Maddy and Katie are enjoying the new experience of attending school. But we are finding out that school is all about rules... The first day was an all school assembly with the Principal explaining the school rules, followed by every teacher explaining the rules of the class. I wonder how we survived thus far with far fewer rules in our lives????

This was all followed up by Katie's class making their own rules, illustrating them and voting on them. Here is Katie's:







If you can't read it, it says, "Don't push someone off the swing just because you want to go on"

Unfortunately, her rule was not the most popular in the class, she was narrowly edged out by the rule "Don't sit on a thumb tack on your chair." Second isn't so bad... :)

Our Latest National Park Visit - Shenandoah

Over Labor Day, the Kreilings & Littles visited Shenandoah National Park, continuing our quest to visit all national parks in the US of A.  The best part?  Uncle Craig was with us!   Yay!!

The weather was mixed - total fog wipe out for our arrival late at night (imagine Walter, towing the camper, with his head hanging out the window to see the yellow lines!); beautiful for Saturday; rain Saturday night; cool & cloudy on Sunday; and beautiful again on Monday.   But we're veteran campers so we were prepared for everything & anything!

The first day, we hiked the Appalachian Trail for a bit then proceeded on a course straight down into a ravine that held a beautiful waterfall.   I knew I was in trouble when the path was down the whole way - that meant hiking up to get "home".  I'm not a happy hiker, so the trip up was full of grumbling and groans.  Maddy needed her inhaler but we didn't have it, so Uncle Walter, the dogs and Nicky "raced-hiked" out of the ravine to get the car so that we didn't have to hike the whole way back to the campsite.   After quite some time, we all made it back to the parking lot and waited for Uncle Walter to rescue us.   The hike was about 4 miles in length, and WE ALL MADE IT!

That ended my portion of hiking on the camping trip - Uncle Craig, Katie & Joey were all right there with me.   However, Uncle Walter and Tante Laura, along with Maddy & Nicky, went for a long hike on Monday, too.

Here are some camping pictures - we really enjoyed the weekend.

Here's where we lived for the weekend!

Gathered around the fire - Uncle Walter is eating his favorite camping food - baked beans right from the can (after having been warmed on the fire grate).

On a short hike after Sunday lunch at the hotel - Amy is not in the picture because she was unable to walk the day after the BIG HIKE.  I was snoozing in the car waiting for their return.

Chopping wood is a favorite past time for the men.   Here is Nicky learning from the masters.

No, those are not Schmeisser patties on the grill.   We are, unfortunately, very low on our supply and didn't have enough to bring on the trip.   But we did have very yummy cheeseburgers with baked beans and potato chips.

Hope you enjoyed our trip!

First day of school........















So they went off to school for the first time today. Most of you know that Craig and I didn't plan to homeschool the girls - it just came about because of a bad situation for Maddy in kindergarten and then it just worked for our family. We have always felt that there are pros and cons to both public education and homeschooling and for us the pros of homeschooling won out. Until now - with our latest move, Maddy REALLY wanted to try school. She is missing a very good friend that we left behind in Florida and is hoping that she can find friends at school. Craig and I are hoping that she not only gets her wish, but enjoys the experience.

Katie on the other hand has no interest in school. She is perfectly happy homeschooling and wants to keep things just the way she knows them. With Katie being a more social kid, I'm actually hopeful that she enjoys the experience as well.

I have to say that Craig and I are totally on the fence. Maddy's class is going to be very large and Katie will have a substitute for at least the first 4 week, but both teachers seem very warm and friendly. We went to a new family orientation and I have to say we did not leave impressed with the presentation. We left wondering if it is the best setting for the girls. But, I know they will be fine and they will get used to the setting. The big question is - is this the right decision for our family? Tune in around Christmas time when Craig and I decide if they finish the year or come back home..... :)

We are back in Philly - really Lansdale, but it is more fun to say Philly. And I have finally found the cables so I can post pictures again and boy do I have a picture to post!







I guess Katie wanted a fresh look for our new adventure in life! :)

Now as you can see from the picture, I have a ton of boxes left to unpack, which is what I should be doing instead of posting pictures on the blog....

A night of Schnitzel!

Uncle Wally finally consented to making us schnitzel one night.   The kids (& the adults) consumed it with great gusto!   Uncle Wally makes very yummy schnitzel!   By the next day, it was ALL GONE!

Fun with rockets!

