Firsts

Seth is in Kindergarten. It's the first year I've had all of them in school full time.

It's also soccer season around here. Seth is playing for the first time. He's liking it so far and is going right after the ball! Simon is playing too and his games are at the same time as Seth's. So, Dan and I are taking turns getting the kids to the games. Hannah is also playing soccer at school.

I didn't mean to go so long without using my blog, but I'm having problems with iPhoto and moving the photos around in the blog posts. Here are some pictures from the last month.

Seth's lemonade stand.

New Anna Maria Horner fabric I got. Squee! I can't wait to use it!

I am apparently math illiterate and made WAY too many 9 patch blocks, so I am going to make a throw size quilt.

Simon playing soccer.

Seth playing soccer.

Hannah being adorable at Seth's soccer game.

Big and little

Lots of things have happened since the last time I posted. Some little and insignificant things and others quite big.

I made two baby quilts and baked some goodies! That was awesome to be able to do. Me stuff. I do still miss my stay at home mom gig. I had it good. I like school too, it's just harder to juggle all the kid stuff, fun stuff, my stuff, etc.

This one is for our friends Mark and LeAnn. They're having a little girl!

A friends daughter is having a boy. I'll get a better picture of this later. It's adorable.

Peach Cobbler, oh yea.

So, we had a hurricane hit us. Yeah, I said hurricane. I can't believe we actually had a hurricane. Thankfully it was only a Cat. 1 when it hit us and the southern portion of the storm fell apart before we had to go through another 6 hours of wind and rain! Lots of old trees came down all over town and they took out power lines with them. We lost power for 4 days. 4 long days.

He was pretending it was falling on him.

Now, it's back to school time. I started this week and the kids start back next week. I hope this year is a good one. I have peds and OB this semester. I am excited and worried. I know I want to be a midwife and I also know the way women have babies in the hospital isn't optimal. I dread seeing labor after labor augmented and sectioned for failure to progress. Ick.

Hannah will be in 8th grade, Simon 5th, and Seth starts Kindergarten. He's not a baby anymore. Well, no matter how old any of them are they're still my babies. I have the stretch marks to prove it.

We went to Ocean Grove last week with a friend before hurricane Irene came through and we went back today. The shore line changed. It's crazy that a little hurricane was strong enough to do that. I am so glad the hurricane wasn't stronger! Now, it really looks like nothing happened to it at all.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Summer time in Kansas

All work, and then play! We were there when the county fair was happening and when you have animals at the fair you have to be there to take care of them. My kids didn't balk and cry about

having to help out. Oh, no. They were up at 6 am fighting over who got to do the farm chores first. They fed the cattle, barn cats, chickens, and fetched the eggs from the hen house. All in a days work. Then you can play!

It was awfully hot too. Over 100. Yuck. What better way to cool off then with a trip to the creek. It grossed me out since I could see all the life crawling around in it and you couldn't see the bottom of the creek. My mind goes to places where there are leeches and little fish eating at your toes, while the little water spiders crawl over you... yuck.

Looking for crawdads.

Hannah got to drive the tractor and a pick up truck! She also learned how to carry chickens so they don't freak out.

Simon ran off during the fair and adopted a new family. He helped them with their calf and even learned how to rope.

Seth's little chicken won Reserved Champion. The adorable little chicken is very docile and let Seth touch her. Maybe it's because she can't see what's coming.

An adorable calf thought Seth's pants were edible and Seth thought that was super funny!

My little brother showed his hogs. Poor Pork Chop... your fate awaits you...

And what fair is complete without things like funnel cake.

The week went by too fast and the request for a longer trip next summer started before we even left. "We should come out for a whole month next time, Mom. No, wait. Two months!" So, until next summer I can think of sitting on the porch with my mom and watching the sun set on the farm.

Dublin

The River Liffey. Also, known as the Sniffy Liffey.

The last leg of our journey, Dublin. We flew in from Edinburgh.

Day 9- Sightseeing again. We saw Phoenix Park, Temple Bar, Dublin Castle, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and Trinity College where the Book of Kells is.

Phoenix Park. Deer roam free here. The park is twice the size of Central Park.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Bono's hotel.

U2 is obviously a big deal around here. They are pretty awesome after all. Joke I heard- What's the difference between God and Bono? God doesn't think he needs to be like Bono.

We walked from Trinity College to the Guinness Brewery.

Christ Church Cathedral.

Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease for the land the brewery is on. I think he had some serious long term goals, or maybe they were drinking heavily.

Official beer at Guinness.

We had dinner at the oldest pub in Ireland, established in 1198! I had the Irish Stew and it was delicious.


Later in the evening we went to a bar close to the hotel where they had a comedy night. It was pretty entertaining. The comedians were novice, so some of the jokes were good, some not so much, and truly there were some we didn't understand.

Day 10- Side trip to Powerscourt and Glendalough. Powerscourt had beautiful gardens surrounding a rebuilt castle. I wish the orginal was still standing, but it burned down. Glendalough is an old Monastic settlement that was abandoned in the 10th century.


I walked up to the upper lake at Glendalough. It was really pretty, yet crowded.

Lower lake.

Upper lake.

We also did this optional evening of Irish dance, music, and traditional food. It so wasn't worth it. I think we are about 30 years too young to appreciate the show. I was expecting a pub atmosphere with actually traditional dishes, and good music. It was more of a Irish version of the Country Dinner Playhouse.

I am so glad Dan and I finally got to go on such an amazing trip. I hope we don't have to wait another 15 years for the next one! Some things we decided after the whole deal is, we can do this on our own without a tour company setting the pace, and we want to do a castle tour of the Scottish Highlands.

Edinburgh

Love, love, love Edinburgh! Old town is a multi-leveled part of the city. Edinburgh Castle is at the top of the hill and all down the Royal Mile are little stair ways leading to streets lower down. Some streets you walk over have another street a few levels down below you. It's so cool.

Day 5- We took a train from King's Cross in London to Edinburgh. For those of you who are Harry Potter fans you'll recognize the train station. This is where Harry took the Hogwart's Express from platform 9 3/4.


Day 6- Sight seeing again! Around Holyrood Park, saw the Salibury Craigs, and then Edinburgh Castle. From there we walked down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Place.

Found my new home!

Front entrance to Edinburgh Castle.

Holyrood Palace.

Remnants of Holyrood Abby.

Day 7- We took an optional tour to St. Andrews. We aren't into golf, but it's the birthplace of golf for those of you who might like to go there someday. We went to the ruins of the castle and cathedral. The castle was so much fun. During a siege on the castle the attackers would dig mines under the wall of the castle. The defenders of the castle would dig a counter mine in haste to stop them. We got to crawl through the mine. It wasn't more the 3 feet high in some areas. The tunnel ended across the street up against a house.

Ruins of St. Andrews Castle.

Mine tunnel.

Tower at St. Andrews Cathedral site. We climbed up the narrow spiral staircase for a 360 degree view.

You could see the castle ruins in the distance on the shore.

We went to a science fiction bookstore called Transreal. Dan was so excited to find signed books from a couple of his favorite authors that live in Edinburgh. We also went to the coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter! From where she sat she could see Edinburgh Castle.

The Elephant House.

J.K. Rowling pictures on the wall.

Her view as she wrote...

Day 8- Before heading off to Dublin I walked around for a while by myself. Dan's foot was hurting pretty bad and we wanted to give him some time off of it before we went to Dublin. I went back to The Elephant House for pictures and then I walked over the park on Princess Ave. It was so lovely. I wish Dan had been with me to see it.


Lastly, how could you be in Scotland without seeing this...


Then off to Dublin...