Oh Christmas Tree

Cut out own tree this year!












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Location:Beacon Dr,Phoenixville,United States

Mini Mechanics

Brandon & Laedyn helped Grandpa Art fix the rotor on our car today.


Brandon's method was somewhat unorthodox.


Of course the fix is not going to be as simple as we thought.

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Location:Lake Rd W,Ashtabula,United States

Valley Forge National Historic Park

Winter Encampment Site for the Continental Army in 1777-1778.

We took Mom and Dad for a drive through Valley Forge while they were visiting at the beginning of the month.  It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lovely fall colors to be found.

Soldier's Cabin

I loved this huge old birch tree.

Much of Valley Forge is rolling hills and meadows.

Mamo & Laedyn took a rest on the bench at the base of the Memorial Arch.

The Memorial Arch was built by the Masonic Order.  It sits on a slight hill overlooking meadows all around.  Brandon read about a room up in the top of the arch and always looks for a secret entrance.

As I was walking near General Washington's headquarters, I ran across this soldier.  For a minute I thought he might be a ghost.

General Washington lived in this house, known as Washington's Headquarters, during the winter encampment at Valley Forge.

Mamo & Laedyn walked back to the car by way of some soldier cabins and a little spring house.

Fall Fun

Laedyn and I joined her friend, Olivia, at a nearby garden center yesterday morning for some fall fun. Colonial Garndens has a free kids area set up with hay bales, slides, face-in-hole cutouts and fun decorations.  They offered a hayride, corn maze, and haunted castle as well, but we passed on those activities this visit although the cost wasn't terrible.

We spent alot of time at the slide.

The girls loved landing in the generous pile of loose hay at the bottom of the slide.  They scooped armloads of it onto the slide for each other before going down.  The dramatic belly flops at the bottom were entertaining for all.



Goofy ghosts were haunting a creepy mansion.  Oh my!





Watch out for Halloween mummies!!



There were lots of pumpkins to choose from outside.  We just took a few minutes to pose for pictures.





Dress Up Show

Laedyn spent the afternoon playing dress up for me the other day.

This pirate girl was very intimidating with her steely one-eyed gaze!

Strike a pose!

Silly eyed ducky princess ... or something.

Monkey girl and her trusty pony

Princess Laedyn arrived on the scene with her winged unicorn.

A fairy pageant puppy? 

Laedyn and her companion were very scary.

Looking Back - June 2011

We kept busy all summer - from beginning to end.  Here are a few pictures from our June adventures.

Nick took a business trip to China, where he visited Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shanghai.  This is a shot of the Shanghai skyline from The Bund.  The Bund is an historic waterfront area, very different from the view across the river. 

When my parents came to visit, we all went down to Philadelphia for a day.  It was our first time down there, so we took a bus tour.  Later we went to Independence National Historic Park, and saw the Liberty Bell.  Brandon discovered that the park rangers carry trading cards with various historic people and places on them.  In order to earn trading cards, he had to answer questions posed by the rangers.  He collected quite a stack that day, and learned some history in the process. 

Laedyn celebrated her 4th birthday on June 7.  She requested a Tinker Bell cake.  I managed to work Tinker Bell into a caterpillar cake I'd been wanting to make.  The caterpillar cake was baked in a specialty mini cake pan from William Sonoma, which I'd been looking for the perfect time to use.

One weekend, we stumbled upon Daniel Boone's homestead.  He lived on this property until he was 16 years old.  The building in this picture is a barn, added by later owners in a style seen frequently in this area.

Later owners of the property dammed the steam and ran a sawmill.  It looked like they run sawmill demonstartions on the site.  We might need to go back to see that sometime!

The kids and I took a trip to Ashtabula to visit my parents.  While we were there I was roped into helping run a massive garage sale in Mom's backyard.  Brandon said he loved the garage sale because it was a great place to "buy stuff you don't need." 

While in Ashtabula, we spent an afternoon at the beach.  The lake was still pretty chilly, so most of the day was spent playing in the sand and hunting for beach glass.

We also went to the river out at my grandmother's farm.  The water was just right for the kids to collect crayfish, tadpoles and minnows in their buckets.

Back at home, I finished organizing my studio space.  Mom found wooden CD racks at IKEA which are perfect for holding the smaller sheets of glass that I use in my glass fusing projects.

The kids started swimming lesson at the YMCA in June and continued those throughout the summer.  Lessons were four days a week in two week sessions.  The both progressed significantly.

Views from the Garden





Gerbara Daisy



unripened cherry tomato 



                                         

 

I let this grow and grow because it was such an interesting weed. I have no idea what it is.

tomato blossom

volunteer watermelon



This is a weed the bugs really liked!



An herb that supposedly makes your salad taste like cucumber.
I haven't tried it yet.



The zuchinni plant that produces giants!





Marigold? I think...