A sad loss

We are sad to say that one of our chickens, Big Mama, has died. Many of you met Big Mama; she was a colorful and large chicken, much beloved by our kids due to her slowness. There seems to be no apparent cause for her death, other than the fact that she was getting on in years - chicken years, that is. Caleb is a little bit sad, and Elizabeth seemed kind of mad, but overall they handle chicken death very well. So here's a few pictures to remember Big Mama....

More vacation pics

Okay I'm finally getting around to adding more pictures from our trip. When we visited Luke's sister Kate and her husband Josh in New Jersey, they took us to the beach! It was a super-windy day and sand was in EVERYTHING. But it was still very fun and the kids loved it, of course. Emma went strong all day long and crawled all over the beach. Later back at Kate's we had corn on the cob. We had LOTS of corn on the cob on our trip. Kate and Josh wanted us to rate all the corn because they have a corn rivalry with Luke's other sister Lydia and her husband Jeremy in Wooster, OH. We did have corn at their house as well, and I have to say that .....hmmm.... well, we won't make any judgments. Although Kate's corn was fresh from the farm! But we also had delicious corn at my friend Shannon's house near Cleveland, OH AND we played cornhole, a native Ohio game! hee hee. You know, cultural experiences...

Prior to Kate's house we visited my grandmother in Mt. Jewett, PA. She and my aunts took us to Twin Lakes for a day,and it was so beautiful. The trees, and the lake and everything. It was a very relaxing day for me. Elizabeth and Caleb splashed in the lake and I let Emma crawl all over the grass. They have soft grass in PA. Not like our poky grass.

We also stayed with friends Geoff and Michele in Pittsburgh, but I did not take any pictures at their house! Shame on me. It was great fun seeing them and their kids.

On our last day we met up with Luke's mom and dad and sister Margaret at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We got to see the new polar bear exhibit. I thought it was just a below-water viewing area, but it was a tunnel! I was so surprised and it was amazing. They had just fed the polar bears before we went through, so they were swimming above us and beside us - very cool! Then for fun we stayed at a hotel the night before our flight and swam in their pool. And flew home the next day.

So all that was 3 weeks ago... Now... Emma is walking finally. Still very stumbly, but so cute. Caleb is finally going on the potty... ALL the time. So everyone is growing up. Next Monday (Aug. 20) Elizabeth and I will start first grade. She's excited, especially about spelling. I'm excited about spelling too. In school, I always wished I could be the teacher and give the spelling words for tests and use them in a sentence.

I am very much rambling. It is past 11 and I'm tired.