Hershey Factoy

This show was cool. It included these animals,their trainer and 3 divers. The divers were the crooks and the sea lions and their trainer were the detectives. Actually the trainer was their secretary.

Look at the lights on the light poles. They are shaped like Hershey Kisses. Some are wrapped and some are unwrapped. These are on Chocolate Avenue.

This part of the factory as seen from the mono rail. I ended up riding the mono rail 3 times. The first one was Friday night. I wanted to see the park at night. Only Beth didn't want to ride it with me. Kieth and her didn't ride it. So then on Saturday , we convinced her to ride with us and she liked it. Then the kids had to have Keith ride the mono rail with them, so we did.
Below are the singing cows that we saw on the tour of the factory. Actually it is not of the factory, but a tour they have set up.

Hershey Park

When we came into the park on Saturday morning. This guy was showing the skunk. Hershey Park is connected to Zoo America, which you can enter for free from Hershey Park.

Beth and Chris were not quite as daring at Hershey Park to try new rides. This one was O.K. since it was like a ride at Adventureland. They said their favorite ride was the Frog Hopper which they also have at Adventureland. I thought Hershey Park was a great place for all ages. There was a ton of kiddie rides, but also great roller coasters. We went in Friday night for the "Preview". Youn can go from 7:30 pm -10:00 and then we went all day on Saturday and there were still rides most of us didn't ride.

This year was the first year for the new Boardwalk part of Hershey. It is a water park. My kids had looked up pictures on line and were so excited to be there.

This was an interesting ride. It is suppose to be like you are riding waves in the ocean. Chris waited in line, but decided not to do it as you have to jump off the top.

It was very busy so we didn't get to spend a lot of time doing the water slides.

Lancaster Trip

Here is Keith catching a nap between the competition and the youth rally.

One night after the sessions it had rained so the teens decided to play in the puddles.

Beth and Chris thought I should put this picture in the blog.

This is BEth in the pool at the hotel we stayed at in Lancaster.

The youth rally was suppose to be outside . However it was too hot. They held it instead in a ball room in the hotel. They used the good dishes and cloth napkins. I personally found it humorous as it was for teens and they served hamburgers.

Tirp to Lancaster #2

Here is most of our stuff. It was kind of amazing that we fit 30 people's stuff in 1 trailer! This was taken at Cedarville Univeristy.

Here is Carla, she did a great job with the dramas.

Here is the first drama getting ready to preform.

Here is the second drama preforming.

This is the large vocal group. Don't they look great in their robes!

Tip to Lancaster

I know it has been awhile since our trip, but I thought you still might want to see some pictures. Here are the teens at the church the first night. The church was great! They even bought us Pizza for lunch on Sunday.
Our tire on the trailer blew out! We were following and it was kind of wild how they didn't realize it right away. We also lost the fender, but no one was hurt!

The teens decided to play a huge game of spoons. That is the group of spoons in the right corner. They played in one spot and the spoons were over there you actually had to get up to get the spoons.
We decided we should look at a map before we took off the next day. We had a route from map quest, but it always better for everyone to know where we are going. On the lift is Earl and in the middle is Arvin it was nice of them to go with us.

Keith's Funny!

So Keith calls me on my cell phone shortly after he left for work. He said he picked up our cordless phone instead of his drink bottle. He was in too big of a hurry leaving for work! He seems to do that every night, he reads one more chapter to the kids which takes more time then he expects. Then he has to hurry to get to work on time. The kids thought that it was very funny that the phone was in the back seat of the car.
Last night I went to a meeting for home schoolers. It was a good meeting. Even the new superintendent was there in support of home schooling. They also gave out a list of Field Trips. Beth and Chris are both excited to go to Living History Farms. They will actually get to work on a farm and make a snack to eat.

