Going Green

Everyone is doing it now, right? Well, as true AMERICANS, we stood up to Obama's call last night to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. Look what we got today:

Yes, it's a Prius. 48 city mpg. I am so excite and I couldn't believe that it only had one mile on the ODO (see bottom right of dashboard pic).

Next we need to get some bumper stickers... like:

"Off shore drilling NOW"

"Alaska has more oil, let's go get it"

"When gas goes back to $2/gallon, we're driving our SUV again"

Suggestions welcome!

Ready for Some Football?

Just so everyone knows where my head is at this week...

Day on the Boat

This may conclude the posts on the lake vaca... I'm running out of topics!

As I previously explained, Alexander is not a huge fan of waves. Earlier this year in the Outer Banks, he almost had a stroke when sitting on the beach and a wave came within 6 feet of our chairs. Before I even realized that the wave was pushing in a little closer than previously, he was up and sprinting to the dunes -- screaming his head off. Get the picture?

Being the conscientious parents that we are, we made sure to rent a boat for some trolling around the lake and tubing fun! As you can imagine, Alexander "wasn't too sure about this" idea. But with much handholding and reassurance, he finally hopped on the pontoon boat and off we went.

Everyone had a great time cruising around the lakes inlets, fishing in quiet coves, consuming tons of pretzels/chips/soda, boys peeing off the side of the boat, tubing at an amazingly slow pace (which really, can you call it tubing if you are just 'sitting' in the water? next year -- need more horsepower!), and off course swimming (hopefully not right after a pee of the port bow sequence).


Alexander helping to steer away from any and all waves. Zack showing off his guns. Oooh, baby!









This is probably my best self-portrait ever. At the time, I didn't even know I would get Zack and CJ in the background. I just love this one!

Marshmallow Crisis 2008

Okay, do you know that you should not tell kids (at least those under age 7) that we are going to have a campfire after dinner with roasted marshmallows until it is time to start the fire? Big mistake. We told them around lunchtime and heard the incessant cries of "are we going to do the fire now? fire now? fire now?" all flipping afternoon. It was like a bad version of Bart and Lisa Simpson nagging Homer to go to the monster truck show.

Well 5 hours later we all gathered at the dock and started collecting sticks, wood and anything else deemed flammable. That was a good project for about 10 minutes. Then the litany of requests for marshmallows started. So the good moms that we are, Laura and I headed up to the house to get libations for the adults and the marshmallows for the kids. That's when we realized that this was the beginning of the Marshmallow Crisis of 2008. We riped apart every cabinet, shelf, and drawer of the kitchen searching for the bag. We checked the car. We checked the bedrooms (who knows why, we were in a panic)... all to no avail. What the hell were we going to do with 4 anxious kids and no marshmallows?

See Nate and Laura had hit the store earlier in the week to get a few things including the mallows. Unfortunately Nate wasn't taking his ADD meds and seemed to have forgotten to grab the last bag off the walmart bag trolley before leaving. Which also led to the Saffron Crisis of 2008, but that's another post all together. So what to do?

Thankfully, there were mini marshmallows in the house. You know, the ones smaller than a pencil eraser top? They were previously designated for the marshmallows gun/shooters, but we went "MacGyver" and brought them to the fire. We struggled at first to get the little suckers on the ends of sticks. Plus once you did, they roast in no time at all and the simple movement of bringing the stick up to your mouth usually made them fall to the sand immediately. However, it truly is amazing how sugar and process chemicals can easily be smashed together in your palm to make "big" marshmallows. With the crisis managed we went back to Def Con 1.

Wow, this was a long story just to show some fun campfire photos. But, hey, this is the only time I get to tell a story to adults during the day! ;-)




FYI, her mouth is full of MARSHMALLOWS and she was just playing with her milk at the time of the photo.

Extreme Adventure Sports

Deep Creek, MD is an all-season vacation spot. It is home to Wisp, a ski resort that has smartly converted its assets to include summertime activities. They use the water from snow-making in the winter for a Class 4 whitewater rafting course on the top of the mountain and have followed the European ski resorts by installing a mountain roller coaster down one of the ski slopes. Let's just say that Wisp is printing money. Want to raft, just fork over $65. Want to go up the chairlift, it's just $10. Want to look at the mountain, just pay $5. Want to breathe the fresh air, it's only $3/inhale... but exhales are free!

Zack and I did get a chance (thanks to a kid-sit swap agreement with Nate & Laura) to go rafting one afternoon. It was AWESOME. The whole adventure was two hours filled with paddling our butts off, riding the rapids and bumping into every rock on the course. There were a few crazy moments on the raft, but I must admit that Zack never fell out of the boat unintentionally. I, on the other hand, can not claim such success. Oh well, there goes my career in Olympic Whitewater Rafting.

