Almost Forgot!

Yesterday, Mike and I went to my boss' house for a work party. We have a small staff so there was only 9 of us. It was very nice - good food and they had a beautiful view of the valley. (Of course I didn't get a picture of that.) But I did take one of the flower pens I made.
My boss's husband, Don, was quite generous with sharing his wine collection. This was one of those huge bottles (we didn't drink this one, but it had a funny label). It's called Red Cat and it has this funny saying to go along with it:
Red Cat, Red Cat,
It's an aphrodisiac,
Red Cat, Red Cat,
It will get you in the sack.
Ha - pretty funny :)

Playing Catch-Up

Time's just slipping away! I constantly think about things that I want to "blog" about, but then I seem to loose my grasp on time. So as a result, when I get a couple of hours to myself, I update all at once. Maybe someday I'll be a little more consistent with this whole deal.

I've been wanting to make note of some special days that just happened over the last couple of weeks. (This can be a touchy thing to do though - I don't want to do it for some people and then end up forgetting someone later.) BUT, I am only human, so at least I'll try. I really love keeping in touch with people, family and friends. But so often I let time lapse and the next thing I know, it's been a year! If you happen to be reading this blog and it has been awhile since we have had contact, I truly am sorry and wish that I had so many more hours in the day to dedicate to such things. Like I always tell Mike, I really don't have time for this "work" stuff, it really gets in the way of all the important things in life. So I guess that's my ultimate goal, to really dedicate my time where I want it to go, and not constantly feel like I'm chasing after my free-time. Much easier said than done. BUT for now, here are some special people and our wishes for them and a happy year a head!

Justine & Eli celebrated a wedding anniversary on Aug. 6th!

David & Jeannie celebrated a wedding anniversary Aug. 15th!

My mum & dad celebrated their wedding anniversary on Aug. 23!

An old friend of ours from DE (Denise) had a birthday on the 24th!
Hi Denise - I hope OH is doing good!

And Mr. Gabe turned 10 yesterday!!! How crazy!!
We miss you all and hope you all had great days!
(and just in case you were wondering - Mike's birthday is THIS Saturday - HA!)
Tell me your dates!!!! I can embarrass you with a post too :)

Brews N' Bears

Saturday was Ryan's birthday (Mike's brother). Mike and Ryan were planning to go to a brewfest in Elmira to celebrate, but unfortunately (in Ryan's mind) both Sarah and I were going to be working and were not going to be able to make it. BUT in reality, Sarah had the whole day off and I was able to leave work early. So while Ryan was over at our place with Mike for most of the day, Sarah was at their place decorating and baking some yummy brownies. Then Mike and Ryan stopped by to take out the dog before leaving for the fest and Ryan was surprised with a fun mini-party! It was a lot of fun, Sarah was quite the planner - and Ryan had no clue.
So after some brownies and presents, we all traveled to the Brews N' Bears brewfest. It was held at the Tanglewood Nature Center & Museum and it was actually a fundraiser for the nature center. It was small, but very enjoyable. The vendors were outside and then inside there was a wing contest. From what I saw, the nature center was really nice. They had a lot of reptiles to observe and some neat displays. I wish I could have seen more of the actual nature center, but there really was some business to attend to. :)Here is a picture of outside the tents. They had a decent crowd.

Ryan, Mike & Sarah

Here I am with the stuffed bear. I didn't catch his name though.

We decided to leave a little early because there was a big storm heading right towards the fest, and we wanted to check out a brewpub in Corning - Market Street Brewing Company. On our way there, we passed through the crazy storm and then looked back to see a perfect rainbow - and then a double rainbow! It was so beautiful. It also gave us a great sunset.

Trumansburg Fair

This past week was the Trumansburg Fair. Trumansburg is where Taughannock Falls is located, just down the road. So Mike, Teri and I checked it out last Thursday. It is a fairly small sized fair, but they definitely had a nice selection of rides, food, animals, and I think entertainment (the band we saw wasn't too amazing but they did have some demolition derbies).
We started off with some Italian Sausages, then made our way to the Zipper. This is a classic carnival ride that spins you in your little cage as you spin around the entire ride. They have one in Ocean City, so we were accustomed to it and were excited to try it again. (Although I guess I should be speaking for myself - Mike has never been thrilled with spinning-puke fair rides, and we learned that Teri wasn't much of a fan either.) BUT, they were both good sports and decided to go for it - I was super excited. So as we got up to the platform, Mike found out that you have to have 2 people to ride (Teri and I were going to sit together), so he kindly bowed out and let us go on without him. Now Teri and I are on, getting swung around as we wait for them to finish filling up the rest of the seats. Then right when we should really be getting started, the guys loading us on are asking us to get off. I was a little irritated because we hadn't had a ride yet - I was close to a real fit - but then finally understood that someone had thrown up before we could even get started, so everyone had to get off so they could do a proper cleaning. OH well :( at least we did get out tickets back. Pretty gross though!
After the whole zipper experience we decided to take a leisurely Ferris Wheel ride. They're so nice, I wish I could sleep on a Ferris Wheel every night. I think it would be so relaxing (same with the swings - Mike thinks I'm nuts).
Here's the Zipper & Mike looking up at it before we got on.

