Unexpected Vacation

Our family had the blessing of a last minute unexpected vacation to

Ocean City Maryland last week.

During it we celebrated my birthday, and Phil and I's 27th anniversary!

Here are some pics from our lovely time away...

The view from the condo we rented

in Ocean City

My mom and Bri enjoying a treat

Awesome sand sculpture

At the Kite Festival on OC boardwalk

Out on the Bay

God blessed us with a nice time away--I

really needed it!

And, this is my FAVORITE time of year to go!

Celebrating...

Wednesday was my birthday, and we went to

Shady Maple to celebrate!

We took Phil's dad and my mom

(She wouldn't let me take her pic--so I snuck the one below)

We had a great day!

We did a little shopping downstairs of course!

 Beautiful!

This giant hand below was alongside the road on the way home-

it was so interesting I had to snap a shot! ;)

I was thankful to have such a lovely day!

September

I can hardly believe that Labor Day has come and gone...and so has summer.

School is back in session-evidenced by the school bus that comes by our house every morning.

The garden is winding down, most of the produce is about finished.

I think September may be my favorite month for lots of reasons.

This year I will not only celebrate my birthday later this month, but also my 25th wedding anniversary!

Lots of celebrations this month!

Found this little poem about September and thought I'd share it



SEPTEMBER

by: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

HE golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.

 

The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusty pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.

 

The sedges flaunt their harvest,

In every meadow nook;

And asters by the brook-side

Make asters in the brook.

 

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

 

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

 

But none of all this beauty

Which floods the earth and air

Is unto me the secret

Which makes September fair.

 

'T is a thing which I remember;

To name it thrills me yet:

One day of one September

I never can forget











Fun Facts about September:

































• The birthstone is the sapphire


• The birthflower is the morning glory


• Labor Day is the most well known holiday in September. It is observed every year on the first Monday in September.


• Grandparent's Day is observed in the United States on the first Sunday after Labor Day.


• Continental Congress changed the name of the United Colonies to the United States on September 9, 1776


• In the northern hemisphere, the Autumn Equinox occurs and fall begins. This takes place on September 22nd or 23rd, depending on the year.

Hope the month of September is a blessing to you!

Are you celebrating/doing anything special?

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photo credit

Apple Time!

There's some excitement around here because of the yield our two little apple

trees are giving us this year!

These Stayman's won't be ready for a couple of weeks-but, it looks promising!

We even propped up the branches to keep them from breaking...

it's also amazing to us that we didn't lose branches and apples during Hurricane Irene!

Here's our other tree, it is a Golden Delicious

This will be the first year we harvested any apples from it!

Some of them were a little misshapen, and some had spots, but

they were easily cut off!

I made applesauce from them--and it tasted sooo goood!

Having the apples and making the applesauce is one of the things that

makes it feel like "Fall" around here...

how about you?

Are getting in the mood for Fall?

Wonderful, Glorious Family Day at the Beach

Friday my husband took off of work so that we could go to the beach

both to enjoy some family time together--and let the crab go :)

It was an overcast morning, so the beach was nearly deserted!

Yeah for us!

There was evidence of some damage from the hurricane, but not too bad.

You can see we were pretty much to ourselves, when

we got there, there were only 3 cars in the parking lot.

It was a really nice time together

These seagulls didn't have many targets--so, they hung around us alot!

Just waiting for their chance--which they got! While 3 of us took a walk,

and one of us slept on the blanket (notice no names here!?) the seagulls

ATE our potato chips--the whole bag! lol

Phil and Brad have a catch--by now the sun has come out and it was like a lovely summer day.

This very brave little sandpiper would come right on our blanket and look for crumbs!

The waves were a little rough due to Katia.

It really was a lovely day--and boy did it fly by!

We ended it by going to Grotto's for pizza :)

Yum!

Free At Last!

Remember our little "Crab Stowaway" that I posted about?

Well, we made another trip back to the beach last Friday, and we're happy to report

that he is indeed enjoying being free again.

Thanks to Bri taking good care of him, he survived the month at our house.

I'm so glad he never got loose in the house though! We found that

Ghost Crabs can run up to 10mph--and he did right after we let him out! :)