family reunion part 3

Today is the day.

What, I don't sound excited?

Let me try again...

TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

as soon as church is over today, we will be on the road on our way to Wilmington for almost a week of freakhogstupendousnessfesting! That word is what the name of this vacation has come to be known by in case you were wondering...

Anyways, it turns out I will have my computer with me... although I'm not sure how much I'll be on it. It would be nice to get some live updates and pictures, but honestly, it's time consuming! Especially on my laptop... my workflow isn't nearly as nice as I have it set up in my office.

Looking back a couple days, our last day with my brother Jay's family was spent at Stonybrook. When we arrived at the park, the water temperature was posted at 58 degrees. I don't really care how hot it is outside, 58 degree water is not my idea of a good time. So when we all decided to hike up the gorge, I was more than happy to leave behind the frigid water and begin!



Somehow, the water wasn't as cold upstream... or maybe it's just that sitting under a waterfall is way cooler than dunking yourself in an arctic pool. I can do that in my own backyard thankyouverymuch.

Thanks to my brother Jay, and my niece Raelynn for all the pictures in this post. I took a bunch as well, but I always like when I'm actually in the pictures :D

In the falls picture from left to right is my niece Natalie, me, my brother Dan.



This kinda stuff is soooo worth getting wet in super cold water and almost killing yourself on slippery rocks... after this adventure, and realizing just how much I enjoyed it and would like to do more hiking like this, I invested in a pair of super fantabulous water shoes obtained by my brother as he works at EMS and got them on clearance for me!



It became even clearer to me that my family is bent toward photography with each shot I went through. Like I said earlier, Jay took the first and last in the post, Raelynn took the middle shot.

There were a lot of shots like this last one from Jay, and it just goes to show ya that the eye is more important than anything! Everything else can be learned... at least that's what I think ;)

Although the family reunion is coming to a close, we will always have the memories made and shared this last week. I'm excited to get on the road this afternoon and begin making new ones!

me (and raelynn) in DC

I'm so behind in posting these... I've had the pictures in a draft post here for quite some time, but I've lacked the creative energy to write what is to go along with them.

Last Friday I went to DC with my niece Raelynn...

Get ready to see a lot of these two faces...



As i was loading up the bikes, I said, "raelynn, go get some snacks." So she came back with a sleeve of ritz crackers and a container of peanut butter. The peanut butter melted almost immediately upon feeling the heat of the car, but the ritz were still good.

As we were stuck on NY ave waiting to get downtown, we took the opportunity to take some crazy pictures, and while many of them were of us unintentionally cleaning our teeth from the crackers, this one was entirely posed. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.



The roof-top view of the bikes



Raelynn has braces and we often joke about how she could store an entire meal in there... and instead of packing a lunch, she could just eat a little extra and pack it in there for snacks throughout the day. She pretends to be embarassed by this, but we are a sick family I tell ya and she really thinks it's hilarious :D



We parked at the Jefferson tidal basin and got our bikes down to cruise around all the hot spots with what little time we had. We stopped first at the Jefferson Monument... which out of all the monuments is one of my favorites... i think it's cuz of the nice breeze that you always feel when you're standing in the center :)



and then I also love doing this shot. I did it last time I was here a little over a year ago. Go see last year's and see how different I looked. crazy! I like my blonde hair better, even though you can't really see it here.



love this kid...



After the Jefferson Monument, we rode over to Arlington. But when we got there, we were informed that we could not ride our bikes in the cemetery. Common sense shoulda told us that, but we also forgot the bike chain in my trunk UGH!

So we rode just in the entrance to take a water break... and this behind me is as close to the grounds as we got :(



It was mad hot that day... but it really didn't matter. I personally love being outside and sweating like crazy as long as I'm doing something I like and with people I love.

Gotta love the free advertising for State Farm here lol, that was totally unintentional ;)



Because we didn't have a bike chain, Raelynn was the only one to go into the Lincoln...

As she walked away with my almost $4000 worth of camera I started to panic slightly. She was so far away and it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that when someone whips out that thing, it's worth a lot... But she made it back, consequently, so did the camera ;) And she took some great shots while up there.



I think this one is awesome. I've never had a shot of the reflection pool that i've liked as much.

Also, I'm in this picture somewhere... can you find me? (to see where I am, scroll down to the next pic)













Yah, there's no way you can see me haha, but when i zoomed WAY in, it was pretty clear. you can't zoom in on this much though as it's pretty lo-res.





We tried to use the lock to at least fasten the two wheels together and leave them for just a few minutes while we went in the memorial... but it didn't work, and they just ended up in a pile anyways. Meh, whatevs.



