In which I get stung & do not swear in front of my children

I thought it would be a great idea to take the kids hiking today. You know, because it's hot and muggy and they are not addicted to all things with electronic screens. E was not down with this at all, voicing various concerns to me while also asking if he could bring his DS. I reassured him of how much fun it would be, nixed the DS and packed us a picnic lunch.

So we head out to the park, and I'm all, "This will be so much fun" and "We can keep track of what wildlife we see!" I spray us all down with the gnarliest smelling bug spray, you know the kind that makes you sticky but keeps away all vermin large & small, and off we go. We get sidetracked by the seventeen kid's day camps that have been bused into the park, but continue on our way. I manage to keep the boys from stepping in horse poo most of the time, while taking fanciful pictures.
About 15 minutes in, we are hot, sweaty & getting eaten alive. I don't know if it was all the rain the past few days, but that bug spray didn't do diddly. I called uncle and we turned around. I then felt something bite me on the back of my thigh and I yelped like a little girl. Whatever it was must have been up my pant leg, because I never found it, and it managed to nip me two more times before I killed it or it flew off in victory. Either way, it burned like heck, so maybe it was a sting and not a bite. I have an awesome first aid kit in my car that has bug sting wipes in it, so that helped, but I was all for going home at that point. I did go through with the picnic part, which was nice but short-lived. We went home and A and E both worked on their math packets with way more enthusiasm than I find natural. Perhaps the air conditioning was so wonderful to them that they were just glad to be indoors, even if it was to do summer homework. Which gives me an idea on how to get them to do chores more efficiently in the future....

Winter Wonderland

We're on day two of being snowed in, and so far haven't killed one another.  It helps that the kids have all new toys and Wii games to amuse themselves with.  I'm hoping to go sledding later today.  I don't know the exact amount of snow, but Tom is guessing 8-10".  It's really windy so it's hard to measure with any accuracy.

It's a perfect day to snuggle up with a good book.  I'm trying to finally finish The Lord of The Rings.  I'm nearly done The Two Towers and hope to start The Return of the King later today.  It's all in one volume, which is nice.  It's my mother's copy, and I've had it for two years, so I'm thinking now's a good time to finish it and give it back already.

We had a lovely Christmas with both sides of our family. My husband surprised me with the Carole King & James Taylor cd & dvd. (Live at the Troubador)  He bought me a new laptop a few months ago so I wasn't expecting anything else. We put it on to play immediately and even took it with us to my parents' house to listen to over brunch. They just don't make music like that anymore.

My parents knocked my socks off with their gifts.  My father always asks for a list, in detail, of what we want.  He wants to give us something good without guessing.  So I had asked for a Coleman hiking hydration pack. I could not be more excited to try this thing out soon! It's lightweight and very slim, just enough room for keys, phone, camera and a map, along with a water bladder you fill and drink from a tube. I may need to find somewhere to hike this week in the snow.  But that turned out to be my little gift, as they presented me with a little jewelry box.  They gave me the most amazing tanzanite and silver ring. I think I may have cried, I was so stunned.  It turns out that they also gave the exact same ring to my sister when she was visiting for Thanksgiving.  She nearly bit through her tongue keeping it a secret from me.  I can't stop staring at this sparkly thing on my finger!  I haven't been able to wear my diamond since the Frodo Incident, as the scar has made my finger too thick to wear it. This one fits the ring finger of my other hand perfectly.

Tom and the kids are off all this week, and then he has next week off as well.  We have some fun things planned, but for now are content to stay indoors out of the driving wind.

Girl's Weekend

The nonbloggingfriend and I met up in a town in West Virginia this past weekend. (not quite halfway between our hometowns) Finally meeting Kristin in person was everything I had hoped it would be. We talked constantly, ate a lot, and hiked a LOT. We went to Cooper's Rock State Forest and hiked 3 trails, 2 of which were the hardest ones. I have not had opportunity to truly hike like that in many years, and I had forgotten how much sheer joy it brings me. I really need to find a way to *ahem* lose my kids a bit more often so I can go. We covered about 8 miles on Saturday, and even woke up at 6am on Sunday to go exploring and do a bit more hiking. Which should tell you how much I wanted to keep hiking, because I really do not do mornings.

I took this pic of us on top of Raven Rock, which was a 4 mile round trip hike.

After about 7 years of being friends via internet & phone, it was a great blessing to hug one another, and pray face to face. Love you girl!