The summer of 1998 has been a terrific summer here in the beautiful Susquehanna Valley. We sure miss our family in Kansas, but we definitely can do without the hot and humid summers they experience there!
Our summer started out with a lovely visit from Dan's folks and his grandfather. They were here almost a whole week. Dan and I both had to work, but somehow we juggled our schedules enough to be able to go to Gettysburg for a 1/2 day tour by car and cassette tape. It was quite fascinating and Dan's mother and I had to get out at just about every statue we could and take a picture. (Of course, this had NOTHING to do with the fact we were riding in a car with 3 grown men standing over 6'2") We walked up Round Top and stood in awe after listening to the description of what had taken place there not so many years ago. Dan's father had bought us all a ticket beforehand at the Visitors Center for a neat display of the strategic plans and events leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg which certainly gave insight when taking the auto tour later. We also toured the museum. I especially enjoyed being able to view the actual items damaged by bullets and reading partial pages of soldiers diaries on display in the museum. It is definitely worth a trip if you are ever out this way. We only live about 20 miles away!
Daniel gave his dad and grandpa a tour of ADM, something which Grandpa Dan had been really looking forward to since he had once been a flour miller himself. He's quite proud of both of his grandsons. Dan's brother Nate works for ADM as well, in fact he is the Plant Supervisor in Buffalo, New York...so now we are only 5 1/2 hours away from family! (Yes, we've been to visit twice!) The only thing missing from the visit was Skylar...but he did get to come visit us this summer for 6 short weeks. I say "short" because they went WAY WAY WAY too fast. We sure do miss him, but he's loving his first year of school and so that makes it a little easier. We are looking forward to a visit back in Kansas this October. We haven't been back for over a year now.
Not soon enough our little Sky Button came flying in on a big airplane to spend the summer with us. His first weekend here was his favorite holiday next to Christmas...the Fourth of July! We had a wonderful time shooting off fireworks with Dan's boss and his wife. His new favorite are the Snaps that you just throw and they pop. We had several boxes leftover and Skylar was able to "surprise" his Daddy when he'd come home from work. Like father like son...they are both so ornery and so loveable. We took a one week vacation from our lives here and drove up to Niagra Falls, New York. We found a state camp site close to the Falls where we could rest, relax, and FISH FISH FISH! Of course, Skylar caught the most fish, as the law of fishing goes. We didn't keep any, but it was sure fun! We toured Old Fort Niagra (well, as far as we could until they hit us with a $14 admission per person! LOL) and that was really neat too. Uncle Nate surprised us and visited us our first night when we stayed in a hotel at Niagra Falls and then again on our last night's stay in Buffalo. He sprang for dinner too...now we owe him!
It was just too cool for him to swim...sooooooooo, he opted for riding his new Big Wheels and his tricycle.
He's also become quite the little Chef, always helping me prepare Daddy's lunch or dinner. He's my little helper and although he doesn't fit my apron quite yet, we make do!
And...of course there were lots of great times spent between father and son that there aren't pictures of.....bat and ball, trips to the Fun Fort, frisbee, hide and go seek, let's scare Stacey games....and lightening bug catching.....but one of their favorite shared passions seems to be playing pool. Although Skylar can't reach his Dad's big table...he's limber enough to climb right up on top and start rolling balls in. To remedy the growing need for resurfacing Daniels pool table, I found something to keep Skylar satisfied for hours on end. :)
Well, I hope you enjoy these photos and the Reader's Digest Condensed version of our summer. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me again after our trip back to Kansas this fall.
AND THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
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