Catching Up!!

I am so sporadic with my blog posting!!  It is crazy!  It seems that sometimes I have all kinds of time to post and other times just no time at all.  I love keeping this blog as I feel it is a photo journal that my kids will always have.  At least I hope they are always able to access it.  I need to figure out how to turn it into a photo album they can hold.  Would be a lot to print out.  :) 


This particular post is going to host a bunch of different things we did over the summer and into the fall. 




Emily's softball season ended.  She very much misses the game and would like to be playing now, but just was not into doing the travel team at this point.  May change her mind in a few years, but I am hoping she will want to try out for the JV softball team in two years when she is eligible.  Softball season ended and her amazing coach, Crystal, arranged for the girls to have a fun afternoon!  They had a picnic and then went to Massanutten (a local resort) for some flipping fun!


 

She does love her softball!!  These were the Shooting Stars.

Hoping the Shooting Stars (Emily's softball team) can have a team again this spring!! 






In July my Dad's Cousin, Martha, hosted a mini reunion.  The Leftwich family was supposed to have their every-two-years reunion at Pennmeryl Farm, but things fell through and it didn't happen.  So Martha and her husband John were gracious enough to host a mini one.  I took this really great group picture and it ended up being really blurry.  I didn't realize I had the manual focus on.  Uggh!  I will make sure that it is on auto focus, or I will at least focus it, before that would happen again.  :) 


We had three generations at this reunion.  My dad's generation is now the oldest.  All of the members of his Dad's family have passed away.  My dad has two sisters, Judy and Kathy.  I have mentioned them in previous posts.  My dad's sister Judy passed away, expectantly, several years ago.  Two of her three children were at this mini reunion.  My dad's cousin's children were there and some of her grandchildren were there.  It was so fantastic!  Below is a picture of my three kids, my brother's two kids, my cousin Shawn's two kids and my cousin Michelle's two kids.  They played together as if they had been able to do that all their lives.  It was so sad when we left.  They didn't want to leave each other!!




Love this picture!  I love that they all had such a great time playing together!  How often do you get to play with your second cousins?

2nd cousins playing cornhole

  

You have seen my postings on Geocaching I know.  So often we don't think about Geocaching.  We love it so much and it is something we do so seldom.  Throughout the summer and fall, this past year, I think we may have gone Geocaching maybe 2 times.  Sad!!  This was one day that we went and we took the dog.  And then there is a picture of one other day we went to one close by our house.  I wish we would think about doing this more often.  We really do love it!

Geocaching in Charlottesville

Sometimes it takes us a while to find one and we will get frustrated.  :)  This was one of those times.

Stopped for ice cream and a little arm wrestling after geocaching

And hanging out with the cows  :)

This was a pretty place to get a cool Cache!  Not sure if Lydia is not wanting to take the picture or if it was too hot or what.  This one was pretty close to our house.  JMU Farm.  I do remember it being pretty hot that day and lots of bugs.

On our way back from Geocaching in Charlottesville, we stopped on Lydia Mountain to take a picture of Lydia in front of the signs.  I did this a long time ago and it was taken with an old phone I had.  The picture quality was not that great.  This quality is not the greatest either, but better than it was.  We go over Lydia Mountain every time we go to Charlottesville through Ruckersville.  We always seem to be on a time table when we are heading over and say "We will stop there on the way back" and then either forget or it is dark when we come back.  We finally remembered to stop on Lydia's Mountain to take a picture!!

One day maybe Lydia will live in one of these.  :)

In September, we visited the Pumpkin Patch.  A couple years ago, my brother, Paul, told us about a pumpkin patch he visited while visiting my parents.  It is in Weyers Cave.  They let you fill up a wagon with as many pumpkins and gourds as you can put in there without holding on to the pile (to keep it from falling)--for $25.  This year they changed their price to $30, but it is still a great deal!  We went there last year too.  September was a bit early and it was very warm that day, but September (after the kids birthdays) is the start of fall.  Just wanted to be able to display them as long as we could.  We had a really great time and got a TON of pumpkins!  The bad thing about getting them in September is that by Thanksgiving, some of them have started to rot and had to be thrown away.  On the up-side, you  have so many that it really doesn't matter. 

Lydia Pumpkin posing

Emily did a little gourd dancing.

Not really sure what was happening here.  :)

This is the wagon we get to fill.  I thought I took a picture of it when it was full, but I guess I didn't.

Getting ready to hunt some pumpkins.

Pickin some

The gourd dancing was a little bit out of hand.

More Pumpkin posing.



