Labor Day Weekend part 2

" He'll be coming around the corner when he comes, yeah whoooo!"

This is at Waldameer Park and Waterworld, Erie, PA. We went to this small amusement park frequently as kids, it's awesome, if you don't want to drive to a big park like Cedar Point or Kings Island (if you live in the area of Erie). No fees to park, or enter the park itself. Only if you want to ride, you can purchase a ride-a-rama, combo for water and rides or just one or the other. You can even purchase just tickets, (which is what we did because Blake isn't ready for many of the big people rides (we found that out with the kid roller coaster) Enjoy:-)

Click on the roller coaster pictures, for sure.

This was our last ride of the day

probably a good thing because....

he so enjoyed driving and crashing. I think it'd want to ride it again and again....

He saw the balloon pop and was sure he could do it,

I always knew he had a good arm but Sam told him he

wouldn't be able to throw that far, I didn't want to doubt Sam but

Blake kept telling us "I can do it, watch me" and so he fed the money in and...

he popped all three balloons, (one is out of the picture)

3 darts/3 balloons. Then we heard "See, I told you I could do it!, can I do it again?" Blake, your a riot! He played again on our way out and got 2/3, not bad. We didn't think to take his picture with his bear, darn.

They had silly mirrors.

He always finds the rides with the annoying horns and beepers.

This is the kid roller coaster, he wanted to go on the big one and we decided he should try the little one first, good thing.

As much as the girl beside him loved it, he hated it, he said he almost cried but didn't. The best thing about this ride was the end. Maybe he shouldn't have rode in the first car? I hope he's not scared for life.

He needed something calm after the last ride, Pilot Blake.

and here is Captain Blake

We got in line for the water log ride then he decided he didn't want to because "what if it's like the roller coaster", I should have said "what if it's not?" I wasn't too keen on getting SOAKED anyway, but that's the entire reason he wore his swim trunks and I dressed in a big t-shirt. The plan was we were going to go to the car and change into dry clothes then do the rest of the rides.

Labor Day Weekend

We took a 4 day weekend and went to Erie, PA because that's where we were born and raised, our parents live there (minus my mom) and there are a few things to do there that are fun, so we left right after Blake got home from school on Friday. Blake,here comes a good one, get ready"

We're jumping it in unison!

Probably should have wrote '09, too late now

playing in the sand while grandma takes the picture

Can you guess who didn't want their picture taken?

but these two didn't mind one bit

waving at me!

Blake and grandpa (Sam) unpacking while I shoot pictures.

We got Blake's pull out sofa sleeper all set up and it won't be long till he is a sleep.

Tippy Tuesday

To remove pesky bottle tops and jar lids, put on a pair of rubber gloves. Or twist a fat rubber band around the lid, then twist open. Works like a charm.

get some FREE Disney Tickets

http://www.thenewfrugalmom.com/2009/09/hip-hip-hurray-giveaway-link-up.html

Just go here and register and you might win. Good luck:-)

One Year Ago Today....

Here are some facts about the blackout that affected most all of Ohio and into Kentucky:

• Hurricane Ike blew in for an awful visit with up to 70 MPH winds.
• Sunday Sept. 14 at 2:00 our power went out.
  
• I had to mash our mashed potatoes with a spatula, yes, they were lumpy.
  
• Our upstairs shudder busted in half.
  
• We were w/o electric for 89 hrs. We have gas water heater, but electric stove.

• over 1 million outages, the electric company we use had over 700,000 out.
  
• 84 out of 87 counties affected.
  
• due to no power, there was a gas shortage because it wasn't able to be pumped out of tank.
  
• Duke Energy had workers in Texas and had to call them home to help in this mess.
  
• They (Duke Energy) went from 12,000 workers to 16,050 to fix this outage.
  
• Electric company workers worked 16 hr. shifts.
  
• The wind blew my 79 year old dad over on the road. He was a little scratched up, but fine.
  
• The mums Sam and Blake planted on Saturday (the day before) BLEW out of the ground.


• Some people were running extension cords across the street to feed off others generators to keep their food frozen.
  
• Went to bed by 9 p.m. because nothing to do. Could be a baby boom in 9 months.(time will tell)
  
• Level 3 on Sunday and Monday morning that means ONLY essential personnel on road.
  
• Dad and Sue left for Oklahoma anyway on Monday morning.
  
• No ice available for miles. Matthew 25 ministries were giving ice away on Tuesday along with bottled water.
  
• The weather was perfect: no rain, temps below 83, and not too cold.
  
• One week later the weather is (was) still co-operating w/ no rain and pleasant temps.
  One week later, Sunday evening they still had 700 w/o power.
  
• Now for some pictures, I didn't go picture hunting, I thought that was rude, due to the fact that some had trees in their roofs and cars smashed. So this is just our property:

This is my dad's arm and now he is forever known to his great-grandson as "grandpa, the one that got blown over by the wind" (he has 5 grandpa's so it could be confusing to him).


I actually witnessed the tree fall, very amazing that I just so happened to look out and it was falling over!

Just some of our spoiled food, too much to put in one picture.New food, time to restock the refrigerator.

Spaghetti Sauce Mak'in

Here are some of my pictures: I started out with 56 tomatoes, all were given to me or I grew them myself.

Here are some of the chunked up tomatoes, and the start of my big mess!

Diced onions and green peppers, I didn't even cry when cutting them, yippie.

My BIG mess, hey it's all worth it:-)

1 pot of sauce trying to thicken up, the other is on the back burner, I had so much it took 2 pots!

Finally, I'm on the last water bath, hooray!

Ta..da...they all sealed, it sure was fun, time consuming but fun. Thanks Michelle for the recipe and the over the phone help.

I also should tell you I ran out of jars so I froze some sauce and of course we had spaghetti the next night.

LET'S NEVER FORGET 9-11-2001

I know you don't need me to remind you but today is a sad, sad day for our country. Please say a prayer for the thousands that died and the many more thousands that were injured that day, and the several thousands of people who's life was changed for the WORSE that day.

Today, my daughter and I will be attending a ceremony at the court house, I know it will be such an emotional event for many. (I'm taking a box of tissues to share)

On that terrible day I was not in town, and my daughter needed me, she called me in a panic (she was 20 years old). I had no idea what was going on as the t.v. and radio were not on because I was getting ready to get picked up from my new friend, Rose, (she was coming to get me at our hotel and show me around the town my husband and I would be moving to). When Jennifer told me to turn on the t.v. I was immediately stunned, for what I was witnessing was extremely horrific. At that very moment they were talking about the daycare in the World Trade Center being struck, Jennifer was working at a daycare. Oh, all I could think was to tell her they are not going to strike your little daycare building, your going to be alright.

Tippy Tuesday

Once again, you can click on the image to enlarge it.

While traveling home from our extended 4 day Labor Day weekend, we passed this magnificent statue (and church) their sign said this:

"Warning: exposure to the Son may PREVENT burning"

and so consider this is your "tip" for the week.

Here are some facts on the statue that you may find interesting:

• Height: 62'



• Weight: Approximately 16,000 lbs



• Construction: A wood and styrofoam sculpture over a steel framework anchored in concrete. This is covered with a fiberglass mat and resin exterior.



• The project was constructed in Florida, cut into sections and trucked to Monroe Ohio to be reassembled on-site at SRC. (Solid Rock Church)



• Designer: Brad Coriel Artist/sculptor: James Lynch



• Over 8000 man-hours in development and installation



• Reportedly the "King of Kings" is the largest sculpture of Christ in America.

Tippy Tuesday

Open both ends of tomatoe paste cans.
Push the last lid thru the can.

Look how clean that can is, I used this method for all 6 of my tomatoe paste cans when I made homemade spaghetti sauce last week, and it worked well....smoothly:-)

Enjoy your week. Today is Blake's first day of school, I do hope he does well.