52 Weeks of 2014 - Week 28

Since returning from vacation, I've managed to get way, way behind in my blogging, but I'm committed to getting caught up, starting with an account of our trip to the Jersey Shore and Delaware. I started the trip in an anxious mood because the predicted weather was 70% chance of "drenching thunderstorms" for pretty much the entire time of our stay. Thankfully, the forecast was completely wrong, and we had beautiful sunny weather for most part. In fact, it ended up being one of our best trips yet, as we didn't get lost (Alexandria / D.C. '13) and no one got sick (Me - Wildwood / Deleware '12). I'd call that a roaring success!

This year, we stayed in Wildwood, right at the edge of Wildwood Crest. Although the area we stayed in was very nice and convenient to the boardwalk and restaurants, I still would have preferred to stay in Ocean City, but it's just too expensive this time of year. One reason is that Wildwood's boardwalk is just too trashy for my taste. Here's the second reason:



Here are Lauren and I on the Wildwood boardwalk. See that hazy blue line far, far in the distance? That would be the ocean. I think the walk from the boardwalk to the ocean was a least three times as long as the walk from our motel to the boardwalk. So when in Wildwood we don't spend much time at the beach because it's just not worth the trouble.



Besides, Lauren prefers the pool anyway.



Adjacent to our motel was a bike rental shop where we were surprised to see none other than Aunt Dolly.

 
 I think we would all agree that the best part of our vacation was the time we spent aboard the Thundercat Dolphin Watch tour. Last year, I had read the Thundercat's rave reviews and was anxious to see what the fuss was all about. It did not disappoint.



First, our tour guide bore a striking resemblance to Robin Thicke. We were waiting for him to bust out some verses of "Blurred Lines" at any moment. I think I should have put that in the suggestion box.

Second, the dolphins! Early in the cruise, we saw some dolphins swimming in the distance, but nothing you'd call an "encounter." So we were quickly getting skeptical that we were going to see any dolphins in action.



What we didn't know is that The Thundercat has been giving tours for 17 years, so the local dolphins know the boat very well. Once they spot it, the show begins. They follow behind the boat and jump in and out of its wake.







It was amazing. I will never doubt your word again, Robin Thicke!

 

We also had some up close and personal animal encounters at the Cape May Zoo. No visit is complete unless Mark feeds this goat.



I started to stalk this peacock in hopes that he was spread his feathers because I don't think I've ever seen a peacock do that in person.



Eventually he gave in so I'd leave him alone.



The big deal at the zoo this year is their new baby giraffe.



But not even a cute baby giraffe can top a giant tortoise getting lucky (This is where we could have really used Robin Thicke's talents.). He was so loud about it that you could hear him a few exhibits over. More than one person chuckled and said, "Now that's a once in a lifetime sight!" but apparently it isn't because there are numerous YouTube videos of them.



Now I don't have to regret not taking one of my own.



Next we spent an evening at one of my favorite places on Earth - the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk!

 

Here's Mark waiting while Lauren and I do some shopping. We got Shriver's taffy, Johnson's caramel corn and souvenirs from Old Salt!

 

 





 

Dinner was Manco and Manco pizza, of course. We unanimously decided that we prefer it over Mack's Pizza over in Wildwood.



Here's Lauren looking satisfied with her stuffy haul from Jilly's arcade.



It finally did rain our last night in New Jersey and into the next morning when we left, but it cleared just enough for one last walk on the beach.

52 Weeks of 2014 - Week 27

As I've mentioned in the past, in my family we take our sparklers very seriously. My grandfather just loved them, so each 4th of July we light 'em up in his honor.

 

Here's Lauren perfecting the patented "Pranty Twirl."



The "other" Lauren getting indoctrinated into our family's obsession.

 

Yes, it gets a little intense. Thankfully, he hasn't attempted fire eating. Yet.

 

Craig "Pyromaniac" Cathell supervising the annual backyard fireworks show.



We couldn't have asked for a better Independence Day. This year the weather was perfect, I had no food crises and all of our friends and family were in attendance. And because the 4th fell on a Friday, I could actually have the party on the holiday. So we were able to even close the evening with everyone joining us for our community's firework show.

Great gardens.

 

While Lauren and I were at camp, Mark was hosting visitors to our garden.

 

Each year, the Shaler Garden Club hosts the Great Gardens Tour which features several private gardens in the area. The proceeds of the tour benefit the Shaler Area North Hills Library, which received a national award for excellence in 2012.



That same year, we entered the library's Great Garden's contest which lead us to be invited to feature our garden on this year's tour.

