For Grandma ... Walk Down Memory Lane..

I posted this tonight -- because I was telling Mike's Mom & Dad about this "lost video" I found the other day & it just made me crack up. It was on Anne Marie's 2nd birthday morning. Mike and I just found it soooo funny. 1st - because she was just too darn cute @ 2 -- and 2nd because it already shows so much of her personality - that funny -quirky - and "smart" part of her (If you'll notice when she said "no mommy, 2" and I have to tell her to be nice -- she gets all "showy" the 2nd time she says it -- as to show me, "well, I'll still say it, but I'll just say it "nice" this time". Sorry to bore you all w/ an old video, but I knew Mike's parents would enjoy it!!

Preparing for School...

We are enjoying the last few weeks before school. I can't imagine what it's going to be like next year when she actually starts Kindergarten! I'm pretending that it's never going to happen. But she will be in pre-school again this year -- and is actually ready for it. Every few days she'll ask "when does school start mommy?". So, I decided that since this week was a "slow" week for us I would get her "back in the groove" a little and start with a refresher about her letters, sitting and reading, drawing, and a little "lower case letter" practice. She looked at me one day and said "when can we play"..... so I know that being @ school for 3 hours is something she's going to have to get used to again. (And can only imagine what WHOLE day school is going to do to her next year). But I think she's had a lot of fun this week with her "school-work" and so I thought I'd share a little bit of what we've done.

She LOVES the book "The Tiny Seed" .. we read it often. So I thought I'd start by reading it and talking about plants & seeds & how they grow. And helped her learn to read some of the small words in the book...she even drew a picture of the seed from "blowing in the wind" - to turning into a HUGE flower after settling to the ground, being rained on & had enough sun. I thought it was darn good drawing if I do say so!

Some of you may know that Anne Marie has a LOVE for horses. It all started @ my Aunt & Uncles house. They have 3 horses -- and had a pony -- that Anne Marie got to ride. Since then, we've taken her to a horse show, Mike has made her a barn & bought her small horse figures to live in it & in Lancaster, PA she got her fill of horses. So one day we looked up all kinds of information on the Internet about horses -- what they are like when they are babies & what they eat and so on. Mike had bought her this little ceramic horse paint set a while back and I decided it would be a perfect time to get them out & paint them. Her pony was quite colorful! She even drew a picture of a horse (with a little help from tracing the legs off her horse that goes in the barn Mike made her) and a bale of hay & things a horse might eat.

The tomatoes we planted are almost ready to pick, and we went out to water them one day. Anne Marie was asking if they were seeds like flowers, so I thought it would be cute to do a 'garden day'. I got out another one of her books and we made a lunch from all the things that would grow in a garden. We had berries, cucumber sandwiches, celery w/ peanut butter, and cherry-lime-aid-mommy-style (you know limes, lemons & cherries all grow on trees -- even if it is a stretch it worked...and it helped me get to make one of my favorite drinks ..hee) Then we looked up online what all these plants looked like when they grew in the garden. She was most fascinated with the peanuts and wheat...probably because she's seen most of the other things in a real garden. She even was asking today "mommy how do you make flour from wheat again?"

Family Reunion

This weekend Me, Mike & Anne Marie headed out to a family reunion. This was with my Dad's side of the family -- and I just love getting together with them -- it's just a great way to stay close to my Dad in some ways. It's not always easy, because it's a reminder that he (& my Nanny) is no longer with us, but it's also a blessing because it helps me keep my Dad's & Nanny's memories alive for Anne Marie, and that is very important to me. We had a GREAT time. Saturday was an all-day picnic. Everyone brought great foods and we stayed all day - we had lunch & dinner. The kids played on the play-grounds, swam in the park pool, they road the paddle-boats around the lake, and just plain goofed off & had fun. Wow!

These kids are growing up sooo fast!! We were sad that some people couldn't make it & hopefully next year everyone can get there...but it was still a GREAT time!

The group of the great-grand-kids.

And....just in case anyone was worried that Naomi & Anne Marie felt a little "left-out" because they are SOOOO much younger than the rest of the clan -- well, I'm about to hire each one of my cousins children to come & live with us in 3 month spurts -- because my child has never gotten SO much attention!! I don't think she had to walk more than 1/2 a step before someone was willing to carry her, she didn't have to worry about me fixing her meals, because someone was ready to help her & she didn't worry about getting bored, because someone was always ready to take her to the play-ground, play around the lake or just sit with her.

Gotta love these big kids -- they are just wonderful!

Adoption Ministry

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but another couple along with Mike and I started an adoption ministry at our Church. During the adoption of Anne Marie (and the other couple did 2 adoptions over the same time) we got together and decided that it would be a GREAT help if people could come to one place and get information, support, and financial assistance. Our ministry has been kind of quiet lately. But there are some VERY exciting things going on now! We have a family that is in the process for a daughter from China -- they have waiting over 4 years!!! We're hoping over the next couple of months they will get their referral! And that means it's time for fundraising & excitement in our Church. Also, we've partnered with another Church in our area that started and adoption ministry as well and we're excited about the new possibilities this will bring. We started a couple weeks ago with a challenge to fill back-packs for the foster-care children in our area. We had to pre-order the bags and then go on faith that all packs would be purchased & filled by Church members. Robin and I decided on the number 25 -- and can I just tell you how much I LOVE our Church family? Not only did we get 25 purchased & filled, but there were people still lining up to help after they were all spoken for! So, in case you're ever unsure if something can be done -- just have faith! I'm hoping that we can continue to be part of this project every year & increase our numbers each time. What a WONDERFUL project! And sometimes, I feel our foster-care system gets looked over when it comes to our adoption ministry being that so many of us have adopted from other countries - it's been on my heart to do more for our local children, and I'm so happy this worked out!

Some of the back-packs that were filled.

Our kiddo's helping load them in the car to be delivered to the "drop-point".

Our Church Praise Band

Have I ever mentioned that our Church just recently started a more "contemporary" service in the last couple of years? It's been (for me anyway) very refreshing...I love the music and more "teachable" sermons! Well, our praise-band (consisting of many friends) recently was invited to play in a local park for a Christian-Music-Night. Many of us decided to go and support them. (And hear some great music). Anne Marie also enjoys our new service & the music quite a bit as well. She always is singing and clapping to the more up-beat music. I just love the fact that it keeps her attention and love to hear her try to sing the songs -- it does my heart good to know that it's just one more way she's learning about God.

Our praise band "rocking-out"

Anne Marie clapping & singing along

Enjoying the show!

Our friend Mattie decided that she wanted to sit with us for a while...it's so great that we have such good friends as fellow Church members.

More Water....With Friends!!

Have I mentioned it's been H-O-T here? Seriously! It's been close to 100 MANY days over the past few weeks! Well, one day we had our friends Mira & Mattie spend the day with us. And thanks to my sister Andrea we had a HUGE bucket of water-balloons just calling our names!

Can I tell you how happy I was when my husband walked in the door a little early that day?? I spent almost 40 minutes on the back-porch (full sun) filling water-balloon after water-balloon after water-balloon! Whew....I was soaked! (not just from the water...)

The girls had a BLAST! It makes regular pool-play WAY more fun!

We're Home!!!

We're finally home!! 9 days of fun!! We're sad it had to end, but happy to be back to our own house, own beds & with family & friends!! I have to say I was unsure how this vacation would go - without a "schedule", but I think it went really well. Only a few little things came up, but we rolled with the punches & didn't go over budget too bad! (I just knew we'd go over, but I shot low so we would try to be strict!!) And we enjoyed every minute of it (almost -- not so much the heat & mosquitos during camping...but if that is my only complaint, it's all good!!!) It's one for the memory books -- thanks for "coming along" with us!!

Fun in Pittsburgh!!!

Guess where we are now?!?!?! We're headed back down south (headed home :( we're a little sad, but I also think that by the time we get home we'll be ready to sleep in our own beds!)

We got here just in time to check in, rest our heads for a few minutes & then head out to dinner.

This place was suggested to us by one of the staff @ the hotel (and it's another place we've seen on the food-network -- how funny that we've seen two places in the areas we've been & we don't even have cable @ home!!) Well -- Mike said right away when we figured out where we were coming that he remembered this place he'd seen on TV w/ the HUGE sandwiches. It took a tiny bit of research & taaadaaa -- we found it. We double checked w/ the hotel staff & we were on our way...gotta love a hotel that has a FREE bus service to area locations!!!

This is Mike's sandwich -- they were HUGE -- but he had no problem eating it all! And he had to try the local brewed beer here too. He was in heaven!

FINALLY..... a good night sleep in a comfy hotel w/ AC & fluffy pillows!!!

Today we asked the hotel bus service to take us downtown just to walk around a little bit. This was one of the many bridges that crossed over the river in the city. What a fun city to walk around in....and guess where this bridge was taking us........

A baseball game!!!! Mike was very excited...he just kept saying "wow, I feel so guilty, I keep getting to do all these really cool things for me!" Well, let's just let him think that I'm that "good" of a wife -- what's funny is I have had a BLAST doing all these things he's wanted to do -- but maybe if I let him think I sacrificed I'll get a spa weekend out of this one day....haaaa!

Anne Marie & Daddy ready to enjoy the baseball game. We had free-buffet breakfast @ the hotel, so we filled up - skipped lunch & had snacks @ the park for dinner. Ok -- I'm a bad mom! This poor child has been going to bed late every night & not eating very well -- but boy it has been WAY TOO MUCH FUN!! (We'll be back to "normal" when we get home.)

This is one of the Pirate's baseball players -- tonight was "bobble-head" night -- which means everyone that buys a ticket gets a bobble-head of one of the players -- this was our "bobble-head-player". Anne Marie was so excited - she kept taking "him" in and out of the box playing with him. So, we'll have 3 to take home! The game was soooooo much fun! We ended up having to leave a little early -- Pittsburgh lost :( but it was a really good game & close at one point! We got the "cheap" seats - but let me tell you this is a really nice stadium and between the fact that all the seats seemed to have a nice view & the fact that I had my extra-large-camera-lens with me I was able to get great pictures!!

The Falls & Then Some....

Ok -- so we're going two days back ... Tuesday we arrived in Niagara Falls. We headed to the camp ground. It was HOT -- and I don't mean just hot, I mean 90 deg. + and w/ the humidity it was WAY more than that. Just walking make you drip in sweat! I was a little worried about the fact that we had chosen this time-frame to camp! And not just camp -- but camp in the little cabins @ the camp-ground. Now, please note that there is ONE window in this cabin -- and it doesn't even open the whole way!! Let me just tell you that at this point I was almost in tears realizing how we were going to suffer while sleeping! I would have much rather been in our tent, but we had already made the reservations! So, we were going to have to make the best of it!

Our girly & baby ling "relaxing" at the campsite...trying to cool off!

Mike "chillin" @ our cabin. (See what I mean about the window?)

A little friend that came to visit us....

We got to the campground in time for dinner -- however since it was so hot, we decided to make cold turkey sandwiches w/ cheese & tomatoes since none of us were in the mood for hot food. However, you CAN NOT pass the opportunity to make smore's -- but we did wait for the sun to start going down to start a fire! At least the chocolate had no problem melting!!!

Then, it was time for bed -- and as you can tell...our poor child's hair was sticking to her forehead....it was SOOOOO HOT! (Did I already mention that??) Sleeping was quite AWFUL ...and I'll just add that the bugs were NUTS. I had bug spray -- but I must not have sprayed my ankles/feet enough -- beucase let me just tell you -- I have over 20 bites on just ONE (yes ONE) foot!!!!!! OUCH!!!!

The next day it was time for a trip to the falls!! (At least we knew we were going to get wet there --- a way to cool off -- because this day was just as hot -- if not worse!!) Again, we were on a budget here, so ahead of time, we decided we would choose ONE thing to do @ the park. (If you've never been to NF's -- there are quite a few things to do and most things cost at least $11 a person.) We at least found free-parking! YEA! (Don't be fooled -- the guys that charge $10 in town are a rip -- you can park for free!!) Well, Mike choose....................................

Maid of the Mist....(the boat that goes by the falls .. both US and Canada) Now, please excuses the fact that these next handful of pictures are not the best quality -- I did not feel like having an "accident" with my camera, so I used the old camera that we were letting Anne Marie use during our trip....it didn't do too bad though!!

My "two fav's" ready to board the boat....

These are two pictures of the US side of the falls -- I only wish I could have got better pictures -- it really was cool!! And the Canada side was even better -- but it was SOOOO wet over there, that I couldn't even pull out the old camera to take pictures of it. This will just have to be one of those memories we'll have to keep in our "memory-bank". It was loud, wet & very beautiful!

After you get off the boat, to the right, there is a set of stairs -- it goes 1/2 way up the side of the falls -- I could just tell by the look on Mike's face that we were going up those stairs after the boat ride was over. (This picture is of a group going up the stairs ... I took it after we had already gone up & started up the regular stair-way...I just had to show how close it was to the falls & how much water comes down on you.....because this is what we looked like after.....

Anne Marie & Daddy at the end of the stairs.....

Anne Marie &Mommy @ the top of the "regular" stairwell looking down on the overlook. We were soaked -- and even thought it was HOT, due to the humidity, we stayed wet for hours!!

Niagara Falls is a state-park in the state of NY -- and there are lovely places to walk ALL OVER that don't cost anything -- and you can get GREAT views of the falls from all different directions. Though the boat ride was our favorite -- we did enjoy just walking around being able to see all sides of this HUGE falls. And some places - you could get REALLY close!! You could even walk up stream a little .... and we saw a guy that took his shoes off & put his feet in. Ok -- very cool idea -- however it really was only about 150-200 yards from the end of the falls -- all I could think was "what if you fell down & couldn't catch yourself??" It's a very powerful source of water.....and makes you a little nervous at times!

Something funny (and quite awesome) I had to share. While we were in the last city (Binghamton) we were watching the food-network & saw this show on a restaurant in Buffalo. Well, since we were minutes from Buffalo, we decided to look it up on the GPS and find it. Well, thank heaven for the GPS because this little place was in the middle of NO-WHERE!! And we could have NEVER found it by ourselves. The show talked about the lasagna...and OHOOHHHOHOHOH MY! It did NOT disappoint!!!!! This is a "have-to" if you like Italian food & are anywhere near Buffalo!!!! We're now in a new city tonight -- and since we have decided to stay tonight & tomorrow, I'll post both today & tomorrow Friday night!!

We're "Camping"

We are "caping" in Niagara Falls -- and I say that in "QUOTES" becuase we're in one of their little cabins (it's a tiny one room cabin w/ a bunk bed & a double bed & little tiny shelf w/ chair (I think it's supposed to be a desk) We are staying here for the next 2 nights -- and with internet service the way it is (they have it, but loading pictures in a whole other story!!) I will probably post on Thursday after we leave....so come back then and I'll have 2-3 days worth of pictures to update you with!! I just find it funny that I'm sitting here typing on a computer @ a camp-ground at all!! Mike is VERY excited about tomorrow. Anne Marie was excited just because she got to eat smore's tonight!! That was enough for her! We'll "see" you all in a couple days!!

