Our crazy, sad morning...

Madison was all excited this morning b/c it was her assembly today. She was going to be called up in front of the school b/c she has not been tardy this month. So she told Jason we can't be late today! Everything runs smooth, I kiss them all goodbye, and 30 sec. later there is knock on the door.

Elise is standing there w/ J saying she has a tick under her armpit! Jason jumps in his truck and rushes Madison to school while I'm searching on the computer the proper way to remove a tick (YES I am from the city & NO I have never seen one, & YES I was panicking b/c we had no clue how long it had been there).

I was trying to get it to release w/ my tweezers when J came home & took over, it finally released and was still alive. Elise said she felt it last night and tried to pull it off but then fell asleep (& failed to mention it to us). So we froze the sucker in case she gets an infection. The school nurse looked at it and said it was a common deer tick and kids get them all the time, she will be fine.

The sad part of the story - Madison was late this morning...
although J did go back to the school to explain why she was late (they didn't seem to care, Duh ticks are not a disaster here, only to crazy city slickers). SO we will see how she is once school lets out, we probably will have to make this one up to her :)

Jason starts school today (teaching)

The town is looking populated again... Walmart is insane, finding a seat at church impossible - all of John Brown Univ. is back. Today is the first day of classes. Jason is teaching Old Test. Survey, Discipleship & Evangelism, and Christian Ed. of Adolescence. He teaches D&E on Tues & Thurs., OT- M, W, Fri. and the CE class is a week long intensive in Oct.

Jason has moved...

his office! The Bible faculty has grown so large that they no longer can fit on one floor. The school decided to break up the profs. by what they teach (undergrad. & graduate). J was moved to the graduate section, which he didn't mind b/c he got a slightly larger office :). I helped him decorate it yesterday (it was just too sterile looking).

It's Awfully Quiet Around Here!

That's because my girls are gone... Elise started Kindergarten today & Madison 2nd grade. Jason has an inservice for the next 2 days & he starts teaching next week. I must say it's really nice (well this is coming from this weekend, J left town to speak at a conference and the girls were cranky & whinny the whole time he was gone).


Miss Madison wanted to wear a dress - she picked out her ensemble today...


Elise was so excited to go she had her backpack on for at least 1/2 hour this morning, and asking is it time to go yet!

Meeting the teachers...

Tonight was Siloam's meet the teachers night. Elise has Mrs. LaRue for Kindergarten. Madison is back at Allen Elem. for 2nd grade and she has Mrs. Tate.

2 Girls Deli - That's the name they came up with

It was lunch time and the girls ran and got us, telling us we had to enter the kitchen from the living room (the kitchen was closed). So we walk up to the counter and they had it set up like a deli - Madison wrote down everything we had in the kitchen on a menu and taped it to the lights. The other sign was taped to the ceiling and it said "Everything is free". So we placed our orders and they made us lunch.





After we ate Jason asked Madison how much it was, she put her hands on her hips and said "Daddy you don't ever have to pay", smiled and walked off. Elise was sitting there and chimed in..."Daddy Madison is just kidding, it's $3.00!"
Can you tell which one is business savy!

and we are home...

We got home around 5pm last night! Madison fell asleep about 10 min. before we got home (she was tracking our travels on the map). Of course it was raining the whole trip home on Sat. and still has not stopped (& yes, someone said that it is unusual for it to rain in August... I'm telling you it's b/c we are here!).

Welcome to Lanker Manor, please enter to the Right!

We spent a few days over with Greg & Susan & got to see their new manor. The place is gigantic and sometimes I forgot what floor I was on. I did circles trying to find Susan around the house as J just watched and laughed. Anyway, we got alot of painting, wallpaper tearing, & sewing done and it's really looking nice! This is what we were up to the last 3 days - and them the last 10!

Before - (it had wallpaper on it too)

After


The living room - some coats of paint and new curtains...

Make a basket & then run behind the line & shoot again...

that's what I couldn't get - enough said...

Play Time over the Lanker's (in Kansas)

A Book Title close to my heart....

The Answer to this book is "NO"...
I could not take it anymore! Everyone was filthy, the camper was filthy, my back was killing me from sleeping in there and then driving all day (there was nowhere to stop and get out on this way home). J said let's get a hotel room tonight, at 9pm we rolled into Breckenridge, Colorado (about 5 min. from Vail), and stayed in a nice soft bed. We all swam and soaked in the hot tub. Then left at 10 am for Kansas (another 8 hr. drive). We arrived at Greg & Susan's at midnight and have been here ever since.

Another Night & then a long long long drive...

Another fire in the forest... we had a deer come right along side of our "site". but then it started to rain so we moved inside (and played cards). On the way out of the canyon there were buffalo right on the side of the road, so we pulled over to take pics.

Grand Canyon, the next day...

I'm losing track of what day we came & went... But we stayed the whole day at the canyon, hiked along the edge and through trails in the forest. Jason was in heaven, I had blisters and a split toe so I was very ready to go. We decided since it was getting dark to spend another night in the forest and then drive 11 hours to Colorado.

The Grand Canyon

We drove a long time to go to the North Rim of the Canyon. I guess only 10% of people go over to that side since it's a bit out of the way, and it's closed for winter. We were expecting it to be a desert & hot, but it was a forest with lower temps. (high - 80, & low 50).
We got there around 7pm and decided to drive into the park (they told us that the rv camping was full), we had dinner overlooking the canyon and then left the park to find a place in the forest to camp (the rule was 1/4 mile off the main road). So that was interesting...