A Clark Park Saturday

 I love Saturday's when we are around. After our ritual breakfast of pancakes we walk down to Clark Park.
The kids play on the play ground and make new friends, while I stroll through the growers market picking out fresh vegetables and sometimes splurging on zinnias.
This past Saturday we were on our way home when a performance started up. People dressed up and on stilts were singing in French and walking around. The kids were enthralled.

Father's Day Flight

My dad rode in the front; pilot in the back.

For Father's Day my dad went up in this biplane. He wanted to do it last year, but the weather wasn't good. This year it finally happened and he absolutely loved it! 

There is a small airport with a grass runway about 20 minutes from my parent's house. It's the Van Sant airport. The weather was perfect. It was a 30 minute flight over much of Bucks County. We stuck around and filmed these precious memories.

Fruit picking

 The kids and I spent Friday afternoon and evening at Mood's Farm in NJ picking fruit with our Chinese friends/students at Drexel.
It's the same place we went last year and had a great time. Lilia made a new friend Zoe.
Zoe just finished her first year at drexel as an undergrad. She came to America having already became a Christian in China.

Lilia, Zoe & Alex

Blueberries

 Lilia did a great job picking blueberries. She would even ask me if she could eat one, unlike her brother that ate every one he picked.

Raspberries

Alex and I headed over to another part of the farm to pick fresh raspberries. I got a huge container full of them. Alex tried to help, but he ate every one that he picked.

If you Give a Mom a Muffin

If You Give A Mom A Muffinby Kathy Fictorie

If you give a mom a muffin,
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She’ll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook (“101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger”).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are…
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Hudzina's and rain drops

Alex (2), Daniel (3), Lilia (5), Jack (7)

We spent Tuesday in West Chester with the Hudzina's. Dave worked from Tom's new work space in town, Rework. (Click to check it out.)
Danae and I got to talk and catch up in between kids needing stuff.
Here they are watching Mary Poppins (it rained ALL day). Lilia wanted to sit next to Jack, Daniel wanted to sit next to Lilia and Alex found an open seat and plopped down.

Bed Hog

Some mornings Alex runs into our room when it's too early to get up. Thankfully he falls right back asleep.
This morning he ran in bed with me and we slept side by side until he turned perpendicular to the pillows, hence kicking me in the side. That's when I took my cue to leave. Before I did I took a quick nap of this sweet, adorable little boy.

Lewes DE, Beach Trip

 Dave was in Orlando for 7 days for Ministry Team Leader training. My mom and I took the kids to the beach for a few days. We had a great time for the most part. (Lilia got up every morning at 5:30am and Alex was his difficult, fussy, cranky self. We even had to bring Stinky bear to the beach!)
We had great weather despite the forcast and the water wasn't even that cold!

 I love this picture because you can see the excitement and joy on her face.

His happier moments. Although he did love driving his big dump truck over the sand.

Adventures in Lewes, DE

Lilia's 1st Pet

Meet Hermie. This is Lilia's new hermit crab and the newest member of our family. She loves him so much. 

Frenchie's

 Frenchie is a friend of my mom's. Her husband passed away from cancer and she lives alone. She invited us over to swim in her pool and spend time with her.
She loved us, especially the kids. She showed us all around her property of 25 acres. She gets around in a golf cart because she has MS. The kids loved riding in it.
We got to go up into her tree house, pictured below. It was so cool. We just went in to see her leopard rug. Her and her husband lived in South Africa for 10 years. They moved back to his home-land after meeting in New York. Their 4 kids were born there too and now they are world travelers.
We didn't end up swimming because it seemed if it would storm any minute. She invited us back any time we would like.

Fording a creek

 On our way from Frenchie's to Tony & Patty's my dad took us through a creek. He used to work back in this are for Verizon in his last 10 or so years with the company. (After serving his duty in North East Philly.)
We stopped the car and got out to explore. It was so beautiful here! The kids had so much fun throwing rocks into the river.

More horse adventures

 My dad and Tony have been friends from high school. His wife Patty has owned a horse since her and Tony got married.
As a kid I remember driving up York Road, then onto Almshouse Road and onto their huge property. I remember them having horses then, but not much else. It had been probably 20 years since I've seen Tony and Patty.
We dropped in on them Saturday afternoon. (My dad and Tony are still great friends.) Only now their house is far into the untouched ares of Bucks County.

A barn swallow in her nest.

After a tour of their house Patty took us into the barn to see her 4 horses. She took us into the stalls, showed Lilia the horses food, and showed Lilia all around her horse trailers. Lilia was in her glory.
Lilia and I went into the house to use the bathroom. When she was finished she said, "Now let's go out to my best friend." (Meaning Patty.)
Patty told Lilia that she can come back and ride when she's older.

Lilia's 1st Horse Show

We were so fortunate to score free tickets to the Devon Horse Show.
Lilia was in her glory! She absolutely loved it.

RIdes

Motorcyles

The kids got to go on carnival rides.

On the ferris wheel, Alex saying "Higher, higher up."

Petting a horse

 The best and last part was when the kids got a chance to pet a jumping horse.

Look at that smile. It's a girl in love!