It's all good . . .

Summer at Home: Week 9

It has been another good week, and it is strange to think that we only have one more week of summer left. After having the kids home for the past six months and life disrupted, it will be a blessing to have some small piece of normalcy again - for however long we get it.  For now I will enjoy the thought of having some normal, and I. will keep enjoying the amazing summer sunsets.

This week started out with Arthur, the magician, coming into my room and doing all sorts of magic tricks for me.  It was so much fun, and so cute, that I had to have him redo the tricks so I could get pictures and video.  It was such a fun way to spend some time on a Sunday afternoon.

Speaking of Arthur, for the past two weeks, he has made appointments to visit Miss Becky's house to read her giant collection of Calvin and Hobbes books.  Last week he spent two and a half hours reading all of her paperback books - they own them all - and now he has moved on to reading their large collections.  He is so well behaved while he is there, and just quietly and carefully reads the books, enjoying every minute.  

This week we were able to squeeze in four more hikes, although not all in the same day.  We also took with us our sweet neighbor, Tamia, who we adore.  The first two hikes of the week were at Codorus Lake, and they were gorgeous.

The paths went right along the lake in many parts, so we took the time to skip rocks and enjoy the view.

The most. exciting thing for me was getting to see some Great Blue Herons.  They are so beautiful, and we even got to see a few of them in flight, which is amazing.

Tamia enjoyed being out in nature, and I discovered that she has an eye for spotting caterpillars - even tiny ones.  She saw this fuzzy little guy and wanted to pick him up, but wasn't sure if she wanted to touch it, so she got him to climb on a leaf so that she could study it more closely.

Another favorite part of the hike was discovering a hidden graveyard.  There were these random stone steps on the side of the trail, so we followed them and discovered this small cemetery. So cool!

The second hike wasn't quite as pretty as the first one, but it was still beautiful.  Arthur and Tamia loved this one because of the little house they discovered. It was actually set up to be a bird watching house, with birdhouses behind it and lists of birds on the inside with pictures, so you could identify them.  So cool!

On Thursday, we were out hiking again, and Tamia was happy to join us once more.  These hikes were just east of Glen Rock, and they were gorgeous, as usual.  

They followed a creek for quite a bit, which we got to cross on this really beautiful bridge that felt like something out of a fairy story.

There were also wildflowers all over, a few of which I hadn't seen out here before.  I love discovering new flowers.

The second hike was another fun one, and this one we got to cross a creek on stones, which the kids just loved!  If we had had water shoes, or even a change of shoes, I would have let them play in the water for a while.  Maybe next time :).

One of the most exciting parts of every hike, is when we finally find the post to do our rubbing on our Go York rubbing sheet.  It is always a celebration.  I am so glad that they kept this program going this summer, in spite of all the craziness.  It was such a wonderful way to get outside with my kids, explore our gorgeous area, and enjoy being together.

Friday brought a pretty wild thunderstorm with it.  I was out in Hallam taking some real estate pictures, when a giant storm blew in.  Luckily I had just finished taking the pictures and was getting out to my car when the rain started, but by the time my camera was safely in my case, the rain was coming down in. sheets and the wind was so strong that it was racking my van back and forth. I decided to sit for a bit and see if it calmed down before I went home, and soon got a text from Kevin saying the power was out at home, and wasn't supposed to come back on for a while.  Good times.  Since I knew I wouldn't be able to cook dinner, I grabbed something on the way home.  

The power did eventually come back on, and so we decided to watch a movie together, and soon we were all cozy in the basement watching "A League of Their Own." Things were going great, that is until the power went out two more times. Kevin was able to use the power converter he uses for his c-pap sleep machine during deployments, to power the DVD player to get the movie out, and then we played it on one of old laptops with a DVD drive.  It worked, and we were able to finish our movie and enjoy the evening. And blessedly, the power came back on before bed so that our AC was running and could cool the house.

