Breagan

Breagan closed on his house last week. Yep!! He is a homeowner. His house is on Sunnymede; half-way between Bethel and work. It's a perfect location. It's also walking distance to Wall St., do next time you come home you'll have to walk down and see him.

Landscaping

Bella

Finally, I got the pictures loaded! It doesn't look like the same house, does it?

martinov - eicher

Logan is crying!! He ate a hot pepper and is trying to cover the burn with honey.

Chaos in the Eicher kitchen

The Martinov family - since Kathleen never sends anybody pictures.

kids in the pool

Sara Bernhardt!!

He looks like a monkey!!

ready..set...jump...

Hello?

Hello? Is anybody there...?

Wall Street Summer Schedule

Pam June 16 to June 21
TereseBob June 19 to June 27
Jeri 3 kids July 9 to July 14
Kathleen3Kids Aug 9 to Aug 16
Bill Aug 13 to Aug 16
Corky July sometime

Breagan and Abby

I just downloaded some photos off of my camera and thought I would share a few. Actually, I was forced to download my photos. I was shocked to see my memory card full when I tried to take a picture at a wedding on Saturday. We've had 3 birthday's so far this spring. Caleb is a little camera shy so I only have a picture of his cake! I'm going to try to post a video clip of Isaac and Benjamin saying their speaking parts at the spring choir musical. Dillian bought a new truck on Friday night, Logan is buying "baby blue" Dillian's old Ford Ranger.

Summer plans

May term is over (it went by so fast!) and summer is really here. I will be working with Wellspring Interfaith this summer as the music director for their six week summer children and youth camp. Basically, I will be meeting with each group of kids once a week and working on some kind of musical something that they can present to their parents at a family picnic in July. I've never done anything like this before, so I'm definitely going to be stretched. Right now, I'm brainstorming, trying to think of different musical things each age group could do.
I may also be teaching some music camps of my own during the last two weeks of July. That will just depend on the feedback I get from my ads.

HOME AGAIN

Marty is home from the hospital.
Mary Alice left early this morning to fly home.
Life should be returning to the "as-normal-as-it-gets-around-here" state on Wall St.
Pam are you the next house guest?

BIRTHDAYS !!!

Happy Birthday Isaac!
Happy Birthday Chloe!

Fire in Santa Barbara

Hi All!

As you may or may not know, there is a fire burning in Santa Barbara - again. We are currently in an Evacuation Warning area but not in a Mandatory Evacuation area. Basically, we need to be prepared to leave if necessary and need to be paying attention in case things were to change, which they can do quickly.

I have attached some photos I took yesterday afternoon. Basically, we had an incredibly hot but beautiful day yesterday and no visible smoke, giving the impression that maybe the fire was under control. Then in the afternoon the winds picked up. The photos were taken and show what happened once the wind picked up.

Although it does look close (you can see the roof of our house in one), it is probably not as close as you think. Again, those photos are smoke and not fire and you are looking up at a hill and the wind is blowing. The fires are actually in canyons up closer to the side of the mountain. The problem is that it is really hot during the day (like 99 in these areas not counting the fire temps - it is currently 6am and it is already 74F) w/ no humidity. Then the wind picks up in the afternoon (around 3pm-ish and wind gusts are expected to get to 50-60mph which is less than yesterday) and the embers get blown about and the fire picks up.

Smoke starts to pick up

Smoke expands

Smoke haze over the sun

Pictures

Here are a few of the Wall St visitors from this spring. Unfortunately, I lost my capability to edit my photos when my computer crashed. I didn't realize it until this morning when I wanted to actually do some editing! So you get the unedited version for today.
Remember to send me summer photos after you visit Wall St for my little project.
If those of you who are planning to come visit want to post here, that would be interesting information for the rest of us.
Things are greening up here on the farm. We have been planting trees, fixing tractor tires and cultivator shovels, and waiting for the ground to dry off so we can really start getting our hands dirty. I love spring!

Potowatami Playground & Museum of Science & Industry; Chicago, IL March '09

Tyler, Aaron, Mikhaela,Isaac & Kathleen

Benjamin & Chloe

Butterflies landing on shadows?

Starting choir tour this morning. Our concert is in Goshen today. The real traveling begins tomorrow morning when we leave for Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Illinois.

Today is also the last of the four performances for Marion High School's musical that I've been playing for. It was fun, and the music was catchy ... so catchy in fact, that I fall asleep with it running through my mind every night.

Spring is in the air....

Hi all,
Just logged on....can't say that I have ever blogged before, but there is a first for everything. Finishing up with school in the next 2 weeks. Then, off for 2 weeks, then have a 2 week class...will finish this semester June 1 and have the summer off. Work is moving along. Other than that, Bob and I are getting things around the house ready for summer....alot of clean up work outside and inside. Hope to head back to South Bend with Bob end of June. Hope all is well.
Terese

Dominican Republic

I found out last week that I will be going to the Dominican Republic next fall. I'm very excited. The first five weeks will be spent taking Spanish classes. The following week will be a sort of fall break - I know we will be doing some hiking and probably a bit of sight seeing. The last eight weeks will be focused on ministry; students will be put on sites related to their major. Since I am an education major, I will most likely be working at the preschool.

So, the 3 youngest and I spent Monday night on Wall St. Gail, Chloe and Ann are home from California. Tuesday we rode the South Shore to Chicago to spend the day at the Museum of Science and Industry. Funny how it seems different than it did when I was in school! Ann started an animal spelling game on the train. The game lasted the whole trip!! Did you know that there are a lot of animals that end in "n", "d" and "r" and not so many that start with those letters? Is an x-ray fish real?

A place for Gram's offspring to post life's happenings. Think of this as a virtual refrigerator & bulletin board all in one.