Pandaberry Trail

To my other half,

You make me a better person, you make me laugh, and you always care for me. I am so proud of you. Happy Birthday!

Love you always,

Sharell

A scenic drive took us to our next adventure location!The Roanoke River Trail

Color galore!

Through the forest, under a bridge, to the…power plant…? we go!

We ended up at Niagara Hydro Power plant. If you hear sirens, you have exactly 2 minutes to head to high ground in order to avoid the dangerously high water level rise coming. No wonder there were sandals and t shirts left behind.

The little one had fun splashing in the pools and soaking in the dead crayfish water. Yum.         At least we wore her out before the thunderstorm 🙂

Look what was waiting for me when I came downstairs this morning. How did I get so lucky?!   At least he didn’t put the cup back in the cabinet.

Anyway, back to work.

Let’s all give a round of applause to Penny for finally going BOTH potties on her porch potty! Sorry for the TMI, but we are too excited and proud of her not to share 🙂

We went and visited the Roanoke Star, which sits atop a mountain near our house. It is the largest man-made star in the world and lights up every night until midnight. Built in 1949, it is 88.5 feet tall and the star itself is 10,000 pounds, while the entire steel structure is 60,000!

This is Penny’s “ah I feel so much better” face. Little goob set a new PR and went potty FOUR times on our trip to the star. Note to self: bring twice as many baggies next time.

We also checked out the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic drive that meanders for hundreds of miles, part of which goes through Roanoke.Penny was loving it-I think she needs some doggles though.
I also watched Kassi over the weekend, she’s such a pretty girl!

We put more Tyvek on the basement ceiling to cover the insulation.And we put together my dresser, which I promptly started to decorate.

Breakfast for dinner and more Scandal watching was a must.

Thunder storms were forecasted but all we saw were blue skies. Penny appreciated her fetch session near Casey’s school.

I watched Kassi over the weekend and get to watch her again for Labor Day Weekend.

We have been trying a lot of new recipes lately and found some keepers! Casey keeps plugging away studying and making presentations. This is him explaining glycolysis to me. We first learned this in our Biology class at SBCC back in 2007/2008 and our teacher said this is the one thing that we will ALWAYS remember from his class-and he was right. Thank you Larry!

These cicadas are everywhere right now and are loud-and HUGE! Here is one that just molted.

I sold 3 items in my Etsy shop in less than 24 hours. These 2 signs went to Texas and another sign is headed to Florida to be displayed in a photography studio’s window. Yay!

I  have been experimenting with watercolors-I am getting addicted!

I got a letter in the mail from the little girl I used to babysit in SB. She had made two drawings for me-DAY MADE! She just turned 3 and I miss her so much. This was the best surprise. I miss going to the park with her, sliding down the slides, counting rabbits, looking for gophers, listening to her ask for something in the cutest voice, reading her bedtime stories, the list could go on forever. I’m happy she hasn’t forgotten about me 🙂

Penny still continues to stand guard at our bay window.

We nominate Robby, Kristin, and Kori! (You might have to skip a shower or do it with ocean water since you all don’t have rain water coming out of your ears like we do in Virginia.)

Watch this video to learn more about the disease and why it is so important to spread the word and donate to the cause.

I hope all of your wishes come true! I love you so so much!

This morning, we went with a bunch of Casey’s classmates on an 8 mile hike along the Appalachian Trail. Penny came along and loved every second of it-leading the pack most of the time.

This view was our reward at the top.

Don’t look Mom! It felt good to get out and enjoy the outdoors again.