New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve in State College is called "First Night", but as I considered this, isn't it technically the last? Anyhoo, for such a small town, there is a lot to do and quite a lot of diversity too! There were tons of different music groups performing: bagpipes, drums, jazz, harps, random bands, etc. Also, something pretty cool they do is recreate a burning man (see description at end of post) with resolutions and regrets to be burned before midnight. A 5K, a parade similar to my beloved May Day Parade from Mpls, and an ice sculpture competition were also spectator events that everyone seemed to enjoy witnessing.

Do you believe that we made this?











and this...












and this...












Explanation of Burning Man in Nevada: to quote their site, "people make the journey to the Black Rock Desert for one week out of the year to be part of an experimental community, which challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one's day-to-day life." In other words, mountain bikers go to the desert to do drugs and burn a wooden person. It can have a more cerebral meaning for people, but think Woodstock with more art and you'll get close. Note that this is not the feeling in State College, but I'm merely comparing the feeling of community and the burning of something in representation of something else. In this case, burn 2007, on with 2008!

Sadly, Anja didn't sleep well last night, so we had to skip the burning completely and come home to put our little pumpkin to bed. It would've been nice to warm up--it's actually cold out there tonight.

Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Last night Anja was especially easy-tempered. With any fussing I'd say, "Are you fussing? Shall I call Santa and tell him you're being fussy?" Then she'd say sweetly, "No! Look! I'm smiling and laughing. Ha-ha-ha," and her tune turned on a dime. Fast-foward to bedtime, Thad had just finished reading Madeleine and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and her determination for expediting Santa's arrival was most evident. She promptly rolled over, brought the blankets on her and said with what was apparently nothing short of the personification of glee, "Merry Christmas Dada. Good night."

I awoke around 7:30 and was too excited to fall back asleep. After making coffee, checking the news, fussing with final details, I could wait no longer--I woke them both. Anja was a little puzzled, but also cautiously eager to see what Santa had delivered. She first discovered that he ate the oatmeal cookie with orange-flavored craisins we made. She warmed up over time, either because her comfort level naturally rose, or it was the candy canes she ate for breakfast. We tried to play Chutes and Ladders and Candyland, but she was only mildly interested in the games. Us: "Wait! Come back! Let's play this game. You're winning!" She did end up winning both, fair and square.

Funniest thing I've seen in a while is this quote from the rules for Candyland:

Once you've mastered the classic game, try this more challenging version. On each turn, draw TWO cards. Look at each card and choose which one you want to play. Move your gingerbread character pawn accordingly, then discard both cards. Hint: This special rule helps children learn to make decisions as well as speeds up gameplay.

Apparently, the writers of the game actually DO play with 3 year-olds. We had a good chuckle with that one.

Some of the Anja highlights from this morning are, in no particular order:

• Anja loved seeing Colin's face/present under the tree.


• Putting on new Dora lip-goo every minute, like an addict.


• Telling me (so sweetly) she bought me socks "so you can wear them to bed and your feet won't get cold."


• Jumping on her bike and riding it like a pro.


• It's 40 degrees and sunny out! All three of us raced around outside with the new kid vehicles: bike, scooter, skateboard.

Here you can see Anja enjoying some of her gifts:

Lovely Little Bellefonte

The next town over is lovely little Bellefonte where Victorian houses climb the mountains. There are many large antique shops along Main Street where there also was a horse-drawn carriage giving rides. I swear there is a street steeper than anything I saw in San Fransisco. I was nervous to drive down! Since it was night, most of the pictures didn't turn out great, but this gives an idea.

Flower Girl To Be

The fun part of being a kid is decorating the tree in your underware and thinking nothing of it.

In Memory

A friend died last year. Today would've been her birthday, so today I remember her life.

She was so sassy, but in a way everyone loved.

Ice, ice baby. Ok stop! Collaborate and listen...

This concludes the longest month of all--National Beard Month. Every year, Thad grows what he can in celebration of his hirsute freedom, then follows it up by carving something interesting for the final day of the month.

To fill in the background for those of you with question marks over your head: Thad has super scratchy facial hair--my cheeks and lips don't enjoy it and prefer he shave. But November has been deemed National Beard Month by beard aficionados somewhere. Our compromise, he decided, was that he won't shave during this month and not complain about shaving the rest of the year. But, when I die, he's going for something a lot more creative. Like this guy, for example.