Here we were at the WWII memorial. I don't think that I'd been to this one before. There was a column for every state and US territory surrounding a pool where people would put their feet in.



I was loving the way the sun was here, so I tried to get some cool flare :)





This bokeh was amazing...

A few days later I went back into the city, but this time with a GPS... let me tell you. SO much easier haha. I've always just weaved my way in and out not really knowing where i was going, but figuring if i just kept heading "south" or "east" i would get there eventually :) It's always worked, but i saved some time with the GPS... that is when I actually did what it said...

Darien Lake - Inside the Park

After calculating how much time we actually spent travelling back and forth to the car, and factoring in that we didn't arrive at DL until 4 o'clock, we were left with only about 4 and a half hours of actual ride time.

Plenty in my book as the first ride I rode on (after trip #3 to get my shorts of course) I felt like i was gonna toss cookies lay's potato chips. I don't usually feel sick on rides, is it just that i'm getting older?

But I pressed on, as we all did and finally trip #5 was complete. We were full of food and ready for action.

As we walked through the park, we had to carefully assess which rides would do who in. Since Alicia doesn't like spinny rides and I don't like roller coasters, we rode pretty much nothing together. But Dawn and Sarah were a combination of the two.

There are two rides worth specifically noting on this trip, and so I will outline them here.

First up. The Scrambler.

Anyone ever heard of that one? It's got arms coming out from the center point and on the end of each arm is 3 or 4 cars that hold approximately 2 average size people. And it spins the crap out of you.

Remember, I did say that it hold approximately 2 average size people. I consider myself fairly average, as well as the rest of us. However, we don't do things the average way, so instead of 2 butts fitting into the car, we shoved 3.

We squeezed ourselves in there and as we were reaching the point where our "wedge" was bearable, the crazy ride operater person came by to make sure we were buckled in "safely."

Needless to say, we were sitting on the seatbelt. However, I didn't think it would really be a problem of "safety" as the bar that held us in the car was shoved so far into my belly jiggle that i couldn't actually see the bar anymore! Norbit anyone???

With that emasculating incident behind us, we trekked onward. To the new coaster called the moto-cross or something like that.

I don't like coasters for the very reason that they all go down steep drops. No matter how long or short the drop is, I will simultaneously have an asthma attack, heart attack and most definitely pee my pants.

However, this coaster didn't have any drops at all. It was more of a twisty ride that just went super fast, and that looked like fun to me.

(here we all are standing in line for the moto-cross)

Did I mention yet that I would in addition to all the other horrible things that could happen when i ride a roller coaster I would also pee my pants?

This had never actually played out in real life...

It has now.

On the first time around the moto-cross, I was doing great. It was a lot of fun, and while they lock you in so tight it's hard to breathe, I still managed to avoid both the asthma AND heart attacks. The peeing my pants part... not so much.

However, I am using the term "pee my pants" very loosely as I didn't actually wet them entirely, but only a little. Have you ever heard someone say, "I just peed a little!" in a very high pitched raspy voice?

That's me.

Once wasn't enough. I had to go a second time. It was just that fun!

aaaaaaand it happened again. In the SAME spot it happened the first time!

Oh well though. Good times good times.

So just in case you're wondering which car i was on when this occurred so you don't ever sit on that particular one... you can keep wondering.

What's a theme park without some nasty passed along germs? I mean seriously, have you ever really thought about all the nastiness that makes up a place like that?

It's one of the sacrifices you just to be willing to make.

And with that said, I will share with you my favorite part of going later in the day.

You get to watch the sun go down on the park and the lights come on. There's something so uniquely summer about the rides lighting up... being with friends and making good memories :)

Thanks guys, I had an amazing time!

Darien Lake - The parking lot

Each and every summer, I make my way down the 30+ miles of open road to the one and only Darien Lake. It used to be a Six Flags, but sadly has lost its status as such and is now exactly the same, just a different name.


I prefaced this road-trip last week and failed, FAILED! to follow up on it and all the adventures that ensued.

So often things happen that I think to myself or out loud how awesome that would be to blog about. Then I forget. However, we have my good friend Dawn to thank for this post. She has been waiting and waiting for me to get our DL adventures out in the open.

This post will include (but not remain limited entirely to) the PARKING LOT. The rest of the adventures will follow in a later post...

It all started on rt 20 in Alicia's seriously awesome pontiac (pronounced PO-nyac) grand am. It was a humid albeit not too hot day... making for a semi-comfortable ride down... or over, seeing as how we were travelling west.

We arrived at the park at approximately 4pm whereupon we had to decide whether or not we were going to pay for an exorbitantly overpriced locker or traipse back and forth to the car.

