Splitting to the Rock, Yo

(NOTE: I noticed as I was posting this that I never posted my 53 reasons why I'm happy post that I wrote the day after my birthday... I'll try to post that in a day or two!)

Don't ask me to explain the title of this post. All I can say is that I've interviewed a couple of rappers this past week (no one you've ever heard of) so I'm "spittin' in the flow" as they say.
Anyway, we took a quick overnight trip to this place....

For those of you who haven't been vacationing here for the past six summers, it's Split Rock Resort up in the Poconos. Rob and I decided to take a short trip up there this weekend, in search of fall foliage. The conversation went like this:

Rob: I've got five vacation days left.
Me: The girls have Monday off. Let's take a trip to look at leaves. Like we did in the old days. When the trees were big and gas prices were small.
Rob: The hotels will be booked.
Me: Maybe not.
Rob: The hotels will be expensive.
Me: Maybe not. (To me, a maybe means YES I WILL FIND A WAY TO DO THIS!!!)

So I found us a cheap hotel room (don't ask me how ... I've got connections through this thing called The Internet) at Split Rock, booked it, and we took off just after I finished selling art at Jake's Flea Market.
Speaking of Jakes, I'm happy to report that I made $185! Seriously. There are few things that I'd get up and on the road in the dark for, but making money on stuff that's been lying around my basement for at least 8 years is one of them.
But, I digress. We got on the road (Aunt Terry made sure Cash and the Hamsters didn't starve, although now that I think about it, I never told her about the hamsters...) Sunday afternoon and took a leisurely drive up to the Poconos. Here's some of the sights...

This is a road somewhere near Beltzwood State Park, where we stopped to walk around a bit. People were SWIMMING in the lake there -- that's how sunny and warm the afternoon was:

This is a tree near the lake condo that I want someone to buy for me (feel free to contact me for details if you're in the mood to purchase a gorgeous lakefront condo for a very nice writer and her family). Isn't it gorgeous? The read was sparkling in the sunlight:

And here is the fall view of Big Boulder lake from the condo. I still haven't gotten a new camera, and this photo is only okay. This morning when we went to tour the condo again, the trees were reflecting their colors off the water -- beautiful:

Finally we got to Split Rock. This is the view across Lake Harmony (we were standing by where they have the Turtle Races for those of you who know the place):

Here's a slightly different angle that includes the happy faces of my lovely daughters:



We did look at a lot of scenery, but also did a few other things in our day/night away.
I don't have a picture of it, but we had dinner at one of the Split Rock restaurants where we might still be if I hadn't snagged us a server. I have never waited 30 minutes just to have a server come to the table. It was disgraceful, but the server we were SUPPOSED to have told us that they weren't expecting so many people at that time, so they got overloaded. There were about 10 tables  and at least four servers, but whatever ... we just had a very long conversation period. ;)

The girls wanted to go swimming so we were waiting for the pool to open this morning. This is the kiddie pool, although they spent most of their time in the regular pool. That pool was too dark for photographs:

Hannah and Liz weren't allowed in the hot tub (too young) but alas, Rob was NOT too young, so he jumped in:

We walked around a lot. This is the view from the deck of the Lodge (where we stayed) nearby the pool that was under renovation. Check out the gorgeous trees in the back!

These are the stairs that I did NOT climb (Lizzie or Hannah took this picture) to get up to the top of Split Rock:

This picture made me smile. Hannah and Lizzie were following these two ducks, like two extra ducklings:

And of course we had to go to the arcade. We spent $20 and won ALL THESE PRIZES.

We also had a great view of the lake from our room. We got up early enough to see the sunrise over the mountain. It was stunning!

We all had a great time, but it was a whirlwind. Here's Hannah in the backseat coming home. Lizzie was sitting in the way back, in case you were wondering why she's not sitting beside Hannah! Shortly after this Hannah woke up, so we could end our little getaway at Yocco's.

Simple Woman's Daybook

For Sept 25, 2011

Outside my window... Bright sunshine and no hint of fall that started a few days ago. The sun and warmth are a special gift because rain was predicted for most the day (week, month, etc. etc.)

I am thinking... that life is funny. Just when you think you've got it figured out things happen to open your eyes to new things -- both good and bad. I've been having one of the weeks and I am hopeful that the good things I'm seeing eventually overtake the difficult and challenging aspects of life.

I am thankful ... that I have once again found the dining room table under mounds of freshly laundered clothing.From the kitchen... not much going on in there right now. In a few minutes I'll make some sandwiches for an early fall picnic at one of our favorite parks. Dinner? I have no idea! I was planning some sort of roast, but it's too warm for that!

I am wearing... black, flowered dress, gold jacket (just got back from church and CCD).

I am creating... two essays to send to publications. I've been on a bit of an essay tear lately -- mostly about my Mom.

I am going ... on a picnic with Rob and the girls, and then to do some more cleaning and the girls need to interview Rob and I for a homework assignment.

I am reading... Family Fun Magazine. One of the things that I miss about summer is that I don't get to read as much. I try to get in a half hour when the girls are reading, but it's hard to concentrate when litte girls keep asking you "how much time do I have left?" every three seconds.

