The coolest treehouse

Look carefully, it is actually a boat, with a wheel at the prow...We stop and drool over this near the library every time we go. Out of the picture are some chairs for an audience. I can imagine some very nice family time at the bottom of the garden, although right now, they'd have to wear rid to avoid the mozzies!

Tea in Starbucks Land

I wasn't sure about how I would go getting black tea when I came over. It is certainly a different supply scenario, but I have found enough teabags for my needs, including Twinings, and Liptons.
Most of my friends drink coffee - drip black coffee, or some sort of coffee concoction in a large (I'd say about 700mL) drinking container. Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks seem to be the most popular takeaway brands. Everybody seems to have a drip coffee machine for their bench, Keurig being the main 'best' brand.
Tea drinkers seem to be divided into two groups - Earl Grey drinkers, and herbal tea drinkers, usually for health benefits (pregnant, allergic to caffeine etc). There is a huge variety of herbal teas, way more than just chamomile and peppermint at home. There are even seasonal herbal teas. Most of the tea section (see photo above) in the supermarket is taken with herbal teas.
Earl Grey drinkers are people who hate Liptons, but enjoy 'good strong' black tea. I have seen someone put sugar in Earl Grey.
There are local black tea brands, one particularly good one is Harney and Son's. Price of good local black tea, especially leaf tea at specialty tea stores, tends to be in the 'luxury' range. I tend to oscillate between Liptons (cheap) and Twinings English Breakfast (reminds me of mothers group at home).
People don't put milk in hot drinks, they put creamer - I think it is meant to be a nice rich dairy product that you can put into your coffee, and offered for tea too. This has been extended to creamer with vanilla flavour, for that something extra (often sweet!!), long life creamer, and the powdered creamer that doesn't contain dairy at all ('nuff said). I have paid money for cups of tea that were undrinkable, probably because I added the powdered creamer!
Everything in supermarkets is generally in teabags, although I have located one store that sells Twinings in leaf.

Trust vs Surrender

It is easy to trust in God's plan when we're down, when we just don't know where else to turn, when life really hasn't gone 'to (our) plan', when things are horrific and awful and out of our control. But what about surrendering to God's plan when everything is ok? What about acknowledging God's control over our life in the good as well as the bad? What about asking what God would have us do, before doing it?

Good packing decisions IV

More good stuff to travel with - Tupperware Sandwich Boxes - I haven't tried any other boxes, these are the first I've owned, but they're so good and useful - firstly for sandwich, secondly for chopped up fruit, thirdly for little tables on little laps (esp when travelling in the pram?!), and fourthly for rubbish containers. Once the sandwich is eaten, you can give them their ration of biscuits, share bits of fruit, eat icecream over, etc.
The downside - the room they take up in your bag is not reduced when the sandwich/fruit is eaten. (so I use them for the kiddies lunches, and my lunch is wrapped in gladwrap and takes its chances in the front pocket of my bag).
The upside that keeps me using them (apart from their versatility), is the reduction in complex wash-up ( vs plastic sandwich bags)/landfill.
ps - for information, for Australians - I just bought the set of 5 when I bought them, which seemed a touch extravagant at the time, but I have never regretted that.
pps - I am not paid for this post :) (but if you wanted to I would not object!!! ;) )

Missing... one bear

In the hustle and bustle of Vacation Bible School, we lost a bear. Not just any bear, but, as it turned out, the more favourite of the two exact same models that he sleeps with. He resisted napping, and eventually slept in the pram as we walked back to church to search for the bear, which turned up nothing.
That night, it took 90 mins for him to settle, eventually going to sleep with a train clutched in each hand.
This morning he was irritable, clutching one bear but wingeing for the other. I was outwardly calm, but a bit worried. Hubby helped me search again, then took photos so he could make a lost notice to put up. I even went to the nursery section to ask if they'd seen it, which they hadn't.
I was handing him into his creche class before starting the day, and explaining that he hadn't slept well, and that he was irritable, when another teen helper arrived with the bear, which had been left at recreation (sports) the previous day...
And I don't think anyone except maybe parents will understand, when I admit that I cried with relief.

