Saturday, January 28, 2012

Swimming!

Today was a big swimming day for Frances and Henry.  Henry participated in a Mini-Meet for kids 8 and under.  The awesome thing about mini-meets is that the kids get to swim against other there exact age.  At a regular meet, Henry competes in the 8 & Under category, so he must swim against 8 year old even though he is only 6.  At the meet today he competed against only other 6 year olds.  He had a fantastic day!  He came in first in 25 yard breaststroke and the 100 yard individual medley.  He got second in the 25 yard butterfly and third in 25 yard backstroke.  He also dropped time in all his events.



For Frances, today was a distance meet.  All the events were at least 100 yards or longer.  Frances swam the 200 yard indivisual medley and came in third.  She won the 200 yard breaststroke, beating her nemesis by just over 1 second.  She came in second in the 100 yard breaststroke.  Frances also dropped time in all her events which is hard to do at this particular pool because it is so shallow.


It was a long day - we had to be there at 10 am for the Mini-Meet which ended at 12:30.  Frances's meet didn't started until 2:15.  We were in Bear, DE, so going home between meets was not an option.  John met us for lunch a nearby Chik-fil-a. After eating he took Henry home, and Frances and I headed back to the pool, where I was roped into being a timer for the distance meet.  At least when I time the meet seems to go by much faster.  We finally headed home around 4:30.  Only 5 more meets until the season is over!

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Finally Snow!

 

So, Friday night, the forecasters were calling for a small snowstorm to start overnight and end by Saturday around noon. This would be the first measurable snow of the season The three kids had a swim meet scheduled to start at 10 am.  Henry became quite upset when he learned that we would have snow but he would be unable to play in it due to the meet.  I promised him that we would get up early so that we could go out to play before swimming.  Well he woke me up at 7 am. There was about 2 inches of snow and it was actively sleeting.  After a quick breakfast, showers and the frantic search for snowpants, boots, hats, etc.,  Henry, John, myself and the our two dogs headed out around 9:00 AM.  Our destinatiuon was the Berm at Henry's school. The school is less that 3 years old and is built on a flat piece of land surrounded by woods and a major interstate.  A large earthen berm was built in a crescent shape aound the school to shield the building and grounds from traffic noise.  This is our favorite dog walking spot.  From the top of the Berm, the dogs can race down a steep slope into the woods on one side or towards the school on the other (which tends to fill with water like a moat). It is also an awesome place to sled.  Henry brought along a plastic tobaggon and a snowboard.  During the walk to the Berm, Henry jumped into the tobaggon and John ended up pulling him while also walking our Austarlian shepherd.  Eventually, we just hooked Jilly up to the tobaggon, and viola! we had a sled dog.  She did a great job pulling Henry all the way to the top of the Berm. We tried to get Lupin, a Border Collie, to pull the sled, but he would try for a few steps and then sit down in protest.


                                                                    Mush!
                           
                                          
                                                   Lupin refuses to pull.


The sledding hill is huge and steep.  During the last hurricane a large tree fell at the bottom of the hill creating a bit of a hazard for sledders.  We started half way down the hill and managed to avoid the tree.  After a few good runs, the trudge back up the hill became exhausting, so we headed home.  But first, John retrieved a old tire from the woods, rolled it up the hill.  Then we launched it, rolling it down the hill to vault over the downed tree.  It is so much fun to act like a kid again!

                         On the berm

                         

                                               Bottom of the hill
Sledding!


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Tea with Grandmom

On Sunday, January 8th, we were invited to High Tea at Grandmom's house.  Most of the younger cousins were in attendence.  Grandmom was struggling to get around on her injured ankle but still managed to produce a delcious spread including salad, Irish soda bread, coffee cake bread, deli wraps and for dessert - brandy balls, almond snow caps and brownies. An assortment of teas was served.  I really enjoyed the Singing Dog Vanilla tea.  The cousins had a fine time escaping to the basement to do who knows what, eventually settling on a rousing game of hide and seek.  The three girls spent a good bit of time texting each other with their new cell phones as you can see from the picture.  a good time was had by all. 
One bonus from the day was that Grandmom was able to find some of her Dad's and my Dad's old film negatives for Mads to borrow.  Mads has set up a darkroom in our basement and can now make black and white prints from film negatives.  Two of her early attempts are posted here. According to Mom/Garndmom:    The first one, a contact print taken by Grandmom's Dad, Thomas Coyne,  is of the beach in Atlantic City. I think that Steel Pier is in the background. Aren’t the bathing suits a hoot? I didn’t see anybody that I recognized in the photo but I’ll bet that there is a relative or two in it. My guess is that it was taken around 1920 give or take a few years. My Mom and Dad were married in 1921. 
I don’t recall seeing the self photo of Dad. It was probably developed at the photo lab at White Sands before I met him. That’s where he became so interested in photography and they provided a developing lab for the soldiers to develop their own photos.That is where he learned how to process and develop film.  It shows the camera he loved. He bought it at the PX in New Mexico when he was serving at White Sands in 1954-55.



Wednesday, January 4, 2012

First Blog!

Marriot 23rd Floor

They are smiling now....


Riding the Train

Welcome to my first blog post! Happy New Year too!
Most of my family visited Philadelphia on Monday, Jan 2nd.  We took the train to Market East and ate lunch at the Reading Terminal Market.  The Market is an amazing place to visit.  Lots of choices and cuisines to choose from from sushi to Thai to Mexican.  We then walked around Center City visiting the Clothespin, the crashed plane/greenhouse outside of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Love Park and the place with the giant board game pieces (dominos, Monopoly markers, Parcheese markers, etc).  We even visited the giant TV screen at the Comcast Center.  The Winter Classic hockey was the same day and we went to the Marriott where I think the Rangers were staying.  We took the elevator to the 23 floor ( the top floor)  and viewed the cityscape from above.  Before heading home again we had to get a snack for the Reading Terminal Market - cupcakes from the Flying Monkey (absolutely delicious and soft pretzels from Miller's Twist (which are superior to Auntie Ann's in size and flavor).