Aug 21st
Alyssa bought Scott Ladderball (she calls it Redneck Golf) for his birthday. It was time for the Zukowski challenge to begin! Alyssa and Scott were setting it up in the yard and Huck kept looking out the window meowing for them. He's an indoor cat but Alyssa decided to take him out with his harness on. She did that only once before and he went nuts! We were in the process of rebuilding the back wall so there were piles of dirt, wood and plants everywhere. He loved the dirt pile. After about 3 seconds of that, Alyssa realized that somehow the harness was almost off of him, slipping over his body even thought it was tight. Huck had to go back in the house.
It was PJ and I against Scott and Alyssa. PJ didn't get any points and I got 2. Alyssa got I think 4 and Scott got about 20!


Huck was watching us from the window.
We started getting eaten alive by mosquitoes so in we went. It was a lot of fun though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!!

We went to the Texas Roadhouse for Scotts birthday. What a fun place! The food is a lot like the Outback but more choices. We got a free onion because it was his birthday which was nice! Scott couldn't get enough of the rolls with the honey/cinnamon butter. He must have eaten 10 of them! Because it was his birthday, that had him sit of this fake bull thing to pretend he was riding a bull. He was really embarrassed.
We were all so stuffed that we all ended up taking most of our meals home. I made sure to finish my Dallas Filet even though I was stuffed though. It just wouldn't be the same tomorrow. It was great! This was a great choice for a birthday dinner.

August 19th

I went Letterboxing today with Judy. It was her first time so we decided to start with an easy find right here in town at Twin Lakes. It was a lot of fun prancing through the woods looking for clues to find a box. We found the first one and as we're opening it up and giggling like little girls, we heard a noise. All of a sudden we look up an a guy flies by us on his bike and Judy said "Oh SH*T". I said "who was that"? because he looked so familiar. It was Hope's husband! What must he think of 2 women, in the woods, giggling, holding a box, a rubber stamp and ink? It was really funny. Maybe he didn't recognize us!
Next we went to Valley Stream State Park for a set of 12 letterboxes. We started wrong because we came in the wrong entrance. We couldn't find the Yellow Trail. After we found that, an hour later, we couldn't find trail # 2 within the yellow trail. I think the only one that we found was the 9th one. That was an interesting one though. It had a 'hitchhiker' in it! That was pretty exciting because now I get to place that hitchhiker in someone else's letterbox. This way the hitchhiker gets to travel all over the world! We read the log book noting that the hitchhiker has been to quite a few states already. We took the stamp and packed up everything else and hid the box for the next person. After I got home I realized that I was supposed to take that log book to be with the hitchhiker stamp. The letterbox didn't have it's own logbook. So that meant that I had to drive all the way back there again! This time I took Scott with me. We got the log book and found another letterbox that we had missed.
On our way out I pointed across the street to show Scott another park, Hendrickson Park. It looked really pretty. We decided to go for a walk.
There's a jogging/bike path that goes around the park on each side of the water.
At the far end there's a tennis court, handball courts, mini golf and a HUGE pool complex. This picture is only a very small part of it. There was a kids pool, a middle size pool, a HUGE other pool, a water park type of area etc. It was sooo nice. You have to be a resident to the Village of V.S to be able to use it though. We were so impressed.
Looking up the water feature, it reminded us of looking at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

While we were walking PJ called Scott's cell phone to find out what he's supposed to start for dinner. I didn't realize the time... it was already almost 6:00. Now it was time to battle L.I. traffic! What a fun, exhausting day!

PJ joined a new softball team this year. It's an over 40 team. He had a great season and also had a great time with this group of guys. Today PJ was informed that he was nominated to be on the All-Star team! He was so surprised yet so honored!!! YEAH to my All Star!

This guy is nothing short of AMAZING! He certainly gives you a wake up call!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU7w0Z35XEE

A True Labor of Love....

