A New House

Our offer on a lovely house in Malvern was accepted.  We have waited two years to purchase a home in the area because we really wanted to choose something that was just right -- right layout, right price, and in the right location (meaning, it needed to be close to the Chester Valley Trail).  I've been aggressively looking this summer but nothing quite worked (even though we put offers on multiple houses).  About a month ago, we decided that it wasn't going to happen this year and we resigned ourselves to waiting until next summer.  

Wanting to give ourselves a break from endlessly looking (but ever the optimist), I circled a small section of a small neighborhood and declared that we would only look at those homes if listed at a great price.  When this one was posted, we went to visit it that day, instantly knew it was a winner and beat out the other five bids that night.

If all goes according to plan, we'll move in at the end of September.  Hooray!

Pine Grove State Park

We spent another week at the Paymaster Station's Cabin at Pine Grove State Park.  What a great week of swimming in the lake, biking, hiking, daily naps, endless coloring and card games, campfires, fishing, eating ice cream and spending time as a family.  We had perfect weather this year.  Every day was such a treasure.

Grant Outcome

As a grant writer, I'm lucky to be able to dream of interesting projects and, sometimes, have them come to fruition.  Recently, with the help of the US Department of Education, the University was able to send 14 education majors down to Peru for six weeks to complete a portion of their required student teaching hours and travel throughout the country to gain insights into the history, culture, and language of the region.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to play a role in helping these students gain these life-changing and eye-opening experiences.

Daddy Camp - Volume Two

Thanks to Laura, Alma, James, and I get to spend another awesome summer together, a time we lovingly call, "Daddy Camp."  Sounds exciting right?  To paint a picture of this camp here are some of the activities we did during the first week:

• Swim daily for an hour
• Clean out the basement
• A game I like to call: Donate, Throw-out, Keep
• Learning how to shadow box and punch a heavy bag
• Sprints and agility drills on the local soccer field, we call it "practice"
• Reading
• Jewelry making (Alma)
• Pillow making (James)
• Taking care of Davey the Tortoise 

(post by Joshua)

Davey ChickenandCake Chisholm

We have a new pet: Davey the Tortoise.  He was donated to Joshua's classroom and we were tapped to be the summer hosts.  Since tortoises can live 40+ years, we've decided to host him for the long-run and loan him out to the school during the winter months.  He has a great enclosure on the side of the house and has been entertaining the cat when he's inside his aquarium.  

Davey is named after Davey Crockett.  Chicken-and-cake was the name suggestion from an unprompted James, so we had to keep it as a middle name.  It makes me giggle every time I hear it.

Immaculata

I love working at a University and having regular access to the wonderful library for my family.  Here's Alma with a bust of Kateri Tekakwitha, both kids in the children's section and, below, the scaffolding for the renovation work of the iconic cupola which houses the internal stained glass dome.