My Week in the Twilight Zone...

I am sitting here remembering Maryanne saying something about Mercury in retrograde...and I know that means something freaky...but I'll never proclaim myself to be an astrology expert. In retrospect...my week has been freaky! I know the week isn't over yet... but I plan to stay inside tomorrow!

Crazy Event #1:

Keith came in and announced there was a problem outside for me to take care of...

BAT IN THE POOL!!! ALIVE!

I fished him out with the skimmer and noticed...not only was a bat in our pool...he had a beatle stuck on his eye!




So I used a pen to get the bug off...

and here is batty!




I dumped him off outside our back gate and he kind of "walked" himself away under Keith's trailer. I hope he made it home okay later because it has been impossibly hot this week!

Crazy Event #2:

While visiting my friend Maryanne (her link is Torchsong Studio on my sidebar) in Manheim, a wicked storm came through!

Here is her cute workshop where she makes soaps, beads, jewelry, and manages her business. At Christmastime, it's an enchanted gift shop!




Inside, she let me play on her torch! Man, I haven't made beads in a year! It was so nice to melt some glass. Here is a view out of her window, and a couple pics of Maryanne making a bead:








We stepped outside to view her gourd nursery... little baby gourds climbing a hand-crafted wooden cupola.
This is a "snake" gourd...although Maryanne's sister referred to it a little differently! ha ha ha Of course I was intrigued when I saw it:



Her dog Rudy is gorgeous and ever so sweet!!! Love him!





So what was crazy about this visit? We lost power while I was starting a bead...so a wonky plain white bead went into the kiln...which was off of course because of the power, but oh, well! She invited me in the house to wait the storm out. Suddenly there was a terrible BOOM! CRACK! Lightning struck close to the property -- splitting a tree a few houses down! We about came out of our skins, it was so loud! (She lost some electrical items due to this, which she found out about the next day!) On the way home, a portion of the route was blocked, and I got completely lost! Luckily I made it home after two hours of driving around!

Crazy Event #3:
At the beginning of my visit with Maryanne, the owner of the firm I report for called and asked if I could take a job in Media, PA...about two hours from my house. I agreed, and he was pretty clear that it started at 2:30 p.m. Well, my worksheet came through the e-mail saying 7:00 a.m. start time. I couldn't get a hold of someone to confirm it because her cell phone died that night too!!! So, not wanting to take a chance that 7:00 was right...though highly unlikely, I left the house at 4:30 a.m. to be in Media by 6:30. Well...not only was it really 2:30...but it later got moved back to 3:30! That's okay...I hung around town...but it was way too hot to go to a park or something...so I just loitered at Borders and Michael's and the mall...ho hum...

On the way home...I passed a couple signs for Spread Eagle Village! Another kinky Pennsylvania attraction!



Crazy Event #4:

Came home to see this:



When Thumpers Attack!!! (Going to submit to Stuff on My Cat!)

Maybe Friday will be a little more subdued. He he he

Can't Choose a Title...

First I thought... "Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Chicken!".... Nah!
"A Sticky Chickie"... Nah!
"Tooth Fairy Booty".... Nah!

So here is simply David's gift from the Tooth Fairy...




So why was he a sticky chickie? Well, since he resembles a ball...David was tossing him around like a ball, and he landed on Samantha's waffles... hence, a sticky chickie.

David was very excited in the morning when he woke up and found Chickie Ball under his pillow.

BREAKING NEWS! TOOTH WATCH 2006!

How ironic is this!!???!!! I was writing the previous post today about how stubborn David's second tooth was being...then he came and announced that it came out!!! Woohoo!!!

Here is a picture taken by my beloved friend, Yoko. David is flashing his cute little toofers...his very first! This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of him. Now...those two first little toofers are gone. *sniff* *sniff* My baby is growing up so fast!
(If you think that sounds pathetic...wait until his first day of school next month!)



And here he is today... he wasn't sad...just kind of looks that way. He was actually kind of excited that it finally came out.




And a little video about it all!


Is it just me, or is the audio totally off of the video in this take?? Godzilla Theater!


David wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy. The bear is what the TF brought him last time! Notice his "POTS" sign... that's supposed to be "STOP". That cracks me up all the time!




I guess nobody guessed the right date! Sorry! Thanks for playing along though!

Hydrangea!

Well, I shouldn't take credit for this because I didn't do anything... Nah... I'll take credit for it anyway! Ha! (Only because I picked them out two seasons ago!)

