Fall Camping

Chloe and Matt sitting around the campfire on Sunday evening.
Dinner time on Sunday evening. Chloe likes picnic but doesn't like the bugs. Prior to this photo we had just had a trauma over a ladybug who landed nearby.

Our campsite.


Outside Hershey's Chocolate World.

Matt setting up the awning (this was our 1st time opening it) and Chloe supervising in the background.

During this time of year in the northeast most RVs would have been "winterized" and stored until March. But, it has been so nice and warm lately that we decided to take the RV out for a long weekend in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

We left Saturday morning, a little later than planned. We always seem to get a slow start that forces us to rush and get stressed but once we always arrive its smooth sailing. The campground we went to was very family-friendly and when we arrived we found out that they were having a campsite trick or treat that evening. Of course, I didn't have Chloe's Halloween costume but luckily I did have candy. After setting up camp, we joined in on the trick or treating by walking the campsites. Chloe had lots of fun collecting candy.

Later in the evening we watched one of Matt and my favorite cartoons that we just purchased on DVD, The Jungle Book. We were excited to get to watch it with Chloe. I can't say Chloe was as excited as she wanted to rummage through the jack-o-lantern bucket for candy. So, most of the movie was spent telling her to stay away from the candy that she had had enough.

On Sunday morning, we got up early and headed out to Intercourse & Bird-In-Hand,PA to see the Amish country. It truly is the most pristine, beautiful farmland I have seen in the States. As we drove the back-country roads looking on at the acres and acres of farmland and cattle, I kept expecting to turn the corner and see the derelict house with the rusted cars sitting on concrete blocks scattered among the overgrown landscape with the obligatory barking pack of dogs. It never happened. I didn't take any photos out of respect for the Amish who were out in their horse-drawn carriages going to prayer services.

After touring the Amish towns we headed to Hershey to see if the town really smelled like chocolate--it does. We went to the gift store and discovered that the local Porsche club holds their rally in a nearby parking lot. Matt was pleased. We headed back to camp to watch the important and final Formula 1 race of the year to determine the champion and laze away the afternoon.

We spent Sunday evening grilling hamburger and hot dogs and sitting around a campfire. The campground was nice a quiet as most people had headed back to their homes earlier in the day. It was a nice and relaxing evening.

We will definitely head back to Lancaster County to see more sights and to spend a longer amount of time.

***While typing this blog I remembered that Weird Al did a parody of "Gangster's Paradise" about the Amish so I had to search it out and post it. Hey, it's educational--he actually covers a lot of information about what it means to be Amish.***

Hayrides

The thermometer may read 78 degrees but it still mid-October and the seasonal hayrides aren't waiting for the fall weather. Today Chloe and I took two hayrides, occassion enough to break out Chloe's festive scarecrow overalls to snap some photos. Chloe had to roll her long-sleeves up as she got warm. Other kids were wearing shorts.

In the morning we went on a hayride with Chloe's pre-school at an unknown farm/nursery about 8 miles north of us. What a find! We went on a hayride with the class and picked a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. After the hayride back we fed the animals at the petting zoo.

Chloe feeding the sheep with her pre-school classmates.

The gratuitous but necessary overall photo.

Chloe searched for the smallest and CLEANEST pumpkin she could find. Uh, they're grown in dirt, they're all dirty. But search and find she did--the girl knows what she wants.

The hay bale maze--as you can tell it didn't take long for the kids to figure out the maze---walk on top of the hay bales and it's easy to get out.

Later in the afternoon we had another hayride at a nearby nursery through our Newcomers' group. This is the same hayride we went on last year. Now that Chloe's a little older, she wasn't scared of the creepy figures/"monsters" and she was all about hanging out with her friends and not hanging on Mommy. So, the photos of Chloe at this event are all of her and her two best buddies (one of which I suspect she has a crush on because if he gets out of her site she begins frantically searching for him---hint: he wears glasses).

Chloe and her buddies on the hayride.

Believe it or not, we didn't set the kids up for this lovely photo spot. They scoped it out on their own while we were enjoying our apple cider and cider donuts and demanded I take a photo of them. Of course, these kids play together at least once a week for the past year so there is no way they would remain serious enough for a good photo. This is my favorite though.

