Apple picking

We had a great time at Abbott Farm, near our house, in Baldwinsville. The synogogue sponsored the trip, but we mostly went about on our own.





Caleb and Alana slid down the big slide and jumped in the bouncy castle.











They also climbed a small hill near the parking lot.

Then we all rode the hay wagon out to the orchard and picked two small bags of apples. (Obviously these [mediocre] photos are from my phone.)

Saturday in the park

We had another lovely walk in the park today, with Phillip along.











Alana was completely enthralled with this little berry that she found, and she carried it around for ages. At some point she decided it was a magic berry. We all made suggestions about what particular magic this berry could perform (like making you invisible or making you able to fly).

Fall bounty

The flowers are mostly gone at the park, but I came across a huge bunch of wild grapes - they don't taste good, but they're pretty.

Alana's van

My neighbor gave us this green van that she got at a garage sale - her son Jake has outgrown it. I pushed Alana all the way around the block in it.

Electronics all around

Caleb plays games on the computer a lot more lately.

This evening, Alana spent some time playing with her Power Touch Learning System.

Driving man

Matt got his driver's permit today, he's very excited. In this photo, Larry is holding up Matt's school schedule, because they're on their way to Matt's Back to School Night at the high school.

This is a very bad photo because you can see Larry, and you can see Matt's cheering section on the grass behind the car, but the glare on the window obscures the Student Driver!

Sukkot

Had a good ole time at the synagogue Sukkot celebration. Wish I'd taken more photos, just not thinking. Caleb and Alana got involved in various crafts, then enjoyed challah in the sukkah, and pizza in the social hall. The only photo I took was of Caleb sipping water under the memorial tree wall hanging. Oh well.

Favorite activities

Alana has been very interested lately in blowing bubbles and then catching them again - this is an especially big one!



She also loves to color.








Today she helped me trim the bushes out front (I used a slightly larger implement).

Supporting the economy

Despite the High Holidays, I feel like all I did was spend money this weekend. Caleb got a haircut on Saturday and I got one on Sunday -here I am! (This is specially for my friend Anne, who was appalled at my lack of styled hair in all my "bee face" photos.) This is my first completely post-bee sting face, and as a bonus, you can see the new earrings I bought at the festival today.

Larry and I took the kids to the store on Saturday to get food for the annual drive at the synagogue. Normally, I go alone and spend maybe $25 on a single bag. But with all four of us involved, we ended up with four bulging bags and a tab of $70. All for a good cause.

We also had an overpriced lunch at The Retreat with our friends Betsy and Frank, and then headed to the street fair (which ended up being the cheapest thing we did all weekend!)

Westcott Cultural Festival

It was an unbelievably gorgeous day, you couldn't ask for better. The kids and I went to the festival on Westcott Street and had a slendid time (Caleb said it was the best festival he ever went to!) Mostly we hung out in the children's area. Caleb played mini golf and made a bunny out of clay. Then he and I played checkers, and then he watched some boys playing chess (you can see his new haircut in this photo). Alana had her face painted and then played bubbles for ages with two other kids.

Later we wandered around the main festival area - we watched an Irish band and some belly dancers, and we each bought some cheap candy as a treat. Quite a day.

No rest for the weary

I'm back to normal (looking), but still feeling dragged, maybe from all the meds or maybe just from the extra energy needed to recover. I've been going to bed very early (for me), but still not bouncing back completely. Big weekend with the Jewish holiday - company at our house tonight and then a big dinner at a friend's house on Saturday. Plus Matt has school pictures this afternoon, and for some crazy reason I decided to drop my car at the shop, since there's not enough going on. Plus there's always all the regular domestics doings. I'm tired just thinking about it.

Indian Summer

It's very hot today, so I dragged the kids to the park - worried that we will all get too nervous if we let the bees intimidate us. We had a built-in excuse not to go on Tuesday and Wednesday, because Tuesday was Back to School night at Caleb's school and Wednesday was Curriculum Night at Alana's school - there just wasn't time, though the weather has been amazing all week.

We saw a couple of bees, but none of them bothered us, and Roxy was in heaven, though we didn't take a long walk, just hung around the playground. Phillip came with us. I pushed Alana in the swing for a long time (not sure why she needed her shoes off) while Phillip and Caleb explored.

As an aside, Larry got a warning from a police officer at this same park, for having Roxy off her leash. The officer took down Roxy's tag number, so there's some risk of getting a ticket in the future, but I'm willing to take my chances.

I almost cried at the grocery store today

Most of the time, wandering around the stacks of food I can't eat doesn't really bother me - generally, I don't think about it all that much. But today I was hungry, and it's always a mistake to go shopping in that state. Maybe that was the reason that it affected me so much more than usual - walking past cakes, pastas, cookies, dumplings, pizza, all right there but completely off limits for me. Or maybe it's the approaching fast day of Yom Kippur, which I have all sorts of conflicted feelings about. I haven't fasted since I had Caleb (I stopped eating wheat the year before he was born). It's my own personal protest against the daily fast that I'm forced to endure - giving up so many foods that I love. Sure, there are substitutes, but it's not the same at all. It's not that I blame God, it's just that I feel like the deprivation that is the intention of the fasting is with me constantly, so there's just no need for me to participate in a single, set aside day.

