We are MARSHALL: July 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

Playing in the Rain/Sleepy Kid

Spencer was excited to have his twin friends over, Jonathan and Natalie. They had a blast playing outside in the rain, because it hadn't rained in forever. They ran down to the end of our street and played in the gutters where the water accumulated.

Spencer...

Spencer and Natalie...

Spencer, Jonathan and Natalie...

Sidnie played in the rain for a while, but I didn't get any photos of her this time. But here is one of her at the end of a long summer day...

Meet vs. Sherwood - July 7, 2012

We got back from vacation on Friday, July 6th and had a swim meet against our biggest rivals the next morning. (Sherwood has the biggest team and the most swimmers that come over from year round swimming to swim in the summer league. They are the winners of our Central Arkansas Swimming League every year.) We had to be back for this meet. Sure the kids hadn't been at practice for a week, but with Kammie and Zack being point earners, we had to be back to contribute what we could.

No pictures at this meet. We had rain and I had my first experience being a stroke and turn judge, so, you'll have to settle for the results...

Spencer
25 yard kickboard 41.19 6th place of 17. (He took off 5 seconds.)
25 yard Freestyle 32.00 4th place Bronze (He took 5 1/2 seconds off.)
25 yard Backstroke 40.65 3rd place Bronze [1 point]

Zack
100 yard IM 1:50.66 3rd place Gold [1 point]
25 yard Freestyle 17.93 2nd place Gold [3 points]
25 yard Butterfly 23.03 2nd place Gold [3 points]
25 yard Backstrok 24.04 4th place Gold (with a silver time)

Kammie
100 yard IM 1:25.68 4th place Gold (Improved her time by 2 seconds, but got beat by 2 100ths of a second.)
50 yard Freestyle 33.57 2nd place Gold [3 points]
50 yard Butterfly 40.75 3rd place Gold [1 point]
50 yard Backstroke 41.06 1st place Gold [5 points]

Jordan
100 yard IM 1:35.38 2nd place Bronze [3 points]
50 Freestyle 37.85 8th place Bronze
50 yard Backstroke 46.09 4th place Bronze (The official results had her DQ'd, but they found a mistake in the data entry later and she was not the one disqualified.)
50 yard Breaststroke 46.97 4th place Bronze

Relays got cancelled because of rain. Sherwood won the meet as always, but we had fun.

Our last morning together...

Spencer was enamored with Kirsti. He began pestering her in the morning by sticking his fingers underneath her door. Then he moved to pillow fights and more pestering

Chris and Kirsti with the Marshall kiddos...

Chris on his guitar...

Kirsti, Jordan, and Kammie...

Kammie getting a feel for the guitar...

Spencer and Uncle Chris wrestling on the floor...

Group with Kirsti...

Group with Kathie...

We hit the road in our seperate directions and were glad we had time together with family.

The Happy Room

I know I've posted about the Happy Room before. This is the guest bathroom at G-ma Vernetta's house. The wall paper is black and white smiling faces. James says when he was little he couldn't go in there and stay mad for long. Chris' girlfriend Kirsti, didn't really like all those faces watching her in there. Performance anxiety I guess. My favorite is the unside-down one.

Dry ice Ice Cream

It's an Olson Family tradition to make homemade ice cream on the 4th. (Usually my dad makes peach.) Chris wondered if we were going to do it or not. G-ma Vernetta already had other treats made, but we decided we could show Chris our dry-ice version. We throw the dry ice right in the ice cream mixture and stir until it hardens. We didn't buy quite enough dry ice, so we only got the ice cream to a runny milk shake stage. Oh well, it still tasted good. The dry ice does give it a little kick though.

Sidnie wasn't too sure of Uncle Chris' friend Kirsti at first. But after playing with her at the Lake, they were fast friends. While the ice cream was being made, Sidnie, Kate and Kirsti were busy playing with some toy animals.

Fireworks

We were invited to G-ma Vernetta's visiting teacher's house to watch the fireworks. We had a tough time following the directions, but we arrived just in time to watch the fireworks from the top of three balconies. We were able to see 3 or 4 different town's fireworks going off in the background of the Charlotsville Firework display. We didn't get any pictures of those, but here are some of the kids with the doggies at that home.

This doggy was still new and likes to jump up on people and chew on the furniture and stuff, so they keep it in here when visitors come.

Jordan is still saying: "I want a doggie!"

July 4th - Back to the Lake

My brother Chris, who is an Board Certified ER doctor in Arlington, VA, came over to visit. We haven't seen him for almost 2 years, so it was fun to have him there. We originally had tickets to ride the Amtrack train from Charlotsville to Stanton, VA, through a tunnel in the mountain. But, with the storm, trains were not getting through from West Virginia because of debris on the track or other damage. So, we decided to pack up and head back to the Sherando Lake.

