Photos of Ben Climbing - may be in Chapel Hill Newspaper

Dixie Rock was covered by the local Chapel Hill newspaper, and the photographer was kind enough to send me some shots he took of Ben. I think they look really cool! The photographer's name is Tim O'Brien, and you can view his work at http://www.timobrienphotos.com/. He also runs a website for blind photographers at www.blindphotographers.org. Yes, he is legally blind ... interesting, eh?

Alek earns his Bear Badge

Last night at the cub scouts pack meeting, Alek earned his BEAR badge. He is now eligible to become a Weebelo next year!

First Place at Dixie Rock

Ben took first place amongst the 8 year olds at Dixie Rock this weekend, and had the highest score of all kids in the Junior division.

Route #10

Here Ben is climbing route #10. He saved this one until Saturday morning, and needed both tries to get to the top. Both times, he fell off one hold below the top - this was the route he found most frustrating, because he knew he should be able to get to the top.

Route #13

Route #13 had a very interesting path as the climber has to move to the left sequentially to reach the holds above. The shorter kids had trouble with this route, but Ben watched many kids attempt and flash it Friday night before he attempted it. He did a great job gathering information, because he was able to flash (get to the top hold) with no problem.

Route #15

Route #15 was impossible ... it was the highest leveled route in the Junior division, and Ben made it to the highest hold of all the kids, and this was the reason he got the highest score overall. None of the kids made it over the ledge. We did watch some adults and older kids make it over the ledge, but very few made it to the final hold.

A Lot of Things

Ben climbing at Dixie Rock 20 in Chapel Hill tonight ... At the top of a tough route.
The Rock Stars team in a group warm-up - they were so impressive!!

Ben getting ready for school on Friday - each day we have to sign his agenda - his agenda lists his homework for the night.

Alek in his SIU shirt from Memaw! Southern Illinois University.

This week's produce box: cabbage, asparagus, strawberries, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, kale and rutabegas!!

New Washer and Dryer

We've been in this house 15 years now, and things are starting to go ... in Dec we got new countertops, in Jan we got a new fridge. This week, we got a new toilet in Ben & Alek's bathroom, and a new washer/dryer. The toilet stopped up and was unclearable, and the dryer gave out all together. So here's a picture of the new ones in the laundry room. Our laundry room was always messed up from the builder - the washer sat back against the wall and the dryer sat out about 8 inches from the wall due to the vent. But with the new ones, we had a plumber come and move the washer and pan out from the wall so now they are both even. They look a little bit odd in real life, since the tops no longer have controls at the back, they are at the front, so the back just kind of drops off into nothing but a big hole between the machine and the wall, but it's much better than having them uneven.

The colorful thing to the left is the ironing board, and the rack hanging on the wall to the right goes inside the dryer so you can lay out a sweater or shoes and they won't tumble. Gary built the cabinets above many years ago.

Wonder what will be next to go???

Busch Gardens Food & Fun

Alek and Ben in front of the Pot of Gold going into Scotland.
Alek pretending to ride Apollo's Chariot ... we really did ride it, several times! It's called a hyper coaster, and it was wild!

Gary, his triple-decker chocolate cake and beer in Germany.

Ben's favorite Lemon Cake in Germany.

The beloved refillable cup.

Busch Gardens Fun

Those darn Lorikeets in my HAIR!
Ben in front of his favorite coaster, the Griffon!

Ben on the air tram riding through the loops of the Griffon.

Gary and Alek getting on the air tram.

Gary feeding the Lorikeet.

Gary and Ben with the Anheiser-Busch Clydesdale.

Me and my sweetie. It was our 15th wedding anniversary. No, we never thought we'd spend it riding roller coasters, but that's what happens when you wait too long to have kids!

Aren't they lovely.

Us riding the Loch Ness Monster.

Our family picture entering Busch Gardens.

Lorikeet Aviary

One of the best parts of Busch Gardens was the Lorikeet Aviary where you could buy little cups of nectar and feed the birds. The birds land on your arms, shoulders, head! It was very fun, and we went there every day. Me feeding a Lorikeet
This was Ben's absolutely favorite bird. He held him every day, but we're not sure what kind he was. He was very friendly!
Ben and Alek each feeding a brightly colored Lorikeet.
Alek with THREE birds!

A crazy picture of Alek and I feeding the 3 birds. Two of them had just been on my head.

Busch Gardens - Scenery

Our trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg was wonderful. We drove up Thursday morning and spent the afternoon at the park, and went each day through Easter morning, then drove home. I couldn't post pictures earlier, because our computer system was messed up and didn't have the bandwidth to upload pictures. So, I'm catching up now. The landscaping at Busch Gardens was really beautiful, and the tulips were blooming. Here are some pictures of it.

Gary posing with the winnings. The boys love to play the games, and they are getting good at them! Ben won the big BOB (the Blob, from Monsters vs Aliens movie), Alek won the green frog, Ben and Alek won the little orane and green dogs, and Gary won the huge bear.

