Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Camping Fun at Pawtuckaway State Park---2011



What a wonderful time we had this past week camping. We were able to camp for 8 days. Although we had a few days of loads of rain from tropical storm Lee, everyone had a blast! Glenn and I were blessed to celebrate our 23rd anniversary during our trip, too!

Pawtuckaway is Glenn's favorite camping place. It's for good reason. It's a splendor of the beauty of God's creation. Our site was amazing. It was right on the water, and we had our own private beach, too!

Take a peek and see for yourself!



Lots of fun boating and fishing, too!

Look at this beautiful site....right on the water!



Nicole had a lot of firsts this trip....first time camping for one week, first time swimming over her head in a lake and many more we'll share later!


One of Grace's favorite parts of the trip was taking apart our under the cabinet cd player that wouldn't work anymore, and fixing it! She was sooo proud of  herself!

We enjoyed many a meal together! We tried tons of new recipes, too...Like:  tacos in a bag, one pot bubble and squeak, apple crisp in the dutch oven, mountain man breakfast, banana boats, and gingerbread oranges. That was so much fun!


The kids loved climbing on the big rocks across from our site.





We were joined mid week by our favorite camping buddies...the Lowman family. They camped right next door to us!







Nicole and Kiara had a blast in the water together!


Okay....it's time for bed now....so I'll add some more later! Maybe tomorrow!
Well...I know it's been more than a week...but here are the next installment of photos!

One evening Glenn took all the kids out in two trips for some night fishing. They caught no fish, but had a wonderful time and came back with many stories to tell!



Nothin' like camping for some family bonding time!


On the day of their checkout, the Lowmans came and had lunch at our site and enjoyed one last trip on the water!








The Lowmans were very generous with their kayaks and allowed us to try them out! Now...on our wish list are kayaks for the family!


Early one morning, I took the boys in our pajamas out for a boat ride to an island. It was wonderful!



On our anniversary, we went out to a great Mexican restaurant called Gordos. Everyone had a great time!





We also attended an international blacksmith competition! That was really cool!

One of our favorite things to cook in the Dutch oven are biscuits! We made them for our pot luck brunch buffet!


One of the boys favorite pot luck dishes I made was tacos in a bag. You take an individual sized bag of Doritos and crush them and then add to the bag all of our favorite taco stuff and eat them right out of the bag! No dishes to clean up, and very, very yummy!



We totally loved that we could have our boat right at our site and head out for some fishing fun at any time!
Presenting Elisha...the winner of the 2011 Winslow Family fishing derby with this 1.5lb 15 inch long bass. She caught it in her pajamas. She just decided to cast out her line one night before bed and there you have it!












Everyone was excited to wear their new bathing suits!










As I'm sure you can tell...we had a great time, and can't wait until the beginning of next month so we can book it again for next year! We LOVED it!

 

Saturday, September 03, 2011

2011 Barnstead Old Home Day Fun!

This has been the year of the 5K for our family. Back by popular demand! Brittany, Madelyn, Grace and I all ran a few 4 years ago.

Our old home day fun began Saturday morning with the 5K. Madelyn, Grace, Elisha, Junior, Jon, and I all ran it! Everyone did a great job! Elisha, Junior, and Jon had just started to train with us the week before!

Jon was first from our family to cross the finish line with an awesome time of 27 minutes! Go Jonnie Boy!
Next came Grace. Look at her go! Her time was great at 30 minutes!
Next to come was Elisha who did wonderful at 33 minutes!
Following close behind Elisha came Madelyn. Great job Madelyn...her best time ever at 34 minutes!
Hooray Junior! Great job for your first 5K at 35 minutes!
Then came me! What a great feeling to come in at 46 minutes! That's a full 11 minutes faster than 4 years ago, and my all time personal best!
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Great job everyone!
This photo was in our local paper!

Twice the Fun!



"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. " Psalm 127:3-5
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Happy 12th birthday Junior and Elisha! We love you both soooooo much and can't imagine our family without you! It's as though you've always been here! Having a set of twins truly is twice the blessing and twice the fun! Take a peek at their 12th birthday celebration! The table has been set for the birthday girl and boy!




On the menu for breakfast:  Peanutbutter and chocolate chip pancakes with our own maple syrup and orange juice! Yum!





Enjoy the yummy breakfast everyone!


Elisha was soooo excited about her twin bitty baby dolls and accessories!



Junior picked nachos for lunch and he loved helping to make them!








No birthday celebration would be complete without a trip to the Bailey's Bubble in Wolfeboro for icecream! We missed you Aunt Pat! We were blessed, though, to be joined by Grammy and Bampy. David and Clara Doane. That was so nice!



What a perfect way to end our day!

Of course...the moment everyone was waiting for.....the homemade icecream cake! Yum!



Thursday, August 25, 2011

God is good!! All the time!!

"And our God will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19 ).

Sometimes it is really hard to wait on the Lord. Our family has had instance to put this into practice in the last many months. Since we added Nicole to our family, our trusty Honda mini van hasn't fit us all legally. This has been difficult, but with God's help, we have managed.

We were blessed to finally receive our tax return containing all of our adoption tax credits in God's perfect timing. Also in God's perfect timing was the opportunity to buy the perfect van for our family. Thank you Lord! We give You all of the honor and glory for this wonderful provision. It truly is just as you promised!

 Now....take a peek at another of God's provisions for our family that has kept us very busy in the kitchen! Thank you God! What do you get when you have 77 ears of organic sweet corn?? 8 quarts of sweet corn and 3 quarts of creamed corn for the freezer! Such a blessing!

We were so blessed to have been able to be part of a ministry team last night that went to the rented organic farm of a single woman named Kate, and help her by picking her 1.5 acres of corn so that it would be ready to sell at her regular markets who take it. Our wages? Storing up our treasures in heaven 1st and foremost, but certainly another benefit was some corn of our own to take home. She also blessed us with some of her other veggies, too! Thank you Kate!

Our own garden has been giving us a tremendous amount of corn, and tomatoes, and peppers, squashes, too! This truly is a reminder to us of the Bible verse which says...whatsoever a man shall sow, that shall he also reap! Galatians 6:7. Well...many hands make light work, too, and it was such a blessing to me as a mama to work along side my kiddos in this project this morning!









Remember this....Always look toward the "son"!!