Gettysburg Kids Go Fishing

I will warn you a fish was harmed in the publishing of this post. There are no photos recording the deed, but if you're squeamish you may want to move along. Nothing to see here. That is more of a warning than I gave my girlfriend, Michele, last week. Gettysburg Family's kids went fishing. I know they had fun because it even held their attention for almost a whole hour.


Atlee has been out and out begging to go fishing. She wanted to catch a fish, and (ahem)," cut it's head and tail off and cook it in a pan for dinner." Her words, not mine.

They did catch a fish. And my little girl clubbed it with a paddle. She eagerly watched as it was cleaned. Atlee's not squeamish. There are no pictures because I couldn't look at any of it.

Not only am I squeamish...I'm sometimes not so bright. Remember my friend Michele up above? The friend up North that I don't get to talk to very often? I'm in the midst of telling this story to her- right around the part where Atlee clubs the fish- and a distant warning bell began to ring in the back of my noggin. It gets louder and louder until it screams at me, "WHY WOULD YOU TELL MICHELE THIS STORY?? DID YOU FORGET SHE HAS BEEN A VEGAN FOR LIKE THE LAST DECADE???!!! THIS IS A PERSON WHO DOESN'T EAT CHEESE AND YOU'RE TELLING HER ABOUT THE FOUR YEAR OLD WHO CLUBBED A FISH TO DEATH?" Yes, my brain does communicate in all capital letters when it's amazed at my social ineptness. So, um, sorry Michele. I will make sure to omit any discussion of our visit to a slaughterhouse next week. You will get full details on Farmer's Market expeditions.

This is just a happy picture. A picture of a smiling, happy baby. A happy picture of a baby who hasn't made her first kill. Yet.

Budapest to Gettysburg, Date Night, Uh-huh.....

Ummm...so I told you all we were going on a date, right? Did you know a date in Gettysburg, PA with your husband sometimes means Abe Lincoln saves you from the unwanted attention of a drunk Union Soldier. Uh-huh. I'm telling you. Abe Lincoln saved me. So maybe you don't have Abe Lincoln saving you.... you still get to benefit from a great date night....

http://www.boritt.com/GB/GB.htm That tells you all about the movie I'm willing to buy you. I haven't even looked up cost yet. I just know I enjoyed it a lot. So... tell me your favorite date night. Cause mine just happened, and I'm giddy with glee... random winner will be chosen on Wednesday, whatever Wednesday is from now, by random.com. Again, tell me your favorite date night to qualify by Wednesday. Maybe I'll spill details by then....

(yeah- I changed this. It was irritating me.)

Egg Yolks and Whole Milk, Oh My!!

That's right, my baby turned one a few days ago. In the interest of full disclosure, she's been getting egg yolks and milk for a little while now. I can't very well add the chocolate syrup to a bottle of formula, can I? We had a little get together for Greeley's birthday.No pony rides or moon bounces. Who needs pony rides when you have cupcakes?!


Cupcakes with sprinkles?


We opted to serve Greeley her cupcake al fresco.

I can tell she's my third child, because I am slowly getting smarter. See how she's wearing just an old t-shirt and diaper? She's not wearing the really cute striped birthday dress she wore for the earlier portion of the festivities. That's because I REMEMBERED to change her out of the dress for cupcake eating.



I told you I was getting smarter.

After destroying her cupcake, Greeley was ready to move on to Atlee's share.

Shea didn't leave his cupcake vulnerable to attack. Hey look- it's something else my finicky eater likes. Cupcakes. It's not broccoli, but it's a start.

Rich and Uncle John tossed a baseball around in the street.

All the kids enjoyed the crazy giant ball. Unfortunately, it did not survive the festivities. Ball obituary may appear later in the week. Or not.

Back to the baby. Because she is still a baby. I don't care that she took her first independent steps over the weekend. She's a baby.


Ahem. I got the baby all cleaned up from the cupcake craziness.

It was present time. She's curious about the toys...

But she remembered to read the card first.

Thank you to everyone who helped with the birthday celebration. Oh- you missed it? It's not too late to get Greeley a little something-something for her birthday. She just told me she really wants a nice digital camera that doesn't have a six second shutter lag. And a telescopic lens. I swear, she totally did.

Gettysburg Family Fun...6/24/08

Hello. We get A LOT of Google traffic from folks looking for things to do in the Gettysburg area. Things to do as a family. Coincidentally, we- the Gettysburg Family- are also looking for things to do in Gettysburg. So, vacationers and locals alike, here's a sampling of activities.

1. Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival. Details here on Gettysburg Family.

2. The kids and I went to the Gettysburg Train Station Museum.

There was no admission fee to the train station museum. Not so much for kids as grown-ups. Perhaps your older child would enjoy the train station models. However, this visit led to two other discoveries.

3. The train station people were kind enough to give us all of the information about The Gettysburg Festival. The festival is a celebration of various arts and is going on now. It's official dates are June 19-29, 2008. So much stuff: music, art, films, plays. My husband and I have a date for a film on Friday night. A date with no kids. Our second in the last year. Lots of events are free. Others have various admission fees.

4. When we told a friend that the train station museum wasn't quite what we thought it would be, she recommended I take the kids to the Lincoln Train Museum. This attraction offers complimentary admission to those of us sporting a local Gettysburg address. It offered many, many model trains. This would be good for any kids who are train nuts. My kids liked the model that was running on elevated tracks high above us. They also enjoyed the display that activated three different trains with the push of a button or three. If you didn't know, most kids like to push buttons.

Now, get off the computer and go do something. Don't be offended, I was talking to myself. Thanks for stopping by Gettysburg Family.

Long Haired Dirty Hippie No More...

This is a picture of the man I married. He and Shea are hanging with the seals at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Friends and family, brace yourself.

He'd trimmed that hair back over the years. His recent do-it-yourself haircut reminded me of an Elizabethan page boy or somesuch.

He decided to try something new.

I told you to brace yourself.

The Avatar arrow was for Shea and Atlee's benefit.

The Mountain House Re-Visited...

Hello one, hello all. For recent readers not familiar with the story line, we will revisit the story of the Mountain House. Once upon a time, there was a family that moved from the wilds of Upstate New York to the Gettysburg area. They moved to be closer to family. However, they quickly discovered at crazy!! peak market prices they could not afford to live in Gettysburg proper. Instead, they purchased a house on a mountain. It made the Mom of the family very happy. It reminded her of the woods she had just left. The location was great. But, the house? The house needed some work. And so the father of the family ripped out all of the insides (including much flooring scented with eau de pit bull) and rebuilt the house.

The two children of the family were very happy to play in the house that was under construction. Some day it would be their house.

See how happy they were amidst the scrap lumber and power tools? So very happy.

Winter came to the house on the mountain.

The Mountain House wasn't ready for Christmas. We - err- the family decorated for the holiday though. The mantle was hung with construction paper stockings and chains. After a couple of cocktails, the mom wasn't concerned with spilling glitter as much. The glitter really started flowing. The mom was still finding glitter in the kitchen six months later.

Back to the house. The Dad kept working hard and the family got to move into it. They started with a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. The living room came later. The Dining Room was sometimes accessible.

The kitchen got a new sub floor. Atlee demonstrates how sturdy it is. Not really, she's just sitting there.

The family had a happy, happy spring.

The house was a little small. The two children had to share a room. There were many fights and many books strewn about on the beautiful hardwood floors.

The walls were bright colors. Green and purple. Different rooms. Not the same room. That might be a bit much.

And the house had beautiful hardwood floors. Did I mention that? See? This is a dish my friend Gret made for me when we were like seventeen. I just wanted her to see I still had it and it wasn't broken. The rest of you can look at that floor.

Time passed, as it does. While the family with two children lived at the Mountain House, they became the family with three children.

And the Grandfather the family had moved to Pennsylvania to be near passed away. It was decided the family with three children would be much more comfortable in the bigger city house.

The family moved from the Mountain House. Thus ends the story of the Mountain House. Now go make up some song based on the Beverly Hillbillies. I'm not clever enough. Rich could do that. I'll get him working on that.

We still lived there for these pictures. Some of you may have heard about Moose, the most dog hateingist cat to ever be adopted out of the Saranac Lake SCPA. That cat hated dogs. Could beat most of them up, too. There are still dogs with scars in Wilmington, NY. He's passed away. Somewhere, he's beating up a German Shepherd. He's happy, we know.

Summer at the Mountain House was very, very nice.

But we can't keep both houses. So, um, any of you fabulously wealthy readers in say the DC area looking for a great getaway, contact me.

Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival

Hi there. Judging from the recent Google traffic I've been receiving, a few people aren't quite sure when the Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival is taking place. Compliments of the Gettysburg- Adams County Chamber of Commerce

Gettysburg Fireman's Carnival June 24 - 28, 2008 - 6 p.m. Gettysburg Recreation Park Held at the Gettysburg Recreation Park - Firework Display will be Friday at 11 pm. Price: Free Admission Phone: 334-7548

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I've simplified your searching.

Summertime & The Living is Easy....

Oh, my friends. We have been busy. So very busy. (No, Dad, we haven't been working on the Mountain House. That wouldn't be nearly as much fun as we've been having.) So, the pictures piled up. The fun we've had in the last few days includes:

Pete, Amy and the kids came over last week to splash in the pool. Have I mentioned how much Greeley loves hanging out with Uncle Pete? I personally think it's this silly little dance he does whenever he sees her. Maybe she has a thing for Asian men. Who knows.


Here is the aforementioned kiddy pool. See Kaya and Atlee swimming ever so nicely in the pool? What well-mannered young ladies we have.

Here is the giant ball I had Uncle Buster blow up for them. He's behind it.

Here is what was left of the pool when those well mannered young ladies were finished with it. Atlee felt the landscaping around the pool was enhanced by a mud puddle or four.

Amy helpfully taught Greeley how to get into her little pool. It was only a matter of time, I suppose. She loves it.

Here we have Greeley on the porch for the rain falling. I don't think she'd ever sat on a porch and watched the rain fall. She was amazed.

This just amused me. Granted, I am easily amused. You know one way I know we're all getting older? When of the five cars parked in overflow parking at a friend's house, three are minivans. Big tip that we're all getting older. (Um, yeah, one's mine. I love my minivan. When I was seventeen I would never, ever have guessed I would utter the sentence, "I love my minivan." Or "I have three kids" for that matter.)

For Father's Day, we went swimming at a friend's house. Atlee discovered she could float perfectly. Didn't need to hold onto anyone or anything. Not surprising, both girls had a great time.
Do you know who else went swimming? Tinkerbell the dog.

I don't think she planned on it. In fact, I think she was kind of surprised to end up in the pool.

Greeley just watched the dog fall into the pool- like it was ho-hum- same old, same old.

And roses! We got to smell these beautiful red roses.

Again, Summertime and the Living is Easy...