The Farm

We joined our CSA again this year. We go every Tuesday morning to pick up our share, and do the U Pick crops. It is always so much fun, even though the kids have taken to complaining that it's farm day again!!! Then they go and roll in the dirt and all is well in their worlds. Oh, and they pick ground cherries...lots of them. I don't really care for ground cherries but they love them and will sit there and pick them up, unwrap and eat them.

Tyler grazes indiscriminately, sampling green tomatoes, unripe berries, and the semi-rotten tomatoes that fall from the vines along with everything else. I try to keep an eye on my basket because once he finds it, he will plop down and help himself to whatever looks good to him. He won't really eat cherry tomatoes at home, but he will eat them at the farm. Go figure!

Eureka! I've hit the jackpot!!

Beautiful little helper, isn't she?

Sungold Tomatoes: deeeeelicious!

Between the farm and my garden, I feel like eating in the summer is such an extravagance. I can eat as many fresh tomatoes as I want, for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I want. Even though we are rolling in tomatoes right now, I will miss them when they are gone. For now, I will enjoy my produce drawers full to the top with lots of yummy produce and try to fill up my freezer and pantry before summer runs its course.

Some Days.... (**Warning*** Whiny Post Ahead)

Some days I wonder why I bother to try and accomplish anything. This is one such day. Since we got back from camping, James and Katie have been on nap strike. Hello! Don't they know that this is necessary for my sanity?? Now James, he is getting old enough that he might not need one anymore. I am OK with that, if he takes a quiet time instead. His idea of quiet time is not exactly quiet sometimes. Due to camping and no naps, the last few days he has been very whiny and tired. Katie too. We had to run a few errands this morning, which was met with much wailing and gnashing of teeth by James. He wanted to go out to the store that he wanted to go to, but not to go to the place I needed to go. I told him we were going both places, which led to more wailing. We hit Walmart, which was tolerable. Then, we went to the mall (which I try to avoid). Tyler refused to ride in the stroller. OK. He can walk. And, he can run. Until he trips, falls and chips his two front teeth. Yes, both of them. Although not as big a chip as Katie's, but still!!! What's up with my kids and their teeth?! So, I pick him up, carry him, then he wants down again. He decided to live up to his nickname, the Terrorist, and that ended up with us leaving the store promptly and the kids crying because they wanted to look around. I herded my whining, crying children through the mall and into the car, took them home where we've been ever since. Here's to a better day tomorrow!

When Your Teacher Is A Communist

Jeff has been taking a summer class from a professor that is a complete nut job. During the first class, he talked at length about his political views and criticized Obama for being too conservative. By the second or third class, it became clear that he is, according to his own description, a Communist/Socialist in his views. He spent a good length of time bashing America, and white people, and how they repress everyone else, mainly black people and women. He used derogatory terms and profanity to describe Americans who fought to establish this nation. He also talked about how children should not look up to their own fathers, rather to sports figures and super heroes. Guess what?! This isn't even a class about politics. He just uses the class as a platform to rant, rave and show bizarre and inappropriate movies so he doesn't have to teach. One student actually suggested that they watch a certain (very strange) movie and offered up his Netflix account. The teacher agreed, and they then spent the rest of the class watching some twisted and pointless movie. Originally, he had said that their grade would be based on two papers. A student suggested that they only have to write one paper, and he immediately agreed. So, their whole semester's grade is based on one paper. The kicker? As long as everyone puts in some sort of effort, no matter how meager, they are all getting A's, even the kid who was busted for plagiarism!!!! The moral of the story? When your teacher is a communist/socialist, you will get an A whether you deserve it or not.

Camping: The Final Installment (Phew!!!)

At the boulder field

At this point, I think only the adoring grandparents are interested in more camping photos, but here goes, and I promise this is it! :)

Katie jumped from rock to rock, and given her reputation for less than stellar coordination, it was a cringe a minute for us.

