Well, some of you may have heard that Hannah's room was getting a face lift. This is the first of a couple of blogs with pictures to show the kids busy painting the room. We did this in two days. We started Friday night getting her room ready, and then Saturday, after mommy got up from such a late night of working, we got her room painted in just a few hours. Her rrom is now a nice shade of pink. We will take a few more pictures once her room is finished.
A few weeks ago Luke started Gymnastics classes. He has been excited about this for a long time as he has watched his sister for 2 years in gymnastics. His teacher's name is Mr. Mo and he is an incredible tumbler. He has a very good personality to work with little boys. As you can see from the pictures, Luke swings on the bars and jumps on the trampoline. He is also learning push-ups, sit-ups, tumbling and vault.
Hannah is also back to gymnastics and moved up a level this year. It has been a busy and enjoyable summer for all of us. John enjoyed a wonderful time at his teacher meetings getting to know all of the other distance learning teachers he had never met. He is already gearing up for more Latin and computer students in the fall. 
The kids have gone to VBS and have spent time playing with cousins and friends. I am trying to slowly get things in order for another year of homeschooling. This year I will have two in school and must be a little more organized and scheduled. It will be fun though.
To get in and out of the park, we had to take this ferry across a very swift running river. It was fun but a little nerve racking.
Hannah in the cave
"To much hiking Mom and Dad!"
Catching lightning bugs to use as night lights
Feeding the duck that visited our site
Digging for Dinosaur bones
Riding the dino
Recently we vacationed in Kentucky and Tennessee. As you can see from the pictures the kids had a lot of fun. We were chased by big dinosaurs at Dinosaur World. We went 250 feet below ground to explore the largest cave in the world. Luke fell in love with Miss Haley the ranger as she picked him to help lead the whole group through the cave. (And she let him wear her hat). What a Day! We rode on a train to old mining camps, hiked mountains, rode on a ferry, feed ducks, saw many wild turkey, ate s'mores and caught lightning bugs. Memories like this make a childhood and are priceless.
In the Cave
Miss Haley
On the Train
This spring we were able to show Hannah and Luke a little about how birds come into the world. In a bush on the corner of our house we had a Robin build a nest. We were able to observe the eggs, the little hatch lings as they grew and the baby birds leaving the nest. Everyday was an adventure to see how the birds were doing. The kids learned a lot about patience and nature. Especially that you cannot touch the nest or the mother may abandon the eggs. I think the kids also began to grasp the miracle of life that God gives us.
