"Firecar WOW"

Today we visited a local fire station with the MOMS Club. Alma loves firetrucks, or as she calls them firecars, and must have said "WOW" a million times.  One of the firemen dressed in full fire gear, which was interesting to see.  The kids got to climb through the firetrucks and at the end of the visit they all received plastic fireman's helmets and badges.  It was a fun and educational visit!

Reason #212 Why We Miss South Philly

At Mass on Sunday, the first day of football season, we looked around our new parish in Bethlehem and did not find even ONE Eagles jersey, shirt or emblem.  In South Philly, it would have been at least half the attendees in full regalia.  We miss that sense of home team pride and community.

Reason #23,876 Why We Moved Out of South Philadelphia

This butterfly (or an impressive imposter) visits our backyard and says hello to us every day. 

Hurricane Irene

We made it through the storm.  The only damage is a little leaking in Alma's room and one of our trees that split and fell on our back fence, just barely missing our house but taking down the power line.  We still have power but the line is blocking the road. 

The power line originally was draped over someone's car but that person got in their car and drove away!!  We could not believe it.  Before the road was closed, we were watching out the window to make sure no one was going near the line.  But we turned our backs for a moment and the car was gone.  Thank goodness nothing horrible happened. 

Now if we can just get the neighborhood kids to stop riding their bikes under the line. 

Best Friend

How much do we love that Alma's best friend in town is the cutest little redhead ever?  SO MUCH!! 

Alma's Friend

We live around the corner from a little boy who is exactly one month older than Alma.  It is so nice to have a friend (for both of us!) so close.  Sadly, we just learned that they will be moving to Pittsburgh in the coming months due to a job transfer.  Bummer. 

St. Patrick's Day in Bethlehem

The weekend before St. Patrick's Day, we celebrated with a meal of corned beef, cabbage and Irish soda bread, then went to the parade in Bethlehem, and came home to run around the yard with the dog. Pretty much the perfect day!

Preparing the Garden

Last weekend we started prepping our garden, which is located along the alley behind our garage.  Luckily we didn't plant anything (aside from a few cheap flower seeds) because it snowed twice this past week.  Oh Smarsh the wonderful month when the weather is unpredictable.

Alma and I had already spent several weekday afternoons moving pavers to set up a walk way along the garage wall and a separate flower bed by the sidewalk (so the local dogs who are out on walks don't pee on our vegetables).  So Joshua and I spent the day picking not only rocks (of which there were few) but bricks and entire cinder blocks (of which there were a surprising number) out of the soil and tilling the entire thing. 

As you can see in these photos, Alma's contribution to garden work is to lounge on her mini Adirondack chair, eat snacks and point out birds that fly by.  Oh, and she also makes a mean pile of shriveled up tomatoes from last year's missed harvest. 

Yes, the paint is chipping horribly from the side of the garage.  Any suggestions for hiding it?  The idea of fixing the problem with paint doesn't sound as fun as elaborate plans to build a huge structure to hide it.  Planters that hang down from the side of the garage?  Huge planters that sit on the pavers?  A flying dragon that distracts you from noticing the chipping paint?  To me, all of these sound like more fun that actually fixing the problem.  

Joshua also moved some extra pavers so that we don't have to walk through a huge pile of mud to get out the back gate.  Hooray!  Now we just need to talk to his mom about how to make our thriving lilac bushes into multiple lilac bushes for the yard....

Merry (Fake) Christmas!

Since we went to Oregon for Christmas, we exchanged gifts with one another before we left.  Simon enjoyed hiding his new bone throughout the backyard. 

 We also went to the Christmas market in Bethlehem to meet St. Nick. Alma wasn't too pleased and clung to me as never before.

Garden Pepper

While playing in the backyard, Alma and I often end up in the garden looking for ripe veggies.  We usually take a long time to nibble on our findings as we sit among the plants.  I'm looking forward to teaching Alma where food originates.  I think the lessons have already begun, which makes me unbelievable happy. 

This photo was snapped once we came inside and she wanted to continue eating a green pepper.

Picnics

Living in South Philadelphia, we spent a lot of time in a local park with the baby and the dog.  Every night we would get everyone geared up, walk the half mile to the park and then hang out there on a blanket for an hour or so. 

Nowadays, the "park" is our backyard and we can easily visit it multiple times a day.  I know that we keep harping on this and it may sound like a little thing to most folks, but it seems revolutionary to us after we have been a full four years without a proper grassy spot to call our own. 

Here are some fun photos of Alma enjoying a picnic dinner on our back patio ...

APPLES!

Our kitchen was decorated by narissistic apples ...

(two types of apple wallpaper -- a different style is in the kitchen bathroom

... yes, kitchen bathroom -- with a shower, an oddity on its own!)

apple coat rack (one of the million apple items in the kitchen, most of which have now been removed)

apple tile backspace

apples over the oven

ahh, that's better

First day of yard work

Today we enjoyed our first day of yard work.  I say enjoy with more enthusiasm than can properly be conveyed through text.  This is the first day we worked on our own yard.  It's ours. We own (as much as one can) the grass, the trees, the flowers ... all of it is ours to take care of and love.  How awesome! 

When I was living on a sailboat, I would often fantasize about having a little plot of land -- I was only thinking 3' x 3' where I could sit and enjoy some grass.  Such a small thing, but when it was not something that was available, or even seemed possible, it was such a craving.  I am (and I think that I can safely say, we are) tickled pink to have a little plot of land to care for and enjoy! 

Bethlehem

So far I'm finding that Bethlehem is full of graveyards, crazy tree-lifted sidewalks, friendly helpful folks, and lots of crickets.  Here are some pictures Scott took while on a long walk with Joshua and Simon.

Moravian College (just around the corner from our house!)

 The Lehigh River, which separates Bethlehem into North and South Bethlehem.  We live in North Bethlehem.

 The abandoned steel mills that line the Lehigh River

 Sands Casino in South Bethlehem that has taken up residence in an abandoned steel mill building

 Lehigh University in South Bethlehem