<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943</id><updated>2011-07-08T00:37:03.384-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Antics of the Andersons</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>16</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-8108095833096525351</id><published>2009-06-30T16:21:00.011-04:00</published><updated>2009-06-30T17:20:31.801-04:00</updated><title type='text'>Let's Go Fly A Kite!</title><content type='html'>P.A and I are at Rehoboth Beach with his family for a few days. We have been enjoying the sun and serf and decided yesterday that we should get ourselves a trick kite. We took it out in the morning, however there wasn't enough wind, but as the day went on the wind picked up and we decided to give it a 2nd go around. The kite we got is a beginners trick kite and we had a great time trying to learn how to fly it. P.A. is the master in our group, followed by his brother and then finally me, however with some practice I am sure I can get better at it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;P.A. really got the hang of making the kite go in circles.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;object width="320" height="266" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-cf1470ceb7e1cd58" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/get_player"&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value="flvurl=http://v14.nonxt5.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3Dcf1470ceb7e1cd58%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1329971649%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D49B06492DAE3D96ED3AA33923A8DCC61757454FA.AC6BC059832433107FA5D230D11DAA7CC3F2718%26key%3Dck1&amp;amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3Dcf1470ceb7e1cd58%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3D7F1akVVOohmvkO6XCG4xtOh140o&amp;amp;autoplay=0&amp;amp;ps=blogger"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"width="320" height="266" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"flashvars="flvurl=http://v14.nonxt5.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3Dcf1470ceb7e1cd58%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1329971649%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D49B06492DAE3D96ED3AA33923A8DCC61757454FA.AC6BC059832433107FA5D230D11DAA7CC3F2718%26key%3Dck1&amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3Dcf1470ceb7e1cd58%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3D7F1akVVOohmvkO6XCG4xtOh140o&amp;autoplay=0&amp;ps=blogger"allowFullScreen="true" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;His brother did pretty well himself.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/Skp5wuPQXTI/AAAAAAAAAoM/5p-R-aIkZ7g/s1600-h/Richard+Flying.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353224985035955506" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/Skp5wuPQXTI/AAAAAAAAAoM/5p-R-aIkZ7g/s320/Richard+Flying.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/Skp6MyI82iI/AAAAAAAAAoU/2hipv8tbsmg/s1600-h/kite+2.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353225467119589922" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/Skp6MyI82iI/AAAAAAAAAoU/2hipv8tbsmg/s320/kite+2.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Me on the other hand.....well just watch.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="320" height="266" class="BLOG_video_class" id="BLOG_video-8d66a510c847336b" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/get_player"&gt;&lt;param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="flashvars" value="flvurl=http://v15.nonxt1.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D8d66a510c847336b%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1329971649%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D285D8E5A8749356E90C03BA31BC6A81A795A9055.241305DAF0ECDC3BEA6162B2A1B78CE7B1F5B45D%26key%3Dck1&amp;amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D8d66a510c847336b%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DhQdakaQ_0Yfgfgijk2ATOM72qHQ&amp;amp;autoplay=0&amp;amp;ps=blogger"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/get_player" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"width="320" height="266" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"flashvars="flvurl=http://v15.nonxt1.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id%3D8d66a510c847336b%26itag%3D5%26app%3Dblogger%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1329971649%26sparams%3Did,itag,ip,ipbits,expire%26signature%3D285D8E5A8749356E90C03BA31BC6A81A795A9055.241305DAF0ECDC3BEA6162B2A1B78CE7B1F5B45D%26key%3Dck1&amp;iurl=http://video.google.com/ThumbnailServer2?app%3Dblogger%26contentid%3D8d66a510c847336b%26offsetms%3D5000%26itag%3Dw160%26sigh%3DhQdakaQ_0Yfgfgijk2ATOM72qHQ&amp;autoplay=0&amp;ps=blogger"allowFullScreen="true" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-8108095833096525351?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='enclosure' type='video/mp4' href='http://www.blogger.com/video-play.mp4?contentId=8d66a510c847336b&amp;type=video%2Fmp4' length='0'/><link rel='enclosure' type='video/mp4' href='http://www.blogger.com/video-play.mp4?contentId=cf1470ceb7e1cd58&amp;type=video%2Fmp4' length='0'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/8108095833096525351/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=8108095833096525351' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/8108095833096525351'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/8108095833096525351'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2009/06/lets-go-fly-kite.html' title='Let&apos;s Go Fly A Kite!'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/Skp5wuPQXTI/AAAAAAAAAoM/5p-R-aIkZ7g/s72-c/Richard+Flying.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-5680647280703115322</id><published>2008-12-10T12:43:00.002-05:00</published><updated>2008-12-22T13:40:46.879-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Cookie Problem</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_b9JtDuII/AAAAAAAAAlM/54_e410GM4Q/s1600-h/cookies+010.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282682731552290946" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_b9JtDuII/AAAAAAAAAlM/54_e410GM4Q/s200/cookies+010.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; Every year I sign up for the Food Networks 12 days of cookies e-mails. As a result every year I pretty much look at the recipes, &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;drool&lt;/span&gt; on myself and do nothing about it. This year I decided that wishing and hoping that the cookies would magically appear in a cookie jar at my place was not realistic. So I rolled up my sleeves, pulled out my mixer and turned on the oven. Next thing I knew&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_cRsFjhsI/AAAAAAAAAlU/KVMaiwwTbJo/s1600-h/cookies+002.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282683084379227842" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_cRsFjhsI/AAAAAAAAAlU/KVMaiwwTbJo/s200/cookies+002.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; there were over 4 dozen cookies and only me to eat them. So my lucky friends and family were then force fed cookies. I made 3 types, 2 from scratch and 1 from a mix. The 2 from scratch were Chocolate Covered Snow Peaks a.k.a. Snowman Poop and Paradise Macaroons.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="left"&gt;Here are the &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;recipes&lt;/span&gt; if you are interested:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ccff;"&gt;SNOWMAN POOP&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282681670654213026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_a_ZjPu6I/AAAAAAAAAk8/NwI130NtMdk/s320/cookies+004.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ingredients&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4 large egg whites at room temperature&lt;br /&gt;1 teaspoon cream of tartar&lt;br /&gt;1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar&lt;br /&gt;1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract&lt;br /&gt;1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Directions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Preheat oven to 225 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites on low-medium speed with the whisk attachment until the whites become foamy. Add the cream of tartar and turn speed up to medium, beating until just fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, so it incorporates into the whites slowly without collapsing them. Once all the sugar has been added, add the vanilla and increase the speed to high, whisking until the meringue is firm and glossy, about 5 to 7 minutes.Place meringue mixture into a piping bag with a medium-sized nozzle attached. Pipe 24 bite sized "kiss"-shaped meringues onto the trays and place in the oven. Bake for 1 hour undisturbed then turn off heat and leave in the oven overnight to really dry out.Melt chocolate over a double-boiler or in the microwave on medium power for 30 seconds. Holding each meringue by the peak dip the bases in chocolate so the bottom half of the meringue is coated. Let any excess chocolate drop off before placing on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Allow to set at room temperature – do not put in the fridge. Once set, store in an airtight container.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ccff;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color:#33ccff;"&gt;PARADISE MACAROONS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282682341056537970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_bma_nZXI/AAAAAAAAAlE/qOFKaUEoKHs/s320/cookies+007.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ingredients&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2 (7 to 8 ounce) packages sweetened shredded coconut&lt;br /&gt;2 ounces sweetened condensed milk&lt;br /&gt;Pinch kosher salt&lt;br /&gt;1 teaspoon vanilla extract&lt;br /&gt;4 large egg whites at room temperature&lt;br /&gt;5 ounces granulated sugar&lt;br /&gt;12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips&lt;br /&gt;1 ounce vegetable shortening&lt;br /&gt;2 ounces finely chopped dry-roasted macadamia nuts&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Directions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Prepare the oven to 325 degrees F.