Woo-Hoo!

Way to Go Lions!


Bill taught Drew the famous "We Are...Penn State!" chant during the game and he's said it about a hundred times tonight. It's not quite the same as half of Beaver Stadium chanting each side of the cheer, but it's cute nonetheless.

Drew's Inadvertent Funny of the Day

Yesterday afternoon Drew and I took a walk/bike ride for a few blocks around our little neighborhood. It's hard to believe Drew ever struggled riding his tricycle when I watch him zoom down the sidewalks now. At times he was able to pedal fast enough that I was able to walk a little faster than just leisurely.

After about 30 minutes it was nearing time to start preparing dinner, so I told Drew it was time to head home. He was not pleased to hear this and tried to start pedaling in the opposite direction. I repeated (trying to stay calm) that it was time to go home and we could ride bikes again tomorrow. Drew said "No Mommy. It's not time to go home." Then, pointing away from himself, he said "I wanna ride my bike all way to Tucson!" I burst out laughing while he looked very confused, and then I explained that Tucson was maybe just a little too far to ride bikes. And he said with all seriousness, "Maybe when I get bigger I will ride my bike all way to Tucson." God I love that kid...

Fall Fun

Today we took Drew for some traditional fall festivities--a hayride & pumpkin picking. A friend of mine told me about a place a little over an hour away that has pumpkin picking and an apple orchard, with lots of goodies to buy in addition to the pumpkin picking: http://www.appleannies.com/. So after swim lessons this morning, we headed out.

While Bill waited in line for the hayride tickets, Drew quickly discovered the big metal tubs filled with corn kernels. What fun! He jumped, he dug, he made corn kernel angels. We practically had to drag him away.



Here's a family shot on the hayride to the pumpkin patch. Drew was thrilled to sit near the front where he could see the big wheels of the tractor.


Having arrived at the pumpkin patch, Bill and Drew set out in search of the perfect pumpkin. Drew had told us earlier this week that "I will get a little pumpkin because the big ones are VERY heavy."


We tried to get Drew to pose with a couple pumpkins, but with the sun in his eyes, he wasn't eager to look at the camera.


Daddy and Drew have settled on a pumpkin. Here Bill is trying to remove the pumpkin from the vine without a pair of clippers, which fortunately he was able to do.


After we returned with our pumpkin, we headed for the corn maze, where we thought all that running around would tire Drew right out. He foiled those plans pretty quickly when he requested to ride on Daddy's shoulders instead. Here's a link to an aerial shot of the maze.
http://www.appleannies.com/corn_maze.php We headed to the left which was the easier version, and it was a good thing we didn't decide to challenge ourselves or we might still be there. It took us 20 minutes to get out as it was! Maybe we should have made a few more of the turning decisions than Drew. Oh well. In the picture below we tried to get Drew to shrug his shoulders like he was saying "I don't know which way to go," but outstretched arms was all we could get out of him.


Having emerged from the corn maze, we went to show Drew the very tall flowers. Here Drew tries to show us he can be as big as a sunflower.


Back at the play area, Drew took another few jumps in the metal corn kernel tubs and spent a little time climbing the miniature haystack. Yeah, we found corn kernels and pieces of straw all over the boy!


After sitting on the straw he asked whether he could climb like the other kids, which of course we said yes to. Here Dad gives Drew a little boost.

He's made it to the top.

Not satisfied with sitting at the top, he decided to stand up very tall!


Here's a shot of the pumpkin patch with the mountains in the background.
It was really a beautiful fall day in Arizona, with temperatures in the 70s and sun everywhere. We're going to be in for a rude awakening whenever we have to leave this wonderful weather. Watching the Penn State game today though, they showed aerial shots of the fall foliage, and I must admit I miss that part of living in the Northeast. Hopefully there will still be some colorful leaves when we visit.

We bought some very yummy goodies at the orchard store, including homemade fudge, which is now calling my name from the refridgerator. I won't even pretend I have the willpower to resist it.

One last shot of Drew and the pumpkins.

Quick Trip to Vegas

A couple weeks ago we found out that Bill had to go to Fort Bragg for about 10 days to be an Observer/Controller (OC) during a training exercise for a unit getting ready to deploy. Just a random tasking that came down that Bill's unit had to support. So, since it had been a little while since we'd seen my parents (and a long while since we had been up there), and I needed to bump up my Southwest Rapid Rewards credits before March, Drew and I took a short trip to Las Vegas for part of the time Daddy was away. Meanwhile, Bill was able to get together with his friend Peter (the best man at our wedding), who lives in Raleigh now and made the fairly short drive to Fort Bragg to meet Bill for dinner.

Anyhow, our trip to Las Vegas this time included a visit to the Children's Museum. Drew was thoroughly entertained for over an hour and half. He climbed and slid on a large structure designed for just those purposes.

There's Andrew coming out the tunnel. Yay for Andrew. (Drew helped with some of the captions on this post)

Grandpa & Drew! Them playing at the museum.

Grandma & Drew make a big huge bubble...

Drew concentrating on ringing up that ear of corn...or in his words "Andrew's buying food in the basket!"

Drew practicing for his Halloween costume...

Drew started out each morning's walk refusing to sit in his stroller and insisting on pushing it himself. His little legs don't move quite as fast as Grandma and Mommy would have liked to get our heart rates up, so fortunately we were able to coax him into the stroller by the end of my parent's street.

