Great day outside

After Beth returned from church we hit the local diner for breakfast. Sure was nice to get back to some great breakfast food. After a hearty breakfast, we began working on the shed. We still had a lot of stuff to finish putting around the pool and needed to move the unused snow blower to the shed. We also had a hugh 3 shelf rolling rack we needed to find a home for in the garage. So off we go to the shed. We made about 4 trips from the shed to pool and boy was it a sunny warm day. We were resting by the pool when DJ appeared. She had ridden her bike over and was having problem with the gears not switching. We sat and chatted for awhile and the had a look at her bike. We were unable to fix it and offered her a ride home. She declined and started back home. Beth fired up the '35 and moved it out of the garage and of course we had to take it around the block for a ride. We did find a home along the wall for the rack and put the car back into the garage. we finished putting things back in the shed and called it a day. I made steak for dinner which is Beth's favorite and had strawberries for dessert. Heading to the hot tub for a much needed soak. Today's picture is Beth in the '35.

Happy Birthday Charlie!!!

Today is Beth's dad 82 birthday. She got up early this morning and took donuts up to him for breakfast. I was too tired and slept in, a little longer. After my breakfast, I watered all the plants outside, took out the trash, started the dish washer, and downloaded more vacation pictures. We had plans to meet a friend of Beth's for lunch at the Olive Garden in Reading at 1:30pm. We got there a little early, so we went to Best Buy for a look. Did not really find anything we needed so we headed across the street for lunch. They were a very nice couple and we spent 2 hours talking. After lunch, we headed to Sam's Club. Picked up a few items for us and a few items for the Rhotinis. Kyle had a baseball game at 7pm, so we headed over to the ball park. Visited with DJ and Maggie and played with Payton. Game went into extra innings and it was getting cold out, so we came home. Have a big day tomorrow planned, so we will see just what we get done. Today's picture is the city hall building in Sherman Alaska. Only 2 people live in the town. The husband is the mayor of the town. Funny thing is when the wife gets mad at her husband she votes him out of office. Let that be a lesson to him.

Another day of planting

We started out running again this morning. We went to 2 different nurseries and to Lowe's for more dirt. We spent the rest of the afternoon planting the rest of the plants, pulling weeds, and cleaning the pool. The pool temperature is 72 degrees, so with a few more days of 80 degrees weather we might be able to get in it next week. Sure did feel good putting our feet in it today. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening loading 1/2 of the pictures we want onto face book. If you don't have face book and would like the link to them, let me know. Should get the rest by Sunday. Takes awhile to go through them and pull out just a few, but boy does it bring back memories. Today's picture is of the train we took to each of the lodges on the land part of the tour. We sat in the top part of the section and ate lunch in the bottom part.

Day of flower planting...

We were both up at 7:30am this morning. Trying to get back into a routine is rough. I think our bodies are still trying to figure out what time it is. It looked like rain today, so it was a good time to plant all the flowers we bought. We had 12 honey pots, 3 round cages, 2 planters by the pool, and the flag pole area. So off we went to plant. After 5 hours, we were finally done and it looks great. We came in to take showers and cool off, then headed out. We had to stop by Kim and Lynne's to pick up tomato plants for Beth's dad, then on to their house for dinner. We spent a couple of hours with Beth's parents, then it was back home. The hot tub is really going to feel good tonight. Today's pictures are from the rain forest in Ketchikan. The first one is a plant called Lettuce Lichen because it looks like leaf lettuce. The second picture is a plant called widow's beard. It only grows where air is 95% pure and very rare to find. The last picture is the skunk bulb. Bear like to eat the root of these plants, but boy do the smell like a skunk.

Much needed day of rest..

We both slept in late today although I was up at 8am, Beth did not roll out of bed till 11:30am. I finished unpacking and doing laundry by lunch time. Had to start the daily chore of watering. Our tomato plants have blooms, so it will not be long before tomatoes appear. We did have about 5 strawberries and they were really good. We went to nursery and picked up the first set of flowers for the pots. So tomorrow will be a busy day of planting. Today's pictures are of a stellar seals we saw at Juneau, a totem pole being carved, and a rein deer at Ketchian. I am working on loading the photos to face book and should have them there sometime this weekend, so stay tuned.