Another really fun thing this week has been harvesting from my garden.  We got a few apples off of our apple tree, I got a third cantaloupe of the season, and two beautiful pumpkins from our little volunteer pumpkin plant.  I also was able to harvest a ton of tomatoes, lots of raspberries, and almost ten pounds. of carrots! I. just forgot to get pictures of them before I gave most of the tomatoes and carrots to my neighbors.  I love getting to enjoy and share the bounty of my garden.
Saturday was a good day, but one of my favorite parts, was when I came downstairs to find Kevin and Arthur cuddling, while he taught him all the finer points of baseball. It was the sweetest thing!

While they watched baseball, I took advantage of a break in the storm to sit on my front porch, behind a wall of roses, and sit and read my book.  I love taking time to reset and relax like this, and I really need to make myself do it more often. It was a wonderful way to finish out the week.

*On a side note, I received these pictures from my mother this week.  They finally installed the headstone for my father, and it is just beautiful.  I was there when my mom picked it out, and it is perfect, and it is one more little bit of closure to have it there now.

Books, Disappointment, and Perspective

Almost a year ago, my siblings and I started talking about the idea of going on a trip to Italy together.  My sister, Heather, served her mission there and not only has she always wanted to go back, but she speaks Italian - definitely a bonus.  We talked for a while more, and finally decided on who would be going, all five of us Anderson girls, Cheryl's husband, Scott, as well as my brother Preston and his two daughters. It was a big group, but it was going to be amazing.  

I immediately started reading Rick Steves travel books all about Italy, and all together we decided on our itinerary, which cities we would be staying in, and booking fabulous airbnbs for the trip. We were just about to buy advance tickets to museums and such when Corona hit, so we decided to hold off a bit. Then everyone's but my plane tickets were canceled, and only my sisters, Holly and Heather, were planning on rebooking. We went from our large group, to a group of three, but it was fine.  We rebooked our lodging, the two of them bought new tickets and we prayed that we would be allowed to go, since the borders are still closed to Americans right now.

All the while, my Italy travel books from the library were sitting in my bedroom, waiting for me to pick them up again and keep planning.  But part of me just couldn't let myself even think about getting excited until I knew for sure, and so I couldn't read them anymore, and I couldn't plan.  They sat there untouched, and I kept renewing them, just in case. By now, my sisters' second round of tickets were canceled, but we were still holding out hope that we could possibly still go. However, yesterday was the day Kevin and I talked about the reality of my trip, and that even if they did open the borders in time, we would be required to do a two week mandatory quarantine, taking up our entire vacation. I was heartbroken, especially because it was just one more thing added to the long list of broken plans and canceled events since March. I took those wonderful Italy travel books, and as I turned them into the library, I felt like I was saying goodbye to a dream.

When I got up this morning, I did my usual Saturday morning walk through the neighborhood trails, and I listened to my audio book, which just happened to be a fabulous nonfiction book called "Second Suns," all about two amazing doctors that were trying to rid the world unnecessary blindness.  The story was truly fascinating, but as I was taking my walk and listening, still feeling a bit sorry for myself, I reached a section of the book where one of the doctors was working at a clinic in Rwanda they were trying to get established.  The surgeon he was working with was a survivor of the holocaust not too many years before, losing eighteen close family members to the horror of that time. As they worked that day, prisoners were brought in to receive treatment, and Dr. Geoffrey Tabin was blown away by the fact that the other surgeon, in spite of the horror and loss he suffered from the hands of these prisoners,  selflessly performed a free procedure on them to restore their site.

Brought to tears as I listened to this, and other stories in the book during my walk, I couldn't help but think that my disappointment over a canceled trip to Italy was such a small and insignificant thing in the grand scheme of things.  That I truly have so much to be grateful for - more things than I can even count, one of which was being born in a country where preventable blindness is just that, preventable and essentially nonexistent. Yes, we deal with disappointment and hard things in our lives, but we are also richly blessed.  The key is to find the blessings amidst the disappointment, and find joy amidst the trials.  Yes, I am still sad that my trip was canceled, but truthfully, I am more grateful that I live in a place and live a life where I was able to plan and even contemplate taking a dream trip to Italy.  It is all about perspective.

