And now I'm all caught up!

Mary and Duane kindly invited us to the DeVries condo for the day. We had an awesome time-thanks!

Bud and Isaiah...we love this little guy. If Mary and Duane ever want to get rid of him, we'll take him:)

Sophie on the high ropes course

How many people can we fit on one golf cart?

The Jonathon Beeke family awaiting a new arrival any day now!

The lovely Rogers ladies.

Selah, Calvin, Hannah and Sophie. Apparently Hannah can sleep through anything!

The kiddos.

What happens at Grandma's house stays at Grandma's house!

Tea Parties and Beach Parties

Selah's 5th birthday party was a fancy tea party!

All the lovely ladies.

Kezzie and Bethany...they are distant cousins.

Beach week...and what a great week to go. It was the warmest week in many many years.

Kezzie loves to "Cheers" with anything...lollipops on the beach!

First Meal: You guessed it!

Wouldn't be a Beeke house without the nachos!

My garden:):):):):)

This was what the corner of the backyard looked like before...wait, it still looks like this, but after two hours of picking at weeds that were about 100 years old...

...I got a little patch for my garden.

Now, I was very excited about this garden, amidst all the comments made by Bud about the unavoidable failure of such an endeavor (I have never been able to keep a plant alive in our 7 years of marriage). But, just like the little hen, I ignored all the comments and weeded away. (I made some passing comments to him about how after I tilled, weeded, watered, tended and picked I would be the only one enjoying my labors because I wasn't going to allow him the pleasure of eating any of the fresh vegetables. Then he made some comment about how after all the bleaching, scrubbing, sanding, painting, refinishing, installing, renovating, building, etc, etc, he would be the only one living in the house...I sorta shut-up after that:).

So once my pride had swelled to nearly its maximum capacity, the neighborhood rabbit came by and did a little pride control. He ate ALL my lettuce the first night. I nearly invested in a gun. Instead, my wonderful husband built a fence for me:) Then a few days later I saw the culprit. We have a near 20 pound woodchuck/groundhog living under the shed. I'm still picking out my five smooth stones for him.

My faithful helper Kezzie asks every day if we can eat our garden. We had green beans and a salad last night for dinner, so I'd say it is quite a success so far. Bud claims we need to eat green beans until December to actually save any money on this endeavor. I don't think that is going to happen because at the rate the cucumbers are going, they are going to kill everything else in the garden very soon. You learn as you go!

The Fourth of July

We went to Adam and Kristy's for the fireworks...best view I've ever had. I think we could see twenty-five different fireworks at one time.

We were the MCs at the wedding...so this is the only picture I took the entire evening. Sorry Nate and Jess!

Uncle Adam is really trying to compete with Aunt Kristy for Kezzie's attention (seriously, have you ever seen him play with a doll-house?). Sadly for him, Kristy does not have to do anything to receive Kezzie's undying attention.

Baking with Grandma!

In the rough.

Kezzie was very excited about her golf clubs. Now she is just waiting for Grandpa or Daddy to take her golfing...ahem...they have both promised.

Preening.

Her first motorcycle ride. She was very excited. This is the one thing Uncle Adam has over Aunt Kristy!

More updates

Philly Bucket List: New York...with kiddos:)

Selah, Kezzie, Judah and Bud on the ferry ride over.

It was a beautiful day for the city.

I don't think they cared so much about the Statue of Liberty in the background, but the boat ride was certainly a highlight...

...dimmed slightly by the ever-engaging bus ride. I think Kez is going to be a "bus person." She could have ridden around the city the whole day on that bus. There were SO many things to see.

Can't go to NYC without a stop at FAO!

Kez would LOVE to have one of these in her living room.

She is really going to miss her buddy Judah.

Central Park

A very sleepy ride home.

A highlight of Kezzie's week: Singing with Mr. Burkett.

Saying goodbye to Nanny and Pop-Pop. I don't think she would be smiling so big if she knew she was leaving Nanny and all her little treats. We helped out Mr. and Mrs. P. almost the whole time we lived in Glenside. We are really going to miss them, but we left them in the very capable hands of our friends Jane and Erik.

Bud's personal Philly Bucket List: Van Til's grave (most of his bucket list was graves). This was just down the road from where we lived and we finally visited on our last Sunday.

You gotta try it at least once.

I had never been to Delaware. So of course it was on the Philly Bucket list. However, Bud didn't really feel the need to visit a state just for the sake of visiting it. So on the way home from Longwood Gardens we took a two-mile detour south (oh wait, that was after we took the wrong turn for 20 minutes) to enter the wonderful state of Delaware. I opened the door at the stop light and put my foot on the ground, so I have officially stepped in the state of Delaware...with my right foot that is.