End of Summer

Summer is sadly over.We did a few more things in August--here is a brief update. The first part of August we went to a Primary pioneer activity at the Hartman's.  The kids had a great time. 

They made these cute wagons!

Our library has a great summer reading program.  Part of that includes "Free Fridays".  Each Friday throughout the summer there are free things kids can do, like go bowling, visit the zoo, or see local caverns.  This particular Friday (and the only one we participated in) we traveled to Ryan's Orchard.  Each kid received a free 1/4 peck of apples.  Times that by five and you get a lot of apples!


Right after Ryan's Orchard, we met up at a local park with some friends. For my kids, it's great other people have pets so they can enjoy them sometimes.


Lee has been in the Lion's club for a few months now and he was made an official member in August. 


We LOVED going to the pool this summer.  It was in Harrisonburg so we didn't go everyday, but a few times each week if we could.  It was sad going the last day of the summer season.  Several times we met up with our friends from the ward, which was really fun.  I think I got my best tan yet this summer, ha ha. I also enjoyed some Cookie Jar murder mystery books by Joanne Fluke while at the pool.


The kids didn't take swimming lessons this summer, but they all improved in swimming! My kids swimming skills are very basic, so there is room for improvement.  But I was pleasantly surprised that being at the pool so much this summer helped all of them do better in water.  I think lessons are on board for next summer! 


Clark can now go off the diving board and can do flips too.


Through the summer reading program the kids earned enough free tickets for the county fair for our whole family....and then some!  We went for a couple hours on a Saturday.  Right when we got there we saw our friend Stephanie and had fun walking around with her. A few times the kids asked if we could buy treats or go on rides.  I don't know if it's good or bad, but I have absolutely no qualms saying "no" to my kids.  They hear it quite often.  I brought a snack from home for all of us. But fair rides? No. Fair foods? No.  Ask in a few years kids...

 

 

 

Trying to take a peek at the tractor pull...
 

And it happened to work out that some booths were handing out free candy. All of my kids loved that!
  

 

We ran into our friends at the fair.  I enjoyed seeing them there!
 

 

 

I love fall, but living in a house that isn't properly insulated makes me not look forward to the cold weather.  I am truly sad summer is gone because the cold is coming..... I much rather be hot than cold.  We had a great summer and I can't wait for it to roll around again!

Clark turns 9!

Clark turned 9 at the end of July.We celebrated his birthday a couple days early because some of his cousins were in town.  His cake request surprised me--in a good way!  He wanted a white circle cake with a grey H (for Lego Hero Factory) on it.  I already bought this square cake for $1--baked, frosted, ready to go!--at Sharp Shopper, and didn't have grey food coloring. But it seems Clark was satisfied with the final product.  (Thanks for understanding Clark!) It was the easiest cake...oh so easy! Want this cake for your birthday Elden???

 

 

 

 

He received some fun presents, cards and money for his birthday from family, grandparents and cousins. He used his birthday money from his grandparents to buy a Hero Factory Lego.

Clark started piano lessons this summer.  Since the kids weren't in any summer sport activities--when are they ever!, I thought starting piano in the summer would be great.  So far it's gone really well and Clark enjoys his lessons!  Haley has become pretty interested in the piano lately too.  Clark was hesitant about piano lessons at first, but after one lesson, realized it wasn't scary or hard. Glad he doesn't mind them so much because he has years ahead of them...just like the other kids! A teacher comes to our town and teaches at a local church, which is so convenient! As a side note, Clark and I also listened to the Fablehaven series this summer and loved it.  I would recommend it to all you families out there! 
So good! 

 

Clark also received his Wolf in Cub Scouts in August.  Now he is working on his Bear. Great job Clark!


Fuzzy picture, but he was happy with his accomplishment. We love you Clark! Happy Birthday!

Click here for the Robertson Reunion post, or click on Older Posts if you so desire. My two recent reunion posts are having difficulty showing some of the pictures.  If you click on an older post, and then go back to the post you were reading, the pictures should reload.  Hope that makes sense.

Darrell & Lois Bartholomew Reunion 2012

We arrived home Monday afternoon from Utah.  Tuesday night I helped head up the monthly Relief Society Activity and then Thursday morning at 5am we took off (minus Lee, sadly) to Maryland for my family's annual reunion.  Funny enough Darrll & Lois were not there.  They are on their mission in Texas.  We wish they could have been there!  Though we are excited too that they are on a mission.  We'll get to see them in a couple months too!  We were going to go camping in Maryland, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we all (36 of us!) stayed at Lois & Jeff's.  Well, Sam, Shawna and Will had a hotel, but they did hang out with us at Lois'. We missed having Steph & Andy, Roger & Brittany, Sheldon, Daniel & Amy and families there.  But in addition to seeing my parents in a few months, all the siblings will get to see each other too at the same time.