Our Grown Up Working Girl

Our Lily is growing up before our eyes, and it is the most exciting and bittersweet experience, especially realizing that at this time next year we will be dropping her off at college.  In the past month, Lily has had some very exciting milestones. She got her driver's license, which is so exciting!  It took longer than normal, because in Pennsylvania you can't get your permit until you are 16, and then you have to have 65 hours of driving logged - and then Covid shut down the DMV.  Good times - better late than never.

The other big milestone happened this past week. Lily started her very first job! She has worked doing babysitting and yard work off and on for years, but this is the first time she has interviewed for and had a real job, and it is beyond exciting!  She started on Saturday, and has worked a few days now, and is loving it! And her confidence grows every time she works.

Another milestone was her getting her own phone, because now that she has a job and her driver's license, she actually needs one - and she contribute toward the bill. She even got her first social media account, and is now on Instagram. The funniest thing about the whole phone thing, is that Lily has gone so long without a phone, that she barely even pays attention to it. Ha ha!

And tonight, we are watching a virtual meeting about applying to BYU, which means applying to college is about to be one more milestone to add to the list. It makes me so excited and proud of her, and yet so sad at the same time, because as we move forward with this new chapter of her life, it means she is one step closer to leaving home.  But it also means that she has grown up to be an amazing and independent young woman who has a fabulous life ahead of her.  We sure do love our Lily!!

Summer at Home: Week 8

Every Sunday, as part of our Family Home evening, we have an activity, and this time Arthur was in charge.  He really wanted Becky and Dave to be there for it, and so we started this week with a fun game night with our friends. We played Tapple, and it was a blast, and such a fun way to spend our Sunday evening.  And while they were over, Arthur made an appointment to go over to their house later in the week to read their Calvin and Hobbes books - it was the cutest!

It was a work week for Kevin, and so the kids and I planned a few more hiking adventures.  (Have I ever mentioned how ever since Kevin had to go hiking for his job when he was in the Army, he has hated hiking.  Because of that, we tend to go hiking without him.)  On Monday morning, we headed to a hike at Nixon Park, and it was just gorgeous and so much fun.

The best part was when we came upon a family of deer - a doe and two fawns.  It was so awesome!!

On Friday morning, we went on two more hikes, this time with our new friends, the Yosts, who just moved here from Florida.  I had picked the High Point Scenic Vista hike, and the scenery and view of the Susquehanna River was gorgeous, but I missed the shade of the forested hikes. It was so fun to have friends with us, and we had a a great time. 

There was another hike that was only five minutes drive away, and so even though Brianna and her kids had to leave, we headed there.  It started at this historic house right on the river, which was awesome.  The hike started in the forest, but quickly switched to open fields, which we weren't all that happy about, because it was so hot.

In spite of the lack of shade, it turned out to be a really cool hike.  There was this amazing little cemetery in the middle of nowhere, with very old headstones.  My favorite one said: "In Memory of Margar* Bonham, Consort of Samuel C. Bonham who departed this life August the 1st A.D. 1824 Aged 30 Years 4 months & 24 days. No howling storms nor winters cold can reach her safe abode, She treads the shining streets of gold and sees her smiling God."  And then there was the tiny headstone next to it, but it was too worn to see any words, which made me wonder if it was their child.

This week, I harvested my very first cantaloupe, and it was ripe! And according to Kevin, it tasted delicious.  I have been trying to to grow cantaloupes for three years, and every other time the plant died or they rotted before they ripened.  This time I was finally victorious!

This week I was also able to work with Kevin on a project we have been meaning to get to ever since he got out of the Army.  Kevin was able to order al his medals, and then he organized them, and I put them in the shadow box.  Now I am just waiting on a custom plaque I am ordering to go in it.

On Saturday morning, I got together with Tania and Kerry, my awesome neighbors, and we went to an outdoor Zoomba class.  It was a blast, but it was so crazy hot, I thought I was going to melt.

