Even More Vacation Pictures

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

More Vacation Pictures

Feeding the duck that visited our site

Digging for Dinosaur bones

Riding the dino

Vacation Fun

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

Nature Lessons

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.

Happy Mother's Day May 10 2009

This morning at church, LukeAaron and all the other kids from the Creation Cove sang some special songs for all the mom's in the services. I took this video from my digital camera. It was pretty funny. Luke for a while seemed to be the only one with any kind of energy. But as the clip continues, you will see Luke isn't the only ham in the group. One young man in a Red Shirt started to realize where the microphone was and was not afraid to use it. Enjoy the clip today and for all the mother's out there, Thanks! Especially for my wife, one of the bestest mother's I know! (She must get it from her own mom.)

Eating S'mores by the fire...

Even here in little A-town we sometimes start a campfire for the express purpose of eating some S'mores. Earlier tonight we sat down to enjoy one of these fires. We are so looking forward to going camping this year with the kids. We have already set aside one week in June to camp near Mamouth Cave, KY and then will mosey on over to Tennessee for the second half of the week. So this is a warm up for the main event. I'm holding out for at least one campfire a week just to keep up our firebuilding skills. After all, it has been an entire winter since we have had a fire outdoors.

Hannah and LukeAaron demo their new bike bells

Hannah and Luke are pretty excited about their bicycles! Mama caught them on video explaining how they play their new bells. They have been riding them almost non-stop the past two days. If they aren't riding on their bikes, they are playing in the sandbox, or playing on their swingset. God has been very kind these past few days to give us nice weather to enjoy.

What do you have Luke?

Here lately, LukeAaron and his big sister love to dig and play in the dirt and the sandbox. A few days ago, Luke was looking intently at his hands. I asked him what he had and he showed me his "worm". He is such a boy!

Trip to see Norman Rockwell Prints and dioramas.

Mommy and daddy took a little trip of their own to celebrate Daddy's birthday. We both wanted to see the Norman Rockwell collection that was at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, OH. What a special treat it was too. We got to see over 200+ prints of the Saturday Evening Post cover pages that Rockwell painted. There were also several displays of his artwork turned into life size recreations. It was a really special time to enjoy one of our favorite Americana artists and getting to know a little more about his life and work.

Maple Sugar Festival at Malabar Farm

On March 15, 2009, we took our family out to Malabar Farm, a local attraction that was once the home of Louis Bromfield. Every year they host a Maple Sugar Festival where they explain the rich heritage of Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar. Hannah and Luke really enjoyed the opportunity to get out for a day after being cooped up most of the winter.

We saw many trees with buckets and some with special tubing to collect the liquid nectar from the trees. Hannah was pretty fascinated with these trees, but then we got to learn how the Native Americans use to collect the syrup prior to the White Settlers who came into the area. We learned some interesting facts about it including that the average life expectancy of Indians was only 35 years of age.

It seems that they used a hollowed out log to put all the tree sap into and then used heated rocks to bring the sap to a boil. It was pretty neat to see how it all worked, but then he explained that this process helped to shorten the life of the Native Americans. The rock particles and ash would get into the syrup and sugar and grind the teeth down.

Once their teeth were ground down to nibs, it would allow germs and other bacteria to cause tooth decay and gum diseases. This in turn led to some pretty sick people with the leading cause of death, infected gums and teeth.

Here we saw several re-enactors portraying several types of sugar camps that they used. Once the white men came, they brought metal pans to boil the sap into syrup. What a huge difference this made and Hannah even got to go into a live operating modern sugar shack. The kids really enjoyed the free samples as well.

Did I mention that we also got some maple fudge and maple sugar? Yum! Unfortunately those did not last very long. The good news is that we did buy some fresh syrup. It has been a real treat on our pancakes since then.

Mama's got a new car

Introducing my new car, Max. I have waited 12 years for a new car and am so exciting. The kids love it and have plenty of room.

Easter time in Rochester, NY

One of our favorite things to do is visit with Grandma and Papa, especially for the holidays. Here we have a nice picture of the family. The kids with their spoils from the Easter Egg Hunt and playtime with Grandma. Life is good when we celebrate the true meaning of Resurection Sunday with family and friends.

Looking for Fun and Feeling Groovy

The Ross household keeps moving onward. The children are growing much faster than can be measured and life lessons are hitting home. The children have been on the challenging end of the spectrum the last week. I wonder to myself what is causing this. Is it just childish testing of limits or something more. Luke especially seems to be having a hard time of it. More and more he is exerting his opinions and thoughts on things. He is also very demanding of our attention, NOW. His sweet nature has been buried at this time and while waiting for it to resurface, we must stay the course of balancing rules and relationships. I'm sure God feels the same way about me often times, I'm glad he gives me some line while still holding me firm. He won't let me go, He loves me to much. That is why we persist to discipline Luke, we love him to much to leave him in his disobedient state.

