Smith Picnic

Scott and Jason are both home for a short visit so the whole family was in for a picnic to visit with them before Scott heads to Afghanistan in August and Jason heads back to California where he is interning as a Park Ranger in Yosemite National Park. Best wishes to both of you and we love you! Your niece and nephew enjoyed spending time with you today. (After Maleah finally warmed up to Uncle Jason)

Bear Town Rocks

Bear town rocks is an area of maybe 2 acres with massive rocks all over the place. Some are smaller rocks and others are huge rocks which should be left alone and not climbed. (right Brian?) Some rocks have huge trees growing on top of them. Others rocks have staircases built for you to observe the valley. It's an amazing place to visit unless you hurt yourself.








It's amazing to see a tree growing on top of these massive rocks




Connor is quite the climber









Brian climbed up the side of this rock then couldn't find a good way down. He jumped from this rock (about 5 foot down) over to the next rock, and possibly hairline fractured his heel. I took him to the hospital to have Xrays taken but the Xray didn't show a break. After 8 weeks, he could finally walk on his heel without pain so we suspect that he did have a hairline fracture. Thank God for his Mom's boot when she fractured her foot. That got him through some very uncomfortable weeks of walking.



This is the same rock that Brian climbed but from a different angle. Notice Maleah standing at the lower right of the rock.

Water fun

Connor and Maleah enjoyed this cheap water slide I picked up out in Clarion. On one of the warmer days this month, they were able to enjoy playing with this.





Look at Maleah's bikini that I picked up. I thought this was a unique suit and just had to buy it.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all....

Brian is away for a week in West Virgina riding 4 wheelers with 6 of his riding friends, so that is what he is doing for Father's Day 2009. He is having an enjoyable trip and the weather is going to be perfect for riding all week.

As for Connor, Maleah and I, we went to Mom and Dad's and had steaks for lunch. Brenda & Steve and Justine were there for lunch too. The steaks and potatoes were delicious. Around 3ish Brenda took the kids with her for the remainder of the afternoon while Mom, Dad, Justine and I went to get ice cream cones at Widnoon. After eating our cones, we took a drive past where Dad grew up and reminisced about Dad's stomping grounds. It was an enjoyable late afternoon.

June sickness??

It's unlikely to be sick in the summer time but it's possible, just ask Connor and Maleah. Connor picked up a nasty bug on Thursday May 28th where he ran a fever for 7 days straight. After a chest Xray and blood work, a diagnosis was made that it was viral bronchitis. No antibiotics were given to him, viral can't be treated with antibiotics so his body had to fight off his infection. Connor dropped more than 5 lbs with this illness. I missed a day and a half of work but could have missed more if it wouldn't have been for Mom, and Donna & Hilton helping me out with babysitting. Thank you so much for all your help.

Then... just when we thought we were out of the woods, Maleah comes down with it a week later. She was feverish for 6 days and I missed 2 days of work. I took her to the doctor and she had to have a breathing treatment right in the office to hear her lungs properly. Her cough was so tight, she was placed on Albuterol liquid drops to open her lungs and will remain on that medicine for a total of 15 days. She will finish her medicine the last day of June. So June has not been a great month for us. Let's just hope it doesn't find its way to Mom and Dad.

Bee sting

Maleah was riding her bike this afternoon when she come screaming into the house. Brian thought she hit her left armpit with her bike handle, but after taking her shirt off and looking at what was giving her pain, I realized she had been stung 4 times with a bee. I'm happy to report she is not allergic to bees. This has been her first encounter with bees and had no reaction. Thank goodness!! We put some toothpaste on her stings and she was good to go.

Connor's First Fish

Connor has been very excited to go fishing after his experience in Clear Creek so Connor and Maleah stayed at the river this afternoon while we went out for our birthday dinner with Hilton & Donna to a German restaurant, Kleiner Deutschman, in Pittsburgh. By FAR, the best german food we've eaten!

Connor and Papa Bill headed for the river bank to catch fish. Sure enough, Connor caught his very first fish (a carp) with his new pool while fishing with Papa. Sweet memories. The fish was 13 inches long and he would not put that fish back in the water. He wanted to keep it. We brought it home but it was quickly tossed out after getting this picture. I will post pictures of his experience at the river possibly tomorrow.

Adorable....

Wouldn't you agree??

Fish For Free

Today was one of the two Fish For Free days offered in Pennsylvania. We took Connor up to Clear Creek State Park for his first fishing experience with the new fishing pool that Grandma Judy bought him. He came away with wormy fingers but no fish. We could see the fish swimming around our bait but the fish were not interested in our worms. We fished for more than an hour and Connor really enjoyed the experience. He will be fishing with Papa Bill at the new camp site at the river this year. Maybe he will have better luck there.