Flashback, 2001

Carter is turning 10 years old this week!  What?!?!  That's crazy talk... it seems like he was just born!

This week I'm dedicating my blog to Carter and his ten years of life.  He's awesome in so many ways and impresses me all of the time with his wisdom, intelligence, and great sense of humor.  I know for a fact that my family would not be the same without him.

Daisy Fetching Sticks

Daisy at the Park from Melissa Straka on Vimeo.

Recent Pics of Daisy

Autumn Vacation

We took a week long vacation while Tom's brother and his brother's girlfriend visited us from England.  We went to D.C. for a couple of days where we walked EVERYWHERE! - the national mall, the war memorials, the capitol, downtown, the white house, and around the tidal basin.  Our second day in D.C. was spent hopping from museum to museum all day.  We also discovered the deliciousness of tapas at La Tasca's and experienced some hot dishes at Nando's, a south african restaurant (both located downtown).  On our way back to PA, we stopped to walk around Baltimore's Inner Harbor for a few hours.  Other highlights from our vacation include a hike in Hamburg, PA (again!), dinner at my parent's home, touring Saint Peter's Village and other surrounding towns, and doing some shopping for great deals.

Halloween!

Halloween was a blast!  I was Olive Oyl, Daisy was a pumpkin, Ben was Sherlock Holmes, and Carter was an evil bunny.  Halloween was sort of hectic because Tom's brother Michael and his girlfriend Julie flew in the night before so we had to do some last minute shopping, baking, and decorating.  And I didn't get to take as many photographs as I would have liked, and in the midst of everything completely forgot to take a group shot :(

So cute!!!  I used to make fun of people who dressed their pets up for Halloween and now I'm one of them!!!

I also dressed in costume for work the Friday before Halloween.  The patrons loved it!

Family Day Hike

We went day hiking with the whole family today.  We hiked about 8 miles and stopped to enjoy the views at The Pinnacle and The Pulpit lookout points.  Gorgeous, gorgeous weather we had, too!

Highlights:  Carter and Ben discovered a cave under the rocks at The Pinnacle - very cool!  Daisy was off-leash for most of the hike and did so well!  Ivy lost her earring and then Carter and Ivy decided to sacrifice the other one in memory of the trip.  Mom brought Daisy a yummy bone to chomp on while at The Pinnacle, but it found its way into a deep, dark hole that none of us were brave enough to stick our hands down to retrieve it.  Poking around with a stick didn't yield any luck, either.  Stopped at a pizza parlor afterwards for dinner.  

Flashback, 1989 or 1990