&lt;br /&gt;Combine the coconut with the sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to whip the whites until medium peaks form, 6 to 7 minutes. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Gently fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. Scoop tablespoon-sized mounds onto a parchment-lined half sheet pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer the parchment with the macaroons to a cooling rack. Cool completely before topping. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;Fill a 4-quart pot with enough water to come 2 inches up the side, set over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Combine the chocolate chips and shortening in a small metal or glass mixing bowl and set over the simmering pot. Stir occasionally until melted, then remove from the heat.&lt;br /&gt;Dip the cooled cookies in the chocolate mixture, sprinkle with the chopped macadamia nuts and place on parchment paper to set, about 30 minutes.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282683632190819666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_cxk2BDVI/AAAAAAAAAlc/uuwWeGPSkJo/s320/cookies+011.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-5680647280703115322?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/5680647280703115322/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=5680647280703115322' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/5680647280703115322'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/5680647280703115322'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/12/cookie-problem.html' title='Cookie Problem'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SU_b9JtDuII/AAAAAAAAAlM/54_e410GM4Q/s72-c/cookies+010.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-3296866433889717770</id><published>2008-07-09T10:18:00.024-04:00</published><updated>2008-08-12T09:48:40.381-04:00</updated><title type='text'>The Great Phone Adventure!</title><content type='html'>As Many of you know P.A. and I drove up to Canton, NY for my friend Melissa's wedding the weekend of June 28&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;th&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;. The drive up was uneventful, we got decent gas &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;mileage&lt;/span&gt; and made great time. When we arrived we &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;immediately&lt;/span&gt; headed over to the hall where the reception would be to help finish setting up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Melissa arranged for all the bridesmaids to stay on the campus of St. Lawrence University, where the wedding was taking place. &lt;a href="https://alumni.stlawu.edu/node/161"&gt;Brush Alumni House&lt;/a&gt;, where we stayed was in walking distance of town, the &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.stlawu.edu/chapel/gunnison.php"&gt;Chapel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; and the reception hall. It was such a cute house. I had been to Canton before and knew I loved it, but P.A. seemed to enjoy it as well. As I had bridesmaid duties all weekend P.A. was pretty much left to entertain himself. Luckily, he enjoyed wandering around town seeing all the Amish folk and exploring campus.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On Friday all of the brides party went up to Lake Placid to walk around, have lunch and get our nails done. Lake Placid is one of the cutest places I have ever been. They have wonderful little shops lining the the streets and beautiful views of the lake. It was neat to see the Olympic complex and you can even see the bobsled track running through the trees. I could have spent the whole weekend there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The adventure started after lunch. We had all had a great time eating at this cute place on the water. They had fantastic homemade granola! As we were leaving I decided to call &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;P.A&lt;/span&gt; and see how he was doing. While placing the call I noticed a long hair on the rear side of one of my fellow &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;bridesmaids&lt;/span&gt;. I did what any friend would do and decided to reach down and grab the hair. The bad choice was to balance my phone between my shoulder and my ear and then reach forward with that same side. Just picture as the phone slides from my shoulder, bounces on the curb and then bounces through the storm drain grate!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5232177313418176914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SJxti5gl6ZI/AAAAAAAAAdI/m1Suma9BK7s/s320/IMG_0040.JPG" border="0" /&gt; The picture does not do the view justice it was 6 ft down and taunting me. I could call it with my other phone and it would ring and I could see it was just sitting in sand. Had I not been able to see it or had I heard it plop in water I might have been able to let it go. Instead I could see it sitting there just laughing at me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For a while my friend Shari and I just stood their staring at the phone. We could not lift the grate that it went through for 2 reasons; 1 it was sealed around the edges with &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;asphalt&lt;/span&gt; &amp;amp; 2 it has a car resting on it. Behind us there was a manhole cover clearly marked "&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"&gt;sewer&lt;/span&gt; access" but how would we get it open without a crow bar. About this time came along a strange teenager who apparently just likes to wander the streets of Lake Placid all day. He decided that this was by far the most interesting thing that had happened to him all week and was going to watch the story unfold. His suggestions for getting the phone included using a powerful electromagnet, putting gum on a stick or finding someone who had the force. No, I am not joking.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As we stares down at the phone we began to lose hope as we had spa appointments in an hour and well no one had the force....or so we thought. I saw a verizon truck drive by and figured they usually have tools for pulling phone wires through walls maybe they would have something I could use to grab the phone.  I waved them down and they were kind enough to stop but did not have the right equiptment.  I guess you only use long hooks to pull wire with.  While I was talking to the phone guy, strange teenage probed Shari on how I had magically stopped a person on the street. Shari tried to explain that people are sometimes nice and stop to help when waved down expecially if the person waiving them down happened to be a girl.  She was then told that I must indeed have the force.  Really??  If I had the force don't you think I would have willed my phone out of the grate by now?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Next idea, go down the street and see if there are any workers who may have a crow bar so I can try to get into the sewer access and thus get my phone.  I know gross, but really the phone was fairly new and I didn't want to buy another one at full price.  Walking down the street is where I met the wonderful Graham and Andrew.  They had a mini crow bar which with a little work allowed us to get the manhole cover off.  Down I climbed heals and all to see if I could get to my phone.  Once down I discovered a large concreat beam that I had to go under to start climbing through a only slightly visable and really small tunnel.  I decided this was not going to happen.  My newfriends took a look and decided it wasn't going to happen for them either.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233281211723097970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBZiPJ7J3I/AAAAAAAAAdQ/30Uju2HrO_w/s320/IMG_0043.JPG" border="0" /&gt; New thought, if we could get some duct tape maybe we could feed that down the hole and use a stick to push it on the phone. Really duct tape sticks to everything, why not. Off go Graham and Andrew to find duct tape.  They came back with a large piece of super strong cardboard that was shaped like a "V".  Their thought is if we bend the end we can scoop the phone up.  Great idea since it was shaped like a "V" the bent end was pretty sturdy.  The snag was that this was too big to fit through the holes in the great. :-(  We then proceeded to cut the "V" in half.  Now the cardboard fit, but due to it's smaller size it was extreamly flimsy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233281498283045506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBZy6rI8oI/AAAAAAAAAdY/2j_r7DXUfrU/s320/IMG_0042.JPG" border="0" /&gt; The bottom is bent so now the pieces look like an "L".  We figure that we can use both pieces to scoop under the phone and lift it up.  This part wasn't too hard, however the bottom of the "L" would straighten out everytime we lifted up.  We needed something to hold the cardboard flat at the bottom.  My new job was to hook the end of a measuing tape under the edge of the bottom piece of cardboard.  I would then be able to keep our delacate lift from colapsing.  It took a while for us to get the hang of this.  We would get it part of the way up and the measuring tape would slip or the lift would be slightly uneven and the phone would slide off.  Everytime it would get close your heart would race and then down would go the phone again.  This only encouraged us more, like those silly crane games in arcades we would get the prize we wanted.&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBaLF7jFaI/AAAAAAAAAdo/GtM29eso5dA/s1600-h/IMG_0045.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233281913621517730" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBaLF7jFaI/AAAAAAAAAdo/GtM29eso5dA/s320/IMG_0045.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBaAi7ijCI/AAAAAAAAAdg/G8NpLEEZXcc/s1600-h/IMG_0044.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233281732427549730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBaAi7ijCI/AAAAAAAAAdg/G8NpLEEZXcc/s320/IMG_0044.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the 4th time it came close enough for me to reach with the tips of my fingers.  So while holding the measuing tape with one hand and reaching with the other I slowly reached through the grate and grabbed it with 2 of my fingers.  I was so affraid I would loose it again, but in this story the 4th time is the charm.  You would have thought I had just nabbed a gold medal, I wanted to parade that phone around and show everyone what we had done.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBbSR0VIBI/AAAAAAAAAdw/qw70d_hZysc/s1600-h/IMG_0046.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233283136583180306" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBbSR0VIBI/AAAAAAAAAdw/qw70d_hZysc/s320/IMG_0046.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBbbBLEOUI/AAAAAAAAAd4/6YnPTXUnslo/s1600-h/IMG_0048.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233283286733961538" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBbbBLEOUI/AAAAAAAAAd4/6YnPTXUnslo/s320/IMG_0048.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBbwrGTfOI/AAAAAAAAAeA/9GJ_w9hMQCc/s1600-h/IMG_0052.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233283658765532386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBbwrGTfOI/AAAAAAAAAeA/9GJ_w9hMQCc/s320/IMG_0052.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;At this point we realized we needed to get to our nail apointments pronto.  We couldn't reach the others (we later found out that there was no service at the spa).  We saw that the town had a trolley system, but we didn't know where it went or how to use it.  So naturally we started asking people on the street.  We ran into this great guy, Robert who runs a limo company called Polar Express Transportation Service.&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBb7yydIYI/AAAAAAAAAeI/dIkYSFcWT1A/s1600-h/IMG_0053.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233283849808322946" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBb7yydIYI/AAAAAAAAAeI/dIkYSFcWT1A/s320/IMG_0053.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; He not only told us how to catch the trolly but then gave us a ride so we did not have to.  We made it on time and had a great story to tell when we got back.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you ever get a chance please go to Lake Placid. Not only is it beautiful, but complete strangers will help you in a time of need and make you feel welcome!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5233284083747501218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SKBcJaR5tKI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/8dXsIxfm5ZQ/s320/IMG_0056.JPG" border="0" /&gt; &lt;div&gt;Thank you Shari for being the official photographer on this fantastic adventure!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-3296866433889717770?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/3296866433889717770/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=3296866433889717770' title='7 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/3296866433889717770'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/3296866433889717770'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/07/great-phone-adventure.html' title='The Great Phone Adventure!'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SJxti5gl6ZI/AAAAAAAAAdI/m1Suma9BK7s/s72-c/IMG_0040.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>7</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-6779780355702737281</id><published>2008-05-28T10:37:00.007-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:41.013-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Hiking is a synonym for exhaustion!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCIw39HT2I/AAAAAAAAAcc/mDYkJQPmnBw/s1600-h/IMG_1702.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210815142103043938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCIw39HT2I/AAAAAAAAAcc/mDYkJQPmnBw/s320/IMG_1702.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCGUOJMAZI/AAAAAAAAAbs/2iqFfPBOn08/s1600-h/stairs.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210812450819801490" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCGUOJMAZI/AAAAAAAAAbs/2iqFfPBOn08/s320/stairs.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;For Memorial Day Matt, Janelle and I headed south to Old Rag Mountain. P.A decided to opt out, which I will admit I was envious of as we got into the trek up the mountain. Let me explain yes, I have done this hike before, but it was 12 years ago and apparently my memory has faded or has rewritten history. The hike I remember was filled with lots of chatting with my girlfriend and spectacular views. The views were still there, but there wasn't much chatting from me as that would have required energy, all of which had been stolen from me! I may had mumbled a few choice comments here and there, you know the usual stuff about inhuman people dragging poor me up the mountain.&lt;br /&gt;2 weekends in a row of hiking confirmed P.A.'s comments the week before..."What I learn from &lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCGhuEGBDI/AAAAAAAAAb0/FgPbV-C0SFE/s1600-h/rag+dog.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210812682726671410" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCGhuEGBDI/AAAAAAAAAb0/FgPbV-C0SFE/s320/rag+dog.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;that hike is I need to do more hiking." Nothing could be more true, but can we work our way up with some smaller hikes? The top seemed to be always just around one more corner.&lt;br /&gt;At one of the fake tops we met my new favorite dog! When I saw this scruffy animal I was concerned as to where its owners were. So I checked out his collar, it clearly stated that he lived across the street from the parking lot at the base and that he knew how to get home so just let him be. How cool is this dog? He spends his life &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCGvxayM_I/AAAAAAAAAb8/DDeF6ySI2UM/s1600-h/dog+tag.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210812924145316850" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCGvxayM_I/AAAAAAAAAb8/DDeF6ySI2UM/s200/dog+tag.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;freely wandering around a beautiful park but still has a family to go home too. It looked to me that he spent most of his days following people up to his summit, which he would then defend from any bird that dared to fly over. Let me point out that this dog was the type of pet I don't mind seeing near the top of a mountain. The type I saw next I couldn't even begin to describe justly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210813544153637026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCHT3ISYKI/AAAAAAAAAcE/FMvuHCsqpC8/s320/tired+2.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCH8d0_4rI/AAAAAAAAAcM/-3Twxo6u_rU/s1600-h/3+on+top+of+old+rag.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210814241736483506" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCH8d0_4rI/AAAAAAAAAcM/-3Twxo6u_rU/s320/3+on+top+of+old+rag.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;We were all the way at the top when this man was walking towards one of the edges to take in the view. With every step the t-shirt he had tied around his neck would yowl. You had to think what could a person have put in a sling made from a t- shirt that would make that type of sound? A cat, no really, A CAT! For "safety" the man had attached a 2 foot piece of string to the cat's collar. As soon as he sat him down the cat bolted as far away as it could from the ledge. The guy looked at us and said, "He must not like the sun." Really sir, do you think that is it? Or could it be that kitty isn't much into this hiking thing &lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCIW6XbHAI/AAAAAAAAAcU/ZPtJ99Rqsro/s1600-h/great+view.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210814696073665538" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCIW6XbHAI/AAAAAAAAAcU/ZPtJ99Rqsro/s320/great+view.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;you are trying to force on it????Despite our never ending entertainment from various people at the top we did sit back, relax and enjoy the view. It was spectacular. I don't think we could have asked for a clearer day. I will admit it was worth the torture of getting there.&lt;br /&gt;My favorite part though was the walk down. First of all it was easier on me, but most of all I got to talk with Janelle and Matt. Since they live so far away it is hard to keep pace with everyone. I love you guys!! &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5210815314862324834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCI67iIvGI/AAAAAAAAAck/gpBz-k-3f-0/s320/IMG_1712.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-6779780355702737281?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/6779780355702737281/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=6779780355702737281' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/6779780355702737281'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/6779780355702737281'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/05/hiking-is-synonym-for-exhaustion.html' title='Hiking is a synonym for exhaustion!'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SFCIw39HT2I/AAAAAAAAAcc/mDYkJQPmnBw/s72-c/IMG_1702.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-7681810445343052864</id><published>2008-05-25T11:43:00.026-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:42.171-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Memorial Day Weekend</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf3PAapxxI/AAAAAAAAAZs/7bc-3QknkAU/s1600-h/M%26J+O+club"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208403331259156242" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf3PAapxxI/AAAAAAAAAZs/7bc-3QknkAU/s320/M%26J+O+club" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Memorial Day weekend was so nice. Matt and Janelle came to town for a much needed visit. They had a busy day on Saturday, which worked out well as I needed to walk some apartments for work.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf4P9cjsLI/AAAAAAAAAaE/_BwbtL_0Fo4/s1600-h/all+4+O+club"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208404447153336498" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf4P9cjsLI/AAAAAAAAAaE/_BwbtL_0Fo4/s320/all+4+O+club" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;On Sunday P.A. and I met them, my parents, my grandma, my Uncle B. Aunt G. and 6 of my cousins for brunch at Ft. Belvoir. It was sooooooo good; I really could eat breakfast food for each and every meal. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf3-5EuIDI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/1EdY5ogqt28/s1600-h/games+on+the+steps"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208404153921839154" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf3-5EuIDI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/1EdY5ogqt28/s320/games+on+the+steps" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Sunday evening Matt and Janelle came over to my place where we packed up the cooler and headed to the metro. Matt and I grew up going to the concerts on the Capitol Steps so it seemed appropriate that we do this again, but this time we brought our significant others along. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf4gJh2KYI/AAAAAAAAAaM/nAI-TmW9yfo/s1600-h/Harold+trumpets"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208404725274651010" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf4gJh2KYI/AAAAAAAAAaM/nAI-TmW9yfo/s200/Harold+trumpets" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208404818259658418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf4lj7MxrI/AAAAAAAAAaU/Cs2HcXF8emY/s200/concert" border="0" /&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;I brought my people watching card &lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEbNXZTU_JI/AAAAAAAAAZk/JWoOwym17Kg/s1600-h/M%26J+on+steps"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;game "that guy". For anyone who enjoys observing their fellow human beings I highly recommend this. Other than observing our fellow concert goers we also played the more traditional game of Yahtzee. Personally I think Janelle may have some secret way of controlling the die. Basically she creamed us.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208405858368236098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf5iGoaKkI/AAAAAAAAAac/k1KHi1YlUPA/s320/M%26J+on+steps" border="0" /&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The concert was great we were even entertained by the group of high school kids next to us who had a strangely disturbing obsession with one of the singers. Still, I kept saying to myself there are worse things that kids could have hero worship for than a Broadway performer.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-7681810445343052864?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/7681810445343052864/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=7681810445343052864' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/7681810445343052864'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/7681810445343052864'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/05/brunchconcertmountainexhaustion.html' title='Memorial Day Weekend'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SEf3PAapxxI/AAAAAAAAAZs/7bc-3QknkAU/s72-c/M%26J+O+club' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-8693525250670650048</id><published>2008-05-19T10:32:00.051-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:47.160-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Mountain Living</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="left"&gt;In desperate need of a break from everyday life P.A. and I headed down to the Blue Ridge for a weekend away. He planned everything and it was perfect! We went down with 2 of his friends from college. I fell in love with the &lt;a href="http://www.3-sisters-log-cabin.com/"&gt;Three Sisters Cabin&lt;/a&gt; the minute I saw it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202145522876514050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDG7ynjxfwI/AAAAAAAAAUc/kKi7_a1wbwg/s400/cabin+018.jpg" border="0" /&gt; I mean really does it get any cuter than that? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHuOXjxgLI/AAAAAAAAAXs/QwsjJ6s_gFg/s1600-h/cabin+027.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202200975199273138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHuOXjxgLI/AAAAAAAAAXs/QwsjJ6s_gFg/s200/cabin+027.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHvEnjxgNI/AAAAAAAAAX8/aD1SkA3USbE/s1600-h/cabin+002.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202201907207176402" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHvEnjxgNI/AAAAAAAAAX8/aD1SkA3USbE/s200/cabin+002.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202201533545021634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHuu3jxgMI/AAAAAAAAAX0/fgEFn-qunuk/s200/cabin+026.jpg" border="0" /&gt;The cabin is estimated at around 170 years old. That would mean it was built in 1838! Thankfully the owners have updated it a little by adding electricity and putting in a small addition in the back that includes a kitchen and a bathroom. I do like to shower every day. In the history of the cabin they said that the first family recorded to live there was German and there were 2 adults and 15 children. We found this entertaining as it was a little crowded with 4 adults!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202149439886688034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDG_WnjxfyI/AAAAAAAAAUs/hh0bZFfiID0/s200/cabin+022.jpg" border="0" /&gt;This was my bedroom. Of course, I had to have the loft just like a little kid. &lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202150818571190066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHAm3jxfzI/AAAAAAAAAU0/WKFo1ACS5Sc/s200/cabin+023.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;It did have nice view of the yard.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHPCnjxgAI/AAAAAAAAAWc/Wyaqb8DCRfc/s1600-h/cabin+006.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202166688475348994" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHPCnjxgAI/AAAAAAAAAWc/Wyaqb8DCRfc/s200/cabin+006.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHHBXjxf5I/AAAAAAAAAVk/Ohyv5DViRWQ/s1600-h/cabin+005.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202157870907490194" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="134" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHHBXjxf5I/AAAAAAAAAVk/Ohyv5DViRWQ/s200/cabin+005.jpg" width="187" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;On Saturday we went and explored some of the nearby parts of George Washington National Forest. It must be butterfly time as they were everywhere! It seemed every time you turned you would see a different type! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHEFXjxf2I/AAAAAAAAAVM/iV7vZbiOfAQ/s1600-h/cabin+007.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202154641092083554" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHEFXjxf2I/AAAAAAAAAVM/iV7vZbiOfAQ/s200/cabin+007.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p align="left"&gt;We then headed on to &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"&gt;Staunton&lt;/span&gt; for a trail ride. I love horses and it is always fun to have a chance to go riding! Although I have been to &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"&gt;Staunton&lt;/span&gt; a number of times I have never ventured too far from I-81. The day was beautiful, and the scenery breathtaking. &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHGA3jxf3I/AAAAAAAAAVU/368883wnXN4/s1600-h/cabin+008.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202156762805927794" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="117" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHGA3jxf3I/AAAAAAAAAVU/368883wnXN4/s200/cabin+008.jpg" width="169" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202157312561741698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHGg3jxf4I/AAAAAAAAAVc/DeFmv2Uh5DY/s200/cabin+009.jpg" border="0" /&gt; We saw lots of animals and plenty of other horses during our ride. I tried taking pictures while we were riding, but it was a little bumpy. Of course since I had the camera mine is a self portrait.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHH3Hjxf6I/AAAAAAAAAVs/L6DhD7l5vic/s1600-h/cabin+010.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202158794325458850" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHH3Hjxf6I/AAAAAAAAAVs/L6DhD7l5vic/s200/cabin+010.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHIRXjxf8I/AAAAAAAAAV8/sGXumB_kes0/s1600-h/cabin+013.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202159245297024962" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHIRXjxf8I/AAAAAAAAAV8/sGXumB_kes0/s200/cabin+013.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202159043433562034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHIFnjxf7I/AAAAAAAAAV0/oRHAK7Rj4C8/s200/cabin+012.jpg" border="0" /&gt;It was pretty windy as you can tell from the pictures we took at the end. My horse was probably pretty annoyed that my hair kept tickling his ears! &lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHJ2Hjxf9I/AAAAAAAAAWE/xnLOWH0X1Ls/s1600-h/cabin+015.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202160976168845266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHJ2Hjxf9I/AAAAAAAAAWE/xnLOWH0X1Ls/s200/cabin+015.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHKi3jxf_I/AAAAAAAAAWU/57nIQ0D4p0w/s1600-h/cabin+016.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202161744967991282" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHKi3jxf_I/AAAAAAAAAWU/57nIQ0D4p0w/s200/cabin+016.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202161160852439010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHKA3jxf-I/AAAAAAAAAWM/pXg4EUWaFSU/s200/cabin+014.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHaCnjxgCI/AAAAAAAAAWs/gMN3jfe7RCE/s1600-h/cabin+019.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202178783103254562" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHaCnjxgCI/AAAAAAAAAWs/gMN3jfe7RCE/s200/cabin+019.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHYGnjxgBI/AAAAAAAAAWk/57AWDtQQIX4/s1600-h/cabin+020.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202176652799475730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="176" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHYGnjxgBI/AAAAAAAAAWk/57AWDtQQIX4/s200/cabin+020.jpg" width="132" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;That night we headed back to play games and have dinner! P.A. was in charge of all the cooking Saturday and if you haven’t heard me say it before, my man can cook! Saturday morning he made buttermilk biscuits from scratch with country ham. For dinner we had steaks that were grilled and seasoned perfectly, fingerling potatoes and roasted corn with rosemary and garlic, as well as grilled onions, asparagus and broccoli. Afterwards we made s’ mores with Chocolate marshmallows. Yum Yum!