Busch Gardens

Sean Jeff and Amy had a great day at Busch Gardens. We saw some beautiful grey wolves in their conservation area. Here is a photo of one of them, she posed so nicely.









Here is another grey wolf, this one wasn't as friendly.















Ghosts in the trees - spooky.


















They had fabulous Halloween decorations all over, here Sean is showing you the sketeton pirates.










Here is a beautiful, but deadly owl. Everytime we walked by this lady, she had a different bird on display. One of them was a hawk. She explained that the hawk's talons could exert 300 pounds of pressure, versus a human hand which can exert only 70 pounds of pressure. She told us these birds can and do eat cats.

Sad..................

Jamestown, VA

Jeff, Sean and I took a long weekend to Virginia and one of the places we visited was Jamestown Settlement.

These pics are from the Native American "village". The colonist's part of town wasn't all that interesting to me, I don't think I took one photo of that. Anyway, here is Sean in one of the wigwams holding part of a dead bird.













Sean standing by an animal skin stretcher thing.















A view of the village.















Here is the inside of one of the wigwams. It was pretty nice. Of course, all the people back then stank to high heaven, however, the museum curators choose not to recreate that part of the experience.















I believe this is a dead wolf with his insides pulled out. His nose and claws are still intact and he is so incredibly soft.

Well, I learned that the Native Americans had more wall art than I do. And, they were polygamists who ate a lot of maize. I also enjoy the maize, but not the polygamy.

ta-ta
Amy

Coffee fiend

Sean and I did some errand running on Sunday, and stopped into Starbucks for his first coffee. We both got Tall Mocha Lattes, skim, decaf his with whip, mine without. Now he's savy to the whole coffee scene. All he needs is some dark glasses and bongos.

You can't see in the picture, but we were sitting in front of the fireplace. It was 90 degrees outside, but that didn't stop us.

Fall activities

We took a trip to the corn maze a week or so ago, and it was pretty fun. There is Sean, Jeff and Alex posing for me.














A deserted corn trail.















Alex really liked finding the ears of corn. I asked him to pretend to eat it and he was a good sport. Sean looks on.














This is the view from the "Tower", which was a ramshackle platform in the center of the maze.














Here is Sean running on the haybales. I tried to get them both in the picture, but Alex was too fast. Don't know who the red-shirted kid is. Looks like he threw out his back and is walking with a cane.

Afterward we went to the Haunted Barn. Sorry - no pics, it would have scared you all too much.

Some People Just Know How to Laugh

Sean's 7th grade pic

Here is Sean's 7th grade school picture. I can't believe how grown up he's starting to look. I wish his tee shirt had been smoothed out, but that does not detract from his handsomeness.

Annapolis

Jeff, Sean and I walked around downtown Annapolis last weekend (pre-boat show, thank goodness). Anyway, we ate at Chick & Ruth's Delly. Sean ordered an ice cream sundae as his lunch, since he had a slice of pizza at the Market House. The waitress accused us of being his aunt and uncle because "parents would not allow their children to eat a sundae for lunch". Whatever!!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to go on a tirade about parents who micro-manage every mouthful of food their kids eat. I seriously push the healthy eating at our house, but people - ask yourselves this: when your child is grown do you want his/her main memory to be unpleasant mealtimes. Land Sakes, if you want a power struggle with your kids, choose something more dramatic than food. I am SO grateful my family never pulled that "finish your plate" stuff. Or made us eat things that tasted like crap. Food should be enjoyed, not forced down your throat.

Sorry, but that just really bugs me - I'm over it now. Have a great weekend.

posted by: Amy

Nice weather

We are so lucky with the weather lately. The plants are still looking good. I have two lemons on my little lemon tree in the pot.











Here is Fran posing for me. I asked her to pretend to stare into the distance. She takes direction well. Tangles refused to pose for me though, she is normally my best subject.

Amy

Countertop

The granite was installed yesterday. I especially like the sink. As you can see, I have some tile work to do, since we opted to forgo the backsplash.









That white strip above the counter will be gone after I extend the tile down. I am toying with ripping all the green out and choosing a different style. Feel free to leave your suggestions in the "comment" section.

posted by: Amy

Baby Kaleb

I finally went to Columbia today to visit Alicia and her new baby. He is really (and I mean REALLY) cute. He was born July 12th, so he is a cancer, like me. We totally understand each other.










Note the dimple on the check.

I want to send a big shout-out to Rob, who was at work when I came by.

posted by: Amy

Baltimore

I am behind on my blogging - AGAIN - so here are some pics from a trip to the salvage yard. Some of you may have seen this saucy little fellow on Sara's blog.

















I asked my mother to pretend to use this old washing machine. She tried her best.
















