August 2008 Archives
Brandon moved into the Penn State dormitories last Friday. On Saturday his sister moved into his barely vacated bedroom. She's envied the "teen space" over the garage for a long time. It's at the end of a long hall and well away from the rest of the bedrooms, plus it's got cable TV; something we hadn't allowed her to have until now.
So, we're repainting her old bedroom. Why repaint if the house is only 4 years old? Well, for those of you who haven't seen the camouflage room, here's a photo. Now you know why I'm looking forward to re-painting. This was Gretchen's idea when we moved in, and I allowed free expression each of the kids bedrooms. So camo it was and she did most of the painting herself. After this weekend though, it's gone! I'm wondering how may coats of paint its going to take to cover it up. I'll post "after" photos later.
The upstairs looks like a war zone at the moment with bedroom furniture scattered among other rooms and I asked Brian to knock a hole in one of the walls in the upstairs hallway to build in a bookcase. So far, no progress toward the actual bookcase, just a 4' by 6' hole in the wall. Good thing we have a long holiday weekend coming up!
So, we're repainting her old bedroom. Why repaint if the house is only 4 years old? Well, for those of you who haven't seen the camouflage room, here's a photo. Now you know why I'm looking forward to re-painting. This was Gretchen's idea when we moved in, and I allowed free expression each of the kids bedrooms. So camo it was and she did most of the painting herself. After this weekend though, it's gone! I'm wondering how may coats of paint its going to take to cover it up. I'll post "after" photos later.
The upstairs looks like a war zone at the moment with bedroom furniture scattered among other rooms and I asked Brian to knock a hole in one of the walls in the upstairs hallway to build in a bookcase. So far, no progress toward the actual bookcase, just a 4' by 6' hole in the wall. Good thing we have a long holiday weekend coming up!
I once had a friend tell me I was the most fair person she knew. Hopefully, this is a trait that my son has inherited. Since the age of 13 he has been umpiring Little League baseball. He loves doing it. He even used to dream of being a major league umpire - it takes an unusual kid to dream of being the umpire not the player! Since the end of Little League season in July, Brandon has been without employment. Something his Dad and I have been rather annoyed about, by the way. Well, at Penn State, Brandon talked to someone at the intramural office who probably couldn't believe someone with his own umpire gear and five years of experience had just walked through his door. So now he's employed as an umpire once again, this time for PSU Intramural Softball.
Surfin'. Check. Safari? Well, do wild horses count?
The family spent a few days in Ocean City, MD and Assateague National Seashore (home to wild horses).
First the surfing update. We arrived in OC Thursday night with only enough time to walk into the water and settle into the hotel room. First thing Friday morning though we had surfing lessons booked for the kids. It was fabulous. I highly recommend OC Surfer Lessons to anyone. Each kid had a private instructor, they met us on the beach outside the hotel room with the surfing gear. Gretchen, the gymnast, not surprisingly got the hang of popping up on the surfboard immediately. Brandon took longer but after the first half-hour or so, he was doing OK too. Photos are on my Flickr site.
I really wanted to go over the Assateague thinking that the kids would love to see the wild horses that roam the island. We went, the kids it turns out really didn't care. Oh well, it rained that day anyway; so we left early. I enjoyed seeing the horses and got some good photos of them before the thunderstorms rolled in.
After leaving the beach we also stopped in Conowingo, MD to visit the some of the Welsh side of the family. It was great to catch up with some cousins that I don't see very often.
The family spent a few days in Ocean City, MD and Assateague National Seashore (home to wild horses). First the surfing update. We arrived in OC Thursday night with only enough time to walk into the water and settle into the hotel room. First thing Friday morning though we had surfing lessons booked for the kids. It was fabulous. I highly recommend OC Surfer Lessons to anyone. Each kid had a private instructor, they met us on the beach outside the hotel room with the surfing gear. Gretchen, the gymnast, not surprisingly got the hang of popping up on the surfboard immediately. Brandon took longer but after the first half-hour or so, he was doing OK too. Photos are on my Flickr site.
I really wanted to go over the Assateague thinking that the kids would love to see the wild horses that roam the island. We went, the kids it turns out really didn't care. Oh well, it rained that day anyway; so we left early. I enjoyed seeing the horses and got some good photos of them before the thunderstorms rolled in.
After leaving the beach we also stopped in Conowingo, MD to visit the some of the Welsh side of the family. It was great to catch up with some cousins that I don't see very often.
How did it get to be August? Recap: the boy -- should I call him a man now? -- graduated from high school in June. He starts at Penn State in two weeks. The girl has been to softball camp, church camp, and gymnastics camp. Now she's going to the Parks & Rec program until the end of the week.
I've been occupying my spare time with the usual suspects - scrapbooking, movies, books, running. I made a scrapbook of Brandon's Senior Year that I'm rather proud of. I hope he'll treasure it.
After years of always "waiting for the DVD," I've gotten out to the movie theatre a good bit this summer. Indiana Jones, Sex & the City, Batman: The Dark Knight and Hancock. OK, that says loads about me right there - I consider four movies a "good bit." BTW, The Dark Knight is every bit as good as people say it is. It's the perfect Batman flavor for me. I loved the darkness of Tim Burton's original Batman, and current director Christopher Nolan 'gets it.'
I've been occupying my spare time with the usual suspects - scrapbooking, movies, books, running. I made a scrapbook of Brandon's Senior Year that I'm rather proud of. I hope he'll treasure it.
After years of always "waiting for the DVD," I've gotten out to the movie theatre a good bit this summer. Indiana Jones, Sex & the City, Batman: The Dark Knight and Hancock. OK, that says loads about me right there - I consider four movies a "good bit." BTW, The Dark Knight is every bit as good as people say it is. It's the perfect Batman flavor for me. I loved the darkness of Tim Burton's original Batman, and current director Christopher Nolan 'gets it.'