For family adventure, we took the kids to the roller coaster... better known as the Alpine Slide. Now, if you don't know, Alexander isn't what we would call a "dare-devil". He is cautious of just about everything and down-right terrified of waves and fast moving objects. The canoe attempt earlier in the week almost brought the lake police boat after the screams of horror echoed across the lake. So the run up to the coaster was a little tenuous. We continued to say that it was not that fast, that we had a brake, I gave him a big dose of "courage" and told him to use it to be strong. He was still "not too sure about this", but since everyone else was doing it he was in. Meanwhile, CJ was totally game for the ride and had ants in her pants in line waiting to jump in. She is indeed our no fear, dare-devil. CJ and I ran down the mountain together at top speed and smiled the whole way down. As soon as we came to the end, she jumped off and screamed, "DO AGAIN, DO AGAIN!" As for Alexander, just watch:

*****SPOILER ALERT******

Just so you know, especially those in Social Services, Alexander immediately turned to Zack once off the coaster and started yelling: "Again! Again! Again!" And he did. Too bad we don't have video of that, because I took him down that time super fast and he had a ball.

Adventures in Fishing

A big hit on vacation was fishing. With kids aged 2, 4, 5, 7, and 36 all gung-ho on daily fishing, it was quite the scene.

Sadly the whole week only produced two small perch. While this was far from the carp and bass dreams of the oldest fisherman, the lake did not fail to surprise us. The most dedicated fisherman (Nate) finally did get the big catch of the week. Just watch...

Back from the Creek

Wow... what a week we just had! We just got back from Deep Creek, MD and are trying to figure out how to entertain the kids without the help of others. So while we do laundry, grocery shop and try to avoid all the incoming PSU students here is a photo to enjoy. Zack and I will both be posting regularly this week about fishing, boats hitting rocks, swimming, catching ducks, large fires, children drinking from the wrong cup, alpine slides and Class 4 rapids. Stay tuned!

What is this, 1995?

It has been so long since I've had to use a dial-up connection that I almost forgot how bad it is...but then you wait 5 minutes for your own blog to load because of all the pictures, and the mid-90s come flooding back to you...Seriously, what did we do before broadband?

The family is on vacation this week, and I had grand plans of posting daily pictures of all of our adventures on a daily basis...dreams of wireless floated through my head. And why shouldn't they? The house that we rented, right on the shores of Deep Creek Lake, advertised "Internet Access" along with the gas grill, Cable TV, and hot tub. Well, I've already ruined the outcome of this story with my annoying complaints -- dial-up on a brand-new Dell...what a waste of computing power...

At any rate, the house is great -- not too fancy, but a good location and all the essentials. It is so nice to be right on the lake. The weather so far has been fantastic, so we have already fished, canoed, hiked, and played dominoes on the back deck. And who knew that dominoes was so much fun (or was it the margaritas talking)??? Takes me back to Boyz 'N The Hood (another 90s flashback...I see a theme developing here...)

Well, since it would take approximately three days to upload any pictures, I am just going to go crack a 40 and put on some Pearl Jam and make this experience complete.

Garden Update

Another large harvest yesterday -- but thankfully it is mostly tomatoes and not as many zuccs or squash!!! Take a look at the bounty Alexander "wheeled" into the kitchen yesterday.

The tomatoes are a variety of "early bird", which were suppose to be ready by July 4th and are now just being picked (total false advertising!), beefsteak and a "tangy hybrid" that is striped. I am making tomato sauce with all the ones shown above right now. The house smells so savory with the onion, garlic and tomatoes roasting in the oven!!!

Another exciting time was the picking of the first ripe carrot. Alexander and Zack have been itching all summer to pull the carrots up. Yesterday was the first fully developed, crisp carrot pull.

It was DELICIOUS. The kids rushed inside to rinse off the dirt and taste the carrot. CJ popped it into her mouth, chewed twice and quickly spit it back into the sink! Alexander touched it with his tongue and quickly stated, "Mommy, you need to cook this first with sugar" [this is a good shout out to Aunt Mary who has successfully taught my child to eat carrots -- but only when all nutrition is boiled out and copious amounts of sugar has been cooked in]. Alas, Zack and I enjoyed the sticks without them.

Nittany Valley's Funniest Home Video...

Our first nominee is...



First, I have to ask our audience to please not report us to the authorities. I believe that CJ had just turned 2, and was talking up a storm when we discovered that she had difficulty correctly pronouncing "fort" and "fork". So, we broke out the camera and encouraged her to work it out. Hilarity ensued...

By the way, I know some of you have seen this before, but that's not an excuse to not post this video for the rest of our adoring fans. Plus, you know you laughed again when you watched it...don't deny it, you know you did!

Happy Birthday Big Bro!