Finally home..

We finally made it home this morning about 2:30am. We were both dragging and Beth was still not feeling well. We finally made it bed about 3am. We had to be up by 10am to get showers and go the see Dr. Karen for a well needed adjustment. After that it was on to the store. We had nothing in the house, so we only picked up a few things to hold us over until we had time to think about what we really needed. It was cold and rainy all day today. Beth did get in to see the doctor and got some drug to help with a sinus and ear infection. I unloaded all the suitcases and began laundry. No pictures tonight, but will transfer all the pictures tomorrow and add more tomorrow, so you can see more of Alaska. It was a great trip and a birthday I will never forget. They people we traveled with were great and we meet a couple from Canada and hope to continue conversation with them. If you ever get a chance to go to Alaska, take it. You will not regret it.

A day a sea

We are on our way back to Vancouver BC and spending all day at sea. We did sleep until 8am this morning which was nice. We had breakfast in the dining room. Their food is so much better than the buffet. At 10am we attended a cooking show and tour of the dining room and galley. after that they had a dessert buffet on the main deck. There we are 30 different desserts and all were great. Then it was on to our AAA disembarkation meeting. Not much information that we did not already know, but we had to go. Then back to the room to try and get everything packed into the suitcases. We have to set them outside the door tonight before 10pm. We both had steak for dinner , but it was not the best. But for dessert we had baked Alaska and it was to die for. Tomorrow is a travel day all day long, so there will be no blog tomorrow night. We should get in Newark NJ about midnight and then a 2 hour ride home. Hope you all have enjoyed our travel to Alaska. Thanks for the comments, they were well appreciated.

Ketchikan

We finally got to sleep in late today. We did not dock until 10am, so it was nice to sleep until 8am. Beth is not feeling well, so I was glad she got some rest. We both think it is sinus and we got some stuff for it yesterday. We had the Rain Forest wildlife Sanctuary tour today. The temperature in Ketchikan do not get as cold as the rest of Alaska, but they get an average of 15 feet not inches of rain every year. We saw a red wood tree that was 200 years old and the wood from it would have been enough to build a 3 bedroom house. We saw a bear's den and sign of bear claw marking on trees. There were plants called skunk plants, and boy did they smell. I guess bears love the roots on them. We then saw 5 reindeer and were able to feed them leaves and touch them. Very cool. Next it was on to a saw mill that was used up in till 1997 for milling the trees. It was fascinating to see how big all the saws are to cut the trees into boards. Next it was on to see a bald eagle and a horned owl. They both have damaged wings and would never be released. They are beautiful animals. Next it was on to a native who was carving a totem pole. It was very interesting to see how he could take a tree and make it tell a story. Ketchikan is a very different town and would never picture a rain forest in Alaska, but it was very informational. On the way back to town, we did see a killer whale in the bay, but was not able to get pictures as the bus was moving to fast. Guess we will have to do the whale watching next time. Any body want to come with us??? So it was back to the boat for one more port of shopping. We both had pork tenderloin for dinner, it was that or lamb for meat lovers. We are at sea all day tomorrow.

Juneau

Today was a photographer's dream. We started the day again at 5:30am. We had a photo safari at 8:05am. We started out at Mendenhall with a picture of a hugh glacier. Then we walked through the rain forest looking at all the plant life, water falls, and even saw trees that beavers had chewed down. Then it was off to the water we went. Our first stop was to see Orca whales. Next there was a spotting of some humpback whales, so off we sped. We saw the spouts of water and waited for the right moment to catch the tail coming out of the water. What a site that was. Next off to see some sea lions on the buoy markers. We saw several of them in the water and on the markers. What a noise they made. Finally we were off to spot some balded eagles and found a couple of them. Jennifer you would have loved taking pictures today. All together Beth and I took about 1100 pictures in a 5 hour span. The ones posted were just a few of the ones we have been through. We don't have the right software on the laptop to enlarge and crop the pictures, but will do that when we add some of them to facebook. Tonight was the last formal night of the cruise. I had beef fillets and Beth had beef wellington. For dessert, I had carrot cake that was almost as good as the cheesecake factory and Beth had cheesecake. We are planning to have an Alaskan night in Pa once we get back and have all the photos edited, so stay tune for more details.What a great day.