Sous Chef

Chloe's pre-school has an annual fall festival every October. The event has many, many children's events as well as a bake sale. Each family works a 2.5 hour shift and must bake a large item and some small items for the bake sale. I made a pound cake with lemon icing and some gooey bars. Chloe was my assistant and very proud of her work.

Everyone in the pre-school keeps telling me how sweet Matt was because he went to the bake sale table to buy my pound cake and was upset when it had already been bought.

Catch!

Sunday afternoon was spent in front of the TV watching the Cowboys lose. I guess Chloe was bored with football as we also watched the Hogs lose on Saturday so she may have been "footballed" out but she wanted to play ball and you had better be on your toes lest a little blue ball came hurling at you with a force far beyond the ability of a three-year-old. That girl has got an arm. So, Matt took it upon himself to save the china cabinet (behind him in the photo) and teach Chloe how to control her throws and not take off someone's head.

Fashionista

The weather is finally starting to feel like fall and Chloe wore a new jacket Saturday which is part of a matching ensemble. She apparently loved the jacket and insisted that it went with the dress she was wearing to church on Sunday. She decided to take it a step further with a belt as an accessory.

Playing With Food

When Chloe came home in May 2005, she wouldn't eat solid food. In fact, she was scared of solid food and would scream at the sight of a spoon (we have some lovely birthday cake photos from her 1st birthday-check our June 2005 archives). After some therapy, Chloe came around and much to my delight eventually kicked the 8-10 bottle habit a day. So, after all that food history, it was delightful to see Chloe start playing with food. I had to snatch the camera to photograph it...Chloe with salami eyes.

Chloe-isms

I had a doctor's appointment today and Chloe came with me. We were reading a counting book in the waiting room. On one page in the book, there is a drawing of 5 children playing with play-doh and it asks how many hands are working with play-doh. The answer is 9 (one little girl is holding a teddy bear in one hand). I ask Chloe to count the number of hands and she counts 15. I ask her to count the number of children in the picture and she counts 5. I then ask her to recount the number of hands. She counts 19.

Attempting to get her to "think" about how many hands and how many people (2 hands and 5 people would make a maximum of 10 hands) are in the picture, I ask, "Chloe, how many hands do you have?". Chloe's response, "I have enough hands". And, yes, she was being sassy when she said it.

Later that afternoon, Chloe and I went to our playgroup and I retold the story. Their response? She totally got her sassiness from me because it sounded just like something I would say. Well, I guess I have honest friends.

One more Chloe-ism...Chloe asked me how old I was. I told her 34. I could see she was thinking about my response and after a pause, she then looks at me very seriously, points her finger at me and says, "Mommy, are you 3 or are you 4? Which one are you?". Too cute.

The Dress

The Dress, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

I told BeBe that I would post a photo of Chloe in this dress because she got so many compliments on this dress.

The All About Me Book

Chloe completed her "All About Me" book today at pre-school, I've posted photos of each page for your viewing pleasure. She is very proud of it. We read it at dinner tonight, over and over again. Each time the answers changed on the "favorites" page. Chloe apparently likes the colors white, blue and pink. She likes horses and tigers and prefers crackers and broccoli as her favorite foods. She was fairly confident that painting is her favorite school activity and insistent that Jovi was her best friend.

All About Me - Chloe

All About Me - Chloe, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

The cover of Chloe's book.

Self-Portrait

Self-Portrait, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

Chloe informed me that she is hiding behind her hair. When I asked if she was wearing gloves on her hands she informed me that it was just the color green.

Handprints

Handprints, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

Apparently Chloe had a great time putting her hands in paint and putting it on the paper because every time she looks at this page it makes her laugh and scream.

The Favorites Page

The Favorites, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

This was the most enlightening page for me. I thought the teacher mixed this paper up with someone else in class. I quizzed Chloe about each of these and the only answer she stuck to was Jovi was her best friend. By the way, I don't know who Jovi is, I guess I need to meet her.

Artwork

Artwork, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

This is the last page and is Chloe's rendering of thunder and lightning.

