Philly Quickly

Instead of straight home from Maryland we went north to spend 2 days in Philly. Our first stop was to see Bunny.

Her garden was quite pleasant in the warmth of August. We were very lucky that Philly was having a 'cold' spell while we were there. Like Ohio, Philly has been quite warm this summer.

CJ and Bunny had their required height picture taken. Almost, CJ, almost!

While we visited, Steve made the trek over to the shopping center to pick up cheesesteaks and hoagies. Bunny found her new favorite place and new favorite hoagie - the godfather. I had my old standby of a mixed cheese hoagie, yummy. Steve had a cheesesteak and CJ ate leftover ribs from his dinner on the bay the night before. Everyone was very full and very happy!

After rushhour we headed up to Roxborough where Dad, MaryKate and Furball were waiting on the porch for us. We promptly joined them and soon the porch was full of laughing and fun.

On Saturday Dan and Swati stopped by and we all went out for some shopping and lunch.

Each year Dan and Swati take CJ shopping to pick out his birthday present. CJ had forgotten that this had not yet happened and was excited to go shopping. For lunch we had cheesesteaks, go figure! CJ found out that fried onions were not a cheesesteak requirement and decided to try one. He liked it!

Steve found a model he liked while we were out. He and CJ put it together that night.

Then it was time to go home.

No matter how many times we do it, it is still a long drive.

A Week at the Beach

We arrived in Ocean City, MD about 9 hours after leaving home. Amazingly I drove about half the time, I love my car! We checked into the hotel and then hit the boardwalk. This was our first time in OCMD and were pleasantly surprised to find the boardwalk very similar to NJ in that it is made of boards and has shops the whole length of it. We were even happier to find that the restaurants tended more toward food and less to fries and ice cream. This is very important when living in a hotel room that has a fridge the size of a shoebox!

Ah, sand!!!

After walking the boards north, we opted for a ride in the tram car south towards the ferriswheel. After a delicious dinner at a wood fired pizza restaurant we headed for the kite store.

Way back in the '90's when we vacationed in OBX we always made several trips to Kitty Hawk Kites. The Kite Loft wasn't quite as big but it was just as impressive. We bought a new kite and despite the setting sun headed to the beach for some flying time. Steve gave CJ a refresher lesson. CJ hadn't flown a kite since our trip to OCNJ during hurricane Isabel. Flying a stunt kite is just like riding a bike, a few close calls and then all is good.

Day 2

After a big breakfast we headed down to the beach. It was a gloriously hot day and the ocean was a perfect temperature to cool us down after some hard work digging holes, Steve & CJ, or reading a book, me.

The waves were breaking too close to shore for bodysurfing so we spent the day jumping and diving into them. It was a perfect day! 

We eventually headed back to the room for showers and found that the hotel across the street had live music which was a great way to unwind and relax before a night on the boardwalk.

Day 3

After getting a little too much sun the day before (yes, mother I had sunscreen on) we decided to check out Assateague Island. Thank goodness for sunburn or we would have missed this amazing place. It's a barrier island that is home to 100+- horses on the northern MD side and 150+- horses on the VA side. They are wild horses that have adapted to living at the shore. The MD horses are in a National Park and protected by the government. The VA horses are owned by the volunteer fire department and the foals are sold off each year to raise money for the department.

While they are used to being around people they are still wild and let us know that they run the place. We stopped the car to take a picture of one of the  horses and he looked at us then walked in front of the car and just stood there looking at us until the Pony Patrol shooed him away. It was quite funny. The Pony Patrol is a guy on a bike with a fan of branches that he shakes to move the horses along.

The island has many activities available including, camping, windsurfing, crabbing, swimming, and hiking. We opted for hiking the half mile trails and learning about the ecosystems on the island.

Mussels

As we walked along the boardwalk in the marshes we found crabs everywhere. In the photo below there must have been 2 dozen that we counted in just a couple of minutes we stopped.

