A post with no pictures!

Jeanne and Natalie came to spend the week with me at the lake. It was a wonderful week, but I have no pictures to share because I kept having camera issues. The first day I forgot my camera. The second day I remembered my camera, but the battery was dead. The third day I charged the battery, but forgot to put it in my camera. Finally, I had my act together the day we brought the puppies home. I was saying cuss words by the end of the week over my camera.

Jeanne and Natalie came up Tuesday evening. Jeanne agreed to watch the girls for the evening, so that Brian and I could celebrate our eleventh wedding anniversary. Brian and I went to dinner, and to see the newest Harry Potter movie. Jeanne decided to take the girls to the only youth movie, which they hadn't seen. I had seen the preview, and it looked like a comedy even though it was rated PG. Jeanne decided to brave it, and take the girls to see "Aliens in the Attic". Jeanne called me while I was eating some delicious chicken Parmesan at Parkette restaurant, that she had to get the girls out of the movie that it had overtly sexual connotations and was scary. Not a great beginning to an evening, but a plan was made to go to target and buy a new movie to watch at my house. I met them there, and Bethany picked out Barbie Mermaid. A much better choice, than a ridiculous alien movie. Brian and I went on to see our movie.

When I got home, Jeanne had had some adventures with the girls, and was just then starting the Barbie Mermaid movie. I am unsure to the order of the events, and I am typing them third hand, so there maybe some straying from the actual truth of the situations.

The first event shows that there is strength in numbers and mob mentality can prevail even in a mob of two. Bethany and Natalie are usually very good listeners. Bethany's little heart tries to do what is right all the time. Jeanne took the girls for a walk along the lake. The girls decided to run, and would not stop no matter how many times Jeanne called for them to stop. Natalie decided since Bethany wasn't listening she didn't have to listen either and vice versa. Or maybe they were like my puppies, onto a scent and couldn't stop running toward it. The girls had fun running, but Jeanne didn't have fun chasing.

The second event of the evening proves that you can not trust a three year old or a six year old to practice good judgement when together. I am sure this is all Bethany's plan. It was far too sophisticated for Natalie to develop on her own. Jeanne was resting on the couch from the previous race. The girls were playing sweetly in Bethany's bedroom. Jeanne could hear them talking. Then there was a crash. Jeanne went to investigate. The girls were naked, except for donning winter coats. They had placed shower caps on their heads, and they were pouring water over each others heads. At least, Bethany had enough sense to have them stand in the bathtub, so that they wouldn't get water on the floor. The crash was the breaking of one of my blue drinking glasses from the kitchen. After all this excitement, Jeanne decided to spend the night with me instead of driving back to Weston for the night. The girls watched their Barbie Mermaid movie, and went to sleep.

The next day was excellent. We sat on the porch for awhile in the morning while the girls rode bikes in the driveway. We decided to go to Valley Worlds of Fun in Fairmont. They have a big slide that you have to ride on with a mat, bumper boats, bumper cars, tea cups, a little roller coaster, putt putt golf, bowling, arcade games, and bouncing toys. I haven't laughed so much in ages. I took Natalie down the slide with me. I was terrified the first trip down, because I was afraid I'd let go of her and she would fall. The second time down it was so much fun. Jeanne and I loved the bumper boats. It took us awhile to figure out how to drive them. We went around in circles for a bit. We tried to play putt putt, but after maybe five holes the girls had lost interest. The funniest thing was when we first started playing, Natalie held her club upside down. It just didn't work for her, so she eventually turned it up the right way. Our favorite game inside was smashing spiders. A little platform had lights with sensors that would blink on and off. You had to smash the "spider" with your foot when the light blinked on. Bethany and I played a game of air hockey. When we were finished the girls got to pick out prizes with their tickets. Bethany's prized find was a "China Fan". We were hungry when we left Valley Worlds of Fun, so we drove to a little diner called Poky Dot's. I love it. It is decorated with dots of course and lots of murals of people. The menu is good. I had a vegetable frittata. Natalie was so tired she had a little nap in Jeanne's lap. It was a great day together.

