Wheeler's Pancake House

A family tradition has been established. Every time we visit nana and grandpa in Ontario, we always go for breakfast at Wheeler's Pancake House.
This is a nice tradition we have established, and we hope to carry it on for as long as we can.

Beautiful Girls

Recently, my girls and their dad visited my cousin and his family in western Canada. He and his wife have two lovely daughters that are role models for my daughters. It was so nice to see them all together.

Currently my girls are interested in some diverse things. My younger one is very interested in art - and plans on taking some classes in the fall. She also loves participating in Girl Scouts. My older daughter continues her interest in dance, and starts at a new, more classical school in September. She also loves her Girl Scout troop, which this year will take a two-night camping trip (eek! from mom).

Both girls have also developed an interest in running thanks to a group they joined via mommy's favorite YMCA. Over the course of 5 weeks, they will run 25 miles, then complete the total length of a marathon (26.2 miles) by running the last 1.2 miles of a real marathon taking place in the city. Of course their parents have to keep up so have been making sure to run with them. So far, we are well ahead of the plan with 12 miles logged.

A wonderful visit

My daughters are amazing. At ages 7 and 8, they are such individuals. Recently they had both their cousin and a good friend visit, and some rather funny and cute photos ensued - the gazebo photo taken at the Strong Museum, and the other taken in front of our house. The word "gazebo" took on a whole new meaning during this visit, morphing into a sort of chant and the name of a dance. I am thrilled that all the girls got along so well and had such a good time - as well as the mothers :D

Feline Friends

Here are my cats, in all their glory. The only photo that isn't very recent is the one of Leo, but he hasn't changed much. Yes, we have many cats. Yes, it is a little crazy. Yes, there is a lot of hair around. However - we enjoy them and find them to be quite delightful pets, not at all deserving of the typical "standoffish" cat stereotype. Shadow goes for walks with us and the dog,trotting along behind - although we are finding that she needs a little carrying now and then as she gets older :( Marty is starting to be less and less the feral cat, Leo is becoming more and more the feral cat, and Whiskers - well, Whiskers just seems to be getting bigger and bigger!! Last we checked, he weighs about 23lbs!! (I did have him checked out, and apparently other than the obvious weight problem he is healthy). So, that describes the feline branch of the family.

Shadow, the Queen - 12 years old

Marty the Tuxedo cat - 11 years old

Leo, the not-s0-brave lion - 7 years old

Whiskers, the "BIG BOY" - 5 years old
(also featured on the blog heading!)

Starting fresh...

Months have passed and still no "real" blog from me. I have my LiveJournal, but this is not something for all to see - so I decided to make something that all CAN see! Updates on family, occasional photos, random musings. At this point in time, there are some unfortunate things happening - however, I thought I would begin by posting a few photos and updating our current situation.




Our "new" home in upstate NY - it has been about one exact year since we came. We hated going through the moving process yet again - but things have turned out very well and we love it here.

This photo is from last summer, and the only difference is that with all the rain we got this summer the lawn is much greener and the plants (and weeds) are growing much more quickly.