Family Visit and a Marathon

 The first weekend in October we had our first visitors since we moved to Maryland. Andy's sister Heather and her kids came to see us from North Carolina. I'm sad that this is the only picture on my phone that turned out well. My boys loved having their older cousins around to play with and we all loved meeting sweet baby Averie for the first time too. We had a great time catching up and playing games with them. Hopefully we'll get to see more of our East Coast family now. This is a picture of "the boys" outside South Mountain Creamery. They all happened to be wearing red shirts that day. We didn't even plan it.

That same weekend my dad finished his first marathon since receiving a liver transplant last March. He finished in just over 5 hours and looked and felt pretty good. It was a rainy, cold day but he survived the race and showed us all that he's still got it. Way to go Dad!

Apple Picking

 A few weeks ago I went out to Smithsburg, MD with my parents to go apple picking with the boys. The weather was great while we were picking apples and it was in this gorgeous spot out in the country. I only wish Andy could have been with us, but I'd definitely like to do it again next year.

 The Jonagold trees were smaller and easier for the boys to pick apples from. Tyler asked me if it was a good apple before each one he picked.

 Bryce on the other hand refused to pick any of the apples I pointed out to him and insisted on finding his own instead. He even wanted to pick up the rotten ones off the ground to put in our bag. That's my independent 2 year old!

 We filled this whole bag with a combination of Golden Delicious, Jonagolds and Jonathon apples and it only cost $8 for the whole bag!

Guess we'll be eating a lot of applesauce, apple crisp and apple pie in the next few weeks.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

 It has been raining non-stop for days here in Maryland. We have gotten so much rain already this month that the ground is really waterlogged and its causing flooding in a lot of places. There's a flood warning for our county today in fact. The boys have had to stay inside since Monday, but decided they'd brave the pouring rain today to play outside anyway.

 This is fuzzy cause I took it through the screen, but this is Bryce filling up the water can with the water from the drain spout.

 And then dumping that water into the already overflowing water table. What you also can't see in this picture is that it is POURING rain all around Bryce. What can I say - he loves water and doesn't mind getting wet. I just love the irony in these pictures. Lets hope it dries out soon!

Labor Day Camping

 I really wanted to go camping since the weather has cooled and we haven't been yet this summer. I knew all the campsites were probably booked for Labor Day weekend though. So we decided since our yard is big enough and private enough we'd just camp in the backyard!

 We also bought a cheap fire pit at Wal-mart and invited some friends and my parents over for a bonfire. It was a pretty fun night. We did foil dinners on the charcoal grill and s'mores in the fire. I even tried a new campfire treat - bananas with chocolate pieces wrapped in tin foil and heated up in the fire.

The boys were really excited about playing and sleeping in the tent. When it finally came down to sleeping in the tent though, Bryce threw a big fit and decided he was done with camping. Bryce and I slept inside while Andy and Tyler stayed out in the tent. Good thing we weren't far away at some campsite!

Tyler's First Day of Preschool

 Tyler started the Pre-K program at Whittier Elementary school last Thursday. He has been so excited all summer to start preschool. He goes 5 days a week from 1:00-3:25. It'll be different having him gone every afternoon but I think it will prepare him well for Kindergarten next year.

 He liked the first 2 days but got a little sad to go yesterday. His eyes started filling up with tears as they lined up to go into class. I almost started to cry too, feeling bad for him that he didn't want to go. I know if we stay positive about it, he'll adjust. The teacher told me today he was fine once he was in class.

I think Bryce has missed Tyler a little bit too. Although he usually just naps the whole times Tyler's at school. He tells me "Tidee go to school. I miss him."

Summer Catch Up

 Its been too long since I've done a blog post. I have new resolve to be better. Here's a mega post on some things we've been up to this summer so far.

 

The middle of July we celebrated Andy's 30th birthday! We had a nice dinner at home and our family favorite - chocolate peanut butter cake for dessert. 

 Later on that week, for Andy's birthday we went to a Frederick Keys game - they're the Farm team for the Baltimore Orioles. The game was kind of boring, but it was the boys first game and we had really close seats.

 

Luckily they had a playground and kids area for when the boys got bored. And after the game they have a really good fireworks show and then they let all the kids run the bases. The boys loved this part. Its hard to see but this is Andy with Tyler and Bryce and my nephew Jimmy on the field after running the bases.

 We've also spent some time at the neighborhood pool. I'm sad it closes this weekend. I wish we had taken advantage of it more. The boys are becoming really good swimmers. Even Bryce will doggy paddle around by himself with just a floaty on. They both stick their head in the water and jump in all by themselves! They love the water.

 One Monday night we were invited by a family in our ward to their family farm about 30 minutes south of here. Its a beautiful spot at the base of Sugar Loaf Mountain (the mountain is behind us in this picture). We had a BBQ, played games, and went for a tractor ride.

 Of course we always have to visit South Mountain Creamery and feed the baby cows. Bryce wasn't at all afraid of the cows and just picked up this cows bottle and started feeding it all by himself!

 Tyler and Bryce on a broken down tractor at South Mountain Creamery. The best part of feeding the baby cows is the really good ice-cream we get afterwards. Almost compares to Four Seas....

 A few weeks ago we also went up to Antietam Battlefield with my parents. We live right in the middle of a lot of Civil War history and I've learned a lot from visiting some of these places. This bridge is the scene of one of the most intense battles of the Battle at Antietam. The big tree behind us is called the Witness tree because it has been there since the time of the battle.

Tyler and Bryce really liked pretending to shoot off these old Civil War Cannons.
I think thats all for this post but I'll add more later.

Cape Cod Trip

 The middle of June we got a nice break from the stress of moving and starting a business to spend a week up in my favorite vacation destination: Cape Cod. My cousin, Merissa was married on June 18th to Ryan Walsh, one of our summer friends from the time we were 12 years old. I was so happy for the two of them and they had the perfect Cape Cod wedding. I'm so glad we got to go. Pictured above was a photo op of the Kippen grandchildren at Long Beach one night.

 The is one of the views from the church they were married in in West Hyannisport. It was a gorgeous day for it.

 My cousin, Lauren, the maid of honor carrying my cousin's little girl, Brooke. She's Bryce's age and an adorable flower girl.

 This was the best picture we had of the new happy couple with my cousin's in-laws family.

 

Their reception was at the Hyannisport golf club. A very nice and exclusive golf club that features such players at the Kennedy's and celebrities. Ryan, my cousin's new husband works there so they got an "in" to have their reception there. This was the view from the dance floor.They served really yummy appetizers, filet minion for dinner and had a chocolate bar for dessert. I had a blast dancing after dinner with all my cousins and aunts. 

 The next few days were really nice beach days. We had some good relaxation time while the boys played in the sand. The water was a little cold for swimming but we got in one day.

 These next few pictures were taken on Squaw Island my favorite place to go to the beach. Its an island just off of a little beach at the end of the street in our neighborhood. You have to wade over to the island at low tide but on the other side you have a perfectly private beautiful beach all to yourself.

 Andy got into a fight with a crab. The crab lost.

 The sand bar at low tide.

 Bryce taking a snooze.

 Andy and my brother-in-law Brandon made these sandcastles before the tide started to come in.

This last picture I found on my camera after Tyler had been playing with it. Why do I see so much of his father in him?