THEN THERE WAS LIFE

So we planted a few things this year in our first ever "mini garden". We planted tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, basil, lavender, and rosemary...and a few other spices that didn't last more than two weeks. Well the first list of items went pretty well except for a complete no show on the peppers. The tomatoes took over the garden and overshadowed the lettuce. I guess three feet apart really means three feet apart. But I think we have a better idea of what we can grow for next year. I must say that we were the most pleased with the tomatoes. They are still ripening and some are still on the vine. We even ended up with a few yellow ones, which makes for a very pretty salad.

Here are the tomatoes posing with my Ausherman 5 Miler prize. No I didn't win but came in second in my age group. I would have taken first but for some reason the woman who went to Olympic Trials for the marathon this year beat me. As far as placing overall, the Kenyans took the top five places, yes people Kenyans in Chambersburg.....foiled again!

Looking forward to an even more fruitful season next summer!

COVERED BRIDGE RIDE

On Saturday Michael and I dropped Gilbert off with the babysitter and headed to Lancaster, PA, (Amish Dutch Country) to get a little time to ourselves. Literally this was the first night we spent alone without a baby in almost a year.

Our plan was to do the covered bridge bike ride, which is a metric century ride (62 miles) and then stay the night at a B&B. But with a week of blue skies the week following, the heavens opened up on Saturday and poured sheets of rain ALL DAY. But not all was lost. We saw a sign on the side of the road for a brewery and steered in it's direction. Our usual at breweries is I order a hoppy beer and Michael gets the sampler, and then we share the sampler. So coupled with a side a wings we were pretty happy. Plus the brewery was pretty fancy. I felt like I was in a different world, one that I had perhaps been in before but had not encountered since living in Chambersburg. I'm serious when I say we have nothing like this in Chambersburg.....freaky!

On our way to the B&B we decided to drive through downtown Lancaster, pretty historic place. Along the way we spied a bakery and coffee shop. Making an extra trip around the block to make sure our eyes didn't lie, we stopped and indulged. YUM!

On to the B&B a sweet place in Strasburg, PA. Very colonial and along a road that had Amish horse and buggies passing about every ten minutes. Clop, clop, clop!

Diner that night was at a local restaurant within walking distance from the B&B. This was the first good meal I had had since arriving in the mid-Atlantic. I ended up with a glass of wine and a steak cooked perfectly medium-rare. Sooooooooo good! Michael wasn't sure I could eat the whole thing, but I sure as sh*t wasn't going to let a morsel of the meat go to waste. Yummy!

We'll the next morning we woke to blue, crisp and clear skies! So after breakfast we headed on our way to do the covered bridge ride. After one wrong turn we were back on track and road our way through Amish Country. Being that it was Sunday the Amish folk were everywhere. We passed a few packs of Amish boys or girls riding their bikes around. And I can't even count the number of buggies we saw. Throughout the ride we passed through seven covered bridges.

Pictures? Um, sorry the batteries were dead, but we did get one grainy shot.

This would be a prefect trip to do with another couple...anyone interested?

STANDING ROOM ONLY

Only our child would have the first time he pulls himself up be in the bathtub! I almost freaked. But when I realized he had control and felt comfortable plopping himself back down, I grabbed the camera.

CLIMB ON!

I will climb again, but when I do Gilbert is going with me. Here we are scouting out a climbing crag only about 30 minutes from town. Just happy for now knowing that it exists.

HAPPY 35th BIRTHDAY!!!!

Yes, Michael turned 35 today. So now we are officially only one year apart! This time a blueberry pie, still trying to get the crust perfected.

TAGGART FAMILY REUNION

Woo Hoo....finally the reunion is here!!!! We had been looking forward to the reunion for months and months and months, which add up to about one year. Where did we go? This time around the Taggart Family Reunion was held in Waves, North Carolina. Let me clarify....."Taggart" Michael's mom's side of the family from Butler, PA....."Waves" a thin strip of islands far off the coast of NC that is so skinny I think it could literally be taken out by a wave, hence Waves. Okay that is my joke!

This reunion can be described as hanging out with family at the pool, hanging out with family at the beach, hanging out with family around the table....oh and watching the Tour de France with the family. Really could it get much better than that? Michael and I didn't drive the car once. We did take the bikes out a few times while "the family" watched Gilbert, and I got in a few runs. But that was really all we did. A very cool experience with my very cool new in-laws.


Gilbert got to meet his cousins, Avery and Zoey, Michael's sister's daughters. Gilbert is only nine months old and he had already meet his four cousins. Pretty good considering one set lives in Hawaii and the other set lives in South Carolina.

I had my 36th birthday while there and celebrated by heading out with some of the guys to do some "semi-deep sea" fishing. Funny thing, about a third of the Taggarts have their birthday in July, so there was a big celebration during the reunion.

So without a doubt the reunion was a success. Everyone got along, the weather was good, people relaxed, and only two people puked from drinking...I won't mention Michael here.

Can't we do this every year?

FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND

For the 4th of July weekend we took a big leap and headed to a camp out mountain bike festival. Michael and I were both still recovering from a small stomach flu. But the biggest challenge was the "what if" factor of camping with a baby. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to all of you that know Gilbert, but he was a gem. Being that he thrives off of social situations, he did well. He even went to sleep at the right time, slept through the night and didn't get up too early.

The racing was pretty good. The first night was a night time trial. This means riding your mountain bike through the woods with a headlamp through more roots, logs, and narrow drop offs into a river. Luckily Michael did well and came back with only a few falls. The next morning there was the seven mile trail run on the same course. Yes, I that was my event. It was good, but I was a little dehydrated from the night before. :) Then there was the long course mountain bike day. Not such a good second day of racing for Michael. Two flat tires caused him to drop in the rankings. With only the hill climb and the short course race left the following day Michael decided to just have fun with it and even raced in costume for the short course. In Portland the costume idea would have been the norm, but here in PA he stuck out a bit and even stuck it to the field by leading out a few fast laps.

So all around the weekend was successful. Everyone had fun, and we even got to "chill out" in the river after each race. Ah, what a nice routine.