Chloe at the Beach

Back in Business

After a hiatus from the on-line world I am back in business. What a whip it is to exist without internet in today's world. It sounded easy enough - to go a week without internet access until our old ISP would "release" us and the new ISP could install us. Thank goodness for our tax dollars at work and the free interest access provided by our local library. So much in today's world is communicated and transmitted via email and internet that it takes some time away to discover how dependent we have become.

But, I digress. The past week or so has been a whirlwind. BeBe came up for a long weekend and got to spend some quality time with Chloe. Due to the quick nature of the visit the opportunity escaped me to snap some good photographs. The weekend that BeBe was here we attended the birthday party of one of Chloe' s playgroup pals at The Little G*m. Chloe has grown to adore birthdays and is eagerly counting down the days to her 4th birthday. She only has 8 months to wait.

Matt had to be away this past weekend on business so Chloe and I spent our weekend together, exploring. Saturday we went to the China waiting family meeting hosted by Wendi. It was fabulous and had three great speakers full of information. We got to see some other waiting families we have met before and also meet some new families. Wendi thought of everything for the event and she had her sister painting faces and an art table for the children while the parents attended the event. Chloe had such a great time. She had her arm painted with a strawberry, a flower and a lamb before having her face painted as a puppy dog. Chloe was such a card at the event. She randomly handed off her cookie to one of the waiting dads at the event and insisted another waiting dad come with her to the art table to see her make him a bookmark. Can we say she was loving the attention?

Sunday afternoon Chloe and I went to the beach in Connecticut. Chloe hunted sea shells and I played with the rapid fire button on my Nikon. I took so many pictures at the beach of Chloe putting her toes in the water. I have placed the pictures in a slideshow for your viewing pleasure. After we went to the beach we stopped by a cool grocery store on our way home and I managed to snap Chloe's photo in the pumpkin patch (the photo at the top of this entry).

Up and Running (for a while anyway)

So lonely.

Matt "smoking it" on the autocross course. He came in 2nd in his class.

Chloe picking some flower while watching Daddy race.

I have the blog template loaded now. For some reason Blogger wouldn't take the original template for the blog and so I had to create a new one. The header may change, but that will be later.

Now, to keep everyone updated--

This past weekend we went to Matt's PCA autocross at Pocono Raceway. We took the RV and the dog and camped at the raceway campground. The weather was a bit chilly and we got to test out the heater in the RV (yes, it works). As seems to be the case lately, we were totally disorganized leaving for the trip and left about 4 hours later than planned. When we did plan to leave, we locked the cars keys in the house (with the house key on the keychain) and then set off the house alarm while trying to retrieve them. Luckily, we were able to get into the house, just not in time to call off the police who came to check things out.

We arrived at the campground after sunset on Friday to discover that it was deader than a doorknob. No one in sight. So, after an attempt to call the campground office, we chose our own campsite and set up camp. Matt had to rush off to go register for the autocross and other events, leaving Chloe, Lizzie (the dog) and I all alone in the middle of nowhere at a vacant RV park---creepy.

The events of the weekend were fun. We enjoyed seeing all the Porsches attending the event (there are several events over the weekend: a rally race, autocross, concours, & a driver's ed around the oval). Chloe refused to nap on Saturday, taking in all the cars and races, and promptly fell asleep on the table at Saturday evening's awards dinner. Chloe also enjoyed picking flowers while watching Daddy race and watching "Over the He*ge" in the car while watching Daddy race.

Despite the cold weather, we had a great time together as a family. Lizzie had a blast running free in the empty campground. Once we finally got going, it was a good weekend.

Today marked Chloe's 1st dance class. She had so much fun and she looked so darling in her leotard and tights. I was happy to learn that she followed instructions and listened to her teacher. Her only assignment to practice is not to scream while dancing!

The posts to the blog may not come as often this week. Due to some annoying issues, we have switched our ISP provider and will have some down-time until the new provider can install. No interenet!! AH!

When I return, I will have lots of postings as BeBe is coming to visit this weekend.

Under Construction

Yes, yes, I know. The blog is all screwy. I logged in today to find that my template was missing and when I tried to reload the template it still didn't work. I'm not that tech savvy so it will take some playing and some editing to get a new template loaded. So have patience (and mom, you don't have to call to tell me the blog is all messed up--I know!)

