Sunday Afternoon Photo Shoot

A Trip to the Lake

We don't have Jared on Monday nights this summer, so we have FHM (family home morning) on Fridays now. A quick hike (under 1.5 miles) through the woods takes us to what you see above. We went this morning for our family time and, well, it was fun times (that first picture is a turtle we saw on the way there).

A House, a Game and a Race

Since you've all been waiting for pictures of the house, I'll post some of those first and work my way back.

The outside is not showy at all. The only flowers planted are daylillies, and we were told they started blooming just in time for us to move in. This is the view from the porch into the side/back woods. We're in the middle of Gunpowder State Park with LOTS of access to trails.

Beyond this side of the porch you see part of the driveway. About two-thirds of it is hidden from here.

Sometimes the sheep will come to this field, right by the house.

As far as the house goes, if you want anymore than Isaac on the stairs, you'll just have to wait until it's not like this:

Although I will show you the boys' bathroom because I have to document that Jared fell asleep there while waiting for Isaac to finish going potty the day after we moved in. Needless to say, it was an exhausting weekend! Don't even ask me about the cleaning of the old apartment BY MYSELF the next day and a half....

The boys love the front walk. Can you tell?

It's a ramp. This place is perfect for retiring. Everything was designed with a wheelchair in mind.

Yes!! Space!!

After our old keys were turned in, I felt a huge relief. We went out and explored a little. Noah says, "Hello, beep" to the sheep in the field.

Isaac likes to see the rabbits that come around the yard whenever they choose. We have no table available except the one outside, so we're forced to enjoy our meals on the porch.

Every morning has been beautiful. Last night it rained, so it looked kind of like this:

Unfortunately, the camera is unable to capture just how splendid it is. Sorry, you'll just have to visit!

Okay! So, before that, we got to go to an Orioles game with the Stake for Family Night at Camden Yards.

Noah's sporting one of the freebies we got for just coming in.

Isaac insisted on eating his hot dog with no help at all. Jared was not happy at what that did to his pants, not to mention Isaac's.

We had a good time, but Noah had to be walked a lot. Noah's our other son, not our dog, but I thought it best to include only happy pictures, so here's Isaac:

All of a sudden, he's very serious about baseball.

Next: the Family Fun 5K!

It was a LOT of work in preparation for it, but the day of the race was a lot of fun. I think they're going to do it next year. If so, I'll be running in it.

I stole these pictures from Juliana's blog. This girl is amazing. She did a ton. I should have a post dedicated to the coolness of Juliana.

As she put it, "we used high-tech stop watches and megaphones."

The finish line was the most fun! Jared won our family some cool stuff for getting 3rd place in the "stroller division." We still haven't used those Inner Harbor paddle boat passes....

After recovering from waking up before dawn, running all day (hey, I had to run the race right before the race to measure it when we discovered someone had removed our markers), we went out to eat at Stella's downtown.

I HIGHLY recommend this place! We only went there because we both had a gift certificate from work for our birthdays, but it was GOOD. Service, ambiance, price, and taste. All excellent.