Nature Calls

The last month has been filled with fun outdoor adventures and potty training; hence, nature calls! On Labor Day, Micah, Paul and I went for on a beautiful hike up Old Furnace Mountain with Carla, Sylvan and Camille. Paul was a good sport about riding in the backpack most of the way, but his favorite parts were when he got to hike with the big boys.
I hope that you can see Camille's expression -- her glance may not be the last time a girl looks at Paul like he is crazy! Micah is getting ready to take the next step in mountain climbing. Thankfully, Anthony took the picture so that you can't tell Paul is diaperless; Paul does GREAT when nature calls as long as he doesn't have anything to take off.
Paul is growing up -- he has hit whatever developmental milestone that says it is more fun to build neat structures than to knock them down. Nature calls at night. After Micah finally stayed dry for 10 nights in a row, I took him camping. Grandma Bev and Granddaddy joined us for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire.
Three of the girls in my JMU IV Bible study joined us for camping and playing at Lake Sherando the next morning. Natalie, Penny and Claire are so great!!
What would a September blog post be without a picture of the first day of school? I have to take a deep breath every time I am reminded that Micah will be going to kindergarten next year -- time is flying!

Our church called us to nature too. We had a lot of fun at our church-wide family retreat. Tyler and Janelle (holding Paul), Emily and Joshua (Anthony is holding their Miriam), and Peyton and Drew (holding her youngest, Ben) are some of our dearest, most fun friends! We were able to worship together in the midst of ziplining, blobbing, sliding, swimming, treasure hunting, meeting people, wheelbarrow racing to get chocolate up Anthony's nose, and more. Yes, our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Summer's Best

Family Weekend at Summer's Best Two Weeks became a fantastic reunion honoring Jim Welch's retirement! It was SO wonderful to be with these girls with whom I had been a counselor. Pictured from left to right: Sarah (my sister-in-law), me, K.C. Verbrugge, Heather Hart, Lynda Smethurst, Lisa Owen, Stacey Collier and Liz Vernon. Anthony got to have a great time reconnecting with his buds too. Bryan Owen, Doug Smethurst, Anthony, Scott (my brother), Jamie Eisner, Brian Verbrugge and Eric Beckman. Some of his guys weren't in this picture (e.g. David Pemberton and Eric Johnston.)

Micah picked up on the whole cheering for your team atmosphere at SB2W quickly! It is just too bad that his cousin Charlie and he will be competing for opposing teams in about 4 years!
Micah and Charlie figured out how to navigate the dining hall and they had lots of other fun around camp, such as playing soccer, sailing, singing, see-sawing, and so on. This picture also captures one of my childhood heroes, Dr. Jenny Levitz and some (not purple) pancakes.

It was fun to see one another's children; here is Ned Morgans carrying Charlie. From the kids' perspective, the weekend was filled with fun things to do with lots of fun adults!

I'm borrowing Megan Frahm's sweet daughter Molly while visiting with her aunt Erin (who was one of my campers!)

How can I resist posting a picture of my brother trying to hug his wife? It was awesome to spend time with Scott, Sarah and Charlie. We were so thankful (as were at least 4 other couple-friends of ours) for grandmothers' willingness to watch the under 2 year olds so we could have fun with our spouses, older children and friends. Can you spot me? Hint -- I'm wearing a red helmet and am completely upside down riding the screamer after finishing the ropes course. Sarah and I also rode the zipline across the lake and had fun telling the current SB2W counselors about "back in our day" when kids used to get stuck and would be resuced by canoe. Ah yes, there was a lot of "back in our day" talk . . . coming from 30 somethings!
Have I emphasized enough how very great it was to be with my friends!? It was truly Summer's Best One Weekend. (We're thinking of making family weekend a regular occurrence -- SB1W!) Since this is finally the very last post of our roadtrip, all there is left to say is: Rah, rah, rah rah rah, rah, rah, rah rah rah, rah, rah, rah rah rah yeeaaaah you readers!

Circle Us!

We went back to see Harold more, because none of us can get enough of him and we were finishing a circle through North Dakota/Minnesota. Micah's baseball swing (and other athletic endeavors) got a lot better with a month of quality time with Anthony.

I really like how this picture captures Micah's excitement to be riding the train with his Papa, who is enjoying his excitement (Isn't that a circular relationship?)

What is that circle on your shirt, Micah?

If you have seen Paul in the last month, you have heard his new favorite song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!" It is right up there with the Power Lab songs and "Down by the Bay!" Circles are one of the shapes that Paul knows now, too. No manhole circle is safe when Paul spots it!

As only Harold can point out, the Twins are undefeated when Micah and Paul are present! It sounds like they need us to come watch, since the Twins have been in a downward circle lately.

"Circle us, Bert!" It has not been officially determined that we were unsuccessful in being circled on TV by Bert, a sportscaster for the Twins. I am so thankful that our "circle of influence" (close enough to a sphere, right?) included Shannon Nordgren when she was one of Anthony's math students at Trinity and I got to mentor her. It was great to get to be with Josh and Shannon in Illinois!

Micah, Lydia and Paul have already become a circle of friends. We have kept up with the Nordgrens primarily through our blogs, so it seemed like I already knew sweet Lydia when I met her for the first time! Shannon is probably the only person other than myself who enjoys my cheesy efforts at themed posts, so of course this one had to be overboard!

The newest addition to our circle of friends is baby Joshua!

The kids are making the circle bigger. Paul thinks babies are hillarious and Micah has continued to ask for more babies in our family.
Even though Magda, who was Anthony's grad school officemate and mathematical sister, lives in Minnesota now, things came full-circle and we got to meet up back in Evanston, IL for some Giordano's pizza! Magda's little girl, Halina, is so precious.

Of course when the boys pushed Halina, they went in circles! Hmm... if only I knew Polish for "circle." Magda is raising Halina bilingually; what a great gift to give a child!