We finished off the week with Lily starting her brand new job at Noodles and Company, and I went to book club.  We had it at Springettsbury Park,  and we all sat in our camp chairs and talked and laughed for hours.  And I guess that the cops came to "shut us down" right after Becky and I drove away.  So crazy and funny, but I guess it was past the park's curfew.  Good times, and a pretty awesome way to end the week.

Summer at Home: Week 7 (And Hershey Park Fun)

Summer is still moving along, and in fact, it is almost over.  How did that happen?  I feel like my brain is stuck in March when everything shut down.  It doesn't help that things are so strange schedule wise.  Kevin is still working week on, week off, and so that even adds to the confusion.  That said, we have loved taking advantage of having him home more often, which means lots of whole family activities, like this past Tuesday, when we took the family to Hershey Park.

We love Hershey Park and have been there quite a few times, but it had been a while, and with all the new restrictions, we weren't sure what to expect.  It's all good though. - I choose to look at it as a fun family adventure that we were able to have in less than ideal circumstances (like wearing masks all day in the 90 degree heat).

When we arrived, the first thing we did was go into Hershey's Chocolate World and ride the factory tour ride.  This has been a tradition ever since our very first visit to the park, and Arthur would never let us skip it.  We had to wear our masks and have reservations to get in, as they were limiting capacity to the building, but it was super easy and very fun.  And they still gave us free chocolate at the end of the ride - definitely a win.

Then it was was time to get in line for the park.  One of the hard things, was that they opened at 11am, much later than usual, which made waiting in the line to get in extra hot.  Oh well.  It was fine, and we would send the kids to sit in a patch of shade for a bit so they didn't have to stand there the whole time.  We hjaven't been to the park as a family in a while, and Derek and Arthur both grew a ton! Arthur is now a Hershey Bar, and Derek is not only a Jolly Rancher, but he passed the top of the sign, as well as his sister.

We went on quite a few rides, but some of our favorites were closed, which was a bummer,  and some of them they staggered the opening, so it messed up our plans to avoid long lines in some of the rides - that, and the season. pass holders had already been in the park for over an hour.   It's all good -  we still got to ride a bunch of great rollercoasters, and even got to ride Arthur's favorite ride the Coal Cracker more than once.

Because we were visiting the park for the first time in the middle of the summer, the waterpark was open, and so we went there and had a blast on the slides we got to go on.  Unfortunately we had two things working against up, the fact that we weren't even numbers messed things up on some of the slides, and the fact that we had never been there before and so didn't know some of the things that would have made it go more smoothly. And sadly, just as we were getting our stride, they closed the waterpark because of a chance of a thunderstorm.  Such a bummer, and we hadn't even gone on the lazy river yet.  Oh well.

Since we were done there, we decided to ride a few more rollercoasters before they closed, many of which Arthur was finally big enough to ride, which was awesome.  It was a fun day, and even though it wasn't ideal, we still had a great time as a family.

The rest of the week was pretty normal,  except for celebrating Kevin's birthday on Thursday.  Our days were filled with normal things like guitar lessons, cleaning, hanging out, mowing the lawn, zoom meetings, and exercising.  For most of the. summer,  Derek and Lily have been going on daily walk/jogs in the neighborhood, and lately, Arthur has been doing them, which is the sweetest.  I just happened to see them leaving one morning as I was on my way home from my own workout.

Most of the time I workout at home, either on the elliptical, or using my Mom Strong Move app, but a few times a week I talk a two mile walk through the neighborhood. I love going early, because I usually see wildlife - mostly bunnies, and one time a turtle, but this week I saw an entire herd of white tail. deer.  It was awesome!

Even though it is long past spring,  I am still trying to slog through my spring cleaning list, which I completely stopped working my way through when my entire family ended up being stuck at home for months and months.  I mean, it is hard to do deep cleaning when there is constantly stuff and people everywhere in the house.  Well, our game/linen closet had been driving me insane, and so I finally cleaned and organized it.  Now, if only my boys will let it stay that way - ha ha!