Vacation Bible School

In the grand tradition of the American summer, our church puts on a free Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the kiddies. It is only a half day, for ages 4yrs-grade 5. In the other grand tradition, of over-volunteering, I agreed to be a teacher for a class of 18 four year olds, but by special request, not the class my four year old is attending. I have gotten through my baptism of fire, by asking advice from the only effective helper that I had on Monday, and shamelessly copying everything the teachers did at class 4YA (another four year old class) that seemed like a good idea.
The theme is Genesis 1 - Space Probe, and the application of the space theme has been enthusiastic and wide spread (I'm sure the words 'only in America' could be applied to the way the theme has been expanded to cover every aspect of life in the day).
So now, I am trying to answer questions such as, "What does God's space ship look like", and "Is heaven in space", and "Do the Americans call heaven a Life Star?", right down to a half hour discussion based on the fact that one picture of the 'redemption rocket' (don't ask) appears to have lights that look a bit like emergency lights (ie, lights on a fire engine) but the next picture doesn't have those lights in evidence. Oh yeah, and lets not forget the discussion about what would happen if the astronaut pressed the 'do not touch' button again, and exactly how was the rocket ship rocking when the astronaut fell out, after he had touched the 'do not touch' button.
Other related news is that he is now drawing launch pads and rocket ships as well as fire engines, tractors and trains (after I explained what 'launch' meant).

Paracetamol? Oh, are you British?

And we thought we were so clever, had the active ingredient name and everything... and it turns out that it isn't paracetamol here, it is acetaminophen ("asprin free pain relief"). I must admit I feel a touch uneasy using it, but the pharmacist did say...

Belair Mansion, Bowie MD

We went to a birthday party in Bowie on Saturday. Beforehand, we took advantage of a little spare time, to drive around Bowie. We particularly wanted to have a look at the Belair Mansion. Sounds like it is going to be some crass 1980's mansion to me, actually, built in 1745 as a governor's residence. Expanded in 1914 by another owner, now operated by the City of Bowie as a museum (and a wedding destination!). I find it very pleasing to the eye. Having read the wikepedia entry, it is interesting to note that the estate was originally a plantation, and its decline started very soon after the 1864 Maryland Constitution emancipated slaves, leaving the owners with large amount of land, and no workforce to make it productive. By 1871, the original family owners had lost it to debt.

Cherries!

Berries have occupied a lot of posts, I think I can happily admit to hugely enjoying the prolific supply of berries of all sorts at the moment. I just wanted to record that our grocery shop this week included:
Yellow peaches (from somewhere in the USA)
Apples (from somewhere in the USA, but stored by now)
Grapes (from Mexico, probably not hugely fresh, but still nice and sweet)
500g of strawberries (from California)
500g of blueberries (from North Carolina)

And the piece de resistance -
4 lbs of cherries (we think from Washington state, but we could be wrong)
The cherries were $4/lb, which is about $8/kg
It is cherry season from about June to September here, so early days yet!
The baby is very impressed - he calls blueberries, grapes and cherries all 'grapes', and simply guzzles if left to his own devices.

Subscribing by email

A reader commented that they couldn't subscribe by email. I was flattered, and confused, because I thought it was all automatic, and surely that would be somewhere. However, I'm learning! I have added what I hope is a subscribe by email button. I have subscribed myself, just to check. I don't have the results of that check.
Please feel free to subscribe and get back to me if it works!
A note: Please also feel free not to subscribe. I'm meant to be doing one short post a day; recently, this is not what has been happening. I think up various posts, and then I have a bigger session about 2-3 times per week when I do 'blog' stuff. So I can't guarantee some sort of neat 'thought for the day' email. I don't want people to get overwhelmed by having to read the blog! We live in the real world, often with children, which is (as far as I'm concerned) the real world +1!
If I feel like the subscribe by email thingy doesn't work, I'll take it down. (Hopefully, someone will let me know  if it doesn't work!) Until then, happy reading!

Surviving hot weather with children

Everyone, this is my newly discovered secret weapon for those disgusting hot days... ice and water in insulated mugs/milkshake makers.
The downside:
Having to give your Tupperware insulated mug to a child to use :(
A two year old lugging the milkshake maker around will occasionally spill water. This is where I'm thankful that our couches are leather, and that water doesn't stain. (When he isn't thinking about his aim, he will also pour water down his chest as he misses his mouth. And then insist on a shirt change.)
You have to help kids open and close the containers
Very wet nappies/lots of toilet breaks
One suspected ruined appetite at dinner due to drinking too much water (not Captain Fussy, he is in the period of just gently whingeing that this isn't exactly what he wanted for dinner)

The upside:
Cool, well hydrated children and parent

Just for the record, the weather this week -
Monday - 81 (about 27C)
Tuesday - 86 (30C)
Wednesday - 91 (about 33C)
Thursday - 84 (about 29C) (with storm through in the night)
Friday - 79 (about 27C)

Humidity - enough such that on every day except Friday, when you went outside you got sweaty, no matter what you did (i'm guessing it started at 60% and went higher?). Temps around 70-73  (about 21-23C) at night. No stable breeze, except when storms coming through.

