At Cherry Mills Lodge

     This past Saturday we traveled up to PA where Dad was preaching a half-week of revival meetings. While there we stayed at a lovely Bed & Breakfast (where we also had stayed two years ago, when Dad was again preaching at the same church). We always enjoy being at Cherry Mills Lodge. Not only are the accommodations very satisfactory, but the breakfasts are also delicious and the Lodge itself, as well as it's setting, is beautiful!

     When we arrived Saturday evening, Daniel immediately wanted to go down and play by the creek than ran by the house, and after we unpacked we all went down for a bit.

  We took several walks down the dirt road over the next few days, enjoying being in the country for once!

Playing games... Beth and I played Egyptian Ratscrew a lot (using Rook cards) and Beth was trying to teach Mom to play. =) 

     It rained most of the day Monday, and we stayed inside just being lazy, reading books, and playing games, glad for the change from the past few crazy weeks. Daniel was rather annoyed at being cooped up however. =)  Tuesday was still cloudy, but we were able to go for a hike up through the woods, which Daniel had been pestering us to do. He even took his binoculars and thought about taking pen and paper, to write down "the things I see and stuff," but he decided to leave that at least behind.

Beth reading by the creek

     The house itself was so lovely and old fashioned that we had to get plenty of pictures of it too! (These are for you, Anna! =))

 Now inside...

The guest living room

an old record player

Dining room

Mom's Birthday

    Saturday was Mom's birthday! We've all been very busy this week helping Dad with a big job he started recently and have been painting almost every day this week. But we took a break on Saturday... or rather, took the day to catch up. There was laundry to be done, the house to clean, and I had to go take my College Board SAT's that morning. Consequently, it wasn't quite the birthday we had planned for Mom, but some things are just inevitable. Dad took us all out to eat in the afternoon which was nice and relaxing, and we opened presents and watched a movie that evening.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

The Summer is On!

Summer break has begun! At least, for most of us. Beth still has a little bit of school left, but she will finish soon. School has ended, and spring cleaning has started! Yes, so exciting... lol  But actually is does feel good to have things thoroughly cleaned. We did a few rooms this week, but the rest will probably wait till next since the end of this week is going to be busy. And we want to save some of the fun for Beth. =D

We started planting the garden around the end of April and some plants are beginning to pop up. Weeds included. =(  The rose bushes by the deck are also blooming in abundance!

so pretty

Beans and onions

tomatoes... for us not the deer!!

Corn... and weeds =(  We planted several more rows last week so that
we'll have fresh corn several times this summer.

     Last Saturday we had a cookout/youth get-together, which Nate had wanted to do before he left for the Ranch. (He leaves next Tuesday). We played volleyball, ultimate frisbee, and grilled hamburgers and roasted hot-dogs and marshmellows.  It was a fun, fantastic evening. Mom got a few pictures:

This Week's Post about Last Week's Activities

Yes, here I am again posting things almost a week late. Better late than never, right? But really, things have been rather busy. Why does everything happen at once? Things are either dull and boring or extremely crazy.   But I think I'll take the crazy over boring. I think. =D  School is coming close to the end (Yippppeeeeee!) and we should be finishing in a week or two. So excited for the summer! (Not the weather, the events).

Anyway...

Gram and Pap were able to come down and spend a few days with us last week. On Thursday we went to Raleigh and visited the History Museum. We got so caught up in there (new exhibits are always being added, and much of it was new to us) that we were only able to pop into the Science Museum for a short time. Daniel wanted to show Gram some of his favorite exhibits there. When we were leaving we realized that we hadn't gotten a group picture, but here are a few that I did get:

Blast 'em away, boy!

They had a very interesting about the American War for Independence and North Carolina's participation.

We had to get a picture of Dad with this old tractor... Dad loves tractors. It's the farm-boy in him.

Oh yes. Guns.  =D

This was a rather humorous picture... it's probably the first time Pap has ever milked a  fake cow.  He grew up on a diary farm and has had quite a bit of practice!

     This past Saturday was our Annual Ladies Meeting (Mother/Daughter Banquet, basically). Our guest speaker ended up canceling, so Mom got chosen to speak, and presented a very good devotional, I might add. We failed to take the camera, but Bethany snapped a few pics with Mom's phone.

Me and Elaina

Amber, Leah, and Lauren played "Day by Day" on their clarinets

We girls sang "Be Still and Know"

Dad's Birthday

Today was Dad's fifty-first birthday:

Of, course, Daniel had to send Dad on a treasure hunt for his gift! =D

He wanted fish for supper and vanilla pie (an old Byler favorite) for dessert. He's getting his mush tomorrow! =D

A Day at Sandy Creek

Yesterday our homeschool group, and several other people from our church, went to visit the old meeting house of the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, established in 1755 by Shubal Stearns and a small group of believers, and from which hundreds of other Baptists church sprang out of, creating the southern "Bible belt."

We met first at our church building and Pastor gave a short history lesson about the place, and how, amazingly, it all tied into our own country's independence. Really quite fascinating, and sad that it's rarely taught today. Baptists have a rich history that is little known.

the old meeting house

We went inside the little building and sang several hymns, and Pastor presented a short devotional. It was neat to sit in there and see how little they had, in our modern minds, and how much they did.

Daniel

Beth, Elaina, Leah, and Lauren

Daniel and Caleb

Megan, Me, and Amber

Tabitha must be cold =D

Lauren and Megan

It was a beautiful sunny day, and we, of course, had to pull out the cameras and get a ton of pictures!! =D

Me and Megan

Meg

Amber

Love this one of the three of us!

Spelling Bee

Last Wednesday was our annual Spelling Bee. It was a little nerve-racking, as always, but fun as well. Everyone did very well. Daniel placed first, Mason placed second, and I placed third.