The Cave!!!

Yesterday we went to Rock Bridge State Park. We went though many trails. We went on the Devil's Ice Box trail and the Sinkhole trail.

We first did the Devil's Ice Box trail. The Devil's Ice Box trail is 1/2 mile long and you have to walk on a boardwalk. We saw saw the Rock Bridge and then we saw the cave. We went inside the cave and took many pictures. We took many pictures of each other too.

The Sinkhole trail was a mile and a half long. When we found the sinkhole, Mel and Daddy told us there are a lot of sinkholes in Florida and if you build a house on top of one without knowing, it may sink and tear up your house. WARNING: Get out of your house when it starts to sink.

We ate lunch between the Devil's Ice Box trail and the Sinkhole trail. We had ham and turkey sam'iches, grapes and strawberries, and chips. I ate half of a bag of cheese puffs.

-Just Jess

Here are some pictures from the day:

Kids do the darndest things

This is our last two weeks of summer vacation with the girls and already it has been full of laughs.

Jessica's moment:
Last night I took the girls to the YMCA with me while Josh mowed the lawn. While at the YMCA, I went on the top level to run so that I could keep an eye on the girls as they played downstairs on the gym floor. Next to the open play area, there was a karate class in progress. As I ran around the track, I noticed Jessica staring at the participants in the class and inching closer and closer to them. Finally when she was within a yard of the instructor, staring at him, I called down to her to move away from the class.

Jessica was in her own little world and completely mesmerized by the karate class. But it made me laugh to think of the people participating in the class and watching it as they were sure to go home that evening and comment on the "strange little girl that stared at them throughout the class."


Danielle's moment:
This morning while making their lunches, I asked Dani and Jessi if they preferred a cup of applesauce or a cup of Mandarin oranges. Danielle looked at me and said, "peaches." Ok, this isn't the first time she has done this to me, but I really thought we had clarified the last time, that when I give her options, those really are the only options. So I asked her, "why do you do this to me?" "I just really wanted peaches," she said.


Hope you enjoy our little bit of humor and a look into the minds of 8 and 10 year-old little girls. If you are confused after reading this... join the club!

-Melody

Wrapping Up the Challenge

Well, we've done it. We wrote something every day for a month. Yes, you might say we lost steam at the end there, but we still did it. Our little challenge was a good way to get this blog started and to get everyone into reading it. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on your perspective), we are not going to be able to write something every day from here on. In the future, you can probably expect 2-5 postings a month. I've said it before and it hasn't changed: We really aren't that interesting of people, especially when the girls aren't around. We just thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up-to-date on our minimal happenings. :)

In August the girls will return to school, Josh will be taking classes toward his BA and I'm going to be starting online courses toward a teaching certification. In addition, Josh and I have made a commitment to start reading (and studying) the Bible together, as well as have family sessions while the girls are around. When all of that starts, we'll try our best to keep this updated. If you should notice complacency on our part, feel free to let us know.

In the meantime, we love hearing from everyone, whether it is through e-mail (joshmel74@gmail.com) or comments on our postings. If you do place a comment or become a follower, please either sign it so that we know who wrote it or send us a quick e-mail. There have been a couple of times we have been clueless as to who left a comment.

Take care. We miss each and every one of you who are far from us. Remember you are still with us in our hearts. (<---evidence in support of Toby's initial post about cheeze.)

-Mel

Acting up

The computer is acting up tonight, so this is a short one. We'll write more tomorrow night.

-Mel

Miss Our Girls

Well, we didn't get to see our girls tonight. Due to unforseen circumstances, they didn't make it back to town in time for us to pick them up and spend the evening with them. As a result, you are currently reading a completely different blog posting than what was planned. We were going to ask one of the girls to write this evening, but now your just stuck with rambling Melody. Oh well, better luck next week. In the words of the late, great Paul Harvey, "good day!" (don't forget the weird pitch at the end of that statement... what was that all about?)

-Melody

Mel Forgot

Mel forgot to post anything tonight. So here's the post. The streak continues.

-Josh

Softball Playoffs - Round 2

We got beat. The season is over. Better luck next year.

-Josh

The Story Behind the Blanket

My mother is a wonderful, beautiful woman who I have tried to emulate in a number of ways over the years. One of those things involves making special heirloom crib blankets for new babies in the family. These blankets are painstakingly hand-stitched over the course of several months, perhaps even taking over a year to complete. The tiny little stitches in different colors create a fabulous picture on the blanket. Then padding and backing are sewn on and finally the edging and lace are added.

In 1999 I purchased all of the materials to make one of these blankets for a friend of mine. I took the blanket back and forth to Turkey and Saudi Arabia with good intentions, but I did not finish the blanket in time to give it to my friend for the birth of her little boy.

When I moved to England, I packed the blanket in a box and didn't pull it out again until my deployment to Bosnia. I thought I could surely complete it during my five months there, but I didn't even come close.

On my move back to the US (Florida to be exact), the blanket was once again placed in the bottom of a box and forgotten for several months. Since I always took it on my deployments, it was only right that I should also take it to Baghdad in 2005. But this time it was never even taken out of my bag.

Then in October, when we found out Cooper was on the way, I pulled the blanket out of the bottom of a box for the last time. I may be over-exaggerating when I say that I had been working on this blanket for nearly 10 years, it had been all over the world with me, and it was only about 10% complete.

When Mom and the rest of my family came to visit in December, I had the blanket out on the sofa. I confessed to her that as much as I would like to finish this blanket before Cooper was born, I didn't think I had the time or patience to do so. Perhaps subconsciously I hoped Mom would do what she did and offer to finish it for me.

We rarely spoke of the blanket again between December and this past weekend when Mom gave it to us. What a treasure; the love she put into this for our little boy.

Thank you, Mom, for having the focus and patience that I will probably never be able to emulate.

I Mitts You Aweready, Aunt Kiki!

Where'd you go, Aunt Kiki? I think Mommy and Daddy forgot you at da Huddle House... We can come back and git you if you want. I tawt you was gonna stay in ouwah batesment foe-ebbah, Aunt Kiki. I'm yo sidekick, Aunt Kiki. We did it all togethah, Aunt Kiki. Sit in da swing, sit in da reclinah, sit in da swing...

We had so much fun, Aunt Kiki. Wook, he-ah we are habben fun.



And I know Mommy wiked habben you he-ah, Aunt Kiki.



Just yestahday, Aunt Kiki, we took this picture.



I mitts you, Aunt Kiki. You come back soon as you can. We wub you, Aunt Kiki.

-Coop

Thank you, Kiki, for the tremendous help you have been the past five weeks. We miss you and can't wait to see you again. -Josh, Mel, Dani, Jessi, and Coop

Softball Playoffs

Tonight Callaway Christian Church's co-ed softball team moved on in the playoffs. Since I really only show up to socialize I have very limited knowledge of how the game went. I do believe the final score was 16-6. Regardless, it was fun for all of us and I got some pretty good pictures of my baby in action.

What's goin' on!?!?

Without the girls for two weeks, we really don't have anything going on. Here are the highlights of the Hapner house without the girls around:

-Cooper hit double-digits Wednesday; he's now 10 weeks old!
-We're sad to see her go, but I'm sure there are several people in Tennessee that will welcome her with open arms. Kiki is heading home this weekend.
-Tomorrow (Friday) night Josh is going to play in the church league softball tournament.
-Sunday Toby is going to have a bath for the first time in over a month. This is one of the areas where Toby isn't upset about being neglected.

That's about it for us. See, not so exciting without our girls...

-Melody

Sunday Pictures: Part 2

After church Sunday, we went to Veteran's Park for the church picnic. It was great food and tons of fun. The girls played in the water games. Here are some of the pictures.

Sunday Pictures: Part 1

As you may have already read, Dani was baptized this past Sunday. This is a significant decision for her to have come to and we are very proud of her for not only doing so, but also for being so eager and excited to do so. Let's not forget that almost as exciting was having Josh be the person to baptize her.

Some background: Our church, Callaway Christian Church, is an independent Christian church. We are modeled after the church Jesus Christ created in the New Testament. The act of baptism in the New Testament is a conscious decision by a believer to repent and confess Jesus Christ as their savior. This is what Dani did, with our church family as her witnesses.

Stay Tuned...

Yes, I'm cheating tonight. I'm tired and ready for bed and I forgot to write something. We have pictures from Sunday, but you'll have to come back tomorrow to see them.

-Melody

Guess What!?!?

