Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

This year the picture slideshow is only 12 minutes long!  I must not have taken as many pictures this year.  I better get with it for next year.

We finally got to decorate our Christmas cookies today!  We were supposed to decorate on Saturday but decided to wait until Sunday afternoon instead.  Then, we forgot to take the cookies with us to Gram's house.  Monday was spent driving through the Lights on the Lake.  So, that left today, three days later.  Our red (colored with beet juice) sprinkles weren't red any more.  So, we used purple and orange, too.

 At the beginning of the month, we decorated our Christmas trees.  These three trees - one for each child- are still from our wedding decorations.  They like to have a tree of their own.   Of course, most of the ornaments are ones that the kids have made over the years.  I love them!  Every year, the kids enjoy getting out that box and reminiscing. This is one of my favorites.  It's from Play Day when Brady was almost 2. They put all of the "Little Meg" ornaments under the tree.  They were cutting down on their chances of breakage (again)

We spent our Black Friday hiking.  There were a lot less people and it induced less stress.  In fact, we only saw one other group on our hike.  It was a perfect day for a hike.  I'll bet it was around 60 degrees for some of the hike. We wore our bright colors so hunters could see us.  Although, I'm sure they could hear us without a problem! At every single downed tree -- and there were plenty-- we had to stop and walk the "balance beam".  I think Jesse was thinking, "Are we going to make it to the vista before dark?"  And, then we found rocks!  You already know how my kids love to climb over rocks.  I must confess that I like to climb rocks, too.  A lot.  After hiking 2 miles up and across the mountain, we made it to the vista! Amie was so glad to reach the top so that she could finally eat her granola bar.  Brady was bummed because he lost his granola bar on the hike up to the vista.  However, he...

Soccer this year was a lot of fun.  Natalee and Brady were on the same team and I was the assistant coach. It will be at least five years until they are on the same outdoor soccer team again. I feel blessed that I was able to coach them and this nice group of players this year. Some of these kids have been on my team for three years now.  I always hope that I can help a team learn the game while enjoying each other.  And, they did. Natalee took a year off of soccer last year, but she did miss playing.  I had some convincing to do, but she did decide to sign up this year.  And, she loved it. Natalee came out of her shell this year and was able to drive the ball down the field. Plus, she enjoyed playing with some of her friends on the team. Usually I did not have Natalee and Brady playing in the same area of the field. (One on offense, one on defense)  I had to laugh because Brady would be completely in outer space a lot of the game, includin...

Last weekend, we spent part of an afternoon at camp. Natalee and I walked into camp and picked up pretty leaves along the way. It was cold! But, Amie still managed to talk Pap into taking out the four wheeler. And, it starting snowing (or something) while she was on her ride.  And, Brady wanted to still take his turn anyway.  He just bundled in my hat and mittens. This week, Amie and I spent a day doing some necessary shopping in State College.  The poor girl has to put up with my shopping trips! On the way home, we stopped at Shavers Creek to see the raptors and take a hike.  I had forgotten that they had just set up their Halloween Trail, so there were carved pumpkins everywhere on our hike.  It was quite fun!  Amie was disappointed when we had to go back to the car.  She wanted to stay longer and forget about picking up her siblings at the bus stop! After Saturday's soccer game, we used the leaves from last weekend to make a ...

My kids love hiking the Thousand Steps.  They love it.   It is a different hike and fun.  But, it definitely leaves your legs wobbly. This time, we took Pap, Gram, and Aunt Lois along for the adventure. The leaves are beginning to change into pretty colors.  We hiked this Sunday afternoon with about 1,000 other people who had the same idea! This is the view from the top.  Amie hiked all 1,000+ steps without a complaint.  And, she was fast, too! They made it to step #1000! Climbing rocks was still a favorite activity.  But, you could tell that Brady wasn't feeling 100%. He didn't climb as much as he normally would have. Plus, his climbing scared Gram. All of us made it to the top-- with one glowing shirt! I LOVE this picture!

On our third morning at Acadia, we decided to take a boat ride to Islesford on Little Cranberry Island.  Islesford is still a fishing (lobster) village.  We saw some of the boats bring in their catch.  There was a little museum on the island that told the history of fishing in the area. That's a large osprey nest out their on the huge rock!  We learned how they measure lobster and decide which ones to throw back.  They throw back small ones, large ones, and females.  Maine lobster fishers want to keep their livelihood and not deplete lobsters like they did cod fish. It was difficult, but we did see seals and bald eagles while we were on the boat.  The seals were in the water because it was exactly high tide and their rock cliff was covered with water. She likes to make silly faces for me.  Here's my future summer "cottage", which was one of the original built on the island in 1891: Oh wait, maybe I'll settle for this summer "c...