visitors

With all the commotion in the woods we are getting all kinds of crazy things around our house. Just a couple days ago a yellow-billed cuckoo came crashing into our sliding glass door. Sadly, he did not recover. 

Additionally, our front porch has welcomed many bugs looking for a new home. Emma was heading outside to ride her bike and this guy waiting for her. She called me in for help. I told her it was a harmless beetle and to just jump over it or walk around it. It is a female eastern Hercules Beetle, one of the largest beetles in Virginia. 

CAR Workshop #1

We went down to Fredericksburg, VA to visit Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of George Washington. This year Emma got to help out with the skits. 

 Here's our group -Reverend John Marks Society. You can see where they are currently excavating. Through the trees you can just make out the Rappahannock River where there used to be a ferry, hence the name of the farm. Rebekah is standing on the site of the original house. After the meeting they had lots of fun colonial games for the kids to play. Rebekah wrote us a special note on her slate board. 

Swim Team

We had a great season on swim team this year. Emma swam with the 11&12's and Rebekah swam with the 7&8's. Here's some photos of Rebekah in action: She got new goggles about halfway through the season. Rebekah decided she really like Breaststroke.

Here's our Emma. Her favorite stroke is butterfly. At the awards night she got the "Dead Bug Fear Award". Apparently there were a few morning where there were a lot of dead bugs in the pool. She would not get in for practice because of all the dead bugs. We didn't find out about that til that night. She was still a big help to the team. She volunteered as a Junior Coach helping the 6 & Under kids during practice.
 
 
 
 

 Here is how Clay & I spend most of the swim meets. All the families need to volunteer so many hours to help run all the swim meets. Now that both the girls are swimming, Clay & I can volunteer together. Our favorite job is timer. We have our backs to each other in this picture because we are timing for different lanes. I'm the one in the big hat. I always wear it at the pool.
 

Something new

Emma has been wanting to get her ears pierced for a long time now. I told her she needed to wait until she was 12 years old. We are a week or two early, but decided it was time now that swim team was over. 

Here's a before and after:

Light as a feather

We went to the county fair to see the demolition derby. I must have forgotten to take pictures. While we were there Rebekah wanted to go into the bird house. She really enjoyed being with the birds.

Ticonderoga & Saratoga

 We left Cooperstown and drove past Lake George on our way to Ticonderoga. 

The girls needed a little break from the car. Once we got to town we spotted a large park and playground. We stopped and let the girls run free! It was Bicentennial Park in Ticonderoga, NY along the La Chute River. 

Finally, at Fort Ticonderoga. They had some great re-enactments going on. It was General Burgoyne's capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1777. The girls and I loved watching the palomino. It was also interesting to see how the Indians were portrayed. We got to see what their camp looked like and the women who supported the efforts. One of them had a little baby with them.

Here's the actual fort. I loved the little imperfections in the glass windows and the carvings on the cannons. Rebekah got to pet that beautiful palomino we saw earlier.

From there we drove to Saratoga. We got there just a few minutes before the visitors center closed. Rebekah enjoyed dressing up in the period costumes. We also found a huge monument from D.A.R.

On Sunday we went to a local church and then started driving back home. On our way we stopped at the Delaware Water Gap on the Delaware River. The Appalachian Trail runs through it and Clay wanted to get a good look at the area.