High School Musical Weekend

Gwen's hectic weekend schedule finally had a break and we were able to have her overnight for what turned into a High School Musical weekend. It began when I picked Gwen up around 11:30 and we went to her favorite place for lunch - Isaacs. I never knew that everything tasted better when dipped into appleasauce. Apparently the sweetness of the applesauce makes everything, including pickles, more palatable!

We went to the Boscovs store which is closing just to check out the deals. The big deal of the day was 30% off the Troy and Gabriella dolls. A must have for any self-respecting High School Musical groupie. Oh, and also a very soft stuffed puppy dog. Perfect to sleep with at Grandma's.

Next on our agenda was a trip to a local theater where middle-schoolers put on a great production of HSM1. Gwen was very excited. She knew all the words to all the songs. We bought a raffle ticket and placed it in the basket for the HSM game. We were losers...no game for us.

We went home, logged into Webkinz, and fed/bathed Moona. Poor little racoon was lonely, and so happy to see us that she jumped on her trampoline, swam in her pool, and flushed the commode. Sweet.

The local Indian restaurant was the place to be for dinner. Gwen informed me she only wanted rice, chick peas, and dal. While the 4 year old knew exactly what dal was (she likes to dip her naan into it), we really had no idea. It was an educational trip for us. I ordered a paneer dish because I knew Gwen liked the cheese. I was lucky to get 2 pieces for myself as the little girl who only wanted rice, chick peas, and dal devoured all the rest of my cheese!

We were stuffed, but there's always room for popcorn, served in her special Disney bucket. I brought the bucket home from WDW several years ago thinking Gwen would enjoy it. Now she wouldn't dream of having popcorn without it. According to Gwen we could have popcorn and watch HSM2. "I know, Grandma, we can have a High School Muscial weekend!"

8/24/08 Brent Places 3rd

Pinchot Triathlon: .75 mile Swim / 18.2 mile Bike / 3.1 mile Run
He had a good day, placing 3rd in 45-49 age. He did 2 triangular laps in Pinchot Lake, two circuits of the Lake on rolling hills with a few short climbs, and a run on trails and paths along the lake.

Everyone needs a beautiful cheerleader.

He Makes Me Laugh

We all have bad days when we wonder what in the world we were thinking when we married that "special" someone. In this exchange, I remembered one reason I married Brent - he makes me laugh.

My E-mail to Brent: I’m sending this email because there’s no way I’d remember to ask you about this tonight. Jason would like to borrow a very small Allen wrench to fix his front door. How small, you ask? I don’t know, but from his drawing, it looks like about the size of a pen point or slightly bigger. I told him I was sure we had such a critter.

Brent's Reply: In the engineering/science/construction world we generally specify the dimensions of such things in commonly used units of distance such as feet, inches, millimeters, etc.

Luckily for the legal world we have invented devices like the “Smitty”, which contains a fold-out assortment of hex head wrench sizes ranging from “really really quite small” thru “bigger but not too big” so it’s likely the “very small” size will be contained in that set.

I’ll send a smitty with you tomorrow if we can remember.

No Such Thing as a Perfect Man

I'm so disillusioned.
The headline reads, "Toby Keith Backs Obama."
There are no perfect men.
Sigh.

Garden Gnome

Ah yes, yet another lawn ornament. Last week when Gwen and I were running through the sprinkler, I suddenly noticed something in my garden that hadn't been there before. A little gnome about 6" high.

I called my Dat, accusing him and Mom of being sneaky little buggers. He denied all knowledge of the gnome. Next on my hit list was mine brither, Rick. I called him and asked him if he placed the little gnome (pronounced guh-nome, of course!) in my garden. He laughed - it had taken me 4 days to find him.

Apparently Rick has been searching for a tiny guhnome (hehehe) for some time - even on his trip to Australia. Finally he found one in Borders, of all places. I think he's a great addition to the garden.

Duck - A Wednesday Night Tale

Kera was telling me about Gwen's catepillars, one of which is in chrysalis and one is not. She was explaining to Chris that she hoped the one wasn't "d-e-a-d." Gwen piped in with, "Dead, Mama. I know what you spelled!" Wow! She's only 4.

So, tonight we were talking about someone going to "j-a-i-l" when Gwen shouted "jail!" Kera and I looked at each other, just amazed. I made a comment about someone being "d-e-a-d" and Gwen yelled, "duck!"

Hmmm. Maybe you had to be there to find the humor, because reading this now, it's not nearly as funny as it was when it happened! LOL!

Wednesday - My Big Day

Looking back over recent posts, it appears that I post most often on Wednesdays. Really, I do have a life beyond them! But, it seems that the camera comes out more when I have the grandkids around.

Tonight, Gwen brought her big wheel and a bag of bread. She rode her bike down to the pond and we fed the ducks and geese. The migration has started and the number of geese has increased tremendously. Gwen was marveling at the number of ducks/geese and I explained the migration to her. This was the conversation following my explaination:

Gwen: Do you know why the birds fly south?

(Hmmm, didn't I just explain this?)

Me: No, why?

Gwen: Because it's too far to walk!

And she burst out giggling. Isn't life wonderful?!!