The third day of our trip was a hillbilly adventure. We decided to drive to Hovatter's Zoo in Kingwood. It is about an hour away from Bridgeport. We had a late lunch at Bob Evan's restaurant before we went. I had these caramel banana stuffed pancakes. They were awesome. After eating, we started on our way which was Interstate driving until we got off just past Morgantown. Then we got on some curvy roads, and drove forever out into no where. We found the zoo without getting lost in no where. I am still disturbed by the zoo. They had a gazillion animals caged on eight acres of land. The cages were not sized properly for the animals. There was no entertainment for the animals. The poor chimpanzees were just sitting in a concrete cell. No toys available for play. No branches to swing on. The cages were dirty. I saw no food or water for the animals. There were little tubes into each cage, where you could buy pellets from the zoo office to feed the animals. The animals were trained to come to the tube and wait for pellets. It was horrible. One little horse had an eye infection. I was really appalled. The girls liked getting so close to the animals though. They thought it was great. My favorite part was the prairie dogs. They had built themselves a colony of tunnels, and had freed themselves from their enclosure. This is not a good thing from the standpoint of West Virginia's ecosystem. The little creatures might just venture off into the wilds, and compete for space and food with our native animals. Jeanne said she felt the sorriest for a giant white Bengal tiger who was standing on top his little shelter in this tiny cage. I just can't convey the inappropriateness of the place in a paragraph or two. It was just a living hell for the animals.

After we left the zoo and drove back to the rest of the world, we went to Walmart to gather supplies for a picnic the following day at the farm. The next day, we went to the courthouse to sign some papers for my Dad in relation to selling his house in Virginia. Then we drove out to my Grandpa's farm. Since he passed away over a year ago, the farm has been divided among his children. My parents were given the great meadow behind the cabin. We had our picnic in the yard of the cabin on some blankets. We had chicken salad, water melon, celery with peanut butter, grapes, and whoopie pies. After we had full bellies we went for a walk around the meadow. Natalie picked handfuls of white clover. She wasn't interested in any other flowers blooming, just clovers. When our walk was complete we fixed up Lily's grave. The girls helped me plant some yellow mums and a yellow lily. We played inside the cabin for a bit, and planned how we might straighten things up so that we could stay there some. We would like our girls to have sentimental feelings of weeks on the farm like we have. My cousin Eric is building a house just across the field from the cabin. We are going to be neighbors. Changes happen sometimes dramatically to a place. I'd like to build a yurt for some camping fun.

Finally, we had our fill of farm fun and drove back to Weston. We shared our leftovers with PaPa. Bethany wanted to play Bingo, so we did. Papa played with us. It was a very nice time together. Bethany and I headed home soon after the game was over, because the next day was Saturday, puppy pick up day!

In the morning, Brian, Bethany, and I drove to Pittsburgh to pick up Daisy and Tippy. We arrived at the airport at one o'clock. We had a lot of time before the puppies arrived. We ate some lunch and found the baggage claim area where the pups would be delivered to us. We sat and read puppy training books together. Our puppies came off the plane to us around three thirty. We stopped at a rest stop on the way home for a potty break for them and us. We played with them for awhile, and drove the rest of the way home. Great Aunt Jean, Jeanne, and Natalie came to see the puppies that evening. The puppies were wild and crazy in the house. We are now playing outside only until we get our bladders under control. The girls are eating in the kitchen, and I will hold them in other parts of the house. Our puppy training book says that the connection between potty and outside will be established around fourteen weeks, so we have a bit of time before they will get the idea. I picked Daisy up last night from her kennel to take her outside, and she peeped on my foot as I was carrying her out the door. It is going to be awhile, but they will learn.

Meeting the puppies was our last event together. It was a great week, and I am so thankful that Jeanne and Natalie had some adventures with us. We had a really good time together. I want another week.