LytleNYC

November: Horse Club, Girl Scouts & Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T12:46:00.000-08:00

The 4-H Horse Club came to our house for our monthly activity meeting. Dagny taught the club how to make Origami Horses. She started them off making a simple cup. The kids enjoyed drinking out of them. Below Tessa is helping Olivia make a cup. Tessa has a huge cup collection in many sizes - she is a Origami cup pro.

Dagny teaching the 4-H club how to make Origami Horses.

Kids from the 4-H Horse Club show off their Origami Horses. Dagny is a wonderful teacher - patient and positive.

Tessa's Girl Scout troop visited the Dentist office. Debbie, the Hygienist was incredible!

Girl Scouts visit PowerHouse Studios in Paramus, NJ. There are a ton of Movie memorabilia, free video games from the 80's and the Wild n Wacky Challenge game show.

Dagny volunteered and was selected for the first game. She had to get the ball on a string in one of the little baskets without using her hands or allowing her feet to leave the ground.

Tessa volunteered and was selected for the next game on the red team. She had to race on a hippidy hop wearing a cowboy hat and carrying a rubber chicken. She went so fast, we were only able to capture this picture as she finished the race. Her team won!

Sammy from our troop was the leader of the hippidy hop race and got to pick two people to get a pie in the face. She selected Grace from our troop and her mom, Terry, my troop co-leader. The host asked how much Sammy loved her mom while putting whipped topping on the place. Terry sports an entire can of whipped topping on her face. Thank goodness Dagny and Tessa next won something that included Pieing their mom.

Not the best picture, but had to include it just so I could write the name of the game they were playing: The Chuckin' Chicken Challenge. Cracks me up!

Dagny's friend Sanjanan won the Chuckin' Chicken Challenge (still makes me laugh), so she pied Dagny in the face. Dagny tried to lick as much of it off as possible.

Our regular Girl Scout meeting went on a field trip to Monroe Volunteer Ambulance to get their First Aid badge. Nancy the led the activity was the kindergarten teacher to half the girls in the troop. She was fantastic and the girls loved being in the ambulance. Tessa is sporting her Minon hat (Despicable Me) that is to be worn at the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Girl Scouts doing Jumping Jacks in an Ambulance - not something you see everyday.

Girls and Leaders with the Ambulance.

Thank you Nancy for a wonderful Scout activity.

Now the Minon hats are appropriate. Don't the girls blend in with the Minons? This is for an online photo contest - hope we win. The big blow up Minon talks when you hit him and giggles. It is a great stress relief in the hotel at the holidays.

View of parade viewers when looking out the window of the hotel. They must be snuggling together for warmth? It is nice watching the parade from inside the hotel.

Empire State Building as seen from the 3rd floor roof of the hotel (above the meeting rooms). Tessa claim she is cold and not trying to be hip. We did not stay out there for very long.

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the 3rd floor roof of the hotel. Girls loved that Ronald McDonald is wearing ice skates on this balloon.

The girls love the Smurfs. They were happy to get a picture with won. They are so much larger than they appear on the cartoon.

The girls favorite pastime of ice skating in Bryant Park. They skate everyday we are in the city when the rink is up. Daddy loves that this activity is free, since we have our own skates. Daddy pinkie promised Tessa he would skate on Thanksgiving weekend. Tessa tells him, "Good job Daddy - you like to glide too." He would not try the one foot glide though. The girls got bored with him quickly since he is not as fast as they are.

Our own little ice capades. We get to the rink at 8am when it opens, so there are not so many people on the ice. Then the girls have space to do tricks and the ice isn't a powdery from heavy use. They skated for over 3 hours this day, since it was our last day in the city.

When we got home, Joel and Dagny went to see Harry Potter. Dagny is a huge fan and read all the books. Gwen was concerned that HP might be too intense for Tessa (what's with the PG-13 rating?). Tessa did not want to go to another movie. She wanted to go roller skating, arcade and rock climbing at the Castle. Gwen was exhausted just watching her. It was her first time on roller blades (she typically used the standard quad skates). WOW - she is super fast on roller blades! They handle more like ice skates, except she can't stop. She was able to skate backwards and spin. She looked great climbing the rock wall in her ice skating skirt. She had a blast. She also went to bed at 8:30pm. Busy day!

October: Boise, Cross Country and Halloween

2010-11-21T16:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween 2010 from Pirate Dagny and Dr. Tessa

Dagny attended her first Middle School Rec night. They have several activities to attend after school. They were able to wear costumes. Dagny is a Pirate girls. She is showing off her painted Frankenstein pumpkin.

Lytle Cousins

Cousin Emma with Dagny.

Gibson cousins at Robbin's wedding reception.

Beautiful sisters.

Gibson siblings: TJ, Gwen, Robbin, Mom, Christine, and Bob

John and Christine

Joel and Gwen

Siblings and Spouses: Bob, Bianca, Joel, Gwen, Robbin, Josh, Christine, John, Lorrie, and TJ

Gwen and Jeanie

Grandma Becky mates baby socks at Lorrie's baby shower.

"Sister" Sarah and happy baby Mallory

Big sister to be, Leah and Lorrie at her baby shower.

Dinner with the best neighbors in the world - the Peterson's. Tessa, Jason, CJ and Dagny - all grown up!

Teresa and Gwen

Gibson cousins

More of the Gibson Cousins

Ava, Bianca and Bob

Leah, Lorrie and TJ

Addy and Grandma Becky

Tessa running at the Cross Country meet in Mawah, NJ

Tessa finishes the Cross Country race and receives her ribbon

Tessa hangin' with the giant pumpkins at Stew Leonard's

Tessa's Baritone teacher for her private lessons plays the Tuba in a oompa band for Oktoberfest at Captain's Table by our house.

Our second time attending Blaze with over 4,000 jack-o-laterns. One of our family favorite events in the Hudson River Valley.

Girls with sunflower pumpkins

Van Courtland Manor home all a glow

Amazin' blazen pumpkins

Apple picking for 4-H, the pumpkins were totally picked over. In Idaho you picked your own produce for discount prices, because you were poor. In NY you pay extra to pick your own produce for "the experience".

In the apple orchard - picking our own apples. The apple crisp was incredible!

Girl Scout meeting for Tessa.

Making our 4-H club banner for Jumping Seed. It will be displayed at Achievement Day.

All the 4-H Jumping Seeds with the completed Poster. Great job creative Dagny for developing the design and leading the kids to make it.

Dagny bridged from Junior Girl Scout to a Cadette with her new troop. Goodbye green vest - Hello Tan vest. A new slate to fill.

Dagny made a witch brownie to take to a pumpkin carving party at our friend's house.

Dagny shows off her 4-H Community Service Poster for Achievement night.

Carving pumpkins

Dagny's pumpkin took 1st place in the pumpkin carving contest

Another cross country meet for Tessa. Look at that girl runs - she is fantastic!

Beautiful view of the Hudson River Valley from Bellvale creamery in Warwick
Amazing view of the fall colors.

Dagny's troop invited us to tour a dairy farm for girl scouts

GS Troop 383 at the dairy farm

Enjoying baby cow time - they are so cute!

Waiting for homemade ice cream at the Bellvale Creamery after our dairy tour.

Girl Scout trip to a ceramics studio

Perfect fall project of a Jack o latern ceramic box

Our girl scout troop at the ceramics studio - after we painted our masterpeices

We were in charge of the 4-H project on October 28. We made different kinds of slime and did a Frankenstien relay race - all in costumes.

Gwen helping the kids make slime

Dagny is a fantastic 4-H helper

Tessa with her slime - the silly putty version - it actually bounces

Dagny leads kids in the Frankenstien relay race

Track or Treat at the Harness Racing Museum and track in Goshen, NY. Since the Great Depression they have been hosting the community to hot dogs, candy and horse activities (including horse hand painting).

Watching the horse in the harness run the Goshen track.

Tessa at the Harness Racing Museum. She is enjoying being an only child while Dagny is at Six Flags with her friend for Fright Fest.

Tessa is a cup winner (Photo op) in the Harness Racing Museum

Tessa makes a wonderful Harness Racing Driver

Hiking on Halloween 2010 morning with Laura. A beautiful day near the Appliacian trial.

September: School starts & Grandma Becky visits

2010-11-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

First Day of school 2010. Tessa starts 4th grade and Dagny starts 6th grade (middle school).

Dagny is excited to start Monroe Woodbury Middle School in the 6th grade - Blue House.

Tessa sets off for her first day of 4th grade at Pine Tree Elementary and Mrs. Lapidus' class.

Kickin' back at the New York Renaissance Faire. The flower crowns we bought at the Faire last year came in handy.

Dagny volunteers to help the artist into her trapeze while she is on stilts.

Amazing bell ringer concert at the Faire.

Tessa is excited to make the pig fly.

Ready to cheer on our knight at the jousting match.

The castle at the jousting match.

The girls were knighted by the queen.

Labor day Monday at Joel's friend Kevin's house. He graduated from Virginia Tech, who was playing football against Boise State. Grandma Becky came in time to bring us Battle at the Capitol t-shirts, so we could cheer on BSU. They even had a Bronco orange couch.

President Van Buren's house. A National Park stamp.

Grandma Becky also got to stamp her National Park book with us.

Cape May, NJ is the furthest point out in the Atlantic Ocean. The town is on the National Historical Registry for an amazing Victorian architecture. We tool an incredible trolley tour of the town.

Cape May Light house.

Cape May beach looking at the WWI bunker. As the surf has changed it has become closer to the ocean.

Dagny enjoys playing on the beach and in the Atlantic Ocean.

The beach by Cape May is known for it's Cape May "diamonds" which are quartz that is smooth and rounded by the ocean and sand. Tessa and Grandma Becky show off their diamonds.

Just love this picture on Cape May beach of beach comber Grandma Becky.

Grandmas Becky, Dagny and Tessa look through their treasures found on the beach.

Welcome to Atlantic City, New Jersey. We started at Caesar's Palace. This is the first casino experience for the kids. They were very impressed but hated all the cigarette smoke. Vegas is so much better in smoke free environment and scale. The boardwalk and the beach are much better than gambling.

Overlooking the Atlantic City (or AC as they call it back here) Boardwalk.

The Pier is a mall that is connected to Caesar's Palace in AC. The mall shoots out into the Atlantic Ocean on a pier. On the third floor is a recreation of the beach. You can relax in an Adirondack chair with your feet in the sand and enjoy the ocean without being outside.

Family photo with Atlantic City in the background.

Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic. It is now several blocks from the ocean, but was built on the water. It is the tallest New Jersey light house and we hiked to the top, which was nothing after Joel made us walk the Boardwalk and through a sketchy part of town from Caesar's Palace to get to it. The kids just wanted to play on the beach...

Don't sit too long or Dagny will bury your feet.

Yeah! they finally made it to the beach! With the beautiful backdrop of AC.

Being seals in the Atlantic Ocean.

Playing in the Atlantic with the Pier mall in the background. Grandma Becky and Daddy watched us play from inside - do you see them waving?

Sandy Hook lighthouse looks at Manhattan. It was built prior to the Revolutionary War and was fired upon to destroy it so supplies could not get into Manhattan during the war. Efforts were not successful and it still stands today. From the top you can see the Empire State Building and Coney Island that is only 11 miles away.

The lense of the Twin Lights lighthouses.

Manhattan is in the background at the Twin Lights light house.

Family with the Twin Lighthouse. Two lights in one "house". When a ship lines up the to lights it is safe to enter the channel at its deepest point.

Lunch time just below the Twin Lights - right on the water.

Beach at Sea Bright, NJ - amazingly beautiful beach. It was the weekend after Labor Day, so there were very few people there, even though it was over 80 degrees. Fabulous day to be on the beach!

Dagny builds a sand chair.

Tessa is a fantastic sand wall builder.

Tessa shows off her amazing wall fortress.

Dagny shows off her bridge.

Grandma Becky helps Tessa with her 4-H science project on carbon.

Dagny working on her 4-H science project on carbon.

First Girl Scout camping trip - just one night. The girls have been asking all year when they can go camping. When they move from Brownies to Juniors. They bridged to Junior scouts in June and could not wait to camp. So September 25, we went campin at the beautiful Camp Ludington in New York, about 45 minutes from our house.

Leaders and girls at the camp out.

Dagny's troop are the cooks for dinner. Dagny discovers a love for fire, when she is finally able to make a real fire. She had done tons of candy fires and was ready for hte real thing. Tessa and Dagny had never seen a charcoal briquet - too funny explaining that one. Whatever did we do before gas BBQ grills?

Tessa, Grace and Sammy were on the hospitality committe and made the beautiful centerpiece in front of them.

Tent sweet home for the night.

Girls made box ovens - yes - they are made of card board boxes covered in aluminum foil. We made monkey bread in them over charcoals.

Angela's dad gave us super industrial glow sticks. They were huge and lasted all night. The girls loved them and it was easy to see tham as we went to the camp fire for singing and back to camp.

