We spent Labor Day at a local park/ lake with our friends, the Ketchams. Angela and Joel and their kiddos have been great friends. We enjoyed them last year but didn't really get to spend much time with them; this year they have become invaluable friends and we can have tons of fun with them, now that we really feel like we know them. Sometimes it's pretty hard to be the ones with three little kids -- especially since we happen to be two of the few families who still live in old style apartments, with no running water, etc. It's hard to get tight with people when you rarely see the outside of your apartment, save frequent running trips to the bathroom, etc :0) It's a strange place to be in, having left so many great friends and family to come to a place where the families are super busy, all transient, and you don't have much time to get to know people. It's great to have friends that can identify, and they're loads of fun, too!
Josiah and Laney are the little beefcake twins! Laney loves "'Siah," and I have to say I do too! He's so happy. He's a real go-getter, and I think Laney admires that about him ;)
Safety first! Actually, not a life saving device -- but she was certainly prepared for something! I think she just enjoyed being decked out in the Ketcham's gear...
We may not have cut the hot dogs. but she would have floated had she fallen in the water ;)


Ah, it doesn't get any better for Emma!

We really did have a blast. We tried to hike a trail and had to turn back because the mosquitoes were so thick -- in the light shafts through the trees it looked like when the sun streams through the window and you see all the dust particles.... pretty thick! It was great to get away and relax a little anyway. I had actually been burning citronella candles in our living room to cut down on mosquitoes in our place at night, so as long as we were going to be subjected to Wisconsin's "state bird," we might as well have some fun!

Emmy and her friends had a ball being outside (despite the plague of mosquitoes!) digging in the sand and splashing in the water!
They all got pretty into building and excavating...
So much so, that when we left Joel was without shoes... Summer had decided to bury them and all the kids chipped in to help...
...A little TOO well, which is why we spent 20 minutes searching when it was time to leave. Chloe remembered the approximate vicinity, but one was buried so well we almost gave up.
Does this smile look strained?? He's actually very good natured. Joel was finally the proud re-owner of his prized Brazilian flip flops. (He swears they really are superior.) It was a funny end to a really fun day ;)

This was a great time with our friends Mee and Bah and Aubri, Diana and the great people at All Nations. We had a Filipino pig roast and lots of fun games. It was a great break from the stress of moving in & trying to get all the paperwork/ meetings done before starting school.
I thought the girls might be slightly disturbed by the creature on the spit, but Emma especially had no problem cozying up to the pig ;)
Laney loved her first taste of pancit bihon.
Emmy enjoyed the "fortune" verse cookies...
And her balloon, which Mee made EEEExtra long for her ;)

Emmy's friend "Catty." We got out one day to play frisbee golf at a local park & I found this guy (about 5" long) in a walnut grove. He was fascinating for the girls to watch, but Emma was especially engrossed. She held him, sang to him, and showed him her artwork ;) If a girl can't have a dog, at least she can make due!

To our surprise, he actually made a caccoon that night -- so we didn't free him like we had planned. Now hopefully we'll get the joy of seeing him emerge in the Spring!

This is a random post, but I wanted to say thanks for all of you who were concerned & caring about Emma, who added insult (smashing her finger in a heavy stairwell door jam) to the "injury" of having to leave her home & friends again ;) She was SO good about the broken finger. She shed many more tears about missing her Grammy, or her friends, or losing her sweet and much-loved cousin Elizabeth. But she wanted to show you all the anatomy of a lost fingernail! (She was actually kinda proud of the purple nail.) The gravel stuck inside after our trip to the beach never caused an infection, and by the time the nail finally fell off she had 1/3 of a new one already!
You could barely tell, once the swelling went down a little, that it wasn't just the purple nail polish Miss Jena put on her in the nursery ;)
This was later on in the peroxiding-to-fight-infection stage -- nearly off!

Emmy is excited that once her skin heals we'll paint the nail stub and her skin!