Our 1st Sports Day for the Summer

Braden and his buddy discussing their long jumps, and deciding on their plans for the shot put and javelin events.

Braden has a great, and consistent arm.  Brit has realized this from playing catch with him.  I was surprised that each "shot put" ie. bean bag he threw they all landed within a few inches of each other, as well as getting some great distance.

Sasha is like her Mommy she couldn't decide which arm to throw with.  I guess after the first two didn't get the results that she was wanting she opted to try out her left arm.  We'll see what she decides on.

With a little encouragement (ie. competition) from a good friend of hers she discovered that she can handle the glider on the playground by herself, both directions.  My little girl is growing up.

After the sports and a little playground time many of the kids decided that they really wanted to get wet.  I figured that this would be the case since it was the first real "summer" day we have had so I dressed the kids accordingly.  They have been begging all day to go to the splash pad.  It was so much fun to watch them run around.  Braden was even running around having a great time until an older girl decided that he was a great target and got him in the face.  He decided after that the place to be was behind the "gun" that got him.  All the kids had a great time, I think we will be spending a fair amount of time there this summer.  Hopefully in some swimming lessons as well.  Have a great summer!

Saturday we decided that we would take a short break from the yard sale.  I saw a sign at the beginning of the week (while following a detour route - twice because I turned the wrong way, oh well) advertising a historic train museum with train rides that was going to be open that Friday and Saturday.  We decided that it would be a really fun surprise for the kids since they have both been loving trains recently, anything to do with them.

It turned out to be a great break for all of us.  I could have spent hours taking pictures, and visiting with some of the cute older gentlemen that were playing, um I meant "working" there. They loved what they were doing.  The man pictured below was in the caboose using a telegraph for fun.  I asked if his fingers were getting tired.  He told us that he could never get tired of it, but that he could do it 7days a week, 365 days a year.  He was so excited when I asked if I could take his picture.  I didn't get a picture of his belt buckle, but it was a replica of a Morse telegraph switch.  Here are a few of the pictures from our afternoon with the trains.

 

  Unfortunately the museum is only open on occasion, we will definitely be going back during the fair when they are open again!  We could hardly get the kids to leave, they really loved it.  Here is a shot I got of Braden pouting as we were trying to get him to leave. 

   

Thank you Historic Railway Society for making this such a great experience!

Photo Class Week 2

I have the opportunity to take a photography class from a good friend, I am so excited to be learning a little more about how to get some great, at least better pictures, I want to share some of my favorites from our weekly assignments here for anyone that might be curious.  This week our assignment was to focus on creative exposures, and know what story you are wanting to tell with each picture.  Some have worked out, and others... lets say I am actually deleting pictures from the computer.  For anyone who has seen how many I have on here that are not something that you would ever print you know that isn't something that I do very often, or very well. 

We have had a busy few weeks getting ready for yard sales. On the 12th we held a yard sale here at our place with about 6 families on this round. We had planned on holding it for two days (a two day yard sale is customary for this area), though the weather Friday was uncooperative (thankfully we had anticipated this a few days in advance and decided to just make one day out of it. Saturday was a beautiful day for it, I think every one that was there for the majority of the time ended up with a sunburn. I guess that is what we get for spending the entire day out in the sun on the first day that there was a "real" summer day.  When it was all said and done we did a decent job, we loved being able to participate with some good friends.  It was great to get some things purged from our house that we weren't using any more.  One of the last things that we did was to dump out the ice from the cooler on the driveway, Braden thought that was the greatest thing ever.  See for yourself...

        

        

Braden spent a good half-hour "ice skating" (in his words) in this little pile/puddle.  He was throwing the ice up in the air, sliding around on the ice and then the water, and jumping (the last shot is courtesy of Sasha).  Sasha has been having a great time taking pictures (actually both of the kids are loving taking shots with my camera.  They only get to with my help at this point).

It was really motivating to get me to continue purging through the week.  I am so excited to keep going, and am looking forward to continuing to clear unnecessary things from our house, and allow them to bless others.

Here is a shot from later in the afternoon this past Saturday June 19th, week two of yard sale madness.  We had over twelve families this time around.  This picture is from later in the afternoon, you should have seen what it looked like in the morning.  We had people shopping from before we opened until a little after 3:30 in the afternoon.  Sunburns week two, again another beautiful day, only one for the week.  We are feeling really lucky to have had two great weeks, and to have purged a good amount from our accumulated storage that we no longer use or need.

(from Ari Anna's blog)