Chillin' in the City of Sisterly..errr...Brotherly Love

Last week the girls and I took a little excursion to The City of Brotherly Love. The best part of it all was that we went to see Auntie Lester.

I've never really thought about the limitations one might feel while living on an island. I guess I've never really thought of Manhattan as an island, for that matter. But it most certainly is, and she needed a mental health day to escape the city and the confines of said island.

The fabulous thing about living in the mid to northeastern part of the country is that everything really is pretty close. And that there are ways to get around if you don't have a car. So Lester Bolt-Bussed it down to Philly where we met her for a day of...well...if I'm going to be perfectly honest - hanging out in Anthropology.

And what is there to amuse ourselves in that highly overpriced if not oh so cute store? If you have to ask, you haven't been there. But, I did capture it on film. Not literally, but it sure sounds better than SDCard. And the bonus...I found a beautiful shirt and resin flower broach. For $30. Together. UNHEARDOF for Anthro. I know I shouldn't brag, but seriously. I loves me finding a good deal!

(apparently Addie-Cakes needed a closer look at the unmentionables)

That isn't all we did. Philly is a great walking city, and there is some A-MAY-ZING architecture. We didn't have the full day, really it was an afternoon, being that the city is about 3 1/2 hours from VA.

But...it took more like 4 1/2 hours to get to Lester because Otterpop was out of town and I didn't have our GPS and Google Maps gave me wrong directions and we ended up driving through downtown Philly stuck in traffic only to find that once we got out of that mess we circled around the Amtrak station more than once before we figured out where to park and then I bumped the car in front of me just a little too hard when parallel parking and the guy was in the car and made mild drama about it and then Lester had to catch a 7:30 bus back to NYC. Is that crazy enough for you? Thank heavens I bought a map when we stopped for a potty break long before entering the city.

Rest assured, we did visit Liberty Square saw the Liberty Bell and at least looked at the exterior of Independence Hall. But the only pictures I took were of the bell. Apparently the rest of the square wasn't important enough. But lunch at Qdoba was.

We were absolutely sure to climb the Philadelphia Art Museum stairs doing our best impersonation of Rocky. Not that any of us have even see the movie. I guess that would be "s". Plural. See how much I know?

It was a great trip that we'll have to do again. Only with Otterpop too. There is a half marathon every Fall that I've heard is fab. Maybe I'll fun that race next year. Whenever we go, next time we'll be sure to take advantage of the world-class children's museums. And maybe actually go into Independence Hall and the Art Museum.

Boys are Over Rated

For as long as I can remember Sweet Cheeks has had an aversion to boys. Not boys her age. She has lots of friends her age that are boys. Really, it's just boys that are older than her, and not really even grown men.

It's like she has panic attacks when she has to have anything to do with them. At church her teacher had her sons sub a few times, and she was so hysterical that she has to go to another class.

Tonight I attended a church meeting where a nursery was provided for those needing child care. This time the babysitters were a group of seven or so 12-13 year old boys. She immediately went into hysterics and clung to me for dear life. I left her anyway knowing she would be fine, and if she wasn't they would come get me.

When I picked the girls up, Sweet Cheeks was all smiles and so happy to be playing with a room full of boys. Of course there were other kids there, but it was the boys she enjoyed. When we left she giddily said:

"Mama...I really like boys!"

While shaking her hips. And I only wish I could capture the tone of voice. It sounded like she was already boy crazy. Good grief. I'm gonna have my hands full.

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In other news...I've been on the hunt for new music. Lester has been quite accommodating, as always. But I found a song by the Temper Trap that I fell in love with.

I like to think I find music that is at least a bit off the beaten path, which I thought was the case with this song. Until I heard it in Taco Bell. And then on some random TV advertisement. Silly me for thinking that when it was featured in the movie 500 Days of Summer (good movie, BTW).

Oh well. I still love it.

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Feelin' it In My Bones

Ahhh...Fall. I have been awaiting your arrival for approximately 9 months, and tomorrow you're officially here.

I've had the inkling that soon you'd arrive for a while now. There has been a crispness in the morning and evening air. We haven't used our AC in weeks. And then last week I noticed the first hints of color in the leaves. Not a lot, but the hills are beginning to show a glimmer of the colorful patchwork they will soon become.

Yeah, I love Fall. The air, fabulous food, and perfect running weather. And of course all the cute sweaters, boots and Fall clothes I forgot I even had. It's like a new wardrobe without spending a dime. YEA!!!

But one of the things I love most about this season is the Fall Harvest and the homemade applesauce. I have many fond childhood applesaucing memories, mostly due to the hours of amusement we got from the apple waste exiting the food strainer. It looked like poo, and my sisters and I would laugh hysterically over it. I know...gross. And from a family of girls. SCANDALOUS!

The girls and I went apple picking at Crooked Run Orchard in Purcellville. We picked about 35lbs of apples and spent 3 hours with my apple corer-slicer-peeler getting them all ready to turn into mush.

Since I've done this before and I grew up watching Madre do it, you'd think this would be easy as pie. But no. I botched it. Bad. Maybe my confidence was inflated from the successful applesaucing experiment of last year. Whatever the cause, I didn't stir it enough and the bottom burned. I lifted the lid and a plume of smoke-flavored steam came out of the pot. Something must be wrong with my sense of smell.

Thinking it might be salvageable I tasted it. I've never been a smoker, so I'm not really sure what smoker-mouth tastes like. But I'm pretty sure I got an idea. I'll leave it at that.

I could have thrown in the towel, but homemade applesauce is one of my most favorite things. And I'm stubborn. So I tried again. This time with my ego in check. And got 31 pints out of it! Wahoo.

I'll definitely be investing in a food strainer before the next time. No more of that peeling, coring, cooking and blending nonsense for me. Besides...I really want the girls to have the same applesaucing experience I had. Apple poo and all.

A Belated "Thanks A Lot" to Earl

Earl kicked us out of North Carolina. OK, that was last week. It's kinda old news at this point, but hey, I've been a slacker.

I could give you all the riveting details, but, like I said, it's old news and you've probably forgotten there was even a hurricane last week. Plus lots have happened since the book-induced neglect. Here's the rundown:

OBX - oh how you are missed, my friend
Last summer my family fell in love with North Carolina's Outer Banks. This year we rented a beach house in Corolla with Otterpop's family. The benefit of renting the last week of the summer is that the rates are discounted. Deeply. The drawback is that you are gambling with hurricane season. Which usually isn't much of a gamble because hurricanes don't regularly hit the Carolinas.

We lost the gamble this year, and Earl sent us packing 2 days early. The silver lining is that we left the night before the evacuation order and didn't have to deal with the traffic. I have a nagging sense of superiority because we got out before the other vacationers. Of course I would have felt like a complete idiot had the storm blown over after we voluntarily skipped out on two full beach days.

Here are picks. To get an idea of our fabulous location, the picture of the dunes was taken from our deck. It really was perfect.

My nickname should be Freckles.

A Night Out On The Georgetown
Otterpop and I hit Georgetown on a double date with his sister's in-laws who also came with us to OBX. We don't go there enough. Then again, if I was a more frequent visitor I would probably spent a lot of money. Too many fun things in too many fun stores. We went on a Friday night, so I pretty much felt like an old lady next to all the bar-hopping college students. Well, sort-of. There were people of all ages, but I definitely noticed how young college kids are. They really are just kids. Weird.

Invading the Farm
A friend of mine took family pictures for us at the farm. I'm in the process of sifting through 500+ pics and editing the ones I like. So fun! Really. I love it.

Missing In Action...again
Otterpop has been out of town...all week. This time in the slightly more exotic Jacksonville. I have friends whose husbands leave for 6 or more weeks at a time, so really I can't complain. But it really is a drag.

Big Girl Unders and Puddles
Addie-Cakes has been working hard on using the potty. I tried it early this summer and gave up when after three days Addie-Cakes obstinately refused to even go near the potty. She's doing much better this time. Except for the times she asks for a diaper and tries to put it on herself. And as long as I remember to take her every 30 minutes or so. Otherwise it pretty much sucks to be me. The water fall on my bed this morning was great fun.

Tomorrow we're taking advantage of the beautiful weather to pick apples and make apple sauce. Yea for fall!!

More posts to come now that I've officially left behind slacker mode. At least for the time being ;)