BIGFOOT IN GLOUCESTER?

Click photo to enlarge.


Here is the actual photo of the WaWa in question. This is an artists rendering of the sighting. Who knew that Bigfoot is a live and well and living in Gloucester? We are not alone......

COMING SOON!

Our best Strange Stories blog update ever! I am gathering information as you read this. This one is going to get hairy.

I've got the joy joy joy joy.....

Nothing brings me more joy that finding a great deal.
My motto is "retail is for suckers."
Peebles had a one day only sale and this is what I got;
3 shirts @ $18.00 each
1 shirt/jacket @ $22.00
1 pair of capris @ $36.00
&
1 pair of capris @ $50.00

Retail price $162.00.
I spent $17.32.

That's right.
I got 6 items for less than the price of one.
Damn I'm good.

Some rules are meant to be broken.

We have been trying to enjoy our last few weekends at Busch Gardens before it closes for the winter. We all love to ride the coasters, especially Anna. There are three big coasters that she has not been able to ride, Apollo's Chariot, Alpengueist(Alpine Ghost, help me out FG), and Griffon. It's been hard for her to watch everyone having fun while she waits. That was until now. I wont go into the details of how it came to be but Anna got to ride Apollo's and Alpine Ghost. As you can see by her giant smiles she loved every second of it.

Happy Halloween

Why didn't the skeleton go to the ball?
because he didn't have any "body" to go with.

Why was the ghost wearing a bra?
To hold up her booooo-bies.

Why wouldn't the skeleton cross the road?
Because he didn't have any guts.

Where do baby ghosts go for the day?
The dayscare center.

Who did Frankenstien take to the party?
His ghoul friend.

What do you call it when a ghost makes a mistake?
A boo boo.

How do you fix a broken pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch.

What is a monsters favorite treat?
Ghoul scout cookies.

What is a mummies favorite type of music?
Wrap.

I hope you enjoyed our jokes.
These pic's are from Hallow-Scream at Busch Gardens.

Student of the week

Congratulations to Anna! She was chosen to be student of the week. These are all of the cool things she got to do:

Monday she filled out a questionnaire about herself and made a poster with this picture. Tuesday she shared her poster with the class and had to answer any questions they had. Wednesday she brought in three pictures of her choice and had to tell why they are so important to her.
Thursday she got to pick three friends from any third grade class and have lunch with them in the classroom.
Friday she gets to bring a favorite thing to share.

The three pics she chose were Kipper's first bath, family at Lake MI, VA Beach with friends, and I put a fourth pic of Anna in the snow. We really miss the snow.

I can't live in a bubble forever

That's right. I am finally taking the leap and reentering society. I will be the first one to admit that I have been keeping to myself since we have moved. I guess it was my own way of self protecting. Denial would be another way to describe it.

My first step was joining the PTA. My second step was looking for work. There are so many people hiring here it was easy to find something that was flexible enough for me. Lastly, I accepted a part time job at the Wellness and Fitness Center.

I start on Tuesday. I will be giving tours and keeping the guests happy. I think I'll be good at that. It's part time and the pay sucks but I get a free membership and T and the girls are almost free. If you figure in the cost of a full family membership it's a great paying job. The best part is they have an full size pool.

Wish me luck.

Happy Birthday Tony and Chuck

He didn't think I could do it but I did. Chuck asked me to bake him a naked lady cake for his birthday party. He didn't know about my mad skills. But as you can see she isn't naked. At the final hour Chuck chickened out and I had to put a pink bikini on her.

Cigarettes and Guns

Where else but Virginia? Two of the most controversial topics in America are gun control and smoking. Now you can get them both at the same store. One stop shopping at its best. I haven't been in this store, but from what I have been able to gather guns and cigs are pretty much the only inventory they stock. I'm not even sure if they sell lottery tickets.

This store was part of the inspiration for the title of our blog, along with a few other strange things we've seen down here. The actual title came from a visit to the Jamestown Settlement. The museum had a newspaper that was titled Strange News From Virginia. The paper was published to get people interested in the new world. It seemed a perfect fit.

With signs like these...

I always thought I had a good sense of direction. As a kid my Mom taught me to read maps, and calculate mileage on all of our long trips to Ohio and Arizona. That all changed when we moved to Virginia. Even after a year I still can't seem to get my inner compass in gear. North isn't north it's more west and south isn't south it's more like east. It's like I've got some strange new form of directional dyslexia. And with signs like this it's no wonder. Does anyone have an idea how long it takes to get your barrings?

There's more than one way to catch a crab

Now that we are experts on the blue crab our friend Chuck took us crabbin', old school. All you need is a chicken leg and a long piece of string. Tie the string to the leg, toss it into the river and wait. When you feel a tug slowly, and I mean slowly, pull it in. You can feel the crab pulling on the line, so if it lets go you wait until it grabs on again and start pulling. There is a small learning curve but it was fun. I actually caught two crabs at one time. Gracie got two also and Anna wasn't interested. It was too hot and buggy for her.

