My children are strange

This is what they do while they are supposed to be doing school. I could save it for Wordless Wednesday, but I don't want to wait...

Wordles Wednesday

How Jockey's Ridge got it's name: The horses got here from shipwrecks off shore. Jockey's Ridge is where people wold sit to watch the horse races go by.

Nag's Head is a tad more eery: Pirates would tie lamps to the horse's heads - nags - and then walk them around. The ships out at sea would see the lights and think it was a harbor. They'd turn in, run aground and then be robbed by the pirates with the lights.

(As seen on plaques at Jockey's Ridge in Nag's Head, NC.)

Back from the beach!

We spent a week at the beach, Hatteras Island in NC, last week with friends. We all had a great time. We drove out last Saturday and spent the afternoon at the Wright Brother's Memorial.

Then we drove down to Waves and checked in to our house. It was great for our needs. Enough bedrooms for everyone and only 5 minute walk to the beach itself. We walked down the first night and the kids tried to only get their feet wet. But the boys were wet up to their necks and the girls were wet to their waists.

Sunday was the only morning I actually made it up before the sun. I didn't make it to the beach to see the sun over the horizon, but I did get a decent picture of it low in the sky. The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the beach and in the house. I think I may have driven down to Avon and found the Food Lion. Note to all, Sunday Morning everyone in the area is at Food Lion. The lines are long!

Monday the morning was at the beach and then we went to Manteo and found the Festival Park with a recreation of the Elizabeth II and a small settlement. Then we saw the Lost Colony play that evening. Tuesday was again spent at the beach and house.

Wednesday we drove down to Buxton to see the Hatteras Lighthouse. This picture of the Hatteras Light is from the old location and shows the path used to move it to where it is now. Then we drove into Hatteras Village and saw our pastor's daughter who lives there. We took her recommendation on where to have lunch then hopped the ferry to Ocracoke to see the light house there. Thursday was spent at the beach and in the house. The adults had an evening out while the kids stayed in and at pizza.




Friday we drove up to Jockey's Ridge. I made the kids all climb a tree, trying to recreate a picture my mom has of me, my brother and 2 friends on a vacation where we saw all these same lighthouses and the kids climbed a tree.

Saturday we packed up to leave. My klan drove to Bodie Island lighthouse and then to a store where we bought souvenirs for all. We were using time to go have lunch at the Weeping Radish for lunch. But once we got there, we found it closed. Not for lunch but complete with a for sale or lease sign out front. We ended up eating at Big Al's, good food, but not he German fare we were expecting to have. Then the 4 hour drive home began.

Wordless Wednesday

I have to give the website for this place!

No move necessary

DH did not get an offer from the Seattle people. DH was bummed and relieved. Bummed that they didn't think him good enough. Relieved that we don't need to move. In the last few days dh has realized that oldest dd will only be home for 5 more years. He doesn't want to lose her out west.

John's birthday

Ok, really the whole week.

Last Saturday, July 12, we went to Hillary Bang and Abbott Tunstall's wedding. We all had fun and enjoyed ourselves. Sunday, John ran the Triangle Triathlon. He enjoyed i, but showed up at church sans glasses - he couldn't find them. It turns out he took them off in the closet when he took off his suit the night before. Men are so silly. :-)

Monday and Wednesday he met with someone at the local company he's interviewing with. Thursday he flew out to Seattle, WA, interviewed on Friday and took the red eye home arriving about 9 am Saturday morning. He said the people in Seattle were scary smart and he doesn't expect an offer. We'll find out by Tuesday. I was talking to someone. This Seattle deal has gone fast! He sent in his resume on July 1. Here he is home from the interview and waiting to hear about an offer on July 21. That's 20 days!

His party went great! Two people called first thinking that since it was raining, we would cancel. They must not know John very well. A party outside in July? I don't think so! We have everything left over from food to drinks to dessert.

A few people brought gifts. I had sent a note saying that gifts were not necessary, but if they wanted to bring something, this party was brought to you by the letter J and the number 40. So please bring something starting with J or 40 in number. John got 40 lollypops, 40 jellybeans. But the best one was 40 jewels or wisdom - bits of wisdom typed out and placed one each into 40 jewel cd cases.

Yesterday we went to target to look at TVs and came home instead with a Wii.

It was a good week!

VBS and musings

Everyone had a good time at VBS. There was one father who didn't understand the concept of time and was late the middle 3 days to pick up his son. The mom doesn't drive yet so it had to be the dad. I can understand Tuesday when he was 20 minutes. Maybe even Wednesday when he was 45 minutes late. But Thursday when he was 2 hours late and I had a doctors appointment that I barely made it to, that was the last straw! If he had called to let us know that would be one thing. But no calls, any of the days. I called him Wednesday and Thursday when he was late. I was always told that someone was on the way.

But other than this one dad, VBS was fun like always. I love the kids and interacting with them. I direct and had good teachers. I actually had to do the teacher devotions this year. (In the past we had a very gifted mom do them for us.) While they weren't as good as hers, I do think they were more than adequate. (If I do say so myself!)

This week we have been bored. Maybe I should have gone with a thought to go ahead and start school this week. But too late now. We will start next week. I have workbooks for the kids made up. We'll see how they go first quarter before I make ones for the rest of the year. I m looking forward to having some sort of routine to our days again.

I'm running again. It's hard with some reconstruction going on with the path I run. I can only go 1/2 way around the lake and then I have to turn around and come back. Going out, I can just run. But on the way back in, I really have to pay attention to the roots. I know this, but they are soo different coming at them from a different angle.

We're having a party for John's birthday this year. So far we have 27 people coming! Thankfully I'm not cooking! Speaking f John, he is interviewing again. Two different companies. One would allow us to stay here. The other would probably move us to the West Coast. It makes for an interesting July.

The Konings come home this month. I think they land on July 25. Surprisingly, it's not on my calendar. I'm hoping I can get a few people from church to met them at the airport like we did when they left.