The next day was the market in Belleville. I know a lot of you out there are Amish nuts, so I tried to get some pictures for you... unfortunately most of them didn't turn out very well. Oh well. Here's a happy Amish fellow enjoying some ice cream with his kid!

Some ladies hauling whatever they just bought. This was just shortly before the piglet got loose at the auction and made a run for it--through the entire market! There were several people in hot pursuit and it was quite a sight. :-) It seems like something they ought to do all the time, just for fun!

And I just thought this was a neat looking picture.

The day after that we all rode up to the top of the hill for some fun...

Tractor rides with Grandpa, of course! (Look, Mom -- Katie concentrates just like you do!)

James and his Mom enjoying the tractor rides, as well. :-)

Katie working on some project of hers. (Grandma Wanda bought her the hat at Belleville the day before and Katie seemed to think it was suitable for any activity.)

She and Sam playing on Grandpa's hay.

I love this picture! James is watching his cousin mow hay on the hillside across from his folks' place.

Grandma Wanda set up this pool for the kids. Katie requested it be put next to the fort so they could slide in. The water was wa-a-a-a-a-ay too cold to be fun, but kids are too dumb to know that.





This is James' Dad and Uncle Pete. I think these pictures are great! Looks almost like they were posed or something, you know?! Ha! Too cute. ;-)



ALL of the kids had fun on the bikes!

Joe spent lots of time practicing with no training wheels...

Took a few falls, but none of them nasty...

And finally got the hang of it!

(Pretty much!)

The boys were showing Grandpa how they could use sticks to pop their caps instead of the cap gun. They thought they were pretty cool... except they'd miss the caps so many times that when they finally hit one it would scare them! Ha!

We've developed a little bit of a problem... The kids get all excited about going shooting when we go to Pennsylvania... but their folks have so much fun doing it they have a hard time sharing the guns with the kids! Ha!







The holes in the wood are all mine--7 out of 9, I believe. James would never admit it, but half of the holes in that jug were made by his wife, too. :-) What great fun!!!

On our "extra" day in Pennsylvania James and I took the kids to ride the East Broad Top Train.

Have you ever seen Mennonite people who look holy... and totally miserable?! I always think it's so sad when people have separated themselves from the world, but obviously have no joy of salvation. This family didn't have that problem! The picture doesn't show it very well, but they practically glowed--the mother had a perpetual smile and all of their eyes were bright and they were just so cheerful. They were beautiful!

They had a Civil War "camp" set up near the tracks with tents and such all furnished with items of the era, along with people in full costume. Katie loved all the girly stuff in this tent!

These guys were part of the band--on their way to go play some old period music for us...

With their old banged-up instruments! It was soooooo cool!

I thought this drummer was soooooooo cute!

As were these little boys--and you could tell they were lookin' for trouble!

This is our traditional farewell picture, the morning that we left. It wasn't as teary this time, so that made it a little easier.

Unfortunately I didn't get very many good pictures at my folks house after the Pennsylvania leg of the trip! I only got a few (and not very good ones) of when we road the riverboat. (My batteries died on the boat and I never could remember to recharge them until we got back home!

The kids checking out the controls...

My inquisitive mother asking a dozen questions of the captain. She's always like that. And she learns so much more than the rest of us. Weird how that works. ;-)

And that's it! Oh, except this shot of the kids and Dudley. I think that's his name. He's the dog who lives at our hardware store here in the mountains. :-) I love living here! :-)

There's another new post below, if you're up to it! ;-)