Long time no post! We're getting settled in down here in Texas. We've been busy finding everything a spot. But we're very happy to have all this extra space!

I will do a big house post once everything has a place, all the boxes are unpacked, and we have photos up on the wall! But for now, I'm going to try to catch up on summer photos.

Rock climbing


Cool dude!


Emily's school field trip to the farm


Strawberry picking! We made lots and lots of jam to share with neighbors :)




Smashing berries


Our loot!

Day out with Thomas

The B&O Museum in Baltimore had a "Day out with Thomas" where you could take a ride on a train that was actually pulled by Thomas the train!

We checked out the museum, and then enjoyed our own ride on Thomas.


It's Thomas!!


It's Sir Topham hat!


Playing on the trains






Finding our seats on the train












Tattoos


Yes - that is a tarantula. I still get the shivers when I see this photo


Albino hedghog!


Pony rides




Ethan doesn't look so excited, but he was really having fun!

Ohma and Papa visit

Ohma and Papa came to visit a while ago. We had so much fun while they were here!

We went kite flying!






Ethan's kite got stuck up in a tree :(. But there happened to be a man nearby who was a serious tree climber. So he got the kite down for us! Can you see him in the top of that tree?


We got Rita's (our tradition when they come to visit - we go many times!)


We painted - a lot. These two were SUCH a big help!


This is what breakfast looks like when you're in the middle of painting the kitchen!


We went up to Philadelphia




Free-style walking in Philly on our way to get cheesesteaks




Waiting for our food. Papa knows how to kill time!


And we checked out the Please Touch museum while we were in Philly! We love that children's museum!

Strawberries and Jam!

A couple weekends ago we went to a farm to go Strawberry picking. The kids had SO much fun. It was great to have an opportunity to explain to Emily where our food comes from. That all the strawberries we buy from the grocery store came from a plant like this, and someone picked them for us and washed them and sent them to the grocery store.

The kids loved the berries. Emily told us that she planned to alternate between putting the berries in our container, and eating them.


16 pounds of berries! (and some of the jam we made with it!)


The kids were too busy eating berries to look at the camera


The kids were GREAT helpers when it came to making the jam! They were very good berry squashers.

Fencing with daddy

Chris fenced competitively in High School, and was recruited for the Air Force Academy Fencing team for college. After a not-so-short break, he's back to fencing! The kids and I went to his fencing club to watch him compete in a tournament (which he won!) But the kids and I had to leave before the end. The tournament went very late). We got there early enough that the kids got to "help" Chris warm up and get ready!

Stretching!




"Is this where I push daddy?"


Lunge!


Footwork on the strip


Double teaming!


The masks bring out a whole new level of fun!