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202183219804471362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHeE3jxgEI/AAAAAAAAAW4/MqllUwtobHc/s200/cabin+021.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHiwXjxgFI/AAAAAAAAAXA/7x2AI5rQSA0/s1600-h/cabin+030.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202188365175291986" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHiwXjxgFI/AAAAAAAAAXA/7x2AI5rQSA0/s200/cabin+030.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;On Sunday, we all had breakfast and headed up to &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"&gt;Crabtree&lt;/span&gt; Falls. This was so close to the cabin and just beautiful! &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"&gt;Crabtree&lt;/span&gt; Falls, the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi River. &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"&gt;Crabtree&lt;/span&gt; Falls features a series of five major cascades and a number of smaller ones that fall a total distance of 1,200 feet. The first &lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHljHjxgGI/AAAAAAAAAXI/lXR2whftNpM/s1600-h/cabin+032.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202191436076908642" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHljHjxgGI/AAAAAAAAAXI/lXR2whftNpM/s200/cabin+032.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;overlook is just a few hundred feet from the parking really easy to get to as it was paved. We decided we were adventurous and continued up the 2 1/2 mile &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"&gt;Crabtree&lt;/span&gt; Falls Trail to four other overlooks that had amazing views of the &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"&gt;Crabtree&lt;/span&gt; Creek Falls and lovely vistas of the Tye River Valley. We were so glad we had decided to keep going. It was beautiful to be able to just sit there and enjoy nature. It started to rain as we were coming down, but that &lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"&gt;wasn&lt;/span&gt;’t a problem at all. P.A even played Atlas and &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHnN3jxgII/AAAAAAAAAXU/wN73pdDKxPE/s1600-h/cabin+036.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202193270027944066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHnN3jxgII/AAAAAAAAAXU/wN73pdDKxPE/s200/cabin+036.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;held up a bolder to let us all come past…&lt;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"&gt;lol&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHsqXjxgJI/AAAAAAAAAXc/FR-1Ux93leQ/s1600-h/cabin+037.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202199257212354706" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHsqXjxgJI/AAAAAAAAAXc/FR-1Ux93leQ/s200/cabin+037.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHtg3jxgKI/AAAAAAAAAXk/f0LpEQRc6xk/s1600-h/cabin+038.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202200193515225250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHtg3jxgKI/AAAAAAAAAXk/f0LpEQRc6xk/s200/cabin+038.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202203638078996706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHwpXjxgOI/AAAAAAAAAYE/1XN13TjYg_g/s200/cabin+040.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHxCHjxgPI/AAAAAAAAAYM/HYkiO2YrlgU/s1600-h/cabin+043.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202204063280759026" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHxCHjxgPI/AAAAAAAAAYM/HYkiO2YrlgU/s200/cabin+043.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHzinjxgSI/AAAAAAAAAYk/aBaWT6IVMGU/s1600-h/cabin+047.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202206820649763106" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHzinjxgSI/AAAAAAAAAYk/aBaWT6IVMGU/s200/cabin+047.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202205626648854786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHydHjxgQI/AAAAAAAAAYU/fZDYfDI3-Tk/s200/cabin+045.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After our hike we headed back to the cabin and said goodbye to our cute little oasis in the woods. It was sad to go, but I know we will be back again! To complete the weekend, we took the longer but more scenic way home on the Blue Ridge Parkway.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202206386858066194" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDHzJXjxgRI/AAAAAAAAAYc/7eMFgObiVtY/s200/cabin+048.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-8693525250670650048?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/8693525250670650048/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=8693525250670650048' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/8693525250670650048'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/8693525250670650048'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/05/mountain-living.html' title='Mountain Living'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SDG7ynjxfwI/AAAAAAAAAUc/kKi7_a1wbwg/s72-c/cabin+018.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-142862682368477676</id><published>2008-05-10T23:00:00.002-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:47.557-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Happy Mother's Day</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SC101HjxfvI/AAAAAAAAAUU/qvpp6qz2zek/s1600-h/dog+walk+001.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200941600593772274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SC101HjxfvI/AAAAAAAAAUU/qvpp6qz2zek/s320/dog+walk+001.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The Saturday before Mother’s Day was a day of fun for the Sondrup Ladies. Mom met Angel and I at my place at 8:30 in the morning. The sky was sending down a nice steady stream of light rain, but we headed on down to Bluemont Park for the &lt;a href="http://www.awla.org/animal-fundraising-walk.shtml"&gt;Animal Welfare League of Arlington’s Walk for the Animals&lt;/a&gt;. Together with Angel we walked 3 miles to help raise money. We met our goal of $150 and had a great time. After we finished the walk we watched a demonstration by the police attack dogs. It was amazing!&lt;br /&gt;Afterwards we headed to Guapos in Shirlington and had a nice lunch Followed by some pampering for our tired feet. It was time for pedicures. All around it was a perfect day with my wonderful mother.&lt;br /&gt;Thank you Mom!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-142862682368477676?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/142862682368477676/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=142862682368477676' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/142862682368477676'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/142862682368477676'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-mothers-day.html' title='Happy Mother&apos;s Day'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SC101HjxfvI/AAAAAAAAAUU/qvpp6qz2zek/s72-c/dog+walk+001.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-7695226687790069759</id><published>2008-04-28T22:00:00.020-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:49.157-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Busy Spring</title><content type='html'>&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194862854252304802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfcPgyUmaI/AAAAAAAAASk/hlMd1oTtuck/s200/IMG_1053.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfbxAyUmYI/AAAAAAAAASU/QgE8YBBUmm4/s1600-h/IMG_1041.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194862330266294658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfbxAyUmYI/AAAAAAAAASU/QgE8YBBUmm4/s200/IMG_1041.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me. Work is picking up more and more for the busy season. First was P.A.’s 30th birthday. We gathered to celebrate this step into adulthood for him. It was fun to celebrate with family and friends.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194863339583609266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfcrwyUmbI/AAAAAAAAASs/qZbWQ8HQCqc/s200/IMG_1063.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfddgyUmdI/AAAAAAAAAS8/p9kiRdBGvhE/s1600-h/IMG_1082.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194864194282101202" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfddgyUmdI/AAAAAAAAAS8/p9kiRdBGvhE/s200/IMG_1082.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfdQAyUmcI/AAAAAAAAAS0/doLgG1kSJMw/s1600-h/IMG_1079.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194863962353867202" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfdQAyUmcI/AAAAAAAAAS0/doLgG1kSJMw/s200/IMG_1079.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Two weekends ago Melissa came down and we had a little bridal shower for her. It was fun to play games and just see everyone from my old school again. It is so wonderful to see Melissa so happy as she looks towards her future with Brad. Oh and Brad, through those games we all know you a little better!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That night Sheri and I took Melissa and out for dancing. Apparently there aren’t too many dance spots in upstate New York. We of course made her wear a veil, which we soon discovered is the key to being asked to dance. I think maybe I need to get myself one of those.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194864512109681122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfdwAyUmeI/AAAAAAAAATE/4h-2VAXVRiQ/s200/IMG_1092.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SCxwJXjxfsI/AAAAAAAAATk/INkcAFhNyZU/s1600-h/fun+009.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200654975951273666" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SCxwJXjxfsI/AAAAAAAAATk/INkcAFhNyZU/s200/fun+009.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SCxuH3jxfrI/AAAAAAAAATc/9Jmg0eGdxIQ/s1600-h/fun+013.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200652751158214322" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SCxuH3jxfrI/AAAAAAAAATc/9Jmg0eGdxIQ/s200/fun+013.