Indian River Inlet, Delaware

No matter where we go to the beach, it's usually about a 4 hour drive or more, depending on traffic. The last Friday Jeanne was with us, we went up to a Delaware beach that is part of the Rehobeth Beach Ocean Park. It's a nice beach with warm showers in the bathhouse. The waves aren't usually that great, but we still enjoy going there.

We went on Friday, Aug. 7th, the last weekend Jeanne was visiting. We went up and back the "same" day, so we came home pretty tired, and pulled into our driveway around 2:00 in the early morning on Saturday.

Water Country USA

We had to wait for good weather and for a time when Jon could get a day off work to try again to go to Water Country USA. We ended up with the perfect day, and had a wonderful time. However, even on a weekday, we had to wait in long lines at times. Going on that Saturday would NOT have been worth it, but the day we actually went was all we could have hoped. The photo and very brief video are of Jon and Jeanne at two of the slides. Josiah was with us, of course, just not in these pictures.

I love to see the temple....

Our daughter went to the temple for the first time. It was one of the main reasons why she came to visit. The Washington, DC Temple is so lovely, and a place of such peace! We stayed as long as we could and were among the last to leave that night.

Virginia Beach

Near the end of July, our daughter Jeanne came to visit us for two and a half weeks. We tried to go to Water Country USA near Williamsburg, Virginia, the first Saturday after she arrived. That was a big mistake! Vacation traffic was so bad that we spent twice as long driving there than we'd expected. Because the tickets are so expensive, we decided that we would go to Water Country USA a different day and go to Virginia Beach instead for what little time we would have. We didn't bother to put on our swimsuits when we got there. We just rolled up our pants and walked along the beach. There was a very cool Poseidon statue on the boardwalk, which was actually made of concrete. By the time we got home that night, we had spent 11 hours driving for about 3 hours at the beach.

In a day or two I'll post more about our summer fun and Jeanne's visit.

Pioneer Trek

In July was the Pioneer Trek. Our son Josh had gone on Trek. Our daughter Jeanne had gone on Trek. Our son Jordan had gone on Trek. This year it was finally Josiah's chance to go on Trek, and he looked forward to it with enthusiasm.

It was hot, it was hard, and it was worth it, according to all those coming home in our car. I managed to get there just a few minutes before Josiah came in with his "family" and got a good photo of him at the front of their handcart. I also took a photo of him with Ma and Pa Webb, the "parents" of his Trek family. Ma Webb was also the Prop Manager when our Stake did Savior of the World. When she found out that Josiah was my son, she told me, "I love Josiah!"

That's the kind of thing a parent loves to hear!

Especially for Youth

I obviously haven't been very good about keeping my blog updated. We've had a busy summer. The latter part of June, Josiah left for EFY (Especially for Youth) at Buena Vista, in the southern part of Virginia. He chose a week that some friends from last year's EFY were going. Unfortunately, no one else in our Stake was going that we knew of, which meant no one to carpool with. It's a three hour drive each way.

EFY is basically a spiritual "boot camp" with a lot of fun activities thrown in. One aspect that Josiah looks forward to particularly is that there are more girls than guys. Here is a photo of Josiah with all the girls in his group. Josiah's sense of humor and courteous manners made him one of the most popular guys in his group.