Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania

Kids and I went with my mom and dad to Boiling Springs, PA, in mid-August. My dad's dear friend lives about 45 minutes in the other direction - so we met him there for some fly fishing demonstrations and a yummy Saga blue cheese hamburger lunch.

I can see the grown-up Smith here

Grandfather/grandson fishing demo

Two of the three amigos

I should work for a greeting card company with a picture like this!

We ended up meeting a family who was trying to free their duck - they found a random, un-mom-ed egg at that very lake, so they took it home for it to hatch, not knowing what kind of fowl would come from it. Turned out to be a white duck! They named him Omelette - but he was taking no part of being released from his humans. He kept following them back to their car - they apparently have a pool in their backyard, so he swims all day then is caged outside at night so he won't get eaten by some predator.

Omelette and his mom

He loved jewelry - would nibble my rings

"Best burger EVER!"

Yes. This.

http://www.upworthy.com/a-pastor-asks-a-politician-why-he-supports-gay-marriage-it-seems-he-wasnt-prepared-for-his-reply

Random Happenings

Some friends of ours that moved to Germany were in town this August, so we saw them a couple times. Once was a pool/park day, and the other was some zoo time. It's one of Tate's first friends here where we live - we started a playgroup of 3 of us that have the same age kids, which is somewhat unusual with a 5 year spread between them. Smith is the only boy of the group, but their eldest is really great, and they both hit it off just like old times. Same with Tate and her friend - love when old friendships need very little encouragement!

We also attended some of the Sunday concerts in town. This is my niece, brother, and grandmom (in background). As if I needed to call out that my grandmom is not participating in the lift.  Niece is a dancer, but brother is not - think he should probably work on his holds. 

Brother's cool bike with a back "seat" - it's called The Lamont, so he calls it the "Big Dummy" after Sanford & Son's "Lamont." Hysterical. Tate loves riding on it.

Winning a prize from the concert - we were with another family, too, and of our 4 kids there, we won 3 of the door prizes for kids! 

Stroll with friends for 7-11 slurpees

Garden bounty (after getting more butternut squash from neighbors/friends, I see some more of that delicious soup in my future!)

2nd visit with Germany friends - at the zoo. 

Next up are some beautiful pictures from a fishing/lunch trip with one of my dad's friends. Lunch was really the main event, but the scenery was gorgeous.

This summer break was 2 weeks longer this year due to the changing of county school schedules - it felt faster, though, but when I look and see all that we actually did do, it was very full!

Un-official Event with Girls from a Particular Group

We seem to randomly bump into some girls from Tate's sanctioned "girl group" at a local winery - odd, really. The moms are really fun and the girls have a great time. Smith was along this time, too, and was a popular target. Oddly, he was the first to ask to leave...

Yes, they are sitting on him.

Catching Up - Appalachian Trail

Late July - The kids and Spud and I went to Bear's Den, a local-ish hiking spot on the Appalachian Trail. It's so beautiful there! We had a few odd things happen. 

One, Spud was snorting through some grass/weeds at the side of the trail and jumped back quickly. Something got his ear - we never felt a bite or sting, but his ear by the end of the hiking trip was easily 10 times thicker than it was when we started! Poor guy kept shaking his head to make it stop. 

Two, there was a large camp group at the rocks, so we found a more secluded area to sit and relax. However, as soon as we got to our little spot, there were two women on the rock in front of us who had just opened their urn of ashes, which caught the wind and was heading in our direction, one rock back...we quickly moved aside while I whisper-screamed, "don't breathe in!!" It did end up in a nice conversation with the kids about who, exactly, was in that urn and why were they released here - was it the person/animal's favorite spot, or the people releasing the ashes? Where would they want ashes left? It wasn't scary or morbid, just a nice conversation.

Three, as we were leaving, we noticed piles of trash that the campers left. These were church organizations! They just up and left, leaving fruit snack packs, ziplock baggies, drinks, etc - as if they had just raptured or something. But they hadn't, as we caught up with them a bit later, and told the councilors about the trash EVERYWHERE. Guess what they did? A whole lot of NOTHING. Said oh no, then got on their buses and left. Good example.

I guess I was angrier about that than I thought...

Post-ashes

Walking like an Egyptian

Beagle with a fat ear

Heart rock (always think of Papa when we see these!!)

Olan Mills fake tree shot

And another Fair

David took the day off and the 4 of us went to another nearby county fair - but this one is a BIG one. It's the one where I grew up, although in the 80s it had a very scary component to it. There were roving hoodlums and ne'er do wells - if you were there at night, and a teenage boy, chances are you would be mugged, or at least an attempt made. Somehow they cleaned up their act, the fair that is, and it's now a very family friendly environment. I went with Smith a few times when he was little, but it's been 8+ years! (Remember this, Eliza?)

So this is 2013...

Jenga-style safety, yikes!

They rode this, I think, 7,264 times. Thank god for the wristbands.

Pumpin out some hot tunes for your listening pleasure!

Duck races. Also had potbelly pigs, "regular" pigs, goats. Adorableness.

Sheep make me think of knitting. This one had such a beautiful color - very caramel. Gorgeous, and very friendly for a sheep!

I swear this mini pony looked like a stuffed animal that could walk!

A great day! David coming was a last minute addition, and I told the kids the only down side of him coming with us was that it meant less JUNK that we would eat. He's more strict about that stuff than me...hey if it's a special event, I'm in! So we had to forego the fried oreos, but definitely got our fill of petting goats and sheep and pigs and cows and bunnies and birds!

Pumpkin Butternut Squash Soup

A neighbor brought by a butternut squash the other day. I went to pick up Tate at a friend's house, who was just finishing up roasting a butternut squash for soup. You can see where this is going.

I found this recipe, on Joy the Baker, for pumpkin-butternut squash. We grow sugar pumpkins in our garden and I had 2 cups of pureed pumpkin left over from last year in the freezer, so a soup was born!

Sadly, I did not get any shots of the soup in progress, which is a shame because it was really pretty. Swirls of cream in the orange pumpkin squash, with little bits of green from the onions. I substituted quite a few things - chicken broth in place of veggie, green onions in place of shallots, and I just kind of mixed it all together until the consistency came out how I wanted.

Afterwards, even while cleaning as I was going, the kitchen was a bit of a scene. A beautiful mess, really. David asked if it was all worth it - yes! Sometimes the cooking then consuming of something is worth it all.

I am the only eater of said soup - while I imagine Smith would like it if he tried it, he won't, and Tate is not a soup girl. David would not willingly eat butternut squash. So, more for me, and I will definitely make this again. Delicious.