Welcome Little Nephew!

                                      Tuesday, our family had a very special milestone. We welcomed our first nephew and cousin to our family. Meet Inman James McGuirt! He is the son of Brent's brother, Jared and his wife Brooke. He was born on July 28, 2015 at 1:07 am and weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.
We traveled down to North Carolina for the day yesterday to meet him and see his Mom and Dad. 

Look at that sweet little head full of hair!

 We are thrilled to finally be Uncle Brent and Aunt Dana!

 These cousins have been so excited for their cousin Inman's arrival. Rachel and Bekah both brought him pictures to welcome him for his "Birth Day." You can see Rachel waving to him when he woke up. Bekah was full grin getting to meet him and Bethany started clapping she was so excited!

 

 Look at this precious little guy!

 Uncle Brent and Uncle Jason along with others helped change a diaper while we were visiting.

 Here are the three James's: James Lee, Inman's Papa; Brenten James, Inman's Uncle and Inman James.
 
 Here is Little Man with his Dad and Uncle Brent and Uncle Jason. Goodness, when I see all 3 guys in on picture I realize how much Brent and his brothers really, really, really look alike!

 The girls had fun seeing Nana and Papa while we visited too. We also got to check on Aunt Brittany and the new niece and cousin who will be arriving in November!

 Here is the sweet family of 3! Jared, Brooke and Inman, we love you all!
                        

 Inman James, we are so glad you are finally here and for the time we had to meet you yesterday! We are looking forward to seeing you grow up and all the great plans God has for you and your life! Your cousins can't wait until you are old enough to play with them and we are excited about all the fun and adventures you all will have as you grow up together! Uncle Brent, Aunt Dana, Rachel, Bekah and Bethany all love you very much!

First Camping Trip

 This past weekend, we headed to Shenandoah National Park for our first family camping trip! Brent and I have camped before and we have car camped with the girls but this was their first time camping in a tent. Brent and I had talked for awhile about camping with the girls and I had even suggested starting by camping in the tent in the backyard. He decided we would just go ahead and try camping in the National Park for their first trip and it was a lot of fun!

 The first night we got there a little later than planned after working that day, so we had to set our tent up mostly in the dark. Actually it was a tent I had found at a yard sale back when we lived in Colonial Heights that we had never set up before, but we got it all set up without too much trouble.

 

 This was a neat thing we had happen. Brent brought our lantern but the tent just had a fabric piece with no hook to hang the lantern overhead. We just had Vacation Bible School at church 2 weeks before with the main theme being about how God provides for and takes care of us. Our VBS director, Linda, had ordered these clips and tags that hooked on the clip that came with Scripture verses and the theme for each day from VBS. I had clipped mine onto my purse and had told the girls we were going to start memorizing the Bible verses from each tag. Well, as we were looking for something to hang our lantern so we could actually see inside the tent, I remembered my VBS clip. It worked perfectly to attach the lantern to the top of the tent and our family got an excellent reminder of how God provides for us in all things-big and small!

 Usually, when we visit Shenandoah we are either headed for a specific hike or hurrying to see the sunrise or sunset. This trip because we were camping we were already in the park for a couple of days so we went to 3 different range led programs. They were all very good, the rangers who led each did a great job. We did a two hour nature walk around Big Meadows which the girls really liked (ask Rachel about milkweed next time you see her). We also went to the ranger program about Birds of Prey and got to see a red-tailed hawk.

 A big part of our trip was the big girls, and especially Rachel, working on the Junior Ranger badge. They attended a ranger led program with Ranger Amy all about insects. They got to dress up as ladybugs and butterflies .

 We learned about how bugs have compound eyes and got to look for bugs with magnifying glasses

 Here are the girls looking at a beetle and Rachel getting ready to turn in her completed Junior Ranger book.

 We walked on the Appalachain Trail and of course, saw some beautiful sunsets. Brent did the night photography and sunrises on his own this time.

 

 Of course, camping wouldn't be completed without a campfire and S'mores!

 I was holding Bethany in one arm and trying to taking pictures with the other hand so the pictures are not quite clear. Here is Rachel roasting her marshmallows.

 The girls had fun just playing in the tent too.

 No trip is complete with our girls without finding the playground too.

 While there were moments of adventure, like putting the tent up in the dark and then having to move it the next morning and the air mattress mysteriously starting to lose air in the middle of the night, overall we had a great first camping trip as a family. The girls loved it and I am sure we will be camping again!

McGuirt Family Camping Trip, July 2015

Junior Ranger Rachel

 This big girl got her Junior Ranger badge while we visited Shenandoah National Park last weekend. She got her book the first afternoon and as we rode through the park she just worked and worked on it and managed to get it all completed in 2 days.

 She had to attend two ranger led program. One was a hike and nature walk through Big Meadows and the other was a program for kids all about insects.

 Here is our butterfly and lady bug at the ranger program

 Here she is getting ready to turn in her completed Junior Ranger Book at the Visitors Center.

 She had to complete 12 activities in her Junior Ranger book in addition to going to the 2 ranger led programs. Here is one of her pages in her book.

 Here she is getting her book checked. Actually the ranger who checked off her book, Ranger Amy, was the same ranger who led the kids program about insects with Rachel and Bekah.

 Here she is taking her oath as a Junior Ranger.

 Here is our official Junior Ranger Rachel. She was very determined to complete her Junior Ranger badge on our trip and she did it! We are proud of you, Rachel!

Natural Bridge 2015

 Last week, we got to spend a little time at Natural Bridge. It was free admission day for Rockbridge County residents with a canned food donation per person so we were excited to get to visit the Bridge and spend some time with friends. Our friends, the Chittums were able to meet us there and we got to spend some time with our friends, the Coiners, who are moving in early August.

 These two littles had fun playing together in the visitors center while we got our free ticket sheets and got all our gear together.

 We chose to ride the shuttle instead of walk the 137 steps this trip. It was a very nice day weather wise today but probably a few too many steps for the little ones yet.

Just before the Bridge, they had an exhibit showing the butterflies found around the Bridge and an archeology exhibit including arrowheads found in the area and fragments of pottery.

The kids had lots of fun just walking along the creek near the Bridge. We saw butterflies, tadpoles, lots of fish and this critter sunning itself on the rocks!

These two little ladies were smart and decided to rest their legs and enjoy the wagon ride!

Here is the whole crew right under the Bridge. My camera has a zoom lens on it so it was impossible to fit the Bridge and the whole group in one shot!

We headed to the Monacan village to finish up our Natural Bridge trip. The girls all liked trying the cornmeal cakes, watching the basket weaving and looking into the replicas of their homes.

Our Family at the Bridge, July 2015

After we finished our couple of hours at the Bridge, everyone was getting pretty hungry, so we all met up at the Pink Cadillac restaurant nearby for some lunch.

We had a fun few hours enjoying Natural Bridge with some good friends. Thanks, Matt, Molly, Hannah and Aleah and Rebecca, Sadie, Scott, Tucker and Carter for coming to meet us! We had a great time!