Classic Photos

During my down-time, I snapped plenty of pictures. These are two of my favorites.

We went to eat at a new Turkish restaurant that recently opened. We just happened to go on the very evening that they had their belly dancer perform. Chloe was mesmerized. The dancer tried to get Chloe to come dance with her but she wouldn't budge without Daddy. Chloe keeps talking about the belly dancer and imitating her. I had to tell her that her BeBe took belly dancing way back when. Chloe can't wait to belly dance with BeBe!

Another special-made shirt for Daddy's autocross race. We didn't get a lot of photos from the autocross (which Matt won) because Chloe wanted to leave after lunch for a nap.

Soccer Camp

Chloe was in a week-long soccer camp at the end of August. The camp was held each morning for an hour and a half with plenty of breaks for the toddler crew. The camp is well-known in our area and so many other kids and moms we knew were also participating. The camp is staffed by soccer (football) players from the U.K. Chloe's coach, Danny, hailed from Liverpool, but was born only a stone's throw away from Matt in Essex. Danny was only over for 9 weeks of camp and Chloe's group was his last. Teaching soccer to 10, 3 and 4 year old was like herding cats. I think he ran to his plane at the end of the week.

Chloe had great fun in camp. We've learned one thing about her, she's not about the game, she's about the accessories. She adored her soccer socks and shin guards and was very possessive of her ball. She had to be reminded frequently that soccer is a "foot" game and not about the hands. After the reminders she would kick the ball a few times and then pick it up and hug it the remainder of the time informing anyone that came within her vicinity that it was her ball. Coach Danny and Matt agreed that perhaps goalie was the position for Chloe.

Each day at camp focused on a country and its specific skills in soccer. This was taken on "England" day when Chloe was sporting a shirt I made especially for the day.

So fast.

Chloe decided to pull out the "kicks" for when Daddy came to camp. Of course, as soon as she was on the pitch, she picked up the ball again.

Having fun with Coach.

Out of Touch

After being grounded, it's great to be back in cyberspace! The hard drive on my laptop had to be replaced and so I had to go without a computer for almost two weeks! When Matt was home and not on his computer (which is rare), I could check emails, etc. otherwise, all I had to connect me was my cell phone and I hate typing emails on it.

To me everything is and always should be a learning experience. So, here's what I learned having my hard drive crash:

• BACK UP YOUR FILES AND DATA!! While my documents and pictures were saved, all of my digital scrapbooking goodies (i.e. pages, embelleshments, what I had completed of Chloe's lifebook & scrapbook) were lost along with copies of a newsletter I work on and all my specially purchased fonts. I am so crushed about losing my scrapbook items. Matt and I went out and bought an external hard drive to back-up our files and I plan on doing it quarterly.


• RELOADING SOFTWARE IS A WHIP! It's taken me hours to reload my software on my computer. I have had to search high and low for all the disks and product keys. I also learned a valuable lesson--purchasing software on-line and downloading it can be costly if your computer crashes because you have to repurchase the software. For instance, after purchasing my laptop 18 months ago and my initial trial of M*croso*t Of*ice ran its course I upgraded on-line to the full version. Well, when my hard drive got replaced everything was set back to day 1 of my laptop and I lost the full version and without the program or product key I was up a creek without a paddle. Apparently M*croso*t has had some complaints about this and now when you purchase products on-line they will let you purchase a product key for $12.50 more. They didn't offer this option 18 months ago. I opted for the CD version this time instead.

Everything is a learning experience. Its just too bad that I had to loose some important items to learn these lessons. I will be updating the blogs with the latest and greatest info. Stay tuned.

A Camping We Will Go--Maybe

We have had our RV for a week now and we couldn't wait to take it out. The past week hasn't been the best--our plumbing backed-up and flooded the laundry room of our basement (again), our bathtub fawcet blew off and had to be replaced, Matt had a busy/stressful week at work and his laptop screen went out only to be fixed but broken further by the I*M tech, I had numerous doctor's appointments in preparation for my upcoming surgery, work began to replace our boiler and then, I thought Lizzie had run away or had been stolen.