If I do get to watch from the Great Beyond, I hope he goes for the straw hat and barbershop quartet outfit too.

Peacock hunting

Mom! Mom! We should go for a walk and look for peacocks!! Peacocks have a lot of feathers but they can't fly. Mom, why can't they fly

I don't know. But, a lot of birds can't fly. Can you think of another bird that can't fly? (She has taught me of other birds before.)

(thinks) Puppies can't fly.

You're right, but they're not birds. Can you think of a BIRD that can't fly?

Plants can't fly.

Right. But what about a birds that can't fly?

Paper can't fly.

What about flamingos and penguins?

(jumps very excitedly) OH YEAH!!!

Delicious recipe

You will love this. I know people don't need more clogged arteries--I take responsibility if you die sooner. But this is SO GOOD.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/104182

35W Bridge

This post will be a bit of a downer, if you are interested. But, in response to the 35W bridge collapsing back in August, the Minneapolis local paper created an engrossing interactive tracking almost every car and its correlated riders. It's cathartic for someone like me, and countless others in the Twin Cities community I'm sure, who have crossed that bridge no less than 10,000 times and thought that day, "I could've been there too." 35W is a main artery for Minneapolis and is extremely close to the University of Minnesota and downtown. Though I am saddened that people died, I am so grateful so many walked away with relatively minor injuries--not to mention of course that everyone I know was not near the bridge at that time.

http://www.startribune.com/projects/bridge/

And if you are curious about the construction, MNDOT has a section devoted to the replacement project. A lot of photos from the fall as well.

Scary Face

Crack is Whack

First Snow

This morning I was checking the news, sipping my coffee, waiting for Anja to wake up when I heard weird screaming/screeching from upstairs. It was a peculiar sound, but I could tell it wasn't an emergency, so I kept reading, anticipating a preschooler's crabby start to the day. Instead, when she came running downstairs a couple minutes later, with saucers for eyes, she shrieked, "It's snowing! I want to go outside!" Obviously ecstatic, she had her hat and mittens on before I could persuade a couple Cheerios to pass her lips. She has been eagerly anticipating this day for at least a week, which is probably months in kid time.

So far, it snowed enough slushy stuff to mostly cover the grass, but it'll be covered soon. A father and son beat everyone out there to build the first snowperson of the year. It's a little too sticky to sled, but the kids are out having a blast. Good thing she got snowpants yesterday. Thanks Auntie.

We're surrounded!

Disregard academia's finest architecture in the foreground, but notice how the hill/mountain is looming in the background. They are in the background of practically every location in town and I'm 80% certain they are Appalachians. When I first arrived, I'd be doing a perfunctory check in my rear-view mirror and do a double take. For the first half second, I always thought it was a thunderstorm approaching. I guess WI and MN didn't train me well to expect a landscape with altitude. Maybe it was wishful thinking--I do love those thunderstorms and hope for lots in the spring!

Anyway, our camera doesn't zoom well enough to show the colors. But the hills were indeed alive with color this fall--probably the sound of music as well, but we were probably building forts and missed that one.

P.S. The architecture here really is lovely. A mixture of stuff from the U of M with East Coast influences. There are usually too many trees to show the mountains well.

When it rains...

...we build forts! Ah, good times.

Halloween pic add ons

Self-explanatory and so cute.

No pic today

I hadn't realized how often some of you check in, so I thought I'd at least fill you in briefly. We don't have any new photos because not much photographic has happened. Thad had a 24-hour flu thing with a 102 degree temp and all. So for two days Anja and I worked to stay out of germ range. He's doing mostly fine now and we skipped it. I had an interview. We attended a department dinner party which was fun--my friend Marcella watched Anja. Since the interviews are being scheduled, I'll be looking at more schools for Anja this week.

More busy-busy and not as much clicky-clicky. I'm sure we'll have something soon.

A quick side note you should be aware of in case you find yourself in rural PA: You know how the radio station you probably listen to says, "The best oldies," or maybe "We only play what you want to hear!" Something different about State College compared to Minneapolis: I heard the DJ on the radio here actually say, "We're the station that will play anything!" Trying to make everybody happy makes no one happy, especially people who like good music. Be careful out there.

Is that a banana in your pocket...