Other things - we bought these yoghurt icy poles - they can be eaten refrigerated or frozen.
Anzac biscuits, both the cooking and the eating
Getting out to the park EARLY (7.50am)
We haven't survived completely, it is Friday and the kiddies are a touch unsettled/uncontrollable/wild.

The 'parked' Blue Angel

Our library visit was so well executed that we had five minutes on the way home to have a look at the 'parked' Blue Angel, outside the navy stadium. I had to repeatedly assure both kids it wasn't working anymore, and my littlest still approached with his hands on his cheeks, which is his current version of over his ears. So much for not scarring the children before they're 18...

I also had to have quite a complicated discussion with the 4 y old about why this Blue Angel had been retired, and why the other ones were still flying, and how normal aircraft are still safe even if they have a longer life span (among other content). I feel like I am repeatedly asked to go beyond my pay grade in these conversations.

It was quite enjoyable to get so close, it really is a beautiful piece of equipment, all streamlined and suchlike. 

Black Eyed Susan

The Black Eyed Susan is the Maryland state flower. It is basically a daisy, but with quite a distinct black centre. We came across some on our way to the library, which we went to on Monday, because I knew the weather was turning hugely hot later on in the week. Still quite hot and sweaty, but bearable in the shade, with a little breeze to cool the sweat! It was the most successful visit to the library yet, with no missed buses, and everyone surviving the walk, and home by 12. More importantly, my eldest child held on for the toilet for about 15 mins while we waited for and caught the bus home, his longest effort yet.
Secondly, I found the DVD collection and borrowed some movies to watch on the ridiculously hot days later on in the week (and I still am giving myself high fives about that thought!).

Shame vs Guilt

Someone put forward the idea that you feel guilty about something you've done, but shame is related to who you are - ie, feeling guilty about telling a lie, but feeling shame that someone would think are a liar.
I've never had the distinction made before. What do you think? Discuss :)

Proven: Freddo Frog size decrease (warning, distressing content)

I wrote a post a couple of days ago wondering about the size of Freddo Frogs. They seemed smaller. I thought maybe my memory was off after a long absence. I now have proof that my memory is fine. We got sent some older Freddo Frogs (still edible, and prob still within dates), and they're BIGGER. My guess is they've reduced from about 12g per frog to 10g. The question now - is the price the same, or higher?!

Play area at the mall

 

Our local Westfield mall has a kids play area, and a large aquarium full of fish to look at. It is all down a wing of the mall that has kids clothes shops, a small train that you can get rides on, and a more enclosed food court area. Oh, and a Starbucks :). Our kids always enjoy a bit of a run around, and look at the fish, and it is a real boon for a break in proceedings if you're trying to grind out a list of things to do, or if one parent needs some kid free time to try and sort out the shops and whats available (ie, the other parent spends a couple of hours oscillating between aquarium and play area with kiddies).
Note to self, when next leaving a whole lot of shopping until you get to another country, please remember that you are a horrendous shopper, you have two children and minimal babysitting available, one child needs to sleep at 12, the bus system is light-on, and you don't know what is stocked in all the different shops, so a lot of research is required, oh, and the clanger, the shops don't open until 10am here!!! No, really. I'll try to expand later on.
Interestingly enough, what the local Westfield doesn't have, is a grocery store, any sort of fresh food market, or service shops (ie, banks, medicare etc). What it does have, is HEAPS of parking - we have never been forced to search for a park.
My four year old would also add that it has a Lego store. Luckily (for us parents) it is not close to the aquarium or the play area.

Copco kettle review

We got a cheap kettle from Bed Bath and Beyond to heat water on the gas stove. There were lots of kettles to choose from, and we bought the $20 one, figuring we're only here for two years, etc etc. The sad thing is, after a month, the handle in the lid (the one you pull off to put the water into the kettle) had started getting loose, and the screw rusting. We looked for our receipt but couldn't find it, so are living with it, but it is frustrating.
My advice, if buying a cheap kettle, is either keep the receipt, or don't pull off the lid to put water into the kettle. I'm filling it from the spout now.

