Whatcha readin?

Summer beach books have been snatched up by the thousands, and many have already been devoured or abandoned. No bestseller books for me this summer... Not that I have much time to read anyway, with the summer schedule we have! On my dresser there is a pile of books that I am working my way through:
Bright Captivity by Eugenia Price
Socrates Meets Jesus by Peter Kreeft
The Holy Bible, ESV
AWife's Purpose by Cindy Schaap (for Ladies Bible study)

I wholeheartedly promote reading the first three books. The last one is okay - if you can't find something better (which should be easy enough to do!).

On top of all this, I am also reading through my latest issues of Smithsonian (always a good read) and Cook's Country (a sister magazine to Cook's Illustrated from America's Test Kitchens).

Last night I read from Ladybug and Highlights to Jamie. A little below my normal level, but enjoyable just the same. Earlier this summer I read The Westing Game before giving it to Jim and then to Dot. That was a fun little mystery, very engaging.

So, what are you reading this summer?

local attractions

This past week was spent visiting our many local attractions. We spent a day in Annapolis, touring the historic downtown and Naval Academy, and picnicking at the beach (where while "wading" both kids got soaked). Tuesday we all went down to DC, walking through two Smithsonians and two monuments (Washington and WWII). It was very hot and sunny, and we heard many a request (complaint) for a drink. We took a break on Wednesday, although Joel headed back down to DC to do some research on his own. Thursday we drove into Baltimore, where we started off the day with a wander through a cemetery. After touring the shot tower, we headed to Little Italy for lunch. We then went back out into the hot, humid, sunny day to walk to the Public Works museum (not worth the admission price) and then to Fells Point. On the way back we walked through the Fells Point Markets, where the kids enjoyed Italian ices.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed having Unc and Aunt Bean around, and so did we! I will miss KJ cleaning up around the house (now I have to do it by myself again!). Dot misses having Unc playing games with her. We will all miss going out to eat at restaurants...

If any of this sounds good to you, call us to vacation at our place! :-)

Bad! Bad! Bad!

Last time I posted I told you I was going to clean the house and stay off the computer. Yeah, right. My house is still messy, and I've spent too much time on the computer, and my kid still isn't potty trained (although we have had a few successes!). Oh well.

Unfortunately, I found a blog that really interests me: A dress a day.

Yeah, I spent way too much time reading that blog. Well, I also spent a good deal helping a little boy try out the potty and pull up training pants. Fruit Loops and trains are our prizes for successes. I'm not sure how much he really understands, but he's doing better. Hopefully he'll be trained soon!

I am not worried, though, about my messy house. I know that if I had cleaned it the work would have been in vain anyway. The kids would have trashed it. So, on Saturday we will clean and it will look good when KJ & Joel get here. Then we will let it go. It will revert to it's natural state. Unfortunately.

A little break

Of course, as soon as I post this, I will find something of interest online that I will just HAVE to tell you about...

This week we are cleaning and potty training. I am not sure how successful we will be at either one, but we will be busy. Next week we have company! As a good hostess, I should try to spend time with our visitors. Therefore, I plan to stay away from the blog for awhile...

Is it time for a new purse?

You may have seen my handmade purse, which, despite it's upside down zipper, is turning out to be a pretty good purse. You may have bought yourself (or your wife) a purse at some time. I doubt many of us have spent more than $50 on a purse, although I have seen many purses that retail for $100 or more. I will probably never own a purse that expensive. Why would a purse be that expensive? I'm not sure I could feel comfortable using a purse that expensive... I guess it's just me.
Here's what you can buy for the woman in your life if you win the lottery.

back to reality

Vacation was wonderful! We enjoyed the peace and quiet that the "camping" and hiking in Hocking Hills provided, but we had to come back to the busy, noisy city of Baltimore that we call home. After all, it was Jim's job that paid for that vacation...

It had been a long time since I had been in Hocking Hills. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. We were alone on most of the paths, and were able to really enjoy the scenery. Memorial Day week is a really good time to visit, if you are able. The weather is comfortable, there aren't many bugs yet, and most kids are still in school, so the parks are quiet. We saw many beautiful flowers and lots of butterflies.

The gypsy wagon was a nice place to stay. Of course, you don't expect to be pampered while camping (even cabin camping), so the air mattresses were about as comfortable as we thought they would be. (They squeaked when you moved, so we tried to stay as still as possible all night long. That wasn't much of a problem, though, since we were exhausted from hiking all day long.) The castle and grounds were very nice, and the owners were friendly. Our kids really enjoyed the castle dog and cat! We didn't spend a lot of time at the castle other than sleeping and eating, since we had hiking to do each day, but we did stop to play giant checkers once or twice.

During the day we hiked, and Dot did every step that we did. Jamie, however, spent much of the time in the hiking backpack, and some of it sleeping! He did get out to hike some of the gorge trails. We are proud of how well they did - we figure we hiked 12 miles last week!


By the way, we took about 150 pictures last week... want to stop by and see them sometime?