We also visited the forest which is where the horses gather when a hurricane approaches. The forest was quite a bit cooler and very quiet. It was a great place to visit and we recommend it to anyone visiting the area.

When we got back to the hotel we quickly changed and headed down to the beach. The water was colder and the waves were stronger than the day before. Steve and CJ saw many broken boogie boards in the trash cans. Yikes.

Still, digging in the sand and playing with army guys beats a day at school, even if the water is cool and the waves wild!

And there is always kite flying. The wind was quite a bit stronger and occasionally Steve needed to make sure CJ didn't get drug down the beach!!

Day 4

Thursday brought another beautiful day. We headed out to the beach early and stayed as long as we could.

The waves were once again stronger than the day before and the water was so cold that it took your breath away. Hard to believe when it was perfect just 2 days earlier. It was really hot on the beach so we did go in but not for long. It was funny, on such a hot day, to see everyone standing just at the water's edge. There were a few brave souls all the way in, they must have been from Canada.

So instead of playing in the waves the boys dug a hole!

Which got really deep.

They got reprimanded by the Beach Patrol for digging a hole deeper than their knee and had to fill it in!

After showers we headed out to dinner.

Steve and Cheryl made the drive down from Philly to spend a couple of days on the beach and meet us for dinner. It was just like old times in OBX and  brought back some great memories from the many vacations in OBX. We had dinner at a great place on the bay. Even though we could see the rain out over the bay we took a chance ate at a table outside.

Steve, Steve

Steve & Cheryl

Just as we finished dinner the rain started. We watched the storm over the ocean from a covered porch.

CJ tried really hard to capture the lightning. This was the best he could do with my little camera.

After the rain stopped we all headed out for ice cream,

It was a perfect end to a perfect day.

And, after packing the car on Friday we headed back to the boardwalk to get a hermit crab to finalize a great, great vacation.

School Supplies - round 1

The zipper binder and mechanical pencils are CJ's choices.

The other items are the required supplies for all 7th graders at CJ's school. 

Round 2 of school supply purchases comes the week before school starts when CJ finds out what team he is assigned to.

Seems hard to believe that summer is more than half over. Where does the time go?

The Carpet Is In

Cushy and Soft.
Two words that were never used to described the old carpet are very appropriate for the new carpet.
Finally after weeks of preparation it is now time to put everything back.
In CJ's room, it was fun to realize that carpet and the moon's surface are the same color. Now it really is like he's sleeping on the moon.

Cherry Butter

More than a year ago I was given a jar of cherry butter. My neighbor had brought it back from the Traverse City area of Michigan. That area is famous for its cherries (and beautiful lakes and beaches).

Now, I am not a jelly or apple butter person so I was a little skeptical at first. As I thought about trying the cherry butter I remembered a visit from the neighbor's son when he was no more than 4 years old. He wandered over with this bucket of dried cherries, grown in Michigan, and insisted that I try some. They were very tasty. With that in mind I opened the jar and dipped in a spoon. It took just one taste and I was hooked forever. Each morning I spooned some into my vanilla yogurt and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast. 

Since then I have been looking around town for cherry butter and had no luck until this past weekend. (yes I could have ordered a case online but thought that might be too much) While standing in line at Katzingers, I found a whole shelf of cherry butter. The consistency of this jar is a little different from the other brand but the taste is just as good. My vanilla yogurt is now cherry yogurt and I am a very happy person!

A Summer Tradition

One Saturday morning each summer we head downtown to watch cartoons. Cartoon Capers is part of the summer movie series at the Ohio Theater.  Bugs, Daffy, Tweety and Elmer Fudd are always on the screen, this year we saw Superman and Popeye too. Bugs Bunny is Steve's favorite, he likes the history lesson and Bugs' wisdom. Tom & Jerry is my favorite, I like that the bully always gets beat up. CJ's favorite is probably Bugs as well but he's still sleeping so I can't ask him just now.

After the show we went to Katzinger's Deli for lunch. This year we arrived just before the line wound around and out the door. CJ had the #66, grilled turkey, bacon and swiss on rye, Steve had corned beef hash and eggs over easy and I had the #42, a BLT on rye with just a touch of mayo. We all thought we ordered the best thing on the menu. CJ didn't finish his sandwich because he had snacked on bread samples while waiting in line. They make the most delicious bread both for use in the sandwiches and for purchase. We opted against bringing home a loaf, mostly because we were so full and partly because it gives us an excuse to visit again!

A Little Help

A little while back, while we were watching Pia, a friend lent me her Furminator. I must have been complaining about the amount of hair in the house. With just one dog in the house I can ignore the fur on the carpets and vacuum just once or twice a week. Having two dogs in the house it is a lot harder to ignore the hair and vacuuming was and every other day occurrence.
When we got home from the walk both dogs got Furminated. And then Tucker was done again, at first he seemed to enjoy it and then as the rate of hair removal diminished so did his interest. Smart dog! Then I picked up the cat and Furminated him too. This was a little tricky since the brush was wider than the cat's back, he too seemed to enjoy it. After cleaning up enough fur to create another animal I went online and ordered my very own Furminator, the medium size so Dickens can be groomed too.

Since it's arrival in the mail last week the cat has been Furminated twice. Here is a picture of what came out on the second day in only 10 minutes.

An this is how much Dickens enjoyed being Furminated.

A little help from a friend brought about a house with less pet hair floating around and that is a good thing!

Thanks Poppop

This is a jar of chopped garlic soaking in olive oil.

In the past I had purchased a similar jar at the grocery store for more than $3.00.

This jar cost me an original outlay of $0.33 for the baby food, $1.00 for the garlic, a minimal amount for the splash of olive oil and about 20 minutes of my time. Lately CJ has been helping chop so the task is done in half the time.

Why is this wonderful? Because to purchase this item one has to find the end cap on which the jars of garlic reside. No big deal, you say. I beg to differ, the produce section is at the end of my grocery trip and I am usually cranky by then and the location seems to move on a regular basis. The garlic cloves are generally with the potatoes and easy to find. Easy makes me happy. Putting on a pair of gloves and chopping garlic makes me happy, even if the house stinks for a while!

Why am I thanking Poppop? It was his idea! While visiting, I noticed him dip his spoon into a jar and pull out a peeled, whole clove of garlic. He'd been doing it for a while since the garlic will last longer peeled and dunked into olive oil. Smart man that Poppop!

Summer Movies at the Ohio Theater

 


Each year the great old theater downtown hosts a summer movie series. The theater is a study in beauty with intricate details on the ceiling, balcony seating with plush red 'velvet' seats, and a great feeling of fun! This year we took CJ and a friend to see The Goonies. Notice that he boy sat one row in front of us. Last year we sat together, what will next year bring? The boys had seen this movie at school this year, as a reward for being good, and were eager to see it again. Steve and I had not seen the movie and in looking at the audience were probably in the minority. There were a bunch of people with Goonies t-shirts. The movie was good and we will be looking for it to run on TV so we can see it again.

Farmer Mary

As a product of parents who both like(d) to grow food in their gardens you would think that I would too. Turns out that I do, it just took a really long time to find out. This year a neighbor gave me a strawberry plant clipping from their garden and I purchased a tomato plant and a pepper plant. The strawberry plant was plopped unceremoniously into the ground and produced a couple of puny berries. Next year I will be a little more respectful and hopefully the plant will produce more. As for the tomato and pepper plants, they were put into pots and tended to a little more carefully. With our overabundance of rain earlier in the summer the pots were pulled up onto the porch in the hopes of not getting flooded. It seems to have worked because we have a couple of peppers growing and a bunch of tomatoes. One of the tomatoes is ripe and will be a part of my salad at lunch today. Yummy!!

