Things happen in bunches

I've heard that bad things happen in threes.  I don't buy it.  I do believe that things tend to happen in bunches, feast and famine.  Ask a cashier.  True we've had a bunch of car issues--car care May I've dubbed it--but bunches haven't shown up in bad ways only.  We've had some opportunities to see really nice people that we don't see often, and we've been able to take advantage of these opportunities in bunches.  We've closed May seeing lots of nice folks at Nicole and Brad's graduation party on the one side, and at a celebration of Italy on the other.

Graduation Party day:




Festa della Republicca Italiana

Summer Work Begins

Corinne will spend her Summer '09 entertaining at Knoebels Amusement Resort, a free-admission amusement park in Pennsylvania (free parking too!).  Much less commercial than a Disney or Hershey, it has loads of picnic space, and allows dogs on leashes. We made the 165 mile trek during the Memorial Day weekend. 

Lots of ways to have fun at Knoebels, but if you take to the roller coasters, watch your cell phone.  Laura lost control of hers and had to pick it up off the floor of the car after the ride came to a complete stop.  Caleb narrowly averted disaster, realizing a bit too late that his phone had come free on the same ride.  Unable to stop the ride before it took off with the next group, we waited for the car to come around again, and guess what: the Blackberry was no longer in the car!  With no particular help from the park officials (they tried), we managed to locate and retrieve the phone not far from the ride, in the hands of a slimy miscreant who couldn't believe he had found such a cool toy.  Said miscreant didn't seem to speak English, but the point was made, and the phone was returned without incident.

I really enjoyed the pool, more than I thought I would and we didn't even do the slides, just the pool and diving boards.  Turns out, you can see and hear the show from the pool area!  And don't miss the carousel--sit on one of the outside horses so you can reach for the brass ring.  It doesn't sound like much, but it's something I always look forward to (did it twice on this particular trip).

Memorial Day Gathering

I tend to be inspired to update here on the web when I have pictures.  In order to have pictures I have to do something.  And have a camera.  Usually, I remember to do this when I am going to see kids' activities.  Chris had a nice tennis season, but I was generally unable to get to any of the matches. 
Corinne's out of school now after a relatively quiet semester, working the summer singing and dancing--I'll get to that later.

I had an awesome holiday weekend.  Kicked it off with a 165 mile trip into Virginia.  Not a family reunion--I haven't been able to get to one of those in a decade or more--but a Memorial Day party.  Felt a bit like a family reunion, only not quite so hot and more patriotic.  I have to admit, I initially resisted the urge to break out the camera, because I thought that showing up and taking a bunch of pictures of folks I haven't seen in a while might be intrusive and antisocial.  After all, I was there to visit and interact, I wasn't sightseeing.  So I ended up not really getting pictures of folks I haven't seen in a while.

I did get a few pics though, including the trek down to the (Shenandoah) river to the old power company dam, a side outing to the race track, and a traditional peanut toss :)