Father's Day Saturday

We don’t usually need much of an excuse to go on a date night, so this whole “Father’s Day” thing was definitely more than enough reason to call our favorite babysitter, Jake. Ok, ok... here in Maryland, he’s our ONLY babysitter, so far. But it honestly wouldn’t matter. He’s awesome. The kids ALL love him, and he’s excruciatingly polite and impossible to rattle, at least from what I’ve seen. And you know what? When we get home, the dirty dishes are IN THE DISHWASHER! Amazing, eh?

So anyway, Jake did the Relay for Life Friday night. That means he ran for 12 hours, from 6pm -> 6am. He told me he went over 21 miles. Pause while we all think about that.
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Ok! So he slept in nice and late Saturday, and then Quinn went over and fetched him a little before 4pm. I’d plotted out the timing of our evening, which was a little different than usual, since Quinn wanted to watch the movie, THEN go get the dinner. That way, he says, you have something to talk about over food. Agreed, though I never seem to lack in the conversational department anyhoo. We went to see X-Men, First Class. It was funny, cause we’d *just* watched “Wanted” on Friday night. The star of both movies is James McAvoy, who neither of us had heard of (or seen) before. Another neat thing... in Wanted, he plays a shy geeky American, and in X-Men, he’s Professor X.... silver-spoon toting British guy. Sorta neat watching his entire demeanor (not to mention his accent!) change from one to the other. We liked the movie, but Emma Frost (January Jones) was totally horrid. They could have used a cardboard cutout of a person, and saved themselves a boatload of money. Aah well.


Anyhoo, after that, we headed over to the American Grille for our noshing delights. Their website is loaded with mouth-watering descriptions of their food, so by the time we got there, we were ready to be good little carnivores and tear in! Quinn tried one of their fancy beers to start with (the “Ten Fiddy”, in case you were curious), and I had a Planter’s Punch. We had calimari for our appetizer, and it was soooooo tasty! It was the lightest crispy breading we’d ever had, and the little squid-rings inside weren’t chewy at all. No rubberbands for us! Quinn got this amazing entree called the “Drunken Ribeye”, and if you ever get to the Grille, get it. Just.... get it. :drool: I went all high-class and got the petite filet mignon, but you know? Quinn’s was better. We were monumentally dumb, and ordered the “Chocolate Legend” for dessert. They should have called it the “Luscious Chocolate Monstrosity of Doom”, but I guess that would take up too much space on the menu.


Afterwards, I dropped Jake off at his house, and since we’d started our date so early, we weren’t even up ridiculously late! Yay for smartness! :D

On the road again...

So after Wednesday’s barftastic driving spree, I was absolutely dying to try the whole “take all 3 kids out in the van” thing again. Today’s goal was to get my passport application in, and maybe the kids’ too, so that we can get to Wolfe at some point this summer. First, we took Quinn to work, and then headed to WallyWorld. Nate & Nomes needed some new footwear, and we needed to stock up on Quinn’s Father’s Day goodies. I’d gotten him a GoPro HD, but ended up giving it to him early - we had been getting ready for the PA Warrior Dash the previous weekend, and he lamented that his GoPro wasn’t the HD model. It just wasn’t worth taking it, since the video quality wouldn’t be that great, with all the shaking and bouncing around. I got his new toy out of my secret stash, and gave it to him, but he ended up not taking it with us after all. (Clever way to make me give you presents early, honey!) Next present I’d gotten him was an ice crusher. Since our fridge here doesn’t have an ice maker/crusher attachment, we’ve been going old-school, and putting the ice into a gallon Ziploc bag and smashing it with a hammer. Fun, but not terribly effective. So mid-week, Quinn asked Ben to go down to the “mancave” to fetch his hammer (yet again), and I went back to my secret present stash again, and fetched gift #2! Now we can have classy crushed ice, not that ghetto stuff! ;)

So, having already given Big Gift #1, and Medium Gift #1, I really needed to restock on Friday. I didn’t want to get a ton of stuff, but it’s always nice to unwrap presents ON the day of the event. I let each kid pick out an orange shirt, and I scoured the food departments for anything orange, or wrapped in orange packaging. It was actually really fun. ☺ The kids loved helping me look for orange stuff, and they really liked that they got to pick out clothing. We ended up with a TON of treats, and although I went over budget a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit, it was worth it!

After scouring Walmart, we headed back across the bridge, and stopped to replenish our dwindling mai tai supplies. Then it was on to the post office, to get my passport application sent! Turns out, the Dowell post office is actually a rusty trailer out past the Annemarie Garden. It’s the craziest post office I’ve ever been in. The open interior space is maybe 4’ x 10’, max. I sent the kids to the back corner, where they informed me that there were a LOT of dead bugs. (thanks, guys)

Well, turns out that nothing’s easy, not even in the most derelict post office in the US. To apply for a passport, you must send your ORIGINAL birth certificate, marriage licence, etc off for processing (the nice man assured me that they mail them back to you) and since I needed those things to get my MD driver’s license, I didn’t want to ship them off for the passport. So guess what we did next! We hopped BACK in the van, drove BACK across the bridge, and sat in those comfy chairs at the DMV yet again! This time, with my marriage license in hand, I was able to get my MD driver’s license, after only a total of 45 minutes in the building. Keep in mind, it’s about a 20 minute drive each way, too!


After that, it was time to head back to the post office and surrender all my docs to the great churning bureaucratic machine and hope for the best. Side note: without going through the gnarly details, I decided not to bother getting the kids’ passports, as it would take 2 forests worth of lumber to generate enough paper to make it happen. And I just can’t have that on my conscience.

Final stop for the day: Food Lion! I’d waited to do that last, since I had some fridge items on my list. Plus, the kids had been SO good, I told them that they could each choose whatever lunch they wanted, and we’d buy it and make it when we got home. This is how Ben got chicken alfredo, Nate got cheeseburgers, and Nomes got pizza! I was feeling rather carnivorous, so I got steak. Noms!

I think it was about 2pm when we wrapped up lunch, and I tucked the Littles in for their naps. I just didn’t feel like treading (I felt like I had been on a treadmill all morning, actually), so I skipped it.

When it rains, it pours

This afternoon, I was at the computer and heard the squawking of the pileated woodpecker again through the open window to my right. I slowly looked right so as not to startle it, and after a bit of looking, I found him/her working for breakfast on a tree just inside the woods line. As I was smiling at the sight of the silly thing hammering away at the wood, I saw another one flap in, and start poking around! They seemed like they were in a family unit, because they were quite close to each other, yet didn’t spend any time in any kind of overt communication between themselves. So I’m enjoying the show when a THIRD one joined the first two! There they were, all 3 of them, tap-tap-tapping at tree branches and trunks, not even thirty feet away from me! They are such goofy birds! I had no idea until I watched this trio flutter-flapping from one spot to another. One of them even hung upside down, picking at something between his toes, while one of his ?siblings? landed on top of the same branch and bounced a little. They remind me a LOT of the Pixar short, for the birds.


I wish I’d been able to get a picture of their antics, but my camera’s just not that good, and I was afraid if I moved, they’d get spooked and fly off.

Awesome sighting! :)

Aloha "HI FIV" :(

Wednesday was a busy day. Yes indeedy. Besides being the first day of summer vacation for the boys, I had a ton of errands I needed to get done. Quinn took the van for his early morning workout, and I treaded at home and showered. He got back here to pick us up for a lunch date at the Chinese buffet near his work, and then my plan was to go to the MD DMV to get the van’s title/registration updated, get my MD license, and then hit up the Waldorf Costco, and head back down to fetch Quinn by 5pm. The morning was going along as planned, up until I got done showering, and noticed that Nomes was just lying like a limp little rag outside the bathroom door. When I checked her out, her forehead was far warmer than it should have been. Uh oh. :/ She said she felt fine, though in retrospect, THAT is when I should have given her a dose of ibuprofen. 20/20 hindsight, as usual.

Quinn got to the house, we all loaded up, and headed off to the New York Buffet (which, strangely, serves not pizza, but Chinese food) By the time we got to the restaurant, I could tell that Nomes was only getting warmer, so I gave her half of a 200mg pill, not sure if she needed 100 or 200, and not wanting to give her more than she was supposed to have. As it turned out, she’s up to 200mg now... which I will NOT forget again. We had an uneasy but tasty lunch, with Nomes only having some jello and a few cellophane noodles. After we were done, we headed to Loveville to get as much done at the DMV as possible. Just like I’d expected, there were lots of people waiting for their numbers to be called. I was able to get the van’s title & registration updated pretty quickly (and expensively!), but the wait to get to the driver’s license update lady was pretty rough. By this time, Nomes was NOT feeling well, and just sort of lay on my lap and snuggled Snowy. After 45 minutes of waiting for the 2nd lady, we finally got to go up to the chair, but turns out you need to have your marriage license if you’re transferring an out of state license to MD. I was pretty peeved, because that wasn’t mentioned on the website, and I’d brought every other thing that was needed. :sigh: Nothing to do but leave and come back another day.


Since we were 2/3 of the way to Costco, I really wanted to get that taken care of. I talked to Nomes, and she said that she’d be fine to rest in a shopping cart pushed by Ben, while I pushed the cart with all the groceries, so that’s what we did. What a sight we must have made, trundling around Costco... Me in front, coaching Nate not to run over my ankles, with Ben behind me, pushing poor Nomes. I’d spread out my hoodie on the bottom of the cart to give her a tiny bit of padding, and she lay there curled up, clutching Snowy, with her other hand on her barf bucket, just in case she needed it. I tell you, that was THE fastest Costco run I’ve ever done!

We headed out of there, and back down the highway, and by now, I was pretty sure Nomes was going to get sick. She was such a trooper, though and didn’t complain a bit. She kept a good hold on the bucket, and I kept my eyes on her in my rearview mirror. When she finally did get sick, it was sort of a relief. She’d kept such a death grip on the bucket, she didn’t make any mess at all - what a tough little girl! We got home, and I tucked her in to bed, and she crashed out for the rest of the day --> night, and didn’t wake up until about 9am the next day.

Ben's Fifth Grade Graduation

So Tuesday was the last day of school for the boys. They weren’t *TOO* excited. Much. At all. ;) I had made carrot walnut bread loaves for Mrs. Six and Dr. Williams Monday night, but then realized that I needed to send in something for Mr. Sherenko and Dr. Leishear (Dr. Williams’ helper) too. SO, I got up at 4:20 with Quinn, and made a batch of cinnamon oatmeal cookies and split them in half. Whew!


That evening was Ben’s 5th grade graduation celebrating over at the high school. Ben came home with THREE awards, for attendance and academic achievement. We were SUPER proud of him. ☺ ☺ ☺

Marauder revealed!

So guess who has been ransacking all of our birdseed and tearing down (and emptying!) the hummingbird feeder every night!

Massive weekend

So I’m super late getting this typed out. I’m seeing a trend of falling behind. Gotta get caught up, and STAY caught up. ☺

So Friday night, Quinn worked super late (til 11:30!), so we didn’t get such an early start on Saturday. We’d planned on meeting up with Sarah and Matt at the Aquarium by 10 - 10:30, but we ended up getting together right around lunch time, so we all headed across the street to P. F. Changs for some tasty lettuce wraps and other yummy things.


After we ate, we headed back over to the aquarium and had a great, though CROWDED time seeing all the fish. I really liked the octopus, and the dolphin show was neat too. They have such personality; I always feel a little sad for them, cooped up in a tiny tank, with no real room to roam. I hope they’re happy, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they could use a little Xanax from time to time. We finished off our Aquarium visit with a trip to the top floor, and the rain forest exhibit. It was really cool to see the sloth, and BIG pink perching birds way up in the trees. Couldn’t see the iguana in the corner though - bummer. Henry spotted a HUGE brown toad (or frog?) in a little nook on the stair landing, and we passed on its location to the people walking behind us. It made me wonder how many other creatures we missed because they were hiding so well. ☺


After that, we drove back to Sarah and Matt’s house for supper and hanging out. We stopped at Costco and got some sushi, Stacey’s, hummus, and other odds and ends. We tucked the kids in at 8pm, and then watched True Grit, which surprised me by being a very good movie. It didn’t hurt that Jeff Bridges was in it - I always like him. ☺ After the movie (which didn’t wrap up til nearly 10pm... half an hour after my self-imposed bedtime), we went to bed downstairs on the futon.

Morning came early... the alarm went off at 4am sharp. Ugh! We got up, tiptoed upstairs, and hopped in the van for the trip north to Skirmish, PA. The drive was actually very nice, and I even got a little 30-45 minute nap. We followed the instructions to avoid traffic, and whether it was because of that, or just because it was SO early, we didn’t have a bit of trouble on the way in. We DID have to pay a *ton* of tolls, though. After we paid our $10 parking fee, we came to rest in our spot in the bumpy grassy field. Our timing was awesome, because the Sorbers were only 3 cars ahead of us, so we got to hang out starting early! We got our stuff all sorted out, and hopped on the school bus shuttle over to the Dash site. It sure was funny to ride in a school bus again after such a long absence... the seats sure seemed a LOT bigger when I was a kid. :D