My big brother, Paul, celebrates his birthday today. Paul is one great brother. He was the kind of guy that had all the cute friends in high school and college AND he would bring them home for me to flirt with endlessly, during college he would come visit me and buy me groceries and cook for my roomates and me (perhaps he was the one checking out my school friends at this point), and as Zack and I were leaving for the airport for our honeymoon, he slipped us a few benjamins for the road. He is known by many aliases, including but not limited to:

Paulie - To most of his seedy, dockworker friends


Crazy Uncle Paul - (self-explanatory)


College Education for My Kids - to most Charleston, SC bartenders


Mr. Free Furniture Maker - to anyone who can get him to make stuff for them


Mr. Electrician - to Zack and Me, everytime we try to install a ceiling fan or other outlet


Here's a shout out to you big bro! Have a fantastic birthday and I will certainly kick back and drink a few in your honor today.

Aspirational Shout Out

As an Aspirational Adventurer, of course I am a subscriber to National Geographic Adventure magazine, not to mention Outside magazine. Well, I was so excited to see that State College, PA has recently been named one of the 50 Best Places to Live in the nation. We couldn't agree more. As I've stated previously, there are at least 5 state parks and 2 state forests within an hour drive from town; many miles of singletrack mountain bike trails nearby, and the town has miles and miles of paved trails through and around town. With very moderate temperatures in the summer and gorgeous autumns, hours of outdoors fun can be had for those with the desire to get on the bike and pedal towards the mountains.

Someday soon I'll ascend higher than Aspirational on the outdoorsman scale and hike or bike and take some pictures of amazing scenery to share with our loyal blog readers...someday...

What I want to be when I grow up

This was the topic of conversation in the car yesterday -- brought up by Alexander. As we were passing through the tall corn fields of Happy Valley, he asked Zack what he wanted to be when he grows up. After pondering this timeless question for a moment, he responded with "Maybe a farmer". Quite original given the setting. ;-)

Plus, I think if he had said "lobbyist", then the countless questions as to what a lobbyist is, what is the federal government, what is pork barrel spending, what is liberal bias; would have been too much for us to deal with on a Sunday afternoon.

From there, we turned the tables on him by asking him what he wanted to be. And this is how the conversation went down...

Alexander: "Uh... ummmm.. I think I will be an airplane flier. CJ, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

CJ: [fresh from a hike with rocks and acorns still in her grasp] "I want to pick up rocks."

Alexander: "You can be an excavator driver. And when I fly by you, you can wave to me up in the air. Mommy, what do you want to be when you grow up."

Me: "I don't know. I think I like just being a kid."

Alexander: "MOMMY. You are silly. You just have to keep eating your vegetables and then you will grow up big and strong."

Ahhh... it is so easy, isn't it?

Third-party confirmation

While CJ has been known to act a bit beyond her 2 years of age at times, I am still pretty sure that she can not read, nor manipulate the computer to read items on the internet.

So, when I was awaken at 6:30am the the yelling of "Mommy! Mommy! Mooommmyyyy!", imagine my surprise when I stumbled into her room and she sat up to say to me:

"Mommy, I heard cock-a-doodle-do."

Talk about waking up with a smile on my face... and that's even before a cup of coffee! But perhaps she is more advanced and blog-savvy then we know!

Sleeping with the Windows Open

No, that's not some sort of analogy...

Those of you who talk to us on a semi-regular basis are probably sick of hearing how much we love Summers in Happy Valley. Well, fear not, we'll be equally complaining about the Winter.

But for now, I want to share another Great Thing About Summer in State College, sleeping with the windows open. Last night, it was legitimately cool outside, with temps in the 50s, low humidity, and a slight breeze. Even with the windows cracked, it was the kind of night that you could curl up under the down comforter. There's something so refreshing about not having AC on all summer, not just for your spirit, but for your wallet as well...

But there are some potential downsides to this open-window policy:
1. Traffic. We don't have to worry much about this since we live on a dead-end road, but it is a gravel road, so we do hear any cars that venture down our lane.

2. Rain. Nothing worse than waking at 2am to a raging thunderstorm and running around the house frantically closing windows.

3. Birds. Ever wake up at 5:30am to a bird right outside your window with a shrill voice, namely a crow? Nothing makes me hate nature more than early morning crows. I like to grumpily yell at them as I'm closing the window -- makes me feel better...

4. Roosters. You city folks just don't appreciate that roosters like to wake up at like 4:30 am for no good reason. Our roosters aren't even right next door, they're a quarter mile away. But they must be some healthy roosters, because they let the neighborhood have it at least an hour before the sun comes up. At least we've learned our lesson and only leave window's on the non-rooster side of the house open the night before. It's akin to turning off your alarm clock on the weekend...

Am I missing anything?

Into the woods

The other night Zack rode home from work (yes, he is biking to work these days) and was all hyped up to get back outside. So we got the kids' shoes on, put Ripley in the truck and all headed to Whipple Dam.

