More roommate's kids

On our way down to Myrtle Beach for the Fourth of July we stayed the night before at my other former roommate's home outside of Richmond. There are about 5 former roommates- so as we get together, it's fun to get pictures of our kids together. (hopefully a bunch of us will be getting together in Oct) Joan and Jesse are now moving from this home- we were lucky to get to stop over there! One of my other roommates who we haven't seen in a long time (Shauna and Ben) and her kids are here on her blog: www.pilgreens.blogspot.com The other roommates are equally as important- just no photos with them yet!

Anyway- here are some patriotic photos of Caed and their daughter Emma Grace.

College roomates expanding families

Before we head over to the other side of the country, I thought I would post a couple of pictures that I have been meaning to post. These are of when Mark and Janet came to visit. Janet is my former roommate at Liberty. We were roommates by chance our freshman year, and chose to stay together for all four. We loved getting to meet cutie Hailey! She's exactly 4 months younger then Caed- so it's fun to watch them together.






We went down to the Awakening Statue together which is our new favorite place to bring visitors!

Football player

I didn't have a football but the bouncy ball worked just as well to show off his budding skills at 13 months. We think he's got some real moves!

The Jersey was a gift from our friend's out in San Fran and I think Caed looks pretty good in it!

He's really interested in that ball!

Delayed Graduation Photos

Here are some well deserved photos from Jon's graduation back in May. After all the hard work he did, I wanted to make sure I got these posted still! He's such a hard worker and it's such a huge accomplishment to go through with a family and every other responsibility we've had over the last few years! Congratulations Jon!!

Shaking someone important's hand...

Annaberg Plantation

Okay- so the ruins on St. John aren't anything terrifically amazing, but when the Dutch settled on St. John they prepared the island for growing crops. Sugar Plantations were a popular crop grown on the island. Now that the Dutch and the sugar are gone the buildings and history remain. We visited the bigger more popular ruins, called Annaberg. It was a really hot and muggy day...Fun Fact: The only mammal native on St. John are bats. But you will find wild mongoose, goats, donkeys, cats and rats. The blame for the additional mammals rests largely on the Dutch. The funny story is, they brought the rats with them with all their "stuff" and then to combat the rat population they intentionally brought mongoose. But rats are noctural and mongoose are not- so it didn't help at all...


View from the ruins- the island in the back is Tortola (British Virgin Island)





Another view...




These flowers were blooming on the trees on the property




Jon the tourist




Here's the main building of the plantation




Some more of the buildings on the property



Little opening in the side of the wall




The hill in the back ground was all sugar back when the Dutch came...






Lovely photo of me at the plantation



Awww. There we are using the timer on the camera- and the tripod that I brought with us..

Day out with playgroup

Some days I feel that being a mom is a huge test of patience. Yesterday the playgroup from NCC went to Arundle Mills Mall for some shopping and a reprieve from the heat. Caed and I traveled with a friend- Katrina and her daughter Aliyah. I was worried what the day was going to look like. Maybe that's where the problem began. I was nervous about the car with a baby who doesn't like to fall asleep in the car. Well he didn't sleep in the car. He didn't sleep at the mall, and he didn't sleep on the way home either. (even though walking through the mall I was pleading with God to put him into a deep slumber!) He was the energizer bunny. Caed just wants to be involved in all that goes on around him. It's great for his learning, but really difficult for a day like yesterday. I thank God for the patience he does allow me to have, and the way I am being stretched. By nature I want everything now. I don't want to wait. So Caed is a constant reminder to myself to lengthen my abilities. Teach him a different way of expecting things. So my son continues to want now- and I keep trying to logically explain why now isn't possible. "It's not possible to get out of the stroller now, we are on our way home in the sweltering heat, and you can walk when we get closer". "You can't have that little boy's truck now, because it's time to get you home for a nap".

Yesterday we went napless- so today it's necessary.

It's such a blessing to be with other moms who have different ways of doing things, and to get new ideas from. I really think they are each an answer to my prayers for some mom fellowship. Here are some pictures from our afternoon yesterday- and all the sweet baby girls!

Our Gang-



They all needed to get out and stretch their legs at the end...

Beautiful Views

We are constantly reminded of God's awesome ability to create beautiful things. With our trip to St. John it really reminded us of that. There were just hours I would bask in the thought of being in such an unspoiled part of His creation. St. John is mostly a National Park and so there is minimal development and a lot of opportunities to hike, snorkel and do some 4 wheel driving. (I didn't like that too much!)

This is a view from the top of the road above our tent. You can see how the tents are really built into the side of the hill.



A view that I took a bunch of pictures of..



We watched this storm pass by us. Jon was convinced that it was going to come to us, but it never did..I thought it was pretty cool that you could see the line of rain...



Rain going by...



More of the storm...

More St. John

Here are a few more of St. John, since I am still at the computer. This was really a great trip, and if you are considering a caribbean island, I would highly recommend. Jon and I both would recommend where we stayed as well.

This is a view from our "tent"



I forget the beach name right now. But it was beautiful...



This was a view from the road above our tent...



This is the same view- without Jon....



Here are the steps down to our tent- 100 + stairs- it's a good workout! Our tent is the third one down at the bottom. The very last tent...

Our Little Monkey

More St. John pictures are coming, but for now a couple of pictures of Caed...

These are some older photos of Caed being a little monkey. He already had busted the screen at our back door and then one day he figured out that he could manage an escape. Needless to say, Khaki, our dog has learned the trick now too. Comes in handy when the glass door is open, but now that the a/c is on, it keeps Caed inside and Khaki out.






Then we had borrowed this little activity table from Lukas (which was a pure winner of a toy!) and he figured out how to climb this as well. All of these were precursors to his good fall two days before his birthday. (not off this table though!)



He thought he was really funny...

St. John

Jon and I had the amazing oppurtunity to visit St. John for a week. We went without Caed- and we missed him so much! But we made the most of our time away from life in DC and enjoyed island life a lot. Here are a few pictures I am posting tonight, and I'll post more later. These were practically the first five photos I took when we arrived.

At the dock when we arrived by ferry



View from the car heading to Concordia




View from our tent looking east (in the evening)



View from our tent looking south east. Beyond that water is Africa! Which made the beach below us unsafe for swimming- but you'll see later that there are lots of interesting things that have washed up on shore here. (including sometimes stowaways!)




Partial view of our tent and other tents looking west.