One very exciting thing I noticed this week, is that my raspberries are coming on for a second round!  It is even more exciting because we missed most of the first harvest, because we were in Idaho.  I love my raspberry bushes!!

This time of year, my facebook memories are flooded with pictures of me making peach jam or bottling peaches, and so I knew it was time to hunt down some peaches.  I went to Flinchbaugh's this year, because they had a full bushel of seconds I could buy, and they set them aside for me. It is such a pretty and fun place, and I wish I had spent more time exploring, but I had to hurry home for Arthur's last t-ball game.

Buying the peaches, and very ripe peaches, at that, meant that I had no time to dilly dally before I did something with them, so Saturday morning I got to work.  I even had some helpers - Lily first, and then the boys. While Lily was helping, we watched "Miss Pettygrew Lives For a Day," and while the boys helped, we watched "George of the Jungle."  Good times! After they were done, I spent another couple hours with the actual processing, but at least I got to sit down on occasion.  And just look at those beautiful bottles of peaches!

Later that night, after an early dinner date with Kevin, Becky and I went to a park to say goodbye to our. dear friend, Lisa Yorgeson, who is moving to Meridian Idaho.  We are so very sad to see her go, especially since we had our good friends, the Neves move away only a few days before.  I hate saying goodbye to good friends.  In spite of the goodbye, we still had a great time getting to talk and laugh with friends.   It. was. a. wonderful way. to finish the week.

A Fabulous T-ball Season

Friday marked the end of Arthur's T-ball season.  We are so glad that even though things were postponed and shortened, they still had a season.  Arthur. truly loved it, and Kevin and I had the best time watching him play.

Before every game, they had a special warm up, and Arthur got practice his throwing and catching.  He came a long way during the season.

Before the start of the game, they had a "huddle" with their coach, and it was really sweet, and of course, was social distanced.

For the last game,  we were the home team, which means they were up last, and on the field first.  They only have three innings, and Arthur got to play a different position each one.  He played second base, third base and outfield.

When he was playing in the outfield, he even made a play at second base.  It was the cutest, and he did awesome.

I loved seeing him in his "ready position," although sometimes we had to remind him to face the batter while he did it, as he would get distracted.
Batting was always a fun adventure.  Arthur would get ready, have a drink, and then wait for his turn to bat.

He had three at bats, and he did great.  He hits pretty well, but he is an excellent runner.

Kevin and I love his fantastic stride, and he is very fast.

I think that one of Kevin's. and my favorite things, was Arthur's ready position when he was on base.  He was so very serious, and he had this pose he would make with what looked like robot arms.  It was the best!!
And Arthur really loved getting to run home and score.

At the end of the game, the teams would line up, doff their caps, and wish the other team. "Good game!"  Then they would have their post game huddle.
For this game, the huddle was extra special because the kids. got their medals.  Arthur was so very happy to finally have his very own medal, and he sure looked handsome with it hanging from his neck.

It was such a fun season, and Arthur had such a fabulous coach, Coach Paul, and a great group of kids on his team.   I am so grateful that even with all the craziness in the world right now, they still got to play, and that we were able to have this one bit of normal this summer.

42 Fabulous Years Old

Kevin's birthday was yesterday, and we had the best time celebrating him as a family.  The preparations all started last week, when I made a special trip to the Costco in Lancaster to order his favorite cake - which they just barely started making again, and you have to order it in person.  Then on Wednesday, while I was at the orthodontist with Lily and Derek, Kevin went to pick up his beautiful cake. Kevin has a deep love for the vanilla Costco cake, and a sentimental attachment to it because in college he and his best friend, Rob, lived off of a Costco cake for an entire week. Good times. So, we don't always have a Costco cake for him, but we usually have one every other year ;). 

On Thursday morning, I sent Lily, my newly licensed driver to pick up Maple Donuts as a special birthday breakfast for Kevin.  He loved it.

