JMU Arboretum

In the middle of JMU's campus is a beautiful park called the Arboretum.   There are hiking trails, a little pond, and a big hill that Andrew had a blast climbing (and then rolling down!).

Derecho

Friday night there was a HUGE storm that swept across the east coast.  There were super strong damaging winds--not really a tornado, but some sort of natural disaster that they're calling "El Derecho."  Lots and lots of people lost power ( I read an article that said MILLIONS),  had trees fall on their houses, power lines fell and property was damaged. 

We lost power on Friday night, and by the time I came home on Saturday morning from work the temp in the house was 84 degrees.  (Andrew had slept through the storm and the heat without a problem, but Benny was miserable!) 

I had called hotels while I was at work because I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep during the day if the power still wasn't on (the heat index was 113 that day).  I started making calls at 3am, and finally at 5am I finally found a hotel with vacancies--the 14th hotel in Harrisonburg that I called.  (people had traveled from as far as an hour away in Charlottesville to find a hotel with power.)

I slept in the hotel during the day on Saturday and Sunday, and Andrew and Benny slept there Saturday night.  Our power came back on Sunday, so the boys were able to sleep at the house on Sunday night. 

Thankfully, we didn't have any damages to our home...we just got to throw away all of the food in our refrigerator and freezer!  Lots of people are still without power and dealing with devastating losses to their homes. 

It's crazy what nature can do. (Hurricanes, tornadoes, the terrible fires in Colorado..) But, in and through it all, I find peace in knowing that even though it doesn't make a lot of sense sometimes, God is sovereignly in control of all things.  He's bigger than any storm we face.  I feel blessed to serve such a loving and powerful God.

Summer Cookouts are the best!

This evening we had our friends Mic, Heather, Will and Olivia and Billy over for a little summer BBQ!

Billy, Benny, Heather and Mic finishing dinner.

 Mic discovered that we have an apple tree in our backyard!  We don't think the apples will be very good to eat, but the kids had fun picking them up and throwing them (and so did the guys!)

Andrew and Will ready for a ride in the bike trailer!

Blueberry/blackberry Picking!

This morning our family, along with our sweet friend from church Ann and her two girls Reese and Dillon, went berry picking!  Andrew picked a few, but most definitely ate them right off the vine and LOTS out of the bucket!

Alex's Room

Andrew loved helping his daddy put together Alex's furniture!  It was so precious! He kept doing the sign for "help" because he wanted to help so badly!

These boys are so blessed to have such and INCREDIBLE daddy!!

Benny's Father's Day Gift

I had these fun onesies made for Father's Day for Benny.  Alex (did I mention that's what the new little fella's name will be??  Alex Ryan Bennison!) will wear these, and Andrew has little tshirts with the same name on the back.  Benny's tshirts say "Benny" and mine say "Mrs. Benny."  We can't wait to wear them to games this fall!!

Here and there Spring Pics

Our silly boy!!

 

Bridgewater has several really cute parks.  One of our favorites is the "duck park."  We can bike there from our house and we bring bread to feed the duckies!!

Wearing Mommy's boots.

At a really yummy local pizza place called "Flying Pizza."

Andrew's favorite Bridgewater College soccer player, Ryan Tavernaris.

Eating his ice cream at Harvey's (the local homemade ice cream shop) that we can also bike to!