Categories
Family Skiing

Cathy is Working

Well, there are some changes that are occurring in the house. Cathy has gone back to work, part time. She is really enjoying the challenge.

The challenge is actually two fold. One is being back in the work force and having to deal with a job. The second is trying to manage a household and the kids with a reduced amount of time. Since I’ve never been a fan of folding laundry, Cathy typically does most of the folding. Well, with time being short, you can guess the size of the clean laundry pile.

The kids are out of school today, tomorrow and Monday. And I have no idea why school is out. Seems like they are off from school almost as much as they are in. Since I have more vacation days than I can use, I took the days off from work to stay home with the kids, so Cathy could go to work.

With having a day off today, I pulled out the ski gear. I knew that I was going to have to replace both Jill’s and MJ’s boots. The local ski shop has a great deal on kids gear. I can pick up second hand gear and trade in last year’s stuff. I can keep them in correct fitting ski gear at a price that won’t bankrupt me 🙂 I was able to trade in their old ski boots and get correct fitting ones for $42 for both. The gear is ready…Now the clothing. MJ and Jill are trying on their ski pants and jackets. Very doubtful that I’ll get off easy withthe clothing.

Tomorrow there is a few things around the house that needs to be fixed. With Cathy off to work, I’m hoping we have time to do the fixin’ and go to either a movie or bowling.

Categories
Family

Apple & Pumpkin Picking

We went to Battleview Orchards over by Monmouth Battlefield Park for some apple and pumpkin picking today. Its the freshest apples you will ever have – straight off the tree and into our bags.

We try to go every fall. It’s a blast to have the kids run through an orchard picking apples. Last year we had two full bushels of apples. There were more apples in the house than we could reasonably use. Today we managed the number of bags of apples alot better. We came home with two full bags of apples and 4 large pumpkins.

During this week we’ll be carving the pumpkins!

Also I picked up a pumpkin for this coming Friday. On Friday, Divers Two is having their annual under water pumpkin carving contest.

Categories
Family

Egyptian Canopic Jars

Tonight’s project with MJ was to create an Egyptian Canopic Jar. We did it in modelling clay that will cure in the open air. MJ wanted to create the owl faced jar. We started with an empty seltzer bottle, covering it with clay.

I think our jar came out superb!!

Categories
BSA Troop 110

NJ State Police BSA Camporee

The 2007 NJ State Police Boy Scout Camporee was an amazing event! Over 9,500 scouts from the state of New Jersey attended the camporee in Sea Girt, NJ. It was held on October 5th, 6th and 7th. The State Police really went all out with an amazing event.

There were so many scouts that I could capture all of them in a single photo!

The State Police had demonstrations from virtually every department, division or group within the State Police. Here are some of the departments that were there: Aviation, Cavalry, Bomb Squad, BioHazard & Chemical Response, Forensics, Criminal Investigation, Park Police, Game Conservation, SCUBA Team, Beach and Shore Patrol, SWAT Team, Hazmat, and Search & Rescue Squad… There was alot more there! I can’t remember all of them. The scouts saw demonstrations of automatic weapons by the sniper team and an assault on a building by the SWAT team that began with them fast roping out of a helicopter.

Categories
Books

Assault on Reason

With all the travelling I do, I tend to read alot in the airports and on the planes. Vice President Gore’s latest book, “The Assault on Reason” looks into American politics of today. I found the first few chapters to  be insightful to the decisions and assumptions of the current White House administration.

However as I continued to read, the book turned into a Bush Bash. Now, I am normally one to enjoy a good Bush Bash, but it went way to far. I had to put the book down for a while. While I did finish the book, I was disappointed. The points that Vice President Gore made were lost in the political rubbish. Also I found the ending of the book to be rushed.

If your reading list is running light and your library has to book, I would read it. However if you are like me and have multiple books in progress or waiting to be read, don’t run to the book store.

Categories
Family

Family Vacation to Maine – Part II

Here are some pics from the top of Table Top Rock.  We were about 900 feet above the valley floor.

