Tow Path Ride

During the 1800's, canals were used back East as a main source of transporting goods. We are fortunate enough to live not far from the Delaware river and canal where you can take a ride on the once used canal. I love this sort of thing so this past Saturday tried it out.

Here is the boat that we made our voyage in. I believe it was called the Josiah White II but don't quote me on that. Jackson thought it was like Noah's Ark. Maybe but I think the windows on the lower deck would have let too much water in. The happy crew getting ready to push off. I think the kids were a little clueless as to what was happening or what we were doing.
I love Jackson's face in this picture. We just told him that the mule's were going to pull the boat. He was excited about it. John-David looks a little stunned.
Here are the mules that pulled us. They actually didn't have to do a ton of work because the momentum of the boat of the water is what really pushed them along. The mules just help get them started. We learned a lot of facts about mules, tow paths and life of the canal. I am really glad I was born when I was. I wouldn't have made a very good canal wife.
We didn't go very far on the canal but our ride was about 40 minutes long. That was due to the fact the maximum speed per hour is 4 miles. Back in the days of it's use, you would get a speeding ticket if you went to fast.
This is a lock house and the turn around point of our ride. This house was also the canal laundry mat. You could drop your clothes off heading down the river and pick them back up on your trip returning.
Kelsey is always entertaining us. She found playing peek-a-boo was much more entertaining than the boat ride.
Jocelyn and Jackson really liked the ride. Jackson was really excited when they said they had "canalagators" also known as snapping turtles on the river. He never did see one though.
This was the lower level of the boat where they have catered dinners for fall foliage rides. This is where the cargo would have gone like coal. It was fun to learn more about the history of the area. I hope to find more things like this.

Cousins and Blackberries

This week we were able to enjoy two of our favorite things:cousins and blackberries. We had John-David's brother Richard and his family, my cousin Marsh and his family and John-David's sister Alycia and her husband all over for Sunday dinner. Unfortunately I forgot to take more pictures but I did get this picture of Jackson and Marshall junior. Jackson had big plans of things what him and Marshall were going to do once he came. He wanted them to wear batman costumes, climb the tree in the backyard and to play with his evil castle(a cardboard box painted with toilet paper rolls glues to the side, it's very high tech). We took a picture to verify dreams were fulfilled. We had a really fun time with everyone. Maybe next time I'll remember to take pictures.
I never knew that I liked blackberries until I moved to Ohio. One day while wandering the countryside we discovered this lovely blackberry farm. The berries were relatively cheap, we could drive up to the bushes and the berries were good. And so my black berry jam obsession began. I was very sad to leave the blackberry bushes behind as I moved to Pennsylvania but I knew it wouldn't take me long to get the blackberry itch and discover a new blackberry patch. I found one about 10 miles from my house. Today, myself and my 3 side kicks ventured to this new patch.
My first worker wasn't too interested in working but thought that dumping the berries out was fun or carrying the full containers to me was really helpful. She got fired.

My second worker was good, for the time he worked. He doesn't like fruit so he wasn't a threat to decreasing the bounty we were collecting which was a bonus. He decided to try one which is a very bold move for him but I figured it was going to go south, which literally it did. He took one bite and spit it out. Obviously his spitting aim isn't great because the hem of his shirt caught the berry remnants. Well, there went that worker. He was done for the day because he had berries on his shirt which he was too mad to work. I think he was Union anyhow. Now my third worker was a real gem. She told me that she wasn't even going to eat one berry and that is saying a lot for my fruit bat. Aside from the fact her feet got wet which was too much for her to handle she really pulled through for the team. She stayed with me the whole twenty minutes it took to pick our berries. Although I think I must of worn her out because while she was helping me mash the berries when we got home she said, "Why don't we just buy jam?" Apparently she didn't think this labor intensive process of making jam was fun. Some people's kids!

Despite what all the nay sayers say, at least I will enjoy yet another year of blackberry jam.

Goldie Locks

I grew up having my mom put pink curlers in my hair on Saturday night so Sunday I could look like I stuck my finger in the electrical socket. I, of course wanted my daughter to have this same experience and decided to try it last night. I have been hesitant to try because Jocelyn cries to have her hair done but she was actually excited to have her hair put in pink curlers. I highly expected to be awaken in the night by a screaming child telling me that the curlers hurt her head but much to my surprise no.