August: vacation time in PA and NY

2010-11-21T05:47:00.000-08:00

We are so proud that both our girls had 4-H projects that were selected for the NY State Fair in Syracuse. It was a perfect reason to take a quick trip to an area we have not explored before and also go to the Fair and see the kids projects on display.

We were even able to get a National Park stamp in Syracuse at the Erie Canal Museum.

Girls test out the beds on a canal boat at the Erie Canal Museum.

The girls are so creative. They made up a play about the Erie Canal while we were at the Museum - too cute!

Enjoying the fountain and beautiful buildings in downtown Syracuse.

Hooray - we made it to the New York State Fair on Friday August 27, 2010!

Hangin' with the veggies!

Who knew they would have Boise State University chickens at the NY State Fair. Amazing what can happen by feeding white chickens kool-aid.

Dagny's butterfly photography was honored with a blue ribbon at the State Fair. She is incredible!

Tessa's puppy no sew blanket received a red ribbon at the State Fair.

Girls are ready for some food and a break after walking all over the fair.

Saturday August 28, 2010, we stop in Rome, NY - near Syracuse to get another National Historic Place stamp at Fort Stanwix. This replica fort shows the location and style of the Fort from the French and Indian War. It was the first Historical Place to become part of the National Park System in 1935. The town of Rome actually demolished their downtown to build the replica of the fort in its original location.

Beautiful new Visitor Center with great displays. The girls enjoyed building their own fort out of linkin logs.

Fort Stanwix replica with buildings of Rome in the back ground.

Inside the walls of Fort Stanwix.

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY TESSA!!!! August 14, 2010
Tessa, being the very active child she is, had her birthday party at the Castle. They went Roller Skating, played Laser Tag and played in the arcade. Plus ate pizza and cake.

Prior to the party there was time for some race cars. Tessa is thrilled she can drive herself - bumper cars and now race cars - whoo hoo! Look how serious she is while racing :)

Dagny takes the lead over her dad.

Big birthday present from Dagny. Look at the Thunder Cats Sword of Omens card Dagny made for Tessa - another incredible card! Tessa is a huge Thunder Cats fan!

Matthew and Dristin sing Happy Birthday to Tessa with her Castle ice cream cake.

Sarah and Tessa speed around the roller skating rink.

Kids at the birthday party pause for a quick picture before playing in the arcade.

Birthday presents for Tessa!

Family vacation starts at HersheyPark Amusement Park in Pennsylvania on July 31, 2010. This was thrown in so the kids could say they did something cool for summer vacation, not just that they went to Amish Country and Gettysburg.

Tessa plays in the fountain and her and mom wait for Dagny and Daddy to ride a big roller coaster. Dagny loves roller coasters. Tessa is tall enough and rides a couple but did not want to go on Big Bear - too many loops and corkscrews. Tessa and mom drove cars - well Tessa drove - her new love.

The family could not pass up the carnival games. Joel actually won a stuffed Hershey bar the size of Tessa by throwing softballs into metal milk containers.

We had a fabulous time at the water park at Hershey.

Joel had a board game competition (he took 2nd place - like last year) in Lancaster, PA. The girls and Gwen entertained ourselves with some bowling and going to see the Ramona movie.

The girls try out an Amish cart (no horse attached) at Strasborg Railroad in PA.

We did the most incredible tour at the Strasborg Railroad of their shops. They repair steam engines from all over the country.

We took a train ride in the Presidential car. It was the only car with air conditioning, which was worth the price on a hot and humid August day.

Girls enjoy the air conditioning and Coconut cake in the Presidential train car. Tessa loved that the hidden light bulb popped out of the wall above her head. Such technology...

Tessa wanted to ride this pump car (like Scooby Doo). She was too short to pump, so Dagny has to pump. Dagny was not happy about this, in the heat and humidity, but she was great sister and did it.

At the Amish Farm and Village

the girls got to try out milking a fake cow. Go city girls...

Tessa kisses a goat by putting a leave in her mouth for it to eat.

Tessa tries out an Amish scooter.

Pennsylvania Capitol Building in Harrisburg. This is one of the most incredible Capitol buildings. Beautifully architecture inspired by the St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Italy. The entire building - inside and out is a work of art. We also found out here that the Capitol Buildings have stamps. Yes - we got the stamp.

While waiting for our tour of the Capitol we found a nice lady that turned out to be the Attorney General for PA that gave us a personal tour of the Governor's Office and took our family picture in the office.

One of many rotundas in the PA Capitol Building.

One of the tiles on the main floor of the PA Capitol that depicts their state.

Standing in front of the Capitol looking at downtown Harrisburg.

No trip would be complete without a National Park Stamp and this is a big one!

The girls is hanging out with Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.

Girls in front of the home of President Eisenhower's farm at Gettysburg.

Overlooking the battle grounds of Gettysburg. There are over 1,300 monuments there.

We enjoyed an Amish farm tour. This farmer breeds miniture horses. The girls loved them and there were several babies. They were able to feed and pet them.

At the Amish Farm and Village, Gwen and Tessa play giant checkers, while we wait for Dagny to have a personalized book marker made. Tessa won - of course.

Hangin' with the laundry at the Amish Farm and Village.

We visited Indian Echo Caverns near Hershey, PA. The under ground Crystal Lake is the most clear wate we have ever seen.

Outside the enterance of Indian Echo Cavern.

At Indian Echo Cavern there was a petting zoo that the girl were able to feed and pet the animals. Look at the super cute bunnies.

July - Summer at its best!

2010-11-20T02:57:00.000-08:00

Dagny went to Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in New Jersey with her friends Gina and Abby. Dagny loves big bad roller coasters and other thrill rides. Luckily she found friends that love them too.

Our crime fighting super heroes are off to the bat cave...

It would not be the 4th of July without our traditional giant American flag cookie. Happy Birthday America - the land that we love!

Antonia shows off the giant cookie with Dagny. We had friends over for a 4th of July Barbecue. It was over 100 degrees (which is very rare in this area). We ate inside and finally got to go outside to play and watch fire flies about 9pm when the sun went down.

Saturday July 3rd we took our friend Laura to the concert and fireworks at West Point. The 1st year cadets of West Point also enjoyed the concert with us. Below is a picture of the 1,800 cadets arriving.

We set up a nice picnic area to watch the concert and fireworks.

Below is the cadets (white shirts) seated in front of the West Point band overlooking the "Million dollar view" of the Hudson River.

The girls had a very busy summer. They took tennis lessons, so they knew how to use the tennis court in our community. Dagny did the Orange County Summer Music program in Goshen for her viola for two weeks. Both girls did a one week Creative Writing Workshop with Mr. Barlow, Dagny's 5th grade teacher. Both girls also did horse back riding lessons and continued with ice skating lessons. Besides spending a lot of time at our community swimming pool. Thank you to dad for being the best daddy taxi ever!

In the auditorium of Goshen High School just before Dagny played her orchestra concert at the end of the two week summer music program.

You can see Dagny's head poking up to the right. Violas need better visibility!

Dagny has been begging for horse back riding lessons since birth and finally in her 11th year she gets her wish. She is a natural in the saddle. She is very easy going and great with the horses. She beams with joy when she is with the horse and she does not mind all the work that goes along with riding.

Dagny enjoying her time riding Rocky.

Miguel at Falcon Ridge is incredible. We are so lucky to work with him. He is wonderful with the kids and horses. Tessa looks so cute on Rocky.

Dagny and Tessa tack Rocky with Miguel

County Fair Time! Both girls took eight 4-H projects to the Orange County fair in July. All blue ribbons were received. We also did our tomatoes, first time for gardening for us. We received a red ribbon as the three tomatoes were not similar enough to each other. We will get the blue next year. Tessa is shown below with the judge talking about the no sew blanket she made all by herself. The judges love the puppy and puppy paw pattern on the fleece.

Dagny is with the judge talking about her wood rain gutter regatta boat she made.

Teddy Roosevelt's home in Long Island, Sagamore Hill. Lots of dead animal "trophies" in that house. Very interesting history and a beautiful area. Best of all - another stamp in our National Park passport book.

Sagamore Hill home. We loved sitting on the porch with the breeze off the Atlantic Ocean on our faces.

Not only did the girls get their Junior Ranger badges, Sagamore Hill had a Letterbox activity that the girls loved. Below they are making their own rubber stamp. We follow the clues in the book with a compass and find a small rubbermaid box. In the box is a book and stamp. We stamp our stamps in the book and used the stamp in the box to stamp our book.

Family fun at the Orange County Fair in Middletown. We went back to see the 4-H exhibits on display during the fair. Plus we enjoyed the rides and very entertaining scary people watching. The girls had unlimited ride passes and there was hardly any people there on a Thursday night, so the girls got our money's worth. Tessa rode the bumper cars for three hours. She was so happy to finally be tall enough to drive. The final ride, for about five minutes, was just Tessa and two of the carnival ride operators - hilarious! She now has carnival friends. The same operators were at the NY State fair and Tessa and the operators were excited to see each other again - too funny!

Girls in front of the 4-H exhibit hall

Dagny's butterfly picture wins a big purple State Fair ribbon. The picture gets to go to the State Fair in Syracuse! Dagny is super excited - and we are so proud of her!

Tessa's super cute doggy no sew blanket is also selected to go to the State fair in Syracuse! Our girls are super fantastic!

The girls love the fun houses and there were several they got to go through. Tessa still loved the bumper cars the best!

We can fly!

Tessa was so excited to see Pig races. Only at the fair... They were the cutest piglets!

June - Year End Celebrations

2010-11-17T16:50:00.000-08:00

Dagny with her best friend Julia at the end of year 5th grade picnic. They had a big BBQ with burgers, hot dogs, snow cones, cotton candy and tons of other goodies. They enjoyed relay games and dancing with a live DJ. What a beautiful day to celebrate their last days of elementary school.

Dagny and her 5th grade teacher, Mr. Barlow in a class relay at the 5th grade picnic.

5th Grade Conga line back into the school at the end of the day.

Tessa, Dristin and Angela prepare for the 3rd grade year end concert. They sang patriotic songs and played their recorders.

Tessa and her best friend Sarah at the 3rd grade concert.

Tessa, Daddy and Dagny celebrate after Tessa's concert with flowers.

Tessa's Girl Scout troop bridging from Brownies (brown vests) to Junior Girl Scouts (green vests). Posing with leaders and the bridge at the High School.

Girl Scouts preparing for the bridging ceremony.

Tessa and Sarah assist with the ribbon ceremony prior to bridging.

Tessa and Sarah celebrate after the bridging ceremony. Too bad Tessa doesn't like cake - it was yummy!

4-H scrapbook making to remember all the activities over the 2009-2010 year. Both Dagny and Tessa's scrapbooks went to the Orange County Fair and received blue ribbons.

Tessa's Girl Scout Troop celebrates their year end with a slumber party. Below Vicky and Tessa are working on scrapbooks of the memories from the past year together.

At the Slumber party the girls also did a foot spa treatment and had manicures and pedicures and watched iCarley and the Tooth Fairy movie.

Dagny is a fabulous helper for the slumber party. The girls loved having Dagny do their nails.

Indoor S'mores over sterno was a big hit at the slumber party.

Tessa's track & field team end of season party was a swim party with a BBQ and awards.

Tessa accepts her trophy from the Track coaches. She did great for her first year on the track team. Running the 400 meter, 100 meter dash, shot put, and long jump.

Tessa shows off her track trophy

Tessa was awarded the Presidential award for Physical Fitness. They recognize the top boy and top girl from each grade. She was selected from over 240 3rd graders in competing in 6 areas including one mile run, sit ups and pull ups. She is incredible!

Dagny was in the 5th grade art club that meets prior to school on Fridays. Somehow Tessa joined the 5th Graders. They did tie dye shirts and head bands for their final project.

Tessa's 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Leone. Wonderful teacher that Tessa adores.

Tessa's 3rd Grade class at the ice cream social at the end of the school year.

Dagny and Tessa with their water rocket at 4-H. Very fun activity making the rockets, filling them with water and watching them blast off.

Dagny pulls the rope to blast off her water rocket.

4-H friends and their water rockets.

Tessa launches her rocket.

April and May 2010: camera deleted 180 pictures :(

2010-11-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Earth Day 2010. Celebrating and learning about Recycling and Reusing an the Green Expo at the High School.

Both girls went to Mount St Mary's College in Newburgh, NY for Girl Scout Science Saturday.

Extracting DNA. Beautiful new labs at the college were shared with the Girl Scouts.

At the end of science day the college kids made ice cream with liquid Nitrous Oxide. Neat to watch and yummy to eat.

Happy Birthday Gwen. What a great birthday wish - Vanessa, Victoria and Evan came to visit for a wonderful BBQ and cake.

Samuel Clements (Mark Twain) home in Hartford, CT. He lived right next door to Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Samuel Clements' home in Legos

Governor's chair in the Connecticut State Capitol Building.

