Moon bouncing!

Caleigh had fun with her friends from down the street, Gabriella and Antonio, in the moon bounce on July 4th. The three of them jump to the mat near the end of the clip.

Rockn' rollin' & smilin'

Just a snippet of Zach.

Jazzing it up, 1940s style

These kids crack me up! Zach was afraid he'd lose his seat or something -- he kept getting up a little, but mostly holding onto the chair, doing a little move and sitting back down, sometimes then with his left leg slung over the armrest for emphasis.

Caleigh has the groove. She was the first one during the first song played to get up and dance. Look at her go! Zach was complemented on his sitting skills as we made it almost two hours before taking our crew home to bed.

Get the bug!

Zach is a maniac (in a good way!) about swatting flies! Caleigh doesn't seem to appreciate the danger she is in with Zach's errant aim at times. But we're all safe from bugs here! Going on a bug hunt....

The kids LOVE their music

So funny! Zach smacks his hands together, points to the CD player and starts stomping to the rhythm in his head. He's so appreciative that we understand his not so subtle hint and turn the music on. Caleigh likes to move to the beat and can be so graceful.

That's a "Go!" at the end from Zach. His word when Daddy stops at a red light or immediately when he gets buckled in his stroller. The kids likes to MOVE.

More from the July 4th weekend

Zachary enjoyed trying on Caleigh's red Durangos and stomping around the house a bit. They both have a fascination recently with the little broom and dustpan...not very good at actually 'cleaning' up anything. ;-)

After the nice (5 minute ;-) parade 1/2 block from our house we walked with the neighbors (actually the whole neighborhood) to a local park for more July 4th festivities. Free soft pretzels and juice along with a moon bounce. Fun! Caleigh really enjoyed bouncing with her friends from down the street, Antonio & Gabriella. Zach just liked running around.

The night before we'd hit Rose Tree Park for free entertainment on the lawn -- 40s jazz. The kids really enjoyed being outside (video to follow). They also liked running up and down the hill and dancing around. We brought lawn chairs for everyone, which were used almost the whole time the music played.

Around the 4th

Zach REALLY enjoyed the large pasta bowl at Buca's Friday, July 3. We all enjoyed Reading Terminal, Chinatown and lunch with Daddy on a normal workday!

Wish this picture of Caleigh had been crisper, but I just love her look.

Zach is a demon swatting flies. The cute part is how he laughs after he slams the swatter down on a (imaginary) "bug." He's lethal. Both my kids love to stop ants, too (sorry if that offends any bug lovers ;-). Not sure where they get this fascination/killer mentality.




Zach all dressed in his red, white and blue and Caleigh still lounging in her PJs. Especially right after returning from Floyd, Zach likes to have one hand on the tractor (PAPA! he says as he points to the seat) and the other hand on the train. They like playing on the big porch.

Back home!

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After a busy week immediately upon our return to PA Monday night late, we had a relaxing and productive weekend together alone at home. Caleigh went to evening Bible school (VBS) in Floyd while we were gone and then directly to a morning VBS nearer to home the week of our return. She had a good friend in her group and seemed to really enjoy herself (and not just the snack ;-).

Zachary and Mama had a good time playing together and enjoying fellowship with other Moms and kids at the park and Produce Junction to pick up lots of fruits and veggies (yum!).

The kids love the croquet set, but are still a little dangerous with it if they stand to close. Caleigh loves cutting and decided to help me edge/trim the yard...and the irises. Dan had a mountain of shrub trimming to do and Caleigh was more than willing to help him by picking up what fell. What a little helper! She has also recently pitted cherries for Grandma and helped make a yummy pie and shucked corn for dinner. Caleigh is beginning to put characters into her stories. She likes to sing and talk and make up stories and here she is using Jimmy and Larry Gourd (veggie tales) as her props.

Back to the trip and more recent family pictures

More from Grand Teton National Park. It got hazy here over lunch and the pictures look dramatically different than when we first arrived.

And Jackson, WY where the town's center park is surrounded by four of these antler entrances.

From January 3 2009

Mrs Sara Brock Kirkwood got married and her mother just shared cool pictures of the Schantz family with us. Pictures from The Falls Church reception. Lori was a reader, Caleigh was an angel in the 3rd row and Zach enjoyed the other kids in nursery. Thanks for the memory and the great pics!

Grand Tetons

First views of the Grand Tetons, driving from Yellowstone NP. Beautiful!

Last from Yellowstone

The Falls - beautiful stops near the end of the day in Yellowstone. The light was great.

So many oddities...

We took a lot of pictures this day...

Geyser - constantly going off, which is a nice treat in case you miss the others.

Grand Prismatic Spring - the largest hot spring in Yellowstone, and is considered to be the third largest in the world.

Run-off from the Grand Prismatic Spring - such a beautiful blue!

Dan before our waterfall hike and lunch.

More from Yellowstone

Deep and hot, but such an inviting blue.

Yellowstone Lake, West Thumb in the background with steam and bubbling pools in the foreground.

Along the way with some burned forest area refreshing itself.

Old Faithful (last two pictures). We timed it almost perfectly without having to wait more than 15 minutes in the hot sun, and enjoyed the long geyser spout.

Yellowstone

Off from Glacier and across the Continental Divide half-dozen times and we arrived in Yellowstone. We enjoyed a looong day of interesting smells, natural oddities, and animals roaming beside and floating overhead.

In addition to the bison (lots of bison...you find yourself saying, "geez, not another bison traffic jam....") and mule deer, and perhaps an elk but in the low light we couldn't be sure, we saw a bald eagle, loons, trumpeter swans and osprey. These in addition to the grizzly bear and cub and mountain goats in Glacier!

West Glacier

We spent a 1/2 day traveling east on GTTS road and experiencing some of what west glacier area had to offer. Pretty lodge with lots of stuffed animals & cheap t-shirts for the kids...and by stuffed animals I mean life sized, actual moose heads and mountain goats, etc.

Trail of Cedars (hey, we have one of those too close to the house that we're having removed soon...) was nice, although the rain forest-like atmosphere kept tending toward the 'it's-raining-we-need-our-parkas-on' side.

We really didn't wear these jackets everyday...well, maybe we did, but it was chilly sometimes (and then we'd feel the need for a picture) so it just looks like we wore these matching hoodies everyday...;)

Look at this tree! Black cottonwood...neat.

And a gorge in the Trail of Cedars.