Bright Alternatives Banquet

Thank you children!

You have to forgive the shaky camera, it's really hard to hold a phone steady.

Cardboard and Duct Tape

It Floats!

If you have several rolls of duct tape and some appliance boxes, what can you make? How about a boat? Why, of course! Everyone wants a cardboard boat.

This was our boat, dubbed "Speed Queen".

Once again it was time for our annual church retreat and our 2nd annual cardboard boat regatta (a sporting event consisting of a series of boat or yacht races). We had a lot of fun.

The first run on Speed Queen

In case you can't tell, it's a turtle. This was definitely the most creative.

The rules were actually quite simple cardboard, duct tape, and life jackets. The boat coarse was equally simplistic. Go about 50 yards, go around a buoy and row back.

Austin had the fastest boat, but the Speed Queen came in second.

Oh and it gets more interesting if not all boats fair well...

Some more pics from the retreat

It sure was enjoyable to spend the weekend with the church family and even some who called us their church family for a time. :)

The camp has a beautiful lake and a few fish.

Guess who won the archery shoot for the boys?

Bit sunny?

Waiting for the candy scramble? 

Yes this was *after* the archery shoot.

Abandoned Post??!!

I saw a guy wearing this t-shirt:

I almost stopped and told him to get back ON-DUTY! But I didn't, but now I am going to do it. Brace yourself, here comes a rant! There are just too many dads who do exactly this, they are off-duty all or most of the time. What we need instead are more men with the kind of hands that are described in the song "Daddy's Hands".

I remember Daddy´s hands, folded silently in prayer.

And reaching out to hold me, when I had a nightmare.

You could read quite a story, in the callouses and lines.

Years of work and worry had left their mark behind. 

I remember Daddy´s hands, how they held my Mama tight,

And patted my back, for something done right.

There are things that I´ve forgotten, that I loved about the man,

But I´ll always remember the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle 

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

I remember Daddy´s hands, working 'til they bled.

Sacrificed unselfishly, just to keep us all fed.

If I could do things over, I´d live my life again.

And never take for granted the love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle 

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love in Daddy´s hands.

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle 

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love .....

In Daddy´s hands.

~Holly Dunn

Dad, take a moment and look at your hands...is there love?

Bridge to Nowhere

Some pictures of the Kinzua Bridge

This past weekend my sister and her family paid us a visit. To entertain everyone we braved the rain and went to the Kinzua Bridge...well it's not exactly a bridge anymore. By the time we got there the rain stopped and we had a nice evening.

See. Bridge to nowhere.

In July of 2003 a tornado destroyed part of the bridge. A few years ago they built a lookout at the end of the remaining structure.

Very Scenic

Find any loose boards?

We discovered that the windows are slippery when wet. :)

Smile.

These 2 cousins don't get to spend a lot of time together.

At almost 300' you get quite a view especially when the leaves are nice.

Do you see what I see?

Kind of accidentally got a good shot.

We hiked down to the creek that flows through the valley and Oh what a tiring time we had hiking back up.

I think it's neat how the structure was preserved despite nature's destruction.

Bible School!

Bible School at Bradford Mennonite Church

Tonight we kicked off our annual Vacation Bible School, perhaps I should say "fired off".

And what a night! 129 total.

Do you live in Bradford? We have classes for 3 yr olds to adult. 7:00 PM is the starting time. Call the church at 814-362-2809 if you need a ride.

If you can't make it this week, pray for us!

SummerFest

A lot of fun!

The first weekend of June has become the weekend for our annual school fundraiser that we refer to as our SummerFest. This year we were able to have our 4th annual SummerFest at a larger place, the Bradford Mall parking lot. And the weather turned out to be perfect! We have sunburns to prove it. :)

There was a lot of effort put into the sale and it drew a fair amount of people. Since this is only our 4th try we are still developing our systems and it's getting better. (Hey, the first year it snowed...we called it the Fall Festival and had it in October that time.)

Our flagship product: Kev's Best BBQ

I managed to take most of my pictures while we were setting up. After that it was too busy.

Where's all the people...Oh it's not 10:00 yet.

For those who didn't want chicken (not sure who wouldn't) we had a few other items.

French Fries, Sausage, Burgers

Oh they were good, made right on the spot.

Timbits!

Doesn't that just make you hungry?

This was my stand, lemonade, sweet tea, and candy. Big thanks to my parents for coming and helping.

And lots of Baked goods

And then we had more fun!

Our newest addition this year was the information/ticket booth. The tickets were $1.00 each and could be used for the wagon rides, barrel train, or a snake picture.

Snakes!

One of the school patrons has several pet snakes. For 1 ticket you could get your picture taken with one.

If you happen to know this wonderful lady, ask her how much this pose cost :)

A lot less expensive pose :)

 

Andy, the owner of this writhing creature.

Somehow my son got 4 pictures.

Horse rides and wagon rides!

Zeke brought these beautiful Belgians to pull the wagon.

Kyle leading "Muddy" around.

And an early shot of the barrel train.

Petting Zoo

There were indeed more than 2 pigs, we had 1 rabbit, and some guinea pigs as well and of course the snakes. No, animals were harmed in the petting zoo although from the noise that the pigs made you would have thought we were serving bacon.

And last but not least, the "bouncy house".

Between this and the barrel train, my 2 year old was entertained most of the day.

We didn't exactly make a proportional amount of money to the hours spent in preparing for the day, however it was fun and gave us lots of exposure for the school and church.

I would also like to say a really big THANK YOU to Kevin and the others who worked so hard to make this happen.