Vist from our Dear friends

 Our friends from Oregon visited us for a few days sand we showed them a little of Lancaster. We stopped at market but im so sorry i don't have any pictures but it was very fun.

                                        Faith was generously helping Brittany make some yummy fruit pizza.

                                    Brooke and Ivory were playing life on the farm the Amish style.(i have non idea how you play that way but i know that they made it up)

                                The grownups spent most of our time sitting on the chairs and drinking coffee.

                                         They were so excited to take a buggy ride.

                                     Brittany and Faith were decorating the fruit pizza.

                           another picture of them getting ready to take a buggy ride.

                                A few days before the Dominys arrived Dave and his workers were making a new walk way.

                                           They headed towards Philly and then to NY and back home . Safe driving and thank you for visiting us Dominys.
                                                                          - Brooke

Who Let the Dogs Out

Earlier this year a huge puppy joined our family. Keena is a Bernese Mountain Dog and just a bear of a pup. I didn't even want her. I thought it better to not even meet her, but that lasted 2 seconds.

 I do not care for any dog tied-up or kenneled or caged. They are neglected, not trained well and mostly a terror if ever they get loose. I LOVE dogs, good dogs, and the only way to have a really good 'man's best friend' is to have them with man. That's exactly why i didn't want another dog. Dogs take time. I didn't want to take that kind of time, but i wasn't asked. Brooke and Josiah have been saving 'puppy money' for a few years and now Dave made this dog possible by joining in shares with them.

Lexi didn't want a big dog either! Why would she have? She's owned this family and property for 7yrs now, and doing a pretty good job at things. Lexi's still cool, tho. She can roam wherever she wants. That big bad Keena has to be mastered by electric fencing. Lexi can go onto all the porches, dig in the garden, rummaged thru food scraps in the woods, and even visit the inside of the house in major cold and hot weather!!

Keena on the other hand has experienced some pain in her short time with the Nissleys. This is our very first time ever having electric fencing. It is glorious! It takes so much stress off dog training. Besides going around our entire 3 acres, we also wired off the back porch. Good idea! At least we can take off muck boots and flip-flops with out having to go looking for one or more the next morning!

 

 Keena is huge, and just a pup. She is still in training. You are still at risk at our house. Especially if you are smaller than her! FYI: I am smaller than her!!  She loves to stand up. She really seems to crave eye contact. Are you getting the picture?! She's gentle for her size, but can knock over a pint sized kid. We're working on that. Sometimes i yell at her in my loudest sternest voice and she freezes. I don't think she completely gets what i'm saying, but she's knows to listen. Yesterday, from quite a distance, i shook my finger and told her under no uncertain terms is she to chew on that glass bottle. ( she loves to crunch glass) She put her head down on her paws, looked at me thru her eyebrows, realized i was serious, and walked off. I picked it up later. I LOVE a good dog, and she is the makings of one. I've said from week one, that i'm sure she understands English. I think some people have French or Spanish dogs, but all they ever do is speak English to the poor pup. There's always that language barrier. Keena came English. That works for me! 

 She is so soft and lovable. She stinks, slobbers, takes underwear and bedsheets off the line, steals baseballs, sits on my flowers, ( and her romp smashes 3 plants with one flop!) chews on my porch rockers, ( but Brooke spread hot pepper sauce over the ends) digs in the trash, takes the guys' wallets if they leave them on the driveway with their lunchboxes, teases Lexi, chews elk horns, and sometimes blocks my path. But she is here to stay. She is gorgeous!!

 These two are an odd combination. The odd couple. And they have become good friends. They keep each other company. And when the big klutz gets too overwhelming for the refined little Jack Russel, the little lady knows where all the safe 'bases' are. She knows Keena can't bother her on the back porch.

 Dave is her Master. He brought her here. He feeds her. He took her to the vet for shots, but Josiah said "she never realized it", so no hard feelings there. She LOVES him. He's smitten,too!

Pictures Say It All

 This will be my final post on our trip to Albuquerque, NM. We had a fantastic 2 week vacation and are already home again as i post this. The kids and i did 2 weeks worth of work in these last 2 days. Catch up with the yard work, cleaning the guest house, baking cookies, etc. Was it worth it all? Of, course!! Seeing this great country is always worth the work it takes to get there and back. We landed in Baltimore at 9:30pm on the 4th of July. Hundreds of fireworks were exploding below us. It was an amazing sight and i made the kids trade window seats, just so each one could experience this possibly once in a lifetime flight. Megan thought that I should be the one at the window, then, as my life (remaining) is probably less than theirs! She's a quick thinker, that girl.

Dylan was the blunt of this practical joke, all the while fast asleep from watching a movie on our bed.

Many a lizard was sought and caught this week. One accidentally got his tail chopped off with a paper cup while attempting to trap him. He was mad the rest of the week. Never caught again

 Oh, Val, that's just gross!!

 Many a meal was taken out here to eat. You would, too!!!

 These guys stole a wedge of melon while i cut cutting slices. The watermelons were so good we ate 4 of them during our stay here!

 The 5 girls went out to town one evening. They ate at this fun sandwich shop.

 They could "flag their bag" and hang them up. Later they'd get sent to a soldier.

Such a fun word and spelling, too!

Pretty sisters, Vic and Val.

My dear teenagers, Brit and Meg.

Are words necessary?

These sunsets are worth watching! Every time.

Looking over their bike route.

Outdoor fires are banned, and it was too windy to use the gas fire pit, but some of the kids wanted marshmallows. Gas burners will do the trick.

Yum!

The were good, i had one.

These 3 spent SO much time racing each other on the DS's. Even after they were in bed, we'd hear them cheering and jeering.

Told ya they were at Wienerschnitzels!!

This hot tub was a lifesaver for the boys. And for we girls when we laid out in the sun. We really didn't keep it very hot. We gave our 'resort' 5-stars, but we dreamed about a pool, and would then give it a 10 for sure!


The Los Alamos fires began on Sunday and were about 35 miles from us. and we could see smoke by day..........

.......and flames by night. If you read the news, this is the fire that was burning near the nuclear labs. We smelled smoke and had our horizon blurred all week.

The Sandia Tramway is the longest in the world!! Wow, that was quite a ride. The span between the towers was crazy! I held by breath and acted brave. I survived.

About 25 people could ride in one car. The ride up was 14 minutes long. We couldn't venture off the observation deck because of the fire risk levels being so high. No one was aloud in the woods. This was very disappointing for us, because the men and boys ( and any girls who chose to) were going to hike overnight back to the house.

Where's Waldo?  Can you spy the tram?

This one is coming in for landing and we are in line to go back down. The temperature up here is a nippy 65! We've been having 100 degrees everyday down 'on the land'. One day it seemed cooler, so i checked the thermometer. 98. I've always heard how 100 in Phoenix is completely different than 100 in PA. Now i get it. Life without humidity is pleasant.

A great big thank-you to our generous friend Reuben for sharing his house with us and allowing us the Jeep,too! We had a grand time and are very grateful for the gift.

Sweet. Victoria helps Dylan walk the wall. It's not too far off the other side, but the desert rocks and cactus would give a nice bruiser if he were to fall.

My Brookie

We love Dylan. He is such a smart kid and keeps up quite well with his big brothers.

The kids played lotsa tennis on the driveway. All these guys are so content with each other and a few toys is all they need. Not once did beg to go somewhere or say that they are bored. Well, they did have 17 DS games!!

Dave and E-man took we ladies and all the girls to Starbucks for a date. Thanks, Dave for the treat!

After all, we need to say good-bye. The Stoltzfus's pull out a few hours before we needed to go to the airport. The girls and Dylan are flying home, and we'll meet them in Baltimore. The rest are doing some sight-seeing and will return to PA on Wednesday.


Hats off to Reuben for providing our stay, it really is "The Land of Enchantment" and thanks to E-man, Marcy, and kids for joining us. You are a pleasure to vacation with! I have a feeling we'll be going more places, as long as the men still ride. 

And thanks to you for joining us on another Nissley Adventure. They'll be many more as long as we have breath.