Phil-a-delphia Freedom shine on me, I love ya...

We went to Philadelphia today.  We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and learned a lot of history!  We saw the first post office, the house of Betsy Ross, the remains of Ben Franklin's house, and lots of cobblestone and Belgium brick (we also learned the difference).

Here are the boys with the Liberty Bell.  I wish those strangers weren't in the picture, but I have no control over other tourists. That's Independence Hall in the background.

We rode "the duck."  These are fun tours.  We have done them in Seattle and San Francisco.  They are World War II vehicles.  They can go on land and in the water.  We traveled down the Delaware River. That's New Jersey in the background.  We were in NJ last night (we saw Wall E. there) and today (but that was an accident).

Ready for battle.  We are going home with the hat.

Recognize these steps?  These are the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, or more commonly known as the "Rocky" steps.  Yo! Adrienne!  Those are our champions-they are more lovers than fighters.

Top of the "Rocky" steps with Philadelphia in the background.  We also saw the statue of Rocky. We had the boys pose in front of him.  Guess what they were doing?  Yes, this.

Crayola Factory Easton, PA

We went to the Crayola Factory yesterday.  It was pretty cool.  We saw a demonstration on how crayons and markers are made.  There are all kinds of areas where kids can create stuff.  Our favorite was the hot wax.  We decorated heart and crayon shapes using hot wax.  

The boys and this red guy.

This cup of crayons was in one of the kid creative areas.

Behind these giant crayons (inside them, in fact) are the pots of hot wax for art purposes.

Riley, writing on a glass wall with a window marker.  He even wrote his name backwards, in cursive, so that it would face the right way on the outside of the glass.

Oh Canada!

Here are some random pictures from Niagara Falls.

Here's the famous Tim Hortons.  We did have some donuts.  They were OK.

Quinn and Riley skipped rocks in Lake Ontario.  Quinn's holding a bottlecap he found for his "collection."  We stopped by the shore after we drove out to Niagara On-the-Lake.  It's a cute little city, with quaint little shops and restaurants, and really nice houses.  There are lots of wineries in the area.

The high-light of Quinn's trip.  Swimming in the hotel pool.  That's pure joy on his face.

Both boys really liked the big dragon slide in the big pool, and Quinn liked the little one in the toddler pool.

Horseshoe Falls at night.  I think it gets lit up more than this, but we were impatient.

Currently, we are in Pennsylvania, just outside Scranton.  We stopped at the Steamtown Mall in Scranton.  Kevin took pictures of "The Office" signs etc. at the mall.  Scranton is the setting for the show, "The Office."  I do not have anything to say about Scranton.  Nope.

We are off to Easton, Penn. tomorrow.  We will visit the Crayola Factory, and wander around the downtown area.  We'll go to Philadelphia on Sunday, and then on to Hershey on Monday.

Niagara Falls

We made it to Niagara Falls.  What a boring trip from Michigan, through Canada, to Niagara.  I'm sorry if you live on a farm, but I am sick of seeing farms.  They look the same, even in Canada.  We did enjoy seeing the fifty billion Tim Horton's along the way though.  That's a chain of donut/coffee shops in Canada and on the East Coast.  They are as frequent as Starbucks.  Hey, where were those Starbucks?  

Here's a picture of "Horseshoe Falls" on the Canada side.  See the little boat?  That's the Maid of the Mist.  We took a tour.  It was really wet, but pretty cool.  They sit the boat in the middle of the whirlpool for awhile.  Up on top, it's like it is raining in all directions.  We mostly stayed on the bottom, cozy in our rain ponchos.

We stayed in Clifton Hill.  It looks a lot like Vegas.  See?  There are casinos, haunted house places, wax museums, restaurants, mini golf places, shops, etc.

Our hotel was right behind this big ferris wheel.  and to the right, out of the picture?  You guessed it, a Tim Horton's!

We checked out the "Movieland" wax museum,  just past the "Midway."  The boys were intrigued by the Indiana Jones and Captain Jack sculptures in the front of the attraction.

We ate lunch at the top of the Skylon Tower.  Aren't these boys cute?  That's Horseshoe Falls in the background.  We do have pictures of the American Falls, but I didn't post them.  Kevin's flickr site may have some pictures of that one.  Picture a water fall, but fat.

We decided to skip Toronto to give us more time in Pennsylvania.  We wanted to make sure to make it to the Crayola Factory.  It's a good thing we decided to leave as once we hit Pennsylvania, it was non-stop road work, and our plan was to go straight there, before closing. How many times were they working on the roads?  Um.  Once.  How many miles ahead of the work do they start warning you?  About 5 miles.  When do people start to merge right (when the left lane is "closed ahead")?  Immediately.  They don't know how to merge.  

Chicago

We left Rapid City and headed for Madison, Wisconsin yesterday.  It was a long haul, but we made it.  We were almost eaten alive by bugs and mosquitos in Wisconsin.  While trying to unload the car, hundreds of them went into the car.  Annoying.  Friggin' bugs!  So this morning, we left for Chicago.  We killed bugs the entire two hours it took us to get there!    

Here's Kevin sitting with Bob Newhart.  Remember the Bob Newhart Show?  I love it!  I guess Kevin's confessing some stuff to Bob.  I can't know though cuz, you know, patient confidentiality.

Here's the "bean" in Millennium Park.  Both boys really liked this.  It really is pretty cool.  We have lots of strange pictures.

Like this one.

I think the highlight of the day for Riley, was Sears Tower.  He really liked it.  We went up.  It was pretty clear.  

Before we headed out, we stopped by Lake Michigan so the boys could put their feet in.  They wanted to stay and get all the way in.  That water is cold.  We left the city and headed for Michigan.  That's where we are now.  Off tomorrow, to Canada and Niagara Falls.

