GNO

I have lots of good friends and don't get together as often as I should (yes... that is an open invitation to all my friends to go out to dinner!) I had a fun night with Beth, Tina, and Dalene last week. It's so nice to get together and chat and eat yummy food! I'm glad we had that lady take this picture (even though she REALLY didn't want to:) Love you guys!

Last Taste of Summer

We took one last trip to the beach for the summer. We went with Beth, Hayley, Dalene and Zoey. Spring Lake is a beautiful town - the beach is hit or miss. We had fun in the water for the first hour or two... until the dead fish started washing up on shore. I wish I were kidding. Jersey shore is a weird thing. Dead fish are washing up everywhere and no one seems to be upset. We got out of the water (obviously) and sat on the beach watching kids pull the dead fish out two at a time. Again, I wish I was joking. Dead fish everywhere. If you were thinking of a vacation to the beach on the Jersey shore - rethink it! We had a good time relaxing on the sand and chatting, but cut our time short since we weren't really comfortable getting back in the water. (Not to mention the risk of sharks with all those dead fish - right Hayley;)

Farewell summer! It's been fun!

A Visit From Janice and Mark

My cousin Janice and her husband Mark came to visit us the same weekend as Cami's baptism. Janice is an interpreter for the deaf and was in Philadelphia for a convention. They first traveled to upstate New York to see Jim's family and all the church history sites and then back down to us and a trip into NYC.

It was so great to see them and get to know them a little better. They were very gracious about the craziness going on in our house and jumped right in and helped. We decided to take them into the city via the Staten Island Ferry so that we would be near the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Unfortunately, we had the hottest day of the year with humidity pushing up about 105 degrees, but it didn't stop us from seeing the sights.

After getting tickets for Ellis Island and discovering the wait was 1 1/2 hours, we headed up to the World Trade Center Site, Trinity Church and a cool air conditioned lunch. When we returned to the ferry line, it had shrunk to 1/2 hour and we were on our way. We walked around the Statue of Liberty and then ferried over to Ellis Island. I hate to admit that I had never been before but I thought it was great. The free movie is touching and the history lesson is amazing. Best of all... it was air conditioned. Really, by that point we were melting and needed some time to cool off.

Mark and Janice with the famous Bull.

They are making good progress at the WTC site. A nice New Yorker walked with us and told us all about how things were going before finding out we were from Philly at which point he pretended to be disgusted with us. You gotta love that New York sense of humor.

This display looks like the flag from one direction and people from the other - it's really neat.

We ended the day with a trip to 5 Guys Hamburgers and decided we really need to stay in touch. Mark and Janice have a wonderful family and it was nice to get to know more about them. Thanks for taking time to see us and maybe next time you're on the east coast we can see more of NYC.

Cami's Baptism

After returning from vacation, scout camp, and girls camp, cleaning up after our home remodel (post to come soon - I owe you big time mom and Shawna), and sleeping just a little bit - we had Cami's baptism.

Grammy, Shawna, Jim and Cheryl's family, Gramma Seguine, and several cousins were all here to celebrate with her. She used Courtney's idea and made her own program cover and invited our dear friends and neighbors.

The baptism was such a wonderful experience and Cami was brought to tears by the outpouring of love she felt from everyone. We are so proud of her decision to be baptized and know that she will be blessed in her life and will be a blessing to many around her as she chooses the right.

She wore the dress made for me by my mom which has now also been worn by Janeen, Taylor, Emmery, and Elley. Her cousin Lily is next!

Girls Camp

Taylor and I were able to attend our church's Girls Camp the same week the boys were at scout camp. I felt very lucky to be assigned to the first-year girls with Taylor and her friend Alex. It also helped that I had my good friends Beth and Hayley with me. We had such a good time that I don't even know where to begin.

We survived the camping part much better than expected and were lucky to have rather cool weather for August. The girls all got along well and aside from an allergic reaction (to penicillin - poor Abby was covered in hives, but was a trooper) we had no medical problems. Whew!

Every day was spent singing, going to classes, personal study, lots of free time, swimming, more singing, and sitting around a fire at night. It was great to watch the girls bond and shed the worries they usually carry around. I had so much fun I already agreed to go back next year! I have over 200 pictures - so I just chose a few!

Home Sweet Home

Alex winning an award from Bethany.

I love this picture.

Always singing - even at the campsite.

Singing for their supper at the pavilion.

