Emergency Essentials Food Storage Analyzer

I've just been trying out the Food Storage Analyzer to see how well it works. At first I found it a bit limited, by only being able to add their cans of food to the analyzer, but then noticed that there is a button to the far right entitled, "Grocery Store Canned Foods" where you can add many of the everyday foods, and what is not listed there can be added under the next button "Add Your Own Item." This will take some time, since you need to add all of the nutrition info, but once everything is in, then it will just be maintenance, and will be quite handy to have to keep track of our food storage. target="_bland">

Corin is 2!

Happy 2nd Birthday Corin!

What happens when I'm rushing....

You would think that if church doesn't start until 1:30pm, that there would be plenty of time and no rushing at all. Actually, there was too much time. We had breakfast, read the newspaper, had lunch, checked e-mail, watch church videos, played.... Then there is always some reason for which I am running at the last second while the kids are in the car, and Brad is already at church since he has earlier meetings. Today, I don't even remember what I was searching for, but this is what happened: this is what happened to the door way between the kitchen-pantry and the garage - my wedding ring somehow in my haste got stuck into the door moulding (left indent), the door slammed shut, causing my ring to move to make the next indent, my finger immediately began to swell, and very fortunately I thought to get the ring off, which was good, since my finger swelled up immensely! I had ice on it the whole drive to church, and on and off for the next hour.

When I got home this is how I found my ring, but without the diamond. A little bit of searching later (thank goodness diamonds are sparkly!) and I found the diamond. Quite an impact to move 6 prongs like that!

And this is as far as my ring will now go on my finger. My finger is still swelled a bit, but not nearly so bad as this morning, and also not nearly as colorful now.

To make the time to church even more nerve-racking, a bird flew into our windshield! It made a poor directional decision, crashed into the windshield with a loud thud, I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw an explosion of feathers. Poor bird! I don't think I've ever killed anything while driving before. :(

our weekend trip to the Arizona Biltmore Resort

the sun set by our home SR 51 - on our way to the Biltmore at the Oldtimers party

Brad, the oldtimer

dinner, meat, meat, and more meat..... i don't really eat much meat, but this was all very good

swim time!

Niko is excited!

Alex is sad..... :(

playing chess with Alex

"Dad look this way!"

First Day of School, 17 August 2009

Alex on his way to school Katie contemplating if she's ready for 5th grade on our way....

Alex not sure if he wants to be at school, or not

Katie happy to be back at school :)

15 July 2009: trip to Hersheypark, Hershey, PA

We're starting off our day at the local Wolfe's Diner, where we each have the breakfast special #1: 2 eggs, toast, and home fries for $1.49! What a deal! Ok, actually I had the special #2 which was 2 pancakes and 2 slices of bacon for $2.39, since I'm the absolutely slowest eater ever, and I can eat pancakes much quicker. So, in case you're wondering why I'm the slowest eater, it is because for ever since I can remember, if I do not chew all of my food to mush, or I eat too fast, or if I'm eating meat, or if I get stressed while eating, or if I'm eating apple skins, or (you get the point)... then the food seems to get 'stuck' in my throat, and amazingly after seeing many doctors since I was little, I was finally diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis this past December. What this actually means is that the Eosinophil cells migrate to a point in my esophagus due to allergies, thus making it very narrow, actually the size of a pencil eraser, or about 9mm. A normal esophagus is the size of a quarter, or about 25mm. So I am supposed to take allergy medicine every day for the rest of my life to make the Eosinophils disperse, but I don't want to take a medicine every day for the rest of my life, and also since the intended medicine has a lot of negative side-effects. So, I can just continue to live with it, or try to figure out what I am allergic to, which means an elimination diet; maybe someday I'll try that. But, for now, I should really be writing about our fun trip to Hersheypark... Our whole group in the diner: Nelson's- Brad, Jen, Katie, Alex, Niko & Corin; Pletcher's- Michele, Zach, Zach's friend Daniel & Emily; Seymour's- Jamie & Charley.... Waiting for the 10am opening time....

Katie and Niko on the kiddie rides....

Alex got this photo of us on the Storm Runner, just after it shot off to 72 mph in 3 seconds! You can see Brad, Emily and Daniel in this photo (Jen, Charley, and Zach are on the opposite side of the car).

While everyone else was in the Reeses Cup Xtreme Challenge, Corin and I went on the Skyview ride. I was so glad that Corin sat still since we were very high up; he really enjoyed the ride, especially seeing the ducks in the pond below.

Corin liked the ride so much and Brad, Katie, Alex & Niko wanted to ride the Skyview, so we went again. Here are Alex, Corin & Brad riding while The Great Bear (loved that ride!) speeds along below.

Alex, Brad & Corin riding the Coal Cracker, a log flume ride. Corin didn't like the ride - he screamed at the final big drop.

Our future Race Car Driver in action....

Note to self.... I am never riding the Flying Falcon ever again!

14 July 2009: taking a ride....

On our last day of staying at Oma & Opa's, Opa brought out the riding lawn mower for all of the kids to drive. Niko hung out with Opa a lot, so he got a bit of extra riding in before Katie and Alex found out why Niko was having so much fun. They each drove all over, many times, and had a lot of fun!

13 July 2009: trip to Cunningham Falls, MD

On our way to the Falls, many cornfields, and lots of hills - very fun to drive fast over, but to avoid car troubles, not too fast. :) Driving through Smithsburg, MD on our way.... After a short hike, we made it to the falls....

Alex, Niko & Katie swimming in a natural pool at the falls.

Katie, Alex, Jen, Corin & Niko

Alex & Brad

Beautiful Katie

a view up the falls....

Swimming in Cunningham Falls Lake, after our hike back to the car. Alex & Niko had a lot of fun swimming, but Katie had to sit out since she had refused to bring her swimsuit. Maybe next time she will listen, but... I doubt it!