Been a long time...

It has been quite a long time in blogging! I hope for that to change! For the past few years we have been taking a closer and closer look at the foods we eat. With the start of a new calendar year lots are doing this for a variety of different reasons. Whatever your reason...take a look at what you are cooking, eating, and serving your family. I think most will agree that eating Whole Foods are the best. While I strive to serve these foods, convenience often wins out or a craving takes hold or something looks unique and lovely and just needs to be consumed! Look for some of our favorite foods, including junk foods!

Gavin's Journal

9/7/2010
My famley will go to Disney. We will stay six or five days.

9/8/2010
My sister and I were at a valcano. I ran up the valcno.

9/9/2010
Colten, frens and I were playing socer. We grow mustachis.

9/10/2010
I saw yoshs eegs. I saw that one was orange

9/13/2010
We went to North Carlina. We went to ocrcok. At ocrcok the car got stauk in the sand. Mom spun the tiyers but we cud not get out of the sand. Som Pepl cam thae towed us out of the sand. On the way back frum orccok we saw Dolfins. My PaP bin on t'at ship meney of times but he never saw Dolfins

9/17/2010
We went to Ducin Donuts. I got a Ducin Dlite. The Ducin Dlite is a crem filed Donut with vnla icing and coclit icing in nice neat strips. I was staing over night at nana house. I had spged for Dinner. I had my Donut for Dzert. I got to stay up way past my Bed time. in the mornig I cud not get out of Bed Becusue I stayed up way Past my Bed Time. I was late for scool. I fell asep on the way to scool.

9/20/2010
My family went to cucey cheese for my sister's Birth Day. I pladed sce Ball. I got the Jak Pot of 144 ticits. I hade 530 ticits toltl. you can ceep the ticits for Biger Prizis. I Did not ceep my ticits. but I bot a backit Ball and los of candy and after chuey chaeys we went to Brumers farm and there was corn maze is. there was a Big and litl littl corn maze too. we were in the Big corn maze for a hafe a hou. The little corn maze was a chin. the Big corn maze was a cow, Pig, cick and a sun. Theey trid to tric us in the Big maze.

9/21/2010
I am at a mall. At the mall there was Boms. Boms were cnectid to ech uther Boms. I thoit i haw The Boms wod Blow up the hol moll. But I staed in the mall to look for close for my mom and my Brother.

9/24/2010
Last night I hade soocer Picshers. For My team Picsher I waz in the freut Beside Max Losh. for gust my Picsher I stud Like I was soting a goll. Be for we ran and ran and ran. We were Liek Playing a rel game of soccer. But we DiD not get ene gols.

9/27/2010
My Dad and I are in a Land of Time. My Dad is all most toll as the tiranusoris. there is two uther Dinosurs.

9/28/2010
My sister is the Present of the unin stats. The President is crasy. The Presiden haze Lots of cirli stuf.

9/29/2010
It's crismis! On crismis I will get 50 Big croins, 5 Pinyatus 50 cupcakes. I Like crismis. The end.

2 nights ago I saw armey tanks at shets. My famaley was cuming from ant Bepers. Aunt BePers is haveing a BaBy. the nexst day I got to go to Nana and PaPPy Tom's house. the next day I woc uP I ate pancaks for Brekfis. when we were Dun we went to the tran stashin to ride the tran then we went to lake Raystown to go fishing. We rod a Boat to the fishing sPot. I cot four fish.

10/5/2010
My famlye last yer made a funny crismis tree and a gigatic candy cane. We sprad the crismis tree red purple Blue orange brown and Black.

10/6/2010
We went to the fire station. We went to the fire station To lrn bout if you are in a fire, if you are stuck in a birning billdig, all the tols and to lrin to not be afrad of the fire fiters But we weir not scad of the fire fuiters. We got to sPray the fire hose. At the end the fire fiters ask us five queshins and we got cups if we got the queshins cretly. Then all of us got cups Too!!! and befor we got to go doun stairs to triy the lit By using The heat dtectrs and we got to get in the fire trucks. we ivin got to get in the frut of the fire trucks and I pirtendid to be a fire man too. I ran all arond the fire station. and then we hade to line up to go back to scoll. It was fun.

10/7/2010
My famley went sivu waring with PaPPy. He shot his gun. Darin liked it, I helded my eras. Be cuse the gun made sush a bud Bage. Their was lots of peple When we weir sivu waring with pappy. chapter Two On the way home My famley got lost we had to Poll over to look on the gps to triy to find a way home But we were lucy to find a way home. It was fun. chapter three when we got home we Thot that our house was not There But our house was there. When we got home we Played wii. Then we hade ice creme and Then we played more wii and then we got tubs and we went to Bed. The end

First Day of School

A little late...

