Thursday, July 31, 2008
Fun in the Sun
We spent a fabulous 4 days at Lewes and Dewey Beaches in Delaware. Our original plan was to go Sunday morning but we got the itch and left early Saturday morning. The motel that we were staying at did not have any available rooms so we got a nice room at the Beacon Motel in Lewes. We spent our first day at the very clean and well kept Cape Henlopen State Park. The day was hot and sunny, although the surf was a bit rough. We grabbed a pizza and took it back to the room after we rinsed off in the pool and showered. Of course we capped off the first night with some ice cream from the local Dairy Queen.Day 2 was a bit unsettled weatherwise, and it was our "transition day." We decided to pass on the beach in favor of the pool. We got a late check out and swam in the pool all morning and into the early afternoon. Then we packed up all our stuff and headed down to Dewey, a short 20-minute drive. We checked in at Adam's Oceanfront Motel. As the name indicates, our room was right on the beach, exactly 87 steps from our door to the sand--outstanding. The clouds were rolling in and the wind was up, so we went again to the pool after settling in. Then we walked around Dewey Beach a bit before getting caught in a huge thunderstorm. I had never experienced a thunderstorm at the beach, so it was a neat experience. Dinner consisted of some tasty Maryland fries and other snacks. The burgers that we were going to grill didn't happen due to the rain, but we certainly didn't go hungry. Sadly, the rain kept us from ice cream, but at least the rain came later in the day.
On Day 3 we awoke to hot sunshine. I took a 4 mile walk down the beach, enjoying the early morning exercisers, beachgoers, fishermen, and dogs splashing in the waves. When I returned with coffee and donuts from the motel lobby, Sherry and the girls were starting to stir and ready themselves for a day at the beach. The haze rolled in, which was perfect for our sand sculpting. This year we tried to do a pirate ship, but the mast/sail kept collapsing and the final product looked more like a tugboat. I also did a small lighthouse to go with it. We enjoyed watching the waves come in and destroy them. It was quite cute when two young girls who had watched us build our boat, were desperately trying to repair it, of course to no avail.
I grilled the burgers from the previous night and we ate them on the beach, all the while singing in my head Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise." They certainly hit the spot. After a refreshing dip in the pool, we went to Rehoboth to walk around the boardwalk and do some souvenir shopping. We did finish the night with an ice cream treat at a frozen custard spot. We had things called Gelatis, which has frozen custard on the bottom, followed by a layer of flavored ice water (mint chocolate), and then another layer of custard. The custard was delicious, but the combination was a bit weird. I should've stuck with my first instinct of just getting custard.Tuesday came around too quickly and none of us wanted to go. We tried, unsuccessfully to get a late checkout. We decided to go back to Cape Henlopen State Park for the day because we all needed one more day of beach, but a shower was a requirement for the 5 1/2 hour drive home. We were glad we decided to stay because it was the hottest day and the best day for boogie boarding. Sadly, we showered and packed up and hit the road for an uneventful ride home, arriving at 11:00. We had a wonderful family vacation and all want to move to the beach...
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Quest for Water
The past week has given us the weather that the Middlebrook clan loves--hot and sunny. With the hot summer weather came our repeated quest and discovery of water.
On Wednesday, I met Sherry and the girls at Harris Hill park. While I had been here for annual ISC picnics, I had never been there to swim. We spent several hours at the nice pool, that was surprisingly not very crowded. Sherry and I played Scrabble, which has become our latest competitive addiction while Megan made friends and repeatedly went off the diving board, perfecting her back flip. Harris Hill is one of the few area pools that has a high dive and low dive, a huge plus for the girls. There were some rather large and pesky flies and a thunderstorm cut our swim short, but a pleasant midweek splash.
We've been watching our neighbors' house and watering for them. They happen to have a pool and a hot tub, which they said we could use while they were gone. It's been nice to jump in the pool for a cooloff and to finish our evenings soaking in the spa.
Yesterday, we took an adventure to Ithaca, to Treman State Park, a gem of a place we discovered last summer. It is a beautiful park, highlighted by a waterfall/swimming area, with a diving board right next to the enormous and breathtaking falls. The water was quite refreshing at 65 degrees and quite welcome in the 90+ degree heat. Each of the girls had a friend along, so 6 of us piled into the van for the day. I took the girls for a hike towards the upper falls while Sherry stayed back to keep an eye on our stuff (or so she said :)). The hike goes behind the swimming area and straight up--talk about serious altitude change in a very short time. After hiking for 1/2 hour or so, we came across a smaller set of falls that we had completely to ourselves. The girls plunged right in and splashed around in the falls and surrounding pools for a bit before we hiked back and then jumped right off the board into the cool water.
A daytrip wouldn't be complete without some ice cream, so we stopped at a new place south of Ithaca called Shelly's Barn for some tasty ice cream sundaes. Of course we capped off the day with one final soak in the neighbor's spa.
