Lake Park's 4th of July tradition is to have a bike parade, for which the kids all decorate their bikes, wagons, scooters, etc. (and try to win prizes). It's mostly a test of endurance, though, because in the community's great wisdom, they always schedule the parade to start at High Noon... the perfect time for a parade in steamy North Carolina, right? Afterwards there is a big picnic in the park with 50-cent hamburgers and hot dogs, and other traditional treats.
So we were excited to participate again this year and the kids got very into decorating their bikes. Even Colsen enjoyed all the bright decorations, and his ride in the wagon (he definitely got the easiest trek of us all).
Here they are, all ready to go:
Here are a couple shots of the actual parade. It was kind of fun walking around the block -- they piped in loud patriotic music that made us all step a little more lightly:
And the picnic afterwards...
When they announced the parade awards, we were disappointed that neither Strider nor Rayna won (what???!!!) :) -- but a few of our friends did, so that was fun, too.
All in all, a very hot (and fun) way to spend a mid-day on the 4th of July!
To wrap up our festivities, we had the Cole's and Mr. Lee over that night for dinner and S'MORES! And our neighbors put on a fireworks show that, in Pete's opinion, was "better than shows at most county fairs!" It went on for quite a long time... pretty amazing. A very nice evening.
Lately for our SILO (Self-Imposed Learning Organization – where we pick a topic to study for a few weeks or months), many of our evenings have consisted of watching lectures from the “Luther: Gospel, Law and Reformation” series that Graham’s mom bought him for his birthday this year. The Teaching Company produces all kinds of different classes that you can buy on DVD. This one has 24 half hour lessons, and they are excellent!
Professor Cary has been walking us through the history and background of Luther as well as the development over time of his theology… in his younger years, he had some really strange thinking! He has also described a lot of the history that is relevant to his thinking by describing the politics, economics and church dynamics in Europe in the 1500’s and 1600’s. So fascinating – my favorite tidbit was the fact that at one point there were actually 3 popes and they were all excommunicating kings and their entire countries trying to say that a whole county had to go to hell unless the king repented. What a difference in valuing the church’s and the pope’s opinion!
Anyways – great series – I’d highly recommend it so far and when we’re done, we’re happy to lend it out. I think Dad has first dibs on it. We’ll probably be blogging more about it as we continue to watch.
Check out this jawbone! (photo courtesy of www.covenanter.org/Luther/martinluther.htm)
Last night, we decided to have a more low-key date down the road. We tried a great new restaurant - Hawthorne’s New York Pizza & Bar, which we highly recommend if you’re ever in the neighborhood. Graham and I were playing so many games (like 20 questions and an array of made-up ones) that our waiter started laughing and came back with the kid menus with games on them and some crayons for us to use. Needless to say it kept us occupied until our pizza came out. The best part was that he also gave us the oreo cookies they give kids at the end of the meal, too!
Then we went across the street to a beautiful park and played a little Frisbee golf (of course, we had to determine our own course by picking objects to hit) and then layed out on a towel in the grass and read to each other. It was so nice and relaxing.
When the bugs finally go to us, we came back home and watched a lecture in the Martin Luther series we’re doing for our latest SILO, which proved to be quite interesting! (more on this in another post to come)
Last weekend was yet another lively weekend back home at the Forge and attendance at another wedding for us. Despite the distance, we’ve been able to see Graham’s family quite a bit this Spring, which has been such a blessing. We’re glad they’re close enough for a weekend trip to be so feasible.
One highlight of this weekend was that Graham’s best friend of all time, Theron, and his wife, Tesia, were also home in Clifton Forge so we had a great breakfast at the picnic table made by Judy and Erin and a great time of catching up.
After Graham had a great meeting with his college advisor from UVA, we went to another AVP wedding of one of his buddies, Chris. It was at a beautiful vineyard in Virginia and made for a lot of fun and catching up with a number of his old friends. I’m so impressed by how bonded these guys are and how much they enjoy singing together at the various weddings – a treat for the rest of us!
Well, after a REALLY LONG drive, we finally made it here to Indianapolis!! We came to surprise Shawn's mom, and boy did we ever!! We left yesterday around 5:00pm from Charlotte. We stopped in Morganton (at Chick-Fil-A, of course!!) for dinner and then settled in for a while. Reilly and I watched a video in the backseat, looked at books, and played with a variety of random Dollar Store purchases I got for the trip. Then we stopped just on the other side of the "gorge", before Knoxville, for one last potty and fuel break, and then prepared for the rest of the night. Since it was no where near dark outside, Reilly wasn't even close to being interested in sleeping! And, in fact, she didn't fall asleep until well after 10pm!! After she finally fell asleep, I think Shawn "put the pedal to the medal" and tried to cover as much ground as possible! I dozed off for an hour or so and woke up around 12:30am to find us just passing through Lexington, KY. Why in the world were we stopped for ONE HOUR in bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of the night!!! Yes, construction. Oh, how lovely. I held my breathe the whole time, hoping that Reilly wouldn't wake up. I finally convinced Shawn it was TIME to stop for a hotel so we pulled off somewhere in Georgetown, KY. Would you know that as soon as we came to a stop at the top of the exit ramp, POP went Reilly's eyes and she was ready for some fun! After going in FIVE hotels to find an available room (Karin, you called it!! should have listened), we finally ended up in a $100/night room in a Fairfield Inn, which we literally were in for less than 8 hours!!! We finally got to "sleep" around 2am and the next thing I knew it was 7AM and Shawn is ready to get going again! I forced him to wait a little while longer before getting in the shower,just to allow Reilly a few more minutes of sleep. We all showered and dressed and hit the road again by 8:45am. Coincidentally, Shawn's dad and Susan were heading down to Asheville from Toledo and were literally traveling the same stretch of highway that we were. So we met up with them outside of Cinncinnati for some yummy, southern breakfast at Cracker Barrell and let Reilly play for a while. After that, I guiltfully (real word?? who cares!) gave Reilly a dose of Tylenol to help her "relax" and hoped that she could fall asleep for a little morning nap. After one more video, she dozed off for about 45 minutes. That put us about an hour from Indy with a tired baby, a cranky mommy, and a sore/impatient daddy! And, as luck would have it, we hit another bumper to bumper traffic jam literally 10 miles from his grandparents house!!! We finally made it here around 1:30, just in time to shove some lunch down Reilly's mouth and get her down for a NAP! She slept for over two hours and was a new child when she woke up!! Then, it was time for the big surprise!! We loaded up in the truck once more and headed over to the apt. complex that Shawn's mom lives in. As soon as we pulled in, we saw her in the distance walking the dog. Shawn pulled around the block and then whipped into a parking space right beside her and rolled down the window by Reilly. With the dark tint on the truck, she couldn't see us but looked up and saw Reilly sitting there. It was so funny b/c she just stared and looked and turned her head, trying to figure what exactly she was seeing!! After she heard my outburst of laughter (who would have thought?!), she knew it was us and that it was in fact her granddaughter staring her in the face!!! She burst into tears and "the rest is history". It was very fun:) The trip was worth it:) But, for the record, I'm NOT looking forward to the drive home:)
Happy 4th of July folks!!
For several months now Colsen has been obsessed with the concept of talking on the phone. He mostly wants to talk on our real phones, but since that doesn't usually get a "yes" from his parents, he has resorted to making his own phones. For awhile he was happy to make any smallish object a phone that he would hold up to his ear and say, "Hello!?" But lately he's gotten more picky. Uncle Al heard about his obsession and kindly donated an old real cell phone to his cause. Colsen thought it was cool for about 5 minutes, but then decided that he couldn't like it because it was just a straight phone -- not a flip phone.
So that afternoon he absconded with some cards from one of Rayna's games and made himself several flip phones. (He folded them in half, so he can open and close them) Strider tried to point out that these card phones are not as effective as the real one because, as he says, "They don't have numbers to push, Colsen! Now you can't text anyone! And you'll have to wait until someone calls you, because you can't call anyone!" But Colsen was nonplussed by this argument, and thinks his flip phone is the mac-daddy. (Do people still use that term?) Plus, it can fit in his pocket, which he thinks is soooo cool.
And now those phones have become as important to him as his pacifier! Whenever he is transitioning from one thing to another now (going to bed, waking up, going outside, whatever), we hear, "Need paci! Phone!!" And he is rarely without either. A happy clam he is, when he has a paci in one hand and his phone in the other. As you can see from these pictures, it doesn't matter what he's doing, it's always a good time to have a phone chat with someone (usually, "Gee-Gee" or "Deuce" according to him). He's actually kind of rude at times about it. We need to teach him some phone etiquette. Yesterday we were outside talking to Miss Mary, but he stayed on the phone the whole time, even while having a conversation with her!