Chris & Teri waiting in line.
Mike and I still had a set of tickets to use up so we tried this fun ride. It reminded me of the big boat ride or covered wagon, but instead you face out and it spins you side to side and then all the way around - it had a really nice whip to it!

So fairs usually have some farm animals - cows, horses, pigs, bunnies. But the Trumansburg Fair had exotic animals! What a shock to see such strange animals. They had an alligator, large tortoise, lemurs, goats and then theses:
Two kangaroos and one even had a joey in its pouch!
two black lepards
and cows - here's Teri kneeling down to say hi - I always forget how huge cows can be! Good times!

Baby Shower

Two weekends ago I went home to help my mom with a baby shower that she was throwing for friends of the family (Scott & Ellen Cocolin). They are expecting their first child, Olivia Rose, in the next couple of days/weeks.
It was a really nice time because I hadn't seen them for so many years. Actually, I had only met Ellen once before. It was a lot of fun and good to catch up with some old friends. Unfortunately Mike wasn't able to make it home. Times like these are when it really stinks not having the same days off. But it does seem to be looking like that could be changing soon!

Scott, Ellen & Linda (Scott's mom)

I made this diaper cake for the shower. This was the second cake that I have ever made. They really aren't that hard to make, and I think that it turned out pretty darn cute.

I also made this bouquet from rolled up baby socks. So adorable!

(Side-note: our camera is still broke!! We finally got it back from the shop and the first time I went to use it, it broke again. So I'm still using my phone for pictures. Thank goodness for cell phone cameras - I'd be so lost without it! Although I'm seriously missing being able to take clear pictures...ho hum)

Fight of the Meds

So Myra is not very happy with this whole medication situation. We're supposed to give her this liquid medicine, orally, twice a day. She HATES it so much! I think today was the first day I could actually get it to work. It stinks though, she'll foam at her mouth, run away and fight us so much. She got a little bit the first try, but then we tried to put it in her food - no luck. The next morning I tried to put it in her milk - still no luck. So I've been trying the best solution I can come up with: quarantine her in the bathroom, wrap her in a towel, stick the syringe in her mouth and just hope for the best. Yesterday I ended up with most of it on my arm. And this morning she refused to come out from under the bed. I just don't know how we can say for sure if it's even helping. I'm supposed to call the vet tomorrow and say how it's working, unfortunately out of the 7 doses she should have had by now, we've only got about 2 down. Oh well. I've actually been talking with this other vet who has come to a couple of my programs this past week. She is suggesting to get it in pill form instead. So maybe I'll try that tomorrow.
So if it turns out that the medicine works, then it's good because it means that it's just allergies, but bad because we'll have to do this medicine bit on a long-term. BUT if it doesn't help, then back to the Doc. and more tests - mo' $ too :( I'm not sure what to wish for. I guess for her to relax and accept that she has to take this stupid medicine. Poor girl!

Sneezy Little Girl

Poor little miss Myra Jane.
She's been having sneezing attacks lately (actually for quite awhile now) so I decided to take her in to get checked out. We haven't found a vet yet here in Ithaca, so decided to check out Cornell's Vet Hospital (thanks Chief!) You actually have a 4th year student examine your pet with a licensed vet to help out. They were really nice and came to the conclusion that it is probably just some allergies. Prescribed some meds (basically beneadryl), and sent us on our way. Only downside was that it took FOREVER! We got in right away - they even say when you call for an appointment that they always run on time - but I guess for situations that need some research and consultation, it can take longer. They were in and out of the room about 4 times and they would leave in between to discuss possibilities of what it could be. The actual appointment took about an hour and then there was a mix up with the meds so I had to wait an additional 40 mins! That stunk, but overall they were really nice and I think I'd go back. It wasn't even that expensive! I just felt bad for poor little Myra - she hates the vet so - but did really good. Now she gets to be at home and have her brother harass her for smelling funny, but he should be over that shortly. Hopefully this does the trick!

New Toy!

Last week I treated myself to a SPOTLIGHT!! You may ask "Why would you need a spotlight Chris?" well, I'll tell you, I've been really thinking about this for several weeks. It all started at one of my nature programs on frogs where we go for a little hike and try to find frogs in the wild. Well, one of the guys in my group volunteered to bring his spotlight along, and I'll tell you what - it made such a difference!! We could see so much, and so much easier than with a regular ol' flashlight. I was blown away and decided that it could be helpful with plenty of my programs I do at night.
It's rechargeable, which I'm a little leary about, but it even came with a car adapter, so that's pretty cool.
So anytime you want to come on a night hike with me, you can be sure that we'll have plenty of seeing power and we should be able to find some pretty cool things :) Just had to share!

And of course I need to add a side-note: when taking night hikes, it is best to stay in the dark with no light at all so your eyes can adjust, BUT when you're trying to find specific things, like owls, bats, frogs....it's really helpful to have a light to really see it :) so yes!

