McDonalds

The kids insisted on posing when we stopped for lunch on our trip home from NJ.

Puppet show

This photo doesn't capture it well - Caleb and Alana are using cutouts from the McDonald's Happy Meal box to reenact the Clone Wars movie (which Caleb saw but Alana didn't). It was terrific!

Family reunion

Met my uncle, Dan Schock, and his kids and grandkids at the Dallas airport while we had our layover on the way back from Colorado. His wife, Patti snapped this shot. From left: Kevin's son, Keegan (age 6), Dan, me with Alana in front of me, Rebecca (in front of her is her daughter, Raleigh, who's Caleb's age - 8, but she's really tall), Kevin's wife, Julia (in front of her is her daughter Kamryn, who's 4), Kevin. Rebecca's daughter Peyton stayed home b/c she just got her tonsils out (she's 6).

Glamour girl

Alana all dressed up in assessories and holding toys and books, waiting in the Dallas airport for cousins to arrive.

Water colors

Spent a lovely afternoon with my friend Carah at the Creations Art Studio, where Carah teaches a class for seniors. Alana painted and played with the studio owner's daughter, Flora.

Phantasmagorical garden

Grandma and Al's friend Karen suggested we visit this garden in southeast Boulder. This alien tableau is just a small part of a real wonderland.

3 generations

Suzanne, Danielle and Alana at the Pearl St Mall in Boulder (Alana is showing off her new hedgehog, Cutie Pie).

Rocking Pig

Adorable rocking pig outside a shop on the Pearl St Mall. Alana is wearing my sweatshirt because her dress got wet in the fountain nearby.

Butterfly Pavillion

Alana really enjoyed the Butterfly Pavillion. She held Rosie the spider (I couldn't bring myself to do it!), petted a starfish, and then we spent almost an hour wandering around the butterfly atrium.

Alana on the airplane to Colorado

One the first leg of the journey Alana was coloring, on the second leg, she played with a Little People wedding playset that I got special for the trip. Once we were in the car, going from Denver to Boulder, she fell fast asleep.

Practice lunch

Alana picked out an adorable pink lunchbox for school and then wanted to practice eating lunch so we packed her some snacks and she sat at the table and ate it.

Chuck E Cheese

We whiled away a good 2 hours with $20 worth of tokens that grandpa bought. Here's Alana with the mascot and Caleb playing a video game.

Old Bridge Library

The kids had a great time playing in this really terrific children's area.

Caleb's war

Caleb's gotten into playing with army men again. Here, he's setting up a battle at our friend's house in Philadelphia.

Franklin Park, Philadelphia

Gorgeous day. We went to the new Franklin Park and rode the carousel and played on the playground. After that, we went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant and got takeout to share with our hosts, Sharon and Len.

West Chester University

Here is a photo of Matt (on the right) and his roommate Nick after they both moved into their room in the Ramsey dormitory.

ADDENDUM 8/26/08

Matt's first email "status report:"

Hi everybody! The '08-'09 school year at West Chester University has officially begun! Classes started yesterday, and my first class was at the un-Godly hour of 8 a.m. That was my General Chemistry Lecture (in a large lecture hall with 56 students) in which the professor spent 40 of the allotted 50 minutes to read us the class syllabus. Does he think we're still in high school?! haha. It did not stop there however. In my Art Appreciation class my teacher followed suit and read her syllabus as well, but then let us out 20 minutes early. No complaints! :-D That was not before she assigned us two chapters to read for homework though. Then in Calculus 2 my teacher spent all of 3 minutes reading his rules. Then we began a review of Calculus 1. For Biology I was in a lecture hall (the same one as my Chemistry class) that was FILLED TO THE MAX. Literally no seats left. Oh well, I don't mind too much. It's only because it's just an intro class. Then I had Calculus 2 again (we meet twice on Mondays, and don't ask why because I have no idea) where the review continued. It was 1:00 by then and didn't have my 3-hour Intro to Psych class until 4:15. So I chilled with my roommate, had lunch, and did some homework. I went to Psych and we all agreed to not take any breaks during class, because we could then all leave early. We watched a very good movie about the history of Psychology and took notes. After a class discussion we were free to go. I went back to the dorm and my roommate and some other friends had dinner. Then we went back to the dorm and watched the last Monday night preseason football game (San Diego beat Seattle! Yay!) while playing cards.