Selling Girl Scout Cookies in front of the hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Amazing how many cookies you can sell there. Just turned ugly when we ran out of Thin Mint. We will order lots more for next year. Dagny's sign is a work of are - she is an incredible artist!

Tessa ran Spring Track. She is fantastic at the 400 meter run. She also did the 100 meter dash, Long Jump and Discus.

Caitlyn, Tessa and Victoria at the EXPAND (Gifted and Talented program) end of year show. Each of the kids do a research project throughout the year and display it. Tessa did her project on Inventions.

Girl Scout Mother Daughter Tea.

Dagny's end of the year 5th Grade Orchestra and Chorus concert.

Memorial Day Weekend: Author Nathaniel Hawthorne's home. He purchased it from Louisa May Alcott's father. The home is over 300 years old. It is at Minute Man National Historic Place in Lexington, MA.

Minute Man NHP - Stamp and after about 6 hours there - the girls received their Junior Ranger badge. There is a lot to see here. Plan to spend the day if you go.

After Minute Man we went to Salem. We were exhausted, hungry and the National Parks were close to closing, but we still received three stamps.

Tessa was so tired, she refused to leave the Visitor's Center until she could color. She colored a ship and then did her own drawing of a sea horse (lower right-by her hand).

Salem, MA cemetery

Another NHS stamp - just at closing time...

Dagny loves to skip rocks.

Enjoying the water front in Salem, MA

Boston, MA: Hiking all over the Freedom Trail, getting our stamps, Junior Ranger Badges and exercise.

Paul Revere and the old North Church behind him

Bunker Hill Monument. Over 200 steps and Tessa ran them about three times up and down. Track is really paying off.

USS Constitution - Old Iron Sides

The girls are hiking up to get on USS Constitution

Thirteen years earlier - we took a picture like this one - it still sits on our dresser. Great memories.

After our long walk on the Freedom Trail and visiting the USS Constitution, we hopped in a cab, to catch a ferry to the Boston Harbor Islands to get a stamp for Fort Warren. We saw this Jelly Fish in the Boston Harbor as we were boarding the ferry.

On the ferry headed to Georges Island.

Boston as seen from George's Island. We enjoyed hiking around the island and Fort Warren and the girls collected shells on the beach.

Exploring Fort Warren on Georges' Island

Behind us is a light house

Tessa at the entrance of Fort Warren

Sea shell collection from Boston Harbor

Lowell, MA NHP - more stamps. Birthplace of American Industry in making textiles.

Learning how to weave cloth at the Lowell textile plant

Both girls enjoyed learning how to weave fabric

One of the textile plants in Lowell, MA. Beautiful brick buildings.

We went on a boat on part of the Erie Canal. Here were are in the locks, waiting for it to fill with water so we can continue on our journey. Who knew you can work for the Parks Service as a Locks operator...

Girls and Gwen enjoy the ride on the Lowell Trolley to ride the boat on the Erie Canal.

Surprising - but yet another National Park Stamp in MA. The girls earned their Junior Ranger badge here too. They have quite the collection. Yes - Dagny is as tall as Gwen.

Historic home at Saugus Iron Works

Playing with historic toys at Saugus

Busy March: Science, Awards, Dance, Niagara & Easter

2010-11-05T03:51:00.000-07:00

At 4-H Club, we learned how to make Lava Lamps. Very cool kid activity. In a plastic bottle add 1/4 of bottle of vegetable oil, up to about 3/4 of bottle of water (do not fill all the way), add 2-12 drops of food coloring and an alka seltzer - watch is bubble. for added effect place on top of a flash light and turn off the lights. Additional Alka Seltzer can be added to keep it bubbling.

Best Friends Julia and Dagny watch their 4th and 5th grade teachers play basketball against the Harlem Wizards (farm team for Harlem Globetrotters).

Dagny and her 5th grade teacher Mr. Barlow and the HS Coach that is coaching the teacher team.

Girl Scout Daisy/Brownie Dance Revue. The theme was Totally '80's. Our girls danced to Katrina and the Waves "Walking on Sunshine".

Great looking Sunshines to "walk on".

Totally 80's Tessa!

Pine Tree Elementary Science Fair. Tessa showed off what she learned in 4-H with making Lava Lamps. It was very popular with the kids.

Dagny and Julia did their Science project on speed trains that work on magnets.

Tessa was selected from her 3rd grade class for her stamp design of a mermaid. The stamps were used at the school post office.

Below are the stamp award winners from all the classes for the school post office.

Kurt and Anita came to visit us for their birthdays - hooray! We started our trip in Albany with at tour of the impressive State Capitol Building. Here we are on the Million dollar staircase. Government over spending continues for centuries - it is very beautiful though.

National Park Stamp in Buffalo, NY. Home where Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as US President after McKinley was shot at the World's Fair in Buffalo.

Niagara Falls on the USA side with a rainbow and Rainbow Bridge to Canada in the background.

Statue of Nikola Tesla for his contribution to using Electrical power. I call this one Tessa and Tesla.

Happy Birthday Anita. Celebrating at Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara.

On the Rainbow bridge. We walked to Canada. Joel and Tessa are in Canada and Dagny is in the USA. Niagara Falls, Canada is in the background. Caution: you have to pay a toll of $.50/person to walk back to the USA - good thing they had a change machine for the turnstiles or we may have been Canadians.

Kurt and Anita with American Falls.

Lytle Family Shot with American Falls.

Look at the static in Tessa hair. Lots of static electricity near Horseshoe Falls, Niagara, Canada.

Total tourist shot with the Mounty outside Hershey world. Try their fudge there.

Toronto Canada bus tour in China Town. It's like a small NYC only colder. Theaters, shopping, restaurants and big buildings.

Downtown Toronto

Toronto Trolley

Mormon Church History tour in Palmyra, NY starts at Hill Cumorah.

Palmyra Mormon Temple

Re-construction of the Joseph Smith Family Farm.

Walking through the Sacred Grove

Where the first 500 Book of Mormons were printed

Another National Park Stamp at the Women's Right NHP in Seneca Falls, NY

Hoppy Easter - perfect holiday of chocolate, new dresses and bunnies

Our little artists with beautifully dyed Easter Eggs.

Super cute bunny egg Dagny!

Pretty Tessa shows off her pretty eggs

What good girls they have been to get so many Easter treats.

January and February 2010 - catch up time

2010-08-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yes - there is a severe gap in entries here... It is as far behind as I am on my scrapbook too :( I am fabulous at taking a ton of picture of all our incredible adventures. I just need to find the time to organize them and share. So here is were I left off in January 2010:

PTA Reflections Art contest. Tessa was awarded 2nd place for her photograph of the Statue of Liberty. She receive a beautiful certificate, metal around her neck and a trohpie and acknowledgement at the school assembly.

Tessa enthusiastically receives her 2nd place award for photography for the PTA Reflections Program from the principle.

2nd and 3rd grade participants in the PTA Reflections program from Pine Tree Elementary.

Dagny also participated in the PTA Reflections art competition. Last year she drew a Koala Bear. A few days prior to when the exhibits had to be entered, she broke her wrist ice skating. She was so sad she could not participate and we noticed the photography section. She entered three photographs and a photograph of a butterfly on flowers and took 1st place and the photograph went on to the State Competition.

4th and 5th grade participants from Pine Tree for the PTA Reflections program.

The area 4-H clubs did a community service project on Martin Luther King Jr day to make no sew blankets and donate them to the Linus Project to give to sick children in the area.

We helped make 11 blankets in a couple of hours to donate to the Linus Project.

Dagny, Tessa and Caitlyn work on No Sew blankets.

HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY DAGNY! Her birthday even fell on a Saturday. She got her friends together to paint ceramic mugs and then had a slumber party at our house. Girls are tons of fun!

The party girls with their painted mugs. They are ready to be fired.

At the slumber party the girls did a bunch of activities. Here they are stamping covers for notepads.

Here are the ladies with their finished notebooks. We did a heart theme since Dagny's birthday is so close to Valentine's day.

We bought Dagny's cake from a Girl Scout that is working on her Gold Award. She is making and decorating cakes to sell. The money she raises will be used to paint games on the playground at Pine Tree elementary. Blue is Dagny's favorite color and the cake is her favorite chocolate.

The girls made their own banana splits. Dagny is an artist with everything she does...

The girls did a peppermint foot soak and massage...

Then they did manicures and pedicures.

I know this will surprise you all, but I volunteered to do the Girl Scout Brownie Ice Cream Social in early February. I had never been to one before. There were about 150 Brownies (2nd and 3rd grade girls) there. There were six activities that they rotated around. Dagny recruited her friends to do facepaint. They painted ALOT of little faces in 2 hours. Go my little artist.

Overview of the event. This side of the room had three stations: stamping notebook covers, limbo, and making beaded necklaces. We had an Hawaiian theme - very fun.

Other side of the cafeteria painted sun catchers, face painting, and eating ice cream.

These girls are in my troop enjoying Limbo. My they are flexible (and super cute)!

Cute picture of Tessa and her friend Julianne preparing for the limbo.

My troop getting ice cream. I do not think Tessa ever ate ice cream, she prefered the other activities and I was too busy to notice what she was doing. She is not a big sweet eater and loves to play.

Tessa and my troop after the ice cream social - hooray - we had a wonderful time!

The Junior scouts did a sleep over at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ. Siblings were invited too, so it was a girls sleep over for us ladies. Both Dagny and Tessa received science badges for participating in activites at the museum. Below Dagny learns about DNA of wheat germ. She is a great looking scientist.

The Liberty Science Center had and amazing view of the Statue of Liberty (especially at night). Over Tessa's head is the Statue.

The girls totally made me laugh at how fascinated they were with this big nose that sneezed on you when you got close too it.

The girls in front of the Liberty Science Center after our sleep over.

Tessa going across the rock climbing wall at the Science Museum.

Tessa and I ready to watch a movie in the huge dome theater at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey. Tessa's Odyssey of the Mind team prior to their performance. They were cheering on Dagny's team on their "Food Court" themed skit that was completely written by the kids. They wrote original songs too and had to make all their own sets and costumes. They worked for almost five months on the project - several days a week. The teams had seven members and a coach from 3rd to fifth grades. Both girls became very close to their team members. It was a fabulous experience. They had to do two auditions and out of about 100 kids at Pine Tree elementary that auditioned 21 were selected for three Pine Tree teams. What an incredible experience for both girls.

Dagny's Odyssey of the Mind team on the stage doing their skit for the judges. She has the big pink hat on - she was a cupcake.

Dagny/cupcake with her very proud Mamma after her OM performance.

Dagny's OM team cheering on Tessa's team prior to their performance. Dagny made the sign - she is super artistic and creative.

Tessa's OM team doing their performance. She was a ghost at the Sydney Opera house in the future. Their theme was discover treasures.

Tessa's team was awarded the OMer award for excellence while facing adversity. One of her team member's dad passed away two weeks prior to performance. They all stepped up and did a wonderful performance together.

Monroe Girl Scouts Thinking Day. Each of the 50 troops from Daisies to Senior scouts pick a country and do a display, treat and SWAP pin to share with the other troops. Our Brownie troop did Germany and handed out Gummy Bears. Our booth was a huge success!

We are members of the Storm King Arts Center that has acres of sculptures. It is closed in the winter, but opened one weekend to member to explore the grounds and sculptures in the snow. It was a beautiful sunny day about a week after we received 36" of snow. It was an amazing day of hiking and being together.

2010-01-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

The kids competed in the school district Odyssey of the Mind Spontaneous Night. Their elementary school has three teams of seven. They had to do two auditions with over 100 kids competing for the 21 spots in OM for their school. We were all so excited that they were both selected. They are on different teams. Spontaneous Night is in preparation for the National Competition the end of February. OM has been one of their favorite after school activities two days a week and will go to four days a week for the next couple of months. It is a great way to learn about creativity and perform in front of people.
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We had a wonderful New Year's Day Dinner with Tom and Laura at Five Napkin Burger in Hells Kitchen. What an incredible burger! We highly recommend you go! It was so great to catch up with our friends. Our thirteenth wedding anniversary was also that day.

The perfect Christmas day activity of playing our new Wii game - Lego Rock Band. Joel is such a pro (he has the many hours logged and sore wrist to prove it) that he can play with Pixie on his lap. Can you believe she looked annoyed at him when he moved? Cats feel like she owns everything in the house - even the people.

Look at the Rock Star pose of holding the Microphone. We are still looking for the recorder part of rock band. Tessa plays a mean "Hot Cross Buns" on the recorder...

Is she singing or just posing for the picture. Dagny may do better as a model than a rock star singer - whatever she does she will be a smash!

The girls both got cameras for Christmas. The pictures they took are great - including a dozen pictures like the one below of their favorite Christmas gifts - Furr Real baby pig and puppy (they did not get many "toys" this year).

New Christmas pajamas - modeled in front of our Christmas Tree. Merry Christmas to all!

They love each other, their new "pets" and Christmas!

