Miles Mayhem: A Full Fall Weekend

Wow, we have had a very busy weekend! Julie had Grandparents Day at school on Friday. Dave's mom & grandma (a.k.a. MeMa & Gramma Legg), were able to come for this special day. They live about an hour from us, so it means a lot that they took the time out to be with Julie. The kids sang songs for them, made crafts with them, and they got to eat their lunch together and go to recess together. I don't think many grandparents played hopscotch at recess....I could be wrong, but I'm just guessing here. Afterwards the kids could be dismissed from school early if the parents had given permission. I picked up Julie at 12:15, and she had a half day off from school. Although, halfway down the road I was beginning to second guess my decision to allow her to leave school early, when she was having a meltdown in the van after not getting her way over something....more on that later. I will be blogging sometime soon about discipline problems, and a great tool (I don't mean tool literally, as in hammer, or wrench) we've found to really help us. I'm not ready to say much yet, since we're still in the early stages of this process. But, I've peaked your interest, haven't I??? :)

Below is a picture of Julie before school on Grandparents Day. I thought she looked adorable, and dressed appropriately for fall.

Saturday we went to a family picnic. Dave's second cousin, & his wife, hosted it at their home in the Saratoga area. I can't even tell you how many people were there. All I know is that people were everywhere. We saw family that we haven't see in a long time, as well as met many new members of the family that were added in the past year. Below is a picture of 13 of the 15 kids that were there. Dave's cousin (I think he's a 3rd cousin) & his wife, have a little girl around 3 1/2 years old, then they have a set of boy/girl twins that are 19 months old, THEN they had another set of boy/girl twins this past June. WOW!!! The youngest set of twins are not in the picture since one was eating at the time, and the other sleeping. Julie is holding Joel, and Dave had to stay with Alayna since she wasn't cooperating too well.

It goes without saying that this area of New York, the Catskill Mountains, holds such majestic beauty. This weekend was especially fun to be out driving anywhere. We were in our "peak" season of fall colors and it was just gorgeous! Yesterday afternoon we drove to the town of Potter Hollow, to attend a dedication service for Dave's brother's baby boy, at the church Dave's brother is now Pastoring. The weather was gorgeous, and the drive was beautiful, but my favorite part was being in that small one-room country church, with no indoor plumbing, and seeing it crowded with people that were there to worship God together last evening. Dave's dad had Pastored this church at one time, while Dave was growing up. As many may know, his dad passed away 12 years ago. So being in this church, and seeing God use this ministry, in this hollow of the Catskill mountains, was very moving. After the service we headed down the road to the grange hall, which the church owns, for a potluck supper. This building did have indoor plumbing, which we were all grateful for! :)
Here are a few pictures I captured on our drive down the mountain toward the church. The pictures don't do it complete justice. Seeing God's creation in all it's color yesterday was cause to worship!