When we got back from the pond and the playground, we set up our obstacle course.

We haven't done this for awhile. The idea is for Gwen to chase me while riding her big wheel around the buckets, through the ladder, and around the remaining buckets.

Of course, a "prize" is always awarded at the end of the race.

We topped off our evening with a few bubbles generously created by the cheater......uh I mean winner of the evening!

41 Seconds From 3rd

Brent participated in the Harrisburg Triathlon today on City Island. Many thanks to Chris and Jason who climbed out of bed early to support Brent.

Ok, I have to say, there's just no way I'd swim in this water. Just thinking about it gives me shivers, and it has nothing to do with the temperature of the water. This swimming area gets shut down several times a year due to pollution.
Brent had a great swim - there were only a few blue caps out of the water before him. Things were off to a great start.

Until transition. Brent went to Mountainside yesterday to pick up his team tri jersey. He mentioned that it was very tight, and in fact, ended up with an XL. He took it on and off several times yesterday, and even though it was tight, he figured it would work okay. NOT! Do not try this when wet! should have been the disclaimer on the shirt. Somehow he got it all tangled when trying to put it on and between being wet and the shirt being tight - well it was a recipe for disaster.

After about 30 seconds of screwing around with it, Brent ripped the shirt off, slapped on his helmet, grabbed his bike, and set off on the bike bare chested. Brent eagerly anticipated riding his new Specialized bike on this 14 mile ride. He had some problems with the new wheels yesterday, so it looks like the Zipp's will have to wait for the next race.

This is a good shot of the runners, and Brent, coming across the bridge on the run.

A final shot of Brent coming in on the home stretch toward the finish.

Brent ended up 5th in his age group, 41 seconds behind 3rd place. Hmmmmm, one pair of Zipps and a good transition could have made all the difference.

Another 49'er

My baby "brither" turns 49 on Monday. We had our family celebration on Saturday night when most of the clan was able to gather. I couldn't believe Rick didn't choose the traditional Thanksgiving dinner for his birthday meal. Mom's had the turkey in my freezer for several months but Rick, surprisingly, chose filet's instead. Allison provided a tasty appetizer tray, Dad gave the toast, and it the filets were yummylicious.
Gwen decorated an adorable picture frame for Her Great Uncle Rick. We typically don't open gifts until we're having dessert. But, Gwen couldn't wait! She was so excited to give her gift.Kylie was more than happy to help Great Uncle Rick open his gifts!
Did he like it? Did he think it was funny? It's hard to say based on this facial expression!
My gift to Rick was a scrapbook on his trip to Australia. I've been working on it for 4 months. I hope he enjoys looking at it and remembering his trip of a lifetime. Wubbers you mine brither.

Another Wednesday Night With Grandma

I had nothing planned. What to do, oh what to do.

Me - What would you like to do tonight?

G - Go to the playground and then go feed the ducks.


We haven't done this for awhile - at least since the heat of summer. Gwen and I grabbed a few slices of bread in a plastic bag, and headed for the playground first.

G - Push me really fast Grandma.

Me - Sit down in the middle.

G - Spin me really fast Grandma. I want to be dizzy.


She was dizzy alright, I was trying to steady her, but she fell flat on her butt! That didn't stop her from doing it again......and again!

Moving over to the sliding board, I was pretending to be a monster, catching her, tickling her. At one point, she was climbing up the ladder, babbling on about something. As soon as I knew she couldn't see me, I ducked under the sliding board. "Uh oh.....Grandma?" The Grandma monster jumped out from under the sliding board, roaring, and tickling a giggly little girl.

G - Do it again, Grandma.

Me - If I do it again, you won't be surprised.

G - Yes I will. I promise, Grandma.

Gwen enjoys posing these days, and of course, Grandma loves taking the pictures. When you have such a cute model, who can resist?

After our romp in the playground, we walked down to the pond. Quite a few ducks arrived for the feast.

Gwen's getting some oomph behind her pitches - she's getting the bread out to the ducks these days.

Good to the last crumb!

Road Trip

I'm not going. There are no classes I want to take. There are no supplies I NEED. No, I'm not going.

These were my comments regarding the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge back when registration opened up several months ago. There are a variety of classes, lots of shopping, several crops (which I never go to), and generally just a fun filled weekend filled with scrapbooking. I didn't go last year (I scrapped with friends instead), and I resolved not to attend this year either. No special reason, but I really wasn't excited about the classes.

Friday came and I wasn't even thinking about CKC, although my close friend, Renee was there. Until the afternoon. That's when the emails started. "Oh, my class was awesome!" "Oooh, there are 50 more vendors than before!" "There's an entire Cricut booth!" Yeah. My mind started churning, by blood started boiling, the scrapbooking bug was obviously spreading through my body. Hmmmm. Now all I needed was somebody to go with me.

That's where Kim comes into the picture. I started emailing Renee's emails to Kim. "Perhaps we could go?" No response. "I could be talked into going." No response. Then, there it was. What I was hoping for - "What time are we leaving in the morning. Closer to my house can get on Turnpike at Lebanon, you staying over tonight?"

Yeah, this is what friends are for. One to drag you into trouble and one to jump into the fire with you. Life is good!