A Great Reminder

This is what our family saw on our way back from the outlets a few days ago...

a beautiful rainbow! 

It reminded us that God always keeps His promises, specifically to Noah, not to ever send a flood that destroys all life again, and that He is good... all the time!  How thankful we are to have a God who keeps His Word.

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth... Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.  Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life."  

Gen. 9:13-16

 I love that He still sends us this reminder in His creation every now and then!  

9 Days Later

On Friday, July 13th, the munchkins and I headed out to see the 4th of July fireworks in Gaithersburg.  They had postponed the fireworks so they could continue the clean up after the storm that caused a lot of damage in the area a few days earlier.  

Jon was not able to come with us.  He went on a 'ride along' that night with one of his policeman friends from the gym.  They had that planned before we knew the fireworks were going to be rescheduled for the same night.  

 Right before we left

 Something was really cracking Sissy up... maybe it was the piece of grass she had picked and put on top of Buddy's head... 

We parked by Einstein Bagels and waited for the fireworks to begin.

 While we waited, we took a few pictures of ourselves.

Sissy took a picture of me and Buddy

 Then Buddy took a picture of me and Sissy

 My attempt at taking one of all three of us

 Around 9:10 PM, the fireworks began!

 We left before all the fireworks had gone off to beat the traffic.

 The munchkins loved watching the fireworks and were excited that they were able to see them, even if it was nine days after the 4th of July!  

At the Pool

The munchkins and I ventured out to the nearby pool a week or so ago and boy did they love it!

 They enjoyed going under water and splashing around.

The pool had a really big water slide.  At one point, I asked Sissy if she'd like to go down the slide.  After thinking about it for a little while, she said she'd try it.  I was actually a little surprised that she was willing to go down all by herself, but she did!

Here's Buddy giving her a few pointers, even though he never took a trip down himself.  I think he was telling her to lay down on her back as she slid down.

Sissy making her way up the few flights of stairs to the top of the slide

about half way there.

All the way at the top

 Buddy waited patiently at the bottom of the slide for her to come down.

There she is... goggles on, check, nose plugged, check!

 Buddy cheering her on

Making a splash

It was a success, complete with a smile!  I was so proud of her.  

(That slide looked pretty intimidating to me.) 

As soon as she was done, she hopped out of the pool, and went right back up the stairs to slide back down again.  She did that about 20 or so more times before we headed home. 

 Buddy came home completely exhausted!  This is where we found him, in this exact position, about an hour after we arrived home.
We had a great time at the pool! I'm sure we'll be heading back there a few more times before the summer ends.

The Fourth

Our 4th of July was very low key this year.  We stayed at home and blew up the kiddie pool for the munchkins.  It was a hot day and the best way to cool off at home was enjoying the pool in the backyard.  It was so hot that Jon didn't feel like grilling outside in the heat.  

 The munchkins were entertained for most of the afternoon.

 They even enjoyed some red, white, and blue popsicles for the special holiday.  

The local fireworks were canceled due to the recent storm.  The munchkins were disappointed that we didn't see any fireworks that night, but we enjoyed our time together that day. 

Dinner with Friends

 July 3rd, we met up with Diane, a friend of Jon's, in Baltimore.  She has known Jon for more than 25 years.  They met when they were both in school at Manchester College and have managed to stay in contact sporadicly over the years.  I met her at our wedding about 10 years ago, which was also the last time Jon actually saw her.
 She and her girls live in Ft. Wayne, IN but were on vacation out here on the east coast and wanted to meet us for dinner.  So, our family headed up to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore where they were staying for a few nights.

The National Aquarium, off to the left

Jon and the munchkins walking in Baltimore

The munchkins checking out the Harbor

Jon and the munchkins

We arrived a few minutes early so, we sat down near the National Aquarium entrance, the place we had agreed to meet, and waited for our friends.

I took a few shots of some flowers nearby to pass the time.

Jon and Diane

 Diane and her daughters Lily, Isabelle, and Cecilia

Sissy, Buddy, Lily, Cecilia, and Isabelle
Our kids had never met her girls before this evening, but they all played together so well.

 The kids having fun running around after dinner

 We also walked by a few memorials for the Marylanders who died in the September, 11th attacks in 2001.  The memorials were located in front of the World Trade Center Building in Baltimore.
This is some metal from the World Trade Center building in NYC.

The memorial read, "Together we remember the people of Maryland who perished on September 11, 2001."

Here are the memorials for the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.

 Three granite pillars to memorialize those who perished on Flight 93 on 9/11.

Three big pieces of limestone from the Pentagon to remember those who died at the Pentagon on 9/11/01.

Sober reminders of a sad day in American history.

On a more cheerful note, we all had a wonderful time meeting up with Diane and her girls in the Inner Harbor.  Hopefully, we'll all stay in better contact in the future.

Beating the Heat

The munchkins and I went to the Splash Park the first Tuesday in July.  The temperature was in the upper 90's with the heat index into the 100's, so the splash park seemed to be a good place to go.  The kids loved it and have been asking to go for a few weeks now.

 This slide is new this year and the munchkins loved sliding down it

several times.

 After three hours of fun, we decided it was time to head home.

We had a great time cooling off and beating the heat at the splash park.