Our Favorite

The Manassas Battlefield is probably our favorite Sunday evening hangout, especially in the fall. The weather is crisp, and the colors are glorious. The kids love to run while Stephen and I amble along behind more slowly.

And I love to take pictures. The kids aren't always very eager to give up running for picture-taking, but they cooperated pretty decently last evening. (You might notice that there were lots of other photography-loving folks there last night, too. It's a popular spot in the evening hours for photo sessions.)

Major crop-job on this one, so the quality's not
great. But I couldn't resist Cade's face on this one!
Really makes me wonder what Stephen was doing
behind me to get them to laugh and smile...

Love her to bits!

These two were waging some sort of battle here - rather appropriately, I guess.

One out of focus boy...that's what I get for putting
the camera on Auto and forgetting to turn it back.

Photo credit: Luke

Columbus Day Weekend - Pt. 2

Sunday morning Stephen preached for morning worship at Reibers Reformed Baptist Church which was the church where I attended growing up and my parents are still members. Stephen's father had preached in this church numerous times, and it was a wonderful thing to see Stephen behind the pulpit there, too. Praise God - it went well!

Late in the afternoon we were able to join lots of my mom's extended family for a Cider Fest. Family members from Montana were visiting, and it was great to see them again after many years. It was good to visit and get to know them a little bit. After dinner and some play, they even pressed some fresh cider. It was the best, freshest cider I've ever had. YUM. 

The whoopie pies weren't bad either! :-)

Elsa got a turn pressing the apples into cider.

Cade's turn

My grandfather, my mom, and her cousin

Luke's turn

The apple masher

The press

He gave it two thumbs up!

The shutterbugs

Watching these two sisters say goodbye to each other was heart-wrenching
and so endearing all at once.

Columbus Day weekend - Pt. 1

A weekend in Pennsylvania was fun for all. Well, ok, it was fun for most of us. Stephen was preaching at my parents' church on Sunday morning, so he actually spent all of Saturday preparing. But the rest of us made it to Heritage Days in Blain after missing it for the last five years or so.

We enjoyed the BBQ chicken and whoopie pies of all sorts. But mostly it was good to see some family we hadn't seen in quite a while.

Here are some pictures (that I stole from my sister's FB page since I didn't think to take any while I was there):

 

 

 

Saturday afternoon was playtime at Grammie's and Grandpa's house. The boys got some target practice with Uncle Dan since Luke will be hunting again this fall, Lord-willing. But while they were waiting for Uncle Dan to set everything up, the kids played in the yard and did some archery practice.

Cade was up. Since he'd never fired a (real) gun before, he got the safety lesson first.

Ear coverings for the bystanders who didn't understand that a .22 sounds rather like a pop-gun. 

the cheerleaders :-)

Ready. Aim. Fire!

The shell. He hit the target on the first shot, and after that, he even tightened
the grouping.

Little missy wanted to take a shot too. It took her a (LONG) while to
get it lined up properly, and Uncle Dan was inordinately patient with her...
way more than I would have been. Thanks, Uncle Dan!

 Time for some rides!

Luke decided to forego his ride so that he'd have time for some shooting. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of him. And then it was off to a birthday party. No pictures there either. It was enough just trying to keep kids fed and out of trouble there.