We got ourselves all signed in and checked our bags. It was a very chilly, very misty morning, so I decided to wear my new Warrior Dash shirt for the race. Plus, since I already had one at home, I didn’t mind so much if the new one got dirty (and isn’t the Warrior Dash about getting dirty, anyway??) Quinn kept trying to get in touch with his friend Jodi, from high school. She’d seen one of his posts about doing the race, and as it turned out, she and her hubby not only live in Harrisburg, but they had both signed up for the wave after ours! We never did get a hold of her before the race, but afterwards, Quinn went to the finish line to watch, and he actually saw Jodi as she was charging into the mud pit! So I got to meet a friend of Quinn’s from Indonesia after all. :D How crazy that they hadn’t seen each other in 20+ years, and ran into each other at the Warrior Dash! :D


But about the race itself... it was a gorgeous course, through very leafy fern-y woods. It was beautiful, with lots of twists and turns. The whole thing is within a paintball arena, and they ran us through some of the paintball scenes, including a medieval castle and a mock town, with buildings and a church, etc. :D The obstacles were fun too, for the most part. My favorites were the cargo net and the vertical wall. The vertical wall was actually very challenging at first, but once I realized I needed to get my body as vertical as possible, and not support my weight horizontally, it got way easier. I bet it was 15’ tall. What fun!!

All in all, we had an excellent time, chilly start or no. Quinn ran on ahead like last time, and the rest of us stayed together as a pack. What a blast!


Afterwards we noshed on our turkey legs, and enjoyed our complimentary beers (Quinn found an extra timing chip, so he got TWO free beers - whoo!!) They had live music, and the first band was AWFUL. (I suppose it’s probably tough to book a *good* band at 10am on a Sunday though) We finally caught the school bus shuttle back to the parking lot, and then started the drive back to Sarah & Matt’s. Quinn got overcome by sleepiness, so I drove most of the way back to Sarah and Matt’s, while he took a much-needed catnap. Once we got there, it was time for a gloriously scrubby shower! I still couldn’t get all the mud off my legs, but the rest of me got pretty clean. For supper, Matt got out their sushi-making goodies. It was SO cool to watch him assemble the rolls, and then just reach over and nosh on them!!


We left their house after supper, and pointed the van south once more. Since he’d had a nap earlier, Quinn was fine to drive, and by then, I was getting pretty tired. We got home by about 8:30pm, which was nearly what we’d been shooting for. The boys had a big carnival at school Monday morning, and I didn’t want them to be exhausted for it.

Bluebird of happiness!

Bit of a late entry (It’s Tuesday), but I wanted to catch up a little on some stuff. Thursday evening, we were eating supper (chicken divan) in the dining room, when Quinn spotted a bluebird on the railing of the little porch! We were all excited, and most everybody got to peek at it before it flew off. We talked about it a little, then we all started eating again, and a couple minutes later, it came back again, with either a female or a juvenile! I’ve never seen one before, so it was super exciting to see one twice, and with a bonus bird too. :D

Night hummers?

So 2 things started out my morning (so far!)

1) The hummingbird feeder was totally empty this morning when I came downstairs. When I went out to try to figure out what was up, the ground underneath was sort of tacky, so my best guess is that something came to investigate it, and tipped it sideways a little while it was checking it out. If it doesn’t stay perfectly level, the juice leaks out. I boiled up a new batch, and rehung my newest toy!

2) I heard the really loud woodpecker out in the woods again this morning, before the boys went to school. It kept chatting, and sounded like it was close to the house, so I went from window to window to try to see him/her. I finally made it out onto the little back deck, and spotted it! It was a pileated woodpecker!! It flew from around sprinkler Zone 5 over to a sassafras tree next to the ornamental dogwood, and didn’t seem to notice me at all! I can’t remember ever seeing them in person before - they are BIG birds! No wonder they make such a racket when they call. :D After the sassafras, it headed down to the swampy pond down below the house.

Bit of a bummer in the afternoon... I did my 4 mile tread, fed Nomes lunch, and had just gotten changed into my blue/white striped bikini, to get a bit of sun, when the school called. Nater was in the nurse’s office with a fever of 101º. I texted Quinn, and he left work to go fetch Nate home. Quinn decided to just stay home after that, and he worked in the computer room with the door shut for the rest of the afternoon/evening. He did take a break to come out for supper, and then to help tuck the kids in bed, but he pretty much worked solidly from 3:30pm to 9:45pm. Wow!

Luckily, after I gave Nate ibuprofen, he got cool and stayed cool.

Mystery bird revealed, plus... HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER!