Today has been spent finishing up some school work and lazing around the house, although we're all starting to look forward to our next aqua adventure, which will be a 2 1/2 day getaway leaving next Sunday to Dewey Beach. While we normally do a week at the beach, my internship ate up most of my vacation, but we're still beyond excited to hit the surf!
On Wednesday, I met Sherry and the girls at Harris Hill park. While I had been here for annual ISC picnics, I had never been there to swim. We spent several hours at the nice pool, that was surprisingly not very crowded. Sherry and I played Scrabble, which has become our latest competitive addiction while Megan made friends and repeatedly went off the diving board, perfecting her back flip. Harris Hill is one of the few area pools that has a high dive and low dive, a huge plus for the girls. There were some rather large and pesky flies and a thunderstorm cut our swim short, but a pleasant midweek splash.
We've been watching our neighbors' house and watering for them. They happen to have a pool and a hot tub, which they said we could use while they were gone. It's been nice to jump in the pool for a cooloff and to finish our evenings soaking in the spa.
Yesterday, we took an adventure to Ithaca, to Treman State Park, a gem of a place we discovered last summer. It is a beautiful park, highlighted by a waterfall/swimming area, with a diving board right next to the enormous and breathtaking falls. The water was quite refreshing at 65 degrees and quite welcome in the 90+ degree heat. Each of the girls had a friend along, so 6 of us piled into the van for the day. I took the girls for a hike towards the upper falls while Sherry stayed back to keep an eye on our stuff (or so she said :)). The hike goes behind the swimming area and straight up--talk about serious altitude change in a very short time. After hiking for 1/2 hour or so, we came across a smaller set of falls that we had completely to ourselves. The girls plunged right in and splashed around in the falls and surrounding pools for a bit before we hiked back and then jumped right off the board into the cool water.
A daytrip wouldn't be complete without some ice cream, so we stopped at a new place south of Ithaca called Shelly's Barn for some tasty ice cream sundaes. Of course we capped off the day with one final soak in the neighbor's spa.
Today has been spent finishing up some school work and lazing around the house, although we're all starting to look forward to our next aqua adventure, which will be a 2 1/2 day getaway leaving next Sunday to Dewey Beach. While we normally do a week at the beach, my internship ate up most of my vacation, but we're still beyond excited to hit the surf!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Elmira Interactive Whiteboard Training
So much preparing for the big trainings that start next week. We went down for a fieldtrip yesterday to check out the setup and everything looks good. An instructor board, collaborative tables with wireless laptops, 4 "playground" whiteboards for participants all have software loaded and ready to go. Activotes and slates are registered on each board and an Activwand for each board (New Girl quickly demonstrated proficiency with the wand and you could sense she had discovered her new favorite toy). All training flipcharts were placed on the desktops. Folders are being assembled. Elmira sign-in sheets are on the table and ready to go. Software discs for all participants have been placed in the folders. All documents have been uploaded to my ToolboxPro account and I've even made a bookmark (much to Gail's dismay). Bring on Monday!
We made a stop at Big Top on the way home and enjoyed some ice cream for all our hard work. New Girl was overly excited and nearly exploded at the mere thought of ice cream. She even got a bit cranky as she thought I was driving too fast and that I was going to pass Big Top. After we calmed her down and explained that soft serve chocolate and vanilla were always available and there were 2 additional flavors that changed weekly, she was ok and settled into her hard chocoloate peanut butter. So much for New Girl to learn...it's quite a Journey for her (yes, that's a band from the 70s and 80s).
Off to lunch with Mr. Video...
We made a stop at Big Top on the way home and enjoyed some ice cream for all our hard work. New Girl was overly excited and nearly exploded at the mere thought of ice cream. She even got a bit cranky as she thought I was driving too fast and that I was going to pass Big Top. After we calmed her down and explained that soft serve chocolate and vanilla were always available and there were 2 additional flavors that changed weekly, she was ok and settled into her hard chocoloate peanut butter. So much for New Girl to learn...it's quite a Journey for her (yes, that's a band from the 70s and 80s).
Off to lunch with Mr. Video...
Monday, July 07, 2008
Independence and Birthday Weekend
Wow--a fabulous, fun-filled weekend to celebrate the country's 232nd birthday and my 42nd.
Friday, Independence Day, was filled with 3 parties, the first at Sherry's uncle's house in Wyndam. Highlights included frisbee and hillbilly golf with the kids. Following the early party, we headed up to Julie's in East Smithfield. After getting rerouted through the country because of the 4th of July parade, we arrived for an evening cookout--more delicious food and drink. A competitive game of Bocce ball and some horseshoes were the activities at this party. We left just after 9:00 p.m. and got home to find that our neighbors down the street were putting off some fireworks they had, so we went down to see the show, which was a delightful end to the day.
I awoke Saturday morning to the great surprise that Alex had made me breakfast in bed to kick off my birthday. The presentation of the fruit and berries around the bagel was beautiful, not to mention delicious. A short time later, I opened my present, which was a Wii that the girls had also pitched in on. We played some Wii for a bit before getting the house in order, so that 30+ people could come over for pizza and wings before walking over to the big Sayre fireworks show that night.
