We had a terrific time traveling to Daytona Beach FL on April 10. We headed out very early that morning driving through Lancaster PA to Arlington VA where we stayed over night at the Americana Hotel.

The girls and I at Thomas Jefferson's Memorial.

Andy, I and Hannah at Monticello.

A very old cemetery in Charleston, SC.

Boonehall Plantation in Charleston SC ~~ Where North and South, Roots and the Notebook were filmed!

Maine -- Kittery, York and Old Orchard Beach. July 17-19 '09

Cruising Lake Memphremagog ~ August 1, '09

Hannah and her friend Shayla at Charbo Campground swimming Pool ~~ July 25-26 '09

(Well, this one is more of a side view, hard to pick out Rusty in the leaves!)

(rollin' around in the dirt!)

(Not a bad shot of our Maple tree!)

(The budding photographer herself!!)

So we traveled to the Big B yesterday and did a little shopping and then went to the The Champlain Valley Fair that we usually go to every year, but this year Dev and I had tickets to Toby Keith. It was a GREAT show and so glad we went. He commands HUGE audiences! I have never seen so many people at the fair at one time!

(He's one hot guy!) :-)

A view of the crowd and his picture on stage before the concert started.

On stage.

(His encore was especially nice as he saluted are men and women in the military and several joined him on stage for his performance of the RED, WHITE and BLUE and AMERICAN SOLDIER!)

The girls enjoying their steak and cheese subs!

Fun on the BIG swings!

We had a great time as always and spent WAY too much money, but those places aren't cheap! The weather was great too, can't wait to see who is coming to fair next year!

Bringing in the dirt...($1800 worth I might add...)

June 20, 08

Excavating the land where we will build...

Hannah at the controls.

June 21, 08

Pouring cement. (the hard way!)

July 16, 08

The guys worked hard this day, George and Andy.

The framework begins.

August 2, 08

Getting the first side door in and framed.

August 18, 08

Working on the roof.

(August 26, 08)

(September 14, 08)

Stairs by Andy!

Getting the rest of the roof on!

(hangin' out at JFK waiting for our flight to Dulles)

We traveled with my boss Dorene, her husband Jim and sister Kathleen and her two nephews, Nick and Sam.

We stayed at the very old, but pretty well maintained and nicely situated Americana Hotel in Arlington VA.

The first morning there we enjoyed coffee, cereal and bagels and donuts at the hotel and then took the subway into Arlington Cemetery and spent the entire morning exploring. I happen to find cemetery's very interesting so I LOVED my time there...

(Dev at Arlinton National Cemetery)

(Some of the beautiful cherry blossoms)

(On our way to the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown...)

(Changing of the guard)

From the cemetery we walked just over a mile to the famous IWO JIMA Memorial. It's huge!

From here we caught the subway back at Roslyn to Union Station where we had lunch and then headed towards the capital.

(Inside Union Station)

(hangin' out by the capital)

The Capital was really cool and so big! From here we wondered over towards the National Mall checking out some more statues and memorials and the Smithsonian Castle and then catching the subway again to go see the White House!

(Ulysses Grant Statue)

(Smithsonian Castle)

(Devon at Pennsyvannia Avenue)

(Here we are at the White House!)

After six miles on our feet that day we headed back towards the hotel and had a bite to eat for dinner at the Marriot right next door to our Motel and hit the hay!

The Morning of the 17th we headed out on the metro around 8am and headed back to the Smithsonian and then walked to the Washington Monument. We had tickets for 11:30 to go up 500 feet and check out the views of the city.

(Dev taking a break on our way to the monument!)

(Looking waaaaay up!)

(Me at the monument.)

From 500 feet up, what a view!

(Looking towards the Lincoln Memorial and in the forefront a view of the entire WWII Memorial)

(Looking north towards the White House)

That day we had lunch at the famous "Ben's Chili Bowl" where a lot of celebraties hang out such as Bill Cosby.)

(Dev and I enjoyed chilli cheese fries and they were good!)

From here we made our way back to the National Museum of Natural History and on the way enjoyed the Navy Memorial Park.

(The building in the background is the National Archives)

(Sailor Statue)

This park was really nice.

Onto the museum!

My poor feet!

Their new butterfly exhibit.

The next day it was back to the Smithsonian Castle where the founder, John Smithson, is incased in granite marble. Inside the castle we saw lots of artifacts from periods past.

(Jackie Kennedy's jewlery & momentos)

(Heading down the escalator back to Chinatown for lunch!)

(Ford's Theater, we couldn't go in as it was under renovations.)

(Dev outside of the Peterson House where Lincoln died.)