Yes, the workmen who removed the asbestos locked our dog in with the boiler and when I couldn't find her I went into super, freak-out mode searching for our dog in our house and in our neighborhood. I searched every nook and cranny of our house and yard searching for the dog. I walked our neighborhoood, questioned neighbors who were outside and the construction workers building a home a few doors down. In a fit of hysteria, I called Matt who immediately took a car home from the city. During my frantic search, I became convinced that the workmen stole her (it actually happened to me as a child when a city workman stole our Labrador Retreiver). Lizzie never leaves our yard and I had just seen her minutes before the work men left. I convinced myself they took her so I ended my search through our neighborhood to come home and call the company. I went into the basement office to find the company's phone number and I heard the jingle jangle of Lizzie's dog tags. I ran to the boiler room and there she was cowered in the corner. The workers had shut her in. I had found her, but Matt had left work early and was nearly home by the time I found her. So, we decided to go camping--we thought.

We packed our bags and headed out the door to go camping. A couple of weeks ago we made weekend reservations at a RV resort in Lake George, NY. We were eager to try out our RV but when we arrived at the RV we discovered that the jack was broken and we couldn't hook up the RV to our car. So back to the house we went.

Saturday Matt got up early to go the RV dealer where we bought our RV for help. After discovering that they were unwilling and useless he came up with his own solution and was able to hook up the RV. We were finally on our way.

Just after arriving at the RV resort, the sky opened up and it began to pour and hail. I was beginning to think that we were getting a message that RVing wasn't for us. Luckily, it all ceased and we were able to set up camp (quite easily I might add) and settle in. We didn't get to see much of the sites as we spent the majority of our time checking out the RV. In the morning we took a walk around the site and then headed home.

In the end, we used our 1st experience in the RV as a "getting to know the RV" session. We got to learn and experience all the bells and whistles and we are better equipped for a longer excursion.

1st RV trip slideshow

Welcome to Our Playroom

Welcome to Our Playroom, originally uploaded by pookie2shoes.

This is just too funny (and it shows my weird sense of humor). Work started today to replace our 80+ year old boiler in our basement, which is our media and play rooms.

The first phase of the removal was getting the asbestos out of the boiler. The men came around 8 a.m. and spent 2 hours barricading off the area around the boiler by putting thick, plastic barriers throughout along with these signs. When I rounded the corner to see what the heck they were stapling in all the walls, I saw this. I couldn't stop laughing. I HAD to photograph it.

I sent it to Matt and he thought it was a classic too.

Random Razorbacks

A randomly bizarre and completely coincidental happening occurred today that I had to share. I got a message on my answering machine from an old friend and colleague that I taught with back in Texas. Her daughter is entering the U of A as a freshman and wants to go through sorority rush. She wants me to write a letter of recommendation for her daughter to my sorority (of which I was President & Rush Chair so she's a shoo-in (ha!ha!)). Anyway, the message had me thinking about Rush, etc. and recalling my cheesy Rush photos I had professionally taken wearing my Razorback earrings and buttons (yes, a bit dorky, I admit). After my blast from the past, I go to the mailbox and find a letter to Chloe from my pal and sorority sister, Christi. I open the letter to find this inside:

Christi sent them as a gift to Chloe for not sending stickers for the pesky little sticker club letters I got suckered into sending out a few weeks ago. And, yes, they are way cuter than stickers and will look oh so adorable in Chloe's red crocs. And, more bizarre they are dead ringers for my Razorback earrings I wore in my Rush photo! I'm thinking maybe I will save these for Chloe's Rush photo in 15 years. I can see her now, in 15 year old Crocs, wearing 15 year old Razorback Jibbitzs! A sure-fire way to get her cut!

I just found it humorous that on one day in a place you rarely see anything Razorback related that these two random events came minutes apart. GO HOGS!

Getting Schooled

We got a nice taste of what is to come this past week thanks to our 6 and 8 year old nieces. It has been over 2 years since I was in a classroom and out of the loop of what is "in" with the pre-teen/teen crowd. Thanks to Gemma & Bryn, I am now back in the "know".