Chris and Kathie (I guess you can tell we are siblings)...

We set off swimming to the island. (Kate and Spencer took the pathway around and met us there.) Zack swam most of the way across and then stood up when he got to a section that was shallow enough. He said he felt something push up against his leg and it hurt. He says he did not slip and scrap his leg. But his leg had two big scrape marks and it was bleeding a little.

His leg later that day...

We determinded that it was the Lake-ness Monster. We don't know what really happened.

After being on the island for a while and jumping off the rocks, where Uncle Chris did flips of the rocks and even Spencer got in on the jumping, we were sitting in the sun on the other side. Kammie was down in the water on some rocks. We heard a guy say: "There is a snake. I think it's a cotton mouth." We moved Kammie and a few minutes later we all saw the snake in the water. It reappeared and came up out of the water where Kammie had just been. After that, none of us wanted to get back in the water and swim back. But, we had to get in the water one way or the other to get back, so we hurried past the shore at the island where the snake had been seen and swam back across as fast as we could.

We ended our time there, playing in the sand. We didn't get the camera out until then.

Spencer all covered with sand...

Kate digging away...

Zacky boy...

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Visiting G-pa Fulton's grave

After being at Monticello, we stopped at James' Dad (G-pa Fulton's) grave. We hadn't been there since the funeral back in October of 2010. The headstone is now in place and already has Vernetta's name on it as well, just with no death date for her.

Marshall Headstone: Fulton W. Marshall, Jr. on the left and Vernetta's name on the right.

James with 5 of G-pa Fulton's grandkids: Peter, Jordan, Jacob, Kammie, and Zack...

Kathie with the group...

Meditation Garden...

Zack had fun reading this out loud.
The Lord's prayer...

Psalm 23...

G-pa Fulton's Dad [Pa]- Fulton W. Marshall, Sr. ...

Frances B. Marshall was Pa's Mom...

July 4th at Thomas Jefferson's Home - Monticello

To begin our celebrations on July 4th, some of us went to Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, to participate in the 50th Annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturaliztion Ceremony.

"The flames kindled on the 4th of July 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism. On the contrary they will consume those engines, and all who work for them." Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, Sept. 12, 1821

Monticello from the back lawn...

Our group:
Front - Kammie, Jordan, Kathie, Zack
Back - Jacob, Peter, and James

Nadia Comaneci was the keynote speaker...

It was so fun to see and hear her in person. (She is the gold-medal winning gymnast, considered one of the best known athletes in the world. She was the first olympic gymnast to score a perfect 10. In the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, when she was just 14 years old, she scored 7 perfect 10s. She won 3 gold medals, one bronze and one silver. She went on to the 1980 Olympics in Moscow to win 2 more gold medals and 2 silver.) Born in Romania, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2001, but has dual citizenship with Romania. She is married to US gymnast Bart Conners, who was also there.

It was hot, but they provided fans, flags and water bottles. We stayed for the swearing in of 80 some odd new citizens, but split when they turned the microphone over to the newest citizens for comments.

Oath of citizenship...
"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States o America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion: so help me God."

Zack, Kam, Thomas Jefferson, Pete, Jordan, and Jake...

James next to TJ's statue...

Sherando Lake

On Monday, we headed off to Sherando Lake. We had been there several years before with the kids, but just as we were beginning to get in the water on that trip, the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down, so our adventures were cut short. Not this time. The kids wanted to swim out to the Island first. So, off we went...

The Island...

I don't know how far out it was 100 yards or more. We were worried a few years ago that it was too far for the kids. This time, we felt much more confident in their abilities since most of them are on the swim team. Kammie, Jordan, Zack and Peter all headed out to the island right away. James went out with Spencer. Kate went more than half way, freaked out and turned around and came back. Mom went to help her. Then Mom swam out with Sidnie. Sid had arm floaties on and made it with lots of help from Mom, who was tired out by the end.
We got out to the Island and discovered some rocks that you could jump off of. It said no diving, because it wasn't super deep and there were rocks where you would land. The kids didn't want to try it, but after watching some from another group go, I (Kathie) went first. I landed okay, but needed to keep my legs bent longer. After that, Zack was dying to try.

Zack taking off...

Zack 1st jump...

Splash...

Zack after a jump heading back to go again...

J jump...

Kam jump...

Zack jump with tounge out...

Zack best shot of one of his jumps...

You could also walk around the lake and get to a place where you could "walk" across to the Island without having to take the long swim. That is how Kate got across in the end. I also took Sidnie back that way.

Kath and Sid in deep...