Obsess Much?

I've been having a lot of thoughts this morning but nothing in particular is screaming for attention (except my citrus loving children who keep asking for more oranges).


Then this thought comes to me: I need to get a Dr Pepper. And I keep thinking about that wonderfully shiny can of deliciously satisfying Dr Pepper until I get up and get one.


Then I thought, "I bet I can find a picture of Dr Pepper online." You see, I didn't want to post the picture of John holding a Dr Pepper because it would bring back too many sad thoughts of betrayal and what not.... aaaand I'm feeling a bit lazy about taking a picture of my current can. (Besides, there's too much clutter around here this morning to get a clear, non embarrassing shot.) So I went to drpepper.com and found THIS:

Yeah, apparently they don't sell cans of Dr Pepper in their online store. Go figure.

**Excuse me while I go run the vacuum so that my boys can run around like screaming banshees......... OKAY. I'm back. I hope you didn't mind waiting. **

But while I was there, I discovered that under the entertainment link there is an online game (games are nice) and that you can watch a cute and funny little commercial for Diet Dr Pepper (which I don't drink). Oh. Sure. You can drink it if you want! I just realize that it's winter and our bodies need an extra layer of fat in order to keep warm in these frigid temperatures so a LOT of regular Dr Pepper and brownies help me out in that area.

HOWEVER, the most important discovery I made is in the "About" section. There is a timeline which shows you what Dr Pepper has looked like throughout the decades! You know, in case you were to time travel, you can know exactly what you're looking for without having to question whether it is a counterfeit Dr Pepper or something. I think it is a very thoughtful and informative slide show. I'm going to study it diligently, just in case.

ANYWAY... now that I have my Dr Pepper, what am I going to write about this morning? *sigh*

Waldameer and Waterworld

Have you ever had one of those borderline days? Those days you begin to wonder if you should cancel your plans, put the kids in bed, and just curl up with a good book and a mug of coffee? This was one of those days for me. No, no, not today, but this day that we went to Waldameer and Waterworld. It was the day before Josiah's first day back to school; it was our last chance to go to Waldameer (at least it was in my mind because the other option was to wait until Saturday which would be overcrowded with end of summer last chancers like myself.) Thankfully, we pressed through the fussiness of the morning and we packed the cooler, the diaper bag, the swim bag, and the miscellaneous bag. Seriously? Any other bags? After packing all the bags for this short, half-day trip, I was feeling pretty grumpy myself. But I said, "We will go and we will have fun, dang it!" or something along those lines or did I just think that to myself?

First we went to Waterworld and we entered the Tadpool area. There was a wading pool, little water slides, and fountains. It was so cute but Nathan and Noah hated it. But did we leave? No, we did not; we were going to have fun, dang it! We were able to introduce them to water slides which all the boys did well with as long as they were on our laps. Then we moved on to the Endless River. Josiah loved it. Noah was content to sit back and enjoy the tube ride. Nathan hated it. John and Josiah went around again while I waited with Noah and Nathan. A change was in order. LUNCHTIME! After leaving the water park and having a little picnic of Pb&j sandwiches, popcorn, crackers, and juice boxes, everyone was in a better mood. I am talking about a drastic change in attitude. It was as if a switch had been thrown. Finally, the proper adventure had begun!

We rode all the kiddie rides except that Froghopper ride which my boys wisely skipped.

Noah couldn't go on as many rides as his brothers but he didn't seem to mind. He would wait with John or I and play or watch.

I took Josiah and Nathan on their first roller coaster ride - The Ravine Flyer 3. Josiah picked the front seat of the first car and Nathan and I sat right behind him. It was really hard to gauge how they liked the roller coaster as we were riding. Josiah seemed to be holding on for dear life and I couldn't see Nathan's face to determine if he was terrified or delighted. As we rolled in to disembark, I asked Nathan if he liked that. He response was, "Oh ho ho! YEAH!" Josiah was happy to hear that he will be tall enough to ride the bigger roller coasters by next summer.

We took a break at midafternoon. At this point, Nathan and Noah had ridden all the rides that they could. My mom agreed to watch them so that John, Josiah and I could return and ride some of the "bigger" rides.

We did the Wacky Shack which is a combination of an indoor roller coaster and a fun house.

We rode the Giant Gondola which I will always pronounce as "Ferris Wheel" (I mean, really, why call it by any other name?)