From here it was back towards the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We waited in line just over an hour in the blazing sun to get in! Thank goodness a BIG group of school kids got sick of waiting and shortened our wait!

(On our way we passed the FBI...)

(A copy of the most famous document ever, the original was there, my photo didn't come out very good as you couldn't use flash inside the archives, but it is very faded now, barely legible.)

We also visited the Holocaust Museum this day. Quite an experience.

Our last day there we spent checking out the rest of the monuments including the World War II Memorial, very nice.

(Dev at the WWII Memorial)

Then it was on towards the Vietnam Wall.

(Vietnam Women's Memorial)

(Memories and pictures people leave at the wall...)

(Vietnam Soldiers Memorial)

(Korean Memorial ~ Very unique!)

(Faces of the Korean War engraved in black marble)

And then we spent some time at the Lincoln Memorial at dusk. Very cool to see at night and it's just massive.

Our last day there we traveled to Mt. Vernon to see the estate of George Washington. An interesting fact that I never knew is that back in the mid 1800's, when his great nephew was no longer able to manage or care for the place, he went to the state of Virginia and Washington DC and asked if anyone would be willing to purchase it to keep it maintained and they all turned him down! So, some ladies in N. Carolina heard of his need for help and they formed the Mt. Vernon Ladies Society and purchased the property and have maintained it ever since! It's quite a place with a gorgeous view of the Potamac River.

(Just a glimpse of his many gardens.)

(Us posing with George and Martha.)

We had a wonderful time, learned a lot, saw a lot and walked A LOT!!!)

(After crossing Lake Memphremagog from our house to the trail.)

(Between Norton and Canaan Vermont)

(Almost home, scene from Holland Vermont)

(Then having dinner afterwards with all the fam!)

(Trail Pic, Andy & Hannah Feb 9.)

We had fun on New's Year Day and again last Saturday. Silly me agreed to cross the lake from our house, Lake Memphremagog and it was nearly 3 miles across and I never prayed so hard in my life for that ice not to break!!! People were out there fishing, but about midway you could see the water on top of the ice and I about had a panic attack! Hubby and Dev were WAY ahead of me! I wanted to stop and take a picture, but I was too scared to stop!!!

We have enjoyed riding a couple of times this year and went about 60 miles each day, but now our snow is just about gone and today, the middle of Janaury just about, and it's raining!!!

Maybe we'll get a bit more snow later in the month, but if nothing else I have noticed that the days are getting a bit longer!!

(Andy & Dev)

(View of Jay Peak from the trail.)

So, 2007 is almost over and another New Year is upon us.

A New Year always causes one to ponder and look back at what happened during the passing year.

Hard to believe on a day like today, but last January 7 we walked the dogs on the bike path and there was NO snow!

Then we lost our kitty Tommy of 9 years...

Then the snows finally came around January 15th...

Devon went to her first winter ball...

In Feb we drove to Lake Placid NY and saw Monsters INC on ice!

Hannah celebrated her 6th Birthday!

and learned to fly a kite!

In June I bought my first ever BRAND NEW car!

(And for as little as it is, it sure does go good in the snow!)

Hannah came down with strep throat and Mono in August and had to spend the day at the hospital getting IV'S and medicne!

Devon turned 15...

In November we lost our Bandit too...
(The worst year ever for losing our pets!)

Hannah enjoyed singing in her first Christmas concert.

And in September we took our LONG awaited trip out west to Vegas and many many other places. It was a true trip of a lifetime!!!

Through out the year we spent lots of time together, visiting with friends and family, fishing and riding bikes and taking long walks on the bike path and around town.

We laughed, we cried, we worked hard around our home and at our jobs. The girls enjoyed two weeks at camp. We celebrated the holidays and talked about our dreams and hopes for one another.

We had good health all year and have counted our blessings that the good Lord has given us this past year and we pray for the same in 2008!

Happy New Year everyone!

TGIF is all I have to say to this past week! I am SO happy to have the next three days off! Working Christmas this year so we will be celebrating our Chrismtas on Monday, Christmas Eve day.

Our new kitten is anything but cuddly! She's starting to come around, a little, when you corner her somewhere to catch her!

I'm calling her Scamp!

As for the concert, they were all cute, but I must say, my camera is taking LOUSY shots these days!

We have had two fairly good sized snow storms for December. One almost two weeks ago on a Sunday into Monday and there was no school. Then the snow came again today, but we didn't get as much as expected...

(Lil' Josh shoveling some snow!)

(Jacob with Hannah)

(Hannah at her school today all ready for the class Halloween Party!)

(Hannah and her best pal Caroline!)

(The BIG kids!)

(And the wee ones!)