Rockwood in the Summertime

For our last week of summer (meaning the last week before my classes started), the girls and I were able to visit our western Pennsylvanian relatives. We stayed with my grandmother, visited the barn cats, and spent time with my aunt and uncle.










One day took us to Idlewild, an amusement park near Pittsburgh. Ruby was pretty thrilled to meet Daniel Striped Tiger. The park is in the process of updating an old Mr. Roger's Neighborhood section for fans of  the new PBS cartoon show with most of the same characters.

We were grateful to my aunt for taking us, and braving the ferris wheel with the two little ones. She let me go with Pearl because I am a ferris wheel wimp and needed to keep my eyes closed.  







My classes have resumed, but this semester I only teach two nights a week, which gives me an extra evening to sit back on our porch and enjoy the view.

The barn cats played whatever role Sapphire wished to give them in her elaborate games

We all rode the little roller coaster, but the carousel is a favorite

Bible School, 2014

Sapphire toned down her crazy dancing for the closing service

Last week was Bible school. I had been preparing for this since February, and, because of all of the motivated helpers, it was a great week.  Daniel floated around, filling in for a crew leader one night and the story lady two nights.

The girls like Bible schools in general, but when they get to be with their church friends every night for a week, it is just perfect. Pearl said out of the blue one night, "I love Bible school." On the way home one night, Ruby told me about how she put her sins in a trash bag, which was part of a skit I oversaw and narrated, with her daddy as Jesus on a cross lit with Christmas lights.

After the closing worship service on Sunday, we visited the MA and PA Railroad, in Muddy Creek Forks PA.  Today it is just an intersection, but, according to the nineteenth-century photos, it used to be a commercial hub. The girls took the hour-long train ride. We last rode this together as a family the day before Sapphire was born, and I attribute the start of labor to the train ride.

Pearl has over thirty days of school in already. Now that she is over eight, we have to count our days. With piano lessons, karate, and our field trips, she is speeding through the school year without even realizing it. As I type this, she and her daddy are on a day-long fishing trip off the Delaware coast.

These are just a few more pictures from youth day at the PA Renaissance Faire.  We took a family picture in the same spot just before we left for China two years ago. 

The mermaid at the Renaissance Faire had such a convincing tail, I'm pretty sure that the two little girls now think that mermaids are as real as dolphins.  Sitting beside her was a highlight of the day for them. 

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The kids from our home school group

 

Last year we missed out on our annual Youth Day trip to the Renaissance Faire, so this was Ruby's first visit. She was shocked to see the mudlarks jumping into the mud. Why would grown ups want to get so dirty?

Sapphire said she liked it all, but I think she especially enjoyed the wandering costumed performers bowing to her and calling her princess. She even developed a little curtsy by the end of the day in response.  We will definitely dress up next year. 

With the summer sadly drawing to a close, I have been gearing up for our church Bible school, which always falls late in the summer. I've also been preparing for the school year with my college syllabi, the new books Pearl needs, and reviewing the kindergarten lessons that I'll now be covering with Sapphire. 

Last weekend I had a mommy-daughter weekend with Sapphire, and we chatted about her future plans over our breakfast tea party. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she said "I want to be parents." I'm not sure why that is plural, but I did ask if she wanted to adopt or grow her babies in her belly. She said she wanted to adopt at least one so she could fly on a plane.

Blueberry Season

Friends from Boston brought their four children for a much anticipated visit to our town last week.  Pearl has visited them on their turf before, but it was so sweet to see them run around the yard, the best of friends. They enjoyed washing clothes in the creek, and those poor articles of clothing came back far dirtier than they went in.

We took them to swim at Gifford Pinchot and to cool off at the local splash park.  Daniel took them for a drive to view the Amish farms south of us.  Sadly, they had to return early due to a church emergency in Boston, but we will hope to see them again.

Each Wednesday this summer the girls have gone to the church for musical practice. The songs are really coming along, and I’m amazed that even the four and five year olds have been able to memorize their lines. 

These last photos are of our all family blueberry picking trip this week.  Ruby was a surprisingly focused picker. She filled her container very quickly and didn't want to quit.  Pearl liked to help everyone, and Sapphire preferred to stand back and encourage the rest of us but not actually pick much herself.   

