Back again!

We returned last night around 11pm from a quick weekend trip to OH to visit my folks. What a whirlwind--but a good one! Friday was my b-day, and in the morning H1 made me yummy pecan pancakes with peanut butter on top! A friend from church brought over some wood that he had cut down on his property so he and H1 spent some time getting it further chopped and situated. Then, H1, H3, and I went to lunch at Applebees. H1 had to leave at 2:00 to get ready for a football game that night, so I gave H3 a bath and she helped me pack (more like unpack what I was trying to pack) and we loaded up the car. H3 and I arrived at the game around halftime and then met up with H1 afterwards and at 10pm we set off for Ohio! The drive was pretty nice, actually. Very quite and little traffic. H1 and I took turns driving so both of us got some sleep (H3 slept the whole way) and we arrive around 8am. After breakfast and a nap for H3, we took a few minutes to celebrate a belated b-day for me and an early b-day for H3 before heading to the park by the lake (Erie). Dad grilled chicken for dinner and we accompanied it with corn-on-the-cob. Yum!
Sunday morning we visited my parents church (minus Mom because she wasn't feeling too good) and then returned for lunch. Mom was starting to feel better so we decided to visit the Cleveland zoo (so glad that my grandfather gave Mom a wheelchair so she is able to go to some places like this where she couldn't before). The zoo was a pretty decent size and the exhibits were laid out well--especially the Australian one. I don't think I've ever been that close to a kangaroo or a koala! H3 seemed to like the big cats (a.k.a. the tigers). Dinner was pizza and leftover cake and we went to bed early. Monday we pretty much just packed and chatted for a bit before leaving at 11am to head home. We were originally expecting to be home around 9:30 that night, but hit a few holiday traffic jams. Oh well. At least we made it back and H1 got a few hours of sleep before school today!
Today was the first day with the kids back in school. He said it went ok, but not as well as he was hoping. His schedule is a lot different than last year, so that will take some getting used to--if they will ever give him any details about what he's supposed to be doing! This week will be pretty busy for him. He has a game tomorrow night (Wed) and Friday night, and then Thursday night after football practice he's meeting H3, me, and a few friends at the park to celebrate H3's birthday. He'll only get to stay for about 30 mins though because he has worship practice at church too! Our worship leader is gone this Sunday so H1 is filling in.
I don't think H3 will be to offended about getting cake twice in one week. I hate to spoil her too much, but my parents really wanted to celebrate her birthday with her even though it was early and I wanted to at least do something the day of as well. I requested presence, as opposed to presents, at her little party. The park there is pretty nice and probably has the best playground I've ever seen. There's just a couple people coming...my college roommate Amber, and then our friends Dean and Robyn and their 3 girls. This is to celebrate that H3 is a year old and that H1 and I made it through our first year as parents. Hurray!

Below are some pictures from our trip.

H3 surprised us by making a dash up the stairs--her first time climbing them since we don't have any!

Getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders

Dad and Mom, H1 and H3


Opening her birthday presents

Mom and H3 at the park

Dad grilling chicken

H3 getting some cake!

H1 and H3 with the cake before it was eaten

~H2

Home!

We're home!!!!!! We actually pulled in around 8:30am on Sunday after driving through the night from NY. All of us were exhausted, but so glad to be done with the drive home. The house is currently a mess and looks like a hurricane hit it, but I'm hoping to have it cleaned up sometime tomorrow. Originally, I planned to have more done, but when we arrived yesterday, we had to turn around and take a trip to Lows and get a new faucet for the kitchen sink--the damage on the old one was irreparable. Since we were out, we went grocery shopping too. The fridge has been empty! By the time we returned, H1 fixed the sink, dinner, and H3 was put in bed, we were so tired that nothing got cleaned! Dinner was good though. Grilled salmon salad with a homeade honey-mustard vinegrette. Mmmm! Compared to camp food all summer, it was wonderful. Not that the food up there is bad, it's just not like home.

Camp was amazing though. 2 months and we got to do so much: 2 5-mile hikes, cliff jumping, climbing wall and repelling, shotgun, archery, swimming in a beautiful lake, canoeing, and H1 got to go kayaking and sailing (I went last summer, but not this time). There's a lot to do up there and we're already looking forward to going back next summer--probably right as I finish cleaning up and getting organized from this summer! Anyways, here are some fun pictures from the summer.

H1 and H3 on a hike around the lake (5 miles)

H3 at the Adirondack Museum

H1 and H3 in front of the museum

Hanging out in the lake



Scooting around the Health Lodge

Me at the shotgun range

Hello?

Playing in the sports field

Me at the archery range

Massawepie Lake (where the camp is)

Home on the 15th

A little over a week left before we return home to VA! The Adirondacks are beautiful though and this has been a great summer overall. It started out a big rough, with one of the other staff members (and friend of mine) getting appendicitis and taking a trip to the hospital for surgery. He's back at camp though and it's good to see him feeling better. H1 has been busy working on the waterfront again. He's been teaching a few classes, like sailing, swimming, and canoeing, but has mostly been working on some odds and ends projects that have needed to be done for years--like repainting canoes, builing boatracks, etc. He's enjoyed it and has had a great time seeing friends again.