When I asked Scott what wanted me to make for dinner for when he came home from college, he said he wanted Pasta Bolognese. He said it was the best sauce that I've ever made. There was no way that I was going to make that during the crazy heat that we've been having. Yesterday and today are beautiful days. Scott leaves to go back to school in a little over a week so I thought this was the perfect time to make it.
After all the prep work, you have to cook it for about 4 HOURS! You need a day to just stay home and tend the stove!
I made it yesterday. Every time Scott would come into the kitchen, he'd tell me how good it smells, thanks for keeping an eye on the sauce etc. We will have it for dinner tonight. He's so excited! The simple things in life that make people happy! I love it!
The recipe is in my cooking blog Mama Zuke Cooks. http://mamazukecooks.blogspot.com/2009/01/labor-of-love.html

Today is turning out to be a great day so far and it's only 10 AM! I got my delivery of my
Le Creuset baking pans and spatula that I got for FREE from entering that contest (to win a $70 shopping spree with CSN STORES) on the Thrifty Groove blog. I would have never spent the $ to buy these for myself. I'm so happy that I was able to be totally selfish for a little while!
They're such a pretty color. I can't wait to put them to use! It's going to be too hot today to use the oven so maybe tomorrow!

I finally picked out what to get with the $70 CSN STORES http://www.csnstores.com/ Gift Certificate that I won from The Thrifty Groove. http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/
It was really tough but I managed to choose:
1. 12 x 9.5 Rectangle baking dish
2. 10.5 x 7 Baking Dish
3. 7 x 5 Baking Dish
4. a Spatula

They are all Le Creuset. I decided to go with this brand because I'd never buy any of their products for myself because they're very expensive. I do know that their products are top notch as far as quality goes. It was so much fun to have a shopping spree just for MYSELF!!!
Thank you Thrifty Groove!

ITHACA, HERE WE COME!!!

PJ and I just got back from our camping trip to Ithaca, NY. We had so much fun and a lot of new adventures. My first picture that I took just had to be this barn. I take a picture of it on EVERY trip to Ithaca. I love this barn. It tilts more and more each year. One of these days, probably 100 years from now, the barn will finally fall. I love capturing it in different seasons. There is a corn field right next to it.
As soon as we got to the area, we went straight to the Farmer's Market... always a favorite.

The weather was nice and sunny the whole week except at night. It poured every night.
We decided to take a walk through the gorge to get to Taughnnock Falls. The kids used to LOVE doing this.




The walk is about 3/4 of a mile but tales about 1- 11/2 hours because you have to go through the water and rocks and sometimes the rocks are slippery so you take it slow! It's so nice when you turn the final bend and see the falls up ahead. Beautiful!
Years ago we used to be able to swim here but in 1981, a huge chunk of rock fell from the falls. Now there's a wall blocking us.
Back at the campground, we went for a swim.
I wanted to do something different on this trip and I thought Letterboxing would be perfect. There's a ton to do in the area but I wanted to do some in areas that we were familiar with.
Our first was the Covered Bridge in Newfield, a few blocks from where the property that we own is.
This was a very simple one but good for just starting out. PJ got right into it!

Later in the day we drove to the Cornell campus to do 2 more Letterboxing adventures. Both were near Sachetts bridge. The first problem was where the heck is that bridge? On one of the clues it mentioned the Art Quad and PJ knew where that was so we drove there. Thank goodness there was a map of the campus and we found that we were in the right place! Heading towards this bridge, we took in the beauty that is right in the campus. In this picture, we were standing on the bridge.

PJ checking the hole in a stump for the Letterbox. OOPS! Wrong stump!!! We found it though.

We really had fun on this adventure. It lets you go for a hike and be out there in the natural beauty surrounding you.
We got back to the campground and we went for another swim. This time PJ had to try to get to the far side of the falls. That is everyone's quest and time after time, year after year, everyone falls off. The ledge that you walk on is at most 4" wide but in some spots it's like 2". Kids have an easier time doing it because their feet are smaller. It's rare to see anyone get to the other side. PJ got close this time but still fell off!

It's PJ's birthday so we went to Six Mile Creek to relax with a bottle of wine.
The night before we were leaving we had our favorite Burritos from Viva Taqueria. We love to sit outside and 'people watch' Across the street is "The Commons", a pedestrian mall, and let me just say, it was a good night to see the crazies!

The next morning we went to Wegmans for our usual breakfast and came back to pack up. From start to finish, we can get it all loaded in the car etc in about 25 minutes. We take great pride in that. We no sooner hopped in the car when the sky opened up! TORRENTIAL rain!!! I'm glad we're leaving today! What a great trip we had!

I WON!!! I WON!!!! Scroll down to see what I entered. I won a $70 gift card from CSN http://www.csnstores.com/ourstores.asp !!! I'm sooo happy!!!! The Thrifty Grove blog http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/ is the BEST!!!!! Now is the hard part..... what to get????? I LOVE this!!!
I'm all finished packing. PJ and I are leaving tomorrow to go camping in Ithaca. WE can't wait!!!