A Day at the Range

Having been a child during the Vietnam War and the product of a 'hippie' guns are not one of my favorite things. CJ does not have any of these issues and therefore has always been interested in guns. When he was little and attended Mom's Day Out, it amazed me and the other moms that a bunch of 2-3 year old boys could find 'guns' in a church playroom. They made them from Lego's, from dolls and from paper. As CJ has gotten older the guns have progressed from Nerf to Airsoft. He has always been very careful and respectful of his guns so when he asked to attend a .22 handgun camp I said yes. Better that he is taught the proper way to handle a gun than he figure it out on his own, right?
So off to camp he went. One of his friends attended as well, enjoying both the camp and each other's company. Needless to say they both had a great time. They spent 2.5 hours in the classroom learning and then 2 hours on the range. There still won't be a gun in this house, but maybe camp again next year.

The Neighborhood has gone to the Dogs

Golden Retrievers to be exact.
We live in a great neighborhood, it is kid and dog friendly.
That works out well as we have one of each!
Since Tucker tends to wander we are especially fortunate that most every house has or loves a dog.

The other night we walked Tucker up to hang with his friends. At Casey's house we visited with Bosco, Gabby, Boomer, Rudy and their respective people. CJ spent a bit of time petting and loving on them, especially Casey and Gabby. Gabby is new to the neighborhood, her foster parents are trying to find her a new home. In the meantime, CJ is making sure she gets her daily dose of loving!



CJ with Casey and Gabby


CJ and Casey

CJ with a freshly shaved Rudy

Independence Day

Another subdued event in our house. We spent the day working on pulling up carpet on the second floor. In a roundabout way it is because we are a free democratic nation that we can get new carpet whenever we want.

After dinner we headed out to our favorite fireworks viewing spot - Worthington Hills. As usual we got there early to enjoy a peaceful evening on the fairway. This year it was still really hot so we enjoyed some quiet time before breaking out the football. As the fairway filled up we switched to people watching. Each year we seem to end up right by a family that knows one of the police officers, hmmm...

As the fireworks began we settled back in our chairs and enjoyed the show. This years favorites were the palm trees and the ones that looked like Saturn.

Father's Day

Father's Day was a quiet affair. Steve played hockey as usual. Hung out with Tucker, CJ and Pia. We had dinner at PF Chang's which is turning into a Father's Day tradition. Then he headed to the airport for an unusual Sunday departure.

Caves, Corvettes & Tanks

When the boys said they wanted to do the 4 hour tour through the cave, I thought they were crazy. Who wants to spend 4 hours underground in a cold, damp cave? Turns out that they picked the right tour. The 4 hours went by very quickly and with it being so hot this summer the cool cave air was refreshing.
Mammoth Cave is indeed mammoth, both in miles of caves and in the size of the 'rooms'. The room we ate lunch in was large enough to hold 40 picnic tables without being cramped. Yep, we ate lunch in a cave and the veggie soup was really good.
The cave is remarkably dry, we encountered only one section where water had made its way through the rock. That section has a fabulous draping of rock appropriately named Niagara Falls. On of our tour guides was a descendant of one of the original tour guides. It was fascinating to hear his stories of the cave before it was a national park when people lived and farmed the land above the cave.
That night CJ and I swam in the wonderfully warm outdoor pool. We watched a storm blow in and the sky turn a beautiful deep, dark and ominous blue.
The next morning it was off to the Corvette factory. No pictures were allowed but it's pretty easy to imagine the boys watching one of their favorite cars being put together. You could almost see them adding up their pennies and wondering if they could drive one home!

After the factory tour we headed north to Ft. Knox and the General Patton Museum. There we saw some tanks, and then some more tanks. The museum told of Patton's childhood and career in the army. We all learned that Patton survived both WWI and WWII  but never made it home due to a car accident. He is buried in Luxembourg, I wonder why.
Next we headed to Lexington for an overnight before heading home. On the way we finally spotted horses, lots of beautiful horses on gorgeous rolling hillsides. What a wonderful place to live, for both people and horses. Lexington is a quaint city with several colleges. The architecture was very southern and very stately. Our stay in Lexington was short and deserves a trip back.
Kentucky is a state that is well worth the trip and offers something for everyone.