Boldt Castle

While visiting the lake we went up and visited the thousand islands. There are litearlly thousands of islands in the St. Lawrence seaway between Canada and America. It was gorgeous. One particular island is called Heart Island b.c of it's shape. The story behind this island is great but I will keep it short. There was a man named Mr. Boldt who grew up poor. He moved to NY city and started working in the Waldorf hotel in the late 1800's. He met his wife there (Louise) They started running some of the really nice hotels in Ny city and started saving there money.Quickly he became very rich and they vacationed in the thousands islands. He saw this island and liked how it was shaped like heart. They bought it and he started building his wife a castle on it. Now this is what I would call a miniture Biltmore. Beautiful place! About a year and a half before it was completely finished the wife died of heart failure. She was only in her 40's. He was heart broken and never finished the castle. They let it just sit there and get run down. Eventually the port authority came to own it and now they are fixing it up. Many things around the grounds resemble a heart shape. That was very neat!We had fun walking around the grounds and seeing some of the newly finished rooms they have been working on.

Brandon's family

Just wanted to introduce Brandon's family member to those of you who don't know them and are dying to know who they are...:)
well of course there is mom and and dad Abbott. They live in Wolcott, Ny. Dad works for Gouls pumps where he was worked all his life. Mom stays at home and homeschools Brandon's little sister and neice.
There is Jared (Brandon's older brother) and his wife Selena. They are expecting their fisrt child... CONGRATS!! a little girl.. yeah!!
Kirsten is Brandon's younger sister and she is working at a daycare.
Then Devon... Devon is living with us this year while studying at BJ in their landscaping program. He is Brandon's little brother.
Lianna is the youngest. Just turned 14. She is a sweet heart..
Then there is Kenzie Brandon's little niece. She is 5 and soon to be starting school.
Here are a few pictures with the family up at the lake. The picture with the guy in the middle and the two girls is Liann, Kirsten and her "friend" Nate. We thank the Lord for saving Nate this past week. What a great guy! This is Aleeza and her cousin Kenzie. They had a great time playing together.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Abbott in New York!

After the wedding was over on saturday evening we headed up to NY for a visit with Brandon' s family. We arrived safely around 2 in the morning on Sunday morning. We were able to visit Brandon's home church Sunnyside and hear Pastor Houtz preach. The Lord is still working in the church. They are holding strong. Sunday morning Aleeza met TJ... a kitten that she just fell in love with. I think she thought he was a little child. TJ would just play with her. It was really cute.. but sorry Mommy and Daddy will never own a cat! Sunday afternoon we headed up for the lake. Brandon's uncle owns and a lake and a lake house near 1,000 islands. It is absolutely beautiful up there. We had lots of fun. Aleeza had the best time playing with her cousin Kenzie and seeing her Uncle Jared, Aunt Selena, Aunt Lianna and Aunt Kirsten...oh and uncle Devon but he is living with us now so she sees him everyday! We were able to spend 3 relaxing days at the lake. We went 4-wheeling one day which I had never driven one but got my chance. While 4- wheeling down to a small...I mean very small town called Oxbow we saw a rock called Puplit Rock. A man used to preach to the settlers from this rock. It is shaped like a puplit. Very neat. We went fishing rode in the boat, played in the lake and just relaxed. It was a nice break from the everyday life here in Greenville. Here are a few pictures of the guys jumping off a 35 foot cliff into the lake, Aleeza riding on a boat, fun times with Great Granpa Abbott and eating...

Our Trip!!

Wow... where to start. Well the beginning is always the best. We left last Thursday evening around 10:30 and arrived in Ny city around 10 in the morning. We got all checked in to our hotel and headed off to Memorial Baptist for the rehearsal dinner and to get ready for the wedding. Everything went well driving to Brooklyn. We didn't get lost and found the church fairly easily. After getting there we headed off to get some good old NY style pizza. YUM YUM. We had the dinner that night and the Keck/Bickel wedding the next day. During the wedding we thought Brandon was going to put on a show for us. The church is really old and they have no air. He almost fainted but held on to the end. He was sweating so bad but did well at covering up his dizziness. Here are the happy couple and happily married. Congrats David and Joy! Here are some pictures from our trip up to Brooklyn. Laura K. was able to ride with us... this is her getting some shut eye.. :) And the famous picture of what the groomesmen did to Mr. David's car... it was pay back time from our wedding. :) And one last picture... thanks to Aunt Bonnie for my gorgeous dress... I love it. Please notice the korker bow in her hair. These will be for sale soon... created by me on www.bowsforbestfriends.com
Yeah!!!

Just so everyone knows!!

For the next week I will not be able to blog. We are headed up to NY tonight for Dave Keck's wedding then up to visit Brandon's family. Please pray we have a safe trip! It is a long drive!
Look forward to sharing many pictures when we get back and many stories!

Aleeza's new table and chairs

As many of you know last weekend was one of the many big consignment sales around here. I arrived an hour early only to be greeted by about 100 women who had arrived 2 hours early. Oh well, I was after one think and that was a table and two pink chairs. When the door opened I ran ok not literally but was a fast walk to the toy room and got the table and chairs. Well, the lady behind me in line had been telling me she had come to get two things and only two things. Well, she didn't say what they were. Later I saw her and asked her if she had gotten her two things and she said that the dress she liked for her daughter was too big and the table and two pink chairs were gone....oooppss... :) what do you say... I said nothing. :0 Well, anyway Aleeza has really been enjoying her new table. I will find her in her room just sitting there looking through books or playing with her blocks. She has really enjoyed this so far!

Aleeza and the giant nectarine

After a snack on Friday I got Aleeza up from her highchair and started walking out of the kitchen. She was pointing and what we call " hissing" at something on the counter. The "hissing" is when she is trying to get your attention and wants something. I was looking on the counter and there were some necatarines. I sat her down and washed one off and let her bite into it. She ate the whole necatarine and has had two more since then. Watch out daddy she is invading your necatarines! She will just hold it now and eat all around the seed. It is really cute.

Some pictures from while Aleeza was sick....she still had a life!

Daddy and Aleeza discussing a future house daddy is going to build. Aleeza thinks he should make her room much bigger.

Thank you for praying for Aleeza

Last week was a very hard week on all of us. Aleeza was really sick and she is never fussy or not laughing or playing. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday she ran a very high fever of about 102-104. She was eating and sleeping though so the doc was not too concerned. On Thursday she seemed to be better but on Friday she was tugging at her ears so i took her in. While we were waiting for the doctor she broke out in rash from head to toe. It was not a very pretty site. Poor baby. Dr. Kendall informed me she had roseola. Oh wow!! Thankfully her not so pretty rash went away in less than 8 hours and she is on the home stretch now of feeling better. I really hope she feels better soon. We are leaving Thursday for our vacation to NY and for David Keck's wedding. I think she will be better by then. If you think of us just pray she will be 100 percent better and back to her little cute self.

Aleeza is all better!!

Thank you to those of you who prayed for Aleeza. She was pretty ill yesterday. We were up a few times with her last night with about a 103 fever. The Lord healed her little body today and she is all back to normal. I am thinking it is number 12 that is coming in. That is her teeth. She has quite the chomper set! She has been quite the trooper. Last night was interesting, between Aleeza being sick and our air conditioning unit leaking we got about a total of 4 hours of sleep. But we have made it through today so that is good. Aleeza and I spent this morning running some errands for daddy and waiting on the air conditioner man. Thankfully they are going to pay for the water damage that we have developed in our kitchen!
Here are some recent photos of Aleeza having a good time in our new back yard!

Poor Aleeza

On Sunday we enjoyed an enjoyable day at church in the morning and a dining common lunch with our friends the Evans and Stines and Mom and Dad. Aleeza was not feeling well. When she woke up from her nap on Sunday afternoon she had a fever. I knew I coudln't take her to church. Yesterday was touch and go. She was fine for a few hours then feverish. Yesterday morning I noticed not only Aleeza's temperature rising but our house temperature. Our air conditioner was not working. Not good on a 95 degree day. Thankfully Green's was fast about getting out here and getting it fixed. Aleeza and I ran errands while we waited for it to be fixed. We got to see Daddy's new house that he is starting. They were pouring the footers yesterday.
We came back home to a cooling down house so that was nice. Aleeza woke up a few times last night but I think she will be fine today. Having a fever for a one year old is not fun, well for that matter it is not fun for anyone! She is a tough one though. Even while she is sick she wants to play and laugh. What a blessing!!

Special post for Aunt Bonnie

I am not sure what is up with the time.. but no I am not posting these at the crack of dawn. I noticed the time was all wrong.. Oh well... :) I promise your package is in the mail soon... :)

Busy busy week

I know it has been a while since I posted anything but it is has been so so busy around here. Last weekend I hosted a baby shower for NS. We had a good time. It was nice to see how much the Lord provided. This week I was getting ready for the switch a roos consignment sale. What a fun fun time. I went at 4 last night to get in line. Some of the ladies had been there since 3. Wow. I was able to get the two things for Aleeza that I had seen the day before when I volunteered plus few more iteams.. :) Today I was there all day and had booth sat up and sold my bows. That was fun. I have never really done anything like that before. I was making them on demand and selling the ones I had already made. The Lord was good and I sold a lot. You are wondering how I did all of this with Aleeza. Well, she was with Grandma and Grandpa a lot the past few days. She had a great time with them. They just got back from hiking the Grand Canyon so they were excited about spending time with her. She has been walking a lot more. She looks so cute.
Brandon almost broke his foot this week. The doctore said that it will take as long to heal as a broken foot. He hit it with a sledge hammer while taking up some hard wood floors. He seems to be doing better now so that is good. Well, I better run for now. Hope every one is well.