I am hoping... to get my house organized this week. The only problem with my only-clean-when-you're-having-company housekeeping plan is that eventually all the places you use to throw things where no one can see them, get full. And then you've got to clear them out. So that's what I'm doing this week (and last week!)

I am hearing... Dog barking, children laughing, birds outside the window -- typical Sunday morning stuff.

Around the house... did I mention that my dining room table is FINALLY clear of clothes. YAY! There is nothing good to say about the rest of my house though. But did I mention that my dining room table is FINALLY clear of clothes?

One of my favorite things... . this scene from iCarly. Yes, it's a kid show, but this scene (this is just a small part of it) always makes me laugh.

A few plans for the week ahead... The fall has hit with its usual busy, hectic pace. Today we'll do the picnic, but need to come home for homework. Then there's coffee with friends, piano class, dance class, Nutcracker rehearsal, work on a Brownie project, Lions Club for Rob, etc. etc. etc.

A Picture I am sharing... Last weekend Hannah and Lizzie and I attended a fund raiser put together by my friend Kathi's daughter, to support the Youth Corps for the Susan Komen 3-day, 60-mile walk in Philadelphia. Kathi was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer late last year and finished her treatmet a month or so ago. She's done the 3-day for several years and intends to do it again this year. Alexa (who is in 8th grade and knows Hannah and Lizzie through girl scouts and dance) is walking with her and has been holder her own fund raisers. She did a "Dance for the Cure" event at the dance studio and Hannah an Liz took a hip hop class (here they are showing off their hip hop stance), entered raffles (Lizzie won a basket with bath lotions and a beautiful pink scarf) an ate pink-frosted cupcakes. They had a great time, for a great cause.

Split Rock Talent Show

I promise you that (if you are related to these children) you will think that this video was worth the wait...

Everytime Aunt Anonymous is around the kids want to do a talent show ... whether or not they actually HAVE talent. I imagine that this will only get cuter as the kids get older and more embarrassed by their actions. Aunt Anonymous on the other hand ... well it appears she's going through some sort of second childhood (ha, ha)

All in all it was another successful vacation and another successful talent show.

So without further ado, please enjoy our very talented  exuberant children...

Poconos Part 3

Here are the pictures from part 2 of the Poconos (and other pictures that I forgot to post the first time!). As you can see, during the second half of our vacation we spotted Bigfoot. Or a bear. You really can't tell from this picture, but since I was there, I can tell you that it was, in fact, a big bear. My point and shoot camera takes rotten pictures to begin with, but they are really bad when the subject is moving. And they are especially really bad when the photographer is yelling, "WHERE'S MY CAMERA?? THERE'S A BEAR, THERE'S A BEAR!!!! while jumping up and down on the seat throwing papers all over the place... So here's the bear ... and I left a little corner of the car in the picture so you can see that we were really pretty close to the big bear.

And here is the bear running away from us. Rob assured me that if the bear had moved towards us WE would have been the one running away:

But the bears were not the only animals that were spotted in our trip to the mountains. Here's tiny peeper that the kids found. He's kind of a super peeper since he fell between the slats on our deck and lived to tell the tail (or hop away as the case may be...)

Then we saw some ducks heading out for a family paddle:

You can't see it, but Grandpa is actually inspecting a giant toad that the kids found:

Here Hannah and Lizzie are surrounded by deer in the backyard of our condo:

And here, Tommy, Hannah and Lizzie were tossing bread to the squirrels. Seriously, it was like we were pioneers or something...:

We did have some rain during the week, but we made the best of it by going out to dinner! It did stop raining long enough for me to snap this picture of Beanie and the girls with Lake Harmony in the background:

I taught Hannah and Lizzie that the slide (the big dangerous metal slide!) went much faster if you slid on your jacket:

 

Dad and Beanie relaxing in front of the condos (where we spent much of the week!):

Tommy carries on the proud tradition of making bunny ears (or devil horns) in a picture:

Oh wait, there IS one m ore animal photo. Here are Tommy, Lizzie, Brenna and Hannah pretending to be dogs. Aunt Tina is not pretending to be a dog:

The kids put on a puppet show with socks and a golf club cover -- and (not surprisingly) absolutely no plot:

Here's the fireplace of the condo on the lake that I am just SURE Rob is going to buy me for my birthday. Hannah and Lizzie were imitating how easily Cash would fit in at the condo:

Oh and there was golfing, too! Here are this year's golfers: Terry, Dad, Beanie and Casey:

This was Beanie's second time golfing, but she sure does look the part, doesn't she?

Three of my favorite people at Terra Cottage ... I love this picture of the girls:

And here's the whole picture of us at Terra Cottage (again!):

And here's the gang at Hog Heaven. T.A. and Ann went to the nearby casino, so Tina took the kids for ice cream and the rest of us tagged along. And Grandpa paid!