With the Little clan staying with us for awhile, the four kids often had to be very creative in finding things to keep them occupied.  This day, they devised a stomp rocket challenge.   Each two-man team designed a parachute that would open as the rocket fell from the sky.   Then they enlisted Uncle Craig to do the stomping to make the rockets fly.  

I have not a single picture to share - not even sure where cameras or cords are, but I got tired of seeing my last post... So here is the latest update.

Katie went to horse camp. It is frightening how much that kid loves horses. She is doing very well with tacking up her horse and would ride all day if they let her. She got to ride an English riding pony and boy was he fast, but she loved every minute of it.

Maddy then attended the University of Florida diving camp. She did great and had lots of fun, but is contemplating giving up diving - we'll see what happens. She did dive off the 5 meter platform - yes, I did say she DOVE off the 5 meter platform. Not sure I would even jump from it.... But of course Katie had to get in on the act when the coach let her have some fun on the last day. She decided to head up to the 10 meter platform and took a big running jump off. Now I wouldn't even walk up to the 10 meter, much less run up there, much less jump from it....

Besides for the kids, life has been very exciting for the Little's - we put our house on the market and sold it in two weeks and had to be out in another two weeks. I'm going to create my own HGTV show - on how to sell a house even in a REALLY bad housing market. Unfortunately, people probably don't want my advice since it involves losing lots of money, but that is over and done.

So then the homeless folks moved in with the Kreiling family. They are so very kind to take in 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 really big dogs & a camper. It is good to have family that flows with our crazy lives. The funny thing is that the grocery bill seems to increase exponentially with the two families... We normally go through 1 gallon of milk, the Kreilings go through about 2.5 to 3 gallons a week and together we go through more than 6 a week. How is that for new math????

Well I should say almost everyone is getting along well.... Duke seems to no longer like his old buddy Scooter. Sure wish he could talk - he and Scooter used to be the best of buddies, but now Duke just doesn't seem to remember. Unfortunately, Scooter doesn't help matters by not acting like a dog which really pi--es off Duke. When Duke gives him the growl (translation - I'm in charge you better show reverence to me....) Scooter just tries to hide under a chair rather than be submissive to Duke. It is rather funny to see a 90 pound dog slink under a chair to avoid the 35 pound dog.

But the really good news is that Craig accepted a job just yesterday at Roska Direct. Although he is going back, he will be doing a different job this time around - heading up the account team. We were sad not to find a way to stay in Florida, but if we have to move back north, PA isn't so bad. The girls are excited about being able to ski whenever they want to again. I'm excited to be going back to the land of old, cozy homes with character. And the dogs are just excited to not be living where they are allergic to everything and can go outside without fear of heat stroke! :)

Hopefully Tante Amy can come through with some pictures of the cousins having some good summer fun!

I almost forgot- Maddy had her first solo!!!! While the Kreilings were visiting for spring break, Maddy had choir practice. During practice Maddy was telling us how the director asked if anyone was interested in auditioning for a solo. All the kids except Maddy raised their hands. I guess the director never noticed Maddy didn't raise her hand because she asked her to audition and of course Maddy just did what she was asked... After telling us the story, Nick said - wouldn't it be funny if Maddy got the solo since she was the only one who didn't want it. Well guess what - Maddy got the solo... Not sure she was that pleased - but she did an awesome job!

We had an awesome time at Disney. No pictures, but we got to see Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers in concert and it was free! Plus we saw Zack & Cody at Disney one night and the Jonas Brothers at Disney Hollywood Studios one afternoon. Very exiting! :)

Since I have no pictures of Disney, I am posting pictures of my garden just because I am amazed at how much it has grown.

This is a picture of a plant that Nana sent me. She sent it before all the upheaval in our lives, so I am not sure I will plant it until we know where life will take us.... Thanks Nana! It is VERY fragrant. (The little plants in front are my pumpkin seedlings.)















I am doing my garden in containers this year. The soil here in Florida is awful. But this method seems to be working well. I have peppers, onions, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, popcorn & sweet corn.





I already had one ripe tomato that was super yummy and many more to come....





And my favorite of all is my blueberry patch. Ummm very yummy! I have to cover it because the birds think it is yummy as well!

Some have seen these or other versions of these two pictures of the girls. Others haven't.

But since they are my favorites from our last visit to St Augustine, I never get tired of looking at them.

Hope you enjoy them (again).