South Dakota

Mount Rushmore.  We were here at 8:30 am.  We wandered around, the boys went on the trail, I explored the gift shop, and we watched a movie about the plants and animals in the area.

After Mount Rushmore, we went to Bear Country USA.  Very cool.  We drove through and saw sheep, goats, elk, donkeys, oh and bears!  They were just outside our car.  Really cool.

Here's the sign.  This area was called "Babyland."  They had the cutest baby bear cubs.  They also had grizzly bears that would stand up or pose for food.  

I am a murderer-of bugs.  These are the bugs killed so far.  They were so bad, we went through a car wash to get rid of them.

This really isn't worth a mention, but it's here, so I'll tell you about it.  We went to Deadwood in South Dakota.  They have this little western town and they advertised (all over the place) about this "Shootout."  We hung around for over an hour to watch the show.  We grabbed our piece of sidewalk, and settled in.  The entire show lasted about 5 min.  It was lame.  We went back to Rapid City and walked around the downtown area where they have statues of the presidents.  

Traveling the USA

We set out on our big roadtrip yesterday. We left home at 7:35am and drove to Salt Lake City, Utah. It took a loooong time. The boys traveled very well. We stopped several times, and finally made it to Salt Lake City by 9pm.

These are Pronghorn in Wyoming. We saw lots of Wyoming on the way to Rapid City, South Dakota today. Not that many people live in Wyoming. There's lots and lots of land though. It was really beautiful, and we saw lots of these along the way (alive and dead). We made it to Rapid City around 7:30pm.

Here's a picture from our "Wild Life Viewing Spot." See all of the wide open space?

Here's a picture of Kevin, Riley and Quinn on a triceratops at Dinosaur Park, in Rapid City.

Here's Quinn being eaten by a dinosaur. His lousy parents just stood by and took pictures while the dinosaur gobbled him up! This is the same Dinosaur Park.

Tomorrow we are going to Mount Rushmore, Bear Country USA, and possibly Crazy Horse, and whatever else calls our name. I can't go to Hobby Lobby though (and it's right across the street from our hotel!) It's closed on Sundays. Bummer.
Check out the link to Kevin's flickr page. There are more pictures there.

Father's Day

We went to see Kung Fu Panda today, to celebrate Father's Day. It was really cute, very funny. The boys practiced their kung fu skills for the rest of the afternoon!

Video of Quinn

Rockstar, take two

Here's Quinn posing for some pictures for me before the family night talent show.

Doesn't he look like a natural?

Here's a picture of his performance.  He rocked the place (again). Kevin is working on the video for youtube, which I will put on here.  You've GOT to see it!

Rock on little dude!  You so totally rock!  Dude.

Hey now, you're a rockstar, get the show on, get paid...

Quinn was in his school talent show today. He ROCKED the place! He sang along, and pretended to play guitar, to Vertigo, by U2. It was hysterical! This is just one picture, but soon I will have the video on this blog.

Hamburgers and Veggie burgers

I made these "hamburgers" for Riley's team party on Sunday.

Here's a close-up of a burger, or six.

I ran out of "meat" so I had to make some "veggie" burgers

I can't take credit for these cookies.  A teacher at my school made them for treats one day, and I thought they were so cute, and kid friendly.  They are made of 'Nilla Wafers (bun),  red and yellow frosting (ketchup and mustard), green coconut (lettuce), and a Snackwell cookie (meat).

Suddenly, I have so much free time!

Baseball is over for another season.  Today, I did not have to rush to pick anyone up, rush to get them dressed for a game or practice, rush to take them to said game or practice, and I got my work done at school.  Yippeee!  I didn't know quite what to do, so I cooked a decent meal.  Scallops with red, yellow and green peppers and pine nuts, and meatballs for the kiddies.  Oh yeah, and I also joined twitter.  I had been thinking about it, and Candie from The Savvy Crafter, had a posting on her blog about it, so I am following (or stalking?) her, and joined myself up in the process.  You should come and follow me.  I think you just need to search for juliebeane.

The Royals Beat the A's for the 2008 Championship!

Here's the final score. It was 5-1 until the last inning. The Royals made the first out easily. The A's rallied and got their bases loaded. Someone came up and hit a double, bringing in 2 more runs. The score was then, 3-5.  The parents were nervous. We knew this was it. The Royals needed to hold them, or they would lose. The Royals got another out, and then it was down to the last out.  More nervous parents.  One of the best hitters from the A's is up.  He hits a ball, high, toward center field.  It was caught!  The crowd goes wild!  The Royals win the game!  It was awesome.

One happy Royal.

Riley getting his medal.

The 2008 Champs!

The End of Another Baseball Season

Here's all of the loot the boys got from their team parties.

Riley's side: trophy, game ball, pin, waterbottle with candy, pictures, certificate, oh and is that a medal?  Why, yes it is!!  Riley's team won the championship!  

Quinn's side: trophy, goodie bag, ball-with date he first hit the ball, without the tee, and his name plate from the dugout.

Here's the front of the medal.

Here's the back.  Sorry for the blurry picture-the shine of the medal was in the way of my photography.

Flip Flop Weather?

I have been wearing flip flops.  It's really not that warm yet, but I am being a rebel.  These are my newest addition.   I made them myself, well not the actual flip flop.  I bought those ( $2.49 at Target-where else would I go?).  I embellished them with ribbon and some flowers and buttons.  I like the way they turned out, and those cheap flip flops are rather comfy!  They are kinda light though, and twice today I almost killed myself tripping on them-they bend back, under my toes if I haven't lifted my foot enough.