Tree Work

We needed lots of tree work done, so, after checking out some different places, Chad arranged for Markley's to come last Wed.  They were here about 5 hours, and he made sure their time was well-spent.  They took down a few dead ash trees, one of which was right by the house.  I think they got 2 or 3 other trees also, answered questions about chain saws and renting splitters, and chopped up those tree branches as well as others.  Big day!  

Then, on Saturday, Chad rented a splitter and worked very hard to get lots of that wood split-- and only was able to get part of it done!  We have a lot of wood to burn for a few years. 

Bus driver in the family!

Chad got his CDL!  Great work, honey!  He studied hard and practiced lots.  I can't even imagine wanting to parallel park a bus!

Ravenous Reader

Micah won the elementary summer book reading contest! 

Some people wonder how we got him to read so many books.  Wasn't AT ALL because we pushed him.  He has really started to enjoy reading the past 2 years, but, more than that-- he LOVES recording numbers in a column so he was thrilled to keep track of the pages he read. :)  Sound a little like Chad? :)

Our girls didn't like to do this contest because they thought it took the fun out of reading to have to record the pages.  But that's what fueled M's book-reading energy.

Jenna's Self Portrait

Laptops!

This is a funny pic for us.  Grace's technology guy pretty excited about the laptops arriving. :)  This year, all middle school and high school students have laptops they use and class and take home.  Even the 4th and 5th graders have laptops they leave at school.  Grace had ordered these laptops long ago, and there were several delays.  Happy day when they arrived, esp since many of the teachers had planned their lessons around the kids using these. 

For us, it has been nice not to have to schedule time on our home computer quite so closely.

More Antietam Battlefield

Micah and I made another quick visit to Antietam on the day of the 154th anniversary of the battle. 

Small parade with fife and drums

Weapons demonstration-- interesting to see/hear the cannons being fired.  The whole process was quite involved, of course.  The ammo was kept in the wagon far back from the cannon.  The runner in between carried the shells in a leather bag.  One man's whole job was to put his leather-covered thumb over the air hole in the cannon.  Not surprising that the whole process took 2 min for one round!  In a pinch, they would drop safety steps and cut it down to 30 sec.

Bike Ride

Chad and girls rode bike several miles on Rail Trail.  

Our Crazy AAA Day

August 25 surely didn't turn out as planned!  I was in Martinsburg in the car in the morning... on my way home so K could have the car to drive to work, the car broke down beside 81N.  I called Chad and AAA.  He decided to come get me so I wouldn't have to ride with the towtruck driver.  On his way from Hagerstown to get me, the van broke down on 81S!  He was able to get it off the interstate and into a gas station lot, and then he called AAA.  I wonder if we set some sort of record, both of us calling AAA within an hour.  :)  We definitely made use of our "free" towing service!  

The car's repair was pretty cheap-- replace radiator cap and antifreeze.  The van's alternator fix was a bit more expensive. 

First Day of School

This year we have one in elementary school, middle school, high school, college... and Chad starts his 22 year

Katie's Job

The Vanna White of shoe sales :)

Katie has had a job at Payless this summer.  Not a very exciting job because it's in the Martinsburg Mall, which has been dying almost since it opened.  And we found out a couple weeks ago that it really will close shortly.  Oct. 17 is the last day for Payless. I think K has mixed feelings. 

Right now, she is taking 19 credits at school, so she's quite busy with school work, and she has a part-time babysitting job that will keep her busy.  She's hoping for something else come Christmas break.  Something that gets more traffic than this job at Payless!

Outdoor Concert

Chad and I took the girls to an outdoor concert at City Park-- beautiful! weather, good pizza :), and a really comfortable way to get them all some musical culture. Hagerstown Municipal Band. 

Katie is 18!

Our beautiful firstborn turned 18!  Wow, I'm old.  :)

Of course, Greyson is the most popular character at the family gatherings now.  I don't think Katie was offended. :)

Micah's Washington County Project

In 3rd grade, our kids have always had to do a Washington County project.  Because of the historical area in which we live, that means they get to learn more about history-- national and local.

I think Katie and Claire both chose to do Inside Hagerstown (which means you visit about 12-15 places in the city), and Jenna did Outside Hagerstown (12-15 places around the county-- definitely more driving, but it was interesting-- places like Sideling Hill, Wilson's General Store, C&O Canal, Washington Monument, Appalachian Trail).  

Happily, Micah chose a different one. :) He decided to do Antietam Battlefield, which means we had to visit 12 sites, 10 of which are on the battlefield itself.  

He and I have been there twice now, once on a nice 95-degree day.  We had a great time hunting up all the places, taking pictures and gathering info.  

Bloody Lane

This inverted cannon was a fun part of our "scavenger hunt".  When we started at the Visitor's Center, we were given a map that had almost all our sites marked.  But we also had to find at least one inverted cannon, and those weren't marked.  There are 6 of them around the battlefield, marking where a major general died.  We were hunted as we drove around the battlefield, really hoping we'd find one before we made it all the way around-- so we wouldn't have to go around again.  I did a little happy dance when we found one eventually.  :)  And we ended up finding 2 of the 6.  

This is not an interesting picture, but it was an interesting discovery!  The 2 places we had to go that WEREN'T on the battlefield itself were the site of Lee's headquarters and Rose Hill Cemetery.  Lee's campsite was TOUGH to find-- it's along the main road going thru Sharpsburg, but it's not obviously marked.  The photo above is from Rose Hill Cemetery, which is in Hagerstown, 12 miles up the road from the battlefield.  I've driven past Rose Hill Cemetery for more than 20 years now (in fact, I think we drove past it the very FIRST time I was in Hagerstown in 1995), but I didn't know anything about it... other than it has beautiful stone buildings by the entrance and it's across the road from a fascinating historic stone wall.  

We found out that there is a section of the cemetery where 2,467 Confederates are buried (photo above).  Can you imagine?  They carted 2,467 bodies, many unidentified, 12 miles up the road in wagons behind horses? 

Yes, I bribed my son.  I told him that if he could do this project with a good attitude, even with the nasty heat, we'd go to Sweet Frog.  He had a super attitude.  I really don't know if I would have had to bribe him, actually.  We did enjoy going to SF then!