Not sure why we bought Pixie new kitty toys and kitty treats (those were a 4-H fund raiser) when she loves playing with trash.

American Girl items are always a big hit. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Thank you for Grandma sending Scentsy products. Luckily they smell good together, since many times we have three going in our house at the same time. The kids love them! Tessa plugged it in - in the family room and decided to move it with the melted wax in it - not a wise choice... Luckily she did not get burned, but not sure how to get the wax out of the carpet, but it sure smells great when ever we vacuum.

Scentsy smelly wax for Dagny to use in her green burner! She like the cookie on the best - what a surprise from my sweet tooth girl and Tessa preferred the Berry one (she loves fruits).

Tessa told me she wanted Scooby Doo Mystery Begins and Play Doh (she is 8 and still upset daddy did not move her play doh from Idaho). I was so excited to get off with and inexpensive Christmas until she told me she did want other things too...

Busy December - Falalalala

2009-12-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

4-H holiday celebration - the kids played and stamped "snowman soup" packets.

Tessa sang and played the recorder for the Third Grade Pine Tree Elementary concert at the $40 million High School (fancy place).

All 250 of the 3rd graders at Pine Tree sing and play recorders at their winter concert. They sounded AMAZING! The music program here is very impressive!

The girls made their own holiday cards for their teachers. Who needs stamps when you can hand cut out everything and make each card individual. Yes - Dagny's teacher is Jewish - she made him a dihedral - impressive skills. I have to stay with the stamping...

Tessa made three cards - this snowman, teddy bear and bongo drums (her teacher plays the bongos). Both girls are far beyond my creativity skills - I am dealing with how much of my fancy Stampin' Up paper they cut the middle out of to make these cards. On another positive side - it keeps them entertained for hours and those that receive the cards love them.

For Dagny's holiday party her class did a Talent/Freak (for those without talent) show - her teacher is very creative and fun. Dagny - also creative - decided to do an origami star box. Good thing she can fold paper fast...

No matter how fast you can fold paper - fifth graders can get restless watch paper being folded, so Mr. Barlow grabbed his guitar (as he frequently does in class - he is a song writer) and played background Origami music - my favorite line of the song was "Origami rhymes with Salomi"> He is wonderful - no wonder Dagny thinks so highly of him.

My Brownie Girl Scouts are now officially Brownies. We know the pledge and history of scouting, so we did our Investiture and got Brownie pins and seven Try-it Badges - what a super fun night. The girls were so excited! I can't wait until the January meeting to see them all with their badges on their vests. BTW - I am the tall Brownie in the middle in the red shirt.

Right before the Investiture we learned "Scouting Ways" and sewed "Sit-in" to sit on while camping to keep your backside clean and dry. I was very impressed with the sewing skills of 3rd graders and no one got hurt during this activity.

We did a 4-H fund raiser of selling kitty and doggy treats in front of the Stop and Shop Grocery store. IT WAS FREEZING! The kids thought I was crazy when I made them dress for sledding, but good thing they did - burrrrr! The kitty treats were even a hit with Pixie - she is pretty much a cat food eater - so we were impressed she ate them. Only the best for our fat cat - range feed chemical free chicken treats - she eats better than we do and she gets no exercise and sleeps all day! What a life!

Joel's birthday - he said it was his best ever! He didn't even get much since he went to two World Series games. We still had a wonderful time celebrating him. I made calazones from scratch (yes I had to get off work early for that one). We ate cake and ice cream with the purple shovels we got from Ben & Jerry Ice Cream Factory in Vermont in July. The make ice cream taste even better!

Yes - he did blow all those candles out and nothing caught on fire - we did eat some wax, but that is all in the name of fun at birthdays. All those work out are paying off for the birthday boy!

Dagny performed at the 5th grade concert. Music is elective after third grade. Dagny plays Viola in the Orchestra and sings in the Chorus. Their are over 100 kids in each of the 5th grade orchestra, band, and chorus - amazing. Dagny says there is only one kid in her class that is not in one of the three music programs. It is incredible to see all those kids on the stage from a single grade in one school - different than what we were use to in Idaho. The High School orchestra here is Nationally ranked and have even toured Internationally and you can tell that competitive passion for music starts at an early age. After buying Dagny a beautiful silver holiday dress from Justice (the girl would have everything from Justice - if I could afford it), she informs me she has to wear the white top and black bottom. Good thing Target was open after Girl Scouts and had something she could wear. Fun times having kids - sorry mom for the headaches - at least you only had one Christine :)

4-H meeting the girls learned how to design boats. The girls has spent a lot of time working on their boat designs and painting them. There will be a raingutter regatta in the Spring with several competitions for the boats. Good thing for 4-H to teach our girls such skills since we are not very handy folks.... Look how great Tessa and Caitlin (also in Tessa GATE/EXPAND program) are at sanding.

Dagny believes she has found the optimal shape for the fastest boat at the regatta!

The kids favorite NYC experience - Ice Skating at Bryant Park. The great thing is it is across the street from the hotel (so we can see if the line is very long) and it is free if you have your own ice skates (which we all do - we are such East Coast people - without the accent and attitude). Tessa shows us her moves from Ice Skating lessons. Typically there are hundreds of people on this ice - this is what it looks like at 8am when it opens.

Dagny is skating backward crossovers (the move she broke her arm with). Luckily no problems this time - good thing since her arm is still in a cast here (right one that she is waving). We found gloves that would go over it, so we hid it so she could stake at Thanksgiving time. The girls skated everyday the four days we were in the city. The love it there. It was the first place they ever ice skated - not it is a real love for them.

Your eyes are not deceiving you - that is a giant Smurf on 6th Avenue - the famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade changed routes this year to go right in front of the hotel. Thank you Mayor Bloomberg for making Broadway pedestrian friendly so the parade had to move. This picture was taken from our two bedroom suite on the 34th floor. The dead trees on the right of the smurf is Bryant Park where the kids skate. Joel and Tessa went skating Thanksgiving morning and then could not get back across the street to the hotel. It took them an hour to get back - after riding the subway uptown to Times Square to get on right side of the street and using my name to let the security staff at the Courtyard let them cut through their lobby. Luckily they made it back for the amazing breakfast with an omelet station that was set up for the guests that bought a $1,500 package to see the parade from our 3rd floor meeting room. The kids sat in the windows on the 3rd floor and were eye level with the balloons - very amazing view. I need to get those photos off my Blackberry - they are on Facebook. We ate a pot roast in the room (there are crockpots in the rooms, but no stoves) then Joel and I went to see Jude Law in Hamlet - Thanksgivings in NY are definitely different that two dinners with our families and making a dozen pies... That weekend we saw four Broadway shows. Race, West Side Story and we took the kids to Bye Bye Birdie.

Dagny is sporting her new glasses. One eye is perfect and the other is near sighted. It was only a matter of time with both parents being blind. She looks super cute in the new glasses and so grown up.

4-H horse days had all sort of horse activities, including horse back riding. Every girls dream! I brought my inhaler - horse allergy - discovered several years ago thanks to the jousting show at Excalibur in Vegas. We signed the girls up for Horse riding lessons. They are super excited to get started after the first of the year. Dagny has wanted riding lessons since birth...

Sporting the hats that they made all by themselves. I am very proud at how quickly they finished them. Dagny did hers with her cast. I took a 4-H leader class on how to make them and showed the kids and now they have been making them for several people - I have a green one.

On Friday October 30 we went to a wonderful PTA fund raiser at the elementary school. We played Bingo and there were raffles that you put your tickets in the items you want to win. The kids put most of their tickets in the S'more maker and we won it!!! All the other people at the event were so jealous. We love making s'mores with it. It is a great family activity. As if all the Halloween candy and holiday goodies is not enough to get us chubby this time of year...

Sunday November 1 at the first Basic 5 ice skating class, Dagny broke her thumb and wrist while doing backward crossovers. She had to sit out this session, but will be set for the next class in January. She did like her fashionable dark blue cast and enjoyed having everyone sign it. We decided paying the $30 that the insurance did not cover for the waterproof cast was worth the money. This month we spent a fortune on doctors for Dagny and she still thinks we should get her Christmas presents. Spoiled child! Luckily she only had to wear the cast for four week.

Halloween Fun and the Yankees take the Series

2009-12-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

The girls have been begging for a Halloween Party for years and since this year it was on a Saturday - we decided to have a party. The girls were told they could each invite 4 friends. Yes - count the picture - there are more than ten kids. NY schools have not done anything for their counting abilities... We made it work and everyone had tons of fun and said this was the best party EVER!!! Even better than birthday parties - too funny. Halloween is just a wonderful theme and there are great game ideas on line.

Blame the Twilight craze - but Dagny and a bunch of her girlfriends dressed up as vampires this year - luckily they were the Twilight vamps and not the Sookie vampires... PG vamps are better for kids than HBO vamps. She loves her candy! They hid it well too - I have not been able to find it since - can't wait to find it next Halloween.

Ready to hit the neighborhood for Trick or Treating. Tessa - the Candy Corn Witch and Dagny the Vampiress.

Ghost Cupcake decorating from the Halloween Party - yes - her hair is wet from her mommy not paying attention that her and her best friend Dristin went back downstairs to play in the apple bobbing bucket - unattended for a moment and look what happens...

Who knew the most fun at a Halloween Party is playing in toilet paper left over from the "wrapping mummies" game. They could have done this for the entire two hours - they were so much fun to watch - it was worth the clean-up - and nothing got broken...

The girls insisted on apple bobbing. After a dozen kids went prior to Tessa - she was the first to pick up the apple by the stem - smarty pants.

Dagny wast he first to apple bob and caught an apple in like two seconds - incredible!

Tessa's team won the mummy wrapping contest - Trinity was an incredible sport being the mummy!

The candy toss was a lot of fun to watch the kids try to get miniature candy bars in the plastic trick or treat pumpkin buckets.

Joel outside Yankee Stadium - Inaugural season for this Stadium and the Yankees made it to the World Series playing the Philadelphia Phillies. Joel went to games 2 and 6 which were the first games they won and the last game they won - to win the series. Game 2 he went by himself to fulfil a "Bucket List" item and Game 6 Josh Houchin (Robbin's fiance) flew from Boise to see the historic win of the 2009 World Series.

Game 2 - Joel had incredible tickets behind first base. These were taken from his seat,

Another view of Joel's great seats at the World Series - Game 2. Since Joel was a kid he has been a huge Yankees fan. It is one of the reasons he was open to move to NY. It is great we were here from him to see them win the World Series.

Dagny's amazing "Trick or Treat" pumpkin that she cleaned and carved all by herself!

Tessa's Kitty Cat pumpkin carving that she did all by herself. The jack-o-lanterns looked great on our doorstep and they did not get vandalized - another great reason to be in a gated community.

The fun job of cleaning the guts out of the pumpkins. We saved the seeds and baked them. The kids love pumpkin seeds.

This is the first year we made Carmel apples. The girls were fascinated with the concept. Tessa is a trooper in this picture - after she dripped hot Carmel on her hand :( She would not even eat an apple after that (she is not a big sweet eater). The rest of the family enjoyed eating the Carmel Apples.

Tessa's best friend, Dristin, invited us to the Museum Village for their Halloween activities. It was so much fun. This kids wore their costumes and did a spooky scavenger hunt in the various buildings at the village. We also went on a haunted hay ride and got our palms read (the kids loved that) and had hot chocolate and snacks in front of the fire. Really neat evening!

Baltimore

2009-11-12T17:29:00.001-08:00

Fort McHenry National Historic Site and Shrine in Baltimore, Maryland. Another Stamp! This is one of the most moving National Parks I have been - our family highly recommends it! The flag pole the kids are standing in front of is the location of the American flag in 1814 (end of the War of 1812) that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem "The Star Spangled Banner". That flag had fifteen stars and fifteen strips.

The Barracks inside the fortress walls of Fort McHenry. The only battle this fort saw was in 1814, but it was used as as Army military instillation and even a military hospital in World War I and II. Very rich history here. The round roof brick building stored gun powder. It was over 80 degrees and beautiful that day in mid-October!

From standing on the Fortressed walls of Fort McHenry there are amazing views of Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay.

The "rockets" (red glare) and "bombs" (bursting in air) at Fort McHenry.

The Hamptons National Historic Place. A large "Georgian-style" plantation house protected and preserved to tell the story of the architecture and the under ground railroad and slavery in the United States.

The kids were fascinated by a street performer at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Tessa was selected to hand him the batons he lit on fire (after she handed them to him - thank goodness). She was very excited to be part of the act.

After Tessa handed him the "batons" he lit them on fire and juggled them while riding on his tall unicycle. He was wonderful and very funny.

Inner Harbor of the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore with the National Aquarium in the background. Yes it was 80 degree and they are wearing boots - we bought them the night before. Dagny just got the jacket to (I think I remember those from the 80's) she did not need the jacket....