H3 and I hang out in the health lodge during the day, cleaning up scrapes, cuts, and sprains as they come in--well, I do the caring for and she does the cheering up. Everyone loves her, staff, scouts, and scoutmasters alike. It's hard to frown when she's smiling at you. She's been such a trooper. Hardly a fuss the entire time she's been up here. Despite her schedule changing drastically, she's been happy and content most of the time.

I wish I could upload some pictures of our trip now, but will have to wait until we get home. There's only dial-up here in the health lodge, and it's too far to get to town in the evenings. Suffice it to say that our free time on the weekends has been great! Last weekend we went to a restaurant called Tail of the Pup and had ribs and pulled pork bar-b-que. Afterwards, we went canoeing across Tupper Lake and went cliff jumping. Got some pretty good pictures of the trip, but not of anyone jumping. My friend Alinda got some of the jumping pictures, so I'll have to get those from her. H3 hung out with one of the other guys while H1 and I jumped and swam. It was one of the most beautiful days of the summer and the water was perfect!

Oh, today H1 and I took a short drive after lunch during a break and picked some rasberries. Oh so yummy! I'm hoping to go blueberry picking when we get home and then apple picking in September. I love fresh fruit!

I have to get back to work, but there's a short update. More updates and lots of pictures in a week or so!

~H2

A few pictures from the trip

Here are a few pics from our week here in Ohio! I'll have to post more later and explain about this whirlwind week. The trip visiting has been good with my parents, but everything else in life (details for summer) have been insanely stressful!

Grilling at the park

Playing in the popcorn bowl

H3 checking out the grass

Hanging out with me in Target

Standing in the kitchen


Sitting in Grandma's lap

In Cleveland

Greetings from Cleveland, OH! The weather is absolutely gorgeous up here. Mid-70s and no humidity, compared to the mid-90s and high humidity we left back in VA. Such a nice change! The trip up here was pretty uneventful and we arrived around 10pm Sunday evening. H3 wasn't the biggest fan of her new carseat, but she managed ok. This new carseat doesn't recline as much as her infant seat did, so her napping wasn't as easy as it used to be. She still did ok and was pretty happy most of the way. Yesterday was a big recovery day for her so she was a bit grouchier than usual. This morning she woke up back to her normal self and has had fun playing with her toys in the living room, to the delight of her grandmother (Mom).

Mom has been doing pretty well since her surgery. Her recovery has gone better than expected, so we are very blessed. She's getting around the house on one crutch and with some moderate pain from the surgery. I make sure she sits down plenty and ices that knee! I took a look at the surgery site last night when we re-wrapped it, and it looks like the doctor did a really good job with it. There isn't much swelling either, so that's good news. We'll be taking her to an appt on Thursday morning for an evaluation and I'm expecting the doc to agree that it looks good.

I'm still waiting to hear results back on the test. Supposedly I should find out by the end of this week, although it's not guaranteed. I did find out that one of the guys proctering my test is known to fail people for silly, non-legit reasons. Apparently he has the god-complex that a few in the medical field have, and I was told that he faults some of the students for things that aren't really a big deal. That wasn't the news I wanted to hear as I'm waiting on the results. Argh! Just praying that this will all go through ok. Sooooo nervous!

I've taken a few pictures so far and will try to upload some on my parents computer later tonight!

~H2

And we're off!

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go....almost! Just a few more things to add to the car tomorrow morning. Of course there is more than I'd originally planned on, but we've got it all to fit. The car is packed, except for a diaper bag, one duffle bag, and the large plastic tubs that are going on the back hitch basket that we bought for our car to make this trip possible. It's really hard to pack for 10 weeks, especially with the weather. It can be in the 40s or in the 80s in the Adirondacks, depending on the week, so we really had to bring everything! Oi! This summer we will supposedly have high speed internet access on occassion. I don't know that I'll be able to post pictures, but at least maybe I'll get the chance to update this a bit. Tomorrow we're driving to OH to see my parents and will be there until Saturday, the 20th, and then we're heading to see H1's dad for a couple days before heading into the Adirondacks and the camp. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, family and friends. Time to catch a few z's before we leave. Until next time!

~H2

Just a quick update

Well, it's almost that time of year. On Sunday, 3 days from now, we head up to NY for the summer to work at the Boy Scout camp again! H1 will be the waterfront director (4th year in a row now, I think) and this year I'm switching from lifeguard to assistant health director. Woohoo! H3 gets to hang with me all day while I check on little scouties and hand out medicine when needed. 8 weeks of living on a lake in the Adirondacks and getting paid for it! Can't beat that!

In the meantime, I'm almost done unpacking the house. It's been quite the challenge to unpack since I'm also repacking for the summer at the same time (had to unpack in order to find the stuff that I needed to pack). My EMT course finished two nights ago and tonight I'm heading out to take the state test. I'm really praying this goes well. If God has brought me this far and this is the job He wants our family to have this summer, I have to believe He is going to give me the strength, patience, and clarity of mind to get through this. I'm still nervous though!

H1 has his last day of school tomorrow. Yesterday and today were both half days, and tomorrow is a field day. It's been a good school year for him, but we know some hard changes will be going on next year. Two of his good friends have left for other teaching jobs, including one of the other PE teachers. We're praying that they will bring in a good replacement for this guy, and it would be great if he and H1 would get along well, since they will have to share an office!

Well, he should be on his way home right about now so my EMT partner and I can leave, so I'd better get ready. Hopefully I will have the test results soon and can celebrate!

~H2