Love my Hayley

Playing Ninja - constantly!

Me removing a tick from one of my girls.

All our Doylestown girls after their skit - I'm sure you notice the Bee theme.

This is me participating in a Synchronized Swimming Skit with other leaders. If you know me, you know that the fact that I participated is nothing short of a miracle. We all wrapped our heads with Saran Wrap to look like swim caps - it was pretty funny. I have the orange shorts on in the back row.

This video is the girls singing one of their favorite songs before a meal. They were loud even before breakfast and kept singing all day long.

Cami's Birthday

Cami turned 8 amid people coming and going from vacations and camps. We knew it would be a crazy time, so we decided to celebrate in Hawaii. We brought a yummy GF cake mix and a couple presents with us and had a grand celebration.



We also ended up celebrating a little on the actual day even though Ed and Dallin were already at camp. She had a great birthday and a wonderful baptism (post to follow soon).


We love having Campbell in our family. She brings a unique flare to everything she does. When describing things we often say, "That is just so.... Campbell". She has grown her hair long this year, loves to be creative with her outfits, is as social as ever, and is really excited to take on 3rd grade. We can't imagine our family without her. We love you!

Hawaii - Final Pictures

We had a great time in Kauai with Ed, Kathy, Bill, Austin and Kennan. These are some general pictures from the trip.

We had lots of goggle tan lines when the week was through!

Me and Dallin Poolside.

Kennan got some serious air on this throw!

Kennan, Bill and Austin.

The three girls after doing each others' hair. They are beautiful - there's no doubt about it.

Hawaii - Adventure

Everyone in our family is finally big enough to go on some pretty cool adventures. We decided to spend a day on a kayaking, hiking, ziplining, waterfall jumping, ropeswinging adventure. The tour lasted the entire day and began with a 2 mile kayak trip filled with guides telling us about legends and pointing out places where famous movies were made (Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park). We thought Cami would be able to tag along as a third person in a kayak, but the guide insisted she paddle - so we gave her to him:) She worked really hard, but I think he worked a little harder and she had a great time. Dallin and I opted for the 5 mile paddle as we could not seem to go in a straight line. We finally got the hang of it toward the end, but were a little sore the next day. The pictures for this are still on a waterproof disposable camera - I just haven't found the time to develop them yet. I'll add them later.


Next we hiked to a small rope swing to give everyone some practice for later in the day. Everyone, including myself and Cami, went off this one. Taylor was the first to volunteer to show us how it was done. We hitched a ride behind a tractor across a huge farm while hearing wild stories of surfing and movie filming from our guides. Kauai has beautiful beaches with relatively little rain, but the center of the island is the wettest place on earth receiving as much as 500 inches of rain per year. We were soaked all day as we encountered periodic downpours. Nothing like hiking through a tropical jungle.


We then hiked to a beautiful waterfall for lunch before our chance at the zipline. There were two ziplines side by side, so we could go in pairs. Ed was nice enough to go first so that he could film us from the platform. Dallin and Taylor wanted to go off backwards and flip upside down at some point. I just wanted to make sure Cami didn't freak out. It was a blast!

We're all ready to take the jump off the platform!

Cami looks so tiny up there. She was brave!

As Taylor flipped upside down, the mom behind me said, "Oh my gosh, that girl is CRAZY!"


As soon as Dallin and Taylor went it absolutely POURED. It was scarier walking back across the suspension bridge in the downpour than the zipline itself. Next we hiked out and over to Kipu falls.

These falls offer select spots with deep water for taking a plunge. The rope swing also gives a big thrill. I couldn't stop anyone except Cami. If you freak out and let go at the wrong time you can really get hurt and although she really wanted to try there was NO WAY I was going to let her. Ed, Dallin and Taylor went again and again and had a great time. On Dallin's last swing he let go a little too late (the guide yelled something and confused him) and landed on his back - OUCH! He didn't mind and would have probably gone again.

This is where he tells them that if they don't let go, they will smack the rocks.

I caught Taylor as she was jumping and Dallin as he was entering. You can only jump in certain places where there is no shelf and the water is 20 feet deep.

She's wishing she were a little bigger and jumping with her siblings. I'm glad she's on a rock with her dad!

We finally returned home muddy, wet, cold and exhausted, but so happy we had the experience. I highly recommend this tour for anyone with older children. They LOVED it and would do it again in a heartbeat.