More pictures from fall (but not all of them)

Some of my pictures I have directly uploaded to Shutterfly, some are on Picasa, essentially my picture organization system is a mess. They are all on my Shutterfly account so that's good. But I upload to the blog from Picasa.

 As you can see the dock and boat lift are out. A sad time on the lake.

Megan says that this is a "Where's Waldo" type picture- can you spot Rex in this photo?

Another catch-up post

I know I am terrible about posting. I am trying!!!

 Making Halloween cookies for the teachers luncheon at school (and for ourselves)

 Hank's class delivering fall greetings to homes near their school (oh Henry is now going by Hank. He has asked that we all call him Hank now and wants to legally change his name to Hank. I am not making this up).

 We baked the cookies at the lake and took them home to frost and decorate.

Of course we must taste-test the frosting to make sure it is good for consumption!

Some cell phone pictures

A few weeks ago we went to the apple orchard and picked a peck. I found a great recipe for crock pot applesauce so most of the apples went to that, the rest went into an apple crisp. 

 There is a new priest at church who is pretty charismatic. He is also an animal lover and has two dogs of his own. He had this "blessing of the pets" ceremony on St. Francis of Assisi's Feast Day a couple of weeks ago. Henry and I brought Rex while Mike and George went to the university's planetarium show.

 Henry went to fall camp last weekend! He had a good time but I have no pictures of it since we dropped off and picked up at the Y here in town. The rest of us went up to the cabin, where the leaves were at peak and were absolutely gorgeous! Here is a shot looking up the driveway.

 And a shot looking down the driveway.

 A selfie with George and I.

 George carved a pumpkin while we were there.

 Spent a little time on the tire swing.

 More pics of the leaves- this is the path that runs along the creek.

 George said this was like a blanket of leaves on the driveway.

 Pretending to be a scarecrow.

 The boat and dock/lift are out now, so we just have the canoe. Mike and George went out for a canoe ride.

 I went out for a canoe ride later - this is a view uplake. Gorgeous!

Computer crash

If you are wondering where I've been, my computer crashed and burned so I am unable to get pictures off of my camera! AACK! They are stuck there until I can bring it into work or figure something else out. I heard that there is a way to get a special connector to the iPad but they were kind of expensive and I'm going to need to get a new computer eventually anyway. So you will have to deal with cell phone pictures for now! If I can remember to upload them! :)

In the meantime here is a picture of Mike at the cabin, the day we took the boat out of the lake for the summer. :(

Dirty birdie

Henry turns 9!

His last year of single digits! We celebrated wtih a slumber party with 5 friends.

 Henry opening presents at his party

 A quick snapshot of the 9 year old!

 He is our little fisherman at the lake. He is pretty much independent fishing now - putting the bait on, changing out lures, taking the fish off the hook (even if they swallow it!), etc.

 Campfire at the lake!

 And Smores' of course

 We were fortunate to have family come up and visit us at the lake - always more fun with visitors!

 the kids also joined up with the neighbors for a lemonade stand during a hot stretch of weather...

 But it's been a crazy summer weather-wise - here they are in July with sweatshirts!!

 More pics from Henry's birthday - one word: LEGO.

 He had a smores cake that I copied from a few friends who did it for their kids.

 Obligatory picture of Rex the guard dog, all 5 pounds of him.

And ice cream at West's Dairy in Hayward. This is how we do summer. :)

End of July and Washington DC Trip

Okay, so now I'm only a month behind. Onto the pictures1

 George learned to ride his bike without training wheels early this summer.

 A fake fall - he now knows how to stop and start himself and can wheel about the neighborhood with his buddy Max at his leisure.

 We had some playdates with friends this summer - this was out our friends' house where three girls live. George thought it was HYSTERICAL to dress as a fairy princess.

 He really got into it, as you can see.

 Mike took his annual baseball trip to the DC area. Right in the middle of the worst heatwave of the summer.

 We flew out to meet him for a sightseeing trip to the DC area. Grandma and Grandpa drove down from New Jersey to meet us.

On the banks of the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia.

At the National Air and Space Musuem.

Touching a moon rock.

HOT, HOT, HOT.

So we stopped at the food trucks probably twice a day for snow cones and cold drinks.

In front of the US Capitol.

The tour at the capitol was done via headphones, which was nice so our tour guide didn't have to shout.

George at the spot where John Adams had his desk in the "old" part of the Capitol.

At the US Supreme Court. They were not in session.

In front of the capitol.

Riding the Metro in DC - because you can never expose your kids to too much public transportation.

The kids' favorite spot - the Musuem of Natural History. We could have spent all day there too.

George with a giant geode.

In front of the White House - they don't let you go in there anymore for tours.

Lincoln Memorial.

Henry learned a lot about Abraham Lincoln in school this year so he was excited to visit this memorial.

 IT WAS FREAKING HOT. There are no other words for the heat. HOT, HOT, HOT.

Mount Vernon, George Washington's home and probably my favorite DC area attraction. I could have spent all day there!