Here are some pics of Mera at the air show.

I wish you could hear the sounds she is making in the photo of her walking. I will try to explain ; woooooaaaahuuuuuhwooo!!!!!!!

picture of the week....

 Here is one of my favorite planes from the air show on saturday. Meradeth had a great time looking at all the planes.Some you could walk through, she kept running back around to go through over and over again. 

Our Tuesday

My three apple pickers! :) Today, we went to Honey Creek Acres to pick apples. There are thirty acres of apple trees here and of every kind you could possibly want.

Many of the apples hung low enough for the boys to reach. So they could fill their own baskets w/their choice of apples.
Allyson was extremely picky about the apples that went into HER basket...there could be no bad spots, bruises or holes in the apple.
Then I got to use the apple picker to reach the high ones that looked so nice, big and juicy way up there.What was so fun about picking apples was the lady that owned Honey Creek Acres said we could stop along the way and eat as many apples as we wanted. So, needless to say, we taste tested quite a few. :) Here we are on one of our breaks. They also make and sell honey here...so we got to see a working bee hive. They only charge $1.50 per lb. for apples...so that's not bad...and we picked 14 lbs. of apples!

Friday at the lake

Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I met Papa at Lake McBride. Papa gave us a fun, exciting boat ride! The weather was perfect!

Travis kept me nervous while he hung over the side of the boat making waves w/his hand and splashing his face.

Allyson stayed busy telling Papa which way to go. She also begged us to throw her in so we would see how good she could swim...we didn't though. Kaleb kept his eye out for Captian Hook and his pirates who were closing in on us. :)

We had SO much fun! And it was so nice of Papa to bring his boat out and give us such a merry adventure! We hope we were good shipmates! :)

Tropical Storm Fay - Tornado

I don't know if you guys can see it or not, but that is a tornado coming into land. It swept through the little city where I work and right by Eric's parents' house. This happened about 3 hours ago.

Tropical Storm Fay

This is a road about 20 minutes from here. It's still blowing outside, but still very windy. I'm going to try to make it to work as long as I don't run into any flooding.

Our Thursday

Today was cool and rainy, so we decided to enjoy a long afternoon in our Williamsburg library.

Allyson put on her thinking cap and read some of her favorites...Curious George, Bob the Builder and Berenstain Bears. I'm reading about one of my choice topics...the Civil War and John Grisham's new book. If you look carefully, you can see the top of Travis' head above Allyson's hat.

Our beautiful little 1st grader.

Kaleb decided to go to another table...his "happy" sister and unruly brother were embarrassing him.

Our afternoon at the lake

This is Lake Iowa, which is about 15 minutes from our house. As you can see, we have the place to ourselves! Allyson, Kaleb and Travis, who is running toward me, are the only ones playing down in the lake and on the sand.

It took Travis a while to assure himself in the water; however, once he did there was no stopping him. He was out floating on his stomach, calling, "Look, Mama!" before we left. Allyson practiced her swimming techniques...and Kaleb never stopped running and splashing in and out of the water.

Recognize this float, Katie and Eric. You should Eric...I think you were the one who blew it up and then deflated it so Allyson could take it home w/her on the plane. They played w/Bruce, that's what Kaleb named the shark, til sunset.

We had alot of fun! Travis really took to the water here better then the water park...I think because it was so much calmer. I'm sure we will go again before the summer is out and bring a picnic next time. On the drive out of the park a family of deer leaped across the road...and then stared at us from the edge of the woods as we drove slowly by.

UPDATE -- Hurricane Fay -- UPDATE

Today is MUCH worse! It is VVEERRYY windy outside and trees are blowing all over the place and I'm sure the power will be knocked out before too much longer. The worst thing is the flooding. I'm staying home from work today because the courthouse and all government buildings are closed. I went in yesterday but the power went out after I had been there about 10 minutes. Love you, everybody!

Smile!

HI everybody!!!!!!!!

Our fun afternoon

Here we are inside The Chocolate Haus. Remember this place, Grandaddy and Grandmother? The Chocolate Haus is in a historical German village in Amana...and it is along the bike trail. So after biking about a mile we stopped here to rest.

Travis treated us to a peach smoothie and a mocha frappie from his birthday money that he received from Bestefar. Delicious! So, here we are outside The Chocolate Haus drinking our cool refreshing drinks...building our pedaling energy back up...as you can see, our bikes are behind us.

Then we biked an extra mile further to play at the Amana school playground. Needless to say, we were all pooped and our legs felt like jello by the time we arrived back at the van. We will all sleep good tonight!

Remodeling the Condo

Birthday Party

I had a great birthday. Olivia fixed me a german chocolate cake with coconut frosting..MMMmmm. My favorite. Decorations were provided by our own blog captain, Candace Hanna. BTW, to everyone that doesn't know, I have a spongebob cartoon fanatic. The pink character is Spondgebob's (he is a sea sponge) friend Patrick Star (he is a starfish). Candace also got me spongebob earrings and a earring hanger. Thanks to everyone else for their cards and calls!! I had a great (cough cough) 25th birthday... OK OK so it was 26. Whatever.

Crabbies

1 jar old english cheese
3/4 stick real butter
1 1/2 TBSP mayonaise
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 lb. crab meat
6 english muffins- split

Cream together the first four ingredients. Then fold in crab meat. Split english muffins. Spread crab meat mixture on english muffins. Place on flat tray and freeze. Put frozen muffins in freezer bag. Take out what needed and place on cookie sheet to thaw. Cut in four pieces with knife or pizza cutter. Separate. Bake 350 for 15 to 20 minutes until slightly browned. I doubled recipe because crab meat was sold by the pound. Do NOT use imitation crab meat. VERY GOOD!!!

Picture of the week....

Lonely oak on a hill....

  I love the oak trees,and how they 

  are shaped by the wind.

Tiramisu Cheesecake Dessert

1 package(12 oz. vanilla wafers)

5 tsp instant coffee granules, divided

3 tbs hot water, divided

4 packages(8 oz. each)cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup(8 oz.)sour cream

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup whipped topping

1 tbs baking cocoa

Layer half of wafers in a greased 13in. x 9in x 2in baking dish. In a small bowl, dissolve 2 tsp coffee granules in 2tbs hot water. Brush wafers w/half of coffee; set remaining mixture aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs;beat on low speed just until combined. Divide batter in half. Dissolve remaining coffee granules in remaining hot water; stir into one portion of batter. Spread over wafers. Layer w/remaining wafers; brush w/reserved coffee. Top w/remaining batter.

Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around edge of dish to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.

Spread w/whipped topping; dust w/cocoa.

Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12 servings

The above recipe is the one I was telling you about, Kristin. If you like cheesecake and tiramisu, you will love this Italian recipe. Mama, could you post the crab appetizer recipe that you made at Bestefar's house? I'm eager to try it. :)

Just one or our Southern Wonders

For all you yankees...this place is called Sliding Rock in Bevard, NC...it's not man-made. This is the icey cold water you were talking about splashing into at the bottom, isn't it Steve Cope?