A Birthday Surprise for Maddie!

Okay...so..on Monday, of our camping trip, I secretly packed up overnight stuff and we had the kids get in the car and we headed out. We blindfolded Maddie so that she couldn't tell where we were going. We headed to North Conway where we proceeded to check in at the Adventure Suites hotel. What a place! There are over 18 rooms, all with their own themes. Check it out!: http://www.adventuresuites.com We stayed in Show Time. We had a full sized movie screen right in the room with surround sound and our own movie popcorn maker. We had choices of over 1,500 movies to play in our room. Maddie was sooooo excited! She chose:
1. The Secret Garden (we had never seen the movie)
2. Alvin and the Chipmunks--The Squeakwel
3. The Tooth Fairy
There were leather couches and chairs that all made into beds where we watched the movies. We added the birthday package, so there were balloons and a nice gift waiting for Maddie when we checked into our room. There was even a comfy bathrobe for each of us! Everyone was sooooo excited! So we checked in and watched The Secret Garden and enjoyed some popcorn! Then we grilled our own supper, and enjoyed a birthday cake from the hotel, too. After supper we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. Elisha and Grace watched part of it from the heart shaped jacuzzi tub! Oh my! Then it was tucked into bed!



















In the morning we headed to the 50's diner for our breakfast. It was make your own waffles, and other yummy items. We brought our breakfast back to our room and watched The Tooth Fairy. That was super funny. Before we check out we toured two other rooms. The Cave and The Tree House.




































Then we spent the day in North Conway touring around the shops and doing some shopping. That was great. We enjoyed our dessert first at Ben and Jerry's icecream, and then had our lunch on the way back to the campground! What a wonderful time we all had celebrating Maddie's birthday! We love you Maddie!

Happy 15th Birthday Maddie Dear!

Well...we just can't believe Maddie is 15! We had so much fun celebrating her birthday this year. We decided to reserve a much coveted camping spot at the Freedom Acres Campground run by the Meserve family. Have you ever heard of it? No?? Well...that might be because there is only one campsite, and we were lucky enough to claim it!

We found the owners to be quite hospitable, and the wildlife to be quite sly in their stealing of our goods! We signed up for the birthday package there and were delighted with the indoor accomodations. Take a peek!

We were able to prepare and eat all of our meals indoors with the owners, and I think they were quite delighted as they don't cook much! For her birthday breakfast she ordered big chocolate chip pancakes with sausage. She chose to eat her lunch at loon lake right down the road from our campsite. She chose Subway subs for her lunch, and Bobby Sue's homemade icecream for her dessert. For her birthday dinner she chose tortellini soup with garlic bread and great grammy's fudge cake recipe for dessert! Yum! Here are some more shots from the lake.












Needless to say, we had the best time! What a wonderful birthday celebration!




Bobby Sue's homemade icecream is a family favorite! No birthday camping celebration would be complete with out a jacuzzi bath, followed by watching Anne of Green Gables on TV! Wow!

Of course no celebration would be complete without a full fledged case of the sillies! These are some water frisbees that Grammy Linda got to use at the lake and well...they turned into quite the fashion show!

Glenn and the kids took the boat and went on a couple of fishing trips which were great fun. To date there is no winner of the 2010 2nd annual Winslow fishing derby.

Nothin' like some good ole harmonica playin' by the
"camp fire" We say "camp fire" because the fire code at this

campground was a bit strict, so we had to build our own campfire ring. Glenn and Grampa got creative and went to the dump and procured this beauty pictured below for free! It worked great! It's there at our site awaiting our next trip!

This wasJunior and Elisha's first time camping with us. They LOVED the freedom acres campground so much, that they asked us to book it for their birthday weekend in August! Great idea guys!

Our Dear Friend Starsha Visits Again!

We were blessed with another visit from our friend Starsha. This time she stayed for 5 days! It was precious. I was able to spend some quality one-on-one time with her and show her some basics about sewing and make a skirt with her. She even picked out the fabric! The first time she visited with us she told me that she didn't own a skirt and she had to borrow one from the girls for church. She had the best time making her own skirt, and matching srunchie! We were even able to find her a white T-shirt to finish off the outfit! She was sooooo excited!

We had hoped that Starsha and her two little brothers would be able to spend some extended time with our family, but this was not to be. She and her two brothers are now with their biological father. We have committed to pray for Starsha and her brothers? We gave her a goodie bag and in it was a Bible and a devotion book for girls. Will you join us in praying for Starsha and her brothers. We are clinging to the promise in God's word found in Isaiah:

Isaiah 55:11

"It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."

Praising God for the beginnings of a bountiful Harvest!

"Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce." Jeremiah 29:5

And this is exactly what we have done since moving into our home in Barnstead. The tornado of 2008 that took down over 300 trees in our back and side yard has helped considerably with this. Beauty from the destruction of the tornado, letting the sun shine in even more, and helping with many things to grow.

We love to have a garden, and we love this time of year. We just finished a wonderful harvest of strawberries, and are now enjoying a bounty of raspberries, too. We also have planted in our main garden: (many of these started in my wonderful cold frame built by my honey---Thank you Glenn!)

*sunflowers

*corn

*wax beans

*green and purple beans

*peas

*carrots

*beets

*lettuce

*spinach

*pumpkins (even some seeds from a prize winning giant pumpkin!)

*zucchini

*summer squash

*tomatoes

*potatoes

*gourds

*canteloupe

*watermelon

*onions

*garlic

*broccoli

*cauliflower

*cabbage

*acorn squash

I think that's it. Here is a photo of our garden right now, and also one of the 9 cups of raspberries the kids and I picked on Friday. (I just learned that my friend just paid 5.49 a lb for commercial pick your own raspberries! Wow...this is quite a savings!

Trampoline Camp Out

Last night Madelyn said..."Mom, I know you are going to say no, but can we sleep out under the stars on the trampoline, the girls and I?", and I said..."Yes, that would be fine!"...This was met with great cheers from the girls! So...they got their "camping" gear and headed out to bed down on the trampoline! It was chilly, it was buggy, but they lasted out there all night! We could hardly believe it! Stanley the cat even joined the fun!

A Visit From a New Friend!

Last weekend we had a visit from a new friend, who came here a stranger to some, and left a sister to all! We love you Starsha!

Our Wednesday Night Dinner with Grampy and Grammie comes to Barnstead!

Yesterday Glenn's Aunt Susan called me and said, "How about if we come to you today instead of you coming to us?"..."Wow...that's great!", I said! So they came to us! We served 10 for dinner last night and had a wonderful time! Can't you tell??

"Eggsciting" Things are Happening on the Winslow Farm!

On Friday, June 18th, we collected 16 fertile eggs from our dear friends the Arsenault's. They have a VERY active rooster! We placed them in the incubator that Glenn and Brittany made in 2000 as a homeschool project! We used it one time in 2004, and haven't used it since then ourselves. We've loaned it out to other families, though. Our eggs are due to hatch 21 days later on July 9th! They need a great deal of attention. They need to be turned three times a day. The incubator needs to maintain a consistent temperature of 100.5 degrees. This is done by a thermostat and this controls two light bulbs and how often they come on and off. There needs to be a water supply in the bottom for moisture. This is important to the developing chicks. On day 17, there will be no more need to turn the eggs and we will need to leave the incubator closed and make sure there is plenty of moisture in there to last for the remaining 4 days. This most closely simulates the hen nesting on the eggs. In the photos above, you may see some initials on some of the eggs. Maddie, Grace, and Elisha have all "claimed" an egg to be their chick! We also have stars on each egg to show what side they were last turned on.

One week ago, we candled the eggs. This means to take a flashlight in a dark area and put it right up to the egg shell. You can see the developing chick inside the egg. It was really cool. We believe all 16 eggs are fertile and should produce chicks. Today is day 13 and this is what the chicks look like in the egg on day 15 and day 20. It's quite amazing and a true testimony to God's creation!

We promise to keep you posted as things progress!