So, that's what's going on in Colsen's world. If you want him to give you a call, text him your number. It might be a short conversation, though. Here's how they usually go...
You know, selling a house is the most stressful, emotionally draining, headache causing, thing EVER! Seriously! Shawn and I have had our house on the market for 6 months. We started building a new house in January that we were so super excited about. But, through this whole process, we've been very prayerful and very reliant and God's timing for this to work if it was supposed to. We've wanted that knew house more than anything (well, maybe not more than we wanted Reilly, but you know what I mean!!) and we watched it go up from the dirt. All the while, trying to remain grounded in the fact that that house was not "ours" and it would only be "ours" if God decided to make this work. We have tried so stinikin' hard to remain emotionally detached from that new house so that we could 200% focus on God's plan and His Will and allow Him to work. We've prayed thousands of times about our current house being sold to the perfect buyers. We've prayed over each room and over each showing that's been scheduled. And then finally, last week we saw a glimmer of hope. Was this REALLY going to happen? Were we really going to get to move into this amazing new home that we built but have had to let go of? Were we actually going to get to move out of this house?? We had a couple come through that loved the house and wanted a 2nd look. Trying not to get to excited, and knowing there were still LOTS that had to happen, we perfected the house, yet again, for their second showing. And then we got the call. They wanted to put in an offer!!! Holy cow! Another step closer to this dream coming true! Another glimpse of hope of what God may have in store for us!! And then the offer came in. Wow. Let it just suffice to say that the current market is REALLY bad for selling a home. After two whole days of bathing this in more prayer and faithfully trusting God's plan, we have realized that the time is not yet right. For whatever reason, God is not quite ready for us to leave this house. So, we wait. And keep on praying and keep on trusting and keep on relying on the fact that God's Will and His Plan are sovereign.....no matter what. So after sort of a downer of an evening when we came to the realization that we were going to have to do some more waiting (something I feel like we've almost perfected over the last 3 years!!!) we looked out in our backyard during a pop up thunderstorm last night to find this:
That's right, not only one but TWO rainbows literally going over our backyard. But not only that, the bottom of one of the rainbows was honestly touching down IN our backyard. I know you may not believe this or find it hard to believe since the story is that there is a "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow, but I stand here to tell you that that dang rainbow was touching the ground in the back of our yard! :
It's kinda hard to see b/c the camera didn't pick up the boldness of the colors, but it's there folks....the rainbow is touching down in our backyard. So, we feel like God was telling us something. "Shawn and Lindsey, it's going to be ok. I'm in control. Trust me. My plans are ALWAYS perect and My time is ALWAYS just right. And remember, I'M IN CONTROL".
On Saturday, my parents came down from Greensboro to hang out at the pool with us (well, really they just came to hang out at the pool with Reilly). Mom had Reilly kicking and splashing all over that pool. We finally tried out the much talked about Harris Teeter subs (for only $2.49--thank you Dreschers!) and they were indeed as good as we'd heard!! Subs, sun, and pool time....makes for a great Saturday afternoon:)
Gotta love summer!
Here are some of our highlights of this past week:
1. Summer Celebration
This is our church's version of Vacation Bible School, and the kids had a blast at it. This was our fourth year to participate, and I loved seeing how the very same teenagers in our church have been involved as helpers all along. Four years ago they were shy, scrawny middle-schoolers, but now they've transformed into strong, compassionate leaders. It was very cool to see how they taught the younger kids, played with them, prayed with them, etc. Our kids are blessed with good role models.
2. Cousins Camp
Rayna went on the inaugural session of Cousins Camp with Ava this week, and had a great time with my parents. She came home with this great photo book they made showing all their adventures, and she's been singing her new Cousins Camp Song for the last couple days. Looks like it was a big hit -- and Strider can't wait for his turn next month.
3. Game Night
And because summer is not just about the kids having fun, Pete and I arranged for some good ol' play time with some of our friends as well! We had some folks over for dinner and a rousing game of Balderdash.... entertaining and informative! :)
June has been a great month!
I (Pete) have only written twice on this site. And I just recently learned that my sarcasm does not translate well in this medium. My first attempt at blogging was this: "A FREE gift from the government" and this past week I've heard that some readers (even my very own family members) actually believed that I purchased the 50-inch flat panel tv I wrote about. Apparently my attempt at humor was lost on some, but note that my stimulus check was neither free nor frittered away unwisely on a TV.
