Pease International Air Show----Pre-Show----You're Invited!

Wow...we got that invitation and were sooooo excited! 100 children either in foster care or adopted from foster care and their families received an invitation to the pre-show on Friday. The kids favorite part---The Blue Angels! Better yet...our tent was right in front of where the Blue Angels were parked and at the end of the air show, the children enjoyed a private meet and greet time with the pilots! Such a blessing! Take a peek!

Okay...so you can see how close we were to the blue angels! It was amazing! The children loved it! We went with dear friends of ours....the Lowman's and they also met Mr. Lowman's sister there, too. This was such a gift from the Lord!

Here is the whole gang!

This is one of my favorite shots in the air of some of the stunt planes!

Just the girls!

Fueling up for the Blue Angels!

One of the kids other favorites..."Fat Albert"...the largest Blue Angle plane.

We stood amazed at the incredible formations that The Blue Angels pilots flew in!

Going up..........................................

Time to meet and greet the pilots! Wow!

The girls were super excited to meet Amy--one of the girl pilots!

Here is the whole gang of children at the meet and greet!

Thank you sooooo much! We had a great time!

Welcome Mr. Purple Finch!

Yesterday morning we had the coolest thing happen. Grace came running into the kitchen and said...."Mom....our state bird is here...Mom....it's our state bird!!!"....well...don't you know that did my homeschooling Mom's heart good to know that my kids even know our state bird....(smile...smile).....anyway...I gave her my camera and she did a photo shoot of Mr. Purple Finch. Much to the children's delight...he stayed at the feeder for quite some time. I know the glare on the window doesn't do his beautiful purple color justice...but he really was majestic and beautiful! What a wonderful way to start our day!

Thank you for starting your day with us Mr. Finch!

Question for You!????????????????????????

What do:

1. Whoopie Goldberg
2. Abraham
3. Walrus
4. Cat Dog Pig
5. Betty Grable
6. Sam Osgood
7. Mr. Berger
8. Heather Meserve
9. Johnnie B. Coop....and
10. Lee Cowan

Have in common???

Hmmm???

Such an assortment of people and things......

Hmmm???

Give up??

These are all of the names used in our fun and exciting game of "All in the Family" This is a game where you pick a name...made up or real...and you put it on a piece of paper. All of the papers go in a bowl and the "reader"...(who was me)...reads them all twice.  The reader is does not write down a name.  Next people have to try and guess if someone is a particular name they heard. The key is to remember the names that were read. If you guess a person correctly, they become a part of your "family" and you get to guess again, if you guess incorrectly, that person gets to guess and so it goes on. It really is a very fun game to play, and doesn't require anything other than imagination and good listening and remembering skills. The last one to be guessed is the winner.

So it turns out:

1. Whoopie Goldberg----was Glenn
2. Abraham----was Grampa Dave
3. Walrus----was Elisha
4. Cat Dog Pig----was Miriam
5. Betty Grable----was Matt
6. Sam Osgood---was Jonathan
7. Mr. Berger----was Junior
8. Heather Meserve-----was Madelyn
9. Johnnie B. Coop....was Grammie
10. Lee Cowan----was Grace 

And the winner was.....Matthew as Betty Grable! Go figure!

The most over guessed one...was Grammie....people just liked Johnnie B. Coop, I guess!

Anyway....a fun time was had by all!

Happy 11th Birthday Junior and Elisha!!---At Freedom Acres Campground---Part Two---Sunday and Monday

Sunday was Junior and Elisha's birthday. We had a wonderful day of celebrating!
On the menu:
Breakfast: Giant chocolate chip pancakes for the birthday kiddos, orange juice, turkey bacon and sausage. (Junior and Elisha's choice)
Lunch: Nachos with apple juice and homemade icecream at Bobby Sue's--Yum! (Junior's choice)
Supper: Chicken fettucine alfredo with broccoli, (Weight watcher approved), garlic sandwich thins, and S'mores around the campfire for dessert. (Elisha's choice)
The day started with some hot chocolate in the camper as it was raining. Next the gourmet breakfast and off to church. Next was lunch and then presents. The kids had so much fun opening their gifts from everyone. Madelyn made them a touching photo book called: The Story of our Family. It was great! She read it to them.

Junior was excited about his bear hat, his new school supplies, and his play dough factory! Glenn helped the boys figure that out. Elisha was super excited about her school supplies, and also her doll house furniture. She and the girls set up some of it and enjoyed playing with it.

After lunch we went to our favorite icecream place...Bobby Sue's. They make the best homemade icecream around!

The day ended perfectly with our yummy dinner and then our final farewell campfire, with harmonica playing and singing, and our S'mores for dessert!

We packed up the next morning, cleaned up for the owners of the campground, and bid a sad farewell for now to Freedom Acres Campground, and our site by the river! We'd love to go back one last time during the fall foliage season and see if we can reserve the one site the campground has to offer!









The best part about the campground?? The owners. We just love them so much!


Aren't they soooo cute??

Double the Fun At Freedom Acres Campgound!!--Part One--Thursday--Friday and Saturday

Well.....we were so grateful to be able to book our riverside site again at the
Freedom Acres Campground. This time we were there to celebrate Junior and Elisha's 11th birthday. This time we weren't the only ones enjoying the fun and hospitality there. We shared the resort with another family. We call them the "other Meserves". They were blessed enough to be able to book the deluxe bed and breakfast room. This room is made available to smaller families, and they are a family of 4. A wonderful time of fun was had by all! Since pictures are worth 1,000 words, enjoy these thousands and thousands of words!

Happy Birthday Miriam!


No trip to Freedom Acres would be complete without a visit to "The Boutique". This was super exciting and many treasures were found there!

We also enjoyed Loon Pond which is very close to the "campground".True to it's name we were able to enjoy a pair of loons while we were there. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful time was had by all! We also made a quick stop at the Freedom Village School playground before dinner! Such fun!After supper we enjoyed our nightly bonfire with S'mores! Yum!

We had a wonderful time celebrating many birthdays at Chuck E. Cheese in South Portland! including a little boy named Charles that we had never met! Happy Birthday Charles! It was awesome! Junior and Elisha had never been there. Junior was a bit freaked out by Chuck...(as you can see in the above photo)---but he got over it quickly! We followed that time with a wonderful walk around the Maine Mall where we tried many fun things in Brookstone! Pictured are the mall "sitters"--and the rest of us had fun walking around waiting for dinner time.
Here are the "mall sitters"--Don't they look happy?



Dinner was a wonderful buffet at the Old Country Buffet right at the Maine Mall. We had a great dinner there! Thanks for a lovely day Grampa and Grammie! We love you!