The car won out.

So we headed in donning our swimsuits as the water park was the first order of business. Shortly after arriving on the inside and meeting up with Dawn and Sarah, I realized that I couldn't actually ride any of the rides with only my suit on... I had no shorts on, just the bottoms which are kinda like shorts and I had a towel.

And I wanted to go on a ride.

I guess I could have waited... but I didn't want to.

So I made trip #3 back to the car. How did I get to #3 already? Oh that's right, because we kept forgetting stuff while we were STILL IN THE PARKING LOT.

Trip #1: I had to get a drink.

Trip #2: I decided the shorts were a nogo.

Trip #3: I realized I did indeed need the shorts.


Trip #4: This is a hypothetical trip because, you see, as we were paying for our tickets, I didn't factor in TAX. Duh. So I brought only $30, because if each ticket was $15, then $30 should be perfect. No loose change to lose when we go on the water rides.

We had already given the car key to Sarah because she had a locker pin to put on her swim suit... and she had gone back into the park. So Alicia and I were standing at the ticket counter

keyless

58 centsless

and pantsless

oh wait, I had already put my shorts back on.

Well the guy was nice enough to pay our tax for us. A very nice boy indeed.


Trip #5: Changing out of wet clothes into dry ones... and then eating. For a VERY LONG TIME.

Trip #6: Leaving the park to go home.


Six trips and $5 later (the money we saved on a locker) our trip was concluded. However, I haven't even talked about what happened while we were actually in the park...

that's coming next...

and here he is again

The ox gave me some pretty good material today, but this was by far the best pic. I thought about putting them all up, but i didn't want to exhaust you with pictures of him doing crazy things... that would be no good. So i decided on this one. The story behind is is that we (and when I say "we" i mean my mom, dad, dan and I) went to the Lilac Festival today. The first order of business was: FOOD.

We ended up getting a blooming onion and it was *oh so tasty* I squelched (sp?) all feelings that i was eating pure grease and soooo many germs as i savored every bite... and it was gooooood.

There will be a later post outlining the more beautiful parts of the festival and some lovely Mother's Day pictures... but like i said, that will be later. As in tomorrow, or maybe the next day... or even like later? I have no idea when that will be because i have like no time left anymore. Oh well... at least i'll have a lot of money when i'm done!

This one was too classic to leave out of the mix.

where do i live?

I live in America. Land where convenience is one of our top priorities. Ya know, one convenience that i really love is hot water. Yes, that's right. When you turn on the faucet with the "H" or some red on it, you expect hot water to come out.

Can you guess what these two pictures mean?

another late night

Disclaimer: this post will make little to no sense to most of you. It’s actually intended for one unnamed individual who will surely know exactly who they are. If when you are done reading this, you feel like you’ve just wasted the last 5 minutes of your life, then you’re probably right. If though, you actually make it to the end, there is a fun anecdote about the night I thought I heard a mountain lion. Have fun.

For the sake of friendship and good memories, I am writing this from the country hillside where I spend many Saturday nights. Yes, that’s right… I’m babysitting again. And as a tribute/flashback to the last time I was here, I decided to come up with what I’ve been up to since I got here at approximately 7:47.

play game with kids – check
brush teeth and go potty – check
read story – check
kids in bed – check
raid kitchen for food – dried fruit found, eaten and put away
not really that hungry anyways – food search complete (besides all the cheese is gone)
search tivo for anything worth watching – fail
connect to wifi – fail
surround sound – still lame

just shy of 3 hours in, it is now exactly 10:41. update is as follows:

still searching for tv – no luck
starting to get hungry – check
wifi status – still fail

current surroundings:
uncomfortable pre-slept on loveseat – have found semi-comfortable position and trying not to move
laptop – on lap
blanket – keeping me warm
tv – Christina Aguilera snl rerun in background
lighting – bright but I still feel a little creeped out

As promised, here is the story about the mountain lion. This is a TRUE story, I kid you not. It may sound unbelieveable, but I assure you it is completely factual. Out here in the country, one never knows what to expect as far as nature goes. Last summer, I was here, sitting on the couch in the usual fashion. Out of NOWHERE (except maybe the woods?) there came this horrifying howl that was more like a growl/roar and it was near. Like it felt like it was right near the front porch, that kind of near. I have never been more legitimately scared in my entire life. I immediately thought that it had to be some sort of large cat. A VERY large cat.

