RRRRoad Trip

The last two weeks have been full of fun. Last weekend I went with my sister Amy to Baltimore to visit my sister Karen and her family...including their brand new baby - Emily. I realize that Jeffrey is only one...but already I cannot remember when he was so very tiny. Little Emily is a precious package - so tiny and so sweet. It was a fun trip.

This weekend my clan went for a quick trip to Lake Placid. Jeff had a little business to do up there - checking out the Hilton for an upcoming conference. The rest of us were in it for the ride - enjoying the spectacular views. The kids enjoyed the pool while Jeff worked in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the summit of Whiteface via the Veterans Memorial Highway (never been on this - it was incredible!). Once we made it to the castle we took the elevator up through the mountain to the summit and then hiked back down to the castle for lunch. Later that afternoon we drove over to the Mackenzie Intervale Ski Jumping Complex and watched teens practice the 90 M high jump (landing on faux snow) and single kicker free style (landing in a pool). It was all very cool. We topped it all off with a little shopping and made it home by 10pm (with everyone but Jeff fast asleep in the car :).

Cara sliding down the slide at Emerson Park. Okay, not sure how to turn images once they are uploaded...:)








Anna with her Beach House Gingerbread Cottage. She entered this in the county fair...quite inventive.










Jeffy...trying to attack the photographer.

Ode to Tomato Fest

The CNY Tomato Fest held a poetry contest this year. Since "contest" means "prizes" Anna was a little more than a little interested. She wasn't sure that she could write a tomato poem..so I told her that I'd write one if she did. I didn't realize that they would publish these in the Syracuse paper...but, well, I've guess that is okay too.

Below are our poems. We are not quite Poe...in case you didn't know :). Oh...and we didn't win - but Anna is looking for another contest already.

Tomatoes are red, violets are blue, we love tomatoes, how about you?
By Anna Carmichael, 9 years old

Tomatoes are red,tomatoes are green,we plant their little seeds next to our beans.
Then we wait until they grow,until the little flowers show,and we tie them to a stake and make a little bow.
Soon we have big tomatoes,and small tomatoes too(usually we are just happy they grew).
Then we eat our tomatoes,in salad and on bread,we eat them and eat them - both yellow and red.
Extra tomatoes in the garden are the best part,we give them away and make them into veggie art.

Ode to Big Fat Tomatoes, by Celeste Carmichael, older than 9
As the winter grows old and we tire of the cold;
I dream of big fat tomatoes.
From May to September near the top of my mind
is growing big fat tomatoes.

We plant small plants, and wonder each night about the cold weather, about
frost bite
and we worry - will we have big fat tomatoes?

Water, fertilize, mulch & weed,
I tend to the garden and hope to succeed, growing anxious for big fat
tomatoes.

Sure we could buy them; that would be easy,
but store-bought tomatoes are nothing but cheesy -
for I know that there is nothing like the flavor of big fat home grown
tomatoes.

My grandmother taught me to eat them with toast,
my grandfather cooked them on top of a roast.
We slice, dice them, puree them and stew,
from July to September we eat more than a few,
There really is nothing as fine or nothing as sweet as big fat, juicy,
home grown, delicious tomatoes.