October Catch-up

Rainbow tree.





A couple weeks ago we went to Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. Anja's first trip to the theatre. The girls did pretty well sitting through it. Elana was compelled to dance at parts--it's understandable since the music was pretty good. She'll be on stage at some point in her future, probably. Anja really enjoys spending time with her.




Anja was a princess for Halloween. We sprayed her hair blue, like an ice queen. With darker hair, I recommend a wig. The spray was toxic and didn't really last long. She was very excited that she got to dress up all day.








Another pic from the farm. You wouldn't initially think taking 15 3 and 4 year olds would be such a smooth event, but it was lovely.

Heard it snowed in South Dakota

I wore my flip-flops to work today since it was so nice. I'll do it again tomorrow since it'll be a little bit warmer.

Not ready to deal

Just saw the first flurry. Thad said he saw one yesterday. I wouldn't be so down-trodden if it were, say, the first week of December. I'm not mentally prepared for flurries yet!

Autumn Activities

Anja and Chi-An waiting for a bus after school.

We've also gone roller skating and attended the Homecoming Parade.

Yesterday, her class went to a Pumpkin Farm complete with a corn maze and animals that chew on fingers and slobber coats.

Senorita

Fall Fun Update

Last weekend we went to Bug Fest that was, well, pretty gross. Thad and Anja actually ate bugs! I'm not sure which ones, because my back was turned until the horrendous event was over. Then, on to Latino Fest where we practiced speaking Spanish and enjoyed ice cream in the park.

But, this is the week we remembered batteries for the camera. We went to the Fall Festival downtown and ran into tons of people we know; it still feels a little weird to live in a small town. The festival was pretty fun (check out the shots from last year too), but the pictures we're sharing with you today are from when we were just screwing around, not doing anything 'fest' affiliated.

It's all fun and games until mom falls off the branch. Ab muscles, don't fail me now!

Destruction at White Course!

When Anja and I arrived home from school today, one of the staff members at the desk said, "Don't worry, the power is back on." It turned out it wasn't a system upgrade or anything boring you might first suspect. A neighbor hit a transformer near our parking lot!

Backhoe!








Have you ever seen the inside of a transformer box? Turns out it's more fun to imagine.







She hit the transformer hard enough to uproot a pine tree about 8 feet away!






Anja correctly identified the electrician's tools thanks to a book we got from Colin, her birthday buddy. I think she said something like, "attrition" which in a way is accurate if you think of the decrease in electricity to the neighborhood. But she meant electrician.

Clowny kids

Here are Elana, Marissa and Anja being as silly as possible during the last minute of school Friday afternoon.








They happen to be climbing on the love seat, where dear volunteer, 91 year old, Grandma Norene comes in and reads stories every week. Catching that in the act-- Few things are more adorable.

What We Made Today

Ok, so I didn't really make this, but I didn't kill it. And it's huge! This is one of what I reaped from the garden recently. It's as delicious as it looks!

What Anja made were words that started with 'Q'. And because I couldn't think of any smaller words, she wrote 'quantity' and 'quarrel' among others. When I suggested she try 'cat' or something, she insisted firmly that she wanted to do 'Q' words. I was glad when she finally got bored. I was going to have to resort to 'quaalude' and 'quixotic' and I wasn't prepared to give an appropriate answer for the definitions.

Landscaper

Today on our walk home from school we passed by a house that had fresh sod put down. This house has had construction outside all summer--new patio, landscaping, etc. Their yard has only been dirt for as long as I can remember. Seeing grass around the house this afternoon was an obvious change. As I was mentioning about the lovely, new grass, Anja all of a sudden bolted up and started peeling back the sod. No! No! Stop!!

Her response?
"But Moooom, I saw a roly-poly bug."
(a.k.a. potato bug)

Boy was I glad no one saw us. I hope.

This weekend was so nice and relaxing. No commitments. Last weekend was a little crazy--we had too many parties to go to (a nice problem to have) but only having one this weekend is so wonderful.

I haven't toted my camera around lately, so here's one from July. We went to a little river with friends. Their little girl, Yerin, is in the background on the right. Roughly the same age as Anja.

Funny story: One evening about a month ago, I stopped by Yerin's house to see how her mom, Hyunjong, was doing. Hyunjong is really sweet, smart, sharp, and fun to talk with and I've enjoyed getting to know her. She was past her due date and pretty sick of being pregnant. So I thought I'd pop in, say something cheery and see if she liked lasagna after she delivers and gets back from the hospital. (Yes, of course!) It turned out that she had been having contractions about 10 minutes apart. Real labor, but not soon enough to go anywhere. So she and I talked. I kept saying, "Gee, well I should go," but she wanted me to stay to take the focus away from the labor. It's pretty cool to say, we had a really great conversation and laughed about international politics, culture, etc while we charted her minutes.