This is what our door looked like once we washed them all off.  The three little ones in the front became Loki's favorite ones.  He would carry them around everywhere.  He also eventually poked holes in the green gourd by carrying it around with his teeth.  It didn't last too long.

 At the end of the school year last year, Lydia and Emily had a friend move to Hawaii.  Abby (the friend) has a father who is in the military.  She has moved around a lot.  I think I could stand living in Hawaii.  :)  Abby sent the girls a care package back in the fall.  It was so exciting!!  They received a bracelet, hair bow, mini backpack and a shirt!!  They loved receiving it!  They have talked to Abby a couple of times since she moved.  I wish there was something fun we could send to her!!



We need to have something fun we can send from Virginia.  Who knows what that would be.  :)  She lived here for a few years so nothing she has never seen before.

Meet Loki!

Loki when he could fit into a tiny bed.

Probably should have made these introductions earlier in the year, but this is Loki.  He is our dog.  He is a black lab/German pointer mix.  We also think that he might have some Greyhound in him too.  Not sure.  Loki has been featured in some other blog posts, but I thought it might be nice to actually make introductions.

One of Mike's co workers were finding good homes for them when his dogs had puppies.  I will be the first to admit, I was NOT interested in getting a dog!  I am not a dog person.  I am a cat person.  I also got all the cat hair out of my house years ago when we were having twins and found a good home for our cat before we forgot to feed him in the chaos of three small kids.  Who wants hair back in the house when you have managed to get rid of all of it?  NOT ME!!

Well, I lost the battle.  All three kids wanted a dog and the fourth kid (Mike) really wanted one!!  We went to check out the puppies and had every intention of getting one of the two chocolate puppies.  This little black one with three white speckled feet, walked up to me.  ME!  I picked him up and held him for a long time.  The kids were immediately smitten with him and we decided to forgo the chocolate ones and "tagged" the black one with the three speckled feet as ours.

Loki and the little puppy brothers and sisters.  Loki is the one at the top left with the little white feet.

Emily didn't want to hold Loki by herself.  So Mike held him and she put her hands under Mike's.  Crazy.  We had him for two weeks before she held him when he came home.  :)

Lydia and baby Loki.  They loved it when they could hold him.  He's too big to hold now.

Loki's dad is on the left and Loki's mom on the right.

The parents were both about the same size.  Neither of them really big dogs so we felt pretty save in having a medium sized dog.  Boy, were we wrong!!  Our dog with the speckled feet, who had parents that were medium dogs, is 32" tall and about 70 - 75 lbs.  Considerably bigger than we thought he would end up being!  He also does not realize how big he actually is so running into things or smacking things off of tables, with his tail, is commonplace.

He turned a year old on September 27 and I have to admit, he has grown on me.  I am quite fond of him even though he is much more hassle than a cat would ever be and he is so much bigger than a cat would be.  He does enjoy going outside and running and walking where my cats would always go outside and suction themselves to the ground.  So this is fun.  However, cats don't typically chew up paper that they find on the floor or steal cupcakes, that are cooling, from the countertop--but he is pretty fun anyway.

He does want to be a lapdog and just can't be.

Loki sleeping with Mike

Loki worked better as a lapdog several months ago.

Loki sleeping on Ryan

This past weekend, we went to see one of Loki's brothers.  Two of Mike's co-workers got the two chocolate ones.  One of them is named Hunter and we went to Hunter's house this weekend as his parents have a new baby.  We could not get Loki and Hunter to sit still long enough to get a good picture, but Lydia took a movie of them and we were able to get a nice screenshot from the movie.  Loki is taller and thinner and Hunter is shorter and thicker.

They played and played together for a long time.  I do wonder if they remembered each other.  :)

Passing the Sticks

I know that I have mentioned my Uncle Bill.  He is my mother's younger brother and the glue that holds our extended family together.  (Pretty sure I have an "Uncle Bill" label on the right side of the blog you can click on.)  From as far back as I can remember, my Uncle played drums in a cover band.  His band, Avalanche, tried very hard to make it big, but it never panned out.  I can remember going to see their band play in nightclubs from quite a young age.  It's kind of funny, when you think about it, that our parents took us to these night clubs when we were young--but the only thing I remember seeing there was my Uncle playing the drums.  No scarring here.  :)

He and his wife decided, many years ago, that the road life was no longer one that worked for their future.  He then went into law enforcement and is now a Major over a jail in the southern part of Virginia.  Even after he "came off the road" his band played at local nightclubs and we went to see them in areas around Roanoke and Lynchburg for a couple of years.  He retired his drums to his church and played during church services for a while.  During Ryan's first year playing the drums, we took him down to Uncle Bill's church and they played together.  This was HUGE for me!!  Seeing my son play music with the best musician I have ever known was pretty awesome!  Uncle Bill borrowed a small drum set from a friend and they played together.

Here is the You Tube movie from that great day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_1pDm73Es0

We are now almost 2 years later and Ryan's experience level has increased, but Uncle Bill's need for his drums has dropped off.  He is no longer playing drums in church and at first decided he was going to sell them.  He told us this summer that he decided that rather than sell them, he thought he would give them to Ryan since he seemed to be one that was going to stick with drums and continue playing.  Upon hearing this, I started to cry.  The drums probably mean more to me than they do Ryan--from a sentimental standpoint anyway.  Ryan DOES love having them!  He plays them often.  They are different than the drums he plays in band, but they are good to practice for when he is part of a famous singers band one day.  ;)  Or my dream job for him--having a job on Dancing with the Stars by playing music for the dancers!!  Assuming that show is on for years to come.  He really should graduate from college first.  :)

So, Uncle Bill packed up his drums (or they may have already been packed up) and he and my Aunt brought them to our house this past summer.  They brought them the day before Ryan left for camp.  That was hard for him as he wanted to stay and play them.  :)  Here are Ryan and Uncle Bill and Mike setting them up.

Once they were set up, I kept trying to get Ryan to play and copy what Uncle Bill was doing.  He was having no part of it while people were there.  Uncle Bill said he was like that when he first started playing--not wanting to play in front of people.

Once we all left the basement, he played and played all evening.  And has been playing ever since.  Uncle Bill encouraged him to listen to songs and then practice playing what he hears in his headphones.  He has started doing that a little bit.  It is really great hearing him play songs that you can identify and know what he is playing!!  In band, I am not always familiar with the songs they play.  My lack of musical know how.  :)

Thank you Uncle Bill!  These drums are so special!! I hear my son playing them in our basement and can remember going to my Grandmas house and hearing my Uncle playing them (well, a different set of drums back then) in her basement.  And being afraid to go down there.  :)  I hope Ryan continues drumming for years and can make a career out of this!  Both of his band directors have indicated that this can happen for him as he is quite talented.  Hope he sticks with it and keeps learning!!!

Lydia and Ryan Summer Campin 2

Ryan and Lydia did some summer camps this year!!  Ryan always does band camp and Lydia always does Drama camp, but this year they were able to do something different.  Drama camp happened to be held the same week as the family went to Myrtle Beach so Lydia had to forego that one.  She has been doing the Blue Ridge Community College theater programs so it was not a big deal to miss.  Ryan did band camp again this summer, but he wanted to go to Brethren Woods Camp with his friends Kemper and Kendall.

In lieu of Drama Camp, Lydia did culinary camp at one of our local high schools.  Not only did she get to bake a TON of goodies, but she got to bring samples home!!  They were wonderful!!  The high school did about 30 different camps that kids could sign up and participate.  After the week of baking pizza dough, homemade rolls, cake, cookies, banana bread and so many other goodies, they had a little end of the week ceremony.  Lydia's camp didn't do a skit like some of the camps, but we were able to look at some pictures that her instructor took and the camp posted on a display board.

 During their week, her camp took a field trip to a locally owned Italian restaurant.  There, they made their own pizza and then ate lunch there while eating their pizza.  Lydia really enjoyed this one!

I asked her instructor to send me copies of the pictures that Lydia is in, but she never did.  These are pictures of the pictures that I took of Lydia's week.

 Everyone had to take their turn washing dishes.

 A cake they made and she brought home the leftovers!

 Making the sugar cookies--homemade!!

After viewing the pictures, she was able to take me to the classroom where her camp me each day.

 This was her group's kitchen station.  Lydia in her kitchen!!

These are the sugar cookies that she made.  She was able to bring them home.  She made one for each member of the family and for her cousins as well.  They were visiting part of the week she was at camp.  The week was great and she loved it!  The notebook is something she got to bring home as well.  It has a print out of all the recipes they made through the week.  She has made several of them since.

Emily was not offered a camp this year because I was really hoping she was going to do a golf camp.  As it turns out, she has no interest in golf what so ever.  By the time I accepted this, it was too late to sign her up in a camp.  So, Emily was able to spend some time with friends, with her mother and brush up on her swimming that week.  Grammy's Bible School was going on that same week and my nieces, Adella and Penny were at Grammy's house that week to be able to go to Bible School.  Two of those days, Emily and I helped out Grammy by keeping Adella and Penny for the day (and overnight once) so Grammy could go help our family friends.