Then we rode THUNDER RIVER. Josiah did NOT want to ride this! He didn't want to ride it so much that I almost skipped it for his sake. But I reminded him how scared he was of taking swimming lessons before he did that and he loved them. The log ride was all that I remembered it to be: fast drops and big splashes. When we were leaving the ride, Josiah said to me, "That was NOT fun!" But I think I saw just the hint of a smile. We rode several more rides including the Sky Ride and Dodgem until it was time to get Josiah home and in bed, after all, it was a school night.

At the end of the day, the rocky start was all but forgotten; we had a fun and memorable day. It was so worth pushing through the bumpiness of the morning to have a new, exciting adventure together.

Thank you, Nona and Papa, for the tickets!

P.S. The "professional-looking" pictures are from waldameer.com since amusement parks/water parks don't mingle very well with cameras.

I Won!

Can you believe it? I won a contest! A darling baby drew my name from a bowl. Go ahead, click here to see the little cutie! She's drawing my name. Joy!

This tricycle from AllChildrensFurniture.com is the prize. Isn't it great? It's perfect timing since Noah will be turning two years old in just over a month. Thank you, The Football Wife!

They Took the Roof Off

I've got some catching up to do. Deliveries, trucks, a dumpster, scraping, pounding, friends, ladders, pounding, and more pounding. As the construction continues, so must the stories. If you like construction, you're in for a treat. If you don't, well, you're in for it anyway.

On the 25th of April, John and some of our friends took the garage roof completely off and built a new one. We had a great time watching their progress.

Removing the roof has begun.
Here's my inside out view.

Noah had a front row seat.

There was sawing and hammering....

heaving and kicking....

until it was gone.

Micah and John S. got rid of that last stubborn beam.

Clara, the house, was calling, "What about me?" Hold your horses, Clara.

Eli and Nathan did their own project of carrying wood back and forth.

Nathan looks like a little construction worker. Sometimes the boys would climb up the ladder to get a better view or sneak in a couple slides.

Isaac and Josiah did some of their own work. Hey! That's MY Pibb!

Ahhh! Refreshing.

The roof must go on.

No roof vs. old roof

Don't drop it!

Hi John!

After they finished rebuilding the first half of the roof, they removed the other half.

Tah Dah! The bones of the roof are back.

There was much measuring, cutting and nailing.

They wrapped up work at dinner time. Literally.

Thank you for all your hard work, Ric, John S., Mike, and Micah! Awesome job!

Busy Day

What a glorious day! ..... to be on a roof?

Here it is. The first big work day. Several friends came over to help tear off the old shingles. They gave up part or all of their Saturday to be a blessing to us. The dads who worked brought their kids to play so we had lots of people on top of the roof and lots of little people inside the house, well, mostly on the porch so that they could be a part of the action.

We walked around the block a couple of times and waved to everyone on the roof from the rear view. Hellewww over there!

Our front window became the magic portal to the construction world. Never mind that the front screen door was propped open! At least they weren't jumping off the porch wall.... yet.

This is my house and that is my husband on the roof. Careful!

Keep up the good work! You can do eeet! Shawn and Steve are up there somewhere too.

On the other side, there are more shingles.

I climbed the ladder to get a better look at the roof. I even contemplated stepping onto the pick so I could get a close-up of the guys working. Then I came to my senses and realized that if I did that I might just be stuck there terrified to move back onto the ladder. Someone would have to call a rescue team.... and that just didn't seem worth it.

This picture shows Mike and Micah on the pick and Randy on the rooftop. They make it look so easy.

Here's the "ground crew." If you click on the picture with the ladders, you may even be able to spot another observer watching through the window.

My older brother came over to be the real ground crew. He told me that if I put his picture on here that I would have to pay him. Hence the blackout. I'm such a cheapskate!

At times the sky looked like rain may be coming but the good weather held.

Amazing! This is my brother running the wheelbarrow up a skinny little ramp. Good aiming, Matt!

Okay, break time's over. Get back to work.

Noah and Ethan figured out how to get a better view.

After the tear off was done, Katherine started to help by picking up stray pieces of old felt paper.

Isaiah got into the action too. He got that piece into the dumpster.

Clearing the neighbor's yard. Thanks, Josiah!

Good job!

They worked until it was too dark to work anymore. They cleared off one side of the roof, replaced bad boards, felted almost all of it but ran out of light. If only the sun had waited for one more hour! The last bit was covered with tarps for another day.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with this endeavor!