So yesterday I saw this cool cinnamon colored bird, and thought it might be a wood thrush. Today, I’ve seen them a TON of times, and I’m sure now... it’s a brown thrasher. Its eyes are a bright yellow, and it’s got the 2 bands on its wings like the picture below. They’re such long, graceful birds, and super pretty. I see them out near the birdfeeders, in the bush under the computer room window, and in the back yard, along the tree line. Every time, they avoid coming out into the open as much as possible, and are pretty skittish, though the one(s?) that come to the computer room bush don’t seem to mind me peeking out at them every time I hear a scritching. They’re in there hunting bugs, but also picking up bits of the thorny stems, maybe to take for nest building?


Also cool today... I got to hang up my hummingbird feeder! Quinn put the bracket on the tree last night, and I boiled up my first solution of sugar water this morning. Within ONE HOUR, a hummer came to investigate, and have a nice long drink. Super cool!! Now I’ve got a tripod set up in the living room to try to capture some images of the little guys, though I doubt it’ll get much, even at full zoom. The one I saw was green all over its back, and creamy colored underneath. No red to be seen. I’ll try to get some pictures to post too.

Birds in the morning

While I was loading up the dishwasher just now (~8:15am), I looked out and saw a new bird at the birdfeed! I think it was a wood thrush, though I’m not positive. It hung around for a few minutes, and then wandered off into the woods. Its back was a very rich cinnamon color, and the rest of it looked like the bird below.


But that wasn’t the only excitement - there were 4 young squirrels playing tag, a male cardinal, a bluejay, AND a crow! All at the same time! :D :D :D

Quinn says he’ll hang the mount for my hummingbird feeder today, so I’ll be able to have 3 feeders at once... hummingbird, suet, and regular birdseed. I can’t wait! ☺

This is going to be our last “lazy” weekend for a while, so I really want to enjoy it.

Quinn got a hold of a guy about an hour away who has the kind of rough wood that would be perfect for the treehouse, so he and Nate took off at about 10am to go get some. It’s nearly 3pm, and they’re nearly back home again after picking it up, and then stopping for some McLunch in Prince Frederick.

Adventure outings

Today has been jam packed so far. Started out with Quinn getting up after 5am, and making a pot of that Kona blend coffee I got at BJ’s a few days ago. DAMN that stuff’s good!! After he left for swimming, I got started on house/kid stuff. After the boys were shooed up the driveway for the bus, I got ready and did my 4 miles, though my tummy was NOT in good shape. (and continues to churn as I’m typing this, hours later - boo!)

Grabbed a shower, then got all purtied up, cause our plan was for Q to come pick up Nomes and me, and whisk us off to the Golden Chicken & Japanese Grill for a lunch date! Q got the General Tso’s chicken, and I got shrimp and chicken, sort of stir-fried. Mine came with a nice blend of stir fried onions, carrots, and zucchini - yum! After that, we walked over to Starbucks, and both got a venti nonfat coconut mocha with an extra shot. We sat out in the sun for a few minutes, sipping our delicious beverages, then it was time to drive Q back to work.

Got back to the house, and tucked in Nomes for her nap. After the boys get home from school, we’re going to head back down, pick up Quinn, and have a family adventure... bag o’ burgers, and Kung Fu Panda 2.... IN 3D! :D

It was AWESOME! :)

Of suet feeders and pink moths

First thing - the poor suet feeder. When I came downstairs this morning, I saw that the night attackers had ripped the metal of the holder right apart! The carbiner was still attached to the feeder, but the whole contraption was on the ground, with the 2” piece of metal still attached. I re-hung it on one of the nails sticking out of the tree, reloaded it, and am hoping for the best. I’m sure it’ll get gleefully ripped down tonight.

After that, I figured I’d distract them, so I refilled the “squirrel-proof” (haha!) birdfeeder, so now there are 2 things hanging on the tree. I want to get the hummingbird feeder up and running, so that’ll make 3, eventually.

Naomi found a beautiful moth that had just emerged from its cocoon, wings still floppy and wet. She captured it gently, and we put it into a “trap”, with a stick to climb on, and left it to air out on the front porch. An hour later, when I went to check on it, there were 3 other similar moths flapping all around. I’m guessing that Nomes caught a girl, and all the boys had smelled her pheromones and were trying to home in on her scent. Poor guys! After a lot of searching, turns out these guys are “Pink-striped Oakworm Moths” - what a mouthful! Here’s a neat link to some info/photos: http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek080316.html