Vacation in Delaware

In July we went on a beach vacation to Delaware vacation, where we stayed in Lewes.

To begin with.....  two really good things about our trip were the car, a large (red) mini van whose model I have already forgotten (Dodge Caravan?), and the house.  The car was perfect because there was plenty of room; Brock sat in the middle row & Sasha in the back.  There was minimal squabbling!!  The house was lovely, comfortable and spacious.  Its location was interesting, as the development is situated right behind a Home Depot store.

So, favorite things we did:

• Fishing!  I took you Sasha to a fishing pier one evening; it was beautiful and breezy, but not many fish around.  Much better, you and Steve spent a morning fishing out on Delaware Bay.  The fishing was great!  Here's a great post from 'NCFE'  -->  Gone Fission   The pictures below are wonderful - what a lot of disgusting fish bait (those squid are looking right at us!!).

• Brock, I think your favorite was probably swimming in the pool at our condo complex.  I enjoyed soaking up the sun, and we had a good time playing with boogie boards.  
• Walked around downtown Lewes one evening.  It's a quaint, historic town & I loved the harbor area.  Look up and you'll see a picture of the Lewes Canal at the top of 'Carroll Boys'.  

And rounding out our week, we also:

• Spent time at Cape Henlopen State Park, where the fishing pier was located.  It has an ocean beach, which we enjoyed while Brock swam (waves were a bit strong & breaking very close to shore).  We also went to Fort Miles, which was a significant military site during World War II.  There are some massive artillery guns on display.  Read more here-->  Fort Miles   And see pictures below.
• Went to Rehoboth Beach, where we had time at the beach and walked around to stores & boardwalk.  Stopped into Candy Kitchen, Fisher's Popcorn and T-shirt stores.
• Spent a bit too much time on Rt 1, which is an 8-lane highway along a massive commercial strip.

Sincere thanks to our photographer Steve!!  Vacations are very special, and I'm already looking forward to next year !

Catching Up Is Hard To Do

As you can tell, I've taken most of the summer off from blogging.  So now there is much to cover!!

In the Recently Overheard Department:

• "I have a complaint!" said Steve a few weeks ago.  About what?  Errr.. about my lack of recent postings on Carroll Boys.  Yes, it's a bit embarrassing especially given his prolific writing on 'NCFE'.  I've felt mildly guilty about it, but not guilty enough to actually write anything.....  until tonight....

• "Would you please pass me the soap?  The Force is not working." said Brock during 'shower' (absolutely not bath) time last week.  Star Wars will always be a special part of our lives.

• "I found 2 eggs in the water bowl this morning!" per our neighbor Sherry.  Our gecko Hermie moved one house away to a lovely 50-gallon tank, was renamed Mr. Leopard, and has a partner Mrs. Leopard.  Compared to life under the hockey table in your room, Hermie has hit the jackpot!  The Leopard's are now 'expecting', with the eggs being incubated for 58 days at Pet Zone.  More babies are likely to come along soon.

• Many episodes of the The Big Bang Theory.  Here's the full version of the TV show's theme song performed by the "Barenaked Ladies".  You might like to read more about this interesting band -->  BNL, Canadian alternative rock

Of course, the best part of summer is spending extra time together.  I will write about our beach vacation later.  In other highlights:

• Sasha..... You did quite a bit of walking at the Secondary Center to make up 9th grade gym classes.  Gage spent lots of time here on Sharpe Street, including overnights (sleeping on the living room couch - his preference).  There were many PS3 battles, including Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Black Ops and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.  The two of you liked to stay up extremely late, then snooze most of the morning.  You also got to enjoy fishing with Jason along the Susquehanna, especially while construction on the new Eighth Street Bridge was wrapping up.
• Brock....  You had a wonderful time at Camp Acahela with your cub scout den, in particular your friend Matthew whose tent you shared.  We heard about swimming, archery, tucking your shirt in for meals, and a 3-hour nature hike.  And we got to have dinner with you at the dining hall Friday night.  Your legs had a few cuts & bruises, but otherwise you looked just wonderful at week's end (and ready to come home for a rest).  You spent time at the Good Shepherd day camp in Kingston, where playing DSI (in particular Pokemon games) seemed to be the favorite activity.  We had a fun afternoon with Ben at the Nay Aug pool.  Plus you got to spend time with school friends at Adam's birthday party.
• All of us..... Enjoyed a weekend with Kyra and Lucy, including an afternoon at the Sno Cove water park and dinner at Pizza by Pappas in Scranton.  We then headed to Camelbeach last week.  With a couple interruptions due to rain, it was a good day including lots of time in the wave pool.  Lastly, you both went fishing a couple evenings at the Frances Slocum Park pond, where the competition to catch (very) small fish and good-sized turtles is fierce. (Left-over bait such as wax worms was provided to the growing gecko family next door.)

And to wrap this long-overdue post, here's "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" .... almost the same as Catching Up is Hard To Do!  In July, Steve and I sat on wet folding chairs at Misericordia University to hear Neil Sedaka in concert.  Neil Sedaka is a well-known (to older generations) composer and singer from New York City whose career has spanned over 50 years.  We were the young'uns in the audience!  This performance is very similar to the one we heard: