Friday, August 27, 2010

I think I broke my blog

You know, I'd like to think I am pretty good at computer-type-stuff.  Having a techie husband can often make me feel computer illiterate, but overall I can usually figure out whatever I need to when it comes to blogging.  This time, however I am stumped!  I was trying to give my blog a little fall makeover, but I am not too thrilled with the result.  I was also thinking of moving over to wordpress, because so many of my friends have wp blogs-just seemed like it would be easier but I am not sure I want to do that either. 

So, thanks for your patience with this-I am going to call in the big guns (my husband) over the weekend so that he can help me figure out-should be lots of fun.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Yoga

My yoga instructor and friend, Barbara, recently asked me to put my thoughts about yoga into a post for her blog.  I was beyond thrilled at the chance to actually put into words what the practice of yoga has come to mean in my life.  So, if you have a chance, take a look at her blog, Yoga wisdom for everyday to see what I think.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Books, books and more books

Remember this photo:


That seemed like quite the ambitious pile at the beginning of the summer, after all, I had never read actual books at the pool before.  Prior to this year, I had been more the magazine type-having to look up every few minutes to locate my kids and make sure they were still technically above the water.  As this hot, super hot, insanely hot summer winds down, I am thrilled to report that I have read most of these books plus a few more.  I recently read The Help, loaned to me by a fellow book lover and pool goer.  I loved the story and the characters and felt sad to say goodbye to them on the last page.  I try to avoid lists on my blog-seems a little like cheating to this English major (though I love reading other people's lists-go figure), but I am going to make  a list of all the books I've read this summer. 

Gods In Alabama
The Weight of Silence
The Reliable Wife
The Life of Pi (UGH!)
Firefly Lane
The Help
Little Bee
The Mermaid Chair
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Right now, I am speeding through Dead Until Dark, which is a Sookie Stackhouse novel-of True Blood (on HBO) fame.  I normally don't even like to read books that come in that tiny paperback form but it's a fun and quick read and it's really interesting to see where the inspiration for the show came from.  I am also starting The Book Thief, which my mom recommended and is apparently young adult fiction.  So far, it seems a little dark, so I may put it away till November or so. 

Thursday, August 05, 2010

philadelphia on a budget

The theme of our facation/staycation this year was saving money.  After our kitchen/roof renovation earlier this year, money is tight and we were looking to save a few bucks, but still have some fun.  We already have a membership to the DaVinci Science Center in Allentown, PA so we decided to check into their reciprocal program.  I was thrilled to find out that our membership (which only costs $90 for the year) also got us admission to the Franklin Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. 

Thanks to my oldest child turning 13, we are now a family of 3 "adults" and 2 "kids" when it comes to paying admission, so the total price for the 5 of us at the Franklin Institute would have been $69.50, while the Academy would have set us back another $56.  With our membership card, it was, well priceless (and free). 






We also took advantage of a family pass from our local regional rail line, SEPTA.  We were able to get into and out of the city for only $28 for the 5 of us.  We will definitely use that again-next time we will do the historic district-when it's a little cooler in the fall. 

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Wegmans and Knoebels

Last week, we were on what I begrudgingly called "facation" because my husband had a week off and we weren't going "anywhere" (hence the witty combination of fake and vacation.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, when the week was more fun than I had anticipated and we were able to pack a few day trips into it! 

Our first trip combined two of my favorite places:  Wegmans and Knoebels.  If you don't have a Wegmans near you, I truly feel sorry for you.  I have always loved grocery stores, and this one is so much more than a grocery store.  What I hadn't realized is that they sell discount tickets to all kinds of cool and amazing attractions-though a good many of them are in upstate New York where the company is headquartered.  Through their "That's the ticket" program, we were able to get Knoebels' all day wristband tickets for our kids for a discount of $4 each. 

Now, on to Knoebels.  If you have never been there, it's almost hard to describe.  The park grew slowly out of a campground and has an old fashioned feel.  There is no admission fee to go into the park, which is great for me because I am the biggest ride wimp in the universe.  On this trip, I rode the train, the whip and... okay, that's it.  Just those two. 

During the week, there is the option to get an all you can ride wristband, which for our kids was $20.50 for my older two and $16.50 for my youngest (who is still under 48").  We bought ride tickets for my husband and me (mostly him as I mentioned earlier) which brought the entire cost for the day of rides to about $100-for our family of 5!!! 

The food there is also just incredible-affordable and really good.  We ate lunch at the international food court for about $25 and then dinner was pizza for (again!) $25.  Other years, we have "camped" there (meaning in a cabin) and that is fun, too. 

All in all, our first day trip of facation was a huge success, even if we did get home at almost 1am and not get up till late, late the next day!