So when the rents got home, I let them know about aforementioned experience. Without batting an eye, the mom told me that it was probably a mountain lion. She said that the DEC have been letting wild mountain lions loose in the Bristol hills to help control the deer population. WHAT?!?! She went on to tell me a few horror (and supposedly true) stories about mountain lions abducting (and I would guess killing and eating) people! I’m not one to get freaked out easily, but that night the idea of walking across 50 feet of open yard to get to my car that eerily black night I was SCARED BEEPLESS.

The only consoling factor amidst this onslaught of “let’s scare our babysitter away forever” tactics, was that she also began talking about wild chihuahuas they have in their front yard. I stood there with my mouth hanging open and asked her in all seriousness at least 3 times if she was joking. She neither denied nor confirmed whether she was joking or not, but I’m banking on the fact that it was near to 3am and either I was hallucinating or she was talking in her sleep. Either way, I left their house both confused and scared out of my mind.

I did some research to find out about wild mountain lions being in this area, and I found that they really aren’t being let loose. Thank GOD. I also went on the national geographic site and listened to many different large cat growls and roars and what I found was the noise I heard that night wasn’t a mountain lion at all. The closest I came to it was a lynx, which are in fact indigenous to the area. I can deal with lynxes… mountain lions I cannot.

Adventures in Odyssey

When I was probably 7 years or so, I remember going to Alpha and Omega (the local Christian bookstore) with my mom and she would most often let us pick something out. Usually we would pick out a Superbook video or something like that, but i remember clear as it was yesterday picking out my first Adventures in Odyssey album.


Upon bringing it home, i proceeded to listen to every tape, in order, until i had finished. Then i did it again... and again, and again. I listened to those tapes over and over. Honestly I'm surprised that they still play! At any rate, when I was that young i never thought about how much of an impact they would have on my life. I grew up with the characters, and still listened to the episodes regularly until i was about 13 or 14.

I remember crying when the real Mr. Whitaker died and they replaced him... but I'm glad they did because really Whit's End wouldn't have been Whit's End without Whit! Anyways, I said all that to say that even though I am 23, I still love them! In fact, last summer I was able to get them out again and all summer long when the kids and i were in the car, we would listen to them. So when I got my new car and realized that we wouldn't be able to listen to the tapes anymore (since it doesn't have a tape deck) I immediately thought that I would just have to buy some on CD.

I went to two Christian bookstores and they were both priced the same. The series that i wanted was a compilation of the best adventures from the last 20 years and it was priced $40 instead of the regular volumes which were $25. I was trying to justify the cost, when my great friend Melissa suggested that I look on Amazon. They were so much cheaper! At any rate, i ended up getting 2 albums, the platinum one and then I think the most recent volume, and I got BOTH for $42!

I'm so happy! I never would have thought that first day i picked up the album off the shelf that 16 years later i would still be loving each and every adventure as much as I did then. If you haven't ever listened to any of the series, i would suggest that you look into it for your kids. They portray fictional people with real problems and 100% Godly solutions... I'm so glad that my mom got them for us when we were so young!

Me in DC

While we were in DC, I decided to update my pictures at the different monuments. Although I have been to the city numerous times in the past few years, I don't have any pictures since I was about 13.

Here we were driving through the city, past the Washington Monument (aka Pencil) and I took this out the moon roof on my new car!


This is me on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial.


I took this on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial because I wanted the Pencil in the background. It's all washed out, but it's still cool.


Then here I am in front of the two statues at both the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials.


This is a shot i took of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. I don't actually know anyone on the wall, but it's a sobering sight to look at.


I love DC. I don't know what it is exactly about the city, but I love going there. The history represented there just makes me feel closer to the country that I live in. With all the hard realities that we face everyday, and all the bad things that are happening in the world around us, it's nice to go back to a place that reminds you of where we came from and the heritage that we possess. Many people in this country do not claim themselves to be under God anymore, but I do.

highly amusing...

...at least i thought it was. this lovely weather we've been having breeds a certain kind of restlessness in children. it almost seems as though there are not enough crafts or activities that could outlast this horrible winter... at least not any that i can handle doing for any length of time. heavens knows that if i am sick of all our projects, then for sure the kids are too! So i came in this morning to find the bounce house set up in the front room. This thing literally takes up the entire room. wall to wall... and not quite to the ceiling, but dangerously close to the light fixture up there. But guess what! it's works! it totally works! they love it, and it ate away a good hour of fun today.


For some reason today though, andy was being extremely dare-devilish. I often have a certain conversation with him and it goes like this:

Me: you know buddy, you need to take it easy. you're going to hurt yourself if you don't start being more careful.

Him: I not manna, i bein careful and I not get hurt.