Big Day!

Had a busy day yesterday. Started off with a meeting with Gavin's teacher and guidance counselor to discuss an intervention plan (just in case). When we got done with that, I dropped Stacie off and picked up Gavin to run some errands. We headed back in to the school to help Nana with a computer problem, got gas, and went to the eye doctor to set up an appointment for me. Then we headed over to the Bewards where we met up with Stacie, Malin, Darin, Mam-Maw and Thea for lunch from the OIP. Stacie has had a bit of a wheeze ever since we got home from vacation, and she seemed particularly bad at lunch. I wasn't sure I wanted her to drive back home, but she did and made it, but went straight for a breathing treatment. By early afternoon, she was so bad that she called the doctor and got in at 3:00. They gave her a shot of steroids and four prescriptions. Things went down hill fast after that. By dinner time she was so bad that she couldn't even sit up in bed without getting short of breath. It's the worst I've ever seen her asthma since we've been a couple. Beth stopped by on her way home from work, so I sent Darin with her before heading to Malin's soccer game with Gavin. Malin played a super game. She had minutes as goalkeeper and as defender. Gavin stuck with me on the sideline for pretty much the entire game, so I got to watch - something I'm not used to! Returned home to find Stacie not improved much, but Mam-Maw had come over to help out. Between us we got Malin and Gavin bathed and in bed. Stacie did manage to get out of bed a bit after that and stayed up until Beth brought Darin back over after 9, but I could tell she was still really weak.

Malin was up early today for her first day of school (too excited to sleep). Of course, Gavin still wasn't up at 7:20 (any other morning, he'd be up before 7). Stacie was feeling well enough to help get them around (still, no stairs, and no picking up Darin). We were worried about Gavin, but he was very excited to go. He was dressed and had his backpack on waiting for the bus first, despite being the last one up. Mam-Maw brought the Holderman girls over, and Beth and Thea stopped by too, so we had quite a crowd to see them get on the bus. Stacie took lots of pictures (which of course I haven't gotten off the camera yet). Then Stacie headed in to the school to take even more pictures (of the whole school - it's customarily the Home & School president's duty to take first day of school pictures for the yearbook). After that we had a nice quiet morning with Darin, which was good because Stacie had tuckered herself out. I made some job related phone calls, and had to call all my soccer parents because the opposing coach of our first game canceled. Got a little bit of housework done too, and the kids were home before we knew it! Both had great days. Malin said that her teacher is AWESOME!. Gavin's teacher called home to say that he was a model student - helping pass out papers, staying at his seat, and faithfully raising his hand. She even said he was good at lunch. (When we unpacked his stuff after he got home, we found his lunch box completely empty. Stacie thought that she had over-packed to make sure that he had enough, but he ate it all! Must have been hungry!) Stacie had made cupcakes for them to celebrate their first day, so we spent the rest of the afternoon decorating and eating them while the kids told us about their day. Then Nana stopped over (she had a rough first day) to get in on the story-telling action. Everyone was pretty tired (and I am getting a touch of whatever Stacie has) and cooperative during the whole bath/bed time routine. Then I fell asleep while tucking Gavin in until being woken by Malin, who needed a drink, at 11:30. Down here for a few rounds of poker (up another $100K tonight) while blogging, then heading to bed myself soon.

Exciting Week...

Wow, it's really amazing how you can go a few nights without blogging without even realizing it. I was thinking I was maybe a day or two behind - turns out it's been nearly a week! Let's see if I can remember everything from last week...

Tuesday morning we all headed over to Beth's house to put up some corn for the winter. Mee-Maw, Mam-Maw, Beth, Stacie, me, and the kids. I took a break in the middle to pick up Pappy at Regesters and lunch from BK. Did 18 dozen ears and were all cleaned up by abotu 2:00. Then Malin had soccer that night, so the boys and I headed to Lewistown to pick up some things from Lowes while Malin and Stacie were at soccer.

On Wednesday Stacie went shopping with Beth and Thea, so the kids were at home with me all day. Luckily, Charshe came over for a good part of the day to play games and hang out with the kids while I got some stuff done around the house. Stacie home just in time to help with the bedtime routine, with lots of good deals, and plenty of back-to-school stuff for Malin and Gavin.

