Our lives are made in these small hours

We spent another beautiful Sabbath day worshipping at the church of the great outdoors. You will have to forgive the poor photo quality here - all we had was Erik's camera phone. This time we hiked a trail in Susquehanna state park - I was worried the kids wouldn't be able to make it, but they did amazing. I was so proud of them!! Our first stop on the trail was an old barn and silo, where the kids actually swung on vines.


This picture is fuzzy, but that is the silo behind Erik and the kids, to give you an idea how tall it is. You can see all the vines hanging down too.

As we started back down the trail, we came across an entire hillside just exploding with wildflowers. It was absolutely beautiful. I'm not sure what flowers these are, but I believe it is periwinkle. It's hard in the picture to show how amazing it was - the flowers just went on and on. Marc said it was like a sky full of stars.

The path crosses several small streams. We are standing on a bridge while Erik is actually balanced on a rock in the water.

This is a huge-mongous beetle that the kids thought was cool and wanted a picture of, while I stood there going let'sgolet'sgolet'sgolet'sgo right nooooow.

After we finished the hike, we let the kids play at the playground near the picnic grounds. While we were there, Erik and I had the joy of watching a pair of bumblebees engaged in bumblebee lovin'. Even better, another boy bumblebee was trying to get in on the hot action, so we watched a bumblebee love triangle unfold right before us. For some reason, the sight of this bumblebee menage a trois had me laughing so hard, the other parents started to give us funny looks.

The kids were both so good on the trail, we stopped at a local ice cream shop for a treat. Right before this picture Erik told them to "pretend you love each other."

Morsel of Wisdom

My husband shared this morsel with me last night. Normally I scoff at his life=poker parallels, but this one really struck me. I am making this my new mantra.

This is my religion

On Sunday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather by taking a hike out to Turkey Point. We stopped at the Wawa and got subs and chips and juices and set out on our way.

Once we reached the lighthouse, we stopped to eat our lunch.

Then continued our walk until we reached the edge of the cliffs.

During our hike, we talked about the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees, listened for different kinds of birds, looked for four leaf clovers, learned how to read the trail markings, pointed out familiar spots all along the Susquehanna Flats, saw ladybugs and worms and spiders, climbed a few trees and gathered some new specimens for our rock collection. We also talked about what trash from our lunches could be recycled, or fed to the animals, or had to be put in the garbage can.

It struck me as we walked back to the van that a few years ago, my children would have spent this beautiful day stuck in a classroom learning to obey the words of old dead men. I prefer our Sunday School.

A Service to Google Searchers

There is a woeful lack out there on the internet of lists of good songs for pole dancing. Trust me, I'm always looking and everytime I search I get shit like Kid Rock and Def Leppard. So here it is... My list of good songs to pole dance to:

1. Faster Pussycat Kill (Paul Oakenfold)
2. Headsprung (LL Cool J)
3. Smack That (Akon)
4. Shake That (Eninem)
5. Ooh La La (Goldfrapp)
6. Loose Fit (Happy Mondays)
7. Scandalous (Mis-teeq)
8. Buttons (Pussycat Dolls)
9. Le Disko (Shiny Toy Guns)
10. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (Jet)

As an added service, I will also share that Bedtime Stories by Madonna and Steppin' Out by Kaskade are excellents songs to warm up and cool down too. And though extremely obvious, SexyBack is really a great song for swinging on the pole.

You are welcome, google users.

Borrowed from Cool-Jen

Sort by Song Title;
What are the first and last songs?

first: "Heroes", David Bowie
last: Zoot Suit Riot, Cherry Poppin Daddies

Sort by Artist; what are the first and last artists?

first: 10000 Maniacs
last: Yaz

Sort by Time; what are the first and last songs?

first: Horn Intro, Modest Mouse (:09)
last: Sleep, Don't Weep, Damien Rice (21:54)

Sort by Album; what are the first and last albums?

first: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis
last: Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!, HelloGoodbye

Top 5 Played Songs:

Fix You - Coldplay
Somewhere Only We Know - Keane
Bedtime Story - Madonna
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
She Says - Howie Day

Most Recent 5 of your Recently Added:

That I Would Be Good - Alanis Morissette
This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race - Fall Out Boy
Rehab - Amy Winehouse
Rock 'n' Roll, Part II - Gary Glitter
Annie, Would I Lie To You - Iris

Find “sex” - how many songs show up? 18
Find “death” - how many songs show up? 4
Find “love” - how many songs show up? 246

Trust me, this will vastly improve gender relations

I have a brilliant idea. As a woman, my biggest complaint is that my husband just can't possible understand how miserable I am at this moment, simply because he's never experienced a menstrual cramp. I think that really, the best idea would be for me to just kick him really hard in the nuts once a month. I'd feel better, and then he would be experiencing a pain that no woman could possible understand.

Also, during labor, a woman should be permitted to punch the father in the balls during each contraction. It's only fair.

But for some reason, my husband is not on board with my new plan and I think he's actually hiding from me right now...

Start spreading the news

We are leaving tomorrow for NYC! I am ashamed to admit that I've lived most of my life a two hour train ride away, yet have never visited the Big Apple. I promise to take lots of pictures and will hopefully have an interesting tale or two to share upon our return!!