Parade, Wedding and a Race

We started the weekend with a trip to Pella to get my parents. My mom had to go to the special shoe place in West Des Moines, so the kids and I went to Michaels. They were having a great sale and I bought a pretty shell, candle thing for my bathroom. I'm going to hang it and see how long it takes Keith to notice it. Then we were able to go to my brother Jeff and Sister in law Sherry house. Their daughter Johanna was there. She is always good about playing with the kids. We had a great supper and then we sat around and talked. Jeff also "fixed" my computer. It was a great night! Keith went to Men's retreat for the night and returned home at about 12:30 am.
On Saturday we went to Nevada for the Lincoln Highway Days Parade. Keith's brother was in teh parade. Kim and Steve and Ben came for the parade. This was the first parade Ben really got to watch as he was in parades on the 4th of July. It was fun to watch him. The kids got way too much candy! We went out to lunch and then headed to our church for a wedding. Stephanie my sister in laws Sister married a good friend of Kieth. It was funny as we didn't not realize until the groom started dating Amy(the bride )that he lived that close to us. Joe(the groom)younger brother Jordan was the ring bearer in our wedding. What a small world. It was fun to see my nephew Eli go down the aisle as a the ring bearer. He is only 23 months, but they bribed him with a sucker. It worked! I got to hold my niece, Jael for a while. She wasn't very happy as Stephanie had been busy as Matron of Honor and hadn't spent much time with her. She is growing and getting cuter everyday. Eli even let me hold him for awhile.
After the wedding we went back to Pella. Keith, Christopher, my dad and Joel went to the races in Knoxville. Chris loved it!!! He was so excited he couldn't hardly get to sleep. He also woke up in a good mood this morning. My mom, Beth and I canned 10 quarts of tomato juice. It was a fun time working together.
Today we stayed in Pella for church. Keith had a meeting at our church this afternoon so we all went up to Ames. The meeting went longer than planned, but the kids helped me make some copies and got to play with the Hatfield kids. I was so tired I order pizza from Casey's . Now I"m looking forward to working my last Monday until after school is out. I decided I really couldn't work that many days and school my kids.

Family Camp

This is Beth and her friends Jenny "surfing". They are two peas in a pod. Which means they are two very very silly girls!
Here is Chris at the bottom of his slide. He really still likes the playground. Also notice that he has on no shoes.
We had a great time at Family Camp, however Beth came back sick. I felt bad for her last Friday as she just felt worse and worse as the day went on. We took my parents back to Pella and they took us out to Pizza Ranch. It was good and Beth enjoyed mashed potatoes and ice cream. She didn't really begin to feel better until Tuesday. Then I got it only I didn't get a sore throat.Chris woke up on Thursday night with an ear ache. He doesn't seem as sick and has just kind of laid around.
I'm in the process of getting things lines up for the fall. We had a planing meeting with the teens this weekend and will have a parent kick off on Wednesday so we need to get everything line up.
I still have one more curriculum to order for Beth. Our goal is to start school next week.

Swim Lessons

This week and next the kids have swim lessons in Ankeny at 9 am. that means getting up at 8 am, so Beth is right now asleep on the couch. They really wanted to go to the pool again today for an hour, but we all needed to rest.
Below is Christopher's shirt we got him from Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. I tried to get him to buy a towel instead since he has a ton of shirts from sports, but he really wanted a shirt. I will try to post my pictures from the trip this week or early next week.

Jr. HIgh camp

We had a great week at Jr. HIgh camp! I had a great group of girls that were sensitive to God's leading in their lives!
Now it is catch up week!

Here is Jael. This one was taken shortly after birth. Yes, she was born at home. I wanted to get some other pictures, but it has been a crazy couple of days. She is a very pretty baby!

We are repacked and ready to leave for camp in the morning. If you would like to see pictures of our group from PA you can go to garbc.org and look at the conference pictures. There are some really good ones.

I'm praying that it will cool down for the week at camp otherwise I hope they play lots of water games!