James showcasing the sign, all while dutifully keeping his leg straight!

Spotted on the way to camp, the rare species 'Towerus Cell Phonia,' indigenous to the PA highway corridor. Seriously! Did they really think that it was going to blend in with anything? Gotta wonder what people are thinking sometimes.

Tyler the Mud Magnet

Trying to catch minnows and tadpoles; I caught one tadpole for them to see

Tyler inspecting Jeff's work

Bright eyed and bushy tailed

The boulder field is about 1400 feet long in the middle of the woods. Amazingly, it is about 10 feet deep and there is a stream that runs underneath it. If you walk out toward the middle you can hear it. We didn't go because of James' leg.

Scary!!!

Staying up late

Marshmallows!

Marshmallows are very messy. The stickyness, combined with dirt and soot made for some filthy kids!

The second day of our trip, James was running and tripped and fell and split open his knee really bad. Like probably would've gotten stitches bad. I was on the fence about whether to try and find a place to take him, and Jeff wanted to bandage it up and see what happened. I am happy to say it is healing up nicely. We've had him keep his knee as straight as possible since then so as not to put pressure on the wound.

Dr. Jeff busts out a makeshift splint. It didn't go over well. It stayed on for about 3 seconds. Fortunately, James has been a trouper through the whole thing. I'm glad we had the stuff needed to clean him up and bandage it. Otherwise we would have taken him for sure.

Katie and Tyler playing in the dishwater. Tyler kept stirring it up and saying 'Making' very proudly. I am not sure what he was making, but it kept him entertained!

There was a sand beach there and Tyler spent his time literally wallowing in the sand, sticking his head in it, and floundering about.

Warm sand

James once yelled 'Hey, Mom, look at those boobies!!' and I had to correct him. Buoys, not boobies. True story. Fortunately he has since worked on his pronunciation.

Wondering how far out he can go without a) scaring Mom to death and b) scaring the jeebers out of himself

We should do this everyday, Ma!

On our way home

Camping, Continued

Katie playing with a worm she and Tyler found...

I am not sure if the worm survived all the love

I bet that worm didn't know what hit him! I'm pretty sure it was the first and last time it'd ever encountered a creature in a pink tutu!

Tyler was even more fascinated by the 'nakes' and would sit and dig them up with his grubby little hands. We told him they were worms, not snakes, but nevertheless, he insisted excitedly that they were 'nakes!'

Hey, look! The Beverly Hillbillies have moved in!

This was the view from our campsite

This picture cracks me up! James and his little caterpillar friend. The angle makes James' nostrils look downright cavernous.

More 'nakes!' I love this picture. Tyler and his inquisitive old man expression.

One of the gazillion caterpillars we encountered

The plight of Katie: her pants just won't stay up.

Here, Mom! A picture of me. I hope this qualifies :)

Enjoying the scenery near our camp

Checking out the caterpillar (Have you noticed I have a thing about photographing hands yet?)

Going through a 'secret passageway' in the rhododendrons

Sunlight through the branches

Katie apparently shares Jeff's fearlessness about heights, which in fact, adds to my fearFULLness. I would be happy if my children kept a conservative 10 feet away from any drop-off, thankyouverymuch!!!

We found a large rock field, thanks to satellite pictures on Jeff's Blackberry. Technology these days, it can be very useful. The rock fields came about by lots of freezing and thawing.

The intrepid explorers and their trusty guide

Wild low-bush blueberries everywhere. No wonder the bears like living there!

My Tevas. A certain someone likes to bust on me for these, saying things like 'Uh, 1990 called and it wants its shoes back.' But alas, I don't care!!! They are comfy and sturdy and good for what ails ya.

A boulder pile in the middle of the woods

Look! We climbed the mountain! We did it!

We decided that we should have set our tent up in this clearing we found. The moss was softer than most carpet!

And tomorrow, the last installment of camping pictures, also known as the "Megan can't narrow it down so she's posting a zillion pictures" post.