Later on, we went to Laser Alleys to go bowling for the first time this summer.  We have missed it! and since we were the only people there, we didn't have to wear our masks - score!

All the kids played great, especially Derek, who gave Kevin a run for his money.  Arthur was definitely the most improved. He is doing so well, and not once did his ball get stuck in the middle of the lane, which was a huge win.

Like he always does, once we finish our family game, Kevin bowls another one by himself afterward.  Two frames in, the lights went down and the crazy lights came on.  It was really cool looking, and it seemed like they had done it special for Kevin's birthday, even though they were just testing things out.  Unfortunately, it had the side effect of messing up his game a bit, but it's all good.  He still did great, and better than the first game.

After bowling, we picked up Mission BBQ for a birthday lunch, which is always delicious. When we got home, it was time for sports - both the Mets and the Lakers were playing.  And hey, because of the season being messed up, this was the first time ever that there has been NBA basketball on Kevin's birthday - so fun!  After the baseball and basketball were over, it was time for playing Legend of Zelda with the kids, which is all of their favorite thing.

Later on, it was time for cake and presents.

After cake, we played. Telestrations, a game that Kevin got for one of his presents.  It was so much fun, and a great way to finish off the birthday festivities. 

I am so grateful for Kevin - he is my best friend, an amazing husband and a fabulous father, and I am so glad we got to spend the day together as a family celebrating him.

Summer at Home: Week 6

I was just thinking about my title for these posts.  I started the summer off by calling it "Quarantine Summer," but after coming back from our trip to Idaho for my father's funeral, I switched to "Summer at Home" - and I also numbered them, skipping the three weeks we were away.  The reason for the change was mostly because I didn't want to think about quarantine anymore.  None of us are ill, and so have no need to truly quarantine, but instead, we are staying at home for the most part, following guidelines, having fun, and staying safe.  And so, I will write about another week of our summer that seems and feels a little different than usual.

We started this week with a very fun event - Arthur lost his second tooth.  He noticed that it was loose during our home church, and decided that HE would get it out on his own, and before dinner - giving himself a time-limit.  He worked on it and worked on it, and came to me as I was cooking dinner to show me his tooth.  He had done it!  And what a cute little toothless grin.  He said that now he can "whistle through the hole again," which is actually him just making a high pitched noise, but it made him happy.  He also told me that I needed to bring him a quarter for his tooth at exactly 9 pm, so that he would be sure to have his eyes closed.  Oh my goodness, he is hilarious!!

This week I finished a project that I got the idea for from my mother-in-law.  While we were staying with them, I started a new sewing project that requires a lot of hand embroidery (my favorite),  and somehow I missed  a color when I was buying what I needed.  Valerie let me borrow some,   and she had her embroidery floss wrapped on special bobbins and in a great case.  I knew I needed to do the same, and so I came home and pulled out all the tons of embroidery floss I have had for decades of cross stitching and doing stitchery, and I went to work.  It was time-consuming, but so worth it!

This week, the kids and I finally got to go on our first Go-York! hike of the season, and it was great.  The weather could not have been better - not too hot, and even overcast,  and the hike was beautiful, a s usual.  It was about two miles, with quite a bit of it uphill, which was not too. bad, but on the way back, made Arthur a little nervous going down, so he held my hand the whole way.  We had such a great time and need to make time for another hike soon.

Arthur had another T-ball game this week, but they started playing the fields by Leader Heights Elementary, which just happens to across the street from Perrydell, so we all had to go and get ice-cream afterward.  Definitely on the good list!

My flower garden is ever changing, depending upon which of my different plants are blooming.  This is the time of year when my hydrangeas flourish, and they are gorgeous.  I have six hydrangea bushes, but this one is my very favorite.  It has the most gorgeous variations of blues and purples - just stunning!

The other day, we had a huge storm with crazy close lightning and super loud thunder.  It thwarted my plans to grill for dinner, since it wouldn't be safe out on our porch, but it cooled things down and was so nice. After the lightning, but before the rain stopped, the boys decided to go out and get the mail, and. they were so cute - Arthur in his rain boots and umbrella, and Derek helping him out.  I love these sweet boys of mine!

