Camp Week

 Camp week was memorable as always! This year held some new adventures. I drove a van full of teenagers to camp for the first time. I may have had ulterior motives in driving--I got to give Aliza a hug. I also got to see the sweet moment when Aliza and Anna saw each other. 

Our youth group was on the Orange Team and wore their orange Crush shirts to arrive. 

I drove home and then Isaiah and I drove to WV and spent a couple days with Grandma and Grandpa. Isaiah is holding it, but I was pretty excited about a fresh fruit salad. 

Anna texted this picture and was so excited to tell me that she had gone on the giant swing in the high ropes course. That was the only time I heard from Anna!

Isaiah and I got to be part of Joel's birthday celebration. 

Ronan kept Isaiah busy. When it was time to leave, Ronan tried very very hard to kiss Isaiah--on the mouth. Isaiah was having no parts of that. 

Josiah talked a solid 20 minutes on the drive home with me when they got back from camp! He had a great time and only had great stories to tell. I asked him if he had a favorite memory and his response was that it took all of the activities together to be his favorite--without any one thing it wouldn't be the same. 

The heat index was over 100 degrees every day of camp. After color wars every afternoon, the boys jumped in the pool to try to give their sweaty shirts a quick clean. 

Isaiah and I spent an afternoon with friends. He didn't think he was going to enjoy the afternoon, but ended up having a great time playing Mario Kart and Minecraft with Liam. We had some time to kill and found. a sale on outdoor summer toys at Target. We bought a slip n slide which Isaiah enjoyed. 

Rain was a welcome reprieve from the heat!

And then on the last morning of camp, Jeremy, Isaiah and I got to sit in on the last large group celebration. It's fun to just get to sit back and watch. The music started and Josiah was up and headed to the front with everyone else. Isaiah now CANNOT wait until he is old enough to go! 

 It was special to get a tiny glimpse into the energy Aliza gives to the campers from breakfast to midnight every day. She also got to give her Daddy a BIG hug. 

A bunch of our group were sick during the week. Anna was pretty miserable on Friday. Josiah was just getting it on Friday. The worst for Aliza was Wednesday/Thursday. 

One more group picture and then I drove a van of teenagers home again. Traffic was terrible again. But we made it. I'll even drive again next year if I'm needed. 
 

I'm so grateful that this is such a positive life-impacting experience for our kids. So life-impacting that Aliza wants to create the experience for all the campers. She is right where she is supposed to be. In spite of the physical and mental exhaustion, she absolutely loves talking to the campers, interacting with the youth group she is assigned to and tells me in almost every polo that she knows that she is living in her purpose.  

So Far This Month

 The day finally arrived for Aliza to meet her team and start her summer camp adventure! She is part of a missions team that puts on week long camps for youth groups. It's our first experience of having a child away from home for an extended period of time. 

There have been some beautiful afternoons for reading outside. 

Anna continues to document our sunsets. 

We acquired a coconut which led to quite the process of draining the water from it, opening it and scraping the fruit. 

Josiah and Sean built a reallllly tall tower!

We spent the weekend in West Virginia. Jeremy and I each got to spend a few hours with friends. Josiah, Anna and Isaiah played hide and seek with Ronan. We got to see Van for Father's Day and see that Karen is recovering well from surgery. 

And we also got ice cream...and took a picture for Aliza. 

 

Joy Dare::May

 12,257. When Aliza realized she can fail the final and still get an A in the class
12,258. Getting to mow the grass
12,259. Last English class
12,260. Isaiah finished 3 subjects
12,261. Aliza's Spanish story
12,262. A very intense game of monkey in the middle
12,263. Going to a choir concert with Aliza
12,264. Meeting a group of friends at Island Creamery
12,265. Crossing off the Saturday to do list
12,266. Hearing all about the SAT when I picked up Josiah
12,267. Spending the evening with Nicole
12,268. Our church community
12,269. First year of college completed for Aliza
12,270. Planning for a few days away
12,271. Keeping my focus on the present
12,272. Spontaneous plans that let Jeremy and I have an at home date
12,273. Jeremy was able to fix the van's air conditioning
12,274. Running into Annie Nichols
12,275. Family
12,276. Stopping for lunch 2 hours from home and friends were there too
12,277. Experiencing NYC--especially with Anna
12,278. Exploring
12,279. Ice cream
12,280. Visiting with our hosts
12,281. Rainy day morning rest
12,282. Afternoon adventure
12,283. Movie night
12,284. Driving out of the city
12,285. Being able to help Aliza in a positive way
12,286. Home
12,287. A day full of friends
12,288. Mother's Day chai from Aliza
12,289. Visiting with Mom and Dad
12,290. Lettuce from Dad's garden
12,291. A hard good bye
12,292. Theological lunch discussion
12,293. The first peony bloom

