So much fun!

I am taking an online class to learn digital scrabooking, and it is so much fun! These are my first 2 digital layouts ever, I'm very proud of them. Yay me!!!

New York, New York!

We took the Staten Island Ferry into the city Friday afternoon, and it was so fun (and free)! Mark had never been to NYC, so he got to see the Statue of Liberty and the amazing city views.

We had some Chinese food and headed back to our hotel early to get some good sleep.

After the meet on Saturday, we took a nap (well, Mark and I did anyway) and went back to the city. The plan was to ice skate at Rockefeller Center, but...Gryphon and I were freezing. Also, the line to get in starts an hour ahead of time, so standing out in the line, then skating, in the cold...not so fun. We're wimps. We settled for some New York pizza and a ride through Times Square in a pedi-cab. Our driver/peddler was an actor- I know, you are shocked! Imagine that. He did have the most perfect teeth I've ever seen though, and was pretty cute, so who knows, maybe he'll be famous someday. We should have got an autograph just in case!

The plan was to go in early today and go up the Empire State building, but we were wiped out and we just slept in and headed back to Virginia. Still, Mark enjoyed his first trip to the city!

First Meet for Rowan

We are in New Jersey, just across from New York, for a rhythmic gymnastics meet this weekend- Rowans first. These are so much FUN- I had no idea how fun they would be! The leotards are beautiful, the girls are amazing little athletes, and its just such a neat (obscure)sport. We had such a good time! Here is Rowan, her coach, and Nicole about to go onto the floor. Her coach said she was so nervous she was shaking- but she did GREAT! They compete 2 at a time at Level 4, so she competed with Nicole. They run out through the fancy arch, do this funky little ballet-like salute to the judges, and start their routine when the music starts.

Here is the floor during warm-ups. Some teams have all the girls in the same leotard, which looks cool. Some girls have a different leotard (and the matching ball, hoop, etc) for each routine. We only have one- those things are expensive!

Here is Rowan and Brianna, Becky and Nicole before awards.

And here are Rowans ribbons- 8th place in floor, 9th place over all. I was tickled by her scores, and I think her coach was happy, too. And now that she knows how fun meets are, Rowan is excited to do more. We are too!

I'll update with pictures of New York later- and answer all of Helena's tag questions, too! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Need a pick me up? Try picking one of these up!

OK, this is possibly the worst photo ever- it was the best I have! Most of them have only part of a puppy in them, since I was holding a very wiggly dog in the other hand. This is the *cutest* yellow Lab puppy, one of 3, only 7-8 weeks old. Just darling, with roly-poly little tummies, the size of my hands.

You know, the post-Christmas season can be sort of depressing. Maybe you didn't get what you wanted for Christmas, or had family issues, or were just generally stressed out and not enjoying the season. And now- its just bleck ol winter, cold and grey. Well, have I got the pick-me-up for you! Rescue Transport! I've talked about it on here before, but I did one today, and I must say- its just good for the soul.

The amazing thing about it to me is the amount of coordination and cooperation it takes to get these off the ground. No-kill shelters and rescues pull dogs from pounds and high-kill shelters, trying to save as many as they can. Regrettably, they manage only to save a small percentage of the millions euthanized every year. But in order to pull them, they need to get them out to the shelter or rescue with room- often states away. So this amazing network of volunteers goes into action, moving thousands of animals around the country from pounds and death to rescues, foster homes and "forever homes".

Tonight at the meet up location for my leg of the transport, their were 8 cars, 4 different transports using the same meet up location and same time! That rarely happens, but it was so neat to see the diverse people who do this- a gay couple who own a chicken farm (we chatted), a big, leather-clad guy who recently lost his beloved Schnauzer and does transports to remember his dog, retirees, lobbyists, stay at home moms, soldiers. And the dogs- wow! There had to be 30 dogs tonight. 2 beautiful bloodhounds, a Dalmation, a Shiz-Zhu mom and puppy, a dachshund, and lots and lots of my personal favorite- the All American Mutt.

I got to drive the puppy above and his 2 litter mates, the Shiz-Zhu mom and baby, and a darling black dog who tried to sit on my lap the whole way. She just smiled and snuggled. I'm pretty sure she knew how lucky she is. :)

Anyway, I know- its like a broken record around here. I also know most of you are full up on dogs or kids (or both!) and just can't adopt a rescue dog or cat. We sure can't. I can do little things like transport though, and whats more, it makes me feel good and I get to snuggle puppies. Maybe, if you need a pick-me-up, you'll consider doing transports, too?

Some Christmas fun in St Louis

We went to our absolutely, hands-down favorite museum of all time- The City Museum in downtown St. Louis. We've been going for years now whenever we're in town, but its just SO hard to describe! Its even hard to get a sense of how cool this place is in pictures, but here are bunch, so I'll try!
See that plane? Its waaayyy up (3 stories or more!) and you climb up to it, in a tunnel made of rebar. Outside the museum is a huge treehouse (real tree), a cabin, towers, huge ball pits, slides, etc. They are building a water park on the roof- see the bus hanging over the edge??

You can roast marshmallows outside, around a fire pit. Too cool.

Inside- wow. Here is Gryphon on the slide from the 3rd floor. Its a huge empty building, and they used all recycled and re-purposed material- a wall of those mermite containers any Army readers will recognize, walls of coke bottles, mosaics of seashells and bottle caps, rebar and strange conveyor belt tunnels...I just cannot describe its coolness. Its a visual feast for the eyes- little beautiful art everywhere.

That huge white thing below is a gigantic whale you walk into- there is a water pouring feature, you can climb that spiral, a tunnel beneath the floor, a series of caves below the ground. You could (and we do!) spend hours in here playing everything from Harry Potter to Hide n Seek. There is a rainforest-type deal in back, with real trees, and an aquarium with turtles and big fish, and rooms and tunnels in the forest. And slides, slides, slides!

Here's me and the girls, climbing above the room. A little tight for the grown-ups, but not just for kids- they are open until 1 am. I could totally stay that long.

And THIS-! In the back on the second floor is a gorgeous pipe organ-massive. And a real bank vault you walk in. And piles of architectural elements salvaged from buildings- staircases and gargoyles and a fascinating doorknob collection. Church windows, balustrades, balconies. And, this. Follow the haunting music of that pipe organ to find a dark tower of spirals. It is HUGE. you can climb waayyy up, via the semi-easy ramp, or the twisting labyrinth of tunnels, then slide down. And it goes waayyy down, into a cave-like place made of cement, with sculpted dragons and hidey-holes and a crystal that glows. Its so big and gorgeous and odd...really, its just amazing. I love this part of the museum.

But wait- there is MORE! A rockin snack bar, with real food. A museum of arcade games and oddities. An aquarium. A huge thrift store on the 4th floor.A train little kids can ride. A no-skate skate park- its ramps and half-pipes to run up and down. And a circus- yes, a circus. Its a children's circus- all kids who perform. They are awesome, if we lived in St Louis, I would so sign the girls up for trapeze. They even have a home school circus class- can you imagine? "Sorry, we don't go to school, we're learning trapeze in a circus class!"

I didn't even include the amazing art room, the fountains, the....

If you're ever in St Louis, do NOT miss the City Museum.