Skagway

We were up at 5:30am this morning to get showers and breakfast before our excursion. We had to be at the bus by 8:20am. We boarded the motor coach and headed for Canada. We stopped several times along the way to take pictures of waterfalls, bridges, and mountains. It was beautiful and amazing. We went through 4 different regions in a 4 hour time span, sea, rain forest, tundra, and yes even desert. Who know that the Yukon had an Arctic desert complete with sand dunes. Our first stop was at the suspension bridge. I had been concerned about this part every since we booked it. Having a fear of falling I was hoping I could cross it before panic kicked in. Well no such luck, I only got about 1/4 of the way on the bridge and had to turn back when it started bouncing. But at least I can say I was on it. Beth made it all the way across. The view from the middle of the bridge over the river was great. The river is a class 5 and I can see why with the way the water way flowing. We stopped at Caribou Crossing for lunch, BBQ chicken, baked potato, slaw, and homemade donuts. We then traveled north to a place called Emerald Lake. The minerals in the water make the lake look very turquoise in color as you can see in the picture. We headed back to town for a little shopping and then on to the boat. We were both dragging and very hungry. We ate in the dinner room again tonight. I had something they called pot roast, but I am not sure what I would call it. Not very tasty. Beth had veal and said it was great. No dessert tonight. Nothing really looked good to either one of us. We are up again at 5:30am again the morning for a photo safari tomorrow.

Glacier Bay

What a great day we had at Glacier Bay today. We were up at 7am and ready to go. We decided to eat in the dining room for breakfast and we are so glad we did. The food was wonderful and hot. After breakfast, I did 2 loads of laundry and Beth downloaded pictures. The park rangers came to the boat about 10:30am. Three of them had to climb a rope ladder to get aboard. One of them gave a presentation on the cycle of the glacier bay. It was very interesting and informational. We entered Glacier Bay about 11:30. The park ranger pointed out to us various animals, glaciers, and other facts while traveling down the bay to Margerie Glacier. Along the way we saw sea lions, sea otters and a whale. We made it to Margerie Glacier about 3pm. It is the largest glacier in the bay. It stand 250 feet above sea level and 100 feet below sea level. It was a site to see. We spent about an hour there waiting to see if any broke off and fell into the water. We saw a couple little falls but no big ones. We did hear several rumblings in the background. It sounded like the booms at 4th of July. We headed back down the bay on our way to Skagway. We had dinner in the dining room. I had roasted chicken and Beth had pork and sauerkraut. For dessert I had a apple and walnut spring roll and Beth had white nectarine ice cream. It is very hard to put into word the veiws of the mountains and glaciers we saw today, but I hope the pictures help.

College FJord

We set the alarm for 6am this morning so we could see the glacier bay, but only made the last few miles of it. We were both so tired and figured we would get to see more tomorrow at Glacier Bay. I must say we both have not been happy with the food on board in the buffet area. There has been little to select for non-seafood lovers and dessert is not even that great. I spent most of the day reading and relaxing and Beth spent her day playing the slots. We did see a couple of whales outside our deck today, but they were a ways out. We still managed to get some pictures. Tonight was the first of 2 formals nights. They had an introduction of the captain and his staff and a champagne glass tower. It was very cool. We are going to bed early tonight as we are in glacier bay all day tomorrow and expect to see a lot. We have already take 800 pictures and we are only half way there. We did come back to a towel monkey hanging in our room this evening. We really enjoy the towel animals. If you are reading this, let us know if you enjoyed the land part of our cruise. always good to have feed back on if we are giving you all enough information and if there is something you would like us to include. Thanks

To The Ship

We left for the ship today at about 11:30am, a 1 hr bus ride to the trainstop and then we waited for about 1.5 hrs untill we got moving. Before we left Mt McKinley Lodge we did the tourist thing and had our picture taken under the arch and took a walk on the trail, that is where we found our little the buddy the marmet. I think it looks like a little ferret or weasel. But he played hide and seek with me for about 5 minutes before he scampered off.

