The Coleman's Visit

Judi gets a new do

We find the mermaid clothed.

Isaac is without his 2 front teeth.

Our Fashionista

We had another family piano recital.

Home school Coop dissected snakes this week. They were especially impressed with the tiny brain.

Uncle Chris took Malachi and Judi to the gun club.

 An old man’s grandchildren are his crowning glory. Proverbs 17:6 

Palisades Scenic Byway and The Catskills

Our little car after "the wreck" A young lady backed
 out into us in the 5 Guys parking lot.

 We landed in New Jersey about 2 pm, got our car, and started looking for this road which has lots of overlooks across the Hudson River to  NYC. It took us a while and I'm pretty sure we paid the same toll about 3 different times before we found it.  It's hard to explain how confusing it is for Texans to get used to everything being so close together. We were in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania all week but we never went farther than a 200 mile area.

These rocky clifts are called The Palisades.

Sometimes I think this was my favorite part of the trip.

At one stop you can see all the way from lower Manhattan to Yonkers, NY.

My camera has a panorama setting. I got some  printed on a 11x14 poster and they look pretty good at that size.

We loved our little cabin with a porch to sit and drink coffee.

We found out "kill' means water.

St. Joseph Church next door, played hymns every morning and evening on their bells.

This makes me think of Nancy Drew.

The creek behind our cabin.

 Minnewaska State Park

leads to this view of the lake.

There are no fish in this lake, but it was full of Newts. There were some girls there catching them who told us about them.I'm not sure I'd ever seen a newt before..I don't think we have them in Texas. We found out later there is a water fall there but we didn't know about it. Since all the state parks are free, there is no place to stop and get a map before you go in.

Trying my panorama setting again at Bear Mountain.

                                              Bear Mountain State Park on the Hudson River.

There was a pretty lake and a zoo where they had animals that could not be released into the wild.

The hiking trail was steep

but they had nice stairs.

 

Hiking Trail

There is a beautiful lodge

where we had lunch.

View from a highway overlook...much different from the mountains in the West where all you see is wilderness.

We drove on Scenic Highway 43 beside the Delaware River. Actually we drove down it several times because we got lost. We drove all day when it should have been about 120 miles to our place in the Poconos. Most of the time we did not know what state we were in.

We did find High Point State Park, in New Jersey.

And Roebling Bridge which was an old aqua duct used to transport coal before the railroad.

And the first of these signs at the bridge. We were to see many more in the next week. They couldn't really close the bridge because it is part of the highway, but they barricaded the parking lot and locked the restrooms.

Now This One is Eight, Too

Isaac and his family came to visit last weekend so we celebrated his 8th birthday a little early.

What can I say about this face?

Elijah helped with the cake baking. Jack enjoyed.

Practicing vampire moves

My kindle fire with 3 different angry bird games is very popular.

This One is Eight

Family Stuff and Fluff

I had been thinking about this picture of my grandmother and wanted to show it to you. My mother took it with her Brownie that she used for many years.

My mom 1956

When I read Joni's devotional about Johnny Appleseed, I remembered that my mom told me we were related to him. I'm not sure she had any proof, but his last name was Chapman like my grandmother's maiden name. Then I remembered, she also told me my dad  was related to William Savage Pitts who wrote "Church in the Wildwood".  She gave me some information about that and convinced me. I did a scrapbook page and put all that information on there but I can't find it today so I'm not sure if we really have any proof but Jenny said she did not know about this so wanted to let her sisters know, too. If you don't know the song, there are several versions on U tube and you can choose your own performance. It is a real church in Iowa that is still in use.

With all the time off I've had the last 2 weeks, I'm almost caught up with all the grandchildren's books. Here's one I just finished. Yes, I steal pictures from facebook. So beware.

TEXAS: Outdoor Musical Drama at Pala Dura Canyon

 My favorite part was when the cowboy kissed his girl and lightening split a huge tree in half.

Zion wants to be an actress. I told her that if she could get a job in this musical next summer, I would come and stay with her and we could camp in a tent at the park all summer. She was with me right up until the tent.

I got in trouble with Ms. Vegan for buying her daughter blue poison. (slurpee) She only told me not to buy her soda.

We got a backstage tour with a cute Baylor coed. She took some pictures for us. I hope her major is not photography. We "posterized" this one in photoshop just for fun.
 

 

I was surprised with how many horses are in the play. I knew about the one that rides across the top of the canyon with the Texas flag at the beginning, but there are many more all through the play. The special effects were pretty impressive,too.... fireworks, trains, all kinds of  props and water displays.

All my life, I have read and seen pictures of the Cadallac Ranch at Amarillo. I was determined to see it, so now you don't have to. Zion and Isaac are wishing they didn't have to.

And more cute/handsome grandchildren: I stole this from facebook. Josh is caving this summer. 

A few weeks ago, I had the Lindsey boys for a couple of days while their parents went to Dallas to a wedding. I didn't have time to take many pictures, but I did get them to clean my house.