 

Since April, Mark has labored tirelessly for countless hours to get the garden into shape, and this is just a sampling of the fruits of his labor. All the tour visitors raved about his work.

The garden is really in full bloom right now. And it wouldn't be a Ross Family summer without sitting on the porch watching the hummingbirds flutter around the bee balm.

52 Weeks of 2014 - Week 26

Here we have arrived at one of the highlights of the summer:  Girl Scout camp. This year, we went back to Camp Redwing for their 3 day activity filled program, Me & My Gal. We had almost our entire troop attend together, including moms too. While this certainly added to the fun, it also made for some excitement. Our group started with 22, but only 17 made it to the end. One of our scouts slipped in the mud and broke her arm, so she went home the morning of the first day. One of our moms fell victim to the so very unplush cots and left a day early because of a sore back. Lastly, one of our scouts that attended independently could take a second night sleeping in a bug infested tent, so she had to be picked up by her mom.

But in spite of a few bumps in the road, we still had an amazing time. After all, it's camp.



This year, we were assigned to the Orchard platform tent unit. To say it was lacking the comforts of home is an understatement. One of our group had an unwelcome visitor in their tent during the night - a bat. All of the tents were crawling with bugs. Lauren and her friend would sit huddled together on a cot pointing them out with their flashlights so that I could shoo them out of the tent.

Our unit also had a unique feature:  Composting toilets. While we were grateful that these were indoors (and not the bug infested stalls in some of the other units), they took a little getting used to and now I've come to appreciate how water adds to the whole commode experience.



Although our unit was right next to the boathouse, we unfortunately didn't get to go canoeing this time because the river was running high and fast due to all the rain in our area from the previous weeks.



Here are some of my girls. They are just the best. It's amazing how well they all get along. While they all have their best buddies that they hang with, they are never "clique-ish" and are always good to each other.



This sign is posted next to the rest rooms in the dining hall. While we're on the subject, I cannot state enough how awesome the food is at Camp Redwing. Here's how they fed us:

Day 1
Breakfast:  Buttermilk pancakes and sausage
Lunch: Cookout at our unit with hot dogs, hamburgers, pasta salad, watermelon and giant chocolate cookies
Dinner: Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, warm rolls, and wait for it - apple cobbler.

Day 2:

Breakfast:  Bacon, egg and cheese muffins with home fries.
Lunch:  Grilled chicken sandwiches, buttered noodles, fruit and sugar cookies.



Here are the girls participating in fire building session. All weekend, the councilors had a terrible time building fires because the ground was so damp.



Swimming in the pool is always a favorite activity.



Girl Scouts take safety extremely seriously. Each camper gets a "buddy board" tag. The color denotes whether you've taken the swimming test and are therefore permitted in the deep end (Most of us opted out of the test because it takes awhile and eats into your swimming time). Anytime you move in or out of the pool area, you move your tag to that place on the board. It helps lifeguards keep track of everyone at all times.



These mementos are on the mantel above the fire place at the camp's main lodge.



No visit to camp is complete without a souvenir stuffie from trading post.



Of course, the highlight of camp is the horseback riding.



For some reason, they put Lauren on a huge horse named Burk. The counselors had to help her down because he was too big for her to dismount on her own.



A close second favorite is archery.



Lauren even got a bullseye.

I did my best to savor these moments because they may be the last at this camp. The other leader and I concluded that we may not be the outdoor type of troop and probably require a little more comfortable accommodations, or at least bug free sleeping quarters. It's all good because whatever we choose to do in the future, it will still be an adventure.

Roxy the Marijuana Dealin' Chocolate Eatin' Cat.

A couple of months ago, I put up for sale a photo of my parents' cat Roxy eating at her dish. I have a similar photo of Cookie that sells pretty well, so I thought that a cat should do equally well.

Occasionally I use Google's image search function to find where my photos that are sold through Getty Images end up online. Although the internet uses are the easiest to track down, they typically only earn me a buck or two. These are no different, but I since I know my parents will get a kick out of them, I thought I would share.

Here she is on AOL Pet's homepage!



But it gets better. Then I found her picture on this website:



Her photo is actually used in this Huffington Post video about a cat who brought home a bag of weed. You can see it at the 19 second mark. It even has my name credited - lol!

So there you have it. I guess if you put it altogether, Roxy must have been out sniffing some weed, got the munchies, and then chowed down on some chocolate. Hopefully my parents don't sue me for defamation of character because I didn't ask them to sign a model release.