My hydrangea! One of three plants has blooms this year...better than last year where there were none! :(

I'm in love...even though it is just a modest little bloom. I know hydrangea color is determined by the soil's acidity or alkalinity... but how is it that you can get purple/blue AND pink all on the same bush? Tracey, help! You are the Garden Goddess!!!

Anyway...here are my little beauties!

Washington, D.C. Day Trip

On Monday the 10th, we spent the day in D.C.

My mom's plane was leaving early on Tuesday morning, and she had been wanting to visit Arlington National Cemetery. We decided to combine the day with a trip to the Smithsonian National Zoo to visit the panda baby Tai Shan who had just celebrated his first birthday on Sunday the 9th! For more about the zoo and the pandas, go to http://nationalzoo.si.edu.

Here are some photos from the zoo:


Little Tai Shan -- Well, not so little now that he's a year old! He was a little shy, so this is one of the best shots I could get of him. He flashed his butt once though! I just love pandas!


Mama panda Mei Xiang sits and enjoys some bamboo. I just think she is so beautiful!


Here are my little animals posing in front of Tai Shan's poster.


What a goof!

They also had a small mammal house where we discovered golden lion tamarins! Tamarins are small primates that resemble little lions in their coloring. Here is a little video of a black/gold variety of these interesting little creatures. The kids really enjoyed them!




After the zoo we headed down the road to Arlington Cemetery. You may remember the story of my mom's high school sweetheart. John Chubb and my mother met at Perry Junior High. They were engaged in high school to be married. Unfortunately the Vietnam war called him away, and his helicopter went down. He was listed as MIA until just recently when DNA confirmed the recovery of his remains, along with the remains of his fellow crew members. Most of what was identified returned home to Gardena, and a very nice memorial commenced...allowing him to rest with his parents who passed on years ago. Portions of the unidentified remains were given a home in Arlington during an April ceremony. At the moment, there is not a permanent marker, but we found the location.

Here is my mom saying some words to her long-lost love:


Before that though, we took a little tour around the grounds where we paid a visit to the grave of the Kennedy's:

and the amphitheater that sits in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.


Afterwards we caught a glimpse of the Capital and the Washington Monument:




Believe it or not, this was really my first time to see D.C. since moving to the east coast in 2001. This August 1st marks our fifth year here in P.A. I'm realizing there are too many things that I need to visit...I've been missing so many wonders that are right in my own backyard!

Tooth Watch 2006 Update...

The new Davidism:

"I don't want my tooth to come out! It's my best buddy!"

Crazy boy!

So the second loose tooth is putting up a good fight...despite the fact that it is going diagonal now! Seriously! It must miss the other tooth because it is leaning towards the empty space where the other tooth was! One day it was straight...the next day it was leaning! The Leaning Tooth of David! ha ha ha

So feel free to guess on when Tooth 2 will give up the fight... I still have a prize available!!

Searching for Pusey!

I thought that would get your attention!

When I told my mom there is a Puseyville, Pennsylvania, she just had to go and find it... so today we shipped the kids off with my in-laws and we armed ourselves with my camera and some soft drinks. Stepping off the porch I shouted, "Let's go search for Pusey!"

(Okay, we are easily amused!) (Maryanne, if you are reading this, you are probably shaking your head at us crazy West Coast folks who are still in awe over the Amish and the funny little names of Pennsylvania towns. Sorry! Kick me later!)

So we headed out...

but stopped at the World Famous Shoe House on the way. The shoe house is right here in York County, PA! I pass it often, but this is the first time we ever stopped to visit.



Then we got back on the road in search of Pusey! I told my mom it was just a little speck on the map, and sure enough...here is what we found in Puseyville:


a sign....

and a cow!

Then we just had to pop on over to Intercourse, PA! Here we found Amish things and more signs and lots of road apples! ha ha ha






We spent most of the day laughing, so it was a good day!

Let's Play Hide the Pirate!

No, that's not some sex game!

First...why does the Pirates Happy Meal Toy look like he came out of South Park???



I just thought that was funny!

Anyway...the kids occupied themselves on the way home from Knoebels by me playing Hide the Pirate with them. I would tuck him into the sun visor or behind my seat. They would squeal really loud about it...until Daddy yelled at them for screaming. No more hide the pirate...but it was fun for a little bit!

Sunny Sunday!

Here is my mom with the kids. She goes back home on Tuesday morning very, very early. We'll miss her.