There were tons of sweet feral cats running around the place. It broke my heart because many of them were battle worn. They should be trapped, neutered/spayed and brought back. Why are people so stupid??????? Sorry, even smart people are dumb as rocks most of the time when it comes to taking care of children and animals. Hey, lets all sit around and babble about politics all day, blah blah blah and show off how smart we are. snore.................... Speaking of sweet cats..............................











no, not Jeff, I'm talking about my perfect Tangles. I caught her and Jeff snuggling one day and couldn't resist a picture. They both look half asleep.

Later,
Amy

Sean Catches a Fish

Well, fishing and crabbing this season has not gone very well, but last Sunday Sean, my brother John, and I went out for couple of hours and caught about 32 fish. Sounds impressive right. Well, the fish Sean is holding is the biggest fish caught that day. Anyway, we had fun and that's all that counts. Maybe better luck next time.

Who Lost a Jacket?

I just noticed this jacket hanging on our wall by the front door. It doesn't belong to any of us. Maybe someone left it here at Jake's graduation????

If it belongs to you or yours, please email or call me.













Thought I'd throw in this pic of Shawn and Sean in the pool. We have been spending quite a bit of time there, in case anyone cares.



posted by Amy

Summer Carnival

Many weeks ago, I took Sean, Shawn P. and Jesse to Deale carnival. Here is a picture of Jake's VFD friends. It seems as if the guy on the left is wearing a wizard hat, but he's not.












The middle school set "hanging out".

Also, what's up with the woman walking around with her hand in her back pocket? Does she think her ass is going to fly away! As if!










I snapped a pic of Jake spinning the wheel. He was working the gambling booth that night - a true carny in the making.











Sean and AJ in line for food. Sean broke out into an improvisational balancing act - too bad he wasn't wearing his mime costume.













Sean in a conversation with a questionable carny-folk individual. Perhaps he's offering him some smack, wack, rock or purple haze. Maybe he's commenting on the lovely weather, we'll never know for sure.











This is a photo of the rusty, death trap Sean insisted on riding over and over again.













Miz Debbie and Jake working the wheel and having a great time. I just noticed that Debbie is wearing a Lowe's apron.












Here is Shannon hard at work at something. Possibly a caricature of the happy couple?



To sum it up, everyone pictured had fun at the carnival. That does not include me.



posted by Amy

Birthday and Turtle

My mother had a birthday dinner/lunch thing for me on Sunday. I only have this one, lone picture and I'm not even in it! Poor Shannon is blurry, but still cute. Jeff is mixing salad (with pink tongs) and Jake and Nan are loading up their plates. More stuff happened, but you'll have to check Sara's blog for pictorial proof.









Jeff and I found this lovely turtle on a walk. For some reason, Jeff determined he was thirsty and looking for water. Just how he knew this, I cannot explain. So, Jeff brought him home and set him on our outside table. Jeff and Sean stared at him for a bit before I took him and gave him some water.








Can't you see it in his eyes, "My kingdom for a drink of water. Please, I am so dry I cannot go on".

He had a bath and a drink and did, in fact, go on. We have not seen him since. Godspeed little turtle friend.

July 4th continues

After the parade, we went to the Capt. Salem Avery museum for their 4th Celebration. There was a children's craft table set up and we just couldn't pull Nan away. Here is Sara modeling the visor that Nan decorated for her.














Sean with his 3rd Place Pie Contest Ribbon. I actually made the pie and put Sean's name on it. Needless to say, he was a bit surprised when his name was called. teehee.

They had a bunch of local politicians doing the judging.

Sean and Jeff were both working the hamburger/hotdog booth. Jeff was cooking and Sean was selling and taking money. No rest for the weary.













Sean in a sack.

I was so tired when I took this picture, I could barely keep my eyes open. Can you tell?










Sean hopped to Jasper, handed off the bag, and here is Jasper hopping back. They were both fast, but there was trouble getting in and out of the sack and it slowed them down. Doesn't matter - everyone was a winner!











Jake went to the Quik-E-Mart and bought Sean a box of KrustyO's cereal and some Buzz cola. What a nice brother. I, in turn, bought Jake some hair gel. It's called "paying it forward".


posted by Amy

4th of July Parade

For those of you who missed the famous Shady Side 4th of July Parade, here are a few highlights. I have several of the least painful pics I could find, so I'll make my comments brief.



Patriotic Rednecks








Homemade space car













Boy scouts















Uncle Sam lip synching to Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful" or whatever it's called, you know the song I mean.









duh, US Coast Guard (they had a cool dog too)














A woman exploiting her grandmotherly-ness. Shameful!














A wrecked taxi














Lame















Poetic















old truck and man














Scary (I think that's supposed to be Moses)













Churchy
















Nice













Fun












This float had great musicians playing bluegrass. As a bonus, you can see Jeff in the corner.














I was so afraid for these kids. I was sure one of them would fall and we'd have brain matter splashed all over the road.















Cubs, they weren't too lively, maybe due to the heat.















Don't know the story of this guy. I guess he's plugging the Ruitans.


















Little Miss Cedarhurst and her driver.

All in all, it was a pretty good parade. We got lots of candy, beads and water bottles thrown at us, but it was worth it.