4th of July

We headed over to my Aunt's house for the 4th this year. Linda had a great time playing w/her cousins and everyone else. She got to do her first sparklers. yes I know it's still light out in these pics. But everyone knows I am OCD w/nap and bedtimes, lol. And it doesn't get dark until after 9pm up here in the summer. So this is the best it was going to get for her, lol. She enjoyed the dinner and sparklers so much. She also was excited to ride on the four wheeler!

Strasburg Railroad

So I realized I did these backwards, lol. Let me repeat (as you will see in two posts down), we are officially on vacation. We visited PA Dutch country Wed, Thurs, Fri. Wed we went to do some Amish stuff, Thurs we went to Dutch Wonderland, and Fri we visited Strasburg railroad. So I am posting these in the reverse order we did them.

The railroad was very fun. My 4 3/4 yr old nephew is really into trains. It was fun just seeing him get so excited about all the trains, and riding on a real train. Linda enjoyed herself too.

After the railroad we headed up to NY, which is where we will be for the remainder of our vacation. The last three days were really so much fun, and we are so grateful to our family for including us in their plans!

Dutch Wonderland

Thursday we spent the day at Dutch Wonderland. Linda loves amusemant parks, so this was right up her alley. when we went to Busch Gardens, Linda was very impressed by the shows, so she was asking what kind of shows Dutch Wonderland had. We saw a Thomas show, and a high diving show that we were so engrossed in, we forgot to take pics. That def was the neatest show. She enjoyed all the rides, water park, and spending time w/her two aunts, one uncle, two cousins, and grandparents. We had a very nice day!

Amish Country

We are officially on vacation. Wed, Thurs and Fri we spent in Lancaster, PA. It was very fun. Wed morning we took an Amish buggy ride. We were so fortunate to have Miss Elsie, a real Amish young woman, be our driver. She answered so many questions I kept throwing at her. Linda enjoyed stopping on an Amish farm for the home made lemonade, and home made root beer, which were both very very good. Miss Elsie was so kind to Linda, and agreed to have her picture taken w/Linda. Later that afternoon we went to The Amish Village. There we saw some farm animals, an Amish schoolhouse and other points of interest. Late Wed afternoon the rest of Tom's family arrived. It was a very nice day!

Toby

My beloved dog of 14 years, Toby, had to be put down yesterday. I will not be updating Linda's blog for a while. I just wanted everyone to know the reason why I am not updating.

Caterpillar update

The caterpillar Linda was playing with was a tiger swallowtail caterpillar. http://www.pbase.com/crocodile/image/33579846

I had never seen one before. It was amazing.

Camping at the river

We went camping this weekend and had such a wonderful time. Linda was so excited to go. We told her all about the different things she would be doing. The pictures are actually reversed, meaning the last picture should be first for sequence. It was in the mid 90s on Sat, so that was difficult. It wasn't bad if you were in the water down at the river though. She had a lot of fun w/Lynn on the kayak. Lynn was nervous b/c Linda is wiggly, and well it's a kayak, lol. The water at the river is only like 3' deep for way out. That made me feel better. I still made sure she wore her life vest at all times in the water. It was murky, and you couldn't see in it at all.

She was some sort of excited to go fishing as well. We got a free fishing pole (scooby doo) and she used that. The fish weren't biting very well. That could have been the time of day we went (4pm). I was w/them for a little bit and then started back to camp to work on dinner. No fish were caught, but she did hold a fish someone else caught.

She enjoyed her s'more so much. she doesn't get treats like that very much. We have taught her to savor her food. That is the pic w/her head back and her eyes closed. She is savoring it, lol. I told her she was getting one s'more. She was so excited. My dad leaned over and asked if he could have some. She immediately got up and offered him some. My heart just melted right there. Here's a kid that doesn't get a lot of junk. She is only getting one s'more, is asked to share it, and immediately shares. She is some amazing kid.

This morning we found some sort of crazy caterpillar that I had never seen before. Of course Linda was immediately picking it up. I love her interest in bugs. We were at the river and there was a bug I wasn't familiar with. She went to pick it up and I told her it might bite or sting, but she could pick it up if she wanted to. She bent down and picked it right up. I just love that. She has fear of some things in life, but definitely not bugs!

So we just really had a great time camping. I can't wait to do it again. And yes, she really is as dirty and greasy as she looks in the pics, lol. I think swimming in the river helped clean her off too, so imagine how grubby she would have been if she hadn't have gone in. She said the sweetest thing at prayer for lunch today. She was praying and said, "Thank you Heavenly Father for such a nice time camping." It melted my heart and I just started crying. We really have one very special little girl.