It's a great little park/state forest or something and it is only 15 minute drive from our house. We stopped for dinner at a little bbq place, called Doan's Bones.

The kids loved sitting outside on the picnic benches and eating dinner -- especially after the milkshake arrived. It is truly amazing how motivated a kid can be to finish his/her dinner when there is a sweet treat sitting in front of them.

Then we went over to the park/lake. I have taken the kids there about 4 times this year to swim in the lake. They love it. Tonight, though, we had Ripley, so we headed up the side of the hill and took what we assumed would be just a flat circle around the lake.

Much to our surprise, it headed straight up the mountian (fairly steeply) and then cut across the top edge. It was a beautiful walk after stuffing our faces with BBQ.

The best part of this little spontaneous adventure was the fact that the little Diva (aka CJ) actually HIKED the trail. She walked all the way up the moutain by herself. This is a real feat, since usually about 3 yards into the woods she is running in front of you with her arms raised, frantically yelling "UP!UP!UP!"

Needless to say, she was very proud of herself. Zack and I were so excited for her - and for the rest our arms had!

All in the line of duty

I used to work in a big software firm. Paid very well to make important decisions, attend meetings, give ideas and opinions that would hopefully help the stock price increase. I gave all that up to stay at home and raise two wonderful children.

The idea in my mind was that I was going to be there to let them grow and learn in a healthy, nurturing environment to be well-mannered, intelligent, and fun-loving people. Yes, the idea was quite lofty.

Today, as I was doing the breakfast dishes, Alexander came up to me with his pants around his ankles, turned around, bent over, and said:

"Mom, can you scratch my butt? It is all itchy."

Perhaps the funnier part is that I didn't even hesitate to bend down, give a little scratch and then return to loading the dishwasher. My job rocks!

Never get enough

This is what we picked the last two days in our garden (not shown: 6 squashes that Zack's sister took home on Saturday) -- except for the onion/garlic/orange tomato. To say that the garden is doing well this year is a bit of an understatement.

While I have tried new zucchini and squash recipes practically nightly, there is only so much Zack and I can take. Alexander has loaded up his radio-flyer wagon and made "deliveries" to the neighbors twice already. I am pretty sure that if we tried again, they would close the curtains and pretend not to be home.

So, I took the 30+ veggies to Meals-on-Wheels at our church this morning. This was the second time in three weeks. I get a sense that the lunch ladies there are going to start giving me the evil eye if I come again with a crate full of these.

Lesson learned. A family of four, with only two people actually eating the veggies, do not need 10 plants each of squash and zucchini. Okay, got it.

Getting my feet wet

Okay, here I am blogging-world.

So Zack already covered our adventures of the weekend, but here are some items from my perspective:

1. The kiddie amusement park was an awesome thing for little kids to experience. The rides, the sounds, the blinking lights are a great introduction to the fun they will have in Vegas as adults.

2. After spending most of this summer eating ice cream with the kids, go to Tyrone, PA and walk around a hokie amusement park and you will feel super-model thin. In fact, next time I'm going to wear a tube top and stuff my face with funnel cake and still might be confused with an anorexic.

3. What is with the tattooing of middle america?

4. I am really looking forward to the time when CJ can surpass the height requirements for the big rides. She is a total dare-devil and we will have a blast.

5. Hiking with a 4 and 2 yr old is more an experience of discovery then covering distance. While we may never see more than a mile or two (HA!) of the actual trail, we are well acquainted with every stick, acorn, frog, daddy-long legs, and rock along the way.

6. Eating PB&Js on a rock in the middle of a stream is something every family should do. It was awesome.

Bye Bye Lunch Rock

Awesome Sunday in Central PA! Absolutely beautiful weather (it topped out at a comfortable 77 degrees...on August 3rd!)

Decided to go on a bit of an adventure today to Poe Paddy State Park. One of the things we like best about living in State College is the fact that there are 6 or 7 state parks and 2 state forests within an hour of our house. Poe Paddy is nearly an hour away, mostly because it's deep in a valley that is only accessible by dirt roads. But it's well worth the drive.

Poe Paddy State Park is located at the confluence of Big Poe Creek and Penns Creek, with camping sites on both sides. But there is a hiking trail that goes over an old rail bridge across the creek and then through a tunnel. Super cool (and pretty scary for the kids since the tunnel is 50 yards long and is PITCH BLACK inside.) So we brought our lunches with us on the hike, and found a big rock on the shore to sit and eat our PB&Js. Sweet spot!

As we're walking up the trail away from the creek, CJ say, "Bye bye lunch rock." And of course Alexander has to chime in, lower lip protruding, with, "I'm going to miss the lunch rock." Brilliant!

Anyway, it was a great day to be alive.