Splash Day at Bear Creek Lake State Park

Friday Dana and I joined the Way/Carvin/Nista gang at Bear Creek Lake State Park for a splash day. Dana had a blast swimming and playing on the playground with Evan and Rachel. Jake had more fun blowing bubbles. Thanks again, Kate for the invitation, and the ride!

What a Week!

This has been quite a week! On Saturday we visited Grandma and Grandpa, and picked up their fish tank, then went to the pet store to pick out some fish. Dana picked 3 fish a pink one named "Pinky", and pretty bluish one named "Watery", and a really cool mickey mouse fish named "Mickey Nemo" (he has a cool Mickey head on his tail, and he is orange like Nemo). Sadly, Pinky did not survive her first night in the tank, and was flushed...

Sometime on Sunday a deer was hit on Luck's Lane, and landed just on the other side of our back fence. Needless to say, the smell was awful, and it just got worse as the days got hotter... We tried to stay inside, or go out to get away from the poor thing. We had a picnic at the park one afternoon (see the first two pictures).

On Wednesday, Dana and I went to get in the car to head to our dentist appointment and my car wouldn't start, AGAIN! This is why my car was in the shop when we went to Sesame Place in Chase's car, and it was supposedly fixed. So we missed or dentist appointment for the second time, and my car was towed (I now have tow truck numbers on my cell speed dial).

Thursday we discovered that the poor deer was collected by someone after multiple calls to animal control, v-dot, and the police non-emergency line. So, we spent some quality time outside, and Dana practiced riding her Barbie bike (see the bottom pictures). I also enjoyed a massage at Woodlake (which Chase will get a percentage of), and Dana got to swim with Daddy.

Adventures in Philadelphia

We decided to take Chase's car on our trip to Sesame Place because my car was in the shop with a faulty battery, and I thought we'd save money on the tolls, rather than taking my sister's car. We left Trenton on Saturday morning, and drove about 25 minutes to Philadelphia when the car started having major issues. So, we had to have it towed, and spent the next few days bouncing from hotel to hotel, waiting on the people at Pep Boys to figure out what the problem was and fix it correctly. Dana was such a trooper through the whole ordeal. We took the Ferry across the river to Camden, New Jersey to the Adventure Aquarium.

Sesame Place, July 23-24

On the roller coaster

posing in the wave pool-- I wish I had thought to get a water-proof camera-- Dana was so funny on the water slides-- plugging her nose before she hit the water!

Posing in front of the door...

"Wild" few days

Dana and I did some recycling, and made a bird feeder out of a milk jug-- but so far only the squirrels seem to like it- can you see the squirrel on the right side of the tree?

We went to Maymont on Thursday, and the bears were having a swim. We watched them for half an hour.

Friday we went to the zoo with Andrew and Alex, and Dana wanted to show Andrew the budgies- he liked to look, but didn't want to hold the stick. One little guy kept pecking at the beads on my flip-flops!

Garden Update

Here is our vegetable garden, after 7 weeks. We recently added corn that Dana planted at the Children's Museum, and some cherry tomatoes that we got free.

Swimming Lessons

Dana is taking swimming lessons at Woodlake again this summer- she is gaining confidence in the water, but Michael Phelps can rest easy-- she won't be challenging him for his record.