Jamestown Settlement

We met up with more Blacksburg friends at Jamestown and enjoyed the afternoon exploring Jamestown Settlement.  The kids were so happy to see their good friends Nick and Luke and to hang out with the Lucas'.  Little Joel stuck to Raquel like gum on a shoe, he was so sad to leave when they had to go home. We had lots of fun with our guests and hope we get more visitors soon.

Inside a Powhatan Indian Hut

Carving a Canoe
(Tess, Enna, Natalya, Marcus, Raquel)

Resting on the Susan Constant

Our family

Paul, Enna, Natalya, Joel, Raquel, Luke, Marcus, Nick, Erik and Tess
hanging out in a canoe

Soldier Erik

Natalya and Raquel trying on armor inside the Jamestown Fort

Nick, Luke and Jessica joined us for dinner after a fun day at Jamestown Settlement.

Beach & Fort Monroe with Friends

Our friends the Lucas' came from Blacksburg to visit over Labor Day weekend.  We had lots of fun showing them around and playing. We spent most of one day at the beach and I think most of us came away with a sunburn.  But the kids sure had fun playing with their friends in the water and sand. We also took in a little history exploring Fort Monroe.

Beach Boy Erik

Natalya, Marcus & Raquel

Building sand castles

Playing in the water with Paul, Joel, Tess and Mike

Time for snacks

Natalya enjoying the water

Raquel, Paul and Tess

At the top of Fort Monroe

Raquel at Ft. Monroe

Piano

The girls started piano lessons and we didn't have a piano. After looking on Craigslist we found one and picked it up the night of their first lesson.  Of course it started pouring rain when we were loading it into the back of our truck.  Luckily we were pretty close to our house and it didn't get damaged from the water.  Mike and I were able to unload it and bring it into the house ourselves and the kids have had fun playing on it ever since.

Playing or more like pounding on the piano

Champs

The girls both qualified to swim at champs. They had to get a certain time to be able to swim at the meet. Raquel swam breaststroke and Natalya backstroke. They swam with the best who qualified from 12 different swim teams. Raquel placed 13th out of 29 with a time of 27.38 sec. and Natalya tied for 14th out of 24 with a time of 34.81 sec. 

To think the swim coaches didn't even want to put Natalya on the team because she was only 5 and here she swam at Champs. 

So proud of both out girls!

Sailfish Swim Team

The girls joined the neighborhood summer swim team this year.  They practiced 5 mornings a week rain or shine as long as it wasn't thundering.  They enjoyed it on the hot days but a few days were a little cold.  Every Monday they participated in a swim meet at various pools around the area.  Both Natalya and Raquel did great, improving on there times all season and both qualifying for the Champs swim meet in August. There team The Coventry Sailfish also was 1st in their division.

The boys and I spent many hours watching and cheering on the girls this summer. Marcus learned to swim this summer so hopefully he will be on the team next year.

Natalya ready to swim free-style

Raquel on the blocks

Every Tues. after a meet was fun swim with donuts.

Marcus was a big helper carrying chairs and snacks.

Showing off their new team swimsuits.

Hanging out between races.

Raquel and Daddy

Enjoying the last meet of the season

Part of the swimmers fan club

Sammie

While the kids and I were in Blacksburg finishing up moving Mike stayed in Yorktown to work.  The day before we were to come home I got a call from Mike saying he was locked out of the house and we needed to come home early.  Luckily I had started packing up earlier because I wasn't getting the trailer that I thought I was and so I packed up the back of the truck.

A short time later I get another call saying he is locked out without his wallet and so had no food and to hurry. I was just about done but still needed to finish cleaning the house. I then get a 3rd phone call much worse than the previous two.  Mike called to tell us that Sammie had died.  Mike had taken the dogs for a walk while he was locked out and took them to a pond near our house.  Sam was thrown in the water but didn't make it back to shore before he drowned.

Poor Mike had to carry Sammie on his back all the way home.  The kids and I hurried home after that news.  We did get a 4th phone call with some good news. Mike was able to get in the house after all. The car door was unlocked and he was able to use the garage door opener to get in the house.

It was a bit of an exciting day and now we are down to one pet. Ranger is a bit lonely without his friend and has now started sleeping inside.

Sammie was a good dog, he had just turned 10 yrs.old.  We have had him since he was a few months old and Mike and I were first married. He was great with our kids, loved any kind of people food, and loved to go on hikes and walks.

June 2004 - July 18, 2014
A few pictures of Sam since we moved to Virginia

Massanutten and friends

My best friend from childhood along with her family came out to vacation in Massanutten, Va. Its only a few hours from where we live so the kids and I took a trip to visit with them for a few days.  We enjoyed catching up, swimming, hiking, The Children's Museum in Harrisonburg and eating good food. All the kids loved playing with each other and it was fun for me seeing Julie's family that I haven't seen in years.

Playing at the Children's Museum

 

Julie and Andrea

Playing in the water with Julie and Ryan's kids

Picking wild blueberries on our hike

After enjoying a few days of vacation we headed back to Blacksburg to finish packing up and cleaning the house. Getting ready for it to be sold.  While in Blacksburg we visited with a few friends and stayed at Ann & Wes' house. The kids had fun with the dress-ups.