My roommate's name is Nick. He's a sophomore who transferred from Bucks County Community College. We're friends with a guy in our hallway named Dan and his roommate Richie, and another guy in our hallway named Mike. John's another friend who's on the sixth floor of our building, and Clark's a friend from another building. So far everything seems to being quite well!

The creepiest bug I ever saw

The kids and I went to a lovely miniature golf course in West Chester, after settling Matt at school. Alana was wandering around while Caleb and I were playing. She said she saw a bee. When I went over, I saw the biggest, ickiest flying creature I'd ever seen. I was curious what this mutant was, so I looked it up. It's a cicada killer, a kind of wasp, which I have never seen before. Not aggressive to humans, despite its fearsome features. They hover near the ground, which is where we saw it. They dig burrows and lay their eggs, once they've deposited a paralyzed cicada (Alien-style). Apparently, they're generally appreciated for keeping down the cicada population.

Nice evening in the park

Snapped this photo at the park and happened to catch Roxy airborn - probably a better shot than all the ones I tried to take of her flying.

Walk in the park

Gorgeous evening. Matt's last week before he goes off to college. Caleb brought along some weapons so that he could play Clone Wars.

Another zoo party

Alana had a great time at this birthday party for her daycare friend Joshua. In the top photo, she's touching the snake they brought to show the kids. On the bottom, Alana and her friend Anya are posing as penguins - we went around the zoo after the party (though very quickly b/c the kids were all jazzed up). We saw the Sand Cats that the zoo just got on loan from Cinncinati, and the chimps, which are also fairly new.

Swimming

Caleb and Matt went with our friends Jim and Jake to see the new Clone Wars movie. Then Jake came with us swimming at the Van Buren pool (top photo). Caleb spent a lot of time jumping off the diving board (bottom photo), after some initial trepidation.

Matt thought the water was too cold, so he spent quite awhile playing football on the lawn. You can just see his head and torso in the upper left corner of the photo, in front of the fence.

Grandma turns 88!

Birthday photo of Mary Schock and her son (my uncle), Alfred.

Emma at 5 months

Deer drama

Another full day. I did a bunch of cooking in the morning. Then we went swimming at the YMCA because it was rainy. It cleared up later, so we took Roxy to the park. Just as we were heading back to the car, we saw a young-looking deer caught behindthe fence of a house that borders the park. Roxy ran over and the deer figured it out and got out. But do you suppose it ran toward the woods? Oh no, it ran across the road and into the housing development, with Roxy on its heels. I don't know what happened to the deer, but Roxy came back eventually.

Saturday

Absolutely gorgeous day. We went to the library and had lunch at McDonald's and then went swimming at the Van Buren pool. Caleb's best friend from school, Jonah, came along with us. On the left is the three of them at the side of the pool (from the left: Jonah, Caleb, Alana). On the right, Alana took a break to have what she calls "elephant cookies" - frosted animal crackers.

Ahhh!

Yet another gorgeous evening to walk in the park. This photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful sky.

Family Fun Night at the YMCA

Took the kids over the Y for Family Fun Night. The theme was Indiana Jones, so for some reason they had a contest where kids wrapped other kids up in toilet paper as mummies. This is a bad photo of Caleb wrapping Alana. They also had a relay race and a couple other activities.

Golf game

Alana wanted to play mini golf over the weekend, but the weather was too iffy. Larry was off today, so they met me after work and we went to Putter's Paradise - Caleb got coupons when his YMCA summer camp went there a couple weeks ago. Turned out to be a perfect evening for it. Notice who got TWO holes in one!

Evening in the park

Larry was home this gorgeous evening, so we took Roxy to the park for more family fun.

Here Alana is explaining the game she and I are going to play, called "i, Alana" - based on the Nickelodeon sitcom i, Carly.

Fun at the MOST

This afternoon, Caleb went with our friend Jim and his son Jake on their boat (though it was short ride, since the weather was somewhat threatening). Alana and I met some friends at the Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) downtown. These photos are poor quality, but still fun. Here's Alana sailing a (wheeled) boat and sliding wheels down a track.

Oodles of noodles

Had fun swimming at the YMCA with friends (Phillip and Chloe) today. By late afternoon, we had the pool to ourselves. The kids took out tons of "noodles" and combined them into a big floating raft.

Airborn

Gorgeous evening for a walk in the park. Here's Larry swinging Roxy around with the ball (she'll hold on pretty much forever) and then Alana climbing on him when he was resting afterward.