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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Ooops!

The picture of the "dolphins" below is actually two surfers! But we DID see dolphins about that far out...I just can't find the pictures right now!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Delaware


In the midst of schlepping stuff from Virginia to Dad's condo to the new rental house, we thought we would have a little fun, so we spent some time at the beach... Here's Bugle Boy hunting for baby horseshoe crabs at the Delaware National Seashore Park. Actually, it looks like he also was building some kind of moat (see the ditch to the right of the bucket?). The water was freezing, but he didn't seem to notice.

Sweetie and her friend Clare decided to bury themselves in the sand. You can imagine the amount of sand we had in the shower after this activity!

Mad Muncher, who kind of looks like he's crying above, had a lot of fun, too. He's a natural beach bum...

Here are the dolphins I told you about. I don't know if you can tell how close to shore they are, but if you look at the bottom right-hand side of the photo, you can see where the shoreline is. Sweetie got within a few feet of them. It was so exciting (especially for African Lion!) to be so close to them. They were following a school of fish up and down the beach, and were in front of us for the better part of an hour.
African Lion, bucket and shovel in hand, working on the sand castle.

ETA: Removed photo of house when blog went more public and change names to pseudonyms.


Here's the house. It's on a cul-de-sac right next to a nice wooded vacant lot. It's little, but sunny inside and so will be fine for us. The grass is pathetic, but it's only a rental. I feel like I am going to be taking an extended vacation to the beach...sounds nice when I put it that way, doesn't it?
We're heading up more or less permanently on Sunday after Mass, so then we can finish setting everything up. There's not too much to do, so we should have it all together in one or two days. We ordered a bunk bed from Walmart (your source for cheap plastic stuff!) because the boys' bedroom is too small for three twin beds. We also ordered three lockable shelving units, which I hope are sturdy enough to hold books, for the garage to provide some pantry and craft storage spaces. So we'll assemble those items, unpack our books, plug in our computer, and we should be good! We're not getting a landline phone, so you can continue to reach me at my cell phone number. I hope cell reception is OK at the house, but I'll worry about that when I get there. Love you! Have a great day!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Viewing the photos

Just so you know, Mom, you can left click once on the photos and they will be enlarged to fill most of your screen. Then just click on the close window icon (mine is an x, but Mac is may be different) to return to the blog.

My son and grandson


Here's a sweet photo of my son and his son last summer. You would certainly not recognize Tony from this pic as he is about the size of a two year old and is now walking. He is so cute, plump, and cuddly! I'll get some new photos of him, or you can click on "Tilly's Tea" on the right side of this blog and scroll down to see a cute one of him in Tilly's laundry basket. I must say, my son looks like a  Viking   with his beard! By the way, the present arrive yesterday and I have already given it to Tilly. I love you! Have a great day!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Proms and PJ's

Saturday evening, Viking Man took his girlfriend to the Senior Prom. They looked so great together, and her dress was a beautiful teal color (which this picture doesn't seem to have gotten quite right). She is a very sweet young lady. She has a lovely voice and is hoping to study Music Therapy in college. She even manages to enjoy our rowdy crew! Even this fearsome sight of the "three mouseketeers" in their new jammies didn't frighten her:


Can you guess who the "old man" is? He always did act older than his age!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Peonies!

My lovely peonies are blooming! They are definitely my favorite garden flowers--easy to take care of, bloom without trouble every year, and look and smell glorious! I am going out to pick a big bouquet and put it in Grammie's silver flower vase, which is the perfect size and shape and "Victorian" feel for peonies. I am sure your garden is yielding gorgeous roses by now, but we are a little behind you on the bloom time. Hubby is coming home this p.m., and we have a big weekend planned with more packing, soccer games, Sweetie's family b.d. party, and who knows what else! I'm thinking I'll make this chicken recipe for the party-delicious, easy, can be made for a few or a crowd:

Lemon-Feta Chicken

Drizzle a little olive oil in the baking pan. Turn boneless, skinless chicken breasts (however many you like) to coat. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the top (I use 1/2 lemon for three whole breasts) , sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese, sliced green onion, black pepper, and dried oregano. Squeeze a little more lemon juice over all . Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees until done (about 35-45 minutes).

So great with a nice green salad and a little sauteed zucchini!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Up a Tree

We heard an unusual call and found a strange bird up in our redbud tree...a Bugle Boy bird! It was a glorious day and everyone went out and did a little exploring. Some in trees:



Some on the ground floor:



Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sweetie's 14th Birthday

Here's Sweetie this morning. She received a digital camera for her birthday, and promptly went outside and started clicking away. She took this photo of the cat, Jasmine, sitting in her lap next to the brick wall. I'm going to send her out later to do a flower photo session for you! Thank you for the card, which I gave her this a.m. She loved the gift! Can't wait to go shopping! Just when you despair of them looking like bums who dress from the Goodwill bag sales, they suddenly "get into" fashion. Now she wants to be a fashion designer!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Frogs and Gardens

It's a beautiful day here today--sunny, clear, with a high of 72 predicted. Mary is going to come and take the boys up to the Reptile Center to see SNAKES, and I am planning on going to dinner with some friends of mine. We've stopped schooling so we can pack, so I'll do more packing today, too. I'm going to try to borrow Telegram Girl's camera (mine is broken right now) to take pictures of the garden for you. I'm hoping the irises you sent me will soon be blooming so I can get a picture; they bloom later than my purple ones. But the peonies are starting to bloom, and Viking Man worked hard to clean up and re-assemble the pond (the little boys had completely demolished it looking for frogs!) so it looks nice, too. Here's a shot of Mad Muncher:



Do you think he's telling me, "Look, Mom, no frog!" Perhaps it's under his bed???

Monday, May 11, 2009

Telegram Girl with J.L.


Hello to my far-away family, especially Mom and Dad! I set this blog up so you could see what's happening out here on the East coast with the entire H. clan. How do you like the picture of Telegram   Girl and J.L.? J.L. and Roberto were here today and brought me a delicious apple pie for my birthday (because, you might remember, I always liked pie better than cake!). We had a nice lunch, and Tilly helped me get this blog up and running. You would have laughed to watch us work for about half an hour on getting the picture of the stream to be the same width as the center section of the blog! It was an obsessive quest that finally paid off...we got it to fit! I hope you have fun reading this blog and I especially hope to post lots of pictures so you can all see what we're up to. There is a link to Tilly's blog on the right, just click on the line that says "Tilly's Tea" under the "My Blog List" section and it will take you right there. There are some cute pictures of Roberto and J.L. on her blog. To come back here, push your back button (looks like an arrow pointing left). Also, there are links to some of the books I'm reading. If you want to leave a note, hit "comment" below this post and you can make a comment and read other's comments.

Love from us all!