Thursday - I can't think of what we did on Thursday. Gavin and I had soccer in the evening. We scrimmaged for the first time, and it was utter chaos. I was worn out afterwards after my week off!

Friday morning we had Gavin's Kindergarten orientation. Also Friday morning I had a half-hour phone call with a contact at the GE plant in Lewistown. He talked up the projects and the company pretty good, and then before he let me go he checked his email, where he found a message from the hiring manager that said I wasn't a good match for any of their openings. :-( Soccer again Friday evening where we scrimmaged again. Didn't go any better -- the kids were not at all interested in soccer for some reason. Looked more like rugby, so I just ran them.

Had a fun morning on Saturday. The five of us and Mam-Maw made the annual trek up the mountain to gather plants for the kids fair terrariums. Spent a good hour or so hiking up the road collecting moss, ground pine, acorns, strawberries, ferns, even a couple of wild strawberry plants. After we were done, I had never been the whole way over the mountain before, so that's what we did. Through the Hower Gap and in to the Lewistown area, then back up the narrows home. Got the terrariums all fixed up when we got home.

Most of Sunday was spent preparing for Beth's birthday party, which we hosted. I did burgers and wieners on the grill, Stacie made a good pasta salad and some spicy shrimp, Mee-Maw brought pickled eggs, grapes, cantaloupe; Nick made ice cream, Beth made apple dumplings, Christie brought a layer dip...I am sure there was other food too, but I ate so much that I am having trouble remembering. Got cleaned up from that and got the kids to bed and then I worked in the basement until about 1 this morning.

Didn't do much today. I made some phone calls on job leads, but mostly just left messages. Darin wore underpants all day today and managed to keep them dry, even through his nap! Stacie in bad shape with a chest cold, all the kids and I in various stages of sickness, but not quite as bad off as she is. Scrimmaged the entire practice tonight, and it went much better.

Vacation Pictures

Ringing Rocks

Museum of Indian Culture

Phillipsburg, NJ Steam Train Ride

Roadside America

Home sweet home

Gosh, lots to catch up on since the last post...

Spent Saturday of our vacation at the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown. We had heard that it was small, so only to plan on two or three hours max there, so naturally, our kids weren't ready to leave yet at 4:00 (we got there at 9:30 when they opened). I thought it was really nicely put together. Most of the stuff was over Darin's head, but there was enough open space for him to run around and a pre-school area that we kept him entertained, while the older two went through the exhibits more or less on their own. We had planned on doing something else in the afternoon, but since they were having so much fun, we just stayed there all day, and headed back to the hotel around dinnertime. I took the older two swimming at the hotel pool while Stacie laid Darin down for a quick nap. After swimming, we had Pizza Hut deliver for dinner, and then had a pretty easy night getting everyone settled.

Sunday morning we had planned a tour of the Indian Culture Museum near Allentown. Unfortunately, it didn't open until noon, so we weren't sure what to do to keep things moving on Sunday morning. We thought about doing mini-golf, but couldn't find anything open (Plus it was too darn hot), so we ended up swimming again. We had also found out that the museum was hosting a 'Pow-Wow' and 'Corn Cob Festival', starting at 10:30. We got there a little after 11, and the kids had a good time checking out all the handmade trinkets. Unfortunately, because of the Pow-Wow, the museum itself wasn't open, but there was a lot of living history type things set up, and a lot of Native Americans in regalia. It was really neat, but didn't really move fast enough to keep the kids interested, especially with the heat. We stuck around for lunch and to watch a couple of tribal dances, then loaded up to head to Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

We got to Phillipsburg just in time to catch the 2:00 train on the steam train operated by a local historical society. The ride was a little over an hour down the Delaware River. It was really neat, but very hot. The first part of the ride was narrated, and there were a bunch of volunteers staffing the cars who were eager to share their knowledge with the passengers. Stops from the train included a corn maze and a mine tour, but the kids were past their limit with the heat, so we opted just for the train ride. Headed back to the hotel and had leftover Pizza Hut for dinner and turned in early for our last night at the hotel.

Monday morning I took the kids for a last dip in the pool while Stacie got the bags packed and carried to the car. We hung out in the room a bit watching TV and getting the last of our things packed, and then checked out about 11. The first thing we did once we were on the road was get stuck in a huge traffic jam. It took us about an hour to go the first two miles, and after that, things went much smoother, but it threw our schedule off a bit. We ended up stopping at a Cracker Barrel for lunch because the kids hadn't eaten since breakfast. After that, we went to the Cabela's store in Hamburg. The kids were convinced that it was going to be really boring, but went in anyway and said afterwards that they thought it was neat. There was all kinds of mounted animals from small little birds, to actual elephants and hippos. There was a shooting gallery where Malin proved that she's a pretty good shot. There's also a pretty big aquarium there, which we somehow missed.

