Squire Boone Caverns

We took our children to Squire Boone Caverns this weekend. We wanted to do something fun with them before we left for Baltimore. It was a lot of fun.

Squire Boone was Daniel Boone’s younger brother.  He was a Baptist minister.  He actually was buried in the cave.  Here is a picture of his tomb stone.  His bones were laid in a coffin right next to the tomb stone.

More pictures of the day can be found by clicking here.

Our Children

Here are the final pictures of our children.  I think Sarah is happy with them – the pictures I mean!  She is usually pretty happy with the kids…

More Family Portraits

The picture Sarah liked the best as far as background, etc. was the one with Hudson and Calvin in the doorway.  We settled on getting the girls pictures there as well.  Calvin’s pictures from the previous day were not as good so we retook them and they turned out better.  Here is the one we like the best.  It is a cute pose with his hands crossed.

Abby also did great and of course looks beautiful.

Lydia was not as cooperative!  This is about the best shot we could get.  For some reason she was scared to stand there alone.  I have no idea why.  We tried everything with no success.  Oh well.  I wish I was better at photoshop to take her face and change it out with a happier version.

She was happy everywhere else…

Here they all are.  Both Sarah and I are truly thankful for the children which the Lord has given us.  Words cannot express how thankful we are.

A few days later we spent some time with the Wolters and Abby said goodbye to Emmie.

Handsome Young Men!

Continuing taking pictures.  Here are a few of the boys.

View the whole set

Having a Catch

Ironically, Abby is the most excited about having a catch.  Calvin is just not quite into it yet.  He has no context for baseball – he has never seen a game played – so it is a little hard.  Hopefully after we move we will drive up and catch a Phillies game or maybe even try to catch an Orioles game in Baltimore.  We will see.

Lydia is always ready to pose.

Family Portraits

I have been promising Sarah that I would take the kids pictures since it has been a year since we have taken their last pictures which are hanging up on our wall.  It was not the most successful time to say the least.  However, we did get a few good shots.  Here they are.

Here Abby is picking flowers.  There were some nice patches of flowers, but thorns intermixed.  I couldn’t really get the kids into there for a picture.  It would have been nice minus the thorns.

Lydia was adorable carrying some rocks and her little basket for a tea party.

This is our favorite shot.  Abby just turned around to give Lydia a little talking to and I caught it.  I wish I had gotten more of Abby’s face, but considering how fast it happened I am glad I caught it at all.

It is next to impossible to get four young children to pose in a group photo and have them all looking, smiling, and cooperating.  This is the result.  It is okay.  We are going to try again some time soon to get some better ones.  There are more on flickr.

Calvin’s Fifth B-Day

This past Saturday we celebrated Calvin’s fifth birthday in outer space.  here is the whole crew of astronauts.  They all had a good time and Calvin was glad for their company on this dangerous missions.

Calvin: space warrior

For more pictures click here.

Free Birds

I mentioned before that we had a bunch of birds lay eggs in the roof of our house.  One nest was falling out along with the birds right after they hatched.  I got all the babies out and put nesting material and the baby birds in a box and hung it back up with rope so the parents could find the young again in order to feed them.  It worked and in about a week and a half they were learning to fly.  This was the last one to leave the nest.

The day after these pictures were taken he was almost flying on his own.  I would be able to pick him up and then he would fly from the perch on my hand about 25 feet away to a tree.  Sometimes he would kind of crash into the tree and other times he would grasp a branch and land successfully.  It was incredible to watch.

I have pictures of the six baby birds together right after they hatched but I forgot to bring them.  It was an amazing thing to watch them grow in such a short time period.  It was also cool to see the parents (male) being so protective.  Whenever I go close to the young it would fly nearby and let out this loud and unhappy squawking sound.

Before they flew away there were mites all over the box, the rope holding up the box, and the birds.  I peeked in the box one day not seeing the mites and it felt like I landed in a cobweb.  I tried to scrape it off my face, but I couldn’t.  Then I began to feel movement all over my face.  I looked in the mirror not knowing what was happening and feeling very uncomfortable.  There were about 50 all over my face.  It was not a pleasant feeling.  At least I knew what they were.  Yuck!

All of them have since flown away.  They are free.  It is a very cool thing to watch and I am glad the kids were able to experience it.

Father’s Day Chess Match

Sarah had a cool idea to take some pictures of two things I enjoy and bring them together.  She dressed up the kids in my clothes and then had them “play” chess.  Here are the results.  It was a pretty cool idea.

Here is Calvin pondering his king placement.

Abby goes for the kill with her rook.

Hudson wasn’t the most cooperative, but after a bit of persuasion he happily joined the game.

Lydia takes a mental break.

Calvin is the most excited about chess.  Every time Sarah and I play he is one of the first to come and watch and he is very excited about me teaching him.  He learns a lot by watching so far and loves just watching me play the computer.

We normally don’t let them play with this chess set because we don’t want the pieces lost but they had a lot of fun getting a chance to play.

Just as a side note: I had a goal of beating the computer by the end of summer.  It was really difficult (even on the lowest setting).  I have since beat it a few times and also won three in a row.  My current statistics against the pc are 26 games played; 6 wins; and 4 draws.  Terrible but I am learning.  It is fun.  My statistics against my wife are worse: 1 win, three losses!

Summer Fun

It has been disgustingly hot down here in Indiana but the kids don’t seem to mind. They just love being outside.

I don’t have pictures done yet, but we have had some baby birds in our roof and the kids were able to hold them today – they are about ready to fly. It is amazing to watch. They hatched only about a week ago. Very cool…

See more pictures from this day here.