So, the next morning her car was gone. I was sure they were at the hospital. Two days later, I saw her husband and asked how things went that night. He said, "Well, our hot water heater (on the second floor) leaked all over the house that night, soaked the wall in the living room." Then I realized, their water broke around the same time her water broke. He shook his head yes and we both bent over laughing. But, that's not all. Her baby was delivered 6 minutes after they arrived at the hospital. 6! I joked how she almost delivered in the car! I guess Hyunjong talked with me, putting off going to the hospital a little too long.

Anyway, the pic I posted is the last time we did something with them. Their life has changed dramatically for a little while.

Return from Summer

We're back to blogging after a summer of...not. Mostly doing lots of other things. Thad and I went to Turkey; Anja visited Grandma and Auntie for a week during that time. We also ran around Minneapolis and Wisconsin to visit as many friends and family members as possible. Here in PA, we've been getting back in to the swing of things again, and adjusting to the new schedule that a new school year always brings. Things are going very well.

Here we have Elana and Anja (I dare you to say that 5 times fast) being their cute selves in a neighbor's fancy kid house on Labor Day. Though Anja's legs could deceive you, Elana is actually a solid 4 inches taller.

Yay! Baseball!!

The local AAA team, the Spikes, provide a pretty fun event. Notice I didn't mention how good of a team they are. 18-56 for the 2008 season. Nevertheless, it's a new little stadium, with friendly atmosphere, and usually a few decent plays per game. Most important: they have funnel cakes.

It may forever make me chuckle that Anja likes to hug the large, strange, costumed animals that have always freaked me out.

Catching up for May

May has been very busy, but most noteworthy, I got a good job, Anja got in to school, and Thad sucessfully finished his first year at grad school.






We even had time to stop and smell the roses. And touch the caterpillars.







Oh, so this is what he looks like. We finally have Thad back!











We found the elusive Lady Slipper on a walk in the state forest.








Auntie and Grandma Naneki visited over Memorial Day weekend. It was very fun to have them here, but unforunately, this is as cooperative as Anja got the entire time.

Phoebe, Anja, Sebastian, and Alex (among others not in this pic) enjoying the all-time favorite Slip n Slide.






Our friend and student, Ni-Yong, who is visiting from Korea and learning English with us. I think Anja teaches her more than I do!

Gee, There Sure are a Lot of Burgs

Yesterday Anja I went for a quick trip to visit Papa Rick in Dillsburg (near Harrisburg) who was staying with friends. We got to go trampolining and kitty holdin', see a cool train set, feed some fish in a pond, and play a kid guitar.



















On our way home we hit a really bad thunderstorm. Unfortunately, the heavy rain started once we hit the interstate, but after a stressful while of slowly going up, down, and around the mountains, it finally let up. Eventually, I noticed the windshield wipers started making noise telling me they were dry. So I turned them off and thought the most of it was over. We could still see lots of lightning in the distance--what a beautiful pink! But, it was quiet and relaxing as we drove for a while, watching the storm seemingly fade into the distance. In a blink, what seemed like an entire lake at once fell upon the car. I couldn't see at all! I let up on the gas and turned on the wipers, which didn't help immediately. It took a couple seconds to know for sure things were fine, that we weren't going into a ravine or something, but that's a very long time when you're cruising at 60 mph. To break the tension the rest of the way home, we named as many 'burgs as we could: Harrisburg, Phillipsburg, Boalsburg, Pittsburgh, Anjaburg, Truckburg, Streetburg, Mamaburg, Kittenburg, Bugburg...





Meet our garden plot. There are probably about 50 out there. Our garden neighbor is at the left of this shot. Don't tell her I forgot her name, again. Today we dug more troughs where a heavy rain can pool. (Should've done that more before yesterday, d'oh.) People get such a kick out of helping new gardeners, coordinating trades of seeds or future veggies, telling each other of plants they brought from their home countries... it really is a lot of fun. We might get a frost Tuesday, so I'll hold off on transplanting for a couple more days.

Gorgeous Weather

I'm not rubbing in how great the weather has been because if you still have cold weather, you're probably suffering a little. But it's been absolutely beautiful and no one here is taking it for granted. It will be crummy again soon. So we've been revelling as much as possible.