After Cabela's, we jumped back in the car for a short trip to Roadside America a little hole-in-the-wall place we had seen on the way to Allentown from home. Again, the kids were skeptical, but it turned out to be really interesting. It was a huge (over 300 buildings) miniature town hand carved by two brothers in the 50's and 60's. It just seemed to go on forever. It was difficult to see everything there was to see and keep all three kids together, but still worth the stop. We stayed for the 'night scene', then got back in the Burby, gassed up, and headed for home.

Ended our trip the same way we started it, with a meal from Sheetz. Pulled in the driveway about 5, got unpacked, and had the Holdermans and the Leisters over for a debrief before winding down ourselves.

This post is running long, so I'll start a new one with some pictures...

The Kints go on vacation

Okay, so here I am on night two of vacation, here's a quick recap.

Stacie had done a good bit of the getting ready process on Wednesday night, so although there was some stuff for me to do Thursday morning, I mostly cleaned the house (I hate coming home to a mess). Malin had dance again until 11, so we weren't really planning on leaving until afternoon anyway. My Dad and Stepmom stopped over for about an hour to say their goodbyes since they are heading back to Florida before we get home. Got so busy getting around and loading the car that 1:00 rolled around (Our 'scheduled' departure time) before we knew it. We were all ready to go, but we hadn't gotten lunch for the kids. So we loaded in the car, hit Sheetz for subs in the car, got gas, went to the bank, and were on the road about 1:20.
The drive here was easy. No wrong turns, very little traffic...pulled in to the hotel at about 3:10. Got checked in and settled, and the first order of business was to take the kids swimming at the hotel's pool. We must have spent at least an hour swimming, then got cleaned up for dinner. Stacie went through the hotel directory and narrowed our choices down to two restaurants. We asked the front desk, and of the two, they recommended the 'Allentown Brewworks', so that's where we went. We had to drive in to Allentown, so we got to see a lot of the town's architecture. The downtown is very odd - one high rise right in the middle of town (The PP&L building) with nothing else higher than 5 or 6 stories. Anyway, I intentionally parked a handful of blocks away, so we got a nice walk in also. The restaurant was pretty nice, and very reasonably priced. The five of us ate for $50, including an appetizer and a beer for me. Took an indirect route back to the hotel to see more of the town, and then started the whole winding down process. Had a little bit of stress getting three co-located kids to bed at the same time, but all-in-all, not too bad. I fell asleep on the floor next to Darin's crib and my back was all screwed up when I woke up, that's why I didn't blog last night. Just crawled right in to bed.
Today started pretty early considering the kids were up late, but we long ago found out that's a losing battle with our kids (forcing them to sleep in - only takes 1 to disrupt the whole process) so we got started. Had breakfast at the hotel, a very nice buffet for the price of it (free with the room!), and then headed to Easton to the Crayola 'factory'. Turns out it's not so much a factory as a hands-on house full of Crayola stuff. I was a bit disappointed by that, but the kids thought it was great. I didn't think it cost much, and we came home with loads of stuff. Also included with admission was a ticket to a canal museum, located in the same building. They had several neat water tables, which were Gavin's favorite part of the day. Malin said that her favorite activity was the 'hot wax' paint -- They had a station full of melted crayons that you could use as 'paint'. All the kids had a minor melt down at one point or another, but we made it through the day without any major issues, and we even got Darin to nap in his stroller. After everyone had their fill of that, we decided to do something a little different - we headed to the 'Ringing Rocks'. This was about a 1/2 hour drive out in to the middle of nowhere. It's just a big field of rocks that have so much iron in them that if you hit them with a hammer, about a third of them ring like a bell. We weren't really prepared with footwear - there was no path or anything through the rocks - but I had thought to grab a little hammer out of one of the kids tool boxes, and that worked neat. Darin was really too little to be climbing around, but the other two had a good time. It was a good way to get the last of their energy out of them.
Stopped at a Lone Star on the way home for dinner, and had excellent behavior from the kiddos. (although we did bribe them for dessert). Back to the hotel for baths, and another only fairly easy time getting everyone settled (Gavin is sleeping on the floor right now!) I'm heading to bed momentarily. Tomorrow we have planned the DaVinci Science Center...