What's the best part of walking at Grandma & Grandpa's? Why, feeding the ducks, geese, fish and pigeons at the pond near the golf clubhouse, of course. The first day, when we took these pictures, we had bread for the gaggle, but the other day we went we discovered that ducks like Cheerios too.

Look at all the ducks!

When we weren't at the museum or feeding the ducks, Drew was thrilled to help Grandma and Grandpa in the backyard. We had to pry the broom out of the boy's hands. He was so focused on sweeping up the patio.

Here's Grandma and Drew getting in some hugs before heading to the airport.

From Drew: "There's Andrew snugglin on the big rocking chair with Grandma."

On our way to the airport Aunt Katie called and Drew was thrilled to be able to hold the phone and talk all by himself...


It was a nice, albeit short, visit. We are looking forward to our return visits in December when Bill runs his second marathon there and then again when we meet my brother and sister there for Christmas. We're also counting down the days to our visit to Pennsylvania near the end of the month. Drew is very excited about seeing his aunts and uncle, Grandma, Great Gram, and Pop Pop. I think he is holding a special burst of excitement for seeing his little cousins though. Aunt Liz and cousin Madison will be meeting us in PA from Delaware, and Drew and I will be taking a quick visit up to New York to visit second cousin Ava (and her Mommy & Daddy). Now, let's all just pray he sleeps on the plane!

Remembering...

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post about today or not, since many of you reading never had the opportunity to meet my Aunt Marie and some of you didn't even meet me until after she died. But ultimately I decided that this blog is about our day to day life, and this day--October 17th--will never again be just another day in October. Not since that unimaginable day in 2002 when our family lost one of its kindest, most loving, giving members in a senseless and incomprehensible act of violence.


Most of the time when I think of my Aunt Marie I can do so with a smile and a laugh, because this is how she would wish to be remembered. But on this day, the pain of how she was taken from us is too difficult to cast aside. I considered writing down all my memories of that day, that week, and the aftermath, but as I started it wasn't clear to me that that would produce anything more than a ton of tears. I already feel I've gotten as much closure as I can get without knowing who did this and why (if there's even an answer to that).

So instead I decided just to say, I love you Aunt Marie, I miss you, and I think of you every day. Please watch over us.

Drew's New Trick

A few weeks ago, Drew started talking about doing tricks. He would get down on his hands and knees and then point one of his legs up in the air and call that his trick. I assumed this was something he learned at his new school, although, to be honest, I wasn't quite sure what exactly his trick was supposed to be. So I eventually asked his teacher. She explained that sometimes during afternoon circle time they go around the circle, sing a little song with each child's name and the child does a trick. So it seemed that Drew was attempting, without much success, to imitate his friend's somersaults. I tried to help Drew figure out the mechanics of a somersault, but he kept saying "Mommy, you do a trick." I thought maybe if he saw me do one he'd grasp the idea of it better, but as I tucked my head into my chest and felt a twinge of pain in my neck, I quickly realized my somersaulting days are over. Fortunately, Drew allowed me (without demonstration) to help him tuck his head and flip his legs over to the point that he started somersaulting on his own. Here's a few shots of Drew's newest trick from our recent visit to Grandma and Grandpa's (more of that visit coming in another post).

I had to include the video too, because it's just not the same without the song. Usually Drew won't even attempt his trick until you've started singing the song. He showed off his new trick so much for Grandma & Grandpa and their friends who came over for dinner one night that he's nearly perfected it (though in the video it took him two tries).

Grateful for being a Bad Patient

I was reading CNN.com this morning and saw a picture of the actor that played Charlotte's husband on Sex & the City with a headline about being a "bad patient". Read it here if you're interested.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/02/ep.evan.handler.patient.advocate/index.html

Essentially he argued that you have to watch out for yourself when it comes to your health. Doctors and nurses make mistakes too.

It reminded me of how grateful I am for having been a bit of a bad patient myself...maybe not bad--let's call it pushy. In January 2003 (just four months before Bill and I got married), I was experiencing intense pain in my lower abdomen and upper thigh. Doubled over in pain, I hobbled to the health center on campus where, after some examination that ruled out ovarian cysts, I was dismissed with a pulled muscle from the new exercise routine I had undertaken as part of a New Year's resolution.

Two days later, in even worse pain, I drove myself to the hospital convinced this could not be just a pulled muscle. Again, after some examination the ER doc was ready to send me home with muscle relaxants. I pleaded with them to do an ultrasound because I had self-diagnosed myself on the internet with an atypical hernia. I said "I know it doesn't appear to be a hernia, but can you please just check? This is not just a pulled muscle."

One ultrasound and an hour later they determined I did not have a hernia, but I did have a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in my left thigh. I was immediately placed on total bed rest because they feared any movement (even the dozen steps to the bathroom) could cause the clot to break up and travel to my lungs, which would have resulted in a pulmonary embolism. Bill was stuck at Fort Knox, so my mother jumped in the car as fast as she could and made her way down to PA from Chateaugay. After four days in the hospital and a blood thinning drug regiment I would use for a year, I was finally released.

I shudder to even think about what might have happened if I had tried to push through the pain and go work in my office that day.

So my public service announcement for the day (brought to you by my love for all things related to Sex and the City) is:

Always trust yourself when it comes to your health.

Oh, and also, VOTE! I'm looking forward to the VP debate tonight.