Staycation

Today we started our staycation.For all of you folks that would now like to correct me on my spelling, hold off. A staycation is a new portmanteau ( blend of two words) for the term stay-at-home-vacation. We'd like to go away, but with gas prices for the van being what they are,and the general economic malaise settling over our land, we thought we'd try something new. Fred and I really love where we live. Being just an hour from D.C. and Baltimore, with great nature places surrounding us, we feel like there is never enough time to visit areas close by. Carpe Diem. 

Today we headed to D.C. for the National Zoo. We stayed til closing. Gosh was it fun! With this many kids, its pretty much always fun-except for the refereeing job that comes with the territory.

The temperature was extremely cooperative being in the 70's and sunny. It is always so cool to see all the different and wonderful animals in our world. The kids were really pliable today too( probably because they excitement keeps them content and upbeat). Andy wound up carrying Mary on his shoulder pretty much all afternoon since she got blisters on her heels from her sandals, but that was about all that went wrong. Peter, JP, and Matt took turns strolling Sarah and Sophia.

There was one particularly hilarious moment in the Ape House, when Mary squirmed her way up to the glass with 100's of other children. What she didn't realize was that the ape was directly in front of the glass. After finagling herself into position she looked up to see this ape looking directly back at her through the glass- and almost died! Sarah thoroughly enjoyed the petting zoo, and the consensus from the rest was a toss up between the birds, and the big cats ( lions and tigers are just scary cool!)

Here are some of the highlights:

Frazzled?

I spent the day cleaning. I actually accomplished quite a lot. Since Fred opened up the kitchen area I was able to use the old pantry closet as a new linen closet. This is the first time in our married life I have even had a linen closet. That's kind of nice isn't it?

Because I got myself into a frenzy cleaning today I figured it was time for something soothing. Some beautiful landscapes generally do the trick for me. I can BE THE PICTURE when necessary. I also figured maybe some of my readers would appreciate a few pictures of nature scenes I find tranquil and relaxing. So sit back and take a small break on me. After all it's Summer.

Pantry

I promised you last night that if you were very good little children, I'd show you some pictures of my spiffy new pantry. Within moments of me posting, my niece Jessica was oohing and ahhhing over the pictures. Jess is my niece but in the real world, she functions as my little sister, having grown up in the same house with me for most of our lives. She and I are actually closer in age than my sister Nan (her mother). 

So, Jess sees the pictures and makes this comment that  I should post pictures not of my new pantry, but rather of 'the larder'. Ummm, excuse me Jess? "Yes, yes, of course" she goes on the larder is the old name for the pantry over in England. She has always had a soft spot for the English come to think of it. And I should copy the English why again? Help me out- I just need a little reminding. 

Quite frankly I think larder is a bad word to introduce into my kitchen area. The children will be shocked. "Here kiddies let mummy show you her larder' sounds like a recipe for disaster! I can just picture pulling English goodies like Marmite from the new shelves. Marmite for those of you who have missed this little delicacy is yeast extract. It is simply the most hateful food product I have ever seen, right up there with pigs feet. (which by the way I'd eat first if it came right down to it!)

They do have the best tea ever, and of course who doesn't get won over by that totally fabulous accent? 

Gosh, why couldn't we have kept that little quirk?

Sorry Jess, but I think I'll have to keep the ole pantry term. (besides Fred is totally against larder, and you know how persnickety he can get!) I'll post a few pics so you can have a peek:

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down that Wall

I can well remember hearing those now famed words spoken by Ronald Reagan. My father loved Reagan well before it was popular to do so. Heck now EVERYONE does!

Well, tonight's post isn't about the Berlin Wall, but I think its almost as exciting a moment in history-for me anyway. Fred tore down our kitchen wall today finally uniting the old kitchen with the new kitchen and more than doubling our space. He also almost lost a finger in the process. Totally serious. Here's the story-

 He was using his Sawz-all to tear out the old doorway when suddenly it lurched and grabbed one of his fingers like a wild dog. Fred immediately dropped the tool and grabbed his hand. After being married to someone for a long time- you know when something is really, really wrong. I followed him down the hall to the bathroom. I have seen Fred do some damaging things before, but today's seemed to hurt the worst of any injury he's ever had. Over and over again he prayed ( which is far far worse than if he was simply swearing). Thankfully he did not sever the top of his finger, but it turned almost navy within about 2 minutes. 

Your next question if you are any normal human being will be "Did you take him to the hospital?" 

But then- you just don't know Fred.  He just doesn't go to the hospital for flesh wounds. I gave him 3 Tylenols, 2 band-aids, 1 peck on the forehead, and was forbidden from asking about the injury the rest of the afternoon. He went directly back to work. I would've taken a picture for you all to see but it seemed a bit morbid to flash a camera after an accident- even for me. 

OK, enough about that. So I have great pictures of the tear out! If you're reaaaalllly good, tomorrow I'll post pictures of my spiffy new pantry! I spent about 5 hours cleaning up after Fred left and reorganizing the kitchen. Its probably going to take a while before we're totally up and running again since we have to move the stove, fridge, and everything else too. I hope the 'set it and forget it' will be a good friend to me for the next few weeks. Between the grill, the microwave, and my As Seen On TV gadgets I think I've got dinner and meals  under control.

After working for the entire day he took Matt, Joe, Tom, and Mike with him to the stock car races this evening.What a guy...!

UPDATED-EXCLUSIVE FINGER SHOTS:

The End of the Road

The boys finished out their track season this week. They really had a wonderful experience. It's good for them to be part of a team. It really builds spirit and friendship. They ended tonight with a run of about 7 miles on the Catoctin Mountain Trail. Here are a few shots Fred took at their last meet. We will be getting together with fellow team mates in a few weeks to go to Hershey Park-yes! (Please excuse the brevity of this post. I am working on an average of 4 hours of sleep for the past 3 nights. Poor Mary has a nasty cough that only kicks in at night. We wind up having to alternate between steam and cold air to open up her lungs. At 3 am its difficult to open my eyes let alone her breathing passages. Its nothing serious but say a little prayer for her anyway.Thanks!)