Deep Creek Lake Vacation 2011

 The Spence Family on their annual lake vacation.  From Left to right:  'Great' Judy, Dave, Noah, Elizabeth, Ethan, Janelle, Sadie, Brad, Noelle, 'Grandma/Mom' and 'Grandpa/Dad'

 Sweet, sisterly moment (still working on some teeth for Noelle :)

 The 4 cousins (next year there will be another baby boy cousin!)

 fireworks one night

 water balloon fight one evening

 a flower picking walk one afternoon

 on the flower picking walk

 boating and tubing

Brad and Noelle

 Grandpa with Sadie and Noelle

 a little visitor for Sadie

 a trip up a chairlift to wonderful mountain views

 Grandma and Sadie

 The kids with their 'binoculars' made from toilet paper rolls

 cooling off in the lake

Cow Appreciation Day

Dress like a cow; get free food.  Sounds good to us! Friday, July 8th was Cow Appreciation Day.

Spence Happenings

Over the 4th of July Brad taught Noelle how to light a match and set off fireworks.  I guess now that she's 7, that's a normal thing.  So on Tuesday I taught Noelle the basics of sewing... a little blowing up...a little homemaking...it's all a balance.

We're making a patchwork 'quilt' (I use that term loosely) for her American Girl Doll (I use that term loosely too)

In other news, Sadie enjoyed one of her favorite pastimes, "Water on the Deck" today.  This includes various size containers, a few kitchen utensils and a hose.  During some point of this playtime the hose nozzle usually gets wedged between the frame and webbing of a patio chair so that the water can sprinkle down like a shower.  At one point Sadie came inside to "get something".  When she reappeared she was holding a bath scrubbie (that ball of webbing used to scrub yourself with body wash).  She said she was going to wash herself out on the deck.

I thought that was taking "water on the deck" a little too far so I asked her to put it back.  In the time it took her to return the said scrubbie I reevaluation my decision.  1)She's already wet 2) today is bath day and 3)there's an equivalent to a toddler shower spraying on our deck right now...maybe her idea isn't so bad.   So when she returned I sent her back to the bathroom to get the shampoo. 

Don't drive by our house too slow, you might see all 4 of us out there one day!

Sleep Talking

We've had a lot of 4th of July fun and it was evident by Noelle's sleep talking last night.  It's not too unusual for Noelle to sleep walk so when I heard her talking in a sad, slightly panicked voice last night, I got out of bed to check on her.  She was standing by her bed rubbing her torso.  She was saying "it's...um...it's stuck in me".  I asked her what was stuck in her to which she replied "the firework". 

After I reassured her that there were no fireworks stuck in her, she happily laid back down and went to sleep (fully asleep). 

At the Beach with the Sauder's

Some of our fun beach times included playing in the waves, digging holes in the sand, swimming at the pool, riding bikes, riding rides, playing the Wii, taking walks and just hanging out.

My mom made pillowcase tops for her 5 granddaughters. 

The Sauder Clan:  My parents, my 2 brothers with their families and us.

 An old lookout tower that we climbed

 Some Wii sword fighting

Sadie LOVED the water