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.