ACF Staff Retreat --
With a number of staff changes on the horizon (including Chad stepping out of his role as pastor!), the ACF staff (and spouses and kids) took a final few days together of looking back and praying ahead for the ministry. Chad's aunt blessed us with timeshare points for National Harbor, right outside of D.C. It was a great couple of days of connecting with each other and listening to God!
LIFE GROUP REUNION --
We got to connect with some couples (and now offspring!) from one of our most precious Young Marrieds Life Groups that we led. People are spread all over the country now, but we planned a reunion week at an awesome cabin that slept all 23 of us!
(View of the private lake from the cabin balcony)
(Some of the kiddos enjoying the porch swing together)
(Highly impressive family timer shot -- yup, I sprinted back in time!)
(Fish watching from the dock)
(Taking advantage -- often! -- of the provided kayaks to zip around the lake. Our friend Sarah has Eliza, I have Julia.)
Daddy's cannonball:
(Prep...)
(More prep...)
(The jump...)
(Julia feverishly trying to untie the paddle boat to "save" him, while Eliza cried hysterically in the background from the moment Chad went under the water)
(Our caravan out to an ice cream shop the last night we were all together -- that's the Ames' "Amish van" in the front to hold all of their 6 adopted kiddos!)
And here we all are! It was an awesome time together.
NEW UMBRELLAS:
(I think this picture speaks for itself...)
LAST DAY OF PRESCHOOL:
Julia had a GREAT first year of preschool. We started her at 1 day per week, but upped it to 2 by the end of the year because she was having such a great time. She grew up quite a bit throughout the year, too!
(Here's her last day picture -- on a new front doorstep! Compare her first day picture from this year HERE!)
(her sweet teachers -- Mrs. Sefter and Mrs. LaPlante)
SECOND ACF WEDDING:
A wonderful weekend with Logan and Eric!
ENJOYING WHIPPLE DAM:
COUSIN WEDDING #1:
My cousin Ashley got married this past June in Maryland, so we took a family weekend trip to celebrate with them. Extra fun was the fact that my sister Carrie and her husband Lorenzo were able to be there from Florida! Carrie sang, and my dad read a Shakespearean Sonnet as part of the ceremony.
(The extended Farrand clan)
(Sisters....)
(Slightly older sisters...)
(Aaaand....this is what happens when you complain to your husband photographer that he is not getting close enough)
(It was fun for my girls to get some aunt time...)
(And time with great-aunts...)
(And Carrie and I reveled in it, as well!)
(It was a beautiful wedding/reception site to be outside as a family for the evening...especially once the lightening bugs came out!)
(And we finally got the girls to stand still long enough to snag a family shot!)
And it was also nice to grab some extra family time at a brunch my aunt and uncle graciously hosted the following morning!
(Sisters and hubbies...)
(Aunt Monica and Eliza)
(And Julia with new best friend Maggie -- one of my awesome cousins!)
KOLMUS FAMILY VISIT:
We were SUPER excited that our good college friends swung through State College for an overnight stay during their summer time in PA. It just happened to be over the 4th of July!
(It was fun to see our kids enjoy each other!)
(the kids created a makeshift -- and highly complicated -- basketball-of-sorts game out on our porch)
(The local parade was greatly enjoyed...)
(Had a great spot for the fireworks! Though Julia thoroughly freaked out upon the first boom, causing she and Chad to have to run into our friends' house and watch through the front living room window...)
(And we thoroughly enjoyed our time all together!)
NATIONAL ANTHEM AT THE SPIKES GAME:
My friends Kim & Lynn and I had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a State College Spikes game again this summer! Here's the video:
It was fun to have family and friends there to support us, even though we didn't snag a picture with the whole group! But gotta love the free Spikes shirts our girls are sporting... :)
SIBLING VISIT:
Chad's sister and her family were able to come for an overnight, and we had a great visit! It was their first time to see our new house, and it was a blast to host them!
COW APPRECIATION DAY:
Chick-Fil-A has one day a year that they give away free food if you dress up like a cow. The question of the evening was...How scarred are our kids going to end up being if one of our family mottos is, "Anything for a free meal"? :)
OUR CARNIVORE:
I had to snap some shots documenting Eliza's mealtime creation one night, insisting she wanted both a hot dog AND a hamburger on her bun. What does that make it? A hotburger? A hamdog? In any case, her father and I were very proud. :)
TWELVE YEARS...
MY NEW JOB:
In a win-win situation with some friends of ours, I started providing some childcare for their 3 kiddos this summer. Though it took a bit of time to establish a sense of rhythm and a semblance of order with 5 kids (ages 6 and under) in our house, it's been a good experience for all involved, I think!
(Breakfast!)
(This is what I discovered Eliza and one of the kiddos gleefully doing before coming inside for lunch one day... :)
(We even braved Whipple Dam all together...on a day that Chad could help me, of course!)
(AND the Grange Fair on another day!)
(They REALLY liked the one gospel musician guy who happened to have an eyepatch...though they kept calling him "A Pirate!" EXTREMELY loudly...)
COUSIN WEDDING #2:
My cousin Alicia got married in August at beautiful sites in Harrisburg. Chad and I were able to celebrate with them in an unexpected way...
(They pulled Chad up as one of the featured YMCA dancers....)
(...but my dad was getting into it from his seat, as well!)
(Cousin Ian, Aunt Jenni, Alicia and Josh)
ELIZA'S 1st HAIRCUT:
Not that we took much off, but we visited our good friend Miss Susie to try to eliminate SOME of the scraggle on Eliza's head!
DELGROSSO'S AMUSEMENT PARK:
We took advantage of a great deal that Julia won at an event to head to a nearby amusement and water park on one of the last days of summer. It was so fun! Julia was tall enough to ride some new rides this year...much to her delight! Though she DID still enjoy the kiddie section with Eliza!
LAST SPIKES GAME...that just kept going, and going, and...
Chad wanted to take the girls to the last home Spikes game of the summer. It was going to be one that had fireworks afterwards, as well as the "Kids Run the Bases" finale. The kids were SUPER excited for all of that. What a great idea, right?! Unless it turns into an absolutely epic game that goes (no lie) 15 INNINGS. We kept wondering if we should just bail...but the kids were SO excited for the activities afterward, that we just kept staying! Here's how it turned out...
(Some sister fun and love outside the stadium)
(Eliza is READY to catch a foul ball with Chad's trusty glove...)
(...which also came in handy for a makeshift pillow as it got later...)
(...and Julia made her own pillow option as it got later still...)
But FINALLY, it was over, and the fireworks did a good job of waking them up. All that was left was to run the bases!
(Yup, that's Eliza on the jumbotron, trailing behind as the youngest/last kiddo to make it around the bases. And yup -- if you look at that clock in the top left...it DOES, in fact, say 12:25am!!!)
(A high five from Ike at the end wrapped up the evening!)
In that moment of arriving home close to 1am, we decided we were either the best parents in the world....OR the absolute WORST. :)
It was a GREAT summer! Really fun memories as the girls are getting older. Hard to believe that we'll be tackling this coming summer with another baby in tow!!!!
1 comment:
Great blog !! Love the pictures !
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