Today at church, we had a very special event. Danielle accepted the Lord into her life and was baptized.

Here is how it happened in Dani's own words:

I told all of my friends that I was being baptized. They all got 'big-eyed' when I told them. Then Shawn (our youth minister) told me it was time to go downstairs. When everyone started singing, Shawn and I walked down the aisle towards Mark (he is our Pastor). Mark told everybody that I was coming forward to be baptized and we all sang another verse of the song in case anyone else wanted to come forward. After the verse, I repeated after Shawn the good confession of faith. I said it like a grown-up - nice and clear. After that, I went and got dressed; so did Daddy because he was going to do the baptizing. I got out of the dressing room, and Daddy was wearing big, rubber boots. When I got in the water, it was really warm. When I came out of the water I felt different, like I was a new person. Afterwards, everyone congratulated me. I already felt like a better person.

Josh's note: If I could go back to the 10 Questions post, my answer for Number 3 would now be baptizing my daughter... I've never been so proud. I would say this made up for all the disappointments we had this weekend.

Ugh...

What is it they say about the best laid plans? How about back-up plans? I suppose there should be some cliche about plans changing drastically and on the spur of the moment whenever children are involved.

After our plans changed due to unfortunate circumstances in Ohio, we decided to take the children to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The arch has a tram that takes visitors to the top where there are windows overlooking the city and the Mississippi River. There is also a museum and giant-screen movie theatre for the arch. We had hoped to spend a few hours there and stop at a Bob Evans on the way home.

Instead of doing all of this, we cleaned the house and the kids watched movies. Jessica woke up with a stiff neck and the pain was too bad to have her walking around the arch for a few hours, as well as being stuck in a car for an extended period. But all is well. One mermaid movie, one princess movie, and brownies and ice cream will make any little girl happy.

Church picnic tomorrow...

-Melody

This Weekend

We are all very disappointed that Grandma Buttery, Papa John, Aunt Kitty, and Cousin Gunner aren't going to be able to make it for their visit this weekend as planned. Sometimes other things take precidence and we are keeping Papa John's dad in our prayers. But we do have a backup plan; kind a little pick-me-up for the girls. So stay tuned for details and pics from this weekend!

10 Questions: Josh

1. What is your favorite food?
cheese

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
just being with them

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
beer (the kids and Mel are cool too)

4. Do you have any heroes; if so, who are they?
yes

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
bed

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
another dog

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
retired

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escalator, or stairs?
escalator - when broke, it is still stairs

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
Mel forced me to answer these questions

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
it's all about the toppings

10 Questions: Melody

1. What is your favorite food?
Warm chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce. Yep, that's where I get my hips. :)

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
New experiences; love taking the girls and Josh to do things they haven't done before.

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
Josh, Dani, Jessi, Cooper, God (Sorry, can't pin down just one, they're all awesome.)

4. Do you have any heros; if so, who are they?
My Mom and Josh. Maybe Reagan too. Could you image how much better off we would be right now if he were still in office? Of course, that is commonly referred to as a dictator, but we could really use a fiscal-minded conservative right about now. I mean, California is writing IOUs to pay for things! Seriously! Ok, off my soapbox now...

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
Dubrovnik, Croatia. Look it up, you'll see why.

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
My Toby, of course!

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Happy and blessed. Looks like I'm exactly what I want to be!

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escilator, or stairs?
Stairs; definitely the stairs. The escilator could eat my toes and the elivator makes me nauseous.

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
I played the clarinet in grade school

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Mackinaw Island Fudge (I'm not sure if they even make it anymore, it's a Michigan thing... hmmm... does Ohio have anything like that? I think not.)

10 Questions: Danielle

1. What is your favorite food?
Strawberries

2. What is your favorite thing to do with your family?
Go on vacations

3. What is the best thing to ever happen to you?
Meeting Mel

4. Do you have any heros; if so, who are they?
Yes, my friends and family

5. If you could go anywhere for vacation, where would that be?
Going to the Eiffel Tower in Paris

6. If you could have any animal for a pet, what would you like?
Missuori fox-trotter horse

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
An elementary school teacher

8. Would you rather take the elevator, escilator, or stairs?
elevator. I'm scared of escilators. Stairs, I'm lazy.

9. What is one thing that very few people know about you?
That I do triathlons

10. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
mint chocolate chip