The paddle boat is what the kids begged to do. This is Chessie the sea creature of the Chesapeake. The kids got in front to paddle. I got in the back, and then was told we could not change places - hooray for me to be paddled around the bay on a beautiful Fall Day by my kids...
Yes - they got the sunglasses the night before too.

As if we were not tourists enough by riding the sea monster paddle boat - the kids dragged me to the Hard Rock Cafe (they loved their first experience there). Tessa could not stop counting guitars in there - and there were a lot of them! They had to have their picture taken with the Cadillac behind the bar!

Below is the first Washington Monument built to honor George Washington. We all made it up the 280 stairs to the top for great views of Baltimore.

Dagny is all rested and ready to start the trip back down the stairs inside the Washington Monument. Plus we got their 15 minutes before it closed and we did not want the colorful "artist" welcoming visitors to lock up inside for the night.

Tessa at the National Aquarium. The kids took over a hundred pictures at the aquarium. I think this is the only picture they took with a mammal (Tessa) in it - they did take pictures of the Dolphin show (also a mammal). I love digital - they can take all the pictures they want - just make sure to have the charger on every trip...

The big temporary exhibit was about Jellyfish. It was very fascinating to learn about and see so many different types of Jellies. The Jelly population is booming as the oceans are warming and different species are transported to different water masses from cargo vessels and such were they do not have natural predators. Below is a picture of the girls in the gift shop with stuffed animal Jellies - not something you see everyday.

We actually went to Baltimore so Joel could attend a Board Game retailers convention. With the down economy they combined the convention with comic books (not really something we are interested in), but the great thing was, one of Tessa's favorite authors Jeff Smith who writes the Graphic Novel "Bone" series was there. He was so sweet to her and visited with her and gave her an autograph and this picture - she is thrilled!

The convention center is across from Orioles stadium - very nice set up they have there.

The Sports Legends Hall of Fame across from Orioles stadium. We went to the Entertainment museum on the second floor of it. It had the most amazing collection of Toys from the late 1700 (Brownies - kind of creepy toys) through today and an impressive collections of Comic books. Also something worth seeing.

Below is the B&O Railroad Museum. This was the first railroad in America. Amazing history here too. Joel loves trains and really enjoys all the history and exhibits too. We were one of the few tourists here that weren't over 80 or in our twenties with little boys. It was a school day though... Behind the family is the beautiful brick roundhouse. Five years ago the roof fell in and damaged some of the trains - they are still working on restoring some of them.

This is the "First Stone" that started the American Railroad.

The girls and I inside the Roundhouse with lots of amazing historic trains.

I do not ever recall seeing a stage coach designed to go on railroad tracks - very fascinating! They do not look like a comfortable way to travel - bring on the Pullman cars - oh yeah - airplane are even better.

Front sign of the Museum. Go to Baltimore - there is tons to see and do. We completely loved our five days there!

4-H Fair, Delaware River Gap & Mr. Marriott

2009-11-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

The end of July is the Orange County Fair (Yes- we live in Orange Counrty, New York - by OCC - Orange County Choppers). Both girls were active in two 4-H clubs. One was a traditional club and the other is a KNEX building club. Tessa submitted six fair projects as a Cloverbud (she was younger than 8) and receive the white and green "participation" ribbons that you see below. Dagny is a 4-Her and did eight projects and received Blue ribbons on all of her projects (they receive $5/ribbon for blue ribbons). Luckily Grandma Becky was staying with us and helped a lot getting the 4-H projects ready for the fair and even rode with Joel and the girls to the Fair Grounds to enter their projects in the fair. Big Thank You to Grandma for getting the projects submitted - we could not have done it without her - especially since we went to Boise the day after we submitted to the fair for a week. We did not get to go to the fair to see our projects displayed. Hopefully next year. Big Hooray for the girls for completing the projects and doing so great at the Fair. We are super proud of them.

Above is Tessa with her Butterfly cycle poster. We raised cacoons to butterflies.

Below is Dagny with her rocket. Both girls made rockets and launched them. Dagny's was the most advanced (she was the oldest) and the lightest and of course went the highest! Very impressive to watch!

Below is Tessa with her 4-H scrapbook. Both girls put together books of their year at 4-H with pictures and journaling. They did an incredible job with their books. They have had a lot of experience with scrapbooking and card making. It is what mommy and the girls enjoy doing in the colder months when we are not traveling and exploring every weekend.

With Dagny being the oldest in the 4-H group, she showed the girls how to fold origami birds. Below is a poster of how to make one of the Origami birds and pictures of her showing the other kids in the club. She misses the Origami Club at Just For Kids that she led. She was very excited to be able to share her talent with the other kids and they thought it was very amazing to learn how to do.

We finally had a beautiful (rain free) Saturday in September and forgot all about the chores and errands we had planned for that day and through a picnic together and headed to the Delaware Water Gap National Park (Hooray - another stamp)! It was a perfect sunny day that was not too hot or cold for hiking. The Park is just a little over an hour from our house too. It is on the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The park is one of the top ten most visited parks in the US. Some of that could be how close it is to a large population base. There are tons of waterfalls, a variety of vegitation we had not seen before, a working village from the late 1700's with a mill, weaver, glass blower, black smith, wagon wheel maker, etc and great hikes for the family. It was one of our best family days that we will all remember with fondness with years to come. We cannot wait for Spring to go back and explore some more!

Delaware Water Gap on one of our hikes along a mini gorge.

The family with Dingman Falls. This is one of the most famous falls at DWG. We even got to hike to the top of the falls. It was not Multnoma Falls by Portland, but still the amazing beauty of Nature! The path to this falls was even paved - what luxury!

The visitor center for the NPS at the base of Dingmans Falls. This is where the kids earned their Junior Ranger Badge five minutes prior to them closing. Big thank you to the very kind rangers that verified the program with them and gave them their badges. Joel wants to put all their Junior Ranger badges on a vest or sash to be impressive as we travel the other parks. It may be challenging to find all the badges - their rooms are disasters! Maybe we can do that for next summer. We love the National Park Junior Ranger program - we have learned so much as a family participating in these programs at the parks we visit. Check them out is you have kids under 12 years of age...

What terrible Idaho Parents we are. We discovered at DWG that our kids had never skipped rocks. We obviously do not camp enough... We taught the girls - they learned it quickly and were hooked. It was amazing how many times they got their stones to skip and the great skipping rocks they found. Just naturally gifts...

After working with Marriott hotels for fourteen years - I finally had Mr. Marriott visit one of my hotels. What an incredible experience! I have met him a few times but a visit is more exhillerating. He also came with Arne Sorenson, President & COO of Marriott, Mike Stengle, Area GM for Marriott Marquis, and my owner - Mr. Harry Gross. Below is Mr. Gross and Mr. Marriott in my hotel lobby - you can see me grinning in the right corner of the picture.

Me visiting with Mr. Marriott - what a treat!

MoMa, Oktoberfest, WestPoint & Back to School

2009-10-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

Joel is in Heaven - Lombardi's Pizza in Little Italy NYC. This is the longest pizzeria in continuous operation in the USA. The pizza is baked in coal burning stoves with the most incredible fresh ingredients.

More Little Italy, NYC. At a street festival.

Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in NYC. Campbell's soup by Andy Warhol.

MoMa - girls point out Idaho and New York.

MoMa - American Flag by Jasper Johns made of newspapers from the 1950's

Girls were excited to see this classic made popular in their Olivia picture book.

Tessa recognized this Salvador Dali piece from Looney Toons that melts Bugs when he ran through the painting.

Dagny says they copied this painting in art at school and was excited to see this original Van Gough.

Looks like a swarm from a distance, but all the Museum goers are encouraged to stand against the wall and a volunteer marks how tall they are and writes your name and date on the wall. Very cool! We are all now a mark on the wall included in this art.

Look carefully and you can see Dagny's name on the wall at MoMa. Upper middle part of picture.

Dagny being measured on the wall at MoMa

Tessa's name on the Wall in MoMa.

Tessa being measured for the wall in MoMa.

Oktoberfest at Black Forest Restaurant in Highland Mills, NY. Joel loves to remember his time in Germany with a good ole Oktoberfest. The kids were not very happy with the German Food, but they like watching the dancers (they took like 50 pictures of them).

German dancers that the kids loved watching.

Fireworks at West Point MA, NY by our house. Final outdoor concert of their band on Labor day weekend.

West Point Jazz Knights band. One of three West Point bands we got to listen to. This is the second year we went to this event - we love it!

Two small red dots on the cannon are Dagny and Tessa. This cannon is fired for the 1812 Overture at this concert - just prior to the fireworks.

Called the "Million Dollar View" from West Point for a reason. Amazing! Great view of the fireworks too!

First Day of School. Dagny in fifth grade and Tessa in third grade - they are so excited to go back to school! Daddy is being funny taking their picture by the Water tower next to our house.

The traditional Daddy picture of the first day of school with the flag outside our house.

Visiting Friends, Boise & Summer Fun

2009-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the end of summer before school starts in two weeks (Sept 2, 2009). Our community pool is only open until Labor Day. The weather has been so rainy this summer we feel cheated of our pool and patio dinner time. Even the fire fly season was short this summer. The last two weekends of summer were rainy and cold thanks to Hurricanes Bill and Danny. We are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather Labor Day weekend for fireworks and outdoor concert at West Point and Oktoberfest at the Black Forest Restaurant.
What else do you do with summer vacation but dress up like your sister and do each other's hair the same. This started from buying them the same Geox sneakers for school. Of course they are not wearing the shoes in the house for the picture. They are so darn cute - don't you just want to squeeze them?

Happy 8th Birthday Tessa - August 14, 2009! Tessa loves Flamingos and Littlest Pet Shot, so she ws so excited for her "surprise cake" mommy baked. She enjoyed the day on the morning walk with her daddy, playing Wii with her sister, going swimming when mommy got home, her choice of dinner (Beef Stroganoff) and cake, ice cream and presents. A wonderful day and evening!

Tessa thought she was getting an American Girl doll (this package seemed to big and heavy for that - but that was her guess). Luckily she was very excited for the super fast scooter to take on her morning walks with daddy and play with the neighborhood kids. She also received the Kirby game for her DS, Littlest Pet Shop bath set and the 9th Bone book.

Tessa's birthday party with her friends was on Saturday August 15. She wanted to go Miniture golfing (probably from the glow in the dark golfing we did with the family in Boise). There were six girls at the party. We did some putt putt (did not keep score - they are 8). Had ice cream at the Castle (in Chester - 20 minutes from our house). Then we went back to our house to play a couple of games: life saver necklace competition, water balloon toss, cup cake decorating, and pizza eating (ok that was not a game - but still fun). We are the rebels of the NE - we opened the presents at our party - they do not do that here - it really irrates the girls).

Pixie loves birthdays too. Playing in the tissue is tons of fun! Luckily she does not eat tissue - not enough plastic in it - I suppose....

The famous NY Rennaissance Faire is only about 15 minutes from our house in Tuxedo. It is incredible! It runs every weekend in July and August. It has been running since the 1970's and hosts over 160,000 visitors each summer. The structures are permanent buildings with lots of shops and food. They do a Joisting show, live battle chess, magicians, comedians, acrobats, etc, etc... The girls were sad not to have a costume like so many others. They did get the flower rings for their heads. They will be better prepared for it next year!

The royal court just prior to the Live battle Chess match.

Look at the village at the Renaissance Faire - they are serious here about this fanasty world. It was hours of entertainment to watch the visitor to the Faire.... Look how pretty those girls look too.

Shift from Renaissance Faire to Boise, Idaho....

You may wonder why we would go to Zoo Boise when in the past two months we have been to four zoos - Philadelphia, Bronx, Central Park and Boise.... ok Boise is not the same as the others, but we really wanted to see the new Africa Exhibit that we had contributed to (we had been members for seven years at Zoo Boise). The exhibit is incredible! It was well worth the wait! We loved it! How can you go wrong with Giraff and a jeep the kids can play in.

Glow in the dark miniture golf - with all the Gibson cousins - how fabulous is that . Great idea Christine! Dad and Leone and Katie came from Utah while we were in Boise - BIG thank you! It was so much fun for all of us to golf - ok - Baby Ava slept through it - but that is a good baby thing at three weeks of age. What a fabulous course of safari animals, sea animals, and dinosaurs with sculpture and beautiful paintings on the walls. The course is not lines up properly to get hole in ones - good thing we are not competitive... well good thing Joel was not there (he is a bit competitive).

Gibson Cousins in Christine's backyard after minute golf.

Papa Te, Leone and my siblings and spouses (minus Joel who stayed in NY).

Quick trip to Pocatello to celebrate Grandma Gibson's birthday.

Mrs. O'Hara (Dagny's 2nd Grade teacher) came to NYC and Dagny was so excited to be able to see her while she was there. We had a great visit at the hotel the night prior to us flying to Boise.

Ice Skating lessons - final day of class - they both passed Basic 3! It was more exciting to pass the class with Grandma Becky there watching!

Burlington, Vermont trip with Grandma Becky. It was worth getting up early to make it to our first stop - Lake Champlain Chocolates! We watched them make chocolate and share their story. Chocolate samples were fabulous!

Montpellier, Vermont - collecting capitol buildings. Another state capitol that makes Boise look huge. Beautiful capitol building and grounds and they have a dome - make it easier to find....

We learned Ethan Allen was a Revolutionary War Hero from Vermont - not just a furniture guy.

Peace - Love & Ice Cream - Ben and Jerry's dream is a happy place for all that visit. The tour is fun and the "Sample" at the end is a single scoop! We got to try their new flavor "Whirled Peace" - amazing! We all loved it! We still bought more ice cream after the tour and ate it while we waited for the rain to pass. Yes - the kids had to get cool t-shirts from here.

Dinner outside on Church street. Great food and place to people watch! Mom did a great job getting us front row parking - in the Mall parking lot. Her mall-dar is incredible in any state - even when you are not looking for one.

If this is not a Christmas card picture - what is? The family as Vermont Teddy Bears at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory - The bear "flavors" are Chocolate, Honey, Buttercream and Vanilla. Guess which of us is the "alien bear"?

Yes we are sucker parents - after the tour the girls got bears - not the big one....

On the tour we got button bears. They are cut out of the left over fur from the bears they make. They hang off the bear tour pin you are given to go on the tour. How fashionable are they? I plan to wear mine in NYC - that should get me mugged....

We took the car (and family) across Lake Champlain on a ferry from Vermont back to New York State. Great way to see the 120 mile lake - beautiful! Yes - every experience for Tessa involves a book - just like her daddy...

Fort Ticondaroga - there is more to it than Joel's favorite pencil. Perfect place to watch Lake Champlain and Lake George! Great strategic point for the Revolutionary War. Sad it was a State Park and not a National Park - no stamp, but still worth seeing - even on a hot, humid day!

The girls at Kings Garden (Children's Garnden) at Lake Ticonderoga. What fun kid sized Adirondack chairs. Battlefield Saratoga - Hooray - this one was a stamp! Tessa loved playing Revolutionary war soldiers and building forts with Lincoln Logs. Look at her sporting her Junior Ranger badge!

The monument of Saratoga. Joel and I climbed the 188 stairs to the top and hurt for days after it.... Mom was too afraid of the open narrow stairs and the kids refused to get out of the car... ohh the joys of a family vacation!

Sitting in Adirondack chairs in the Adirondack mountains (Lake George) too fun!

Mom - the beauty in the lake - enjoys Lake George. It reminds us of a large commercialized McCall.

New York State Museum in Albany has a very humbling exhibit to 9/11. This was a Fire Truck found in the debris after the towers fell.

Grandma and the girls in front of the "Egg" performance center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany, NY by the state Capitol building.

Riding the 114 year old Carousel in the New York State Museum - the museum is free and so is the Carousel - Woo Hoo!

4th of July celebration with front row seats on the Hudson River and the Empire State building (lit in Red, White and Blue) in the background. Happy Birthday America!

The family on the Circle Line pier with the NYPD reserved seating (next to the Intrepid) - amazing view with cinders raining down upon us during the show - boy were we close!

Getting ready for the fireworks on the 4th of July with Manhattan skyline behind us. Empire State Building is behind Dagny.

In the background is one of the six "Macy's" Barges that shot off the firworks. We could see five of the six barges and the fireworks in unison over the Hudson in celebration not only of the 4th of July, but also for the kick off of the celebrations of the 400 years since Henry Hudson navigated the Hudson River in September 400 years ago. Behind us is New Jersey - we have learned as New Yorkers to never say anything nice about Jersey...

We finally made it to the Central Park Zoo! The girls had to have a picture with the enterance used in Madagascar. We were excited to see the Penguins - Ricco is my fav! We felt robbed - there are no giraff, lion, hippo or zebra here - small zoo. The sea lion show and baby monkey was cool though. It was a bit underwhelming after being at the Bronx Zoo and Philadelphia Zoo!

Do you see the Red Panda in the tree behind the girls - if not - it is a super cute picture of the girls...

Dagny designed her own shirt for 4th grade kick ball - end of the year tournament. Her team took first place - undefeated!

4-H rocket launch - the last meeting with our 4-H friends for the year. Dagny was one of two 4-Hers - old gal. She got the thinnest and fastest Rocket - it went super high and fast!

The entire 4-H club with our rockets, just prior to launching them! Safety first!

Mom and her friends Melody and Linda from school at the Cloisters museum in upper Manhattan. Amazing (and kind of creepy) midevil art exhibit.

Dagny at the Rockefeller home on the Hudson (Kykuit) - impressive glass street lamp at the entry door.

Amazing sculpture art at the Kykuit mansion. Most of it was brought their by Nelson Rockefeller - NYS Governor. He had the Picasso paintings put into tapestries - very cool to see!

Kykuit mansion - Mom, Linda, Melody overlooking the Hudson River!

Tis is our house - hee hee. It is the Rockefeller mansion overlooking the Hudson River! The grounds are even more impressive!

Family overlooking the Hudson River.

West Point - free Jazz concert overlooking the Hudson. Enjoying our picnic and the view during the concert!

Melody, Linda and Mom at West Point (Trophy Point - the cannons are the trophies of war!)

Million dollar view of the Hudson from West Point during the concert! What an amazing spot for a picnic and a free concert!

Spinning the spurs for good luck at West Point! It is not midnight and the girls doing have a test - nor are they cadets....

We got to see Billy Elliott - It received the Tony for Best Musical for 2008 and well worth it! Boy can that boy dance!

Bronz Zoo - Trains and Coal

2009-07-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

Gwen's friend from Capital High School, Randy Peterson, and his family visited New York. We spent a rainy Saturday exploring the Bronx Zoo and eating the first NY pizza at Lombardi's in Little Italy.
Their were several Peacocks - showing off. This one was quite close to us.

Bug carousel. Tessa enjoyed riding a praying mantis.

The zoo had an amazing exhibit on Madagascar. We learned a lot about lemurs, fooza, and elephant bird eggs.

Big Rhino statue.

All of us at the hotel after a busy day from the Bronx to Downtown and back to Midtown.

Scranton, Pennsylvania less than two hours from our house. We went to Steamtown National Park. They have 30 trains, a roundhouse from 1920 and wonderful hands on exhibits. A wonderful day trip.

Great at posing for pictures - they are so cute!

Family Photo Op...

We got to ride in a train pulled by a steam engine.

The Big Boy train - it was used to get freight over he Rocky Mountains. It is one big train!

The girls learned all about being conductors - plus they look great in the hats.

At the Lakawana Coal Mine - on the hill overlooking Scranton.

That is a huge piece of coal!

Down in the coal mine - over 300 feet below ground. Tessa is working hard with the stuffed donkey. I guess she was too cold to work too hard.

The yellow car lowered us into the ground for the Coal Mine Tour.

More Philly and Valley Forge

2009-07-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

After a detour (all over Pennsylvania) we finally made it to our main destination for the day - Valley Forge. "Welcome to Shanghri La"... Our 16 miles "scenic route: (we missed the exit) took us to another brown National Historic Site sign to the Hopewell Furnaces. Very well done site about the making of charcoal and iron works - pots, pans, stoves and Revolutionary War Cannons and the communities that set up to operated the "furnaces". Two thumbs up on this one!

Franklin Institute has the Star Trek Exhibit there for the summer - very well worth a trip to Philadelphia. This is an illegal picture with a bad disposable camera of the bridge of New Generation "Make it so number one!"

Joel love the Railroad exhibit at Franklin Institute. This 60000 train is a one and only of its kind. It was de-commissioned due to being so heavy that it damaged track and its coal and steam systems were too difficult to maintain. The museum has cool pictures of how they took out part of the wall to put the train in the basement of the museum in the 1920's. This could not have been an easy task...

Franklin Institute is a hands on science museum. The kids loved all the activities. Look at the screen in front and you will see the kids playing soccer for the fans. They are soccer super stars!

There are not enough sculptures of big birds. It is a Raven - at Edgar Allen Poe's home. He only lived here for about a year. It is in a rough area of Philly now - but worth the trip - just don't walk there from downtown, even though it is not that far (even if you have become a tough New Yorker).

It would not be Philly without Rocky. Dagny's 4th grade teacher is a huge Rocky fan, so Dagny had to get this picture for Mr. Schifano - who ran up the stairs in the ice for his Rocky version to prepare for the State Math tests. Funny tidbit - this statue was moved from the top of the steps to the bottom right of them, because it is not considered "art" to be on the property of the Art Institute, which is the building at the top of the steps.

Even a flabby 40 year old can run the "Rocky" steps - it is only 70 steps (Silvester Stallone only climbed the last 3 steps - he needed a body double for the other 67 steps - really?)

Day two of "wading/swimming" in a fountain. Good thing there are a lot of fountains in Philly and it was a warm weekend when we were there. Both days they returned to the hotel soaking wet. This is the Swan fountain in front of the Franklin Institute - when they were still dry - they did climb up in the center of the fountain behind them.

In front of the Franklin Institute - not to be confused with the Art Institute (Rocky Stairs) - Philly loved their columns! The banner behind us is for the summer Galileo exhibit. This is the first time ever many of the pieces have been outside of Italy - including a telescope he built. Amazing exhibit - another must see - Everyone visit Philly this summer! NYC is close too so you can visit us too...

Visiting our Quaker roots. Go mighty Bruins. The kids were excited to see the writings about a familiar name in the church - George Fox. Joel and Gwen's Alma Matre.

"A penny saved is a penny earned." -Benjamin Franklin

It is said to be good luck to through a penny on Franklin's grave. The church where the grave site is makes $3,000-$4,000 every year on these penny's. The girls and Gwen through their penny's - Joel "saved" his. We will see who is lucky and who is rich (either way we all win).

May 2009- Philly, Rachel & Butterflies

2009-06-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Amazing Race TV show - season finale 14. The contestants and Phil Koeghan (host) were are the hotel to watch the Season Finale. What an incredible night! Phil is so great. He had just finished a bike ride from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean (3,500 miles and 42 days) to raise money for MS - he raised $400,000. Below is me, Phil, and Jeff (Marriott PR).

Phil and the contestants of the Amazing Race.

Me in the kitchen at Lombardi's Pizza - Little Italy - first and best pizza in NYC!

You can build your own muppet for one $120 at FOA Schwartz in NYC. I could only afford this picture - but very cool!

Rainy day at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary at the Headless Horseman bridge - scary! Run Rachel Run!

Philadelphia for Memorial Day 2009 - Traditional Philly sites - Liberty Bell with Indepenence Hall in the background.

Across from the Residence Inn, we stayed in and Love (JFK) Park is a great public art display of giant sized "game pieces". From our hotel room on the 20th floor we had a fantastic view of the clock below William Penn on the City Hall Building and the big game pieces. We were so excited to finally play on them. Below is the wheel barrow from Monopoly. That looks heavy - even without Tessa in it.

B-1: Is that your winning BINGO number? Those are some big BINGO chips!

Look at all those giant game pieces from Bingo, Dominos, Chess and Parchesi - this kids are pretty cute too!

That is one big iron! I wish the girls could iron - can't have it all... In the back (tan building just to left of light colored City Hall) is our hotel - amazing renovated art deco bank building.

LOVE sculpture in Love Park with my Love - it is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

How sweet are they? They want to wade in the fountain at Love Park to rest their tired feet from walking all over the Zoo - but they were soaking wet after an hour and a half of being in the fountain - kids - what do you expect? They played tag with other kids they met in the fountain. They found their own pool when the hotel did not have one...

The Philadelphia Zoo ROCKS!!! It is the first Zoo in America - 150 years old! They have over 1800 species there - a few that are only there and in San Diego. It was amazing! (we did not ride in the balloon...)

The children's petting zoo - That bunny is sure checking out that carrot... Good thing the carrot runs fast.

"Never smile at a Crocadile... They were exciting to find an animal they could ride together on the Rain Forest carousel. It was beautiful!

Tessa was in love with the Peacocks. She said she had never seen one before - I am pretty sure they have them in Boise. She thought there was only one in the zoo and was amazed how we saw them all over the zoo. Finally she saw two and realized there were more than one... She is so cute!

Creepy gross - king cobra are much more nasty than the pythons. There are tons of people bitten by them every year in India - this should tell you something... Tessa is pretending to be a Cobra- that is also her puppy impression...

On top of a 1950 "Big Bus" double decker tour bus of Philly with the City Hall in the background.

ALBANY - NY state Capitol. Dagny has wanted to show us Albany for months ever since she went on a tour there for her field trip. She is learning so much about NY history - it has been great for is all - since Joel and I know Idaho history - NY goes much further back. The Capitol Building is the most amazing building I have ever seen. I cannot believe it was built with public money - $25 million in 1899 after 42 years of construction. Built at the same time as the White House ($11 million). Teddy Roosevelt stopped construction and many of the stone works were never completed. Everyone should see it. The Empire Plaza we are standing in is incredible to see as well!

Orange County Choppers (we live in OC) - we did not realize there was a popular reality TV show on from our area. The motorcycles are incredible - all should see them! All sorts of themes - very amazing! Good thing Rachel knew about them...

Rachel and I visit the Sleepy Hallow Cemetary. This is the grave site of Washington Irving - the Author of Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetary - Andrew Carnegie grace site.

Lyndhurst mansion - home of Jay Gould - overlooking the Hudson River - WOW especially in the rain...

Rachel and I visit West Poitnt millitary academy. Absolutely beautiful!

Girls grow butterflies from caterpiller we get from 4-H. Dagny had three that we set two free one was injured - we still have him, and Tessa's we set one free - the other one has deformed wings due to the plastic cover in the show box - fell on him when we were in Philly - after a day we realized he was still alive and we are taking good care of the cripple butterflies includine one that got stepped on at the play ground at PineTree.

Dagny with her chrysilas.

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

2009-04-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Our first Easter in New York, brought the kids to the sad realisation that they would not be with all their cousins and friends for egg dying and hunting. We stamped some invitations and a invited a few friends over for an Easter party on Saturday before Easter. It was cold and rainy, but we still had fun. The girls and mommy stuffed eggs with candy, toys and of course quarters (Gibson family tradition). Daddy and mommy hid the eggs on the main level of the house prior to the friends arrival. They hunted eggs, dyed eggs and had snacks.

Below is Tessa with her very best friend Dristin.

Dagny proudly proclaims that this is the perfect shade of green for an Easter Egg.

What creativity shown by Tessa through many techniques of dying, hand painting and adding color with a sponge.

Happy Easter 2009! April 12, 2009. The Easter bunny was too kind to the Lytle Ladies. Although the weather was chilly and rainy, the egg and present hunting was fantastic in the house. The family spent the day watching the DVDs given to the girls from the Easter bunny, eating a great brunch and then a traditional Turkey and Ham dinner. The best part was staying in our pajamas all day!

Hooray - spring has finally arrived to the Hudson Valley! Sunny and temperatures in the 70's. We sure missed eating outside! On April 19, we went to Bear Mountain State Park (6 miles from our house towards West Point). We had a picnic by the lake and then went to the zoo overlooking the Hudson River. There were even bears at the Bear Mountain Zoo - they are truly the locals here. The zoo has trails through the trees with great views of the Hudson.

The zoo has several little museums on the property. The girls were "recruited" to join the continental army. They passed all the tests to join - they can see, hear and have five fingers (they were not that picky back then - of course their was no pay, food or uniforms for joining) - they were just not 14 though. They still learned to fire a musket. They were given a replica button to show they were in the NY regiment of the Continental Army. Hopefully they do not get called to serve any time soon - their musket skills could use some work. Plus they are pretty whiney when they have to sleep on the ground and do not eat regularly.

Joel and Gwen at the zoo, with the Hudson and Bear Mountain bridge in the background.

Dagny and Tessa are in 4-H. The last week of March was the public presentations for 4-H. Dagny did an amazing power point presentation on Italy (her school teacher is of Italian decent). She spoke in front of a judge using her power point about Italy. She received an "Excellent" rating, blue ribbon, and certificate for the great job she did.

Tessa is a Cloverbud (5-7 year olds in 4-H). Her presentation was called a "Fun Talk" and not critiqued like Dagny's. She spoke to the judge about Giraffes. She showed pictures of the family at Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL feeding the giraffe. She also brought "Katie" the stuffed giraffe she got in Florida. The judge told her how great she did with remembering so many giraffe facts and speaking clearly and confidently. She received a rainbow colored ribbon and certificate for participation.

Girls Weekend in San Antonio

2009-04-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

Pre-40th birthday celebration for Gwen in San Antonio, Texas. Being so far across the country from her family and friends, Gwen wanted some "girlfriend" time - something she is really missing in NY. We tried to pick someplace in the middle of NY and ID - that was warm the last week of March (Spring break from school in Boise). San Antonio was the winning location. Gwen had been to San Antonio for three work conferences, and it looked like the perfect place for a girls weekend. It was a first trip to San Antonio for Mom, Christine, and Raelin. Gwen's mom and sister Christine flew in from Boise; Raelin (Gwen worked with her at the Shilo Inn 20 years ago - we were 10 - hee hee) flew from Salt Lake and Aunt Joyce drove in - she currently lives in Austin, TX. We had a wonderful time shopping, exploring, eating, visiting and laughing. The 80 degree sunny weather was perfect for eating outside on the RiverWalk. Christine was determined that all the girls should get tatoos. We settled on the Henna tatoos which last for three weeks and have no needles involved. Below is a picture of all of us after we got our tatoos. What an incredible weekend!

Globetrotters, Skating and Delaware - Oh My

2009-03-25T06:40:00.001-07:00

February 13, 2009: Free tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters at MSG (that is New Yorker for Madison Square Garden - which Dagny has pointed out is circular and not a square at all). They were great courtside seats. The girls were rather concerned that they were being made to go to a basketball game (we are not a very sporty family), but they were very entertained by the Globetrotters and got their mini basketballs autographed by the players. After the game they wanted to continue to dribble in the hotel - bad to be thrown out of mommy's hotel....

Due to a overbooking by Mommy - Family friend and NYU grad student - Laura took the kids to the Globetrotter game and Gwen and Joel went to see Phantom of the Opera (hooray for a date night).

Congratulations on passing Ice Skating Basic 1. The girls got ice skating dresses to start Basic 2 class. They are so excited, but say their legs get cold - plus their jackets cover most of the outfit - but they look like pros.

March 14, 2009: We took a weekend trip to Delaware (everything is so close in the East Coast). We could not even get to Pocatello in 3 hours in Boise and here we have been through 3 states and close to several others.

We stayed at an incredible Courtyard by Marriott in Newark, DE (kids loved the pool). We went to see an actor friend from the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Of Mice and Men at University of Delaware.

We were excited to see signs for Spring there - mini red tulips. Cozy bear has been in many pictures with Dagny - all over the country - over the past ten years...

One of the great things about having kids - is you can finally get your pictures taken as a couple.

Who knew Delaware did not have a Capitol Building? After a brief (Dover is not very big) drive around town and not being able to find the Capitol, we asked at the museum to find we were looking at it across the lawn. They call it "Legislative Hall". We got our picture with it for proof of being to the Delaware State Capitol in Dover. Dover makes Boise look bustling with only 32,000 people. We did drive by Dover Downs - it is huge! We thought it was for horse racing, but also at the museum discovered it was NASCAR. We learned a few things in Delaware - it was a good trip!

February 2009 and Orlando Florida

2009-02-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

February 18: We looked out the window to see the largest snow flakes we have ever seen. Tessa state, "I've got to get some of those on my tongue" and ran outside - too cute! While she was outside she made pictures in the fresh snow in the driveway.

Grandma Becky gave the girls puzzles of NYC - they are proud to get this one done with a little help from daddy.

Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay as we visited the Tiger exhibit.

The Scorpion rollercoaster. This was Tessa first upside down roller coaster.

Face painting of the Unicorn Masks.

Very friendly giraffe named Cupid eating from Dagny's hand. They have purple tongues (so they don't get sun burned) that are 18 inches long.

Tessa feeds Cupid lettuce from the back of a safari truck in the Serengeti Experience at Busch Gardens.

The family is getting ready to get on the truck to go on safari in the Serengeti Experience at Busch Gardens to see Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos, Antilope and much more.

Posing with a Budweiser Clydsdale horse at Busch Gardens.

We met Kristy and her son Ryan at Busch Gardens. She was in the Air Force with Joel. They live in Tampa and have had Busch Gardens season passes for 13 years, so they were great guides of the park.

The kids picked Magic Kingdom for the Disney park they wanted to go to. Tessa has a CD (now on her iPod) of Disney Theme Park music, so we were challenged to go on the rides with the music - it was probably the only way to get her on the Haunted Mansion (she said it was not as scary as she thought - but is concerned about the ghost hitch hiker. She even tried Space Mountain even though it had no theme song and was in the dark. Dangy and Joel went on Space Mountain nine times. We loved watching the fireworks at the end of the day.

We loved the Shamu show at Sea World. The girls took tons of pictures of the show.

After spending a fun filled two days at Sea World with lots of shows, feeding the dolphins and riding the amusement rides - we got to see the Shamu show. A great way to end our time in Sea World.

It was great to be staying at our timeshare of 12 years. We know our way around and are very comfortable there. They have made many improvements and expansions over the years, including this water park with lazy river. The kids enjoyed the pools even though most days were in the low 50's.

Pool activities at the pool included line dancing, which the girls enjoyed participating in.

January 2009

2009-01-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

Dagny's 10th Birthday - January 23, 2009:
Dagny invited two of her friends, sister Tessa, Mommy and mom's friend Laura went to New York City for a City Sleepover for her birthday. We went to American Girl Place for shopping, doll hair styling, dinner and cake.

Best girl friends and American Girl dolls at American Girl Place NYC for dinner...

We took a horse carriage ride from Rockefeller Center to through Times Square (it was neat to see "the Ball" there) and to the hotel.

After a sleepover at the hotel, we went ice skating at Bryant Park, across from the hotel.

After ice skating we took the subway to World of Disney on 5th Avenue and met Snow White.

Dagny and Tessa started ice skating lessons on January 18 through March. Dagny is excited to learn how to skate backwards and spin. Tessa said she was bored because she already knows everything and just wants to skate on her own... We will see how it goes.

2009-01-11T10:14:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year - Welcome 2009!!! We spent a couple days over New Years Eve at the hotel - at Times Square. We were invited to have a police escort to Times Square for a perfect view of the Ball drop, but since is was 12 degrees (zero with wind chill), we decided to watch the Ball drop on television, like most of the world. We gave our police escort to some guests at the hotel and they brought the kids the goodies from Times Square that you see them sporting in the picture below. Hopefully some year while we are here it will be a little warmer so we can be in Times Square for the Ball drop. The girls did enjoy ice skating every day at Bryant Park (across from the hotel) and shopping at World of Disney and American Girl Place. We always have a great time in the city.

Merry Christmas 2008: We had our first Christmas in our New York home. The girls were spoiled rotten and happy. Dagny got up at 3:30am - crazy girl and then Tessa at 4am. They got mom and dad up - which mom is use to getting up at 4:30am anyway - opening presents is better than a commute. The girls enjoyed everything from American Girl gifts to Barbie and her Diamond Castle to snowy globes to sleds. It was a wonderful Pajamas day, with strawberry crepes and a turkey dinner. We missed not being with our families though...

December 11, 2008: We experienced our first Eastern Ice Storm. Our 4-H meeting was cancelled as everything from cars to trees to fences looked like they had been hosed down and instantly frozen. When Gwen got to her car at the Park & Ride from the city commute, she found her car frozen sold - below is the picture after she got it defrosted enough to get it home.

Residence Inn by Marriott Times Square

2008-12-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

Here is Gwen's hotel family in beautiful Mid-Town Manhattan. 46 floors (357 suites and 93 condos) and a wonderful staff of over 100 people.

November 2008

2008-12-07T12:21:00.001-08:00

Joel's parents, Jim and Dee Dee came to visit for a week over Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time showing them our favorite places and some new places in NYC and by our house. On Monday December 1, Dagny performed at the High School for her first Chorus concert. She was very excited that her grandparents were here to see her sing.

The second half of of the week of the Lytle's visit, we spent time at our house and explored the Hudson River Valley by our house in Monroe. Below is Joel and Jim in front of Boscobel "Federalist Style architecture" Mansion across the Hudson River from West Point Military Academy. It is an amazing historical home with a great view of the river and the Academy. Joel also showed his parents West Point. Joel and Jim went to Hyde Park to see the Vanderbuilt Mansion and Franklin D Roosevelt's home, while Dee Dee, Gwen and the kids went to the Woodbury Commons Premium Outlet mall.

On Thanksgiving we had a front row view of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade - right across from Macy's on 34th Street. Below is a picture of the opening cheerleader performance of the parade from where we were standing. It was only 40 degrees - much colder than last year when it was 60 degrees. We had a very New York Thanksgiving of going to the parade, eating dinner in a restaurant, and Joel, Jim and Dee Dee went to Chicago on Broadway and Gwen and the kids went to see the movie Bolt. Tuesday Jim and Dee Dee went to see the Rocketts and Radio City Music Hall and our family joined them (after a record long commute of two and a half hours) that evening to see Irving Berlin's White Christmas Musical at the Marquis Theater - it is definitely one of our favorite musicals!

On Wednesday - the day before Thanksgiving - we went to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on Pier 86. It is on an Air Craft Carrier. We saw and amazing collection of Naval history of the Intrepid. It has been under renovation for a couple of years and just reopened on November 8. President Bush, astronauts, and retired Navy were there on Veteran's Day to celebrate to re-opening.