Anja got a Highlights magazine subscription for Christmas from Great Grandma Betty and she read it outside for 10 minutes all by herself.

Lovely Ladies

The neighbor ladies are having tea and crumpets talking about the American tax system. Er, or maybe it's juice, animal crackers and suggesting how to not fall over in their chairs in the lumpy grass. Clockwise we have Anja, Clover, Julia, Mimi, Seo-Jung, and Xara.

A couple weeks ago Seo-Jung (Danielle) kept forgetting and asking my name. We noted it was difficult to learn a name in another language. I said, "Well, you sometimes use an American name, maybe I should have a Korean name." She thought for a minute and decided I should be called "Mindalay." I not only liked how it sounded but I could actually say it. I asked Hwan-Mee, her mom, what it means. Dandelion. I told her it was perfect because I love the color yellow. She hugged me and ran off.

New joke from Darren, age 6:

2 + 2 = chocolate pudding.

Last Thursday

Last Thursday we went to Milbrook Marsh and made sure to wear our Wellies/galoshes/gum boots. Everyone got muddy, but that was part of the plan--what fun to jump in a little river! Despite her pout in this shot, Clover loved it. It would have been wonderful to canoe here--little rapids, windy path the creek takes, birds and trees, etc. Probably not relaxing with a 3 year old, however. Maybe next year.

Just the beginning of a lifetime of tree climbin'.






Lots of buds on trees. Should see lots of flora and fauna soon.

Came out to see the rainbow

It's not a dental appointment, it's a scary face.

Shaver's Creek: Reprise

Shaver's Creek had their annual Maple Sugar Festival. Usually anything that has "sugar" or "festival" in the title is something I have to check out. But a festival of sugar? Yes! They showed how maple syrup is made, had maple syrup for sale as well as maple sugar cotton candy. It was all very Vermont-y.

Everybody came for the pancakes. Here we see the giant griddle just like in the Curious George book. We suggested they get a monkey to help, just like in the book.
















Toe-tappin' bluegrass music. The violinist is out of view. They were pretty good, but it was too nice outside to sit long.









At a newly thawed pond there were some kids poking sticks in the muck. Anja wanted to too, but naturally I told her, "No, Sweetie. If you get too close and fall in, you will be sad because your body will be sooooooo cold. It's only 35 degrees outside." She fussed a little, but as if our lives were scripted, on cue, a boy fell in and got all wet. Lucky for him we were not too far from the main building and could get warm. A nice sense of self-righteousness gave me a little smile, "See Mu? Sometimes I'm right."

We visited our favorite owls. The mama Barn owl was sitting on her eggs but her spot was too tough to photograph. Maybe next time we'll get to see some babies!

Fancy Face

Anja insisted I take a new picture and that she "would smile nice to put it on the blog." So, here she is, lovely as ever. It hurts a little to look directly at it.

Earlier we were listening to The Sound of Music and during '16 Going on 17' we came to the part (admittedly a line I don't like) where Liesl sings, "I need someone older and wiser telling me what to do..." Without prompting, Anja asked innocently, "Why does she like bossy people?" That's a good little feminist.

The Little Garden That Could

The artichokes have popped beautifully. The tomatoes and peppers have sprouted like crazy. The lavender is having a tough start--I don't know if I scarified the seeds properly--but I do have a couple that might make it.

Taking Dada To Weaver

We walked Thad to his office this afternoon. Ever notice 40 degrees feels nicer in Spring than it does in Autumn?

Well, some of us walked. Some walked a little less. No, she's not sleeping. She's stalling.

Hints that it might not snow forever.

Weaver. Where all the historians toil. The architecture reminds me a lot of Nicholson at the U of M.

Historians (Amanda, Lauren, and Anja) hard at work.

Muddin'

Clover took further steps into appreciating the mud than Anja. We have learned the amazing power of OxyClean.

Just like back in Minneapolis when the weather finally gets nice and everyone pours outside to enjoy the sun.

Shaver's Creek

..."where you may experience the tranquility and beauty of our natural world." Anja is experiencing the hawks, as tranquilly as a 3 year old might. There were lots of raptors, snakes, turtles, a bee hive made of glass...tons of stuff.

I think barn owls are cool. This one was not happy to see us.

The Barred owls were indifferent to us. This pic doesn't show how creepy they looked. Their room/enclosure was darker than this, their eyes deep and still. Creepiest of all, was the sitting motionless, staring at us.

Hi! It's about 60 degrees right now. We found leaves popping through the ground. Spring is coming... spring is coming...