Mummy

Shayna made this mummy for her SIP project.

The coffin:

when you life the lid, inside is the sarcophagus:

when you lift up the sarcophagus, inside is the actual mummy, a bowl of organs, and his treasures:

Yard Sale

We had a yard sale last weekend on Saturday and Sunday, to try to get rid of things and also make some money for the move. We did very well overall, with some help from Craigs List for the larger items (pool pump, pool vacuum, fertility monitor, and snow blower a few days later).

Shayna and Skyler had fun as you can see, playing with one of the boxes:

After the sale, for the rest of the week, we packed and got ready for Stage One of the move to Boca.

Squatters

When I went to the shed to gather the stuff for the yard sale, this is what I found making a home on top of the highchair, using Shayna's old swimming tube bathing suit:


Close up of the nest:

The mother bird came back, and every time I came into the shed she would go nuts. I had to move the nest since we were selling the high chair. As the days went by, I watched the baby growing until eventually one day they were both gone.

Blue Man Group Concert-the Club Box

On Thursday April 19th we went to the Wachovia Center for the Blue Man Group concert, Skyler's 1st official concert (Disney on Ice does not count).

Since we had tickets for the Club Box seats, we got to go in via the "VIP" entrance. You go right to an elevator, which takes you right to the special areas for the Club Boxes and suites, and its really nice up there, it looks like a swanky hotel. There is a cafe and fine dining restaurant. The odd thing is, since you don't walk through the main areas, it doen't have quite the same concert feel. No vendors or paraphenalia for sale.

Inside the club box...Skyler sitting at the table, one of 4 which we got since we arrived early.

Us in the club box, there is a private bar and waitress service, although if you want better food you need to go to the fine dining restaurant. These were NOT the most expensive seats- the floor are- but by the time I found out about the sale only the back was left and besides the front to middle floor would have been to loud for the kids.

There are coat racks behind Manny, and also private bathrooms. It is definately a much calmer and safer concert going experience.

Blue Man Group- the Concert

This was definately one of the most colorful and entertaining concerts I have been to. At the beginning of the concert, they had a sign with messages and it said to text a message to Blue man group. Once you texted, you were entered into a contest to go backstage after the show. You go to text back and forth a few times before finding out at the end whether or not you won. The concert opened with a really good DJ, more then a DJ it was a show. here is our view, no zoom, this is how we saw the stage. You can see the Blue Men in this pic:
As predicted, Skyler LOVED the show, he really got into it! He really loves live music. There was a LOT of audience participation which Skyler loved.

us enjoying the show. one super neat thing that just shows you what age we are in: people now use thier CELL PHONES at concerts the same way they used to use lighters!! SOOO wild. Not sure when this started, but its the first time I had seen it.

The band for Blue Man Group is HUGE. besides them, they also have a male singer and female singer plus a dozen plus others. It was so colorful. The female singer had this multi colored rainbow light up dress on. She was a REALLY good singer, as good as the one I remember from the Pink Floyd and Moby concerts==> with an amazing voice.

We did not win the contest for back stage passes...oh well!

Coming Soon....

Life is about 10X busier then normal right now, but when I get more free time I will write in more detail about:

1. The birds nest in the shed
2. The yard sale this past weekend (4/21 and 4/22)
3. The Blue Man Group concert we went to on April 19th

Moving crazies have begun and cramming more work into the last week, plus hiring sales reps plus me being a bit sick plus selling stuff on Craigs List=Not one minute of free time

Dentist

Skyler had his first dentist visit today. Since I take them to Doc Bresler, a pediatric dentist, it is quite the experience. Here is the "games" area of the waiting room:

Half of the inside of the main area that the kids get seen:

Skyler in the orange chair:

Skyler did really well on his first visit. he got a card with his photo in it saying "One brave little boy." he got his teeth cleaned, flouride, and examined by both Dr. Josh Bresler and his dad, the senior Doc Bresler (who is like the president and he doesn't make appts. anymore there so quite the bonus getting them both). His bottom 2 molars are in, his top right is halfway out, and the other top one is starting to come out. Dr. Josh gave a great tip, since Skyler still uses the safe to swallow toothpaste, to put some ACT flouride rinse on his toothbrush.

Shayna was there too- they were seen simultaneously. You can see her feet in the second photo above on the green chair. The experience was quite different for Shayna, as the seasoned pro, the novelty of the distracting game area and bells and whistles no longer work on her. Like a prisoner awaiting the gallows, all the games and fancery do not quell her anxiety over being about to get her dentist exam, cleaning, x-rays, flouride, etc. She says that she has a bad gag reflex so the prodding and poking are hard for her and she gets nauseous. She managed to get through this time without throwing up, so that was success (Success! as Borat would say). She commented on the way to the car how ironic it was that they were showing the Willy Wonka movie (the newer version with Johnny Depp).

After the dentist, we took Skyler for his haircut (gave us a harder time for this and a lollipop got him to be complacent), and to his pediatrician for an allergy consult (got a script to take him in for allegy testing/blood work).

Playwicki Park

Our 3rd geocache of the day brought us to Playwicki Park in Langhorne. Here we walked along a semi paved trail to a wide trail and came along the Neshaminy Creek (again saw it from the old bridge earlier). Hard to see in the photo but behind Shayna and Skyler was a rapids/waterfall area of the creek which was very pretty. Soon after this point, Shayna and I went off the main trail to a smaller not official trail and found the cache fairly quickly. It was inside this tree. I think the inside of trees is a great place to hide a cache, because it reminds me of a fairy tale or place where Peter Rabbit lives.