Here's another rainy day activity: Mad Libs. If you've never played Mad Libs with 8 and 9 year olds every other word is either poop or fart or some other body function. It's a hoot -- at least to them:

The girls waiting for the movie (Mr. Popper's Penguins) to start. The best part about the movie theater was that the soda and popcorn only cost $3 each. A total bargain. AND the soda was small enough and the movie short enough that NO ONE had to go to the bathroom until the movie was over:

And that is, as they say, the rest of the story:

Poconos 2 -- Defying Gravity

Here's a video I took of the kids trying the wave rider at the water park at the resort. I'm going to tell you now that the audio is VERY annoying, but it actually is what this place sounds like. It's loud and annoying. I did try to gloss over it with a song (Defying Gravity from Wicked) but there is not way on my very primitive editing equipment to edit the sound off of a video clip. Big bummer.

So enjoy this to the best of your abilities... :)

Poconos Part 1

Regular blog readers know (or if you just know me) that we take at least two family vacation weeks each summer. The first is to the shore to spend time with Rob's family and the second is to the Poconos to spend time with my family. We've been going to the Poconos for six years, and this was our fourth at Split Rock and we had our usual good time. It was very different this year, as it was the first without mom (and grandma) and I'm sure we all had our moments of missing her ... but, as she would have insisted, we found new ways to have fun and enjoy our time with each other.

This blog has photos from the beginning part of the week. First up, we have Hannah and Lizzie at the Walter Francis Dam. We usually go there to walk along the road by the reservoir, but this year there had been waaaaaay too much rain in August (and this was before the hurricane) so the road was under water. Instead we picked weeds flowers and had a picnic:

Rob and the girls standing near where the road is supposed to be, but isn't (well, it's there, but it's covered with water...):

Here's the picnic that we had. Rob had fish from Long John Silvers and Hannah had shrimp. Lizzie and I got stuff from A&W which is (very intelligently) in the same building as LJS, for those of us fried fish/shrimp haters:

It was a little cold or some of the week, but Lizzie managed to get through it in her own unique Little Bit way. That's my jacket she's wearing:

The water park is a huge part of the fun we have at Split Rock. Unfortunately my camera battery died (I was NOT happy that I was relegated to use my point and shoot but did the best I could only to be rewarded with a dead battery!) So, this is Hannah getting ready to go down one o the big slides:

And this is Lizzie getting ready to do the same thing:

This is Hannah on the Wave Rider. I have video of this that I'll post once I edit it:

BRENNA!! We weren't at the Poconos alone ... here's my niece Brenna looking particularly adorable. Even Lizzie referred to her as "so stinkin' adorable!":

Hannah and Liz on a double innertube slide:

Tommy was there, too, and the kids had a lot of fun just playing in front of the condos:

Here are the three girl cousins watching "Victorious" on afternoon:

And here's Brenna taking a picture of Hannah and Lizzie during our annual family dinner in the Poconos:

Hannah waiting NOT patiently for her shrimp:

FINALLY dinner arrives!

Ann, T.A. and Aunt A at one of the tables. (Yes, our family dinner was spread amongst three tables but we were able to make it work because we just played musical chairs -- which was nothing compared to another large party that did get to sit mostly together -- they were arm wrestling and tackling each other around all the tables...):

And here's Uncle A, Beanie and the patriarch and benefactor for the evening Dad (aka Grandpa):

And one of my favorite pictures from the dinner. This is Rob holding court with all the kids as we waited for dinner to be served. It makes me laugh everytime I look at it:

There's more to post! Watch for swimming (which I didn't do), golfing (which I didn't do) and an actual BEAR sighting!! Oh, and off course since Aunt A was there, we had a talent show.

It's Hamster Time

As you can see from these pictures the girls did their reading and math for 60 days this summer so we had to get them hamsters. Oh Joy!

As you can see, though, there are lots of happy faces around here, although I'm not so sure the hamsters are all that happy. And, in fact, I KNOW that Cash is not happy. He keeps sniffing outside the girls' door because he knows there is something tasty in there.  So, without further ado, here is Hannah and her hamster, Sweet Cotton. She couldn't decide if she wanted to name her Cotton (because she really is very soft) or Sweetie, so I came up with Sweet Cotton, so she can pretty much call it whatever she wants (and it still won't listen to her!):

 

And here is Lizzie and Sunshine. Sunshine is much more squirmy than Sweet Cotton, so Lizzie can't hold her yet, but that's here over in the corner of her fancy new digs:

Here's a closeup of Sunshine's sweet face. I didn't think I was a rodent person, but these little gals are might cute:

And here's a closer look at Sweet Cotton. She looks sort of mousy-gerbily but when you see her in person she looks like a hamster (and she's as soft as cotton, too!)

 

Here's Miss Sunshine getting a little exercise. I'm pretty sure she'll be doing this all night, but the girls assured me that they don't care how noisy it is, they want the hamsters to stay in their room with them:

I include this picture if Sweet Cotton and Hannah because it leads into the photo below. I was holding sweet cotton and Hannah face to face, and instead sweet cotton decided to give her a little kiss and then she pooped on me...

... which elicited this response from Hannah... 

I'll post pictures from the Poconos over the weekend sometime, but I didn't want to delay posting this breaking news event!