Breakfast at Lois'
 

 

First event of the day, after breakfast, was to take a tour at the UTZ potato chip factory in Pennsylvania.  One tidbit mentioned on the tour was how the nutrients were locked in to the potato chip during the cooking process.  Deb and I thought that was funny.
  

 

And of course they give out free potato chips at the end of the tour!  
 

Sisters!!!
  

The fami minus ly....get it?  Too bad Ly wasn't there...this could have been the yearly family photo!
  

Afterwards we stopped at the gift shop.  One item they sold was big tins of popcorn with college names on them...we even saw one for BYU!
 

After UTZ, we headed out to Gettysburg PA.  I don't think I've ever been there (I'll have to check with my mom).  There are several things to see--great place for kids too.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supposedly if you rubbed the nose you'll have good luck.  Clark, Makenzie and Reed, we'll keep an eye on your life....
  

 

 

 

Day Two:  We ventured over to the Goddard Space Museum.  Again, another fun and free place in DC!
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sam & Shawna's darling baby Will. 
 

Sam still spoils the nieces and nephews.  He brought some chocolate from Canada to share with everyone.  At the space museum he bought freeze dried ice cream (or whatever it's called) and let the kids sample it.


Family Photo; six of us siblings were able to be there


After the museum we headed out to Arundel Mills--a huge shopping center.  This stop was of my doing...Clark and Cal had birthday money that they wanted to spend at the Lego store.  As there are two of them in the DC area I thought it would be a great time to go.  I love the Lego store! 
  

It looked better in real like, but there is the DC Temple, basically at the tip of the "V" the trees make.  If you travel west on the 495 all of the sudden there is the temple, floating in the air.  Gorgeous!

That night was ladies' night.  We have done this at our reunions the past few years and it's so fun.  Lois picked the Cheesecake Factory.  OH SO GOOD! I had never been before.  
 

Day 3: We headed out to Harper's Ferry on Saturday. Remember how we all got sick from Elden (except Lee)? I was sick this day. Not so fun, but it was a nice day.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a State Park or something of the sort nearby (well, I think historic Harper's Ferry is in a State Park...) and it would be fun to go camping there and bring our bikes to ride around.
  

Sunday some families left for home. It's sad to see people leave.  I am glad that Darrell and Stacie are on the east coast now!  We'll see them the end of September.
Deb, Ruth & Lois
 

After having fun in DC, family met up at my house for a reunion extension.  Daniel and Amy and family came up, and Deb and Lois and crews came down.  We had a great time here.
 

Lizzie did a magic show for us--it was really fun!
 

S'mores!
  

 

 

 

Our summer reading program was awesome and the kids were able to earn prizes over and over.  Well, we had a good number of coupons for free kids meals at Chick-Fil-A.  We had lunch before heading to....Sharp Shopper!  It's a must-stop destination for when my family visits!  (And Lee's place too for eye exams...)
  

 

 

 

My chat and budget buddy, Amy (Daniel's wife)
  

We celebrated Clark's birthday that night...but that deserves its own post.

That night after Lee got home from work, we all went out to eat at El Paso.  My friend Tara highly recommended it, and we've never been.  So good!  I love Mexican food. Thanks for treating us Deb and Matt!
  

 

 

We walked over to El Paso, so on the way home we decided to show the others the haunted house.  There is a historic house here called the Miller-Kite house. According to some info Lois found, it's supposedly haunted. The creepy mannequin in the window definitely helped make it spooky!
 

Paul and Ila were awesome and babysat for all of us.  I thought it was funny how these kids ended up after falling asleep.
  

Paul and his first contacts!  Convenient that his eye doctor could take them out for him the first night, at our house. So convenient!
 

We had a great time with everyone!  Oh, at the reunion, Deb handed out fun gifts from their recent trip to Austria .  Thanks Deb! Each family got a thing of tubed mustard, and the kids kinder eggs and Euro pennies.  The mustard isn't too bad...a little interesting. The smell is different though!  We loved having several days together with some of my family.  Can't wait for the reunion next year!!!