After the rain stopped on Friday, I enjoyed the 70 degree weather that was left behind, and took a walk. We are so happy that after a very dry month of July,  August has has plenty of rain so far.  I love watching the storms come rolling in, most coming from the North, and so we can watch them moving toward our house.  As I was coming home, I had the most fabulous view of the storm moving away from our house.  So beautiful, and I have always been a sucker for the majesty of storm clouds.  Living in Colorado especially taught me that.

On Saturday morning, I went for my workout walk through the neighborhood trails, and saw this little guy in the path ahead of me.  From far away, I couldn't figure out what the brown lump in the path was, but when I got close enough to see it was a turtle, I was super excited!  He was the cutest guy, just munching away on a leaf, that is until I got close to him and he froze like a statue, hoping I would leave him alone.  Which I did, but not before I got a couple pictures and a video - ha ha!

The rest of Saturday was nice and low-key, with a neighbor girl's birthday party (my boys played on the giant blow-up waterslide for three straight hours), a job interview for Lily at Noodles and Company, and a date for Kevin and I. There was a great taco truck that came to our neighborhood, and so we went there and picked up food, and then sat in the gazebo porch swings while we waited for it.  As I looked over at the beauty of the surrounding area, it reminded me again why I love Pennsylvania.

Summer at Home: Week 5

With Kevin's work still on a spit schedule, he had this past week off, and so we decided to have some fun.  We headed to another fun mini-golf course, this time in Bird-in-Hand,  in the heart of Amish country.   We had a great time, it was a really fun course, and it had tons of shade, which was very nice, since it was crazy hot.  After golfing, we went to a fabulous place for lunch, Stoltzfus Meats, and then hit up Costco on the way home.

Tuesday was the 4th anniversary of us moving to Pennsylvania.  In some ways it seems so much longer, and in other ways it feels like only yesterday.  We have come so far in that time, and just looking at the difference in our home shows it all :).

On Tuesday night, we had our first in-person youth activity in almost five months.  We hiked the Rail Trail and then went to Perrydell for ice-cream afterward.  We didn't have very many kids come, with only three young women and three young men, but we had such a wonderful time.  And I loved getting to talk to my friends Ashley, Annalie, and Satoko.

When Derek, Lily and I got home, sitting on our front walk was this giant toad/frog. (We weren't quite sure which it was.)  It stood perfectly still, hoping we would disappear.  Lily even toughed it, and it didn't move.  It wasn't until we walked past it that it finally hopped away.

Also this week, there was a fabulous worldwide youth music festival.  It was wonderful and uplifting.  The kids and I just loved it, and if you something happy and inspiring to brighten your day, you should check it out.

My garden continues to grow, and the recent rain we have gotten has helped so much.  I am super excited about my cantaloupe that I am growing especially for Kevin.  Now if I could just figure out when I am supposed to pick it. Hmm.

On Thursday, Arthur and I finally made it over to the black raspberry patch along the walking trail.  We picked a whole bunch of them, and he was the perfect little buddy.  Then it got even better when Lily made ice cream out of them.  Yum!!
Friday night we had some new friends, thee Yost family, over for dinner, and we had a fabulous time.  They have kids the same ages as our kids, and they hung out and played, while Brianna and her husband talked and laughed with Kevin and I.  It was so fun, and it was so very great to have people over!!

Saturday was a day to get things done around the house, but although Arthur usually hates doing chores, he was so excited to help Kevin wash my van and power wash the playset.  He was a great helper, and made sure Kevin got out the scrubbing mitt so that he could really wash it.

We also made time to play and watch movies together.  We watched the awesome new movie with Harrison Ford, "The Call of the Wild," and later, when Kevin and I had our date, we got take out and watched the new Tom Hanks movie, "Greyhound."  Both were so good!  It was such a fun way to end the week.