Yum Yum

Henry loved playing with his cousins on the beach, destroying piles of sand, and especially eating sand! Here is his first taste test. I guess textures don't bother this kid!

The only time Henry has used a utensil. How polite of him :)

Henry was usually decorated with a sand facial hair image of some sort.

To the Beach!

After our long 4th of July, we got up the next morning and headed to Virginia Beach. Mike had to stay behind, so we weren't as excited as we could have been, but we were excited. The weather was a little cloudy the first couple days, but by the end of the week it was perfect! Caleb was a little cautious of the water for the first day or two and spent a lot of time running from the waves.

Henry became comfortable with the sand instantly. It became his second skin that week :)

Henry liked hanging out with Papa at the edge of the water.

Kids on the Hill

Sweet Gracie is full of so much love, especially for her Daddy.

Caleb loves hanging out with the big boys...and he can throw a mean frisbee!

Westley {Mike's cousin} and Caleb had so much fun together. They were pretending to be afraid of the fireworks.

We wanted a picture of Caleb and Henry and their matching patriotic shirts. I'm glad Henry loves the love Caleb gives him :)

Fireworks on the Hill

Ever since we started dating, we have always gone and watched the Staunton fireworks with Mike's family {and usually mine}. We were excited to introduce Henry to the tradition this year. He was mezmerized by them for awhile, but then he wanted to play again :) He handled the way past his bedtime part pretty well too.

Henry loved showing off his patriotism. He is a little nervous about what the next 4 years will be like {either way!}, but he loves his country just the same.

Caleb was a little nervous about the sparkler. Westley had 2 sparklers left when we got to the school and he was excited to share one with Caleb :)

We always get to the school early and hang out {and claim a good spot!}. The guys usually throw frisbee. This year we had homemade ice cream and watermelon. Yum!

Independence Celebration Begins!

We started our 4th of July off at the Frontier Culture Museum. I was really excited. I have a lot of memories of neat field trips there while I was in school. They had special games and events at the American Farm to celebrate the day {and free admission!}. There were sack races, watermelon seed spitting contests, log sawing, and other games. Caleb and I practiced our getting water out of a well skills.

Mike and his cousin Colton sawing some logs...remember not to push!


There was a lot of livestock to get the kids excited. They have some really neat breeds of sheep and chickens. A chicken ate out of Caleb's hand {we didn't have a camera nearby}! I'm not sure what I'm doing in this picture...probably telling my sister to stop complaining about the heat :)

A family photo in front of the German Farm.

The Sand Crab is Home!

Much to his Momma's delight, Henry is a total sand crab! We just got back from a week at Virginia Beach. Henry had a blast playing with his cousins and eating sand. We have 600+ photos from the 4th of July and the beach, so I have lots of posting to do this week!

Big Wheel Rally in the Valley '08

This video is worth the 7 minutes!!! I laughed until I had cramps in my side. These are some men from a local church that some of my friends attend. I think I'm going to have to go to next year's rally!