Hannah on the other hand, mostly has no teeth. I believe that there are a total of 5 missing at this point. She looks adorable biting from the side of her mouth. Her reading is much improved and I think that she is actually liking it now. She is still resistant to school some days, but does well at everything. I keep reminding myself that her strong will is going to serve her well when she is older. She has a tenacity about her that will keep her strongly attached to her moral beliefs and to what she has been taught. Although she learns things the hard way, once she knows what is true and right, she never doubts again.

Our fish have afforded us many moments of laughter and stress. Hollar, Luke's fish, has lost his stripes (his racing stripes as Luke would say). Luke is disappointed and rightly so. How will he race against other fish now? He looks so plain and ordinary. Wendy on the other hand (Hannah's fish) has medical problems. Last week she was floating a lot, on her side and even swimming upside down. We were concerned about her health and began to prepare Hannah for the facts of life concern the lifespan of store bought fish. However, in an attempt to save Wendy, we called the fish store and learned that she was being overfed and was likely constipated. On their advice, we gave her some lettuce. She straightened right up but we have found that she needs a little lettuce everyday. Who knew that constipation amongst fish was such a problem? Certainly not I.

I have looked at my crazy family and know I have much to be thankful for. I am loved and so are they. We have food, clothes and a house. We have friends and family, we have good health. Mostly though, we have a God that continually pours blessings on us whether we deserve them or not. It doesn't get any better than this.

1, 2, 3 missing teeth!

Well, I suppose it finally had to happen that Hannah would loose both of her upper teeth. But none of us expected her to loose a third tooth as well! Yup, here we see our happy little girl missing 1, 2, 3 teeth! You can barely see one of her new teeth coming in. Needless to say, she is very cute when she talks and gives us a lot o "gums" these days.

It also amazes me how a few months can change her attitude towards school and in particular reading. She has started doing so much better now. She doesn't struggle with some of her basic words near as much as she used to. Plus she is getting quicker. We used to have to drag her while she was "kicking and screeming" about not wanting to read. Much to the consternation for the rest of us, we kept getting very frustrated over this, including her. But after a little hiatus from the reading routine, she is finally starting to catch up.

Today she went for her yearly checkup with Mommy. Afterwards, her and mommy went to someplace special. Andrea promissed her an oppotunity to either go out for lunch before her check-up or to go out for ice cream. You guessed it, Hannah still has a sweet tooth somewhere so they went to ColdStones! Yum....do you think they would bring the boys back anything? Not a chance. I guess I will have to wait until Luke grows up a little more to do some of those things with him.

Luke is doing well and will be going for his yearly Craniofacial clinic in a few weeks. He continues to amaze us with his speach and actions. He is such a fun little guy. He loves to "tackle" and "tickle" on our bed. He is such a boy! Hannah, while liking to do those things as well, still remains a sweet girl and pretty mellow compared to Lukie. Luke though seems to be an endless bundle of energy that never seems to run out. He is also fearless and willing to try just about anything at this point. The only thing he truly fears is being disciplined. He hates to break our hearts or to get into trouble. Well, that is enough for now. Blessings and thanks for checking up on us.

John aka Papa Eagle.

New Family Members

Today we welcomed two new additions to our family, Wendy and Hollar, the goldfish. After much begging from the children we gave in and bought them fish. Hopefully the cats won't find out they are here. Hannah's is the all gold one named Wendy and Luke's has the brown racing stripe. Why he named him Hollar I'll never know. They did spend a lot of time watching them today. Luke's only real remark about them was that they don't look happy. He said they need smiles to be happy. Oh, from the mouths of babes. Exercising a little smiling would make all of us happier people wouldn't it? Just something to think about.

A Pretend Wedding

A few days ago we all celebrated the pretend marriage of Hannah Ross and Peter the Pan (again). Here you see Luke walking Hannah down the aisle. Hannah made her own flowers and other decorations. We even had a little reception with pretend food. Kids are so much fun!

January Happenings

A visit from Nana, GeGe and cousin Addison sure did brighten a short cold January day. As you can see, Luke has taken quite a liking to Addi. In fact he loves all of his cousins and talks about them regularly as he looks at their pictures. He is very apt to pick one of them as his invisible playmate and tells new people he meets that he has cousins.

We have also had a lot of snow and very cold temperatures this January. The kids have had only a few chances to play outside because of the extreme cold but really enjoy it. They both had their first taste of snow and thought that it tasted wonderful.
In other happenings, Hannah is continuing with Kindergarten and is almost done. She has really become a whiz at math and her reading is coming a long much better. Luke likes to join us with school and has learned his alphabet and can count to 12. It is hard to believe how much they are growing.

Family Christmas

We did have a wonderful Christmas season enjoying special time with all of our families. Here the kids are spending time with Papa watching the train. The kids got so many fun presents and they are still having a lot of fun playing with them. John and the children enjoyed a beautiful and inspiring Christmas eve service. I had to work but was glad to get out early. We are thankful for all of the presents and most of all God's gift of his Son.