12,294. Enjoying an orchid on my counter
12,295. Isaiah found a book to read on his own
12,296. Lunchtime with Grandma and Lydia
12,297. Little girl giggles, smiles and stories
12,298. A good math day with Anna
12,299. Late night Wednesday talk with Aliza
12,300. Henry's had the best day with us--so much giggling
12,301. A Thursday evening without a commitment
12,302. Anna did really well on her math test
12,303. Planting a couple dahlias
12,304. Josiah did well on SAT
12,305. Family game of Geoguesser
12,306. Retirement party for my long-time-ago mentor
12,307. A month late, but it was a fun Easter egg hunt
12,308. the breeze made it a lovely afternoon
12,309. 4 year old Haitian friend wanting to tell us that she is "sweaty" but she says "I'm sweater" over and over
12,310. Aliza's choir concert
12,311. Doing my best to parent well
12,312. Woke up at 3am and knew I had to pray
12,313. While I'm overreacting, 4 children got the snake off the porch
12,314. Hearing all about the girls shoe shopping excursion
12,315. Starbucks for me

12,316. My friend with a kiddo in the same season as mine
12,317. Learning to wait
12,318. Snap peas from Dad's garden
12,319. Listening to Aliza's thoughts and feelings
12,320. An evening of fellowship
12,321. Kind words when I was nervous
12,322. These 3 not wanting to go to bed

12,323. Isaiah's genuine interest in Aliza's activities
12,324. Anna wanting to ride with me

12,325. Josiah's favorite guy evening

12,326. Doing all of my computer work on the porch this afternoon
12,327. Pokemon walk around campus
12,328. Impromptu supper on the porch with Aliza
12,329. My heart at rest
12,330. Restful Sunday afternoon
12,331. Bible study
12,332. Visitors at church
12,333. Talking to Janell
12,334. Evening walk
12,335. A Mom moment with Anna 

12,336. Coffee with my girls
12,337. Baking cookies with Isaiah
12,338. School is finished
12,339. Buying flowers with Mom
12,340. Watermelon season
12,341. Josiah lets me hug him
12,342. End of school Chick Fil A
12,343. Anna was SO surprised
12,344. Watching Aliza live her best life
12,345. Sheats family evening
12,346. Praying for John
12,347. The Little Mermaid professional recording watch party
12,248. Planting flowers
12,249. Family day at home
12,250. Everyone enjoyed hamburgers for supper

 

End of School

 School is finished! I feel like I drug everyone over the finish line which did not feel like a victory. lol I even tried to generate some enthusiasm to finish by promising Chick Fil A for lunch the next day. Oh well. They did it and I even submitted grades and portfolios to the Board of Education before we went to lunch. That DID feel like a victory! 

It worked out that Jeremy could get away to meet us for lunch. Taking big kids out to lunch is almost as unpredictable as taking littles out to lunch.  

Josiah is a SENIOR now! The straw of four straws was pretty entertaining. 

Anna makes flowers out of straw papers. 

Isaiah got in on the straw excitement. It came home with us and has made a few appearances. 

   

It's going to be a fun summer. We are going to soak up every minute of it! 

New York--the Country

 Between our visits to the city, we spent two days in the country, in Cold Spring. The kids said it reminded them of Shepherdstown, WV. We could walk everywhere. It was quiet. We had a little two bedroom apartment vacation rental that was just enough room and no extra room! 

The first day was beautiful. The Hudson River was spectacular.

 

There was a short trail through the remains of a foundry that dates back to the civil war.