The train ride was 5 hrs long but it was scenic and our guide was great. She had a lot of information on the areas which we traveled through. We arrived in Whittier at about 7:20pm and got to our stateroom at about 8:00. We dropped our stuff and went to dinner, which was interrupted by the Life Boat Drill, so our entire table left and came back for our main course and dessert. Jeanette had Hawaiian pork with white beans and bacon and Beth had Prime rib and a baked potato. For dessert Jeanette had Banana foster and Beth had fluffy egg white clouds and vanilla sauce.So at 11:45 pm, we are unpacked and getting ready for bed, tomorrow we see College Fjord Glacier. The sites in Alaska are unbelievably beautiful, no picture can do it justice, and no words can adequately describe them.

Denali / Mt. McKinley

We had to have our luggage outside the door by 7 am this morning, which means we were up at 6am. I hope we get to sleep late sometime on this trip. We had a buffet breakfast, but it was not good at all. It was cold and had no taste. We had to be in the lobby at 11:15 to catch the bus to take us to the train. We boarded the train and headed for Mt. McKinley. It was a 4:40 minute train ride and were in the last car of the train. With the top being all glass it got very warm in the car and we worked on getting a tan. We ate lunch on the rail car and both of us had burgers. They were really good. We did see some caribou and some trumpet geese. We arrived at the train depot at Mt. McKinley at 4:45pm and found our bus would not start. So we were loaded on to other buses for a 1 hr bus ride. The views of the mountain were spectacular. Once at the lodge, we dropped our gear and headed for dinner. Since it was my birthday, we decided to eat at the steak place. I had a Denver cut steak with a honey bourbon sauce and Beth had a NY Strip with a peppercorn sauce. They were very tender and had great favor. We had cheesecake and a triple berry pound cake for dessert. After dinner, we began doing laundry. The saying is true, the mosquitoes are big here and do bite hard. It took us a couple of hours to finish, but all the clothes are clean, packed, and ready for the 7am pickup for tomorrow. It was a fantastic site to see the sun set behind the mountain at 11pm. It is so weird to come out of the restaurant at 8pm and have to put sunglasses on. We seem to be getting used to the cold weather as we did not have 4 layers of clothes on today. Off to the ship tomorrow for the 7 day cruise part.

Denali Day

Another 5am morning again today. We had a Tundra Wilderness Tour starting at 7am. We headed to Denali National Park in an old school bus. Oh my god, the mountains were breath taking with the snow on them. We started down the parks only road looking for wild life. It did not take long before we saw an Arctic Hare. Very had to get any pictures of them cause they run very fast. Next we saw a red fox. We watched him move from the left side of the bus to the right side and scamper in the woods and up a hill. On down the road we stopped for our first bathroom break. You can just imagine how cold the potty seat was. I would give anything to be able to stand up to pee at times like these. We did spot a ground squirrel in the bush, he was cute. Off we went down the road and we spotted a black bear on the river bank. He was digging for roots. What a site. We got to the turn around point about 45 miles into the park and headed back out. We spotted a bunch of caribou on the tundra. They we pretty close and we were able to get great pictures. We also spotted some Dahl sheep up on a hill. They are hard to see because they blend in with the snow so well. All in all it took us about 5 hours for the tour and it was worth it. We next went to a dog sled demonstration giving by the park rangers. We were able to petting the dogs and take pictures with them They hooked the dogs up to a sled and let them pull the sled. The dogs were so excited and it was a site to see. When we came back to the lodge we decided to to do the 40 Below Experience. We put on parkas and then entered a room that was at 0 degrees, we thought that was cold until we went to the 40 below room. What an experience it was, we threw hot water at a wall and it evaporated before it hit the wall. A frozen orange sounded like a canon ball when dropped on the floor from about 4 ft. Normal bubbles could be caught and when touched broke like old plastic wrap. And yes we have the proof picture. We then came back to the room to rest and download the pictures. We have a dinner show tonight at 8:30 and then have to pack and have suitcases outside our door by 8am. It was a great day. We will post all the pictures once we get home and have time to go through all of them.

Fairbanks/Denali

Our day started at 5am. We had to have our luggage outside our door by 6am. We left Fairbanks on the train for Denali at 8am. The train ride to Denali was 4 hours. The train had the clear sides and top. You really got to see a lot that way. We saw several moose and sheep, but most of them were far away. We arrived in Denali around noon. We headed to our room to drop off our stuff and decided to get something to eat. Today was the first day of the tourist season so we had a lot of trainees for things. We took a covered wagon ride for dinner that we had pre-arranged. We meet in the lobby at 5:30 and for it, we were the only 2 from the lodge going at that time. It was about 10 minutes away from the lodge. When we arrived we found out we were the only ones on the tour. So we climbed aboard and headed out. The horses were huge. After about 3 miles we arrived at the lodge for dinner and what a dinner it was. Ribs, steak, chicken, potato salad, pasta salad, grilled carrots, corn bread, and cobbler. It was all you could eat and hugh portions. After dinner we got to pet the houses and had out picture take with them. It was a lot of fun. We saw a moose on the way back that was about 30 feet away and were able to get a picture of it before it ran away. We are heading to bed, because we are up again at 5am. It seems like we have been here for a long time. With it not getting dark until 11:30 pm and the sun coming up at 4:30, your days really run together. The first picture is us at the covered wagon and the second picture is of the moose we saw. We travel to Denali National park tomorrow and are very excited.

Fairbanks

What a short night it was. We finally received our luggage about 11pm then it was off to sleep. We were up at 5am and in the meeting room at 5:45 for a meeting. we had breakfast, then discussed the events of the day. We had the steamboat river cruise. We saw a plane takeoff and land on the river. It was so cool. We visited with some sled dogs and saw them training by pulling an ATV about a mile. Then on to an Alaskan Indian/Eskimo village. We came back to the lodge for lunch, then off to a Gold mine. We took a tour of a mine and then on to panning for gold. I found $21 worth of gold flakes. Beth was not able to find very much her first time around and was given another bag of dirt to try again. She ended up with $12 worth. We combined our amounts and put it into a charm for a necklace. We then stopped by a section of the Alaskan Pipeline for a tour. It was interesting to see that the platform that the pipe sits on had shifted 6 inches since 2000. It was designed to do that since Alaska has several earthquakes a day. We then took a short downtown city tour since there was not much to see and back to the hotel. We had a great meal at the lodge. I had meatloaf and Beth had steak. We had to pack and must have out bags outside our door by 6am tomorrow. We are off to Denali by train tomorrow. I am looking forward to that. Weather was pretty good today, Temperature was 39 when we got up and ended up in the low 50's. Today's picture is of us panning for gold.

Fairbanks

We made it Fairbanks finally! It was after 9 pm local time, which is 1 am PA time when we landed. We arrived at the hotel around 10 pm, our luggage should be here by midnight. We haven't slept since Tuesday morning, except for catching a few zzz's on the plane and we both
are exhausted. We spent the 6 hr delay in Seattle with a city tour, we saw the Space Needle, the Seattle sports complexs and had lunch down on the waterfront. It was much better than spending that time in the airport. No picture today since our download cable in in our luggage.

Packed and ready to go...

We are all packed and ready to go to Alaska. We had so many little things to finish today that time flew by. Waiting for the house sitter to get hear so we can go over things and we will be leaving about 2:30 in the morning. No point in trying to sleep. We will have plenty of time once we are on the bus and with a 6 hour plane ride we should get plenty. We may not have a blog posted for Wednesday as we will have little time after we get to Fairbanks. We arrive there at 9pm and who know how long it will take to get to the hotel and check-in and we have to be ready to go at 5:45 the next morning. But hang with us on the trip and we will post pictures and events for each day. Thanks to Beth's mom and Omi for my early birthday cards.

This picture is from Beth's 2005 Alaska trip, it was taken in Denali National Park. The little bear cub never ventured too far from Mom. Hopefully we will see sights like this when we visit there.

Count down to begin...

We only have on full day remaining before we leave to to go Alaska. We had an appt. with Dr. Bill for an adjustment, then it was off to Beth's mom to drop off the house plant. She is going to plant sit for us while we are gone. I still had to put together the agenda of the trip for our parents and finished that after lunch. Beth cut the front yard one more time and it is looking better. I finished cleaning the bathroom and have only the kitchen left which I will do tomorrow. I had a hair appt. at 4:30. After the hair cut I had to run to CVS for a refill of my sleeping pills and then to Lowe's for a couple of things. Beth was cleaning the pool when I arrived home. We finished packing all but one suit case which has to wait until tomorrow. So all in all we are ready for the trip. Today's picture is of our orange azalea which we planted 2 years ago.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy mother's day to all those moms out there. I did not sleep well last night. It might of had to do with having a extra large soda so late in the evening. So I was up when Beth was getting ready for church. My first chore this morning was to clean out the skimmer baskets of the pool. Due to the high windy we had last night and the trees behind us, the baskets were over flowing with the whirly birds. I think I removed about 3 pound of them. What a mess. After that I was off to the car wash for a much needed bath for my truck. My blue truck was yellow from all the pollen. It took 3 washings to finally come clean. After that it was off to the store for last minute items. When I arrived home Beth was getting ready to cut the backyard grass again. We had brats on the grill for lunch and boy were they good. We had dinner reservation at 5pm for dinner with Beth's mom, dad, Frank, Rose, Charlie, and Sue. I had the chicken parm and Beth had prime rib. What a nice meal and great conversation. We have only 2 days until vacation and most everything is done. Today's picture is of me and my mom.. I was a good kid and did send a card, enclosed a Dairy Queen gift card, and called her. Beth also sent her mom a card and we had dinner with them. We are the good children...LOL

Busy Day...

We had a very busy day today. DJ and Kyle came over this morning so Beth could show them what parts of the grass needed be cut while we are gone. We then had to go to the bank and Super Wal-Mart. Then we had to go to the pool store so Beth could get a new brush for scrubbing the walls of the pool. Then home for a quick lunch. I finished packing and weighted all the suitcases. We are at 45 pounds for the 2 land cases and 30 pounds for the cruise cases. This allows us to distribute them more evenly when we get ready to come home and a little space for souvenirs. We headed to Kyle's baseball game a little before 6pm. He caught all but the last inning and did a good job. Their team won. Today was sunny and a little warm, it is suppose to cool off and be windy tomorrow. Today's picture is of our Columbine plant.

In was a jungle out there..

We finally had a day with no rain, so it was time to cut the grass. Beth had to raise the blade on the mower the first time around the front yard. Then clean out from under the mower, lower the blade to the normal height, and cut a second time. What a pain it was. But that is what happens when you get 9 days of rain. I started to weed whack around the inside fence, but only lasted about 15 minutes. One it was too hard on my back and hands to run the whacker machine and second I suck at it. So I decided to cut the back with the push mower. Beth also had to raise the blade on that mower and off I went. Clouds were starting to roll in and we were hoping to just get everything cut before the next rain hit and we did. We even had time to put up the new bird feeder post. We had to buy a new 4 x 4 post as the squirrels had chewed the other one so much and could easily climb up the squirrel baffle. So we will see if the new baffle keeps the squirrels from getting to the feeder. We both were so tired after cutting grass all day that we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Ribs, steak, and chicken for us. The rolls are so great and cinnamon butter also. The hot tub is going to feel so good tonight. Today pictures is of the flowers on the Azalea bush.

Pool Opening Day...

The pool guys came about 9am to begin doing what they do to open the pool. The pool was not as green as I thought it was going to be. After they left, we had to leave to go pick up Jojo from school. We had to go to Lowe's to get some tree and shrub bug stuff. The bugs are beginning to eat the leaves of the weeping cherry tree. The sun was out a lot today and the temp was in the mid 70's, but we still had several shower bursts, so Beth was not able to cut any grass. Nine days of rain have really made it grow and it will take her forever to cut, I spent the rest of the day doing laundry. I was able to get Beth to pack a lot of her clothes for vacation tonight. Major accomplishment. It is still going to be tight even with 4 suitcases.

Sick day...

I felt something coming on the last couple of days and today it hit hard. I called the doctor and she called in a prescription for a nasal spray and I began taking the Z pack refill that I had since the last time the creeping crud came on. We went to Reading to get another pair of jeans. After we arrived home I took a short nap, which I rarely do, but felt a little better afterwards. I had to pick Kyle up from school and take him to the doctors. He was do for a physical and 2 shots, which he was not happy about at all. The doctor said everything was fine and said he would give him his shots. One in each arm. I thought Kyle's eyes would pop out of his head. I asked him if he wanted me to hold is hand and he said yes. I told him to look at me while the doctor did the shot. They were over before he could even say 'Ouch'. It began to rain AGAIN about 8pm, we are on the 12 hour time. Can you say SICK OF THE RAIN. Today's picture is of a hawk that come by ever so often to look for field mice in the lot across the street.

Another Rainy Day...

Yep, you guessed it, rain. We are on a 12 hour cycle. Starts about 6pm and rains for 12 hours, then cloudy and gloomy for 12 hours, then rain. We are to get this for the next 4 days. The only thing loving the rain is the new grass and the tomato plants. We had one of the twins this morning. He was sent home sick from school yesterday and could not go back for 24 hours. Dawn and Jojo had a appointment they could not miss, so we watched him for a few hours. Which turned out good as we had to also watch little jojo. They had a great time playing together. Not much else going on hear. Today's picture is of our bleed heart plant.

Rain Rain Go Away....

Ok, now my grass seed needs a boat. We have had well over 3 1/2 inches of rain so far. The forecast is for rain the rest of this week. So today was our only day with no kids this week and we took full advantage of it and did nothing. I finished packing my land clothing but I am still waiting on Beth to start. She did in fact pack her PJs but nothing else. Guess I will start the nagging process and see where that gets me...LOL Today's picture is of our friend the ground hog. First time we have seen him this year. Was beginning to wonder where he was. Beth was hoping he went far far away, maybe to God!

Rain Again..

Today was another rainy gloomy day, but at least I did not have to water. We sleep in late today and had breakfast at the diner. We both had waffles, but Beth had strawberries and whipped cream. After breakfast, we went to Wawa for a paper and coffee. Beth went to church and I began packing for the Alaska, which should not be a surprise to anyone. Beth is addicted to Pogo and spent the rest of the day playing Hog Heaven. Have to admit I too love that game. I set up mom's blog and helped her figure out how to log on and post new events. It will be exciting. The picture today is a blue jay that came looking for food and found nothing. Guess I have to fill the bird feeders tomorrow.

Payton Birthday Celebration..

Yea, it was raining again this morning so I did not have to water again. I was able to pull up round 2 of the thistles. We went over to DJ and Maggie's house around 2:30 today. We had cake and ice cream and celebrated Payton's second birthday. Payton was able to get several fingers full of icing while waiting for his cake. We wrapped his presents in a monkey box. It was so cute. We got him 3 DVDs, a giant Yoshi, 2 tractors for playing in the dirt, and a truck that plays "who let the dogs out" and has a button for scratching the song. He loved it. Dawn, Jojo, the twins came over for dinner and a visit. We had pizza and cheese steaks. We had a great time visiting and playing with the twins. What a great day it was. The pictures are from Payton's birthday celebration.

Rain

Jeanette got her wish, it finally rained today and she didn't have to water the grass seed. I finished cutting the grass last night, so with the rain I should have to cut it again on Tuesday. We really did nothing exciting today, we went to the mall so Jeanette could look for new sneakers and she found a pair of New Balance that she liked. I had to get her a birthday card so that I could pack it for Alaska, I'm counting the trip as her birthday present. (She is having a hard time arguing with me on that one!) While Jeanette was downstairs scrape booking today, I tackled my unopened mail that I have been ignoring for about 2 weeks. It took me the better part of the day but it is all done, checks written and bills filed. I really hate going through the mail, I don't know why but I just do. I mentioned that we really did nothing exciting today didn't I? Today's picture is of my 1935 Plymouth. I had it restored/updated, the exterior is pretty much what it would have look like originally except for the color, tires and wheels. The interior now has front power bucket seats, AC, CD/radio and a sun roof, but the upholstery is tuck and rolled wool on the door panels and leather on the seats similiar in style to what would have been stock. The wool & leather are grey which complements the maroon exterior quite nicely.