Dry Days

As the summer rolls on, the falls become more and more dry. I have been noticing Buttermilk since I'm on hikes there 4 times a week, but I hadn't checked out Taughannock for probably over a month! Oh MAN!! Is it dry! We did get a little rain last week, so things got a little better, but overall, I think we are drying up more and more every week. Sad, but I suppose it's just part of nature.

you can barely see the water!!

Perseids

Last week, Mike's family was at Keuka Lake for their week-long family reunion. Unfortunately Mike and I had to work most of the week, but we were able to make it over for a few days on the weekends. The weather was beautiful and it was really nice to see some of the extended family. We only get to see most of them about once a year.
Saturday night (the last night), we all stayed up till midnight and then ventured out onto the boat to watch the night sky. The Perseids Meteor Shower is happening these past couple of days and we wanted to see if we could catch a glimpse of some shooting stars. While out on the boat, most of us saw about 15! It wasn't quite as much as we had hoped for, but it was still a good show. The sky was so clear, and the weather was perfect. It was just neat to be able to see so many stars and even the milky way - sort of a rare site these days with so much light pollution everywhere.
After coming in for the night, about 1:30am, Mike and I decided to sleep out on the dock and try to see a few more. It was such a good idea - so peaceful, and we saw several more before drifting off to sleep. I think Mike's final count was around 33 or so.
Hopefully next year we can all make it for the entire week, so much fun to be had - tubing, skiing, swimming, boating, eating, kayaking, fishing, reading, cards, games, hiking, and most importantly, reuniting with family and relaxing. Miss you all!

Happy Birthday Betsy!!!

Today is Betsy's Birthday!!! (Mike's sister). She's in Portland, OR, so we won't be able to see her but we hope you are having a great day!!!

Urban Horse Thieves

Saturday night we went to Taughannock Falls State Park for another concert - this time it was The Urban Horse Thieves - somewhat of a country rock band. They were really entertaining - I think we'd go back for some more :)

My friend, Teri (who I actually work with - that's really how we met) got to do the announcing for the band, introduce them and welcome everyone. She did such a good job!

After the concert, Mike, Teri & I went to Trumansburg and checked out The Pourhouse (which I was just shocked to see that they actually have a website!) I've heard that it's a fun place to go - good beer selection and good eats. We were too late for any food but they had a live band, good cheap beer, and they also had GAMES!

SPIROGRAPH!!!! I need this! I forgot all about it, but man, it still is just as fun as I remembered.
So pretty :)

I had to take this picture (even though it's really hard to see) Our table was being stabilized by a Dogfish Head coaster. How funny.

Another side-note: our camera is still in the shop :( But hopefully we'll be reunited this week! I miss it so much - I must have a disease.

For Joy

Last week I did a program at Buttermilk Falls SP on paper marbling. It was so much fun and I just had to take some pictures. I put "For Joy" because we used to do this together and I haven't since we did it together last. I thought you'd be happy to see it Joy!

Adventures of the Traveling Sisters

We had a lot of fun and did a lot of neat things while my mom and aunt were visiting. We started off on Sunday at Ithaca’s Farmer’s Market. This is such a fun outdoor market with not only fruit, veggies, and flowers, but also food vendors, wine tastings, boat rides, live music, and art stands. It’s a big deal and is three times a week (Sat, Sun, Thurs). We got there for the last hour and to our surprise, realized that they were actually having a local art show. It was really nice and I even got some contact info to possibly join it someday.

Next we headed to the Corning Museum of Glass. We've heard so many good reviews about this place, so Mike and I really wanted to go. My mom and aunt had actually been there several years ago, but it seemed to have changed a lot since then. It was really nice. I have never seen so much glass in my life. Every time you turned a corner there were thousands of more pieces to look at. A little over-stimulating, but interesting and beautiful all the same.

The classic "sister's pose" in front of a huge Dale Chihuly sculpture in the front of the museum.

Afterwards, we headed to Watkins Glen and had dinner at their local brewpub – Rooster Fish Brewing. Good eats and drinks. I tried to get a picture of the brewing area but it was pretty dark and my camera on my phone doesn't have a flash. Oh well - you'll just have to visit for yourself :)

Monday we headed to the Cornell Plantations. We had been there earlier in the summer - June I think - and it was amazing to see how much more colorful and how many more flowers were blooming since then. It really is such a beautiful place to visit.

After that we also did a quick visit to Buttermilk Falls and then to the Brewery to see Mike in action (he had to work). But then for dinner, we traveled up the west side of the lake to Taughannock Farms Inn.
I always wanted to go there since I worked at the park. It's up on the hill right next to Taughannock Falls State Park - it's an Inn but also serves very nice dinners too.
This is it from the outside:

View out to Cayuga Lake.

Mum & Aunt Nene

We had such a nice time together.
We were also lucky enough to have the two sisters visit us in DE last year. We did some fun things but definitely the highlight was visiting a teahouse in Milford. Good times as always - we miss you both and can't wait to do it again!

(just a side-note: Mike wasn't the one taking this picture - he chose to sit this one out :P )