Below is our second annual holiday dress fashion show at the Largest Department Store in the USA - Macy's on 34th Street. The girls tried on several dresses and then each selected one.

NYC or BUST June 2008

2008-11-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

Roadtrip From Boise, Idaho to Monroe, New York (2,800 miles)

And the adventure begins...

Thursday June 5, 2008

Joel picked up the kids from school and headed to Montana - stopping in Pocatello to visit Grandma Gibson at Buddy's so Joel could enjoy one last bowl of his favorite salad.

Devil's Tower (National Park), Wyoming

Custer's Last Stand, Montana

Mount Rushmore (National Park), South Dakota

Indoor waterpark in Rapid City, South Dakota

In Chicago, Illinois - visited the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (National Park)

June 11, 2008 the family is reunited to live in New York.

Maine Trip - June 2008

2008-11-12T18:49:00.000-08:00

The family is finally together again and we were off to Maine for a week. We traded our timeshare week for somewhere close to our new home. Our "home base" was in Bethel, Maine which is close to New Hampshire and Vermont.

You can't go through Vermont without going to a Maple Syrup Factory...

We took a day trip to the coast of Maine to visit Acadia National Park (and get our stamp). It was a beautiful park and we enjoyed playing in the Atlantic Ocean (it is cold, but that didn't stap the kids from playing in the water. We stayed the night in Bar Harbor after exploring Acadia.

The Maine state capitol building in Augusta...

We took a high speed CAT ferry to Nova Scotia Canada. It got us from Bar Harbor, Maine to Nova Scotia in less than three hours (half the time of a typical ferry). We did a day bus tour of Nova Scotia and went back to Maine the same day. We learned about catching lobster on our tour - it worked the kids caught lobsters.

Lobster boats in Nova Scotia....

Yes - a snowman in June... We went to Santa's Village amusement park in New Hampshire. There were not many people there (school was still in session in the East Coast). All the rides were Christmas themed. We were singing Christmas songs all day - wow!

We went to Quebec City in Canada for a night. The city was celebrating their 400 years of settlement. There were all sorts of festivities happening in the city. They did a film, light and music presentation on these large silos across the St Lawrence River - amazing. The historic city is surrounded by a fortified wall. The city is very European in feel and most people spoke French. We definately need to go back to Quebec!

The streets of Quebec on a perfect sunny day...

St Gauden's home (National Park) is a historic artist's colony. St Gauden is the sculpturer that created the Lincoln statue at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and also created to double eagle gold dollar coin.

This is the home on the National Park Estate of Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller. The park is dedicated to conservations and preservation of natural resources. It is a beautiful and informative estate.

We visited Joseph Smith's birth place in Sheridan, Vermont. The monument is an amazing one piece of granite that is 32-1/2 feet tall (one foot for every year Joseph Smith lived). It is a very breath taking area.

July 2008

2008-11-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADDY!!!

For Father's Day we bought Daddy tickets for the family to go to a Yankees vs Rangers Baseball game. Joel is a huge Yankees fan and we had to go to a game in the "House that Babe Ruth built..." before they tear it down at the end of the season. The girls also needed a Major League experience. They had so much fun singing and chanting and eating a hot dog and junk food. Tessa loves eating the roasted peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor. Dagny enjoyed the cheer "Here we go Jeter, here we go!" As this was her first Yankees experience she did not know who Derek Jeter was and was saying, "Here we go Cheater, here we go." We got that corrected, so she will not be beat up...

The new Yankee Stadium under construction...

Grandma Becky visited us for two and a half weeks in July - It was so nice to have her stay with us. You would think she would be tired of the family after them living in her house for three month, prior to moving...

We went to Hyde Park, NY to get our National Park Stamps for the Franklin D Roosevelt sites and the Vanderbilt Mansion - both overlooking the Hudson River.

Below is Val kill. The house that Eleanor Roosevelt lived in until she passed away. She had FDR build her a cottage away from his mother's estate. They helped create jobs and skills for furniture builders to build furniture here. There are several pieces of the furniture in the home.

Behind us is the first Presidential Library that was created by FDR, on his family estate in Hyde Park.

Below is the Vanderbilt mansion. This is an example of "new" money or Nouveau Rich versus the old money of the Roosevelts in the area - the two groups did not care for each other.

We also got our National Park stamp at Weir Farm in Connecticut. It is an artist colony. There were three generations of artists that lived on this farm and enjoyed being inspired by Nature for their art. The Weir oldest daughter married a grandson of Brigham Young who was a sculpturer, who created the "This is the Place" Monument in Salt Lake City and the 32-1/2 foot granite monument at Joseph Smith's birthplace in Vermont. Some of his sculptures are still in his shop at the farm.

The farm provides art supplies, so you can borrow the supplies, be inspired by nature and draw and paint.

The farm house at Weir Farm.

Dagny with Miley Cyrus (over Dagny's right sholder with the sanding Microphone).

Miley performed for free for Good Morning America at Bryant Park which is right across from the hotel. We were able to get VIP passes and get up close to see her.

While Grandma Becky was staying with us, Robbin, Josh and Avery also came to visit. We went to Coney Island, before they tear it down at the end of the season. It was a bit scary (the hotel staff were shocked we went there). We went early before it was too crowded and scary. The water was dirty and there was a lot of broken glass on the beach. The amusement park is old, expensive and each ride is separately owned, so you have to pay individually for each ride. They Cyclone roller coaster was $8/ride - wow! The kids only went on it once... and two other rides and then we were poor! Then we had an original Coney Dog at Nathan's.

Grandma and the grandkids at Astroland amusement park at the Famous Coney Island.

Once a quarter, Gwen is Manager on duty and the family stays at the hotel for the weekend. It is fun to go to the city and explore. The girls brought their American Girl dolls and we went to the American Girl Place (store) for dinner. They have a great restaurant with seats and dishes for the dolls to enjoy the meal together.

From June to October 2008 there was an art exhibit of four man made waterfalls. They were incredible. Below is a picture of the girls with the sign about the Waterfalls and over Tessa's right shoulder is one of the New York Waterfalls under the Brooklyn bridge. Behind them is Brooklyn. We are on the Manhattan side of the East River.

Here we are at the South Street Seaport. Behind us is the Brooklyn bridge and over Gwen's left shoulder is a "waterfall".

August 2008

2008-11-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY TESSA!!!

Thursday August 14, 2008

Tessa was very concerned about celebrating her birthday without all her Idaho friends and cousins to have a big party as she has had for past birthdays. It is uncertain if she was more concerned about no big party or that she would not get as many presents... So this year the focus was on Quantity of presents and not the Quality of the presents. Luckily wonderful folks from Idaho sent lots of little gifts to her and with the gifts from mom, dad & sister - she was spoiled - as always.

Mommy took Tessa's birthday off from work and we had presents and home made breakfast on the patio. Then we got in the car and drove an hour and a half to Eaton, Pennsylvania to the Crayola Factory for the day. The Factory was heaven for Tessa and Dagny - tons of arts and crafts projects. We were there until they closed. Below is the world's largest Crayon. Then we went to Friendly's for dinner and ice cream. It was a great birthday - even without the big party.

West Point Military Academy is 14 miles from our house. The campus is immaculately groomed with amazing buildings and an incredible view of the Hudson River. Below is pieces of the chain that stretched across the Hudson River (just under the waterline) to keep the British Ships from sailing up the Hudson to New England during the Revolutionary War. There are thirteen of the original links at West Point commemorating the original thirteen colonies.

The West Point Museum is the largest Army and History of War museum in the United States. The beautiful museum building is pictured below.

Every Sunday in the summers the Army band performs outside a West Point. Their band is not made up of cadets. They are professional musicians that have Masters and Doctorates in music. We went to their last concert - Labor Day weekend. We brought our blanket and picnic dinner and sat on the lawn and enjoyed the concert. Every American should attend this show - it was so powerful! They started with Big Band music, then the full orchestra came out and played Broadway favorite. They finished the performance with patriotic songs, including the Overture of 1812 (with real cannon fire - of course) and Stars and Stripes Forever with the backdrop of fireworks over the Hudson. Definitely a night to remember!

September 2008

2008-11-11T16:56:00.000-08:00

Our family has been exploring the historic mansions of the the Hudson River Valley. The range in age from the early 1700's to the early 1900's. They all have amazing views of the Hudson and have beautiful gardens - like the one below at Olana.
Below is Olana. It is the home of Fredick Church, a famous landscape painter that studied from Thomas Cole in the "Hudson School" style. There is a lot of Persian style in the architechture of the home - influenced by his travels to the Middle East. There were many great peices of art in the home - besides the home itself.

Below is the girls on their first day of school in New York on September 3, 2008. Dagny is starting 4th grade in Mr. Schifano's class and Tessa is starting 2nd grade in Mrs. Hoover's class. They are standing in front of our house. Daddy is very proud of his flag :) The girls are excited to ride the school bus for the first time going to and from school.

Joel's Aunt Charlene and Uncle Tom came to visit us. They stayed at our house for a night and then we moved into the city. They had never been to NYC before. We only had a day and a half to see the city. We went to Grease on Broadway and took the Grayline double-decker bus on the uptown and downtown loop. It was a great overview of the city (below we are on the bus with Times Square behind us). We also went on the Circle Line Cruise around the Statue of Liberty. The art exhibit "the New York Waterfalls" were in the river (four of them) when we took the tour. We love having visitors now that we are so far away!

Below is Sunnyside Manor on the Hudson. It is Washington Irving's home. He is the author of Legend of Sleepy Hallow and Rip Van Winkle. This house is only a few miles from Sleepy Hallow. We spent the day here at the Children's book day. There were over sixty children's authors and illustrators at the event to autograph the books. What an incredible event!

Dagny (and Cozy Bear) with one of the many tents of authors at the Children's Book Day at Sunnyside Manor.

The girls are with Susan Jeffers, author and illustrator of My Chincoteague Pony and many other beautiful books.

Dagny and Tessa with Bunnicula with the book in hand...

October 2008

2008-11-10T17:09:00.001-08:00

We became annual members of the Storm King Art Center. It is about ten miles from our house. The center has 500 acres of land and many large sculptures throughout the Center. We love to hike around or ride the tram to explore the grounds. We each make up a name for the sculpture as we approach it and then see what the name on the plaque is - we have never guessed right -I guess artists have to be creative with names of their pieces. But where did they come up with Geox #7? On Saturdays the Center does live music from classical, jazz, blues, Broadway. It is lovely to sit outside and enjoy the music.

This is Dagny and Tessa at our front door.

This is our back patio. We ate most of our dinners and several weekend breakfasts on the patio. The summer days rarely got over 85 degrees, so it was great for eating outside. It is amazing how well the flower pots survive when the weather is under 100 degrees with a bit of rain each day. The flower pots were planted by grandma Becky during her visit in early July and they still look great in October. The girls claim our success to the AquaGlobe - as seen on TV.

Our backyard overlooks the woods. The Fall colors are amazing - so many brilliant colors! We are enjoying the beauty of the Hudson River Valley. In the summer we enjoyed watching the Fire Flies as we ate dinner on the patio in these woods. Pixie, our cat, is always stocking the strange animals in the woods from the windows. We have seen deer, groundhogs, squirrels, blue jays and tons of other birds. It reminds me of being at the cabin near Yellowstone.

During the weekends at the Van Courtlandt manor on the Hudson River (Croton-on-the-Hudson) has the "Blaze" festival. They have over 5,000 carved pumpkins all illuminated. It is amazing to see. They have several themes from dinosaurs, spiders (with a giant web), garden flowers, fairies, undersea world, pirates, bats, owls and traditional pumpkins.

The weekend after we went to Blaze we went to Sleepy Hallow (who knew it was a real place) and went to the "Legends" Festival at the Philipsburg Manor. They have story tellers and music around open pit fires, telling about area Legends, then the characters of the Legends come to life. Yes - we saw the real Headless Horseman - very well done!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

Dagny and Tessa got into the Wizard of Oz theme this year for Halloween. They selected their costumes two months prior to the holiday and often would watch the movie in costume. There were many days in the costumes, but we tried to keep them clean for Halloween. Mommy did not allow Tessa to clean the bathroom in the pink gown - yes, she asked...

They were disappointed that their new school, did not allow costumes to be worn at school. They still enjoyed parties to celebrate the holiday at school, then came home for tick or treats. Our neighborhood is perfect for trick or treating with a gated community of about 200 townhomes. We went thourgh five bags of candy, but the trick or treaters were early and done by 7pm - our girls were home and in pajamas by 7pm too. The weather was perfect - the girls did not even have to wear coats.

No I am not under arrest for being in public in a silly costume... Erick and Nestor work in the breakfast - they all dressed millitary for Halloween. It was very confusing for our guests since most of them were from Europe at the hotel for the NYC Marathon which was on Sunday. I had a lot of people laugh at me - then I explained Halloween (some in charades as their English was not the best) and then they would take their picture with us. We had trouble explaining to the International guests that the "solders" were our associates and not at the hotel for high security...