After the house was cleaned, the girls and I went out geocaching for the first time with some friends. A GPS unit is used to explore wooded areas and find caches that others have left. In the cache, there is a log as well as some trinkets. When you find the cache, you sign the log, take a trinket, leave a trinket, and eventually record it on the website. As the geocaching slogan goes, "it's the same planet, but a different world." We had a fantastic time caching.
We had worked up quite a sweat on our caching adventure, so we took a dip in our neighbor's pool and hot tub before getting ready for the party. People arrived at around 6 for the pre-fireworks party. Of course there was no shortage of food and Sherry had done a fabulous job planning and organizing the event. After I played some darts with Craig we got a street game of ultimate frisbee going with the girls, John, Kurt, and Aaron, which was a blast. Speaking of blast, we all walked over to the fabulous fireworks show. Each year it seems to get better. Following the fireworks, we arrived back at home to see that the neighbors had cranked up the chimnea, so we sat out by the fire until the tiredness (and reality of being 42) set in at 1:30.
Sunday was certainly not a day of rest. After sleeping in a bit and a few games on the Wii, the girls and I set out for a mountain biking adventure at Roundtop. Megan slammed her finger between her handlebars and a post, which bled and hurt alot. She also had some bike difficulty when she lost all but 4th and 5th gears. We managed to have a nice ride before returning home to yet another bbq--this time ribs, clams, and corn on the cob. Of course there were still desserts left from the previous days' parties and of course we ate them--turtle cheesecake, homemade strawberry pie, and cupcakes. Yummmm.
A second game of ultimate, this time 4x4 at the field. I used to love this game in high school and I love the fact that Alex is taking such an interest in it. While it was tremendously fun, again the reality of being 42 and getting completely gassed sunk in. Thankfully, the neighbors' pool and hot tub provided relief after the workout. The busy weekend closed out with some Wii and the final olympic trials--Dara Torres, 41 and in her 5th Olympics--wow!
Well, this is my first post to my blog that I set up years ago. Now I just need to continue it. My friends at BOCES have inspired me...
Friday, Independence Day, was filled with 3 parties, the first at Sherry's uncle's house in Wyndam. Highlights included frisbee and hillbilly golf with the kids. Following the early party, we headed up to Julie's in East Smithfield. After getting rerouted through the country because of the 4th of July parade, we arrived for an evening cookout--more delicious food and drink. A competitive game of Bocce ball and some horseshoes were the activities at this party. We left just after 9:00 p.m. and got home to find that our neighbors down the street were putting off some fireworks they had, so we went down to see the show, which was a delightful end to the day.
I awoke Saturday morning to the great surprise that Alex had made me breakfast in bed to kick off my birthday. The presentation of the fruit and berries around the bagel was beautiful, not to mention delicious. A short time later, I opened my present, which was a Wii that the girls had also pitched in on. We played some Wii for a bit before getting the house in order, so that 30+ people could come over for pizza and wings before walking over to the big Sayre fireworks show that night.
After the house was cleaned, the girls and I went out geocaching for the first time with some friends. A GPS unit is used to explore wooded areas and find caches that others have left. In the cache, there is a log as well as some trinkets. When you find the cache, you sign the log, take a trinket, leave a trinket, and eventually record it on the website. As the geocaching slogan goes, "it's the same planet, but a different world." We had a fantastic time caching.
We had worked up quite a sweat on our caching adventure, so we took a dip in our neighbor's pool and hot tub before getting ready for the party. People arrived at around 6 for the pre-fireworks party. Of course there was no shortage of food and Sherry had done a fabulous job planning and organizing the event. After I played some darts with Craig we got a street game of ultimate frisbee going with the girls, John, Kurt, and Aaron, which was a blast. Speaking of blast, we all walked over to the fabulous fireworks show. Each year it seems to get better. Following the fireworks, we arrived back at home to see that the neighbors had cranked up the chimnea, so we sat out by the fire until the tiredness (and reality of being 42) set in at 1:30.
Sunday was certainly not a day of rest. After sleeping in a bit and a few games on the Wii, the girls and I set out for a mountain biking adventure at Roundtop. Megan slammed her finger between her handlebars and a post, which bled and hurt alot. She also had some bike difficulty when she lost all but 4th and 5th gears. We managed to have a nice ride before returning home to yet another bbq--this time ribs, clams, and corn on the cob. Of course there were still desserts left from the previous days' parties and of course we ate them--turtle cheesecake, homemade strawberry pie, and cupcakes. Yummmm.
A second game of ultimate, this time 4x4 at the field. I used to love this game in high school and I love the fact that Alex is taking such an interest in it. While it was tremendously fun, again the reality of being 42 and getting completely gassed sunk in. Thankfully, the neighbors' pool and hot tub provided relief after the workout. The busy weekend closed out with some Wii and the final olympic trials--Dara Torres, 41 and in her 5th Olympics--wow!
Well, this is my first post to my blog that I set up years ago. Now I just need to continue it. My friends at BOCES have inspired me...
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