Anja had her first trick-or-treating experience this evening. We practiced the routine before going out and it was unclear if she really got the whole concept of knocking on people's door for candy and what to say and when. But, she did awesome! There was a little parade of kids (and some fun parents who dressed up too), pizza, weird Halloween-y "tricks", a Chilean flute player, and of course, trick or treating, which she loved.

The pic is of our neighbors Mei-Jin and her kids Emily (3) and Ethan (9 mos). Anja was a monkey if you can't quite make it out. She even did the "ooooh eeeee aaahhh" to the parents when we went door to door.

Her costume came complete with a banana in her pocket. But she was mostly happy just to see the candy.

Fright Night

A trip to Beaver Stadium didn’t scare No. 1 Ohio State. A crowd of 110,134, the second-largest in Beaver Stadium history, started out loud but was quieted quickly, and the Buckeyes went on to their seventh double-digit victory Saturday. Penn State struck early by going 78 yards on its first drive to take a 7-3 lead, but the Buckeyes countered with a touchdown drive and cruised to a 37-17 victory.
--centredaily.com

OSU at PSU

In case you didn't know, Ohio State is ranked right now at #1 and Penn State is #24. On top of them being top teams, they are also bitter rivals. Word on the street is a #1 ranked school hasn't been here since 1988. Tailgaters all dressed in blue have flooded the town all weekend. Only the extremely brave/reckless have worn red. It should be a good game, hopefully for people like me who just like to check in for a while. Go Lions.

If you'd like to read more about how crazy-collegiate it gets around here...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/football/ncaa/2007/10/scary-saturday-in-state-college.html?bcnn=yes

P.S. It has turned out to be a dry, cool night for the game.

Awesome Autumn

Since she refuses to pose, I just do my best to grab her when she's spinning around or something she enjoys. I think all those years of Nintendo have helped my reflexes for the shutter button.

Anja-dillo

Downtown there was a fun Fall Festival last weekend. Everything was free! Inflatable jumpy thing, carousel, pumpkin decorating, rock wall...everything! Well, everything except the chili cook-off.

Anja and I are very similar in personality, with a huge difference in how comfortable we are with people disguised as huge, strange, animals. I still get nervous, but she loves em! Runs right up and smiles a big smile.

Environs

In back is the community center where we pick up our mail and grab the Times. Often, tons of kids will swarm the playground, but less now that school is back in session. This is our courtyard where the kids do most of the running around. The shot of our specific unit did not turn out, but you get the gist.








This is beyond the parking lot of our place. Pretty much just turning around from the previous pic. The trimmed grass is the golf course. The tall grass invites lots of butterflies and a few woodchucks.

A View from the Top

We finally made it to the top. Bigger than anything I've hiked in WI or MN, Mount Nittany is no slouch of a mountain. Though I'm sure anyone from the Rockies would scoff...

In the distance is the bustling metropolis of State College. You may even see Beaver Stadium where the fans are as loyal as anything I've seen in Packer country.

Pumpkin Patch

Checking out the pumpkins and apples with the History Grad students. Hay rides, bunnies, apple dumplings, cider, milkweed... the works! Ah, good times in rural PA.

Sun Shiny Day

We made our first attempt to climb Mount
Nittany today. We made it about half-way, sadly. Apparently, there's a beautiful vista to reward your efforts though. We're far from peak-colors, so maybe I'll try solo another time.

Rainbow umbrella is shot in our new backyard where kids play in the evening after school. It's pretty quiet in the mornings though.

But they did have other fun at Franklin Park

They've got the

My-mom-forgot-
to-get-cash-and-now-
we-can't-ride-
the-carousel

Blues

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We woke him up. Turns out his name is George.

Mystery solved.

Anja, Sarah and Nate
This is the super-lovely street where we stayed.

Love Fountain

I thought it was gruesome that the fountain at JFK Plaza was tinted red, but it turns out, it's pink for breast cancer awareness. They make it green for St. Patty's Day, and other colors when it suits their fancy.


Anja, me and Nate

Magic Garden

If you haven't heard of the Magic Garden, you should check it out. http://www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/

It's maze-like, an enormous mosaic made of glass, mirrors, bottles, bicycle wheels... all sorts of things. In my opinion, the highlight of
our visit.

Quick trip to Philadelphia

The railings were a little more interesting than the animals.




Philadelphia Zoo, the country's oldest, on a beautiful day.