I Love Drawings!

My dear friend, Brenda, is celebrating her 100th post by holding a drawing.  She has some pretty things that she's giving away.  Just drop her a line and follow her blog.  She's a decorative painter, and a blogger.  She does beautiful painting.  (You should see the recent painting she did of a beautiful heron standing near the water!  I keep telling her to blog about it, because it's an amazing piece of art that she created.  It makes me feel tranquil just to look at it).  Well, anyway, check out Brenda's blog here and get your name in her drawing!   She has two etsy stores, too.  You can find out more about them on her blog.  It's almost that time to start thinking fall, and then holidays again.....and her hand-painted Christmas ornaments are something to be cherished!  And Brenda, if you're reading this, congrats on your 100th Post!  Here's to many more! 

XO,
Rebecca

Father's Day....

Hello and Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

This week my boys worked hard to create handmade Father's Day cards.  They also picked thoughtful gifts.  The most adorable though, was watching them sneak around and hide their gifts and cards when their Daddy was around.  When Tom opened their gifts today, he was touched by the care they took. He loved the items they made and chose for him!  It's been a relaxing day of church, going out for lunch, a mid-day nap and then steak on the grill this evening.  Does life even get better??  My boys and I are so thankful that we have Tom.  He's an amazing father to our two children.  He was happy to change diapers and push the stroller when the boys were small.  Now, as they mature, he continues to love them, encourage them, spends hours teaching them new skills, telling them stories, and being our lead tour guide as we experience other cultures and traditions in our travels!  He's the one that is happy to drive the car on the opposite side of the road from what we're used to while I try to get the GPS working.  He willingly rents and drives a big motor camper when I suggest it might be fun.  (That's an adventure I'll blog about soon!)  Tom is our entrepreneur, to make sure I get my cup of coffee ordered just right in Germany, (he speaks 3 languages).  He Tom is always up for a new adventure, and for this, we are thankful!  Because of Tom, our life is entertaining, unpredictable, and full.  He keeps life interesting and as we celebrate Father's Day today, we know we're very blessed.  We love you, Tom!

Beautiful Australia 2011

Home Sweet Home!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since January 1st!  The time has gotten away from me and I promise to do better!  I have thought of it, but getting it done is another story.  It seems like since January, we've packed and unpacked, and caught up on school work, and then repeated the process!  It's been such an adventure....as life really should be, so I can't say I'd do a thing differently!  We homeschool so we can travel. The trick to our adventurous travel is that we're an airline family.  That means "Standby" travel! We can't get anywhere when the flights are full during the holidays.  When the holidays are over, it's packing time though!  Now that the traditional school year is over, we'll be home more, because flights are full of whole families on summer vacation!

We started the year with a trip to Australia.  We loved it.  We flew into Sydney and went up and down the coast.  Everywhere we went took a long time in our little rental car. (No major interstate systems there!)  We worked that car really hard going up and down the mountains and hills of Australia!  It was fantastic scenery though.  Unforgettable.  The kids loved the kangaroos, dingos, wallabies, and all the other things we don't see in the United States!   We spent one late evening watching the small Fairy Penguins leave the sea and go to their nests.  They cooed and called to their mates.  The kids sat in complete quiet to watch them in amazement!  Nature at it's best!

I have many more trips and photographs to add to the blog as I organize again.  It's also time to will start back into the Christmas creating mode for Christmas in July at my etsy shop!  I can't believe half the year is gone.  I say that with many happy memories behind me from this year, and am still looking forward to the rest of what this year has to hold!

I've attached a few photographs of our visit to Australia!  A lovely spot!  Highly recommended!

Happy Summer!

XO,

Rebecca

Olive Trees on an Olive Farm.

Queensland Flooding!  The GPS really wanted us to take that route!

Tourists fed these cuties snacks in a cone, and then the whole cone too!  They seemed to enjoy it!

Fairy Penguins

Bird of Paradise!