End of Summer Snapshots

End of August, there was a baptism.

Blue skies in September.

A family portrait against the windmill on top of the mountain.

Harvest bounty. Not from my garden, which makes it easier. :) And a little boy who always wants to be involved.

A Sunday evening with “Grandpa Bob” and “Grandma Ruth,” our adopted grandparents from church. Both Ivan and Bob are train guys, so the picture fits.

Unspeakable joy.

A castle captured.

And a young astronaut. This photo happened at the JMag display in Knoxville, Tennessee, where we traveled to take in the Shed Expo for Ivan’s business.

On the way home, I was looking for fun places to stop and came across a photo of this old grist mill. “I remember this picture from when I was a child!” I said. A question to the family chat, and Mom said we used to have it on our living room wall. Ah yes. Now I remember. The wallpaper inherited from my grandparents, which we later replaced.

It was very exciting for me to stop at this gristmill, in Babcock State Park, only three hours from our home.

The whole park was beautiful. We love climbing around on rocks.

At home, dress up is always a favorite. Maybe half a year ago, I found an old cedar chest painted an odd shade of purple, repainted it white, and stocked it with thrift store treasures for dress up. The children and their friends have a lot of fun with it.

And it fills a happy little spot in my heart that has always loved to dress up. I even wrote a blog post many moons ago entitled “The History and Art of Dress Up in My Family.” Oh yes, I am noticing if you click through to that blog post, you will see that old grist mill wallpaper on the very first photo.

Serendipitious.

A trip to Hovatter’s is also a wonderful thing. At Hovatter’s, you’re allowed to feed the animals food purchased at the zoo. Not the lions and tigers and hyenas, of course. But the monkeys and fallow deer and giraffes and watusi.