August Visitors

The last week of August we had some company.  Our W family friend sent daughter Z to stay with us and Grandparents were here several days as well.  We spent Monday playing on the farm and going to all our favorite thrift stores. 

Including a fabric store,  where brother S spied this fabulous shark and would I please make him one asap in my spare time, thanks.    We also stopped at our favorite Taiwanese bakery for a treat.

On Tuesday, despite some concerns about storms at sea raising the tide, we went to "shark tooth beach" more commonly known as Calvert Cliffs State Park. 

 The tide was much higher than last time we were there. The tiny stream that we crossed last time to get to the beach had become a calf deep pond.

 The water was lovely and warm.  It was a perfect day for playing at the beach.

And for finding shark teeth!  We found many more than last time. 

I should mention that there are no sharks in the area these days.  These are fossilized teeth that are being washed into the water as the cliffs erode. Pretty amazing!

 Grandpa J was a good sport and played in the water with all the hangers on.

 The kids found a large log on the beach and it became a boat for all kinds of imaginary adventures.

On Wednesday we went ice skating at our usual spot, but I forgot to bring my camera! Then on Thursday we went to Lancaster with our old buddy and a couple new friends.  

 We met at our favorite little diner for breakfast.  Then headed on to the amish thrift store and some dry goods stores.  We had ice cream for lunch at Lapp Valley farm and visited with their animals.

 Then our friends introduced us to a new XL dry goods store full of fabulous homestead supplies.  At the entrance is a cafe where they make little yeast doughnuts right there. They were small and the kids were disappointed that I ONLY bought 3 dozen.  They had polished them off by the time I got my camera out!

 On Friday the kids went to work, trying to earn money to purchase the special toys they found at the dry goods stores. Miss L weeded some Virginia white grass and Japanese stilt grass (easy to pull, possibly my favorite invasive) from the front landscaping beds.  We have been using this grass as bedding in the chicken houses, much cheaper than straw!

 Big Sister A and friend Z had the formidable task of sterilizing all last years plug trays and pots. 

 Their were a lot of them.  It took a couple hours. 

 Saturday morning, just before friend Z had to fly home, we tested the new cotton candy maker that we found at the thrift store. 

 Then the kids tried everything possible to keep friend Z at our house.  They pretended to be a 5 headed siamese quintuplet? all one person -- so they couldn't be separated. And they thought they could make it through airport security that way.

Big Trip to Idaho: Part 4

Daddy was able to see more good friends back in Boise:

Water Works is a game that has been played in this house for decades.  It was a big hit again with the cousins:

Some of us took a tour of the Idaho State Penitentiary:

Our guide told us some stories of prisoners who climbed this wall trying to escape.  The kids thought it looked hard to climb:

Next to the penitentiary there is a Museum of Mining and Geology.  They gave out one free rock to each kid!

Daddy has some of his old stuff stored in boxes in Grandpa's shed.  We opened them up and found old pinewood derby cars, rocks, comic books, and a chess set.

This tree was planted when Daddy was little.  Now it is big enough to climb in!

We visited the Idaho State Museum:

Brother M demonstrating his reading skills by reading to his siblings:

We also visited the Discovery Center, which has tons of cool interactive science exhibits.

The giant bubble station is always popular:

Mad scientist:

This T Rex is under construction, not on display yet, but S was happy just to see it through the window:

The Discovery Center happened to have a Lego exhibit while we were there.  Great timing for our Lego lovers!

Build-your-own maze:

Stop motion animation:

We went on a little hike from this park...

up to Castle Rock:

Back at the park, Grandpa made airplanes for the kids:

We went to nearby Julia Davis park for a ride on the paddle boats:

There were some really big fish hiding in corners:

After two glorious weeks, it was time to head home.  We had a total of four flights on this vacation, which made it easy to give everyone a turn at the popular window seat.

Another long layover in Denver, this one overnight so we stayed at our favorite hotel chain for the breakfast treats:

Since we had time in Denver, we made a quick trip to the zoo.  We saw lots of animals, including zebras:

Fish:

Giraffes:

Miss L with her Unicorn Fish:

Big lizards:

Elephants:

Pretty birds:

Monkeys:

Up close with gorillas:

For the final plane ride, some Lunchables: