Charleston 1

We will have to do this in installments. Some of you may know that Jeff and I went to Charleston for a few days. These are the pictures.

Here is the Circular Church, aptly named, because it is round. It also has a bitchin' graveyard.






Some of these graves were from the 1600's, pretty darn old. Oh look, in the bottom of the picture, it looks like a spirit come to call.















Here is a photo of the haunted City Jail. We got to go inside, and it was pretty dismal. It was used from the early 1800's to the 1930's. No running water, nothing on the windows but bars, dank dark and horrible. Of course, in Charleston they don't tear down anything, so here it stands. And directly across the street, what do we have?...........












The public housing projects. So, if you aren't depressed enough to be living in public housing, just glance across the street to the jail for additional reminders of suffering and torment.

More to come.
Amy

Sheep

Scarlet had a lesson in sheep herding yesterday. Right before her turn, they put 3 fresh sheep in the pen. She chased them for about a minute and 2 of the sheep scaled the wall and escaped. The trainer said they had never done that before. So she brought in two smaller replacement sheep.









Scarlet really went after the big sheep on the left (not the big fat person on the left, which is me!)














Here, she is staring the poor sheep down and walking toward it, which forces the sheep to walk backward. The other two are looking on, just like kids in a schoolyard, hoping the bully doesn't pick on them next.











More herding. I'm thinking of getting her private lessons, she was that good.










Sucess, she has them all rounded up in a corner. Good work!

fish

I'm sure everyone was expecting photos of our trip to Charleston. Those will be posted soon, I hope. I just had to do this one first. Jake and I were feeding giant Koi today, and this is what happens when they discover where the food is coming from. Yikes.

posted by: Amy

Hershey PA

I took a few shots of our trip to PA last weekend. The pictures do not convey the magnitude of fun that was had. We went to Indian Echo Caverns on Sat. Sean had been years ago, but didn't remember it. Here is our tour guide who was very animated and fun.















Here is a photo of Sean in front of a rock formation. Don't worry, he's completely sober.


















They call this the "Wedding Cake". They actually perform wedding ceremonies in this part of the cave, if dark and dank is your thing. I wish Jeff and I had know about it, we could have eloped and actually had fun.












On to Sunday. Here are the wolves at the little zoo in Hershey Park. I know this is a terrible picture, it's all I've got.










Sean and Dani resting. I did have a few pics of Jake and his friends, but they have mysteriously dissapeared. Don't worry, prom is in a few weeks and it will be a Jake extravaganza!

Bye-Bye

Work and Play

Valerie bought Sean a jump ramp on Saturday. It was so nice of her and Sean and his friends have been playing with it every day.













They tear up the driveway, go up over the ramp, turn around and circle back. Then they do it again.











Zoooooom.













Here is Jake working on his truck. That's not fun.

Bye for now.

Update 4/22/07

Hey everyone, sorry, no pics today. Just a quick update on what everybody is doing.

Jake had 4 wisdom teeth pulled out on Monday. All went well and he was back on his feet in no time. He was a bit loopy right after the Dr. finished, which was the best part for me. He is working toward graduation, taking EMT classes, working at the paint store and running a bingo night at the firehouse. Keeping busy agrees with him.

Sean is doing well in school, playing soccer, piano & finishing up an animation/movie class. We get to see the finished film this Wednesday. He has expressed an interest in taking fencing classes, so I'm checking into it. That seems like a good sport for him.

Jeff is in Texas for a bit. I don't want to be too specific with the details in case there are any robbers or murders reading my blog. Anyway, he has been busy working and coaching soccer and being an all around good guy.

As for me, I know nobody cares, but I'll just say that work is really cutting into my "ME" time. Sean and I are going to Hershey Park soon, with plans to join Jake, my mother and Danny, as well as many of our dear friends. We always have fun when we go there.

Scarlet is doing great. Yoda has completely recovered from his injury. The hard part is keeping him in the house, he's pretty crafty. Tangles seems to be happy and Fran is a pain, but cute.

Now that I have thoroughly bored you all, I hope everyone has a wonderful week.
Be Kind,
Amy

Easter

My postings are become fewer and fewer lately. There is so much going on, ALL THE TIME, and I'm bad about taking pictures. Anyway, this is the first year, ever, that we did not dye Easter Eggs. Nobody wanted to do it. It's sort of freeing though, to not have to slave away over the "traditions". Don't get me wrong, I loved doing all that stuff when the kids were younger, but this is great too. I did make Easter baskets for Jake and Sean. This picture was taken after most of the items were removed. I make really good baskets, so they were cleaned out pretty quickly.











Now, for our recent tragedy. Poor Yoda developed an abscess on his leg. We took him to the vet, where it was announced he had a fever and an infection. So, he was sedated, leg shaved, abscess lanced, money paid. He's on two antibiotics, which I have the pleasure of administering twice a day. He's pretty good about it. His leg looks funny.







The strange thing is this: he and Frannie have been best friends these last few months. When Yoda came home from the vet, she's treating him like he's a different cat, hissing and creating drama. It's always something.










All our felines, back a long time ago when it was a nice day. They are so darn cute.

Tuesday

Here is Fran "traveling high", as Jeff would say. By the way, a big thanks to Melissa for backing me up about the pet photos.
















Sean baked a cake that fell apart. His solution was to pile it on a plate, and pour frosting on top. Cake is cake, so it's all good.











Here is Sean cleaning up after himself. Hooray!

Pets on bed

I was lying in bed with all 4 pets, very peacefully. I got out of bed, as slow as possible, to snap this picture. Everyone but Tangles got up, and that made her mad - so she hissed at them. They didn't care.

I have NO life!!!!!!

posted by: Amy

Sean's final 12th birthday party

I've lost track of how many parties Sean had for his 12th birthday. Maybe it was only 3. Anyway, this group played Laser Tag in Laurel. Here is the black and white cake I made. I know, the line down the center is crooked, boo hoo.











FOOD!
































Love the hat babe.













Sean's friends are singing "Happy Birthday". I can tell because he has his fingers in his ears.

New Kitty

Here is pic of the new kitty. We've had her, maybe 3 weeks or so. At first, she HATED both cats and the dog. She would let out a blood curdling scream if any of them came near her. Now, her and Yoda are best friends, and they make me a bit nervous. I wonder what type of schemes they're brewing. And no, I don't "allow" them to play in the dishwasher.

Jake's wheels

Here is a pic of Jake fiddling with his new truck. This one he found and purchased 100% on his own. I think it's a 94' and in pretty decent shape.









It has extra seats in the cab, which is a must for a small truck. Ask me what he said about the cab, I can't put it in writing, but it's funny.


By the way, to anyone who watches Top Chef, I am so glad bully Cliff is gone! I'm hoping sissy Ilan is next. Bye!

Sean's Many Birthdays

On Jan. 10, Sean turned 12. These pics are not in the correct order, so I'll have to walk you thru a bit. Here he is at my mother's, for an inpromtu celebration. This was the year of the video games.










And, the year of cash. That is $100 he's holding up. Sean banks all his money - he's saving up for a car.












This is the pinata from his neighborhood party, and that's Sean getting ready to swing. This pic is out of place, so.....




















back to my mothers. Nan and Sara were in the hood and swung by to see Sean.



















Why the laughter? Danny had a remote control whoopie cushion. I think he turns 12 this year too!













Sean is getting shy about his picture being taken.















Not shy about eating cake.














Back to the neighborhood party. Sean has so many friends, we decided to split his party in two. Saturday we took all his neighborhood friends to Riva pool. They had fun diving and swimming. Then, back to the house for some pinata destruction. It was 70 degrees that day, so it worked out well. Here is Jeff giving instructions.








That poor plaster fish.















Ouch, right in the ribs. That's the lucky kid who broke it.














Poor fishy-poo, where's your back side?















Okay, this is the little cake I made for his actual birthday night (it was a Wednesday).















Happy happy




















Yet another gun. This is an air soft gun.
















Back to the pinata. Jeff and Jake trussed him up.














Jeff and Jake on pinata detail. I had a bunch more pics, but I guess blogger can only hold so much at a time. Stay tuned for a photo of Jake's new truck.