Aaron is 30!

A look back...

I am one lucky girl!

Happy Birthday, Aaron! We love you!
Love, Harmony & Jack

Autumn Forests

Today we went on a wonderful bike ride with some friends through the forests near their house. I could have spent all day out there, the autumn colors were so beautiful!

This (below) has got to be the most beautiful autumn forest I've ever seen! I could hardly believe it was real.


Jack has his molars coming in; I don't think he enjoyed the bike ride very much today. When we came home we were all tired, so Jack and I watched Summer Magic. Below (L) he is watching it and holding his favorite snack, a rice cake.
Jack likes the same movies I do, especially the black and white ones. :)

SPIDER WEBS

No need to decorate for Halloween this year! There are an immense number of spider webs on every plant and bush outside our house. You'll see them if you look closely at each picture. We have had a problem with spiders inside the house, including these HUGE ones in the basement. When I asked the landlord if we could get the house sprayed, he replied, "We don't do that here." Then he tried to tell me how good those large spiders were because they eat the small spiders. He also told me that none of them are poisonous, but that being bitten by one is like being stung by a wasp. I'm thinking, "Well I don't want my baby stung by a wasp!" I think the spiders and I may just have to learn to co-exist for the duration.
(After taking all these photos, I was thoroughly grossed out.)




Look at these trees -- every single branch has a web on it. It's almost unreal.


(R) This is our back porch. You can see a long vertical string from where a spider created his web on the above door frame and attached it to the porch floor.

At the Playground

We found this cute little playground in our town that we can bike to!

eating wood chips

It's Fun to Unload Drawers & Cabinets

Heidelberg

Our friends, the Pettys, came to visit, and the boys had fun playing together.

Bike Ride -- Exploring the Area

(above) Our street

We live on the edge of town, so all these pictures were taken within a mile of our house. It's great here because there are paved bike trails everywhere, along highways and and through farm fields. It was a beautiful evening for a ride.



Heading back into town. The arrow points to our house.

Hard Water

I thought the water from my parents' well was hard...it was nothing compared to this! Here you have to have special detergent tabs for the dishwasher as well as a liquid rinse aid for each cycle. There is also a compartment in the dishwasher for salt that has to be refilled. What you see here is a result of using regular American liquid dishwasher soap. These hard water stains won't come off with scrubbing either. A chemical is needed to get them off. We also have to deal with these stains in the bathroom.