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we took the high speed ferry from Portland, ME to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The ferry was a really nice way to travel.  The trip over took 5 hours.  The ferry has 3 movie lounges, 3 food courts, a casino and several observation lounges.  Going over MJ Jill slept most of the way.  On the way back we took advantage of the movies.  I enjoyed the casino.

 

Yarmouth is a sleepy fishing town. We easily walked the town, enjoying some of the restaurants and shops.

The only bummer about the trip was the drive home.  In total, it took 8 hours to drive back to NJ.  Still I could be convinced to explore the Portland and Bar Harbor areas.

Categories
Diving

St. Lawrence Seaway Dive Trip

Instead of creating a series of blog entries to try to capture my recent trip to the St. Lawrence Seaway, I created a series of pages.  So much happened within the span of a week, that it was easier to link to everyone’s websites or blog’s.  The diving was superb.  The people on the trip were fabulous.  I’m looking forward to next year’s trip!!

Categories
Family

Family Vacation in Maine.

We’re midway through the week and our vacation in Maine has been excellent so far!  The resort is very nice with all the amenities.

On Sunday morning, MJ and I walked to the top of Jordan Mountain.  It took us a full hour to walk up.  We spent some time walking around the ski lifts and then came back down.  In the afternoon, we drove to the top of Mount Washington, which is the highest peak in the entire North East.  At the base it was 69 degrees, at the top of the mountain it was 21 degrees.  It was an eight mile drive up with the road being just wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other with inches to spare.

On Monday we took ATV’s out.  Cathy and I each drove one with the kids on the back.  It was a blast.  Its Wednesday and Cathy is still recovering!

Tuesday we went Horseback riding.  Jill got to ride her own horse!  In the Poconos we go on trail rides all the time.  This was different.  Everyone had to control the horse through the trails.  We even got to trot with the horse.  Jill and MJ had an absolute blast.

Today we went to Grafton State Park.  I thought the trail we were walking was going to be a relatively simple trail.  Whoops!  It was a 900 foot climb to the top of Table Rock.  We had a great view once we got there.

Tomorrow we’re planning to take the ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Categories
Diving

Get Ready, Get Set for St Lawrence

We had the group meeting for the dive trip to the St. Lawrence River this past Monday night. Before then I wasn’t really getting excited about the trip. It was still a week away and I still had a lot to do at work. Well, once we walked through some of the dives and what to expect for conditions, it was hard not to be excited.

We’ll be diving some steel hulled shipwrecks as well as 200 year old wooden wrecks. Because of the cold fresh water, the wooden ship wrecks are still largely intact! Some of the wrecks are in the shipping channel, which poses their own special requirements. We’re actually staying in Brockville Ontario. Most of the dives are in Canadian water, however a few are in US waters.

We’ve been told to expect water temps in the 70-73 degree range. That’s way to warm for the dry suit, so I’ll be diving wet. The visibility is usually in the 20 to 40 foot range. No where near Caribbean visibility, but it is much better than what I’ve gotten accustomed to off the coast of NJ.

There will be10 of us travelling up to Brockville this Sunday. Hopefully a few of my fellow divers will have underwater cameras. I want to take a laptop and camera with me. I’m hoping that there will be a wifi access point so I can blog each night about the dives and have some photos to share.

Categories
Diving

Manasquan Wreck Dive

We tried to dive the Manasquan wreck today. It is an unidentified wooden shipwreck that became grounded and the surf broke it up. The wreck is about 1000 feet off the coast in front of Pompano Ave in Manasquan, NJ. It’s reported to be in about 30 feet of water.

When we arrived this morning, the fog was so heavy we couldn’t see the landmarks to navigate to the wreck. So instead of wasting a tank of air when we knew there was no hope of finding, we went to our alternate dive site – the Pt. Pleasant RR Bridge.

Upon arriving at the RR bridge, there was a class of students prepping to enter the water for one of their open water dives. In talking to one of the instructors, we discussed our approach to the dive so we would stay away from the class. It was a good dive, although both of us were disappointed that we couldn’t get off shore today.

If the weather cooperates, we’re going to try the Manasquan wreck next Saturday.

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com