Grandpa Little

OK. This is an experiment.

I just stumbled into the blog after not have been there for a long time. Poking around, I discovered that you can upload video! (Imagine that, he says, as though he had just discovered fire.)

Takes about approximately 43 years to upload about 3 minutes worth, but it can be done.

And here is the attempt.

The thing that I uploaded here is about 32MB of unedited video of young Madeline's 1st piano recital. It was uploaded as a WMV file (Windows) so I don't know if a Mac viewer can see it.

I started out trying to upload an MPEG file of the same event but it was nearly 3 times as large so you probably can guess that I did not have the stamina for it. Turns out that you don't need it that relatively "uncompressed" for these purposes anyway.

I am guessing/hoping that once this WMV is uploaded, Blogger accomodates it/doesn't care, so that anyone who can see the blog can see the video.

If not, I know that I can probalby upload as a Quicktime file, which I know Mac folks can see.

I am wondering what loading something like this does to the allocated capacity of any given blog. I may have use up KLOSZ allotment for some time.

Anyway, let me know is you can ever view this.

Grandpa L.

We interrupt these idyllic thoughts of spring to bring you this poll:

Are these children....

A) Having the time of their lives?

B) Very confused as to who Aerosmith is?

C) Being tortured by their Aunt on Spring Break????

Click on the picture for the full effect :)

Spring has sprung!

Thought I'd post a few pictures of spring in NC to annoy those of you stuck in the long midwest winter.

Lucy is eager to meet anyone within sight. The fence saves many of our neighbors from Lucy's affections.

Lucy plays soccer a bit differently than most others. She likes to dribble the ball with her head, but here is demonstrating a move neither of the boys can duplicate.

An extreme closeup of the blossoms on our plum tree. Things are blooming all over the place here.

Finally a couple of action shots from Nicky's second round playoff game. Despite Nick's stellar defense his team was eliminated in a close and hard fought contest. He also attempted a few good shots, but couldn't get them to fall. It was great season. Congratulations Nick!

Don't even ask..... But if you happen to know someone looking for a puppy and even better, two puppies to be able to keep them together, let me know.


Introducing Gus:







Introducing Zack:







They only have names because the vet needed something for the computer - HONEST! :)

Happy Easter!

The girls hard at work....







Creating these masterpieces!








Easter Bunny Loot! :)







Hope everyone had a happy Easter!

Our newly painted bathroom:














Bathrooms are tough to paint - lots of cutting in. But at least it is done. 4 more rooms plus the hallway to go.

I challenge Walter to a home improvement duel! :) I bet I can get my kitchen and family room painted before you finish your cabinets. Winner gets to pick an athletic event for the other to finish. (Has to be something doable - no Ironman or something like that...) I'm pretty confident that I will win, so I have my sights on this http://www.1stplacesports.com/obdc.htm
I think this year's race is the 27th.

Winning the first game of the conference championship!

Well, they didn't win many games this season, but they sure did win the important one.   After tonight, the boys on Nicky's basketball team will be advancing to the semi-final round of their tournament.   Nicky had three great shots;  unfortunately none of them went in.  But Nicky played great defense and tells us that he enjoyed playing tonight.  Here are some action shots from the game - Thursday night is the next game.   Oh, the magic score was 26-22.

Jump ball at the beginning of the game - Nicky is just to your left;  number 5.

Nicky is to the right of the picture, setting a GREAT pick for his teammate.

See number 5 doing a great defensive job?

WONDERFUL GAME, NICK!!!

Love, Mom

Lordy, Lordy - look who's FORTY!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!!

Look what I found in my yard...

All you Northern'ers, be envious!   Spring is springing here in the glorious South!   We may not have tulips, yet, (Laura, forced tulips are really artificial tulips!!) but we sure do have some pretty color in our yards!

 

This first picture is for all of you up in the great white north! :) Spring is just around the corner.... well maybe not the first corner, but probably at least the second or third corner....

Since we don't really get a hard freeze, I had to force the tulips to bloom. One of the neighbor kids came over and was just amazed with the "strange flower" - had never seen a tulip before - go figure! :)




And this one is for Uncle Walter - these are the wolves that the girls were telling you about. Yes, they did get to pet wolves. The lady in the picture is part Choctaw and raises wolves to help educate people about her heritage and the connection between humans and wolves. Not sure I would raise wolves, but she was fascinating.

Happy Birthday Nicky!