A day in the life.

Fun times while Daddy was home....


At the pool!

Diving for quarters.

I'm so proud of Fisher.  He would not have done this
six months ago!

Making friends.

Ice cream with new friends.

The fence got finished!

James turned it into a math lesson.  Carry these to the back
 and stack them in sets of ten.

Proper attire for fence building...why yes.

Fence building 101.

Also goes along with nail gun 101.

Assistants everywhere!

Our fence is FINISHED!!

The Balloon Classic! 

Fisher's favorite balloon.

I wonder who really liked this one....

Touching down in the water.

Flame.

This is one of our favorite mornings in this town.

Something to see in every direction.

A Knight and Princess party!

Lady Piper and Sir Fisher

Lady Piper jousting.

Sir Fisher's turn.

Playing "Defend the Castle"

I love that you can see all three of them in this one!

Fishing days!

He can't get down there fast enough!

Nice view huh?

This one is pretty cute too.

Reading about the spotted sandpiper.
"Mommy, we have the same name!"

Maybe my current favorite of this little thing.

More pretty.

Walking around trying to find the old beaver ponds.

I LOVE THIS!

Day of fun with cousins!

From the park we had an excellent view of the helicopter
dropping mulch on the burn scar.  All that mountain area there is
burned except the far right.

 

I can't believe how grown she's getting.

The boys.

James, Piper, DJ, and Eric

Jana, Fisher, Piper, James, DJ, and Eric

Pipey Lou

 

 

Eric and Matthew.

 

That's some big time fun.

 

JKFP & Bob

 

 



 

 

The Best Day Ever...

I never did share all of our Italy trip so I figured I'd better catch up before we head out again. 

After 3 days of me relaxing (and James working) we took a quick 24 hour trip to a little island off the coast called Capri.  It's a very charming destination filled with delicious restaurants, crazy cab drivers, lots of fancy shopping, and beauty around every turn in the road. 

Our first view of Capri from the marina.

We stayed at the Hotel Bellavista and it was fantastic.  Quiet.  Amazing views.  Extremely friendly staff.  I would definitely recommend it.  (They didn't have a pool or full restaurant but their other qualities more than made up for it.  And they have deals with pools and restaurants in the area if that's important to you.)

Our view from the hotel balcony.
View 1

Second view from the balcony.

Across the street and up the hill from our hotel

The hotel gardens.

View from the breakfast room.

We decided for the full Capri experience we should charter a little boat for a tour around the island.  This place is famous for the Blue Grotto.  Unfortunately for us, the seas were too rough to go on that side of the island.  We had an amazing tour all the same.  It was so relaxing and gorgeous.

The Marina

You can NOT believe the color of the water.  It's unreal.

Just LOOK!

A rather fancy yacht.

 Another even fancier yacht.

Ruins too.

Beauty everywhere you look.

Even the little walls by the road.

The corners of shops.

 

Making sandals.

 

Another view of the main marina.

Just perfect, beautiful buildings everywhere.

We can't forget Mt. Vesuvius.

Delicious sunset dinner.

James and I still refer to this as "the best day ever".  While Pompeii was the coolest thing we'd ever done, Capri was the most romantic.  It made for a great second honeymoon even if it was just 24 hours.

I've still got at least one more (maybe two) post about the Italy trip and lots to catch you up on while James was home.  Sniff. 

JKFP





Lucky Seven

About a month ago, this super cool kid I know turned seven.

The birthday morning!

 

He was really excited about all the sweet cards his sister made for him.

 

James and I made him a hollowed out book. 
It took a while to make but he really
loved it.

The birthday party! 

I'm sure there is a way to take great photos at a skating rink.  I however, I don't know that way.  Just be happy you're seeing them and don't look too closely. 

Carly and Johnny

 

Mark, Joshua, and Kaleb

Miss Pipey
Can you believe how grown she looks?

Making a wish
That's Mary Elizabeth peeking over the bench.

Piper, Ruby, and Storrie
Rachael (Ruby's mom) in the background.

 

Micah, Stephen, Fisher, Mark, and baby Rebekah's little legs.

 

Nikos and Onora

 

Ruby and Fisher

 

Could they be any cuter?

He was so happy he chose a party this year.  He loved having his friends around him to celebrate!


The birthday evening! 

Family party time at Nana's. 

Aunt Judy, Fisher, DJ, and Pipey

 

Again.

Fisher getting his hoop on.

I just LOVE this one.

Nana made his favorite pie - Key Lime.

That is a happy boy.

Getting a great picture out of 4 wiggly kids is super fun.
DJ, Piper, Fisher, and Matty

And a little impossible.

Movie time.

Our sweet boy is such an amazing kid.  We are so lucky.

JKFP


p.s.  James leaves for Frankfurt tomorrow.  :(  Keep us all in your thoughts.

Freak Out

I think I'm freaking out.  No, I know I'm freaking out.  My mind is filled with the...WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???'s involved in temporarily moving your household (minus one adorable tiny dog, four chickens, and a pet fish) to another country.  WHAT AM I THINKING??  I mean, which few toys will we take?  Can we really live without the birthday banners?  What of Fisher's school stuff will we take?  What will I have to make/acquire when we get there?  Which books will the kids take? (cause I'm not sure we can get english ones when we get there) Who will my kids play with?  Will German children be nicer this time around?  Will they still suck?  (not to generalize here, we just didn't have super great experiences with the locals kids last time) Where will I find yarn to knit?  Who will cut our hair?  Wax my eyebrows?  Computer cords?  Hair dryer?  What will become our new grocery staples?  How will we cook with them?  What if we get sick? What if Piper has asthma problems?  What about doctors?  How am I going to pull off Christmas (in three weeks)?  How badly will we miss all our family and friends?  What if what if what if whatifwhatifwhatifwhatifwhatif???

Take a breath.  Make a list.  Take a breath.  Make a list.  Take a breath.  Make a list.

Okay, I think I'm done.  For now.

And because you deserve cute pictures after all that...

Near sighted

Far sighted
It's a lot scarier from this view, huh?

Relaxin'

JKFP

The girl who loves chickens.

Our sweet Pipey is such a chicken whisperer. 

She thinks of them first thing in the morning.

She takes them food scraps ALL DAY LONG.  I think she intentionally doesn't eat sometimes so she has something to take out.

She cries when we go on vacation because they can't come with us.  She seriously asked why they couldn't come in the car on our road trip.

This is right after we got back from NC.  Also, I love how
these are taken at different times but she's wearing a princess
dress in each of them.

So tell me...how is she going to survive such a long trip in another country without her girls? 

Quite the lead in huh?  We are getting our ducks in a row for another trip.  James has a ticket for October 17th to head back to Frankfurt.  It's a longer project.  We're looking at approximately 18months and the kids and I plan to be there sometime in early December.  (Before Pipey's Dec. 4th birthday if at all possible.)  So there you have it.  Get your tickets to come visit!

JKFP & Bob