Snowman Worthy!!!

"Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman, Once there was a snowman TALL, TALL, TALL!" (made by Oliver and Audrey. Missionaries pictured with the big guy in our front yard)

"In the sun he melted, melted, melted. In the sun he melted...."

"Small, small, small

A New Tradition

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day 2007. This is how it started...

Dad gets up with a great idea!

Dad: "Let's go to a parade this morning!"

Mom: "Great idea, where?"

Dad: "I think there is one in Scranton, I'll check on the internet...Yep, there it is, The 88th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade"

So we wake up the kids, they get dressed in 15 and off we go. We are excited. We notice there isn't much traffic on the roads near downtown Scranton. Must be that everybody is already there.

We arrive downtown...

kids: "Uh, Dad...Where is the the parade?"

Dad: "Um, it's here somewhere"

There is no one to be found...downtown is empty. Meanwhile Mom and Dad are looking on their blackberries to find out more info.

Mom: "Uh, Honey...here it says, "The 88th annual Thansgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia."

Dad: "Oops...let's go out for breakfast!"

A fun time was had by all. So much so. we decided to make it an annual Thanksgiving morning tradition...get up, go to the parade that is not there, then go for breakfast.

We enjoyed a relaxing day at home afterwards and had a great dinner that afternoon.

Move over Beethoven

It was a week of music...Audrey and Celeste had their piano recital on Sunday, Celeste's first one. She started taking lessons in September and gave a rousing performance of "Old MacDonald Had a farm". Audrey played a fun Egyptian Tune. On Monday the 5th grade did a concert of patriotic songs in honor of Veteran's Day. Audrey is in the front row, second from the left.

Audrey made a poster for the program in honor of her Grandpa Rodriguez who served in the Army.

Snowman Worthy?

" It's snowing!!!!!...Mom, can we go out and build a snowman today?" Alas, we say goodbye to Fall in the Poconos, as Jack frost has come to visit already. This was the scene outside our front door last week.
Time to cut and stack the firewood for a long winter's nap. Oliver and Dad's favorite Fall/Winter job.

"J" is for Josh

We are so happy for Josh, he seems to have found his niche. Josh is 22 now and living in Orlando, FL. He started a new job as a Tactical Response Specialist for the Nova Agency http://www.nova-agency.org/index.html. He does prisoner transports, Tactical Room Clearing/Property Clearing for construction sites w/squatters and bad neighborhoods. He just sent us these new pictures.
Just a few weeks after starting his job, Josh received an award for finding a missing child and aprehending his abductor.