Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

Last week Natalee and I enjoyed 5 days at the beach with the other female family members on my mom's side of the family. We had wonderful weather every day. It was a fun and refreshing time. The fun began when we picked up the rental house key. At the real estate office, they had a fountain. Natalee got soaking wet! Playing in the sand was fun, too. The day there, we could not take Natalee in the water because it was really rough. Over the night before, the sand was erroded off the beach. Here, you can see there was a 2-3 foot drop-off everywhere along the beach. The next evening, it corrected itself enough that we could go in the water. AIRPLANE! "Mmmm. Aunt Cindy gave me strawberry marshmallows." "I love you and your marshmallows, Aunt Cindy!" " I'm a big girl because I can carry my own sand toys!" We dipped her in the water when the waves came. By the end of the week she was very brave and began running at the waves herself.

. . . on the Chattahoochee. This is a picture of the Chattahoochee River. I stopped at this little park by the river and took a 1/2 mile loop out to the river and back. I found this sign really funny. Don't be hissin' or hollerin' at anybody.

While I was in Atlanta I also played a lot of disc golf (when I wasn't trying to watch the Braves). There are about 6 courses in the area, but I only played at the two courses that were close to where I was staying. On Thursday I was playing the course in Roswell, GA for the second time. On my second round I came up to the second hole. It is a short hole, only about 235 feet. But it has narrow path to get to the basket. I threw my disc and thought "that was a good shot, it should be an easy birdie if I don't hit any trees." Since those shots usually hit a tree I was surprised as it got closer that it was still going straight. Then I thought "this might hit the basket." Then when I heard the crashing of the chains I thought "BAM!!!!!!" That last thought was out loud, and several other players nearby yelled back their congratulations. You can see the basket straight down the middle of the picture with the little red arrow pointing to the y...

While I was in Atlanta this last week I decided to go see the Braves play baseball. I have been a Braves fan since I was a little kid. I think it's because they were always on TV. So I bought tickets, got to the game early, walked around the stadium and tried to stay dry. About 10 minutes before the first pitch they canceled the game and rescheduled it for the next day at 1:00pm. Here is a picture of the infield covered with a huge tarp. Since I was in Atlanta for class, I couldn't make it to the afternoon game and so I had to stand in line in the rain for 45 minutes to get my ticket exchanged for the next night. The next night I got to game early (got a free Chipper Jones T-shirt) and this time they were watering the infield before the game started (they do this every game, but I thought the contrast with the tarp was nice). I was excited to see the Cubs play the Braves (the Cubs are doing great this year). Although I was a little disappointed that there was a ton of Cub...

For Natalee's birthday, she got a fridge farm music/magnet toy. She just loves to push the button to hear Farmer Tad play his banjo music. She hasn't really figured out the whole magnet thing yet, but the music is fun! And, lately she has been dancing to the music with her feet. On Sunday, in church, she was dancing as we were singing hymns! When we are outside, her two bigger playground balls are a lot of fun. She has become quite a good kicker. She still likes to bring me the skunks, too, even though one of the tails broke off again (she dropped it on the cement). While on the airplane returning from Idaho, we had to create entertainment. We used the empty drink cups to make noises. I think that was entertainment for a good hour. Now, she makes those noises with everything that is shaped like a cup. Here, she decided to use her ball, too. It's quite entertaining.

Today we went to DelGrosso's Amusement Park for my company's summer picnic. The management and the union (USW) do this every summer. We get to ride the rides for free, eat some good food, and win some door prizes. As we were looking over the door prizes Lindsay said, "I hope we don't win that camping chair, we already have 3 of those." Well, I won the chair! Natalee enjoyed some mini golf. She also enjoyed the merry go round. She mostly gazed at the lights and listened to the music as she went around. We also took a trip on the little train. She fell asleep in line, so she wasn't quite awake fot that. Only 3 more weeks till we move into our house!

Today was corn day. We husked 40 dozen and cut it off for the freezer. So, not nearly as much corn as we put up most years. We had Aunt Lois, Mom & Dad, Mamma & Pap, me, Natalee, and Lilly enlisted to help. It was perfect weather--couldn't have asked for a better day. Here is dad watching the corn boil in the turkey fryer. Natalee did not allow me to help much during the husking part of things, but she did pitch in to help while we blanched the corn, cut it off, and bagged it. Here, she's helping to take the corn out of the ice water (until the water got too cold). Lilly lounged in the swing after she had her milk. All of the sudden, Natalee's eyes lit up -- she realized that Mamma's corn bowl was right at her level! She stuffed her mouth with corn. I'm afraid she ate a bit too much corn today.

We traveled to the Pittsburgh Zoo yesterday with Jen, Jimmy, and Lilly . We saw a lot of fun animals and the girls enjoyed themselves very much. the lions cuddling together Zebras " Look at the big elephant!" Natalee and I looking at the two new baby elephants and their mammas. The zoo has two new baby elephants that have been born in the past month. The zoo built a new house for the elephants to grow and bond. Giraffes the pondering gorilla Kodiak Bear We did not get a picture of the polar bear exhibit, but it was really neat. There were a lot of people there. The polar bear had a ball and was swimming in the water above us.