The saying is true, you don't know what you are missing (and frankly, I didn't miss it). I had heard of this and that, but didn't know it was the end all be all of tween cool. I had never heard of them but only just discovered that they live in a neighboring town. It wouldn't have meant anything had I not been schooled by my nieces.

I guess I have to start paying a little more attention as Chloe is getting older and taking more notice of things like that. She informed us this morning that Diego was her favorite person (fabulous to know we rank somewhere below a cartoon character in her world). And, yesterday while shopping Chloe broke into a dance while singing the chorus of "Breaking Free" from HSM2. Oy!

Next thing I know, she'll be requesting Radio Disney and these (no way).

Cousins

This past week Ashley, Bryn & Gemma came to visit. They are our former neighbors and more importantly, family. Ashley is married to Rob, Matt's brother, and Bryn and Gemma are our nieces (Chloe's cousins).

The three girls enjoyed playing together and jumping on the trampoline. Bryn, the oldest, would devise the games and Gemma and Chloe would happily play along. Chloe also enjoyed imitating her older cousins and learning new games and lingo from them.

Of course, we had to hit the NYC highlights for children. Our first trip was to the Bronx Zoo where the girls went on a camel ride, rode the monorail, the skyfari and visited the Children's Zoo. We made the complete rounds with a few exceptions but the kids were worn out from all the walking and I don't think they will complain that they missed out on anything.

We also made it to the American Museum Natural History and thanks to a certain movie now on DVD, we were able to take in all the important sites and landmarks from the film. We were the only ones doing the "Ni&ht at the M*se&m" tour as we kept running into the same people over and over again at the "sites". As a treat, we bought the girls the DVD and they watched it on the drive back from the city. I had never seen the movie so I had to watch it later that night to see what the fuss was all about.

The big event of the week was our visit to the Americ*n Gi&l store on Friday. I had made lunch reservations for us all and we did a little shoppy afterwards. Bryn and Gemma were armed with their lists in hand. Chloe got a baby doll which she named Kylie. Of course, I quickly learned that it wasn't at all about the baby doll to Chloe but the accessories. As soon as I removed Kylie from her box, Chloe put her down and informed me that the doll was asleep and to bring on the diaper changing kit and backpack carrier because she wanted to play with those things not the doll. I did learn though that a Chinese-American doll, Ivy Ling, is coming out this November--just in time for Christmas and Nana has already said she would jump on the chance to get it for Chloe (thanks Nana!).

NYC may have the Statue of Liberty, ferry boats, subways, shopping, etc. but none of NYC's landmark sights could compare with the premiere of Hi&h Sch%%l Musi*al 2 on Friday. I learned a great deal more than I ever wanted to about it from my nieces who were glued to the tv on Friday in anticipation. I made an unfortunate decision in an effort to be a cool aunt and recorded the show on the DV-R. BIG MISTAKE! I believe the show was played and replayed no less than 10 times over the weekend. As someone who had never seen 1 (and didn't really want to) and didn't get what all the fuss was about over #2, I know I could sing every song in the movie now as they are still running through my head---thanks Gemma.

Now that all the fun and excitement is over, Chloe is completely worn out. She loved having her big girl cousins come to visit and has been talking incessantly about it since they left.

Conspicious Consumption

This past week we have been compelled to part with large sums of money as we have made some large purchases. And I'm not kidding either.

Only one purchase is a necessity, and even that could be argued since our old one technically still works. Today I signed the contracts to get our boiler replaced before the cold weather strikes. Our current boiler is original to our house. That makes it 85 years old. It's been cranking out heat for all those years but just at an efficiency level that is utterly pathetic and that makes it a relic of days gone by (also it has asbestos inside). So it's being replaced by a new unit that will cut our heating bills anywhere from 30-50%.

The other two purchases were completely non-essential. The first was this--

And, we purchased that to haul this--

Yes, we have completely lost our minds. The Lincoln replaces my old car and the trailer is something Matt wanted to get for a while to take on weekend vacations in the region and to his autocross events.

Camping anyone?

Hot Weather

It's been hot, hot, hot here, so to cool off Chloe and I have been enjoying our community pool. I thought I would share some photos.