Our 1st "Hiccup"

Well -- our 1st little "hiccup" has happened in our "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" trip. We decided that we would camp @ Niagara Falls over the next 2-3 days. Well, a few days ago, we saw it online, but while playing in other cities the camp-ground got booked up for Monday night! UGH! We were not ready to pay the prices we found @ hotels near Niagara and since Tuesday & Wednesday were still open, we decided to stay another day in the city we arrived in last night (Binghamton, NY) So, we booked our hotel another night, (A very nice hotel for a good price, so I was not upset...) and decided that we would find something to do.

Well -- we found out that the city had a zoo, and since it was only going to be about $20 for the three of us we decided that would be our "outing" today. Well, when we got there I had "one of those feeling". You know where you say " I think this is going to be one of those times I am going to get mad that I spent $20 on this". Well, Mike looked at me and had the EXACT same feeling. So, we decided to start walking the other direction. Which confused Anne Marie, until we noticed that there was a carousel 10 steps outside the zoo. It said "free rides"... so we headed over to see if we could get a ride. ..............................

We did! It was quite a long ride too -- and Anne Marie was just thrilled!! We were able to get on with her (or I'm sure she would not have done it) and she was able to pick from 25 or more horses (there were only 3 other riders ... and at least 30 horses!!) It took her mind off the zoo, and gave Mike and I time to think about our next move without letting her know we were going to change our plans about going to the zoo.

Just then, I remembered seeing something like a play-ground just a street up from the zoo and told Mike we should just walk there.....it made her think we had a "plan"........ Well, we were pleasantly surprised!! (VERY much so!!!)

It was a community garden / park / playground for kids that is fully funded by different people and businesses in the community. this was one of the signs greeting us on our way in.

This was @ the entrance -- letting us know it was free to the public -- and many cute little signs all through the park thanking different supporters for their funding of the park.

The entrance to "The Story Garden".... soooooo sweet!

"Tree of Knowledge"

There was a flower / food garden. It was set up like a little farm. You could ride the tractor (the 1st picture) You could use a watering can provided & pump the "frog" to help him fill up your watering can -- so then you could water the gardens. Anne Marie was THRILLED with this part -- and she watered most every plant in the garden.

There were many little "metal-garden-friends" all around....from lizards, to butter-flies, to turtles...there were birds, owls, dragon-flies, along with many others.

There were cute little play-houses scattered throughout the gardens. There were cute little houses, thatched-roof cottages, and even log-cabins. Each had little furniture in it. Mike and I were required to "have tea & snacks" at the table in each one!

There was even a tree house (a HUGE tree-house) that was set up with cute little butter-fly & dragon-fly wind-socks flying around it. Anne Marie was quite taken by these.

There were SOOOO many things to do...we could have spent more time there (we had already been playing there for about an hour & 1/2). Then, something made me gather my family up & head out......can you see what Anne Marie is trying to take a picture of??? Hidden in the rocks??

UGHGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!! No, I did NOT get that close -- I had my BIG lens on my camera today -- so I could stand back far enough, but still get this picture. All the kids @ the park were excited about this -- some even ran up & tried to touch it (and it DID snap @ them!!!) But as soon as Anne Marie got "her shot" (she was at a VERY SAFE distance) I gathered my family up and we left!!! I just wasn't sure what kind of snake it was -- or how many more there might be. He was not big...so was he a baby? Was mommy around? I didn't care to find out. Where is my friend Robin when I need her? (We were somewhere one time & she was telling me how to tell bad snakes from good snakes -- but I can't remember, so I was playing it safe!)

We ended up playing at a near-by playground & heading back to the hotel. We got to use our buy-one-dinner-get-one-free coupon @ Outbk tonight, have cookies @ the hotel after dinner & take a dip in the pool. Tomorrow we're headed for the camp-ground near Niagara -- Mike's been waiting for this part of the trip all week!!