We took advantage of the days and took the girls on Emily's "mini camp."  Geocaching, walking through the park on a VERY hot day, playing on the playground, going to the dog park and hitting the weekly, summer, dollar movie.  It was a fun time!!

We have promised Emily a real camp next year.  :)

Lydia and Ryan Summer Campin

Ryan and Lydia did some summer camps this year!!  Ryan always does band camp and Lydia always does Drama camp, but this year they were able to do something different.  Drama camp happened to be held the same week as the family went to Myrtle Beach so Lydia had to forego that one.  She has been doing the Blue Ridge Community College theater programs so it was not a big deal to miss.  Ryan did band camp again this summer, but he wanted to go to Brethren Woods Camp with his friends Kemper and Kendall.

Brethren Woods was a week long camp in which he could not have any communication with home for the entire week.  If an emergency had happened, they would have contacted us, but otherwise--no communication.  He was very excited to do this until it got closer to time.  He became nervous and decided he didn't want to go after all.  His friends Kendall and Kemper had been in previous years and had done the day camp, the three night camp and the week long camp the year before.  While they were a bit nervous as well, I think Ryan topped the chart in nervous.

I dropped him off on Sunday, July 17 at 6:00.  We hiked up the very long, steep hill, to the location of his cabin.  The place he would be staying for the next week.  The camp was laid out with beds lined up on both sides of the tent/cabin.  It had wooden floors and a wooden roof with a screen that went around the perimeter.  No AC and it was July.  He took several tank tops in order to keep from melting.  :)  His camp director was name Alan and was a vetran.  He was a college age young man who had been a counselor at Brethren Woods for several different years.  He made me feel very comfortable to leave my child with him.  In the cabin/tent on the other side of their camping area, was where the same age girls camped.  Their counselor was named Lydia so right away I knew Ryan would feel at home.  :)

Ryan, Kendall, Kemper

The day we dropped them off at camp.  They are in front of their cabin/tent.  Their camp fire area is to the left of Kemper and they are actually on the side of a mountain.

We had no idea, but Brethren Woods Camp has a Facebook page!  They posted pictures!!  When we realized this, we were so excited!  We would pull it up every day!  They also allowed us to email Ryan so that the email could be printed out and given to him at dinner each day. We emailed him several times, but didn't do it every day. Didn't want to do too much.  He indicated that he liked getting the notes so that was good.  The following are some of the pictures that they posted.  At the time we had no idea what was going on and it was so good to be able to see him and know that he was ok.

These were some of the first pictures we saw.  They apparently set up a huge tarp and made it into a water slide.  It looks like they had a ton of fun!!  This is Ryan coming down the water slide. 

This is Kemper making his slide

 

 Kendall and his sunglasses making their mark on the tarp.

 

This is Antoinne Washington.  Antoinne was a boy that Ryan went to school with until 3rd or 4th grade.  Then he moved. He has been coming to this camp for several years.  It was so great seeing him and Ryan being able to catch up with him!!  Until they were in 2nd grade, they thought they were cousins.  :)

 

 Waiting in line to play another water game.

One of the things he was so looking forward to was horseback riding.  They took the campers to a neighboring camp to use their horses and helmets and gear.  They had someone take them on a walking trail ride. Ryan loved this!!  We loved seeing the pictures, but were so confused as to why he had on a bright pink helmet.  :)  We figured it was because of his ENORMOUS head and that was the only one that could fit him.  :)  It does make it easier to spot him in all the pictures that were taken during the day.

Ryan made some new friends at camp.  They kept in touch for a little while, but that ended up fading off.  One of the greatest friendships and neatest people he met was Devor.  Devor was part of the deaf camp that was just down the hill from Ryan's camp site.  This group of kids really impressed Ryan and they taught him sign language.  He had the whole alphabet down and many different words.  

This is the deaf camp.  Devor is the one in the back with the black shirt on and orange shoe laces.  

Mike and I went together to pick up Ryan.  Can't remember where they were, but his sisters were not with us.  So it was just the two of us getting him.  We got to watch the closing ceremony and the little camp skits that each camp did.  Click on the link below and you will see the youtube video of Ryan's camp's skit.  It was really cute!  Love the end with Ryan and Antoinne.  

https://youtu.be/1i5lrr7DYpk

After we left camp we asked Ryan where he wanted to get dinner.  He had some really great food throughout the week, but he was excited to eat at Pizza Hut!!  It was nice that it was just the three of us.  Sorry we didn't get you too Mike.  He was on the other side of the table.  Ryan's only request before eating--going home to get a shower first.  He sure did stink!!!  :)