Picture Day at School

 Our handsome grandson Oliver is in kindergarten in Colorado.  It was hard to decide, but his mom and dad made up their minds and Oliver's as well to send him to the same IB school as his older brother.  It is so good to see him march off  to school hand in hand with his Caleb.

I'm sure he will get along well and made good friends. He is very kind hearted and we love him very much.

TuTu Cute

Back in July when Beth and the kids were visiting her relatives in the Columbus area, Julia's cousin Katie was a good influence on her. Here she is teaching Julia a ballet step.  In her family, dance is a must.  It surely looks like Julia is picking it up quickly.

Hawk's Nest State Park

John and his family enjoyed seeing Hawk's Nest in West Virginia with his sisters April and Kim at the end of July.

I would like to see it this fall,  to see if the colors are as beautiful as I imagine. Perhaps we can do that. It really isn't that far.

While at April's, Beth took some beautiful photos of  Swallowtail butterflies.

Beautiful Memories

You know me...aging, slowing, way behind, yet, I found time today to make a cover for my next  book to be published. Now I'm  waiting for permission to go to press.

I just stumbled my way through this creation.  That's the kind of thing that pops up now and then without preplanning. Amazing how that happens. Oh I love working with Photoshop.

Nature Hike

 I'm posting photos layout from May. I just found these pictures this month, which somewhat explains why I had not posted them before  that.  The kids have been very appreciative, but  I am just working way too slowly.

Big Surprise

I'm not sure if this was a good surprise or what. It was good in that I love the pictures and would feel really badly if I didn't have them...the down side is, I almost had the book published before I found these photos.  Thankfully I found them soon enough to get them in chronological order in the right book.

Today I'm posting two of them here:

By the way, don't you just love the colorful rain gear? I do!

Remodeled Kitchen

I've been working on layouts about our youngest son, John's family trip to visit his sisters in West Virginia and Marietta at the end of July. He had not been to either place and it turned out to be entertaining for all of them. With a river running near both houses, there was a lot of fun to be had. 

Here is just an initial meeting in April's last house, which their sister Kim now lives and takes care of things there for April. The kitchen looks quite different from the last time I saw it. Both girls  do great jobs of remodeling and decorating. 

Delightful Memories

Ava enjoyed having her grandpa and Uncle Brandon here. Grandpa came from Florida and Brandon flew in from Alaska, where he has been working.

The big reason for getting together was Brandon's and Ava's birthdays are on the same date, August 17. Brittanie and Ava were very happy to have this chance to be together with these guys. It was a good  time for a boat ride on the lakes.

National Dog Day

National Dog Day is August 26. But sadly Maggie had never celebrated. 

Our anniversary is the same date and we didn’t even know it was HER day. 

This year she got to do her favorite thing to celebrate HER day!

She got to be a tom boy and help her daddy with the truck and tractor. 

I don't know anything she would enjoy more, except maybe driving the boat  around the lakes.

Kayaking the Kanawha

While visiting his sisters at April's house in Glen Ferris, WV,  John, Beth and Caleb went kayaking on the Kanawha River which runs in front of April's mountain house.

The day before, they had taken a jet boat ride on the New River.  The New River is recognized as the “second oldest river in the world”. After leaving NC, the river flows northwesterly through Virginia and becomes the Kanawha  River at the confluence of the Gauley  River near Charleston, WV.

A Cat Nap

Maggie is our watch dog and she takes her job seriously...a little too seriously at times. Here she is watching  over her daddy while he catches a nap. One might call it a catnap. I'm not  sure why, but anyway, she is there for him.

Colorado Vacation

I had planned to post these yesterday with the layout that explains this trip. I have worked out my computer problem and now can finish what I started.

They did a lot in a short time and then went back to a more normal life at work and school.