Canoeing on our lake

Steve got a canoe for his birthday this year - surprise! Today was Drew's first time out on the canoe - he was too scared before. He had a blast and is ready to go again! Steve is in heaven with his canoe and fishing pole ready out his back door.

We are truly Thankful to be alive this year!

This is a picture of our cracked heat exchanger that was leaking CO into our home. Remember, we just moved into this home in August of this year. Our inspector told us to have it serviced, and that it looked like it was not in good shape. Whoever serviced this unit, could not have opened the unit, or else has a death wish for us. We are very lucky to be alive. The good news is that our home came with an American Home Shield warranty that covers this repair, the bad news is that they have been playing games with the contractor and us for the last week and a half trying to find a loop hole that would keep them from having to pay for it. We are thankful for every warm day we have had in the last week and a half!!

Yes, we seem to have heating and cooling issues with all of our homes. And yes, we seem to have issues with inspectors not giving us the full story. I guess that's what happens when you move as much as we do, and buy and sell as many homes as we do. We bought a new heating/cooling system for our homes in VA, TX, and PA. The biggest blessing of all this is that we smelled the CO (I always thought it was odorless - but we definitely smelled something) and turned the heat off before anyone was seriously injured.

The professional immediately smelled the CO outside and disabled the unit. He told us we were lucky to be alive. We also learned that the heat exchanger was cracked and the unit had not been properly maintained. He played a game with the insurance company and told them he could repair it and clean it, but told me we needed a new unit. He came today to repair it and realized that it truly was beyond repair. Our second opinion said the same thing. So now we wait for American Home Shield to admit that we need a new unit and that our contract states that they should cover it. We are being as patient as we can, but are quickly tiring of the games and nonsense.

The very scary part is that Drew had been SO tired for 2 weeks and complaining about his chest and stomach hurting - I thought it was his asthma, but he is better now that the heat has been turned off. I always thought CO was the silent killer, odorless - but thankfully we were able to smell something and pinpointed it to the vents, turned the heat off, and called in a professional.

This looks like a bit more than a crack - I would call this a gaping hole. Hard to believe our CO detectors did not catch this... now we have one in everyone's bedroom.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in Winchester with my parents and my brother Jeff's family, and his wife Rebecca's family. Here are all the cousins waiting to fill their plates with delicious food. Of course they didn't eat most of their food - wish I could say the same!

Here is Sarah, Catherine, and Pops enjoying a book together...

DD and Pops have Wii and it was a big hit with the cousins! This is Drew and Matthew playing tennis. It is amazing (and scary) how good they can be at such a young age! They had a blast!

They took a break from the Wii games to pose for me. A Thanksgiving to remember!

Drew's preschool sang some songs and celebrated Thanksgiving.

We love the beach!!

We love living so close to the beach! On our way to church last Sunday, Drew looked outside the window and told me what a beautiful day it was. Then he said we should go to the beach. We all agreed, so after church and a quick lunch we bundled up and headed to the beach. It was a bit chilly, but a beautiful sunny fall day. We had fun walking, searching for shells, and playing in the sand - no swimming this time!

Searching for more shells...

The kids decided to make 'sand angels'. I think we are missing the PA snow! Just wait until next month for our 'sandman'. We can still have our winter fun - we just have to be more creative!!

Abby

Drew

Sarah

On the way home we stopped for some She-Crab soup to go... yes it was delicious!!

Weekend at the Outer Banks (in November!)

We had beautiful weather for a weekend at the beach - especially in November. What a relief after all the rain that came through here. We helped DD celebrate her birthday, and had lots of fun playing on the beach. The kids actually did get in the water, and Sarah even tried to ride some waves. Yes, they did have wet suits on - a by-product of having a pool in PA. Steve figured it would be cheaper to buy wet suits than to actually heat the pool - and this way we could get more swimming time. We hope to go back more often now that we are so close!

Stuart and Lizzy

Since we moved into our new home the kids have had lots of fun feeding the geese. Of course the geese remember this and keep coming back - which I don't think our neighbor is too excited about . The geese are fun, but what they leave behind can be messy... Especially one day when I caught Drew just rolling down our back yard (it is a slight hill). Normally this would be fine (although it can make one a bit dizzy!), but with the thought of all the geese we have had back there it made me cringe. I didn't stop him mind you, I just gave him a good bath when he came in! At times I hear the excitement that we have a party in the backyard. The kids come running in searching for bread. We have seen up to 20 geese at one party! I have learned to buy cheap bread at the store to have on hand for such an occasion, and yes of course any bread scraps get saved now too.

There seems to be a special pair of geese that are almost always around our lake. We can identify them because one of them has a hurt wing. The kids have named them Lizzy and Stuart. Lizzy is for Sarah's best friend from PA, and Stuart is my cousin whom they got to know while living in PA. I didn't realize until just the other day, that Sarah had been so impressed with Stuarts swimming abilities (namely that he could throw her very far in the pool) and so in his honor she named the other goose for him.

Stuart and Lizzy looking for food.

A close up of Stuart, in honor of my cousin!