Tirp to PA

We had a great trip! In some ways it seems like we were gone for a long time and in other ways, not so long. Since returning home, we have a new neice! Jael (pronounced Jay l) Faye Newman was born on the 4th of JUly at 8 :10 pm. She looks alot like her older brother, Eli. Everyone seems to be doing well today. Bethany is especially excited for the fact that it is a girl!! Chris says he was hoping for a boy, but a girl is ok. I thought it was especially nice that she was born while we were home as we leave for Jr. High Camp on MOnday.
I some how hurt my knee on Thursday night, so I'm trying to take it easy. I'll go see the chiropacter tomorrow, that should help.

Getting ready for the trip

We are almost done and ready for the trip. Thankfully I went to the house I was to clean today and they weren't there. Anyway I ran a few errands and made it home, so I have time to update the blog. When I got home there was a message from Best Buy our camera is done!!!!!!!!! They have had it since May 31.
Christopher is enjoying being an only child. Keith said last night how little trouble he is. I think it is just because he doesn't have anyone to fight with. We havne't heard from Bethany which is good. Last year she called once, I think that was only because others called on the counselor's cell phone.
Well I have some phone calls to make so I better go.

Beth left for camp

Bethany was able to leave for Jr. Girls camp this morning. She was so very excited, I don't think she slept much last night. I wasn't really ready for her to leave yet. I know she'll have a grat time and I can't wait to hear from her at the end of the week. She is so good about telling us all. Last year she talked non stop Saturday night.
Chris got to go to Jacob Hylton's house while I cleaned this morning. He had a great time playing with Jacob! He especially liked the trampoline! Then we ran some errands. Now we are going to eat pizza and watch TV.

Busy Week

Ok since my kids were gone this week, I worked some extra hours. I also got Christopher's room cleaned and started on Beth's. I made Keith breakfast in bed one day and tried to get things done for our trip to Penn.
Yesterday, Keith went up to Decorah to move his brother Kevin down to Nevada. The move didn't go very smoothly, they arrived in Nevada at about 9:30 pm. Needless to say Kevin slept at our house last night.
Meanwhile..........I called Best Buy and our camera was done, but still needes to be shipped to Ames. Hopefully we will get it back before we go to PA, but we have to figure out something else for Beth this next week.
I went to Pella to get the kids. They had a great time at VBS! They also did some fun things at Gma and Gpa's like playing cops and robbers and going to Thursday night in Pella. It was Shakesphere Night! They even ate supper uptown! My mom said that made up for not getting to eat out during Tulip Time since it was so cold and rainy. We had an ok trip back to Ames. Beth was to be at the lady's house who is to be her counselor this week, to make T-shirts. We got there on time. I shut off the car and then came back and it wouldn't start! I got a ride to get my other car, however our towing company had someone jump it. When I shut it off it didn't restart. So we jumped it again. I decided to leave it there and take my other car. Our other car was loud, but then while I was driving it to Nevada to get Keith and Kevin, it got louder. When we got home we noticed it had something dragging.
Well, we drove it to Chris's baseball game this morning this was his last game. It was kind of a rough start with us all being tired and he forgot his glove. He did get 2 good hits, a good play at 2nd and a chance to be the catcher. Then we went up to Ames and Steve Gray our hero helped us get a new battery for our cavalier.
Then we went and unloade Kevin's stuff. He is basically moved in.
Ok so now I need to say some of the great things I need to be thankful for-

• My car didn't break down on the road and we were able to get both of them running for now.
• Kevin is now only 1/2 hour away from us instead of 3 hours! He has a great little house and really seems to like his room mate and staff.
• Since we had to go back and get our car, we bought a very nice futon for $25 at a garage sale.
• We were able to spend time with Kevin and his roommate and staff.
• Christopher and Beth both helped out alot today!
• We are all safe and home for another night.
• Beth says she's happy because she gets to go to Jr. Girls camp on Monday.
• I have friends and relatives(who are also friends!) that read my blog.