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;This past weekend P.A. and I headed down to Charlottesville with our friends Kelly and Eric. It is that time of year again, time for the steeplechases and the horses are off and racing! Kelly and I were excited to don our sundresses and hats. We had a great tent so I am proud to say none of us ended up sunburned. We also had a great view of 4 of the jumps. Kelly was the best at choosing horses, while the guys were just plain tired by the end of the day. We were able to watch 5 of the 6 races before the skies opened up and dumped massive amounts of rain down. Luckily we were already on the bus before it started.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200655572951727826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SCxwsHjxftI/AAAAAAAAATs/_WLOywz0GyQ/s200/couple.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;By the way P.A. can sleep anywhere!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5200656427650219746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SCxxd3jxfuI/AAAAAAAAAT0/uHNcbQs4KQc/s320/sleeping.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-7695226687790069759?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/7695226687790069759/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=7695226687790069759' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/7695226687790069759'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/7695226687790069759'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/04/busy-spring.html' title='Busy Spring'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SBfcPgyUmaI/AAAAAAAAASk/hlMd1oTtuck/s72-c/IMG_1053.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-65746855384547455</id><published>2008-04-15T09:52:00.004-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:49.785-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Lost In North Carolina</title><content type='html'>Sorry I have been so out of touch lately. We are getting into the busy season at work, which means longer hours and little time to myself. Lately I have been coming home and just collapsing. I guess it is good though, no busy time = no job, no job = no money and no money = no condo. Really, Angel and I don't want to be homeless, so bring on the work!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Last week I went to Fayetteville, North Carolina for work. This is the 2nd time I have been sent there. While I actually love North Carolina I am not a big fan of Fayetteville. People move a little too slow and well there really isn't much to the town except Fort Bragg and Pope AFB. The best part was stopping at KFC on the way out. The first thing I noticed was the fact that it had a buffet. I don't know about you but the idea of a buffet at a fast food restaurant kind of scares me. the next thing I noticed was this sign.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189488419425221938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SATEOO3X_TI/AAAAAAAAAQo/dTiYDqadtuU/s400/aly+012.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Um....Gross. Not even sure what else to say here, but for those of you unfamiliar they look like this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189489445922405698" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SATFJ-3X_UI/AAAAAAAAAQw/J6EaIRwZ4ow/s320/FriedGizzards.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;If I had been at Bob's Country Restaurant I would have deserved to be asked if I wanted &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizzard"&gt;gizzards&lt;/a&gt;, but at KFC.....please!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-65746855384547455?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/65746855384547455/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=65746855384547455' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/65746855384547455'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/65746855384547455'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/04/lost-in-north-carolina.html' title='Lost In North Carolina'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/SATEOO3X_TI/AAAAAAAAAQo/dTiYDqadtuU/s72-c/aly+012.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-6843855784819235307</id><published>2008-03-16T21:43:00.010-04:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:50.913-05:00</updated><title type='text'>March Fun</title><content type='html'>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PTksoXfI/AAAAAAAAAQY/p0oFI4xbPZg/s1600-h/Austin+%26+Gabe.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178523081721273842" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" height="182" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PTksoXfI/AAAAAAAAAQY/p0oFI4xbPZg/s200/Austin+%26+Gabe.JPG" width="123" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;We had a great weekend. The sun has finally come out, there are buds on the trees and even a few flowers are starting to pop up. Saturday evening we headed down to Quantico to visit with the Krider family. They will be moving in a week down to their new station in Pensacola, Florida. I am sure this will be an exciting new chapter in their life. The evening was filled with catching up and great food.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93OqksoXdI/AAAAAAAAAQI/TaIH9bsf13w/s1600-h/Aly+%26+Gabe.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178522377346637266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 176px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 125px" height="125" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93OqksoXdI/AAAAAAAAAQI/TaIH9bsf13w/s200/Aly+%26+Gabe.JPG" width="179" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;I enjoyed holding 3 month old Gabe, he is really growing and loves to laugh. Austin is such a great big brother and loves to help take care of his little brother. It turns out he is also a great junior bowler. He even has his own bowling ball specially fitted for his little hands. &lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PAksoXeI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/4yOTSTSd3dA/s1600-h/Aly,+Austin+%26+Gabe.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178522755303759330" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PAksoXeI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/4yOTSTSd3dA/s200/Aly,+Austin+%26+Gabe.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today we decided to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day one day early with a traditional lunch at Irelands Four Courts. It was so good! I think I had enough to last me through tomorrow, but it was well worth it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93No0soXaI/AAAAAAAAAPw/ey_XhTfAKmU/s1600-h/Princess+Kite.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178521247770238370" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93No0soXaI/AAAAAAAAAPw/ey_XhTfAKmU/s200/Princess+Kite.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Afterwards P.A. and I went out for the perfect March time activity, flying a kite. I had seen them earlier and decided I just had to have one. &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93N_EsoXbI/AAAAAAAAAP4/m1qXZnFnIBQ/s1600-h/Patrick+Flying+Kite.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178521630022327730" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93N_EsoXbI/AAAAAAAAAP4/m1qXZnFnIBQ/s200/Patrick+Flying+Kite.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Of course there were no regular kites. My choices were Spiderman, Disney Princesses and Toy Story. I went with the princesses of course. We walked Angel and her friend Bailey down to the park to fly the kite. It was so much fun. We managed to keep the kite out of the trees and in the sky. I can’t wait till we can go out again!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PpksoXgI/AAAAAAAAAQg/vwJYe0OIDck/s1600-h/Patrick+%26+Kite.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178523459678395906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PpksoXgI/AAAAAAAAAQg/vwJYe0OIDck/s200/Patrick+%26+Kite.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178521793231084994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93OIksoXcI/AAAAAAAAAQA/E7vK7w-7ZeE/s200/Kite+2.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-6843855784819235307?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/6843855784819235307/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=6843855784819235307' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/6843855784819235307'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/6843855784819235307'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-fun.html' title='March Fun'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R93PTksoXfI/AAAAAAAAAQY/p0oFI4xbPZg/s72-c/Austin+%26+Gabe.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-809593968228782434</id><published>2008-03-02T18:39:00.043-05:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:54.052-05:00</updated><title type='text'>St. Patrick's Day the Alexandria Way</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tulru1CrI/AAAAAAAAAJA/By9b5bOlNXA/s1600-h/IMG_0939.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173350190638500530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tulru1CrI/AAAAAAAAAJA/By9b5bOlNXA/s320/IMG_0939.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tpQbu1CgI/AAAAAAAAAHo/qH06Z4ty0bc/s1600-h/IMG_0948.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173344328008141314" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tpQbu1CgI/AAAAAAAAAHo/qH06Z4ty0bc/s200/IMG_0948.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iM0ksoXUI/AAAAAAAAAOY/GV6GGtwbzVM/s1600-h/IMG_0922.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177042606494342466" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iM0ksoXUI/AAAAAAAAAOY/GV6GGtwbzVM/s200/IMG_0922.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tmQru1CZI/AAAAAAAAAGw/Op9LJ5mzAjk/s1600-h/IMG_0922.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; For years I have wanted to go to the &lt;a href="http://www.funside.com/"&gt;Alexandria City&lt;/a&gt; St. Patrick’s Day parade. But since it is at the beginning of March I always miss it. Each year I forget that it is early and look up the information the week of St. Patrick's Day only to realize I missed it. This year I happened to see an add and actually went. I can tell you I will never miss it again. We started off by walking threw the antique car show. There were classic cars and old cars, but my favorite was the DeLorean. Back to the future we go, didn't know they were made in Ireland till I saw the sign though.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tl5ru1CYI/AAAAAAAAAGo/l12e19bNa_s/s1600-h/IMG_0922.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tmf7u1CaI/AAAAAAAAAG4/W5qEFhB6eTM/s1600-h/IMG_0927.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173341295761230242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tmf7u1CaI/AAAAAAAAAG4/W5qEFhB6eTM/s200/IMG_0927.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8toUbu1CeI/AAAAAAAAAHY/zd3t3qBJ524/s1600-h/IMG_0938.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173343297215990242" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="103" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8toUbu1CeI/AAAAAAAAAHY/zd3t3qBJ524/s200/IMG_0938.JPG" width="164" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We took Angel down to the dog show. There were so many dogs there! Angel was having so much fun. I entered Angel in the dog show under the category of all dogs rescued from any shelter. She didn't get the title, but is a winner anyway. The categories they had &lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8ts37u1CoI/AAAAAAAAAIo/Cdj9rbQ7EAw/s1600-h/IMG_0923.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;were hilarious: Best spots, best tail wag, most unique tail. We enjoyed watching them all and Angel enjoyed all her new friends.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iNO0soXVI/AAAAAAAAAOs/i2xRd_VmZ9Q/s1600-h/IMG_0923.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177043057465908562" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="112" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iNO0soXVI/AAAAAAAAAOs/i2xRd_VmZ9Q/s200/IMG_0923.JPG" width="178" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173341678013319602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tm2Lu1CbI/AAAAAAAAAHA/fG529EgKN8E/s200/IMG_0921.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tqf7u1ChI/AAAAAAAAAHw/ui36o4g709Q/s1600-h/IMG_0959.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173345693807741458" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tqf7u1ChI/AAAAAAAAAHw/ui36o4g709Q/s200/IMG_0959.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8to9ru1CfI/AAAAAAAAAHg/Op6tPDieNTM/s1600-h/IMG_0955.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173344005885594098" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8to9ru1CfI/AAAAAAAAAHg/Op6tPDieNTM/s200/IMG_0955.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The final part of the day was the parade. We sat down right next to the reviewing stands so that we would be sure to have a great view. There were military bands and honor guards at the start. Angel liked the first part and was even slightly excited to see each unit, that was until the fife and drums came. &lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173346097534667298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tq3bu1CiI/AAAAAAAAAH4/URlZGvAas-s/s200/IMG_0961.JPG" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tr0ru1ClI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/P9wC-WTLkN8/s1600-h/IMG_0977.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173347149801654866" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tr0ru1ClI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/P9wC-WTLkN8/s200/IMG_0977.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tslbu1CnI/AAAAAAAAAIg/9zEnb6hHr8Y/s1600-h/IMG_0980.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173347987320277618" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tslbu1CnI/AAAAAAAAAIg/9zEnb6hHr8Y/s200/IMG_0980.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The drums are the key word there. I did not think in advance &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tt6bu1CqI/AAAAAAAAAI4/WVRGQ2aYkyY/s1600-h/IMG_0962.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;about how afraid Angel is of thunder and thus would logically be afraid of drums. This became quite clear when she tried to jump &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iOAUsoXXI/AAAAAAAAAPM/wBJxpwvME9A/s1600-h/IMG_0962.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;over my head to get away from them. I had to hold on to her tightly to make sure she did not run away. The poor girl was shaking so bad people were asking if she was cold. I ended up leaving P.A. and taking her half a block out and watching the parade from there. Still, I enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the Shriners and &lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tsLru1CmI/AAAAAAAAAIY/cPkgb0TrFDs/s1600-h/IMG_0976.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173347544938646114" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tsLru1CmI/AAAAAAAAAIY/cPkgb0TrFDs/s200/IMG_0976.JPG" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;their cars as well as all the bagpipe and drum units. Though I am still not sure where the Storm troopers come in?? &lt;/div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173349030997330578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8ttiLu1CpI/AAAAAAAAAIw/PMNdn-F7kqI/s200/IMG_0982.JPG" border="0" /&gt; &lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="center"&gt;I can't wait 'till next year!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-809593968228782434?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/809593968228782434/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=809593968228782434' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/809593968228782434'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/809593968228782434'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/03/st-patricks-day-alexandria-way.html' title='St. Patrick&apos;s Day the Alexandria Way'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8tulru1CrI/AAAAAAAAAJA/By9b5bOlNXA/s72-c/IMG_0939.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-3241462170508327844</id><published>2008-02-29T12:25:00.006-05:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:54.261-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Thursday Night Salsa</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9fSv0soXJI/AAAAAAAAALk/MSRbKmHO7ug/s1600-h/Salsa+with+Meredith.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176838015727197330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9fSv0soXJI/AAAAAAAAALk/MSRbKmHO7ug/s320/Salsa+with+Meredith.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; They say it takes two to tango, but what about salsa? Meredith e-mailed me on Thursday afternoon with a last minute idea. She knew of a great restaurant that just opened up a dance area and would have Salsa Lessons every Thursday night. This is pretty popular for the D.C. area and a lot of restaurants set lessons up. Usually though they just clear away some tables and you are taking lessons while the rest of the place eats….kinda awkward. Costa Verde had a whole upstairs dance area where you could watch yourself in the mirror and the dance floor was clear. They also had the rule that you should dress to impress and jeans and tennis shoes were not allowed. All together it made you feel like you could actually learn. We started with the beginner class at 7:30 then had a small break and one instructor went on to work with the intermediates while we continued on with another working on the basics. Everyone was so nice and you danced with lots of different partners. Meredith and I had a little fun chatting about our partners as we rotated in the circle so she always danced with a guy right after I did. We especially appreciated the one who strongly smelled of mouthwash, he obviously understood that no one wanted to dance with someone with bad breath. We plan to go back again since we had so much fun!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-3241462170508327844?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/3241462170508327844/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=3241462170508327844' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/3241462170508327844'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/3241462170508327844'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/02/thursday-night-salsa.html' title='Thursday Night Salsa'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9fSv0soXJI/AAAAAAAAALk/MSRbKmHO7ug/s72-c/Salsa+with+Meredith.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-906677751934843841</id><published>2008-02-25T21:04:00.024-05:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:57.155-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Double Date With Eric &amp; Kelwii!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iKM0soXNI/AAAAAAAAAMw/LGIXpTiF4hU/s1600-h/IMG_0769.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177039724571286738" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 181px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 132px" height="122" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iKM0soXNI/AAAAAAAAAMw/LGIXpTiF4hU/s200/IMG_0769.JPG" width="166" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iK0ksoXPI/AAAAAAAAANQ/fpk1bS4-ACQ/s1600-h/IMG_0766.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177040407471086834" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="145" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iK0ksoXPI/AAAAAAAAANQ/fpk1bS4-ACQ/s200/IMG_0766.JPG" width="189" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Kelly and I love to plan double dates for us and our other halves. We love to get together and just let loose. The four of us can be so goofy. This Friday Kelly came up with the great idea of Red Robin for dinner followed by playing Wii at her house. It was so much fun! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8OA_T-h58I/AAAAAAAAAGI/rSrGhCH1CBg/s1600-h/IMG_0769.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iKe0soXOI/AAAAAAAAAM4/7IuVTeP4vew/s1600-h/IMG_0771.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177040033808932066" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="182" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iKe0soXOI/AAAAAAAAAM4/7IuVTeP4vew/s200/IMG_0771.JPG" width="147" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N8CT-h5xI/AAAAAAAAAEw/zLJB2rDDZXk/s1600-h/IMG_0778.