Hess has the cheapest gas

Day 3 of vacation has come and gone...... Today we bypassed three gas stations to get to the Hess station that Eric insisted had the cheapest gas around. The "low gas" beep had already sounded...... When we made it to the Hess we found that every single pump was closed so we had to turn around and go back to another gas station. I know what you readers are thinking.....that's it? Where's the excitement of the day? Where is the drama? Well, we then ran out of gas and had to walk fifteen miles to (7.5 ther and back) to get the gas into the tank......... Gotcha..... We actually had a very relaxing day after we bought gas.... Lunch at the Chinese restaurant (perhaps the strangest lunch ever), a trip to the yarn store (to get my supplies for my next two projects) then four hours at the lake. The wind was blowing and a young girl's raft was floating away.... The lifeguard didn't want to go after it so the mother of the girl had risk her life to go after it.....okay,no life risking but still kind of amusing to witness as just as the mom would get close to then raft, a wrong breeze would push it farther away. She got enough exercise for the week.

Isa got a new inner tube (and perhaps the above story would be more entertaining to my audience if the raft adrift was Isabel's and I was the mother risking her life in the rapids but alas this was not the case.....anyone who knows me knows that I am not really a good swimmer) and wanted desperately to swim without assistance. By the end of the afternoon she was getting quite brave and was wading out to where the water was up to her chest with Mommy beside her but not touching her. We spent quite a bit of time playing with our new sand machine that Daddy bought today after the trip to the Hess.

Tonight I started knitting my socks........ Tomorrow off to Stowe, Vermont to see where the Von Trapps live. We are planning a horse drawn carriage ride!!!!!!

Full Moon at the Lake

Here I sit at the end of day 2 of our vacation enjoying the view of the beautiful full moon from the porch. I can hear through the window my husband and Eric marveling at Isabel's gymnastic prowess. Robert and I are viewing knitting patterns on the iPad and making a list of the items I need to purchase on my shopping trip to the yarn store...... I am going to "darn" some socks and a really cool blanket. Robert is now telling me that "darn" actually means to fix the socks..... Oh well.......

Today we spent the day at the lake! What a fabulous day. We built sand castles, and went swimming and built more sand castles and took lots of pictures....unfortunately you won't be seeing the pictures yet because I don't know how to get them to my iPad. A special thank you to my sister-in-law, Carla, for reading yesterday's entry.... she has just returned from a great vacation visiting relatives in Brazil.

All in all it was a lovely, relaxing day in New Hampshire.... Until tomorrow

Hot in the City - Vacation 2010 Day 1

Today was our travel day enroute to New Hampshire for our New England vacation. We left the house this morning around 6:00am and entrusted our route planning to our Tomtom. The trip was uneventful until we realized we were headed for the Holland Tunnels outside of NYC. By the time we figured this out, it was too late..... we spent the next hour and forty-five minutes navigating our way through the traffic of the greater New York area. Although we never actually went through the tunnels, this quick tour of the city included a lovely view of the New York City skyline from the George Washington Bridge (albeit my view blocked by the pink blanket shielding Isa from the hot July sun).

Our tour of NYC also included a jaunt thru the Bronx (the birthplace of my Mother-in-law). One thing I can say for certain - New York drivers are some of the craziest I have ever witnessed. And if I haven't mentioned it yet, let me just tell you it was HOT! The temperature reading in the thermometer in the car read over 100 degrees!!!! But of course this was the outdoor temperature (not inside the car)!!!!

We stopped about five times to stretch our legs and go to the restroom - a necessary feat when traveling with a toddler in training. Isabel was an absolute angel the entire way and after watching multiple episodes of Elmo, Scooby Doo and Monsters, Inc., she finally took a brief nap the final two hours of the ride. We arrived in Hampstead, NH, at our friends' (Eric and Robert) lake house about 12 hours after our departure.

For the last two weeks Isabel has been talking about "the beach", and after a few weeks of making "sand castles" in the backyard in the dirt (more appropriately named "dirt" castles) she was very excited to see the beach. We weren't in the house five minutes (literally) when she asked to make sand castles with her new buckets and shovels so we quickly changed our shoes, grabbed our beach hats (despite the sun quickly fading) and beach toys. She had a great time entertaining herself making her own special version of sand architecture! And we are looking forward to tomorrow when we will get to go into the water!!!

Our first day of vacation concluded with a fabulous dinner prepared by Robert and a lovely view of the beach from the screened-in porch. As. The saying on the sign on the porch aptly states,"Life is good at the beach........"

Of note, I am posting our adventures this week via use of my iPad as I am getting accustomed to its features and capabilities....

Stay tuned for more fun.......

Where'd the pictures go?

Isabel turned 2.5 years old on July 1st. She is speaking so fluently now, it is just amazing..

Her most recent thing is looking at the books I am reading and asking me "Where'd the pictures go?"

So sweet!!! She is just such a perfect little person... sometimes a Devil dressed as an Angel!!

My Mom and Dad were here last week and Isa was acting up quite a bit... usually at bedtime. My mom sent me this quote today from my Gram:

"There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead...when she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad, she was horrid"

I am sure this would apply to most going through the Terrible Two's..

until later...

karen

The Year of the Tiger

Happy Belated Chinese New Year to everyone....It is the year of the tiger. Not sure what that will hold for us, but I do know that the shortest month of the year has just felt like it lasted the longest. More snow fell yesterday, but at least we didn't get the blizzard that NY got this week.

Two big events for Isa this month... we moved her to a toddler bed a few weeks ago and we are starting to see some success with potty training. Who knew using the bathroom could be so exciting? (I guess every parent out there knows this feeling.)

The Happy Hookers (as Rebecca and I are calling ourselves) will meet again this next Saturday. I am having quite a bit of fun with my new found craft - crochet. Next week, Rebecca is going to re-review my knitting technique as it needs quite a bit of work.

Something else to look forward to this week - visiting the Hofbrau Haus with some of the students... they paid top dollar at the Fundraising Auction to see me in my German Attire, so I will not let them down. I think there will be 6 in attendance plus some extras who weren't in on the bidding who will show up for the fun. Hopefully we won't be snowed out....

No further news to report.. Have a great rest of your weekend..

Cabin Fever

The University has been closed for two days now, which means I haven't been out of the house in 4 days. Poor Isa is going stir crazy, although we did make it out last night to play in the snow after zipping everyone into the snow gear. The snow is so deep and wet that you can hardly walk and you certainly can't make a snowman. Imagine being only 2.5 feet tall... Isa loved being outside, but must have said, "help, help" a million times.

No more news to report at the moment... till next time.

Snowmageddon 2010

The snow started falling here about noon this past Friday. But it didn't get really start falling until evening - aroung rush hour. My drive home was uneventful until reaching the top of the hill near our neighborhood, and then the slipping and the sliding started. We made it home safely...... We were expecting to receive 4-8 inches, but we woke up to about 22. I am sure you have all experienced it (for you local folk) or have heard about it on the news.... Poor Isa has been asking to go outside and play, but we didn't have proper snow attire until today when Daddy went and bought her a new snow suit... unfortunately there weren't any in the girls' department, so her new suit is black and blue. We are looking forward to playing in the snow.

As you read from the previous entry, we had a great time in Nashville celebrating our 2nd Christmas until everyone got sick with the stomach bug. We spent the last half of the week trying to stay as far away from Oma and Opa as we could. Luckily, since we already had it, we were able to make it home without contracting any further viruses. I must have logged into the blog from my Dad's computer, and thus, my Mom wrote an entry as me... No harm... I wouldn't even have known if my friend Rebecca hadn't told me. Rebecca and Dimitri were here today for our first "Happy Hooker" event. Mom has recently taught me how to crochet, and I taught Rebecca today... Rebecca is a very talented knitter and she tried to teach me when I was pregnant.... the next time we get together, we will revisit the knitting needles.

My Mom would be so proud that I have turned into a crochet fanatic... I have successfully made a really cool scarf that I am sending to my friend, A2, for her birthday (however belated.....) Rebecca gave it the stamp of approval.

Mom - you are the best!!!

xo.....