I threw this picture in because...well...I just can't stop looking at my little girl growing up so fast!

Big 4!

Turn down the volume to avoid hearing rotten singing! ha ha





I can't believe she is already four!

Camping Knoebels Style

First of all... WE LOVE KNOEBELS!!! www.knoebels.com

Why do we love them so much??? It is a parent's paradise! With good traffic, it takes us about an hour and 45 minutes or so to drive north to Elysburg. There, nestled in the trees, is a wonderful old, yet up to date family park. The parking is free and so is the park admission! We go during the week so we can buy all-day ride wrist bands for the kids. Then if you need to go on a ride with the kids, rides are like 80 cents, et cetera, using a ticket system.

Food in the park is very reasonable! You can get a hot dog for 1.75, or a BBQ pork sandwich for 3.00... not to mention it is very delicious. They keep the place incredibly clean and tidy.. even the bathrooms...and everyone there is very friendly. Even when the parking lot is full, the place does not feel crowded at all. Kids wait for rides for maybe one turn at the most. They have plenty of rides for little ones and big kids.

So this time we did something different. We camped! Okay...but not like real camping with tents and stuff... we rented a cabin!



This is how sad and pampered we are though... the bathrooms were a little far, so we would drive back and forth between the showers/bathrooms and our cabin! How spoiled! The kids were excited when they walked in, but David said, "How are we going to watch TV?" We need to spend more time with nature, I guess!

We arrived Thursday night and left Saturday around noon. Our plan was to stay Saturday and play all day in the huge pool and water area, but it was still closed for post-flood clean up. If you hadn't heard, while we were in California, we got hit with lots of rain. Knoebels sits right on some big creeks, so it is used to flooding. They have the whole clean-up process down to a science. But alas the pool was closed, so we came home early.

Here are a couple more pictures.




We'll probably be up there again one more time this summer to enjoy the pool. We'll see. We still haven't really been to Sesame Place this season...got to get moving!

CELEBRATE 4!!!

It seems like just yesterday you were just a small Sam-bean-a....


Christmas 2002 - 5 Months old with big brother David.

And now you are my big FOUR-year old!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!!!

Happy 4th of July!!

Here are some fireworks from last night at the York Fairgrounds! I hope everyone had a great celebration!




And the 4th also marks my mother-in-law's birthday! Here is Janet with the kids and my father-in-law Nelson. (Here's a secret...this photo started out as three different pictures! I took many because some people didn't cooperate well. It started with Samantha poking her cheek...then the finger was in the nose..then the finger was in her mouth...then David was making a bad face..then Nelson looked like he was going to pass out by the time Sam got her finger out of her nose... three pictures and some creative editing later...I got this one:



And here is Samantha being sweet...



Then David snapped this candid picture of the little nose picker while my mom was cutting my hair...




See...got my hair cut:



David showed off his sketching abilities:



And finally...more fireworks!!

Back from California!

Well, actually we have been back since Wednesday morning! The footage of David and the tooth happened in our backyard. I'm still trying to get situated though! ha ha

We came back with my mother, which makes things feel like we are still on vacation. The kids are enjoying her. We are going to Olive Garden today to eat.

I can't believe it was a week ago already that we were have a blast at my grandma's birthday party! She had such a good time, and boy was she surprised! First, the kids walked in holding a big bouquet of flowers and my mom took them over to Grandma. She said, "Mom, this little girl wants to give you some flowers." Grandma said, "Oh, okay." She kind of looked at them for a moment and thought they looked familiar...but had no idea until she saw me poking my head around the door that it was MY kids! Then she about fell apart!! She was so excited!

Then her sister and niece arrived... the Mariachis started playing... and here is what I captured because I WASN'T BLINKING! he he... I was so glad I decided to be there. My grandma is the one in the white blouse, and her sister is in the green blouse... came all the way down from Oregon to surprise her.




and below my cousin Cha-Cha, Grandma, and Auntie Elo dance to Happy Birthday...



In my family, Mariachis are mostly only present at funerals. They are such a powerful and emotional element to any family event. Now and then it is a treat to have them at a birthday or wedding...but still pretty rare. This was wonderful to see my grandma enjoy them while she is alive. The last time we had mariachis was my grandpa's funeral. They always make everyone cry. This time it was nothing but happy songs! David refers to them as "Big singing Mexicans".

I'll post pictures from California after I get a job out the door. I have quite a few nice shots from the party and from the beach with friends.