Block Island 2009

Hello ALL! I have been enjoying a few wonderful days on Block Island, Rhode Island with my parents, grandmother (we call her Buszia- this is Polish for grandmother), and husband.

The trip began with a nearly impossible drive; even though we left early in the morning on Friday, we still hit loads of traffic. What should have taken 5.5 hours took a little under 9! There is no easy way to get to Block Island either. If you decide to fly, a commercial flight from BWI will take you into Providence; from here you take an hour cab ride to the ferry station at Pt. Judith/ Galilee, then hop on the ferry (the traditional ferry ride takes 55 minutes; the highspeed takes 30), and then- you are HERE! It is totally worth it though. My parents drive so they can bring their car over on the island, and this year Greg and I drove separately as we will be leaving before them.

This island is very relaxing! We are staying at the Spring House Hotel whose motto is "The Only Thing We Overlook Is the Ocean." Block Island is a great place to bike ride so I brought my bike!


Today Greg and I took a bike ride to the Northeast light house- a 6 mile bike round trip!



I hope all is well with you and I will post again soon!

Summertime

Things have been busy this summer. I created a list of projects around the house I hoped to complete, which included a lot of painting!

Back in late May I painted two blue stripes in the hallway:

This is a view looking up from downstairs on the base floor; the following picture is a view from my bedroom. I think some sailing prints would look cute here...


Then I painted my desk chair a creamy white and put the name of one of my favorite places on the inside:

Here is a view from the back:

I also painted my plain white desk drawers using a stencil- I think the drawers POP now (what do you think?):

I painted chalkboard paint in my kitchen, so now there is a place for me to jot down an impromptu grocery list or an inspirational message:


My husband and I also had a fence installed in our backyard in late June, so we created a mini garden area with hydrangeas! They are small for now but will hopefully return next summer in full glory. We outlined the garden with some large pieces of wood, and nailed them in the ground. I also have a flamingo flower pot in the middle (a homage to my old neighborhood in Hampden).



There is also room for one of my other favorite things- the hammock! It can fit two people on a good day, but occasionally sinks to the ground. One person hammock-laying is one of my favorite summer pasttimes...

Sitting in the hammock also gives me a good view of my husband grilling. We love cooking together, but he is better at using the grill than I. On this particular night Greg made grilled chicken and asparagus, and we had leftover biscuits from a previous night! MMM MMM!

I also installed a new set of shelves in the bathroom closet. We bought plywood at Home Depot, then I painted them a crisp white. I also painted the closet white as well.


Before we bought our house, which was a little over a year ago, the furnace had exploded. Lucky for us: the current owners had to purchase a brand new furnace; unlucky for us: soot was everywhere. All over the walls, inside of closets. It was pretty awful. We have since painted every room in the house- ahem, this includes three bedrooms, hallways, a kitchen, family room, dining room, and basement. Pretty good for a year's work, right?! The last areas that are left are the closests. Here is a before picture (I had already emptied it)

Yellow and gross, right?
I painted the closet using ceiling paint (which is why it looks purple- it's the only white paint we had left); I think it should hold up alright. It only took one coat, which was nice because I felt pretty claustrophobic when standing inside!

And here is the end result- nice, neat, and best of all- ORGANIZED!


In other news, there have been lots of reasons to celebrate this summer, including my mom's birthday! Her birthday is actually in August, but I threw her a surprise lunch earlier in July. I also took her to get a massage. The pampering was worthwhile as she prepared for her 35th wedding anniversary! YES, I am one lucky girl- my parents have been together 35 years! They just vacationed at their honeymoon spot- Quebec. Here are some photos of my mom enjoying the day. I made sure to blindfold her so she didn't know where we were headed.



Greg and I also hosted a 4th of July party. Here are photos of our families:




The finale to my summer will take me to Block Island, Rhode Island for a week with my family; Newport for a few days of sight-seeing; and Busch Gardens, Williamsburg with friends. I am looking forward to sharing the fun times ahead with you!

Sparklers late-night on the Corolla beach

HAPPY SUMMER!

It has been awhile since I last posted so it's time for an update (so far): June started out with a trip to OBX (the Outerbanks, for the non-locals out there) with my husband and 12 good friends. I had been to Nags Head, OBX back when I was about 10, but this summer we stayed in Corolla. Some of my favorite things to see and to do included:
-flying kites
-turtles!
-riding my pink beach cruiser bike (with basket in tow) up and down the main street
-sparklers late night on the beach
-cooking with friends and eating in
-lounging on the beach with the girls
-Pictionary
-ghost crabs!
Here are a few photos:



a ghost crab afraid of the camera


yummy shish kabobs!


my husband and I on the beach


bountiful sea breeze= great kite-flying


Who doesn't love a little game of Pictionary?! Don't worry- my drawing of the expression- "ants in your pants"- won us the game!


tons of turtles

Also, word of advice- when driving your car on the beach, remember to let the air out of your tires first! We learned this the hard way...




Another exciting adventure of the summer took me to the Billy Joel/ Elton John concert at Nationals Stadium in Washington D.C. Billy Joel is my favorite singer! I grew up listening to his music in the 80s. This was my fourth BJ concert and my mom's FIRST...she had a blast! It started off somewhat rocky though...Elton John's piano pedal was stuck at first song. After politely excusing himself from the stage while his crew attended to the problem, BJ played a fabulous list of songs, including some of my favorites: "Allentown", "Don't Ask Me Why", "Just the Way You Are", and "Angry Young Man" to name a few. After Elton John returned to the stage, he played "Rocketman"! This song sounded AWESOME live! Billy Joel ended the concert by letting the audience sing the last verse of "Piano Man"!


In the meantime I have been preparing for an exciting fall in 6th Age!! I can't wait to meet my new class!

Last Friday the 6th Age went on a "Continental Cruise". They visited many different countries! Take a peak below for video clips and photos.

Last week I had the pleasure of accompanying the 7th Age scientists to the Maryland Science Center! We had fun exploring the rooms inside the Science Center, ate a nice lunch outdoors (it was a beautiful afternoon), and even saw a 3-D Imax show!

This week the 7th Age scientists learned about oysters. We observed a special kind of oyster, the Easten Oyster. Eastern Oysters live in the Chesapeake Bay. We observed the inside and outside of the oyster with a hand lens, and even felt them with our fingers! Some describing words for the outside of an oyster included:
hard
bumpy
rough

Some describing words for the inside of an oyster included:
squishy
tan-colored
gooey
slimy

We measured our oysters to make sure they were a legal size. The legal size for an oyster is 3 inches. All of our oysters measured AT LEAST 3 inches in length- phew!

We also watched a video of oysters filter-feeding, and learned that oysters are the "lifeguards" of the bay! This is because they constantly rid the water of waste, ultimately cleaning it. One single oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day! A long time ago when oysters were more prevalent, they could clean the Bay in just a week! Now the same task takes a year.

We enjoyed observing the oysters, and are looking forward to our crab dissection in a week!

Nice job, scientists!

After recently listening to the story Corduroy, by Don Freeman, the Pilots and I made puppets of the main character- Corduroy the bear, and 2 additional minor characters- Lisa and the Night Watchman. Today we used the puppets by putting on a puppet show and retelling the story. In the first video, a student retells the story with a twist- this time Corduroy visits the Eiffel Tower! The second video is quite animated- and funny!