Saturday

The rain cancelled cousin Seth's baseball game, so we didn't get to see our family this weekend. Alek's game was still on, and he played defense. He was more into it this week than he was in the last game. They lost, so they were pretty disappointed, but this league is all about character and sportsmanship, so their coach helped them think about it in a positive way.

We spent the afternoon reading and napping and watching TV. (yes, after water aerobics I was tired and I took a nap). Then went to church, then out to dinner at the new Yo Ho Bistro which was very good. Then to Target.

Today we don't have much planned ... mowing, aerating the lawn, folding laundry. I'll let you know if anything exciting happens!

It's Friday

Oh, what a great week. I know I didn't do much blogging this week, but the days were really rather normal. The boys both did really well in school, Gary was out of town (we are looking forward to his return tonight!) and I made it to the gym and kept things under control at home and work.

We've got a lot of fun planned for tomorrow ... Alek will start selling cub scout popcorn (he was the top seller in his den 2 years ago, and the top seller in his pack last year!), and has a football game. Gary's cousin Doug and his family will be in town for their oldest son's baseball tournament, so we'll get to spend some time with them. The just live down the road in Winston-Salem, but it's been a few years since we've gotten together. Everyone's just been so busy. We've seen them more in NY over the last couple years than down here in NC!

The new bike rack hasn't arrived yet, and Gary hasn't fixed my bicycle tires yet, so I don't know if we'll get to ride or not. But I do plan to go to water aerobics first thing in the morning before the football game!

I went to the gym tonight with my friend Laura. It was a great workout - we did 30 minutes on the treadmill, and then 30 minutes of weights & core work. I'm tired, and sore! I'm running now to take a shower while the boys are playing together nicely in Alek's room, then we'll be ready for reading and bed.

Have a great weekend!

Geo Cache

This weekend we tried geo-caching. All across the world, people have hidden 'treasure boxes' and logged their locations via GPS tracking point on the internet. You use the internet sites to determine where you want to search for these 'treasure boxes', then print off the GPS coordinates and clues. Most of the treasures have a coded clue for kids to use to find them. Then you go to the location, and using the clue, you search for the box. Inside the box is a log, and you sign the log to show that you've found it. There might also be small treasures inside for kids to trade.
On Saturday, we walked along the American Tobacco Trail in Apex to find one. We didn't find it, but we had a beautiful walk. So Sunday, Gary printed off about 8 geo cache sites along the trail. This picture is of Ben finding the hiding spot of our first cache.


Inside the treasure box was a log, and some small treasures - a plastic ring, a Frankies Fun Park token, and a rock. We didn't trade treasures, but we did sign the log. We also took along our own book, to write down the names & numbers of the boxes we found.

Alek found the second one, under a tree on a hill. It took us a long time to find this one.

Inside was just a log - the container was an old film canister, which is very small.
We also found a third one hanging in a tree - it was the one we looked for on Saturday. It was in a bison tube, which is a small cylinder slightly longer than a dime. Inside was only a log.
The boys had fun searching for the boxes, but I thought the whole process was rather dull. We didn't walk far, and spent a lot of time searching. We searched for 5 others but didn't find them. Chloe went with us, and she wanted to be off with the boys in the woods, rather than standing with me along the trail. I wanted to be riding our bikes along the trail, rather than standing around.
So, when we got home I ordered us a 4-bike rack for the back of the van. Now we'll be able to take our bikes and go faster.

Barley Lentil Soup

Made this on Friday, and ate the last of it today for lunch ... very yummy!

Barley Lentil Soup

1 T butter
1/3 C chopped onion
1/3 C chopped celery
3 C chicken broth
1/3 C barley
¼ C lentils, washed
14 oz can diced tomatoes
¼ tsp basil
2 tsp Salamida’s Pinch
Salt and Pepper to taste
½ C chopped carrot
2 T chopped parsley

Melt butter in medium soup pot. Add onion and celery; cook over low heat for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add chicken broth, barley and lentils. Cover and simmer about 45 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil, pinch, salt and pepper to taste. Cover; continue cooking gently for about 30 minutes. Add carrot and cook 10 minutes longer. Ladle into warm soup bowls and sprinkle with parsley.

New Mulch - and Backyard Tour

I had to split these three videos up amongst 3 blogs since they were taking too long to load. This is a big one ... This final one shows the completed mulch project, along with the new Golden Mop Cypresses and Gold Dust Acubas we planted last weekend. They are all babies, but will grow to fill in more space.

Today (Sunday) Gary and Alek hung my squirrel feeder and new bluebird house (not in the video), so I think all those small projects are now done! In a couple weeks, we'll order more regular mulch for the flower beds and the backyard around the trampoline and shed. We haven't put fresh mulch down there for a few years now, and it's all decomposed. But, I'm loving the way the yard looks now!

New Mulch - Saturday afternoon

Here we are taking a break Saturday morning after moving about half of the remaining mulch.

New Mulch - Saturday morning

Friday night we started moving the 10 cubic yards of mulch ... above is the video from early Saturday morning, showing what we accomplished Friday night. We worked about an hour, and Ben helped Gary and I.