some pics from our trip so far...

Getting close when you see the arch in St. Louis----only 4 to5 hours to go!

We made it

We made it to Arkansas. It is a two day trip from our home in central Pennsylvania. So far, we have taken the kids swimming at the local city pool and today we drove about an hour to Eureka Springs to take the kids horse back riding. Tomorrow, we're off to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. I'll post some pics later.

Ciao!

Busy weekend at the Culinary Institute of America...

The Spanish Tapas Boot camp at the Culinary Institute of America was amazing. If you ever have the chance to do it, by all means, do!

Our day started at 7:45 am with breakfast. I'm not sure how many people were there, but there were several classes with 16 per class. Around 8:30 we went to our separate classes. * I had a great instructor. Her name was Chef Carol Murphy Clyne. She really had a penchant for teaching. Our class was broken down to 4 groups of 4. I joined a father and his two sons. Upon entering the stainless steel kitchen, I saw cutting boards and sharp knives. There were many refrigerators and gas top stoves. A little intimidating to say the least, but very exciting. We had many recipes to make and three hours to do it. Around 1:30 pm, we sat down to devour our food.

I attended a lecture in the afternoon about the physiology of taste. It was interesting and the main topic was about the fifth taste--Umami.

After the long, tiring day, I drove 4 hours to see Pete and the kids. They had spent the weekend up to that point in Seneca Falls, NY. Our new puppy is from there and he wanted to take the kids to see Lily. I have to admit, she is sweet. It was nice to meet Pete's friends, Keith and Moira, and their kids, whom I had never met. They have a great old farmhouse with their property going right up to Cayuga lake. They own Lily's mommy, Artemis. I liked her, too. Oh my, am I becoming a dog person? Nah, not just yet.

Sunday I drove home and felt like I was going to fall asleep at the wheel a couple of times. Thank Goodness for Coke Zero and Hershey's with almonds.

*I didn't have my camera with me. I am hoping against hope that the brothers in my group email me some pictures (fingers crossed!). If I get some pics, I will post them.

A kindergartener no more...

Kendall pictured with her excellent teacher, Mrs. Conlon.




Yesterday was Kendall's last day of kindergarten. It's bittersweet for me. I remember when she was a baby I would always wish for the next step: sleep through the night, sit up, eat cereal, wean, walk, potty train, etc. But, this spring I found myself wishing that time would slow down and just stay here for a while. I like this age. But life goes on and I will embrace it.

Exciting week ahead!

Kendall's last day of kindergarten is Wednesday. Wow! This year has flown by. She is sad that she won't have the same teacher next year. And, we most likely are buying a Toyota Corolla this week and parking Pete's gas guzzlin' truck. Both of our automobiles have over 100,000 miles on them so traveling long distances is tricky. And I am going to the CIA on Saturday. Not that one, but the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. My sister gave me a gift certificate to a one day boot camp. I'm so excited--I am going to learn how to make tapas and I think there will be a lecture on pairing foods and wines. Then Saturday evening I will be heading over to Ithaca to meet up with Pete and the kids. We will be checking out the new puppy that will come to our house in August. Kendall has named her Lily and she was born June 1. I have never had to train a puppy so I am not looking forward to that. I thought life was getting easier--and it was--so I will be grumpy (ier) in August. If you check out the picture Lily is the one with the heart on her head. The breed is a German Short haired pointer.

I will be more and more gray. I can feel it. :)

Busy

I've had a few busy weeks around here. Let's see, where to start? My parents came up for Clayton's 4th birthday and gave him this:

He doesn't like to drive it so he lets Kendall. I bet once he realizes there is nothing to it, that will change.

My parents brought their dogs with them. I call them the tweedles. Tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. The white one is Samson and the black one is Bruiser. When I was kid, we never let our dog in the house. Now, my parents take them everywhere.

On Memorial Day we went to a local fest. They had a civil war reenactment. I kept looking for the guys wearing grey uniforms. It finally occurred to me we were in Yankee territory and that is why they were wearing blue.


Earlier that weekend we took my parents out to Penns Valley where the Amish were busy planting their fields.
Here is a horse waiting outside an Amish home.

My dad seems to sit at the computer and 'draw' all the time. It used to be that he doodled on napkins, now it's on the computer. The good thing about that is he taught Kendall how to do some stuff on the computer.
I worked a bunch at the hospital after my parents left and felt really behind at home. We then had Pete's friends out for the next weekend. It was fun. At the end of the weekend we went to Pete's boss's house for band practice and a little fishing.
They have a pond that is about an acre big with a zip line. Kendall was convinced that she was catching the same fish over and over. Who knows? I don't fish. At this point I was so tired from the whirlwind of the last two weeks.

I ended up working Monday and Tuesday this week and spent Wednesday doing laundry and catching up around this pig pit. My laundry runneth over...

Just one of the guys...

This past weekend, Pete had some high school/college buddies out for a fly-fishing weekend. There were Matt, Chris, and Mike. They arrived from NYC and New Jersey around 8 pm on Friday. We met them in town at a local micro brewery with kids in tow. I just pretended it was Europe and that helped with the guilt for dragging my kids out so late. Anyway, after dinner I drove home with the kids and 'the boys' and Pete (as Kendall referred to them) went to the grocery store for some breakfast food. We ended up staying up until 1 am drinking beer and talking. It's really funny. These guys teased my husband about all these things that bug me too. It was weird. I realized that I shouldn't take my husband's quirks so personally. He has always been like this.

Saturday, the boys went out about 10 am and I had to chauffeur Clayton to a birthday party at an indoor jungle gym, which meant I had to entertain Kendall for two hours. After the party, we headed home and I baked a cake for 'the boys' and vacuumed up dog fur (another story). We went back to the same place where we were that morning--this time for a classmate's of Kendall's birthday party. I think we finally got home around 8:15 pm. I was beat. I came home to find 4 grown men napping. They finally woke up and cooked me some dinner. Nothing fancy, just burgers and bratwurst. Around 10 pm or so, we decided to play poker--dealer's choice. It was really fun. We switched between Texas Hold'em and 5 card draw and 5 card stud. The chips were worth a quarter a piece. Again, I stayed up until 1 am with the guys. My husband went to bed around 11:30 pm. I needed a little help with the rules, but it was so much fun playing poker.

Sunday, the boys left the house at 6:30 am for Pine Creek. Pete had some spectacular fishing from what the all said. It was catch and release, but they did get some pictures. Matt stayed back with me and the kids (evidently, fishing is not his thing) and he signed me up for Quicken. We worked on that and talked finances.

I'll add some pics later. For now, I better go to bed. I got to work at the hospital tomorrow and I need to shower since I had a softball game tonight. We lost by 16 runs! So sad. It was a good time, however. At least that is what I'm telling myself. I did have hit tonight. Woo hoo.