Pella

We came to Pella yesterday. Unfortunately our camera is still not working. We bought a service plan so it is at Best Buy. We were hoping it could be done before we left for Pella so Beth could use it this week. Then if she can keep track of it here, we'll let her take it to Jr. Girls Camp. I'm not sure what we'll do now. Christopher played video games with Dalton and Beth played with Trevon.
Last night I went out to eat with my parents and my aunts and uncles. It was fun and relaxing. Chris kind of had a hard time sitting as it took alittle while to get our food. Then we just sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather. When it was too dark and the bugs came out, we went in. I was able to fix my mom's sewing machine at least it was sewing last night.
Today, we went grocery shopping. My brother, wife and nephew, Eli came. Since it is still nice the kids are outside. We are planning to go out again tonight. Which is an unusual thing when we are at my parents, but oh well. It will be fun and my mom won't have to work so hard.

Swimming

Yesterday the kids and I went to the Slater Pool after I worked. We were even able to go over for awhile in the evening. Christopher's favorite is the diving board. He has already made good friends with the Life Guards. Beth enjoys the board, slide, but mostly just swimming around.
Today, we went to the Aquatic Center in West Des Moines with Kim, Ben and the girls. They have 6 slides 2 for tubes, lazy river, fun kids area and diving board. Both of my kids are at a great age where they enjoy playing in the kiddy area with Ben, but also can swim in the deep water. I didn't have to work so we were there for about 4 hours so I think we got our money worth. They both seem ready for bed, even Christopher just yawned a hug yawn.
Keith has begun to get the areas around our house and trees ready for wood chips. He thinks this will help our yard look better and save him time mowing. I agree that both happened when we did the swing set and flower bed. Now if I could just cover parts of our house so it wouldn't get cluttered and save me time cleaning.

Summer begins!

This morning we were up and ready for the garage sale before 8 am. It was a great day weather wise! However, some people would drive by and not really see my garage so they wouldn't stop. Oh well we all made some money and met new people.
After we packed up the extra stufff, the kids went to the pool! They were so very excited for the Slater Pool to be open. They swam for 2 1/2 hours and then came home and ate supper and went back for 2 more hours. Personally I thought this evening was a little chilly, but they had a great time! Christopher really likes to go off the board even though Beth said it was too cold to get out of the water.
Now the kids are taking showers and getting ready for bed. I'm planning to go to bed early also. Tomorrow is church and practice for TFC and a meeting.
This is the last week of "normal" for quite awhile. Beth and Chris will go to my parents for a week. Then Beth goes to Jr. Girls camp and then we all go to Pennsylvania with the teens for 10 days. Then we are home for 4 or 5 days and then Jr. High camp. It will be crazy, but lots of fun! Beth is so excited about Jr. Girls she is about to burst! (And it is still 2 weeks away)

Moving!!

Kevin is moving to Nevada on June 15!! His meeting on Tuesday went great! He is very excited to be able to work at Happy Joes 3 mornings a week folding pizza boxes. I met his roommate who is ready for Kevin to move in as he says he gets lonely without a roommate. On the trip to Decorah we ran into some rain, but nothing major. I loaded up boxes he had packed and headed out. When I was outside of Elma it started raining for awhile, but I drove out of it. When I got about 1/2 hour away from the rain, I heard on the radio that a major thunderstorm was hitting Elma. God is so good! I actually got to Ames earlier than I expected.
Yesterday and today we have been getting ready for the garage sale on Saturday. We baked cookies and muffins yesterday and today we cleaned out our garage. My thought is we can make money, but it also gets our garage cleaned once a year. Oh and it also get rid of some of the extra junk we have in our house, that we really don't need.
Christopher will hopefully have a baseball game on Saturday. The last 2 Wednesdays it has rained so he hasn't had games. The Slater pool is to open on Saturday, I think. They did have to do some repairs, so I'll call tomorrow and see if they have it done. We had talked about going to the Ankeny pool this week. But with the rain and garage sale we haven't made it.
Well back to work on garage sale stuff.