Yah, and then he gets hurt... and the crying begins, and he climbs into my lap to make it stop hurting. On my meaner side i almost wanna be like Ha, i told ya so kid, so suck it up! but the other (not fully formed "mom") side of me is like Oh i could just hold you like this forever, and you can cry as long as you want.

There has to be a happy medium.

But, word to the wise. "It's probably not a good idea to lay down in a jump house while your two older and much larger sisters are jumping in it."

Here is the proof that it happened just that way.

On the other hand, I tried to get some cute pictures of the three of them... all did not go as ideally as i would have liked. but are kids ever really ideal? what the heck does that mean anyways? At any rate, i did manage to capture their personalities, which i would dare say is more exciting than ideal.

They really don't have any personality at all

and now for my personal favorite...

V Day Cookies

I felt an uncontrollable urge to take some cool pictures last night, and since Melissa was going to bake cookies today and had invited me over to help it was the perfect opportunity!


This past weekend my small group from church did an outreach where we decorated Valentine's Day cookies together and then delivered them to different people in the church. Mostly elderly single or widowed people, but a few others who we thought could use a little cheer this time of year.


The recipe that Melissa used was a basic sugar cookie mix. In fact, I believe that it was actually a mix that you can buy and then add maybe butter and an egg or something. Whatever it was they were great! At any rate, I went on a little icing adventure with Alicia this weekend in the midst of our great cookie baking experience. We mixed up more icing that i've ever seen and or used in my whole life. So I broke the icing down into a *manageable* amount and wrote it down here for you.


It's kind of a combination of the icing that my family uses for Christmas cookies and basic buttercream frosting.

1 bag confectioners sugar
3/4 cup butter
milk to desirable consistency
1 tsp flavoring of choice

The milk is variable, since i never actually measured that. Or the flavoring for that matter! So basically you would put the butter in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. Then add the confec sugar and mix it up with a mixer adding milk slowly to make it mixable. Depending on how thin/thick you want the icing will determine how much of the milk you actually use. And if you add too much milk and it's too runny, you could always add some more sugar... that is if you have any left!


The flavoring is my favorite part, because that's what gives cookies a true "signature" taste. I made some cookies later on this afternoon as well for my cadre tomorrow and used almond flavoring in both the mix and the frosting. They are sooo yummy!

kiki

I have actually been intending to post this for about two days, and in fact it's been written for the last two days. I've basically been waiting for a good picture of her. i really wanted to take a picture during the daytime so that i didn't have to deal with horrible artificial light or use a flash. That's just my quirky thing. Well yesterday my mom pointed out that i was having such a hard time accomplishing this goal because i am in fact NEVER home while it is light outside! Just one of the hazards of winter i guess. But here is the post in it's entirety. Saturday has finally allowed me some beautiful light so that i could take a picture *smile!*



I have a little kitty cat whom we affectionately refer to as "kiki." However, her real name is Sophie. Add onto that the rest of her name, the complete pronunciation looks like this:

Sophie Stegasaurus Shape-Shifter Slakes

Please notice that there are 5 "S's" in her full name resulting in a shortened although not often used name. Quint"S"a. Pronounced - Quintessa.

This post, however, is not about the many names i have for my cat. It is about a certain affinity she has for living her life "outside the box." Although in this case, she was kind of in a box... but the terminology still works.

Tuesday night I was readying myself for a wonderful night of slumber and warmth by brushing my teeth when I heard her begin to "mew." Soph doesn't "mew" very often. She usually makes this audible purring sound. It's not unusual for her to run around waiting for me to go to bed as she likes to sleep with me. But it IS unusual for her to "mew." I didn't think a whole lot about it since she's always keeping me guessing. But when i had finished doing everything i had to do before bed and still had not seen her, i started to wonder where she could be. So i called her a few times and the only answer i consistently got was her pathetic mewing. I followed the sound back into the bathroom and searched for her (there aren't many places to hide in there *wink*) I finally realized that the sounds were coming from inside the wall.

My dad has been working on finishing our bathroom over the last year. It's been in working and running condition since about July or so, but there is one spot that has been neglected due to other more important things needing to be done. All of the plumbing for the tub and shower runs along the wall right outside the bathroom door and it has not yet been covered with drywall. Earlier that morning though, my dad had placed a huge sheet of drywall over the hole just until he could come up and finish it up. This happened at about 10am. I found the cat about about 9:30pm... in the hole...

PS: she is still going into the hole... i guess she is refusing to relinquish her favorite hiding place until the last possible minute. She's even been growling at my dad as he works on covering it up and she watches him from this vantage point. In case you can't tell what this picture actually is, it's actually right through the hole, past the pipes, and she is underneath the bath tub.