Last week my friends Diane, Emily, and Brendan came to visit and we tried a more advanced technique. I bought a crab net at Wal Mart for $3 and a package of chicken legs. This time we went to the fishing pier at the YR. All you need to do is tie the chicken to the inside of the net, lower it into the water and wait. We would play in the water for about 20 min, then run over to the pier and pull up the line. We caught about 5 or 6 total. My favorite part was letting them go and watching them scurry back into the water. We keep hearing how delicious they are but I can't bring myself to cook or eat them.

Fun and Educational

The VIMS/W&M (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary), has great programs for kids. This one was about the blue crab. The scientific name is callinectes sapidus, which translates to beautiful swimmer. There were art projects, babies to handle, we learned about tagging and conserving, life cycles, mating, and more. We even got to dissect one. One cool thing I learned is that the females have red claws like nail polish. If you want more info go to www.bluecrab.info.com.

Hummingbird

While my Mom was visiting she cleaned and filled our hummingbird feeder. It is cool watching them feed. I never knew how territorial they are. While one is feeding an other will dive bomb it. It happens so fast if you blink you'll miss it. It's like watching a WWII dog fight. It's good clean fun for the whole family. You can purchase a feeder for about $5.
Here's how to make your own nectar:
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
Boil water first then measure and add sugar.
Let cool and store excess in refrigerator until ready to use.

Yes Virginia, there really are blueberries in Virginia

Of course they are not half as good as Michigan blueberries, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We went picking on Friday and since then we have been making all kinds of yummy treats. First we made turn-overs with a cream cheese filling. Next Gracie made us BB pancakes for lunch. Tony didn't want pancakes he wanted french toast so Mom found a recipe for BB sauce. It was so awesome! And easy.

Blueberry Sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
1 cup blueberries
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. finely grated lemon peal

Combine sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a 1-quart microwaveable dish. Stir in water. Add blueberries. Cover with vented plastic wrap. Microwave on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 5 minutes or until mixture has boiled for at least 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice and peel. Makes 1 cup.

Did anyone see the movie Slither?

This is too gross to talk about, but I had to show you. I hope you enjoyed it.

Prehistoric remains in our own backyard

A couple of million years ago or so Virginia was covered by the Atlantic Ocean.

A few years back a boy that lived in our home town was digging in his backyard and found a prehistoric vertebrae from a whale. Armed with this information we grabbed a bucket and a few shovels and headed down to the mostly dry river bed in our backyard.

We found all kinds of cool shells, corals, and barnacles. Our friend Lexus found two shells more that 6 inches wide. Imagine our excitement when I found what looked like a petrified fish. (see photo)

After washing everything we discovered that the fish was actually a piece of wood that had eroded in a way that looked like fins and scales.

Dad doesn't think it looks like a fish but the girls and I do. What do you think?

The next time we head out we will bring more buckets, bug spray, and the camera.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

How many girls does it take to give Kipper a bath? Yikes! What a mess. I don't know if Kipper will ever recover from this. At least the girls enjoyed it.

The Three Amigos

The girls best friend from back home came to visit last week. It was just like olden times. The girls were like peas and carrots.

We had lots of fun things planned but vetoed them all to spend the majority of our time at the beach. The girls have mastered the boogie board and I get the feeling surf boards are in our future.

We already miss you.
Toot toot, loggin' out with a cherry on top!!!

Finally

It's been just over one year since we moved down here and during that time we have been trying and trying to see the George P. Coleman Bridge open. We have had a lot of close calls and finally got our chance on Friday afternoon. The ship is coming from the Naval Weapons Station in York County. We are all curious about what weapons are on board and where they are going. No one tells me anything.

Who's Eric?

Julie and her husband, what's his name again? Oh yeah, Eric, stopped by for a short visit on their way home from SC. Any time Eric's name was mentioned the girls would say in unison, "Who's Eric?". I don't know what their deal was they know Eric, we've been to their home, cottage without walls (the dock), and out to eat with the family countless times. But he now holds a special place in their heart and mine, while at VB he treated everyone to the DQ. Yummy! I was too busy enjoying my ice cream to document with photos.

We only had one full day to hang out so we spent it at the aquarium and beach, two of our favorite places. I think Eric and Faye enjoyed the touch tank the most. It was cute watching them together.




The water was awesome, 72 degrees and waves 3 to 5 feet with an occasional 7 footer! The kids played for hours in the waves and caught about 15 or so sand crabs. Faye was wiped out from all of the fun. We can't wait till they can come back and stay a little longer.

In case you were wondering what Eric looks like, every pic I have of him he was looking down or was too far away to make out his face. Sometimes I wonder if Tony and Eric are brothers.

There is one born every minute...

That would be fools and unwanted puppies. Against my better judgement we got a 9 week old puppy. Meet Kipper the most recent addition to our family. We named him after an English hound dog from the book and cartoon series Kipper The Dog by Mick Inkpen. His mother is a Belgian Sheppard and his father is unknown, maybe a lab. We are guessing he will be about 40 lbs when full grown. He is sweet but does not sleep Thur the night yet. The girls have been taking very good care of him.