12 months!

Our sweet girl turns one today! Unfortunately, she & her brothers have a little virus, so celebrations are put on hold for a couple days until everyone is feeling better.

Bo's Mom

We all made a trip to North Carolina this week to visit Bo's family. Bo's mom was diagnosed with advanced cancer just a few weeks ago. Pat died the day after we left, so Bo has headed back to NC today to be with his sister and help with the final arrangements.

Eternal rest give unto her, Oh Lord
And let perpetual light shine upon her.

Bo & his mom

from our wedding day, 8/8/97

Carl Sandburg's Home

While in North Carolina, we visited Carl Sandburg's home in Hendersonville. After his death, his wife donated the land and house to the National Park Services. It sits on over 240 acres and has amazing views. There are many hiking trails available and you can visit the home for a small fee. There's no fee to visit the goat barn! Mrs. Sandburg raised goats at the farm and had many champions. For many years, she held the record for the goat that produced the most goat milk (2.5 gallons a day!)

The Sandburgs moved there from the midwest in 1945 when he was in his 60's and lived there until his death in 1967.

It was a very nice way to spend the morning. Nate especially loved the trails and both boys were very interested during the tour. Every room in the house had large bookshelves, and the overflow was down in the basement.

The National Park Service has a junior ranger program that the boys participated in during our visit. They had to complete a booklet with information they learned during the tour and their visit to the goat barn. Both boys did a great job and become "official junior rangers of Carl Sandburg's Home."

NC Trip

Billie Jo & Bo

Mel, Bo, Billie Jo, Lydia, Danny, Nate & Colin

Billie Jo & Danny's place is up on a hill. The boys loved running around their yard! They have a beautiful house and amazing scenery.

Here are the boys running down the hill.

This isn't the best picture, but these trees were in bloom all over. They are very pretty and I think they are called "redbuds."

I think Lydia is trying to feel her new teeth with her tongue ;)

Lydia and our niece, Diana. She has a sweet baby named Lillian who is just a couple months older than Lydia. They had a great time playing together.

cement pour

Last week, we had cement poured on our patio so that it would be level with indoors. (We plan to close in the patio and make another room)

The kids were fascinated with the process!

p.s. Thanks to Mom & Dad for making it possible!

for my parents

Progress pictures of the work being done on your house. The concrete stamping looks really neat!

The other concrete will be poured tomorrow.

The pool's open for the season!

The pool is 72 degrees, which the boys think is perfect!

for Grandpa

Unfortunately, they only came in kid sizes!

sugar

A couple weeks ago I noticed some fingerprints in the sugar. I told the boys to keep their fingers out of the sugar, and they responded that it was Lydia, not them!!

Umm, well, after today I guess they might have been right!

geocaching

One thing we enjoy doing as a family is geocaching. Check out this site for lots of information about the hobby.

All you need is a handheld GPS, an adventurous spirit, some sunscreen and hats, and "eagle eyes"! There are tons of caches hidden throughout the world. It's a fun way to spend an afternoon!!