Ben in front of some pretty yellow flowers.
Alek was SO CUTE carrying his bear out to the car. It is definately as big as he is! Fuzzes (the bear) has moved into Alek's reading corner and taken the place of his bean bag chair. Fuzzes makes a great reading partner.

Ben with the refillable cup in front of beautiful flowers.

And me, in front of pretty flowers.

goodbye blogspot

blogspot takes far too long to load pictures and videos ... find me on Facebook.

Third Day

Today I'm using up the sweet potatoes. I bought a new cookbook called Top Secret Recipes, and it has famous food recipes in it, like McDonald's French Fries, or KFC fried chicken. There's a series of Soup Nazi recipes, from Seinfeld Show. I'm making Cream of Sweet Potato Soup:

4 sweet potatoes (about 1 lb each)
8 cups water
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 T half-and-half
2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
dash thyme
1 cup cashews (pieces)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes for 45 min. Cool until they can be handled.

Peel away the skin, put potatoes in a large bowl and mash for 15-20 seconds - they don't have to be smooth.

Spoon the mashed sweet potatoes into a large saucepan over medium/high heat, add teh remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

When soup begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 50-60 mins. Cashews should be soft. Serve hot.

Can't wait ... I'm taking this one to game night tomorrow!

Second Day

Thursday night I made a vegetable recipe from my nutritionist, Avril. I used the fresh spring onions in it ... but the red peppers and zucchini came from the store:

1 red pepper sliced into strips
1 small onion sliced into strips
4 small zucchini, thinly sliced (I used two, and it was plenty)
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (this seemed like a lot, next time I'll use less)
2 T grated parmesan cheese

Cook and stir peppers and onions in large skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium heat for 5 min. Add zucchini, cook and stir 2 min.

Stir in spaghetti sauce, cover. Cook 8 min or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.

Sprinkle with cheeses, cook, covered, 1 min or until mozzarella is melted.

It was very good, and I'll make it again when fresh zucchini comes from the farm.

The Produce Box

Today I received my first Produce Box delivery! This is a group which delivers locally grown fruits & vegetables from a farm in Dunn, NC. So, weekly throughout the growing season I'll get a box of fresh food! I'm doing this to ... 1) live more greenly by buying local, and 2) live more healthily by trying new things.

The outside of the delivery box ... I send this back each week with a check and they deliver it to my front porch full of veggies!

Today's box contained pecans, locally made whole grain bread, sweet potatoes, spring onions, a cabbage, hydroponic bibb lettuce and sweet basil and parsley in pots to grow at home.A picture of the sweet potatoes that were under the bread.

So, what did we have for dinner? I made a chicken casserole, and when I got back from the gym (and got some advice from my friend Laura), I made a carrot/onion/cabbage boil, seasoned with Salamida's Garlic Pinch and pepper. Ok, it was definately edible. I can't say I crave it, but then it is a vegetable. I did like it, and I will make it again. I only used 1/4 of the cabbage, so there's more to go this week! I did not know that cabbage could have such a fresh spicy smell. I did like trying a new veggie!! And a green leafy one at that! I also peeled and sliced one sweet potato and shook it in a baggie with olive oil and Salamida's Garlic Pinch and roasted it at 425 degrees for about 8 mins (in the new convection toaster oven). It made terrific sweet potato chips which Gary and I liked, but the boys did not. But, they tried them, and that's the first step.

Tomorrow, we go for the Bibb lettuce for lunch!

Cousins Visit

Andrea, my sister, and her kids came for the weekend to visit! They arrived Friday morning, and we went and picked up my kids from school at lunchtime. We all went to Chick-fil-a for chicken nuggets, then up to the Marbles Kid's Museum in Raleigh to play and see Monsters vs Aliens in IMAX 3-D. We stayed, and played some more. I made baked pasta and garlic bread for dinner Friday night.

Saturday we got up and played around the house. We were going to go gem mining, but the rainy weather was too much for the muddy gem mine. Instead, we went for NC BBQ at Bullocks and then on to the Durham Life Sciences Museum. That night, I made roasted chicken and 'grandma's noodles' for dinner.

Sunday we again played around the house then hit the park. We had tickets for the Savoyards' performance of The Gondoliers. Most of us liked it, some of us found it difficult to sit still through the show, and it was a long one! Three hours!! Pour Gilbert and Sullivan ... they wrote a LOT of songs for this show! Sunday night we had tacos.

Monday morning came way too soon and the boys went back to school and I took Andrea and kids to the airport to fly home. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them ... the boys really enjoy their cousins!

Ben and Lauren and Ashley building with Kapla blocks at the Life & Science Museum.

All the kids in the butterfly house at the Life & Science Museum.A butterfly ... Alek took 44 pictures of butterflies in the butterfly house. Just one for you.Lauren, Ashley, Ben in front, Alek and Lucas at the back ... driving the sailboats at the Wind exibit.

Ben in front of the Lemurs (over his left shoulder).