That's Aliza out there by the waterfall. Indeed, I did tell Isaiah that he was not going out there with her!

A local ice cream shop called Sweet E's was our afternoon stop both days! Ice cream cookie sandwiches was the specialty and they were yummy!

The second day was very very rainy. We decided on the little bit longer drive to go to Roosevelt's estate in Hyde Park. Thankfully everyone had a good attitude and it was an enjoyable tour.

I will never quit being thankful for much these siblings enjoy each other's company.

Lucky for us, we drove right past the ice cream shop. Anna tried mango and she was an instant fan.

New York--the City

 We did it! We picked dates, guarded them carefully on the calendar, rearranged by a day to be back for our youth pastor's last Sunday when we found out he was taking a new job, and went to New York for a couple days. 

New York City has been on Aliza and Anna's list of places to explore for a long time. Our lodging was about an hour and a half north of the city and so we planned to go into NYC on our way to Cold Spring and again on our way home. 

But first, we got lunch at the Christiana Mall and were very surprised that our friends were also having lunch at the mall on their way to a family getaway. We had a more social and little longer lunch than we had planned but it was fun!

Jeremy is an amazing navigator and I can follow directions so I drove into NYC while Jeremy found and prepaid for a parking garage very close to Grand Central Terminal. Several times we debated taking the subway, but with 6 people, logistically and $$ it made sense to just drive in. First stop was Grand Central Terminal for bathrooms.

We walked up 5th Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

We went in an walked around. Anna was especially impacted by this experience in relation to what she was seeing compared to what we believe.

Rockefeller Center is across the street. The Lego store was amazing. 

F A O Schwartz was almost instantly over stimulating.

We continued walking up 5th Avenue to Central Park.

Taking in everything along the way!

In Central Park, it was a little disturbing to watch a raccoon wander out of the bushes and across our path. 

Anna was in her element! She loved everything about the city!

 

Isaiah's outfit choice had to be documented. I wanted so badly to tell him to change his socks. But I decided he would be easy to spot if we got separated and he was quite happy about them. Isaiah was happy to make sure he was holding my hand while we were walking. Our family is a picture of big contrasts right now--Aliza ready to wander off by herself, Anna ready to move to the city, Isaiah still holding my hand, and Josiah biding his time until we leave the city.

There is one child who makes her way into most every picture!

And then we walked the mile down to Times Square. It was about 12 blocks and Isaiah was counting down. There were so many people.

And then we were in Times Square. Anna was mesmerized. Aliza was looking for Broadway because the goal is to make it to a show at the end of the summer.

Jeremy's navigation skills got us to the perfect NY Pizza place that was on our way back to the parking garage. The pizza came straight out of the oven. I was so hungry---I burned my mouth---It was really yummy!

After walking past an ice cream truck on almost every block, ice cream was a necessity after supper. It wasn't even very good ice cream, however it hit the spot anyway.

Three days later, on our way home, we went back into NYC and this time parked in Chinatown. The plan was to eat lunch in Chinatown which we did. Jeremy found a place that had high reviews and it was just the experience we were looking for.

Walking the streets of Chinatown was also it's own experience and did not disappoint. Aliza compared the smells to Kolkata. Everything happening on these streets made the over stimulation of 5th Avenue seem like nothing!

We drove from Chinatown to the Financial District. Chinatown really did us in. lol. Isaiah didn't eat well and he needed a bathroom. Bathroom was first on the agenda and was not easy to come by. I thought I found something for Isaiah to eat, but it wasn't right for him. 

The only thing Josiah expressed minor interest in was Wall Street and the Stock Exchange. We didn't make it to either of those, but we thought the Charging Bull would be interesting. We didn't even try to make it through the crowd to actually see it. (By this point, Josiah really didn't care what he did or didn't see.)

The ultimate goal for the afternoon was to get to the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We were successful in doing that. The city skyline from the ferry was spectacular.

And we saw the Statue of Liberty.

I'm not sure what we could have done to make that afternoon better...besides packing a few snacks for Isaiah's lunch! We were happy to get back to the car and most everyone was asleep before we got back out of the city. 

We saw the city. We had an adventure. And we were happy to be going home. Anna was the only one still excited about NYC when we left!