The girls loved playing in the outside hammock together. It was fun to hear all their giggles. Monday morning we headed down to New York to have dinner with Austin's aunts and grandmother at his sister's house. His grandmother just recently moved back to NY after decades of living in CA and NH. I think she is very pleased to be around all her daughters again.


Tuesday morning, the last day of vacation, we took the girls by New Hope PA, to see where we spent our anniversary getaway. We had fun walking around the flea market. Everyone walked away with a prized posession. Julia got her first pair of sunglasses, since she now wears contacts; Anna, a purse and necklace, and Eliza also got a necklace. After the flea market, we headed over to the Mercer tile works. This is one place Austin and I were unable to see while staying there. It was neat to see craftsman at work, creating beautiful tiles and mosaics. The girls even got to help make a couple of tiles. I had to laugh at Eliza when we first arrived at the tile place, because I told the girls this should be an interesting tour. Well, she turned to me, and with her fingers in quotation formation said, "Is interesting a code word for boring". She agreed after the tour, though, that it was truly interesting :). Because we hated the thought that our vacation was over, we made one last stop at Rita's water ice to complete the deal.

I'm glad the girls got the opportunity to visit all their family this summer. I think they got to see every grandparent and cousin except two. And hopefully, we will see Gretchen soon!!

Julia's Silver Award

Julia spent the first half of her summer preparing for her Silver Award Project in Girl Scouts. She taught a Spanish Class at the local library for a week, two hours a day. She had 7 students who came, and she did a really good job. The kids all seemed to love it. I was just relieved to have it all done, so I could relax the rest of the summer (ha-ha).

Making "Gourd Bowls"

Peruvian Dance Capes

Enjoying freshly made pico de gallo (salsa)

The week can't be complete without a piñata!

NYC rendezvous

View from the Staten Island Ferry

Yesterday we took a very impromptu trip to NYC. My friend, Mick Ziebell, and his wife were up there for the weekend and I haven't seen him in nearly 15 years. I told my husband it might be another 15 years before we see them so let's do it. There wasn't much time we actually saw them, but it was fun to meet his wife and catch up on 15 years!!

Mick and Sarah in Battery Park