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171113176315586322" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 137px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 126px" height="145" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N8CT-h5xI/AAAAAAAAAEw/zLJB2rDDZXk/s200/IMG_0778.JPG" width="155" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;First off, how can you go wrong with Red Robin?? Well you can’t. We left there overly full and ready for a nap. However being the troopers we are we didn’t let that stop us. &lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N-ND-h52I/AAAAAAAAAFY/qhU8r5Ws9uY/s1600-h/IMG_0771.JPG"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We hooked up the Wii and joined Mario and sonic at the Olympics in Beijing! Yes, we became Olympic Athletes. If you think because it was a video game we didn’t work out like athletes think &lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N8zT-h5yI/AAAAAAAAAE4/sLfMAi6RcHI/s1600-h/IMG_0827.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171114018129176354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 114px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 164px" height="186" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N8zT-h5yI/AAAAAAAAAE4/sLfMAi6RcHI/s200/IMG_0827.JPG" width="131" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;again! The game was really hard, especially the swimming competitions. The evening was also a lesson in why I should not own a fun toy like a Wii. One by one the other players dropped out. First P.A., then Kelly, Eric pressed on however continuing to take pictures of me playing, P.A sleeping, and &lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N_Nz-h53I/AAAAAAAAAFg/gkxWio5TIeg/s1600-h/IMG_0864.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171116672418965362" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 176px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 132px" height="128" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R8N_Nz-h53I/AAAAAAAAAFg/gkxWio5TIeg/s200/IMG_0864.JPG" width="161" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;himself. I would like to thank Eric for all the laughs I had the next morning looking at all his great pictures. I finally gave up around 2 AM and forced myself to stop. It was a great evening and just went to show that two are better than one and four is even more fun!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-906677751934843841?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/906677751934843841/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=906677751934843841' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/906677751934843841'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/906677751934843841'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/02/double-date-with-eric-kelwii.html' title='Double Date With Eric &amp; Kelwii!'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iKM0soXNI/AAAAAAAAAMw/LGIXpTiF4hU/s72-c/IMG_0769.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-7516810613799339099</id><published>2008-02-18T19:54:00.020-05:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:58.323-05:00</updated><title type='text'>President's Day</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iMIksoXTI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/QFLum73IgkA/s1600-h/WO%26D.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177041850580098354" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iMIksoXTI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/QFLum73IgkA/s200/WO%26D.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Today it was President’s Day so P.A. and I had the day off. Even though it is February it actually turned out to be a beautiful day. Since it was so nice out we couldn’t stay inside and do nothing, now could we? Last spring we spent some time on the &lt;a href="http://www.wodfriends.org/map1.html"&gt;Washington &amp;amp; Old Dominion Trail&lt;/a&gt;. The trial runs in front of my house and starts in Shirlington about a mile down the trail. We walked the areas around my apartment a number of times and then we started walking towards the other end then back. The next time we started where we stopped and walked some more then back. Last time we stopped at the end of Falls Church where it changes to Fairfax County. So today we drove to our last starting place and Angel, P.A. and I started walking.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168500075263026754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7ozbz-h5kI/AAAAAAAAADI/rkpjNylofl4/s320/Entering+Fairfax+County.jpg" border="0" /&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7o1uT-h5oI/AAAAAAAAADo/DE2cw4lkDVk/s1600-h/Angel+on+the+Trail.jpg"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iLqUsoXRI/AAAAAAAAANs/r5eybO95zP4/s1600-h/Angel+on+the+Trail.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177041330889055506" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iLqUsoXRI/AAAAAAAAANs/r5eybO95zP4/s200/Angel+on+the+Trail.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7o2mT-h5pI/AAAAAAAAADw/I9HPSMPhlEc/s1600-h/Nose+in+the+Ground.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168503554186536594" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7o2mT-h5pI/AAAAAAAAADw/I9HPSMPhlEc/s200/Nose+in+the+Ground.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Angel was really excited to be back out for a long walk again. She just loves to plod along and loves all the attention she gets from people going the other direction. Is it sad that the dog gets said hello to more often than the people? Angel also enjoyed proving to P.A. that she really was a hunting dog and was just as good as any of the beagles he hunted with last week. Her best moment was when she chased a mole back in its hole and stuck half her face in the ground. If we would have let her dig in deeper I think she would have crawled right in!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iLX0soXQI/AAAAAAAAANY/frglT6j_z8s/s1600-h/Dunn+Loring+Station.jpg"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177041013061475586" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iLX0soXQI/AAAAAAAAANY/frglT6j_z8s/s200/Dunn+Loring+Station.jpg" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;We got rained on a little, but did a great job and made it almost to Vienna and back. We finally made it across I-66 as well as I-495. The rest of our journey will continue on the outside the beltway towards the west. We are looking forward to doing the whole trail in segments like this. There are so many interesting things to see and learn along the way. Hopefully everyone had a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful day just as we did.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-7516810613799339099?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/7516810613799339099/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=7516810613799339099' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/7516810613799339099'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/7516810613799339099'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/02/presidents-day.html' title='President&apos;s Day'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R9iMIksoXTI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/QFLum73IgkA/s72-c/WO%26D.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-4284679002410990501</id><published>2008-02-15T21:08:00.005-05:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T10:54:58.641-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Be My Valentine!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7ZHqz-h5fI/AAAAAAAAACU/YL7PIbvrlpA/s1600-h/IMG_0731.JPG"&gt;&lt;img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5167396423286777330" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 141px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 155px" height="155" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7ZHqz-h5fI/AAAAAAAAACU/YL7PIbvrlpA/s320/IMG_0731.JPG" width="172" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Is there anything better then seeing a good looking man walk into your home with a bouquet of flowers and supplies to make you dinner? What a nice and relaxing way to celebrate Valentine's Day. The flowers look beautiful on my entry table and every time I see them I can't help but smile.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-4284679002410990501?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/4284679002410990501/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=4284679002410990501' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/4284679002410990501'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/4284679002410990501'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/02/be-my-valentine.html' title='Be My Valentine!'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7ZHqz-h5fI/AAAAAAAAACU/YL7PIbvrlpA/s72-c/IMG_0731.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-284048684246333943.post-3990789221824528837</id><published>2008-02-15T13:36:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2008-02-15T13:36:38.043-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Why Blog??</title><content type='html'>I have always been a little wary of Blogs. First of all I am a scrapbooker. I enjoy the crafting aspect of it and even the time that it takes. Still, I guess I need to get moving into the digital age and blog like everyone else. How hard can it be.....right? I think the main problem I will have is remembering to post. Hopefully you all can encourage me and then using the blog I can update people on what is going on in my life. :-)  Just don't be too disappointed if it turns out my life isn't that exciting.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/284048684246333943-3990789221824528837?l=alys-antics.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/feeds/3990789221824528837/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=284048684246333943&amp;postID=3990789221824528837' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/3990789221824528837'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/284048684246333943/posts/default/3990789221824528837'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://alys-antics.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-blog.html' title='Why Blog??'/><author><name>Aly</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/06608015032347763777</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='24' height='32' src='http://bp3.blogger.com/_wvKSeB3V97I/R7onPj-h5hI/AAAAAAAAACw/ATPKgvwGpIs/S220/new+home+008.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
