The "history" pictures

Trip Back East 2008

We just got home from a trip to the East Coast. We started our trip in Wimington, De and Landenberg, Pa- to see Pete's grandmother, Aunt Maureen and Uncles Tom and Mark. We were blessed to stay with his Aunt Nancy, Uncle Rob and cousins Tori and Taylor. It was great to see family. God blessed us with special times and memories that we will always hold dear. We were sad that we couldn't have made it back sooner so that we could have seen his three Grandparents who have recently gone to be with the Lord, but it's clear that their heritages and faith are living on in the next generations- and in that sense, it felt like they were there with us.

Among some of our other stops were historical Philadelphia, Rehoboth Beach and then Washington D.C.

We had nice weather- not too hot, and some some very amazing thunder storms.

My favorite parts of the trip were: Seeing our boys zoom around on a quad with their cousin, counting heads pop up in the waves at the beach(....1,2, 3...Ok were good! ) and watching our kids soak up the history of our country.

The most memorable moments included: A family prayer time that I will never forget, seeing our kids moved to tears in the Holocast musuem, and sitting on the porch with Pete, listening to waves as our kids slept quietly inside.

So,,,, here are some pictures of those times.

Boy and Dog

"Majestic Skies" ( pics I took from last night's skies)

New Fire

Yesterday another fire broke out. This one was only 5 miles from our house. It looked like a bomb had gone off, and the sky filled with plumes of dark purple and orange smoke. It was a bit surreal. These are some pics from our driveway.

Baby Lincoln

This is a link to my sister's blog. You can see the awesome new gift God has brought to their family. I will post pictures of our kids with their new cousin soon, but until then, here is the link, to see little Lincoln.

http://www.myburnsfamily.blogspot.com/

one more of the strange sky before the storm

picture by Pete...

A storm, fires, and smoke!,

We have been burried in a cloud of smoke all week, due to 100's of fires that started in our county after an entire day of lightning storms saturday. It was an amazing light show, and we sat humbled and awed by God's power all day as we watched lightning strike in our own back yard and all around us. For the first time ever, I saw lightning hit something. It was amazing as an entire roof illuminated when it struck. We were grateful for a safe house. We are safe from fire danger, all though the fires are raging in all of the surrounding foot hills 10-20 miles away. Here is a picture I took coming home to our house. When we come up the hill, the smoke gets so much more dense than it is in the center of town. The other picture is of the sun which appears bright orange all day despite the look of being in a San Francisco fog. The first pic is of the sky before the storm hit. You could tell something was happening. It was a little erie!

One More with Michael and Cooper

Cooper- Our new Puppy

Meet Cooper- our new puppy! He is full of energy at times, but mostly very mellow and very much a lover. He loves to cuddle up in our laps. We have been crate training him and it is going great. He loves his "bed" now and goes in on his own. So far only two accidents in the house which were largely due to Alex feeding him WAY to many "fiber filled treats". Anyways, here he is!

106 degrees???? What?

It was HOT today! 106 degrees to be exact- and it's not even summer yet. I have a feeling we're in for a hot one this year! We set up a little pool out back tonight.

Where there's water, there's entertainment. I dragged them out at 8 to get them ready for bed, but who feels like sleeping when it's this hot. They definitely are ready for school to end this year!

a few baseball shots from this week

The first couple pictures are of Michael bunting, then Alex at 2nd base and then last....the cheering section! Go Yankees!

A few more pics from Great America...

Great America May 2008

The twins turned twelve, we celebrated 13 years, it was mothers day,,,,enough reason to celebrate??? We headed down to Santa Clara to Spring Fest; Some of our favorite artists where there; Kutless, Switchfoot, Barlow girl!!! They were all great concerts, but our favorite was Barlow Girl- what an incredible testimony those girls gave. It was so much fun. The kids loved the roller coasters and nothing was too scary to try. ( I can't imagine feeling that way!) Michael and Pete even did the "Drop Zone", where you free fall 300 feet down-YIKES! Upside down, hanging from the top, or bottom....they did it all! I was the photographer/videographer for the day- maybe I'm getting old! I will never forget watching my kids have so much fun this weekend! Yeah for Play Time and Family Time and Worship Time! We needed it!

More Birthday Fun....

Michael and Allie turn 12- Yikes!

Michael had a slumber party and Allie had a pedicure party- different nights! What a crazy weekend. Imagine 7 boys with pots on their heads acting out a Monty Python skit. Although girls aren't as tame as everyone thinks!!!