Steph's Wedding

We had a great time!

The wedding was beautiful, although it was moved inside because of the rain. The reception was wonderful and fun! The kids had a blast staying up, eating cookies, drinking juice with ginger ale and dancing the night away. Finally the kids were able to sleep in a hotel they've been asking about since Daddy sleeps in them often for work travels.

The next day, we went with Cousin Jeremie and Chrissy and their 5 kids: Jackie, Emily, Dominick, Noah, and Trenton. We had a great time there, too.

Big Boy Brayden (he was SO excited to dress up with a TIE!)

Rylan dancing with cousin AJ

A sneaky pic of Rylan (he won't let me take his picture)

Rylan break dancing

Yard Wildlife Morning

We woke up to find 2 dead baby blue Jay birds on our trampoline.
They must have fallen or been blown out of their nest high up in our huge Maple tree. :(
They had some feathers, and looked to be about a week from flight ability. I'm not sure if they died from the fall or from being alone all night. They had to have fallen between 10pm and 7 am. They were so beautiful. We had an adult Blue Jay hit our window on Sunday and become very dazed. He flew off awhile later. I wonder if it was the parent. Birds have been hitting our windows like crazy lately. I'm wondering if my new Norfolk Island Pine houseplant near the windows is the culprit?

After the bird sadness, we went to the side yard to play catch. A large truck stopped in the road and a man got our and appeared to be kicking something from the road. I got up closer to our hillside and saw him jump back. I called up to him and asked what was in the road. The nice, burly man assured me not to worry, he'd get the snake away from my house. (If you know ME, you can bet I was laughing.) The kids and I walked up the road, and I had them stand back while I picked up the snake despite the heroic man's gasps. We took him into the yard and looked and touched him for a bit. The kids got a hands on lesson about constrictor snakes. He wrapped around Rylan's arm and "gave him a hug". They also learned how to sex an adult snake. This black rat snake is a female. We set him free, and Rylan cried. He's been asking for a pet snake.

Hot day for a SWIM

We've had a heat wave in Pa the past few days. After running errands this morning, we headed to the local pool. It was crowded, but as busy as the last few days. Today was Greensburg Day at a local amusement park, Kennywood, so today was a good pick.

Brayden's cannonball!

Brayden's dive/belly flop

One of these things is not like the other..... Can you spot Rylan in line for the diving board?

Rylan's jump! (as the lifeguard blew the whistle because she didn't think he was old enough to be up there)

Our Science Project

Tadpoles!

We have 5. They are in various stages of development. No legs, some back legs, one with good sized back legs and has front leg buds. I think he is maturing lungs, because he's surfacing.
Rylan, of course, LOVES them. Its hard to keep his hands out of the tank.

I found some short clips on youtube of bullfrogs eating mice and birds. The kids think that's cool, but they know we have to let them go live in a pond once they are grown.

The lightening DID strike...

If you read my post on May 31st, I mentioned being afraid to look outside that morning, as it had stormed hard and I could hear a very loud lightening strike hit close by. I was sure I'd find our huge maple tree in pieces.

Well, it wasn't the big maple, but it WAS one of our trees in our small patch of woods. I didn't notice it until today as I was hanging blankets on the clothesline.

Its hard to see in the pics, but there are definite char marks where it split. We need to cut it down, so it doesn't fall and hurt someone. It won't be an easy task, because there's poison ivy glowing up its side. And you should know by now our experience with poison ivy.

You can see it here on the left, leaning on 2 other trees

In other news, our wild berry bushes have returned! We weren't sure they'd make a comeback so easily since we destroyed their habitat last summer/fall to make a fire pit area.

And for fun, my clothesline. I LOVE my clothesline.
The last excitement of our afternoon- I found a local guy on Craigslist selling bullfrog tadpoles for $1. I think this might be a fun science project for us. First, I need to find someone with a pond willing to take them once they are developed enough. Bullfrogs are too loud for me!

Watching hockey in warm weather...

can be dangerous to your sanity.
ESPECIALLY if you have your doors and windows open for air. And its dark in the living room .....see where I am going with this? Small bugs on the screen or flying near your TV screen can mess with your emotions. "YES! GOAL! Hey, where's the horn? Why are they still playing?" Doh. We have encountered several of these emotional mishaps with the last two games. THIS is why hockey is a winter sport!

Afternoon at Keystone State Park

Today we went to visit Aunt Sue and Cousin A.J. at Keystone State Park.
Its was a BEAUTIFUL day! Aunt Sue rented a Yurt for the week, this picture is of the other, smaller yurt.

Bunk fun

Sue's awesome hammock (Rylan cocooned inside)

The beach

Rylan sitting up after making a "sand angel" Can you tell he's not a beach kid?

Its CSA Season!!!

Each year, we participate in a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
For more information on CSA's, or to find a local one, go here: www.localharvest.org

We support our local certified organic farmer, Paul Sarver. He's a WONDERFUL man.
Here's the link to his specific farm, if you are local, I highly suggest looking at this next link:
http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M3280

This is week 2 of our season.
Already we have gotten several different lettuces, asparagus, garlic greens, green onions, rosemary and spinach. And, honey from his bees.

Here's my first "CSA Salad" of the season:

I believe the lettuce used was oak leaf, red leaf, and green leaf. Spinach, pickled egg, beets and roasted red pepper. Mmmmmm. One of these days I'll post some recipes, including my healthy homemade salad dressings!

Rylan's last soccer

We have finished Soccer Tots. We will not be doing soccer again next year. The program was poor and unorganized. Rylan did not enjoy the sport of soccer. Next spring, he'll be in the age group allowing him to be on Brayden's baseball team! That will be nice!

The plan was to have the last soccer class at Lynch Field, then have the after party in Kirk Nevin Arena, BUT, it poured rain. We even had tornado warnings. I got up at about 5:30 am (thanks to Bryan's work calling!) and I was afraid to go downstairs and see the yard. We have some HUGE trees, and one extremely large maple tree that's leaning too close to the house for comfort. With all the loud lightening strikes I had heard, I was certain I'd find tree parts sprawled all over the yard, deck and house! Luckily, there wasn't a mess at all!

Here is what Lynch Field looked like this morning, and it has been MUCH worse. Its notorious for flooding. Nana tells us stories about how it used to be an old racehorse track and stables, and the horses drown one year :(

If you look closely at the first picture, you will see ducks.


Here are Rylan's soccer pictures: