Birthday Fun

Abigail is 4!


She seemed to have a weekend-long celebration of her fourth birthday. We had cake on Friday night at Great-Grammy's, a party with some of her friends on Monday (her actual birthday), and a yummy dinner with her grandparents and Aunt Kelly on Tuesday night.

This was the first year for her to have her own friends over for her birthday. It was a ladybug theme party. Of the many activities of the morning, some included
decorating their own bug jars, going on a bug hunt in the basement and collecting ladybugs that had been scattered down there,


playing pin the spot on the ladybug,


And after pizza for lunch, decorating their own cupcakes.

Before and After - JD's Turn

Seventeen-month-old JD got his first haircut on November 24. It really transformed him from baby to boy, I guess that's why I kept putting it off. It was pretty good motivation when we were at the grocery store and another mom pointed to my kids and said to her son, "look at those two cute little girls in the cart..." Yes, it was time to get those long blond locks trimmed.

Kayak No.2

First the Frame...

This one was created with all wood, no pvc pipes this time and again, no nails or screws. It's 13ft,8inches and weighs 25 lbs.



Then the Skin...

Over the frame, it is covered with gortex material. Some staples (ok, like 300) were used to attach the material to the frame. Zach carved the paddle as well.

Then the Test...


Not only does it pass, but it's ready to take along some passengers.

Hawk Mountain

After several rainy weekends, we finally had a beautiful, sunny Saturday so we went hiking at Hawk Mountain. They had a program this afternoon about a few predatory birds, including a kestrel and a golden eagle. We also got to see a wild golden eagle from the look-out up on the mountain. Abi had a blast hiking the trails, climbing the rocks and all around her own little cave. Very little complaints from her even with two skinned knees a one sore tailbone. JD was quite content traveling in the back pack on Daddy's back. What a gorgeous day!

A New Hobby

Zach now has a new hobby...building skin-on-frame kayaks. Here are some pictures of the first one he finished a couple weeks ago. The frame is made of pvc conduit and plywood. He attached everything with string and glue, no nails or screws.




He covered the frame with a piece of canvas and several coats of laquer. His baby is 10ft long and weighs 22lbs. It's a bit wobbly in the water when sitting still, but once moving, it can go pretty fast. It's really neat!





And yes, he found walkers in a dumpster to use as sawhorses.

Camping, part II

Abi got to try camping out again this year. This time it wasn't Daddy and Abi on their own, but Mommy, JD, Matt, Joann and Jesse all joined in the fun! No fear of the crickets this year! We made hobo meals (meat, veggies, potatoes all wrapped in cabbage leaves) over the fire...




S'mores for dessert...


and some time for catching fireflies and doing sparklers before bedtime...



It was good practice for our canoe camping trip we'll be taking in August...where there will be no option of going inside to a bed for the night!

Delaware

We enjoyed a great weekend in Delaware, visiting family and, of course, the beach. We stayed two nights with my cousins, Bill and Nannette and their son, Caleb. Friday, at Lewes Beach, where there aren't many waves, the kids were able to get used to the idea of swimming in the ocean. We arrived just as a storm was blowing past. After a neat cloud display, and watching it rain out on the ocean but not hit us, the sun eventually came out. Saturday we headed out to Rehobeth Beach in the afternoon. We did get rained on there. But we still got to dig in the sand seaching for crabs and jump in the waves (really only Abi did that...it was pretty chilly) before the rain came. As we drove to Delaware on Friday, Abi was sure that she was NOT going to swim in the ocean because of the whales. This video's kinda funny because you can hear her exclaim about there not being any whales, hooray, hooray, hooray!



I don't have any pictures of this, but Nannette, Abi, JD and I went for a hike around a pond and saw a black ratsnake climbing up a tree. Nannette and Abi were bold enough to go poke at it and touch it's tail. That has certainly been Abi's story to tell everyone since we've returned home.