Here is Jocelyn with all the curlers in the her hair. Jackson was a stronger supporter of the curling. I personally think he thought this was a form of torture for a girl and wanted to see what was going to happen. He kept saying, "I like it when we put stuff in Jocelyn's hair". I am curios as to what things he is planning to put in her hair in the future. Here is the lioness freshly decurlerized. It was just the finger in the socket look we were going for. She reminds me of my sister Melissa in this picture. Melissa loved the lioness look too:)Kelsey wanted her picture taken also. She had the wild mane look minus the curls. It's not that we neglect Kelsey's hair but she doesn't exactly like anything in it. Today was an all time record of keeping a bow in hair for the entire duration of church. I don't think that has ever happen. Jocey is all ready to go to church. I think we'll carry on the pink curler tradition for another generation.

Philadelphia Eagles Training Camp

About a mile or two down the road from us is Lehigh University. Each year it hosts the Philadelphia Eagles training camp for about three weeks starting at the end of July. The public is allowed to come and watch most of the practices and in addition to that they have a kids area with some inflatable slides and such. We didn't have a whole lot going on yesterday so we decided to check it out. Tomorrow all the veterans or the big name people arrive so I thought it would be best to go when the crowds wouldn't be as big. John-David has to work almost every day for the next three weeks so it was just me and the kids who went out for this adventure.
I really had no idea what I was doing but we found a spot on the bleachers that was pretty much right in front of the players. The offense and the defense were scrimmaging against each other so it was like we were watching a game. Now I have seen quite a few football games in my life time and I know the basics of the game but this was meant to be a dad/son bonding time. Jackson was asking me all sorts of questions and I was doing my best to answer but I think all the men around me were wondering where this kid's dad was because his mom should not be explaining football to him. I agree.
Jackson really enjoyed watching the practice but unfortunately his sisters weren't as interested. As soon as the meager offering of a snack I brought ran out so did the interest of his sisters.
This is a picture of a bunch of men that I don't know the names of that make a lot of money playing football.
I decided we better leave the bleachers before a real melt down begun from Kelsey. However trying to remove Jackson from the practice started a meltdown from him.
He was still mad about leaving at this point.
I can see why they have the training camps here. It is such a beautiful area that is so green. Down the street from Lehigh University is the Saucon Valley Country Club that hosted one of the LPGA 's tournaments a few weeks ago. But with the green comes a lot of rain to make it that way.
The play area was also free, my kind of activity:) Jackson didn't stay mad long once he saw the big slide. Even Kelsey got to go down it.
The bounce house was under the slide. This was Kelsey's favorite. The slide was a little steppe for her liking.



This was the tackling obstacle course. Jackson and Jocelyn loved it. Jackson loved tackling the obstacles. We could use one of these at our house.

We had a fun time at the training camp but I think that we are still Buckeye fans(their gear is a whole lot cheaper). We haven't joined the Philadelphia Eagles band wagon yet although Jackson got an Eagle Stamp on his hand and he says he is never going to wash it off. So far he has been successful in keeping it. But I think we'll bring along our dad next year.

Anniversary Trip to Philadelphia

For our anniversary this year we took a day trip to Philadelphia. Richard and Jenny watched our kids so we could actually go on a date! We went through Chinatown, which we did on our honeymoon in San Fransisco, on our way to Reading Terminal Market.

Reading Terminal Market to an eclectic grouping of shops from Amish to Mexican selling anything from food to shirts. They just happen to be having an ice cream tasting festival which was very fitting for the two biggest ice cream fans. After enjoying some ice cream and lunch, we wandered over to the city building. It's a massive building in the middle of the street. We then drove to the historical part of town where Independence Hall was located. While we waited for our tour to start we went and took a picture with the Liberty Bell. The cracks still there:)


Here is Independence Hall.Here is a court room used back in the day. Notice the cage like box in the right hand corner. That was where the accused stood the whole time during trial. I guess they were trying to get you use to prison.


This is where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed. Nothing in the room is original expect the chair found at the main front desk. I would imagine this was used for the chairman of the committee. It's pictured close up below. In a separate building there is a display of a copy of the Declaration of Independence but during peak visiting months like the summer they actually display an original. There are very few originals left so it was cool to see the real deal. We couldn't take a picture of it so just imagine it.

After the tour we walked to Washington park and saw the tomb of the unknown soldier. It was quite an interesting park. There were some homeless people, families with children, sunbathers in bikinis and students studying. A good people watching park I guess. We have some friends moving to Philadelphia next year and on our way back to Jenny and Richard's we saw a few places downtown that Barbara and Jared might like. What do you think Barb, it's not far from Wills?

Dad's First Paycheck

Jacobsburg Park

A few weeks ago after dad had been on call, I convinced him to take us to a park. We brought a grill and cooked up some hamburgers, and then roasted some marshmallows. It sort of felt like we were in the mountains but the picnic areas were mowed and the bathrooms were flush. Those amenities were pretty nice. The kids really were into the marshmallow roasting, especially Kelsey.