This Summer, Day 15

Today the girls and I led my friend Bethany and her sons Ami and Abram and another neighborhood friend, Padraig, on a hike in the woods behind our house.  We found some salamanders and a tiny crayfish in the creek.  It was so beautiful back there and the kids were excited and inquisitive.  I love our neighbors and their great kids!

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This Summer, Day 14

Daisy helps the flowers make it through the hot weather we have been enjoying!

This Summer, Day 13

Today we took a hike at the most beautiful spot in Allegheny County, North Park.

It was a wonderful and warm day and the trail that we took, North Trail off of Reynolds Road, wound through a field of high grass and bird houses before it meandered into the woods.  We saw many deer laying in the shady spots, resting and watching us.  On the grassy trail, a long line of babies (ducks, geese, other?) ran and toddled ahead of us, trying to outrun before giving up and darting into the grasses.  We saw and heard a lot of beautiful birds.  

I am always amazed by North Park.  It is so beautiful and quiet and there are so many varied habitats to explore.  I am so happy to live so close by.

This Summer, Day 12

Virginia swam three times today:  team practice, recreational swimming at our pool, a Girl Scout swim  party at another neighborhood pool.  She is permanently chlorine-scented.

Leah began Saltworks Summer Studio today and is pumped about two great weeks with her friends doing scene study and other cool things.

I made cinnamon chocolate chip banana bread for the party and it was OK.  I just had to cut around the too-gooey interior section.  It needed more baking time than our busy day and my patience would allow!

We watched Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan for a family movie event and no one was impressed.  It is getting harder to find films that will interest ages three through sixteen.

This Summer, Day 11

Happy Father's Day!!!

Today I didn't get to see my own wonderful Dad, but we will see him soon in DuBois!  We honored Russ, the other best dad in the world, with a great breakfast and gifts.  This MODOK mug was something Russ really wanted for the office.

  Virginia spent  weeks making Russ this incredible Doctor Who trivia book.  It is extensively researched and expertly illustrated.  So cool.  We also got Russ a few pieces of clothing and a Back to the Future Blu-Ray set.

At church, Leah sang a duet of "Great is the Faithfulness" with her friend Sophia.  I love that song and it was so fitting for Father's Day because our Father God is always so faithful.  They sounded beautiful and hearing Leah's voice in church is always a happy thing for me.

After church, we tailgated at the Pirate game with Grandpa and Anelia and Kristen and Chris, and cousins.  It was very wet for a long, long time!  After a 90 minute rain delay, though, they began the game and although we only got to see a few innings, it was fun.

Then...Russ and I attended a surprise 85th birthday party for a friend of ours at Le Mont on Mt. Washington.  It was a beautiful venue but best of all were the wonderful things people had to say about the guest of honor, Barbara Webb.  She is a truly inspiring person.

This Summer, Day 10

Today we stocked up on summer footwear at the annual Old Navy $1.00 flip flop sale.  This year, we showed great restraint:

In addition, we geared up for Father's Day,worked around the house, and made this delicious grilled tilapia with mango salsa for dinner.

Daisy helped Ruby distress a pair of jeans to create old, bleachy cutoffs.  

This Summer, Day 9

Yesterday was full and frenzied and summery.  I made these delicious items:

The vanilla chip cake is a time-honored recipe from my friend Tracey Johnson.  The fruit salad with mint has a vanilla-orange glaze and it is a recipe from my favorite place for recipes, www.thepioneerwoman.com.  Leah also made a delicious batch of Big Bad Chocolate Muffins for our Family Bible Study at First Trinity last night, actually a double batch.  

We were determined to make it in to the Three Rivers Arts Festival, but were delayed by a car accident that knocked down telephone poles, a secondary accident whereby someone waiting in the traffic for the first accident suffered a dead battery and was rear-ended, a fire-alarm and building evacuation downtown, and much congestion for the Festival and Pirate game.  We got to the Festival at last, though:

Leah's friend was with us.  Notice the floating Buddha behind the girls?  Daisy had a delicious glittery cake pop from a food truck downtown.  Hooray, the fountain is back on!

At First Trinity, we discovered our friend, Pastor Andrae, has suffered a broken ankle.

Russ has offered to carry him around for a few weeks until it is healed.

We got home really late but were hungry and not tired so we made an enormous platter of baked nachos with sausage and cilantro and started watching The Matrix.  I made it about 20 minutes.