Giggling Girls

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Family Trip (part 3)

Camping! We met Daniel's 4 brothers and their families, Daniel's Cousin David and his family, and Daniel's parents at Kumbrabow State Forest in West Virginia for our annual camping trip! We had great weather -- only about 1 1/2 days of rain and the rest was beautiful! We really love this time with family!

Our cute little home for 5 days

Hannah and Lillian

Uncle Mark putting Rachel to sleep... ahhh

The Birx Bunch looking good in their camping gear

The 2009 babies

Philip Christian -- Rachel Clara -- Luke Nathanael

Playing in the stream (a favorite pastime)

Grandpa reading one of his stories after lunch

We really enjoyed meeting Luke for the first time -- what a keeper!!

Happy FIRST birthday, Luke!

Rebecca hanging out with Daddy

Cousin Jonathan didn't want to get his fingers messy with the smore -- pretty tricky!

The girls had a mass grave site for any bugs/lizards that died during our camping trip -- may they rest in peace

Sharing old camping memories from days gone by :)

Drew showing me one of his many funny faces :)

It's hard work playing all day long

The girls would literally fall asleep as soon as their heads touched their pillows...

... Rachel, too

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On the way to Daniel's parent's house after camping we stopped at this church. It claims to be the smallest church in 48 states

"Our Lady of the Pines" -- Horse Shoe Run, WV

Here are all the Birx grandkids minus Luke and the baby in Sharon's tummy :)

Family Trip (part 4)

Here are some pictures of the girls having fun around Grandpa and Grandma's place:

When Grandpa weeds his garden he means business!

Abigail and Cousin Drew hanging out with Grandpa on his tractor

Don't go anywhere, Grandpa!

Rachel trying out another one of Grandpa's tractors

Rebecca frolicking in Grandpa's garden

Posing by Grandma's pretty flowers

Daniel jumping over all the girls... why not, right?!

Getting some yummy sno-balls with Uncle Josh, Aunt Alisha, Hannah, Drew and G&G Birx

I think they like their sno-balls!

We went to a park near the BWI airport and watched the planes fly over

Family Trip (part 5)

We took the Lightrail into Baltimore's Inner Harbor with Daniel's parents. While there we toured 3 different ships, did some shopping, and enjoyed the scenery.

Getting ready to tour the USS Constellation

Lillian trying out a sailor's bed

The Chesapeake Bay in the background

I think this picture is so funny! It reminds me of a picture you'd find in a magazine of some celebrity who's being followed by the paparazzi :)

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Another day we toured the Herr's Chip Factory in Nottingham, Pennsylvania. You can't buy this brand here in WI so Daniel always stocks up on their crab chips!

Looks like Phyllis doesn't have to cook anymore... there's a new cook in the family!

After the Herr's tour we went to Daniel's brother's house (Nathan) in PA. As always, we had a really nice time with them! Thank you, Nathan and Sharon!

Rebecca and Sarah Beth enjoying some ice cream together

I think Philip liked his ice cream too!

Family Trip (part 6)

We went to Stratford Hall with Daniel's parents, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, and then drove through George Washington's birthplace (all in VA). We spent most of our time on the beach of the Potomac River looking for shells and shark's teeth! The girls thought that was really fun!

The Potomac River in the background

It was a little sunny :)

If you're on the beach you're in Virginia, but if you go into the water you're in Maryland!

Mmmm... yummy sand!

Grandpa, Daniel and the girls digging for shark's teeth

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This is what we looked like traveling back home to Wisconsin -- all packed in with no room to spare!

We had such a fun time with family! The two weeks went by way too fast. We now look forward to traveling back out there for Christmas in only 6 months!!

Thank you for everything, Tim and Phyllis!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Awana and Friends

Well, Awana is over. Daniel did an excellent job as the Commander for his first year, if I do say so myself! He's looking forward to another fun year come Fall. I'm going to miss getting together with the "Nursery Moms" every week, but we do have a park/swim schedule planned for the summer so we're excited about that! This fall Abigail will be moving on to her second year as a Cubbie and Lillian will be a second year Sparky... Rebecca might even get to join Abigail in Cubbies, we'll see! The girls are growing up so fast!

This was the prize table at the Awana Carnival. I was encouraged to hear a few kids say, "These are the best prizes ever!"

The "Nursery Moms" had a western/cowgirl themed game area. I wasn't able to help with the games because I was manning the prize tables, BUT I did get to dress up! I love these ladies!!!