Here is the walk back:

We got a cute little Cookie Monster scuba diving toy figurine from the cache, and will add it into our cache "treasure box" as the 2nd item. The other item is a little alien from our very first geocache find.

We ended our day at the park at the park's 70s style playground. We walked about 2 miles today and the neat thing was it didn't even feel like we did because we were having fun!

Hungry Rabbit

This is one of the more creative caches we have done. There is this couple in our area who have hidden about 52 caches and they are always so clever (they did the kite and key and frog themed one) and they use great props and do things like tie the cache onto a long stick and then stick it inside something. Manny found this one. The clue was to find "little Holly" and you are close, that Holly the rabbit is looking for help finding this, and to "think where a rabbit would be hunting." We also knew a holly bush was involved. Manny found this cute little rabbit statuette and on the bottom it said "you are close, the cache is about 15 feet." Shayna is holding Holly the rabbit:


Near an actual holly bush, you find a tiny green sprout poking up from the ground. When you pull on it, out comes a carrot from inside the ground! The carrot unscrew in the middle, and it is the cache itself! HOW NEAT.

Old Bridge in Langhorne

Our 1st geocache of the day brought us to yet another new spot, this time in Langhorne near Core Creek Park, on Bridgetown Pike near 413 (nice restaurant on corner, forget the name). There is an "old" bridge in the shadow of the newer bridge, which is pedestrian only. Here is the view of the Neshaminy Creek from the bridge, there were ducks swimming by:
Skyler and Shayna sitting on top of the spot where I found the cache:

Earlier this week, we made up official stickers for ourselves to leave in the log books (to save time and also looks nice). We named ourselves Team Boca for obvious reasons. On one side is a nice picture of a palm tree and smiling sun, on the other is an opened treasure chest, with our info. in the middle. Of course, once we begin snorkeling, scuba diving, and using the metal detector, hopefully we will expand our treasure hunts even further.

Potty Training Update

Skyler is still potty training. I would say he is maybe 60% there. hmmmm. He is getting a bit toilet obsessed and he has to go to the bathroom about 3 times as much as the average person. He also tends to pee into the potty seat insert due to his male anatomy, we are working on that issue but for now are happy he is peeing there and not in his pull ups. He still does pee in the pull ups sometimes so that is why I say 60%, no money saving just yet. He checks his pull ups when he takes them off and will tell us if its dirty. He will request to go to the toilet, and is starting to go there by himself so I am hoping he is making the connection when he has to go, not randomly asking to go on a whim. He also takes off his pants by himself, only he does this in whichever room he is in and it is quite comical when he runs to the bathroom. Another thing he does is sometimes he will get off the toilet when he is not 100% done pooping...and you can imagine the results. But he is going in the toilet (not pull ups) a lot which is progress.

Playground at Geocache site

One of the benefits of geocaching, is it brings us to new playgrounds. Just about every geocache is in a place with a playground (at least most that I choose). So the kids get to experience new playgrounds. This one was from yesterdays caching in Levittown. We found the cache in a wooded area by this elementary school and playground. We left the gnome in there. Hopefully he will be rescued from Levittown and taken to Quakertown soon.

We also had planned on doing 2 caches in nearby Frosty Hollow Park, but it was too muddy.

Mill Creek

We braved the cold to do yet more geocaching, in Levittown, today. Here we find a nice spot in the woods (not a park) by Mill Creek. Seems to be some peoples secret spot, complete with chair in the creek, bonfire pit, and tables (made a nice spot to peruse the cache contents):

Shayna found this one- here they are holding the cache near the tree that it was hidden:

Back to school

Shayna had her 1st day back to school today. Skyler normally goes Tuesday and Thursday but his school reopens on the 11th.

She found out today that her commercial aired on TV. two of her classmates told her that they saw her in the commercial, which aired during the Kids Choice Awards.

Down by the Creek in Neshaminy Valley

Enjoying the local scenery of the Neshaminy Creek while doing geocaching and getting great cardio exercise. I lost 3 lbs. the week before spring break and hope to lose another 10 by the end of April. Manny found it, while I was helping Skyler look for rabbits in the tree holes.

Sitting on top of the log where the geocache was hidden.

Return from Trip

Shayna and Skyler stayed with thier Uncle Mike, Aunt Christy and Cousins Pete and Sam while Manny and I went to Boca Raton to look for a house. We got home to Bensalem tonight.

Some highlights of thier time there:

1. Shayna and Pete performed a duet on piano and flute
2. They went swimming
3. Shayna did a lot of bike riding including her first biking excursion
4. Water gun fight and sprinkler play - wearing bathing suits due to global warming
5. Picked weeds and rocks in back yard.
6. Played with bubbles and then went in sandbox (note: did not bring bubbles into sandbox)
7. Skyler won Hungry Hungry Hippos game
8. Played Sorry game but Pete, Sam and Skyler messed up the board (Note: Sam and Skyler were instigated by Pete on this act of mischievery)
9. Pete and Sam distracted from bubble toy mission by giant ball display in Walmart. Shayna and Pete sent on sunglasses retrieval.
10. Skyler and Sam had thier own screaming communication method only they understood.
11. Shayna and Pete made a cake with Aunt Christy.
12. Played US map game at playground with Uncle Mike and Sam. Sam would go to any random state. Pete was playing baseball and Skyler was on the playground with Aunt Christy.
13. Shayna and Pete made a K'nex jeep.
14. They had wrestle mania 2007 Berman style which includes mock CPR and attempting to kill your uncle.
15. As Shayna and Pete were burying Pete in the sandbox, Sam and Skyler were rescuing him and digging him out making the burying of Pete a futile effort.