A Blessed Vacation....Lake Chautauqua, NY!

Stealing a few moments away from lesson planning for this week's homeschooling and more in-depth planning for the schoolyear, to record some memories from our family vacation last week at Lake Chautauqua, New York....what a blessed week! As my dear husband will be starting his new job soon...and, it looks like working both jobs for a few weeks, we are especially grateful for this week at my cousin's home on the Lake.

Our view of the lake from the deck...so peaceful!


Tons of fishing was done everyday....my mom and step-dad came up for the week and my wonderful step-dad is an expert fisherman....my guys learned a lot this week...especially, my little guy!

They were able to fish from the dock...but their favorite fishing spot turned out to be a little bridge right down the road...Ronnie caught 38 fish this week! He was so proud! I'll be posting a seperate "Fisherman's Tale" later this week about a particularly exciting fishing day!

There was also bike riding all day almost everyday...at our home, it can be a busy intersection and our children cannot ride their bikes by themselves...but at the lake, these back country roads were perfect...and Ronnie learned to ride without training wheels! We're so excited!

Without any internet or tv....we read books, and played A LOT of games and cards....oh, how we laughed!!! Sara loves 'phase 10' and Meghan loved a card game called "pay me". Ronnie and Anna liked to play 'yahtzee' and 'pokeno' and of course, UNO is always a favorite. One of our favorite games of the week was 'apples to apples' junior version. We bought the normal game and don't like it nearly as much as the junior version.
We took most of our food up with us for the week, but after the 3 hour car ride up to NY, we went to our favorite pizza place. I will say....I cheated and ate gluten...the pizza was awesome, but oh, my goodness...I was so sick for almost 3 days! Won't do that again! The rest of the week I was very careful...and discovered that coffee eats my stomach (and it never used to) but a cup of tea is just the answer!

I was able to spend the week with my beautiful mother! She lives over an hour away, and between her busy schedule and ours we never seem to have enough time to spend together. It was so much fun and so special to spend the week with her!
My view of the lake from my seat on the deck. I did a lot of journaling and ....
...knitting, of course! I'm loving how this scarf is coming along...it will match perfectly with my fall coat!

Of course, we had to have a bonfire one night...and of course, we had to make s'mores! Anna's was bigger than her mouth! (I enjoyed mine with just a piece of Hershey's and a warm, toasted marshmallow...who needs graham crackers?!)

My big girls enjoyed the fire and s'mores, too!

My parents enjoying the fire..

My mom, Meghan, Sara and I set out one day for a "girls day"...what I called a field trip! LOL We drove to a little town called Westfield to find a museum called "McClurg House". We enjoyed our drive as much as the museum! After we got lost in Brocton, NY...we found our way to the little town of Westfield. Such a beautiful, old-fashioned town!
Our tour guide was so knowledgable and so kind...she even took us into the basement! We saw the most beautiful antiques, including a "Lincoln Rocker" that was just beautiful...and went into the kitchen, the pantry and the weaving room....I could have stayed for hours! But....the girls were getting hungry, so we moved on!There was so much history here including a lot about Abraham Lincoln, who had visited this town during his campaigning for president. The story goes that a little girl wrote him a letter telling him that he would look better in 'whiskers'...and he wrote her back the following week, then he DID grow the whiskers! He came back thru her town during the funeral procession, by train. It was a very touching story.

We found the cutest old-fashioned diner right on the corner from the museum where we ordered burgers and fries that were wonderful!


Walked past the apothecary(I loved the name and the sign!) .....and down to....

The Emporium!

We had a blast looking thru aisle after aisle of antiques...everything from kitchen things to whole bedroom suites, linens and quilts, children's toys and books....I loved this place! We all enjoy looking at "living history".

I love these next pictures...while we ladies were off gallivanting, my husband captured my little ones so beautifully....

Best friends!

We ended our wonderful week at a little, local amusement park called "Midway Park"....which was origionally opened in 1898! It is a great little park...right on the lake...so beautiful!

There were bumper cars.....


A small rollercoaster that Ronnie and Anna particularly enjoyed!

Anna fell in love with the Carosel....and a 1946 horse named 'cotton candy'....it was a beautiful old Carosel!

The park boasted picnic pavillions right at the lake...benches to sit and enjoy the view and a very cool arcade just like I remembered from when I was young...my children enjoyed pinball machines and skee ball before enjoying a lemon slushie at the end of the day.

Our last view of the lake before we went home. Oh, how we love it up there! We didn't want to come home! We are so very grateful to our cousin's Kathy and Leon for blessing us with the priviledge of sharing their lake home with us. If you ever have the chance to visit "wine country"...visit the Lake Chautauqua area...especially this time of year....grapes heavy and purple hanging from the vines....it's beautiful and serene up there!

So...vacation is over....Hubby is back to work, about to get a very crazy schedule for a short time...we are back to fully homeschooling a fun, interesting and full year....will be back to watching my nephew, Ty, again tomorrow...but God has gently spoken to each one of us while we were away...lessons learned, and now having to put them into practice. Having no internet was fine....no one really missed it. It's funny...we have dear friends without any internet, and they do fine. Also....no tv...and we didn't take dvd's either....and the kids did fine. Distractions....oh, well....off to bed...trying to get into a good, workable routine around here. Will post again soon about my son's fishing tale....I love being able to journal and "photo journal" here on the blog...for our family...for family out of town and good friends. Thanks again, Kathy and Leon! We love you guys! ~Sue~

The creek, crawfish...and corn...summertime fun!

I've always loved playing in a creek in the summertime! I remember coming to this very creek when I was a little girl...and we had a small one in the woods by our house that we would play in all the time.

My little ones like "The Sugar Creek Gang" stories. We have 5 on dvd's....and a lot of their books....so this was a great way to cool off, and pretend they were in the stories themselves.

As this was a homeschool field trip, we were blessed to go with a couple other families and enjoy God's creation, fellowship and fun at Mingo Creek! Today, the kids learned about inverebrates...specifically crawfish. They had a blast! It was my little nephew, Ty's, first field trip...after he got over not wanting to be dirty or wet...he ended up having a lot of fun! He especially loves to do whatever Ronnie does!

Anna loved it! She had so much fun looking for crawfish and playing in the creek! She is definitely my little nature girl!

After all of the children had a crawfish, the instructor sat them all down and taught them about different fish and fresh water creatures. Some people even found fresh water clams. I must say...Ronnie and Anna were very interested, but Ty was, too! He listened so well and wanted to be where all the big kids were.

There is a hollow sycamore tree that was the perfect photo op! We all had such a fun day!
I had to take this picture of Ty when we came home from the creek! He loves his corn-on-the cob as much as his Aunt Suzie does! We have a picture of Ronnie at this age eating his corn and they look so much a like!

~What a fun day at the creek! We have had a fun, BUSY summer...lots of get-togethers with friends...old and new. Lots of family gatherings, lots of TOMATOES this year....and more preserving the harvest than we've done in years past. Looking foward to a vacation at the lake soon....but also looking forward to starting school again...getting Ron and the whole family into a new routine with (FINALLY) my husband working daylight and weekends off...cooler weather and actually...a slower routine for us. Hoping for a large round of canning/preserving in September and October...and very much looking forward to soups and stews, "nesting" and preparing for winter's unique joys in Pittsburgh! Blessings to you all! ~Sue~

He is faithful!

The Lord is so faithful! He has proven His faithfulness, provision, caring and blessing over our family numerous times...and today is another incredible day!

We had been praying for a very long time for the Lord to move my husband into another job. We were very grateful that he HAD a job...but we knew his contract was up for renewal...and the job didn't look good. Add to this, him working almost 10 years of night turn and no weekends off...and it's been hard for our family. He couldn't go to church with us, was one of the hardest and we worked our family around his schedule. He has been sending out resumes and putting job applications out there at least twice a week for 2 years...and not even an interview.

But...yesterday he had a job interview with the municipality where we live for a position with their public works department...and today, they called and offered him the job! Praise You, God, for your faithfulness, provision and perfect timing! We are so excited! It won't be more money...but we're alright with that...we know how to live frugally...but it WILL be daylight, weekends off and it will be secure and stable. We have such a sense of relief! He is so faithful to His promises!!! Just wanted to share our happy news!!!!! ~Sue~

PO-KE-NO!!!

Games....family time....we've been trying to play more games as a family, and it has been surprisingly challenging finding games that all 6 of us can play. When Anna learns to read just a little bit better....it will be easier. Apples to Apples was a little much for her, so we moved on to my grandmother's game of Pokeno.

Pokeno is very like Bingo only with cards, which has actually taught my 2 younger children all the different suits of cards. Oh, my goodness....who would have thought we would have laughed so much! Anna was so funny...she got more Pokeno's than anyone and was tickled. This was a game we all enjoyed! We've been playing UNO as a family and the game of Pilgrim's Progress is always a favorite.

This week, we're going to try Yahtzee with Anna and see how she likes it. Family time around the game table is so much more fun than movie nights, I think. We talk more, laugh more and generally interact more together. We do love our movies together, especially in the winter with a fire going and popcorn or homemade cookies.