Trolley Tour through Historic Annapolis

Picture credit - http://www.destination-paradise.com/activities.html

The boys and I took some of our visitors on a 1 hour trolley tour through the down town area of Annapolis on Wednesday. It was one of those tours that had the driver providing a commentary over a microphone while we drove around. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it was just the thing as the weather has been so muggy recently (air conditioned! cushioned seats!). There weren't so many opportunities to take good photos, as taking photos through glass windows is never really successful. But I definitely learnt a bit more that I can in turn pass onto other visitors.It was also useful to drive around the streets and sort of mentally put them together. I always get turned around when I'm in the back blocks of Annapolis (ie, off Main Street!).

Freddo Frogs!

Thanks to the generosity of our recent run of visitors, we now have lots of green grocery shopping bags (we haven't really seen an alternative in the USA), Vegemite, which needs no explanation, and Freddo Frogs! I suspect they were intended for the children, and the children will get theirs, but we adults are enjoying the treat too.
My question is, have Freddo Frogs gotten smaller? Specifically, the plain chocolate ones? They're 10g now. I took one out of the packet today, and it just felt smaller. Maybe my memory is a bit wonky, as I haven't eaten them for a while.
Regardless of whether they're smaller, they're just as tasty. Thanks guys.

Peanut Butter

Those of you who know me, would probably also know my relationship with peanut butter. Specifically, Sanitarium brand no added salt, no added sugar variety. We travelled with one jar that was left in our Australian pantry, and then thankfully we discovered the 'natural' section of the peanut butter shelf. The non natural peanut butters have both sugar and salt added, and taste sort of wrong. The smooth peanut butter is close to being a sauce in consistency, but the crunchy is sort of ok.
The downside - there doesn't appear to be no added salt in existence
Also, the jar needs to be tipped into a bowl and stirred before using (see picture)
The upside - I have peanut butter (and I must admit to feeling restless and anxious if we run out of peanut butter).
Happily, I appear to have a partner in crime, as my youngest boy prefers peanut butter and honey on bread to Vegemite (this may just be for the honey, but I like to believe it is the peanut butter).

The Air and Space Museum, Washington DC

We spent Saturday in Washington, with our latest visitors, and after walking around the mall looking at multiple memorials and the White House, we went to the Air and Space Museum, which has been recommended by many people. The recommendations were well given, this is an awesome museum, with heaps of aeroplanes hanging from the roof, a room of space stuff, a couple of special exhibits, an imax theatre, a planetorium, and a huge McDonalds franchise (I'm not sure this added a lot to the content, but I thought I'd mention it anyway). It was the end of the day and we only really had an hour, but that was fine, because we all enjoyed just walking through quickly looking at the planes and things. You could just as easily spend the day if you went everywhere and read everything(and we plan to in the future).

Mt Aird U-Pick strawberry farm

We went strawberry picking with a friend on Friday, at a farm in Davidsonville. It was so much fun! They have a very relaxed attitude to toddlers that just stand there and eat strawberries, which was just as well. The idea of food growing in the ground before it hits the supermarket appears to have finally gotten through to the four year old in a very real sense, judging from the extended conversations we have had since about our fresh food, which is great.
The boys and I managed to pick around 3lbs, so for the first time in my life, I have frozen strawberries in the freezer! Unfortunately this farm is closing after this strawberry season, so we'll have to find another farm next berry season.

Yuengling Traditional Lager

I have found a beer that I like (ie, I don't add lime to sweeten that bitter aftertaste!). It is made in Pennsylvania, which is near Maryland. A blurb on the can says they're officially recognised as the longest, continuously operated brewery, with 178 years of brewing tradition, and five generations of family ownership (since 1829). Unfortunately, it does not appear to be available in Australia, and if it were, it would be an expensive imported beer, so we're just enjoying it (in moderation) here.

The spaceship

We don't call our car a spaceship, but we are enjoying the function that lets us open the back doors at the click of a button. If the car is backed into the curb in 'our' parking spot, we can open the three back doors at the doorway of our house, the kiddies can jump on in from the back, and we can do the seatbelts up at the sides. Obviously with visitors this isn't possible! But it is all very convenient - and with the headseat TV screens it does sometimes strike me as a little like some high tech monster.
I never liked people movers, they seemed awkward and huge, and impossible to park, but I am starting to see the advantages, like fitting visitors (the ones that come in groups of two) in the back to drive them around.
ps - we haven't used the DVD player yet, for those who wonder.