End of day 2

It's hard to see in this photo, there are puffy welts under my eyes. Kinda gross (so is the obvious drainage of fluid down into my neck). But overall, a big improvement from day 1. I stayed home today, but will definitely go back to work tomorrow, even if I'm not 100% (a friend who got a bad reaction to poison ivy said it took him a week to get completely back to normal).

Gorgeous flowers

My friend Terri in Texas sent me these gorgeous flowers to cheer me up. So sweet.

I look much better later

This photo was taken around 11 p.m. on Sunday night, after the Prednisone kicked in.

I have to go to the store to get more Benadryl - with both Roxy and me taking it, the bottle I have is going pretty fast (Roxy has hay fever, apparently somewhat common in dogs - who knew? - and she takes Benadryl and vet-supplied Prednisone every day).

A bee stung my face!

As you can see, I look like the elephant man. And I have a blanket of hives all over my body, and I do mean ALL over. Larry took the photo on the right in the hospital with his cell phone (my top lip was really swelling, but at that point, pre medicines, it hadn't moved much into my cheek).

It started out as a nice walk in the woods, but then a bee dived bombed me and stung my lip. It hurt, but not that bad. But after a few minutes, I started to itch ALL over. Larry took me to the Urgent Care center near our house. They were really crowded, but they took right me in b/c they were concerned about breathing problems developing (which never did; they call this a "localized" reaction, what a joke). They put in an IV and gave me Benadryl. It helped, but as you can see, only so much (the photo on the left was taken when we got home from the hospital, about 3 hrs after the sting).

They also gave me a prescription for Prednisone. We weren't there long, thank goodness. I have to take Benadryl EVERY 6 hrs (the dr said to set my alarm and take some in the middle of the night!) Unless a miracle occurs overnight, I'm not going to work tomorrow. It must be the same kind of bee that stung Larry last summer near his eye. They're so aggressive this time of year. I don't know if I'll ever get the kids back to the park now - Caleb was already afraid of the bees. He cried when I put him to bed - he asked me, "Are you going to be o.k.?" The girl next door (who is 8), had told him to pray that I wouldn't die (!)

My friend Sue said, if I wanted Angelina Jolie lips, there's easier ways to get them!

Stampin' Up Party

Before the debacle with the bee, we spent a lovely afternoon with my friend Jennifer, who brought over her Stampin' Up materials. Six of my friends and neighbors joined us for arts 'n crafts - in the top photo you can see Jennifer standing, Dawn and Kerri are (almost) facing the camera, and you can see the back of Linda, Kim and Nadine. You can also see (another) Kim's hands right at the edge of the photo. In the other photo, which Larry snapped, you can see me and Kerri and half of Jennifer (this was before my face blew up!)

Larry kept the kids busy

Danny came for dinner and brought his Wii video game system. The boys played with that. Alana and her friend, Lily, just played.

L-o-n-g walk in the park

It looked like it was going to rain any minute, but never did. Roxy was in HEAVEN running around in the woods - the longest walk we've taken since I went back to work. Obviously these are from my cell phone, but still worth sharing. Our neighbor Phillip was along.

Playing in the park after services

Volleyball death match

It started as a legitimate volleyball game, but deteriorated at some point into a free-for-all. Boys will be boys I suppose. The broom wielder is a stray we adopted from the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah (the same way I met Larry - when his sister brought me home for the holiday dinner). He's a soldier a Ft Drum - since Larry has the restaurant in Watertown, all soldiers are referred to him. Danny is shipping out to Iraq within a month, so we thought some home-cooked food in the meantime would be wise.

Alana entertains herself

For some strange reason, Alana wasn't interested in the death match, so she occupied herself with picking berries, playing in the garden, and looking decorative of course.

Dueling laptops

Larry got a new laptop (it's been 6 months since he got his last new toy, so I guess he was due). He and Matt are uploading music and playing with the computer settings. It's a Brave New World.

L'Shana Tovah

Monday night at home

Caleb rocking out on his math homework.

Alana playing with My Little Pony.

Back to the beach (post-season)

Took the kids back to Oneida Shores, because it was too hot and humid to hang out at the Tomato Festival in Auburn (which is what I had planned). It was pretty deserted (and technically closed), but we splashed around for about an hour and eventually another family with kids arrived and Caleb and Alana played happily with them for another hour. Here's some (poor quality) photos that I took with my cell phone. Caleb in the water with 2 other kids ->

Alana and her friend on the beach:

The "snowman" that Alana and I made out of sand: