First day of school

Reuben went to school this morning. He had mixed feelings about going. Miriam kept pronouncing "I don't have to go to school!" then laughing, which wasn't helping.
I'm looking forward to hearing Reuben's report when I pick him up at 11:30.

Miriam is 2!

We had a lot of fun on Miriam's birthday. Thanks to everyone for the fun cards and presents.

The kids and I spent the day burning with fever but it gave the whole day an other world quality that was kind of magical. That's my attempt at a positive spin.

Aaron knew he'd be stuck at work at night so Miri blew out candles on some cinnamon rolls. She helped me make her cake (thanks to cousin Kari for the recipe) and we sang happy birthday to her a good 4 or five more times. She ate it all up.

Permanently Portable

This week we returned from our lively trip down South and resettled back into our usual routine.

The big event was an expedition to Home Depot to get a bag of replacement sand for Reuben's beloved sand table. We managed to leave with two camp chairs that were on clearance. For better or worse everyone has liked them so much they haven't made it outside. I'm trying to ignore that voice that is telling me camp chairs are not usually used as permanent furniture. On the other hand we move so frequently that it may be more logical to switch all our furniture to the foldable light weight variety.

Miss Us?

To start July off a diabolical storm wiped out the power for our region. We had trees down all over the place and when the trees come down they take the power lines with them. It was a mess. We had no electricity - no ac, no refrigeration, no fans, no Internet, and very limited cell reception.

A heat wave moved into the storm's destructive wake. Without refrigeration Aaron and I scrambled to get our destroyed food stores out of the house before the rancid stench left our place permanently uninhabitable. As darkness descended and the humidity and heat in the house rose, we cried mercy and accepted the gracious hospitality of the Leesburg Cummings. This makes the third weather related event that has knocked out our power for days and made us refugees. Hurray for kind in-laws and Boo! to Pepco's negligent maintenance of the power grid.

After that unexpected outing, the kids and I headed down on our scheduled visit to SC. We loved the warm welcome from family there. Miriam was thrilled to get as much time swinging with her Grandpa. Reuben was thrilled to have Cousin Eliza to tell his kitty stories too. I ate fresh peaches and boiled peanuts by the pound. We all loved hiking and playing hide and seek in the woods and cooling of in Lake Murray. We even did some early birthday celebrating. (mmm, coconut cake!)

It was hard to return. But now we are back and should be more "in touch" on the blog.

I didn't do a great job taking pictures on this trip. Too busy enjoying myself and living in the moment etc. etc.

But as explanation on this random collection of pics.
1 The kids loved trying on my Dad's crazy hat collection.
2 We left at 6 am so got to enjoy the sunrise on our car ride. We ran into angry thunderstorms on the way down = white knuckle driving. We beat them on the way back. Hurray!
3 Reuben and Miriam love wading in the creek down the Lion's Trail behind my parent's house.
4 And finally, Reuben loves his sweet cousin Eliza.