Found - Helen Avalynne Tawes Garden

We needed a quiet spot not too far off our course to eat morning tea yesterday, and I remembered a friend's recommendation to check out the Tawes Garden. Located out the back of a U-shaped group of buildings that make up various government department buildings (including the headquarters of the Dept of Natural Resources), this garden is meant to have various bits of classic Maryland geography  and plants in it. Helen Tawes was the wife of a governor of Maryland. I assume she enjoyed/encouraged gardening.
We didn't get past the pond with the fountain in it this time, but I am so glad I know it exists! It is very close to where we catch the bus home (so no more sitting at the bus stop for 50 mins).

Wildlife at Shenandoah National Park

We were quite lucky with some of our wildlife spotting. Things our group saw:

• Deer (does) - grazing right up to just outside of our cabins. They have their babies later on, so no fawns yet.
• Turkey - on the side of the road. They look just like the turkey on the Wild Turkey Bourbon bottle.
• Grey Squirrels - not so many as we see at home, and considerably wilder
• Chipmunk - dad thought it was a red squirrel, until he saw the photo of a chipmunk
• Bob cat (picture shown above) - apparently we were quite lucky with this one, as we saw something that was a bit smaller than a Labrador, but in fact, the adults are much larger, so what we must have seen was possibly a baby (with a mother near by?!). In addition, they're quite rare sightings. Surprising given we had kids in our group.
• Black bears - two cubs, one mother, from a distance, and while making noise and backing away
• Rattle snake - very large and fat, maybe like it had just eaten? and very active on some rocks at the top of a mountain. I have been cured of my happy assumption that there are no poisonous things in the USA to worry about, and once again am reading the snake spotting drill to the 4 year old.

All in all, very happy to have seen some wild, exotic animals!

Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park

As near as I can tell, Shenandoah National Park is a long skinny park following a range of mountains south. Skyline Drive runs along a ridge line all the way through the park, about 104 miles long. There are heaps of overlooks (look outs for my Australian readers), and walks all through the park, and of course, the Appalachian trail runs through the park as well. There are campsites, I'm not sure how many, and three places that have cabins/rooms, where you can stay. There are also little stores called Waysides (about three?) where you can buy food, camping supplies, and souvenirs.
Shenandoah National Park was formed in 1935, by compulsory acquisition of land privately owned and moving whole communities off the mountains. There are still traces of the old farms, barns, cemeteries etc in the mountains. I think some of the shelters along the Appalachian trail are actually old farm buildings. It is sort of sad that while the National Park is great, people had to go through such disruption to create it.
We did little walks suitable for our little children, and one big walk (with many breaks), down to Rose River Falls. We also stopped off at quite a few overlooks (I suspect in the end we got view fatigued, because while the overlooks do all look out on different bits of the park, they all looked like mountains with trees on to me). At the moment, the park is lush and green. It is apparently even better in Fall (Autumn) when the leaves are turning different colours.
We stayed two nights at Big Meadows Lodge, in a one room suite on the end of a long cabin. It was a very enjoyable three days.

Skyline Caverns

We set out for a weekend driving down the Skyline Drive which goes through Shenandoah National Park on a cloudy morning. By the time we got up to the mountains, we realised the cloud wasn't going to lift until the afternoon, so we opted for a detour to look through the nearest caves (caverns in the US) - Skyline Caverns.
The tour was about an hour, I think a touch too long, but I enjoyed the guides knowledgeable tour, his accent (southern!!), and his sense of humour. The baby slept in the car, with Grandpa reading his paper, but my eldest came on the tour and regaled the entire group with loud musings on what a real cave should look like (dark with a round entrance), and what should live in real caves (big animals with claws).

Dinner out - seafood!

We took advantage of the free babysitting provided by keen grandparents, and went out to dinner at a local waterfront restaurant. We got a table on the deck overlooking the water, and ate seafood. I must admit, it has fueled a desire to eat more seafood. I'm not quite up to cracking open my own soft shell crab yet, but I had 'Stuffed Shrimp', which was prawns with a ball of crab meat around them, and hubby had 'Broiled Combination' - some sort of fish, a crab cake, shrimp and scallops. Not the seafood basket menu I was expecting, but I'm really warming to crab meat.
The photo above is of Hush Puppies - some sort of fried corn meal balls, with whipped cinnamon butter, that we had as an entree (starter in the US). They were slightly sweet (with the butter, I guess), and excellent comfort food.