July 2019

Trying to get a picture of the three boys in red.  Of course, not everyone cooperates... 😂

Since it's so hot, we started doing a few days of school a week.  It's more fun if you do it at the library!

And we ran into our friends, the Voslers.  The attended our church for a while, and their daughter Helen just loved Micah.  When she saw him at the library, she was like, "Oh, oh, it's you!"

4th of July, we all went to the water park at the Clover YMCA...

In the afternoon, we went to the movies.  Abby and I saw the new Toy Story movie.  The boys all saw "Spiderman: Far From Home."  We did NOT see a movie with sharks in it... but the display was still fun. :)  I love that there is a theater in Charlotte that does $6 matinees on every movie AND they have really nice reclining seats that you can reserve ahead of time.

And we ended the day with Texas Roadhouse because the kids all "free kids' meal" certificates thanks to the library's summer reading program.

Karl and Lindsey moved out of their house the end of June.  Lindsey and the kids are spending the whole month of July in Kansas with her family.  Karl spent about 3 weeks in July living in Wes and Joyce's house while he finished working on some projects.  And he hung out at our place a bit. 

House church at the Thompson's...

Abby and her buddy Kate...

Immediately after house church we left for Ohio for the Vineyard National Conference in Dayton!  This was our trip much of the way. 😑  About three hours from our destination, our A/C in the van completely stopped working.  And then after about an hour and a half of it blowing hot air, it suddenly started working again.  Praise the Lord - he even heals van air conditioners!

The conference didn't start until Monday evening, so we got to spend Monday during the day in Springfield.  We hiked around Clifton Gorge which we used to do all the time when the kids were little...  (When Micah was a baby/toddler, Ben would take him hiking almost every Monday while I was working at the church.)

Notice how Ben and Micah look like mirror twins here...

We couldn't be near Springfield without going to Young's Dairy for ice cream!!!

We also stopped by Un Mundo coffee shop, and then I even walked over to the library to reminisce.  Micah barely remembered it even though we were there every week.  😧

We stopped by the Northern house and talked with John and Wendi, our new renters.  I had the kids compare their hands with the little handprints we made in the cement when Abby was a baby.

The "Come Holy Spirit" national conference was amazing!  The national conference always reminds me why I'm so glad to be part of the Vineyard.

The kids LOVE it too!

Of course, hotel pools and hot tubs are always fun!

Dressed in Vineyard conference gear for their field trip for the day (back to Young's Dairy!) 😂

Micah's youth field trip was to King's Island amusement park.  

He's in the front row on the left.  Even though he didn't know anyone at the Vineyard Conference, he quickly made friends with some kids  from Missouri and hung out with them all week!  (We teased him at the end of the week when we found out a girl gave him her email address.)😂  At one point when we were dropping Micah off at the youth building before heading to the main sessions for the conference, I yelled from the van, "Be good!  Have fun!"  and then Caleb yelled out the open van door, "Don't forget to get a girlfriend!"

At one point at the hotel, I was still helping Abby get ready in the bedroom, but Ben and Micah had gone down the elevator to the pool.  I told Caleb he could go ahead on down.  Ben said he saw a group of people waiting outside the elevator bust out laughing when the doors opened... and out walked Caleb with his flippers and goggles on and with the snorkel in his mouth.  There was no question about where he was headed!

After the Vineyard conference, we headed a little further north to visit Wes and Joyce at the campground where they stay from May-October.  It was PERFECT weather and such a pretty spot!  

Helping Grandma in the camper..

Putting up tents near the camper.  Abby and I slept in the camper.  The boys stayed in the tents for one night... and then they moved on to a rustic little cabin that Joyce got for them.  They were very grateful! 

Getting the fishing pole ready...

Dancing in the gazebo with Grandma...

Poor kid... not even a bite! (No, he's not sleeping.  He's just pretending to be bored!)

Splashing rocks in the lake...

Campground craft time:

Chuckie and Chloe came to visit too!

Learning to play Mennonite Madness...

The campground cat begging for bacon.  He definitely did NOT get any.  But Abby liked him being around. :)

With her stuffed animal "Choo Choo" (which we let her buy from the bookstore with her own money earlier this summer.)

We met Aunt Darlene for Sunday brunch at a Amish restaurant.  Abby wanted one of everything in the little store.  

Perfect evening, beautiful sunset... Caleb and Abby were catching fireflies.

Back home and inspired by Calvin and Hobbes to play with a box. :)

More school at the library...

House church at our Hispanic friends' house... they made us SO MUCH FOOD for lunch!!

My Bible-reading buddy for the morning...

Teaching them how to make meatloaf.  Abby was less than thrilled with the feeling of raw meat.

We had some friends who invited us to Carowinds on a "bring a friend for $20 day."  It was so, so fun!  We opened up the park and nearly closed it too!

Our little friend Selah LOVED the Peanuts characters.  (Unlike Abby who was terrified for them to come near!)

We did the water park, then a bunch of roller coasters and the younger kids' park, then went back to the water park... then spent the rest of the evening trying to get in as many rides as possible.  Abby's favorite ride was the Do-Si-Do, something similar to the Scrambler, but rises up high too.

Micah bought his first guitar with his own money!  (Although I let him trade in my old guitar to get a discount too.)  

Micah and I went to a one-day Latin camp to get ready for Challenge A!  (Challenge A orientation was the next day.)

Dennis and Machelle and Natalie, Brooke, and Jenna came to visit (at the very end of July and into August.)    They stayed in Wes and Joyce's house.  This is Dennis's idea of "fun reading!" :)

Holly sent these pictures of Kenton trying on some legs.:)