THE Wall

JD's big house project for some time has been THE WALL. The wall is actually four walls, with the largest going from the front, along the side and wraps around the back of the house. JD ran out of bricks and had to order another 500; it is likely that he will have to place one more order. The wall is on break now so that he can get the footers in for the future deck as well as the wiring for the electricity to be run. After the breaker boxes are up, the siders can come and finish the last wall. Then the wall will get a bit higher, but lifting the 60 pound blocks is easy compared to the digging, leveling and graveling.

Here's the front (obviously) where the one wall starts. The first is way up by the actual house and the second is between the second and third garage doors.

 

Here's wall three and four running along the side; there had to be two because each one can only have so many feet of dirt exposed, etc, so they have to stair step.

This is the back where the side walls just kept on running.

I guess we will plant bushes along the area between the walls; it has the potential of being very pretty.

Up close picture of a wall built by a bit of a "building perfectionist". He's a pro with the level. Since the heat index is over 100 today, it's good that the major wall work is done!

                                                                                                      Jenny

On the Coasts

JD has joined the west coast kids, and today treated them to a tour of the Midway. The Midway is one of the first (maybe the absolute first and I should know this...) ships JD was stationed on, in Japan, and has now been turned into a museum in San Diego. JD likes to visit it (over and over and over), and while none of the rest of us are interested in seeing the same ship multiple times, there are enough of us that he still has new people to tour every now and then.  

Since there are no floating museums in our area of Virginia, we gathered some friends, put on our cow spots and headed to Chick Fil A for some free eating. Dress like a cow day has become part of our summer tradition and contrary to Selah's look, we all had a good time!

                                                                                                                  Jenny

California

I am dependent on my children to send me pictures of the adventures in CA. Tori wins the prize since she sent me a long line of Sea World photos. Tori arrived on Thursday and the group, minus Alayna who couldn't fit in the SUV, headed down to visit Alyssa in Marietta on Friday, since she leaves for Mexico tomorrow.

Here's the Marietta group, minus Chris who I assume took the picture.

Nathan was interested in whatever Alyssa was showing him.

He decided to make himself more comfortable and get a better look. It's quite possible that he wins the prize for most aunts and uncles that are totally infatuated with him.

Tori is having a blast with the big kids in California.

People are continually getting Moriah and Alyssa confused. They work at different places and customers ask them if they work where the other works. I think I have to agree that they look more and more alike the older they get.

Gabriel wins big brother of year award. He took everyone to Sea World yesterday; that's Nathan watching the polar bear.  

Chris has family in San Diego also, and attended the Bible college where Alyssa is now, so he has been able to cover visiting his friends and family as well.

All those animals are fun but the little guy can only go so long before he has to nap.

I love this picture. All the aunts are great, but you can't replace Dad time.

                 

                                                                                     Jenny

                                                                                                                    

Sunny CA

Nathan and Moriah

 

 We put Tori on the plane yesterday by herself for CA - I'm working on an update on my kids currently in CA; and the horrible events in the news.

 

In the meantime, look how big Nathan is getting? Check back...

     

                                                  Jenny

 

 

 

 

Swim Team and Blog

 I have not been able to load pictures to the blog for days because of some error message, but JD came home from his trip and fixed it, so I'm back. Since I last blogged, JD has made a trip to San Diego and Wisconsin and is going to head back to San Diego. Alyssa is in CA at the Bible college that Moriah went to last summer, outside of San Diego. Moriah just left for San Diego yesterday to visit Gabriel, Alayna and Nathan. Finally, we are sending Tori for a visit next week because she has wanted to go so badly, and they will not be living there too much longer. She will overlap some time with JD, Moriah and Alyssa, but Gabriel is taking leave to take her to Sea World and the famous San Diego Zoo once the others all clear out. We bought her plane ticket but she has saved up all her spending money for the trip.

As is our norm, summer revolves around swim team. The above sweatshirts are so cute, they have our last name on the hood so everyone can identify the families. I am so proud of Elijah. He has been my most reluctant swimmer. On day one, he asked to quit before he got in the water. I explained that learning to swim well is like riding a bike and it isn't too fun when you are falling, but to stick with it until he could swim like he rides. He trusted me and worked hard.

He not only has learned to swim well, he's pretty fast for a first year swimmer. We have done two meets and he has swam three of the four strokes in both meets. Here he is about to dive in; he has also come a long way in the area of being comfortable in front of a crowd.

He was the first swimmer in a free style relay and they came in first. It was an exciting moment for him.

He isn't the only ribbon winner; Bella took first in the individual freestyle. She has made huge progress this summer also.

Today was picture day and fun day. Swim team has been a great experience; we are blessed to be able to do it.

This and That

I have been on the road day after day; this weekend alone, I did two trips to Richmond and one to the far side of DC. On each side of that, I have made trips to deliver the cow and a trip to the Amish. My home well reflects when I'm not there enough and not in a good way. I tried to find the dining room table yesterday under the piles, but  it was not a success. I'm going to give it another try today.

Here are a few shots of our last several days. You have to love kids; I sold their pool, so now they play in the "sand box" that was under the pool.

I resurrected the wooden chore boards that were the bigger kids and the little guys are painting and customizing them for themselves. We definitely need a chore overhaul around here; too much is dependent upon people remembering.

It's so nice that they are all readers now and can read to themselves.

The garden is looking great other than my tomatoes have blight. I am quite sure the ones I bought from the nursery came with it, because the ones I planted in pots for Alei also have it. If anyone knows any magic cure (that doesn't seem to exist), please let me know.

We delivered Mooster back to her original family, they bought her back from us. I'm happy she is with her cow family again and I'm enjoying the lighter animal load. Since we won't be milking our own cow, I found a raw milk source in Amish country. The three little guys and I made a trip over with a friend to negotiate the deal. We made a "quick" stop for JD on the way at Lowe's. This is JD's idea of a quick stop - check out my little loaders.

The kids enjoyed the Amish farm. The lady let them hang out and pet all the animals in the barn. Selah spent some time bonding with baby calves that were only a few days old.

dark picture but look how little those calves are

These were the sweetest horses I have ever seen. There were like 10-12 of them and they were all so gentle and loved the attention from the kids. I decided that if we ever get a horse, I want a Amish retired horse. JD pointed out that they aren't trained to carry riders, just to pull, so that could be a bit of an issue.

I'm going to clean, have a happy day!
                           

                                                                                                    Jenny

Little Afros

When we ordered our meat chickens, the children each chose a Polish chicken for a pet. There were four color choices, so we have a variety with a few matching. We have called polish chickens "afros" since our first round of them several years ago when we bought them out of a large Rubbermaid at the Amish flee-market and had no idea what they really were. They are about 9 weeks now and pretty tame.

Elijah and his afro named Shadow



James named his gold and black guy Thorn - I didn't ask why

Bella named hers "Nice Boy or Nice Girl" waiting to see what it is

Selah's gets a name change every few days so I can't keep up

The afros are living on one side of the coop with the one chick we hatched and a few Tractor Supply chickens that were bought for our lone chick. They are just starting to enjoy treats. At first they ran from the scary treats.

After JD's lengthy chicken butchering event, I am just going to give away some roosters on Craigslist that we planned on putting in the freezer. If you are in the market for a nice rooster - come now!

Just one of the many choices

This is Gus, the pee-meister; he pees on everything in the barn; it isn't a good quality in a cat!

The goats are enjoying their movable fence and Hans is very fond of his big rock that was reject concrete from the garage floor. I have learned that the goats really don't eat the grass. They eat every weed, bush and tree and leave the grass. I never realized this before because the donkey obviously eats the grass. I'm wondering if I can put the donkey in the electric fence or if he'd come crashing through. My "we won't have to mow as much" plan isn't working as I hoped.

Han's rock

And just for fun, my roses are blooming now.

Fiona

 Can you identify this farm animal? I can give you a multiple choice between a collie or a naked mole rat with a mane. You may think she is slinking off because she is embarrassed with the summer cut, but she is just camera shy. She doesn't seem to be scared of anything other than cameras and always hides in her igloo if I'm carrying one.

Fiona is the best farm dog ever though; she patrols the animals and garden and keeps predators away.