We're up for suggestions, though, for some games that are fun for a wide age range....and especially good for an "almost" 6 year old! Let us know your favorites! ~Sue~

One small change....Preserving the Harvest!

Our 'one small change' for July and August (and will probably be doing it in September and October, too) is preserving the harvest. We are regulars at our local farmer's market. We've put up strawberry jam, canned some homemade barbeque sauce and have now made peach jam. We were given the gift of a big bag of peaches on Monday and yesterday, canned 15 jars of peach jam. Oh, the house smelled so good!
I will calling around to different farms and seeing if I could get bushels of "seconds" of peaches and tomatoes to can and dehydrate. We're also shredding and freezing zucchini in flat freezer bags to pull out for zucchini bread/muffins this winter. Cutting and freezing corn off of the cob. Today, I am going to try a small batch of pickles. I would like to ferment them, but I had heard that these need refrigeration and I am looking to store in the pantry to save room. I've never made pickles before, so I am praying they turn out.

Another change I would like to do is 'pressure can' rather than freeze broth, and cooked beans. Our freezer room is at a premium as we've been rather cutting down on the amount of meat that we are eating and preparing for some lean times ahead. Bone broths are so very healthy that I like to have a lot of them on hand, but don't always have the room to store them.

So many changes going on at our home! From gardening, to clotheslines, canning & preserving...to even reading aloud more and playing more games. We'll be working outside more to gather and organize kindling and firewood for this winter as well as harvesting the garden. I'd like to even try my hand at gathering some free crabapples from a friend and making crabapple jelly. Just trying to spend more time together as a family...building family time & memories and working together for the good of our family. ~Sue~

What is one small change you'll be doing this summer?

Generosity...and Gratitude!

Thanks to the generosity of some kind folk (Thanks, Mom, my friend, Anna and anonymous neighbors!) we had some awesome fried zucchini with our dinner tonight!

Unfortunately, all 13 zucchini plants that we planted got 'eaten' by a grub...along with 9 cucumber plants and I think my butternut squash as well. (we'll see...I hope not!) I know a couple of friends that this happened to as well, and next year, I'll be prepared!

But tonight...hubby requested fried zucchini and GF pasta with sauce for dinner. So, Meghan and I made a tempura batter using rice flour & cornstarch and it was the best fried zucchini I think I've ever had! (ok...we fry twice a year...this was one of those times!)

So....since we accept any and all donations of produce that others may have too much of....I will be stuffing zucchini and shredding it to freeze as well. I would like to make dehydrated zucchini chips as well as zucchini pickles and regular pickles as well. I would love to try fermented pickles and some homemade fermented sauerkraut as well. (Nourshing Traditions has tons of recipes for fermented veggies as does Mary Jane's Farm)

We've been picking and eating lots of green beans from our garden and looks like we'll have plenty of celery and peppers as well as tons of tomatoes this year. (Hooray!) Think I'll clean out the garden beds and will be planting some lettuce for the fall...now that we are fenced in, the 'critters' won't be eating all of our efforts!

Thanks again, all, for the generous gifts of zucchini! Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful summer! ~Sue~

Happy 17th Birthday to our beautiful daughter, Meghan!

Our special, oldest daughter, Meghan is 17 years old today! Seems like yesterday that we held her in our arms for the first time....and how fast time has flown! She is such a sweet daughter!
(Meghan & I on Mother's Day this year)

~Meghan....I pray that your birthday today is full of joy, laughter and many blessings! I love you! ~Mum~

Summer scenes....

This seems to me to be one of the hottest, most humid summers in Pittsburgh in recent memory! LOL Lot's of fun going on...lots of work catching up in the house...cleaning out, rearranging and moving around of books....putting away last years, and getting ready for our new homeschool year to start. We are so excited to start! Here are summer scenes from our home this week..... Little ones in the garden....checking out the plants and picking these for supper....
Oh, these green beans were delicious last night, along with some stuffed zucchini and wild rice.

Lemon icecream pie with blueberry sauce...WOW! This recipe is a keeper from my friend, Rochelle....I made the crust gluten free by mixing in the food processor gf ricekrispies, melted butter, agave syrup and brown sugar. We'll be making this again!

Running thru a sprinkler on a hot day....I love this picture! My little Anna, cousin Ty and Ronnie had a blast earlier today!

My little Ty (just 2 years old) kept running over to me, patting my arm and telling me "oh, Aunt Suzie....water wet!)...then running back thru the water. I was cracking up in between taking pictures! LOL
Cousins having summer fun in the water! Hope you all are keeping cool! ~Sue~