 

And the final new element around here is the rope swing. We don’t have the final seat attached yet, but the rope swing has kept the girls busy figuring out all types of tricks.

Raystown Lake

We usually go to the beach for a summer vacations, but this year we headed to Raystown Lake to try something new. A little more than two hours northwest of us, we pulled into the cabin my mother had found, one that abutted state game lands and a state park with nice trails.  Nature came calling upon us one morning when my brother spotted a black bear trolling through our garbage. He plucked the bag out of the large trash can, and we watched as he dragged it up through the woods.  

On the one wet day we went to Lincoln Caverns, an underground cave formation not far away.  We also stopped at an alpaca farm, and the girls got to see a two week old alpaca cria.  He was so soft!  

During the sunny days, we went to the little sandy beach beside the lake. The water was warm and perfect for the little girls. We rented a kayak, and Daniel and I took turns paddling the girls around on the lake. After my brother and his wife arrived, they paddled off together to some cliffs, and Pearl surprised us by coming back to report she had jumped from the ten foot cliff into the water. 

We found it very relaxing, and I could have stayed longer, but we needed to come home for one of our favorite summer events, the church picnic. We had worship outside in camp chairs, then a wings contest, kids’ games, and an auction. 

Swim Week

Our Fourth of July included a family wedding. The little girls loved the princess-like bridal dress, dancing with each other, and Shirley Temples, a favorite drink from my childhood wedding experiences. 

Sapphire and her Shirley Temple

This week has been dedicated to swim lessons. The girls all take four days of swim lessons, all in a row. After each lesson, we have free swim time at the local pool.  This is a week they look forward to all year.  Today Sapphire realized she could do a forward roll in the water. After her first success, she came up spluttering and just exploding with pride. 







A friend came over to train Daniel in repointing. This will be his new  hobby, so fortunately he enjoys it. The spots they have completed look so pretty.  I can't wait to see the whole thing finished. I will probably have to wait, though.  It will probably take a few years to work the whole way around the house.

Everything Week

Pearl’s birthday falls at such a perfect time to celebrate summer, that we really need an itemized list to remember everything we did to make her birthday special.  We had celebrated with Grammy and Poppop early, so the parties really lasted nearly three weeks. The night before her birthday we said goodbye to seven (which is our little ritual). 

On the day she turned eight, we tried to complete everything on a list she made up, which included a family cherry picking party—this just means picking cherries at the local orchard, but she loves it--lunch with the whole family, and tea party with her stuffed animals. 

We spent two days at Cape Henlopen, a State Park in Delaware. The girls instantly turn into beach girls when we go, and Ruby and Sapphire were especially delighted with the beach. Sapphire made friends with all our sand neighbors, especially the ones with good toys.  Nana came down too and distributed birthday Frozen towels, which were a huge hit. Sadly, Nana took sick and had to abandon the beach on our second day.  

 

The birthday bliss ended with a low key pirate party with two little friends, ice cream sandwich-pirate ships for dessert, and some pirate hats. It turns out it doesn’t take much! They made a plank bridge into a deadly plank that everyone loved to walk.

In the midst of this week, we had over sixty people over to our new home, and some of them came multiple times for lunch during the youth retreat. This is exactly how we wanted to be using our larger space.  The youth spent their mornings painting a Rescue Mission property before stopping by our home for lunch and devotions. The girls loved hanging out with them in the afternoons and around the inescapable campfire.  We slept at a home kindly opened to us for the retreat, and Ruby asked if that was now our new house, poor confused little thing. The youth stayed up late goofing off and asking questions about the Bible.

Hours after the retreat ended, Daniel’s black belt test candidates were rolling up our driveway. About twelve of his students spent the night here, showing their skills at forms, breaking, and stamina.  They were amazing guests. While I am not part of the karate world, I do admire the deeply respectful, helpful attitude it engenders. They went for a run in the middle of the night and were up before me, working out on mats under our carport. The little girls were very entertained by everything they did, and I was able to rest while an exhausting fever laid me low. I'm now on the mend.