Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

This morning, I took Natalee for a little girl time. We went to the Standing Stone Coffee Company to enjoy a mocha (me), a Capri Sun (Natalee), and a chocolate chip cookie. Then, we sat down and made ourselves some macaroni necklaces. She did a really good job of stringing on her macaroni-- while donning her new sunglasses! Then, we posed for a picture while wearing our macaroni necklaces. I guess I should have put on my sunglasses, too!

Sunday afternoon was beautiful, so we took advantage of it and hiked the Thousand Steps . Yes, there really are a thousand steps! Slightly more, actually. You can see some of the stone steps right behind us in this picture. Years ago, this is the path that the workers used to get to work every day in the stone quarry. The Mount Union company is still the leading producer of silica bricks in the world. Now, they have a quarry further down the ridge. There used to be a "dinky railroad" that wound up the side of the mountain. You can still see where the tracks would have been. Is this building where they loaded it up? This was a nice view, with Mapleton behind us. Another nice view, looking toward Mount Union.

Some people argue that he looks like my brother, Todd. Todd is older here, but I don't know how old he is. Maybe a year? I don't really think he looks like him, though. Maybe Brady would look like me if I would have had more meat on my bones like he does. Lindsay at 6 months: Jesse at 6 months: Natalee at 6 months: Maybe it's too early to tell. I don't think he is as obvious as Natalee was. Natalee's red hair just tipped her off as looking like her dad! I think he looks most like Natalee with a few differences. Maybe he's a good blend of everyone.

Tonight, Brady went for his first lawnmower ride. He looked like he was having fun! Natalee has refused to ride the lawnmower since April. However, when she saw her little brother riding the lawnmower.... she decided maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all!

Today, Jesse and I went to the Penn State football game. Thanks to Aunt Bev and Uncle Rick, we got to sit in really good seats (15 rows up at the 40 yard line). Penn State won 28-7. It was not ever really in question who would win. But, it was a lot of fun, nonetheless. The Nittany Lion led the cheers: You can see how many students came late to the game. They should be able to make a noon game. Slackers! Jesse and I: The Nittany Lions with JoePa looking on: Touchdown Penn State! You can see a guy in the picture that is dressed in lime green. He was green from his head to toe (even his face). He kind of stuck out! At the last minute Todd went to the game, too, and drug Dad along. They just were not sitting with us. Although, they could have if I would have had a way to tell them that there were two open seats beside us (someone wasted good seats).

We were finished making pizza last night and Natalee made a cute pose for me (she helped me make the pizza by rolling out the dough and eating the cheese :). Brady was having fun walking around with his dad.

Natalee: Mom, I have one grape left. Me: Are you going to eat it? Natalee: No. I'm just going to look at it. (and she did) She did eat it then. She just said it so sarcastically, though I'm sure she doesn't quite have that humor yet! Last night Natalee helped me mix up some Chocolate Chip Cookie batter that we will make for a picnic on Sunday. She really is a good helper, dumping in the ingredients and stirring. However, I really think she looks forward to the end (sorry the picture is blurry, but you get the point) when she gets to lick the mixer blade..... ...and eat some chocolate chips! What a mess!!!!

The weather has been perfect lately, so we decided that we needed to get out and do a family hike here in Huntingdon. We chose go walk up to Maya Lin's Peace Chapel (the same person that designed the Vietnam War Memorial). This is a shorter walk that Natalee could easily do "all by herself". And, Brady enjoyed the ride in the front pack, courtesy of Dad. Of course, Natalee liked to hop around the circle that is designed using large rocks (an automatic toddler magnet). Hopefully next time we can explore some of the surrounding trails. Then, we can end with the fun circle for Natalee.