All Good Things Must Come To An End

Out of respect for the Amish, we didn't take any pictures of the people themselves, however, we were able to take some pictures of the buggys and wagons that they use as well as a picture of one of the homes that is used to show their way of life. We learned so much about these simple people and it really hits home the idea to "Simplify."

This was the final trip for the summer. We went to Lancaster County, PA, where we were able to have fun at the Dutch Wonderland park, visit some real working Amish farms and just have a fun time relaxing together as a family before we start preschool and Sean starts to travel for his job. We had a ton of FUN!

Sean, Abby and Jaxon were making smoothies with berries that we picked at one of the local farms here in New Jersey. The kids loved it!

Sean and Jaxon mowing the lawn at Grandpa & Gram's house in Iowa

Our Bathing Beauties! This was at the water park in Utah. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins!

Taking Grandpa "Sniff"(Smith) for a walk around the living room at Grandpa and Grandma Erickson's house. This was his exercise for the day and Abby and Jaxon loved to make sure that he did it, much to his chagrin!

New Blogs

So, I've been a little MIA over the past 7 weeks since we've moved to New Jersey. We finally have internet and I'm slowly but surely getting things organized enough so that I can start to put some new pics up. Stay tuned..................................... I've been sent to a new blog that I think is one of my new faves: http://aroundthequiltblock.blogspot.com/ It is a fun blog and it really crafty (which I love). I hope you'll check it out! Thanks for the suggestion, Savannah!

Very Thankful

As some of you know, we have been tossing around the idea of getting out of the Coast Guard for a while now. Sean has been looking for a job since the first of May and he has accepted a job with the O'Brien Group out of Plainsboro, New Jersey. So, a-packing we will go! It has only been 11 months since we moved to Naperville but we have felt very impressed that we needed to move on from the Coast Guard at this time. I'm not one for good-byes, so I hope that I haven't offended anyone but I couldn't cry because this has been a very difficult decision and true test of my faith because I haven't been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel like Sean has been able to with this move. We are in the process of trying to get to family reunions in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Utah in amongst all of this moving and I just have to say that I am so grateful to everyone who has helped or will be helping us as we try to accomplish this monumental task of moving for the fourth time in 4 years and doing it with a 3 year old and a two year old (who is cutting 4 molars at once!) while driving across the United States from Utah to New Jersey (Crazy, I know!) I have a bunch of pictures that I will upload once we get to our new place in NJ. I just wanted to say thank you for all of the help and prayers we've received over the past 6 weeks.

Fun in the Sun

We got this awesome bike trailer and have been waiting for good weather to use it. We bought the kids new helmets and sunglasses and here is the end result. Every morning, I hear, "Can we go for a bike ride, Mom?" We've had a lot of fun exploring the fun trails around our house and it has really helped on the gas budget, especially since gas has been up to almost $4.25 a gallon here. Crazy!

Jaxon was trying to go through the sliding glass door and didn't realize it was closed. It was a totally "Bee Movie" moment. We bought this pool last summer for the kids and it was the perfect size. But apparently, it's not big enough for the two of them to play in now, especially with the slide in it. Abby was protecting her territory with the garden hoe.

Even the dog gets into it

The kids love to dance to music and I had the soundtrack to "Curious George" playing in the background. Our dog, Sadie, loves to "dance" with Sean so he and the kids, plus the dog, were getting their groove on.

Endless Entertainment

Who says you need to buy expensive toys for your kids to play with? Just give them a broom and a mop and let them go to town "cleaning"! Abby and Jaxon would "clean" the kitchen floor and then fall down because they were "so tired" (as Abby put it!) They literally played this way for almost an hour--I got so much done!

Trip to the Zoo

We had the opportunity to go to Brookfield Zoo with Sean for one of his work "Morale" days. We had a lot of fun and the kids loved being able to go in and pet the animals whenever it was possible. From the "giraff-es" that we saw to the goats that we got to pet, it was a very fun day and the best part was getting to spend a "work" day with Daddy!