Blue Knob, PA

Our family went to Blue Knob over the Memorial Day weekend. It's an annual event, though typically we go with other families over Labor Day. The first night was VERY cold--(perhaps because I forgot to pack one of the sleeping bags), but it very beautiful and quiet there, and was very relaxing. We missed having Erika and James who came last year, and Kara who hasn't been in a few years. Julia gets to return in about one month for her week of church Girl's Camp.


Andrea with friends on top of the dinner bell


Julia plays a game with friends in the mess hall

Daniel finished a 1000 piece puzzle with the help of a few other people.

We slept in simple cabins, but Daniel wanted to sleep one night under the stars.

Top Schools

The high school that Daniel and Julia attend (and James attended) has just been rated in the top 1300 schools by Newsweek. Scores are based on the number of AP and advanced level classes taken divided by the total number of graduating Seniors. [Click the title to link to Newsweek's article.]

Daniel Inducted into National Honor Society

We are very proud of Daniel as the first member of our family to be invited to join the National Honors Society, which looks for well-rounded students who display scholarship, leadership and service.

Daniel has taken accelerated classes, is involved in 6 choral and band groups, has been a team captain on the Cross-country team, participated in Track and Field, leads the Madrigals, played in the pit for the school play, is an Eagle Scout and has almost finished his Duty to God award (a 6-year award). He often quietly helps out when the Red Cross needs donors, or volunteers are needed at school or church. Oh, and I'm not sure the Honors Society realizes he is one Nintendo wizard. Way to go, Daniel.

Meals that Heal--New Food Blog

Fish Tacos with Tilapia and Cabbage

I have decided to start a new blog called Meals that Heal. It will feature actual meals I make for lunch and dinner--when I have time to post them. Most recipes are very basic. I am striving for healthy family meals with natural ingredients that are easy to prepare. The blog is intended as a reference for myself of how I have adapted recipes. And hopefully it will give others some insipration. Feel free to make comments of how you have or would make them differently.
click HERE

Great Wall

A couple weeks ago Erika took a train from Wuxi to Beijing (about 675 miles). Friends of ours from Maryland were kind enough to let her stay with them--and even to take her on the 2-hour excursion to see the Great Wall of China. Although she considered going to Beijing in August to see the Olympics, it worked out to do it now. She flew back to Wuxi on a plane. BTW, she got her perm and haircut in China. :)

Awards Night

Tonight--from 6:00-10:00pm! was Awards Night for the High School's music program.
Daniel was honored to receive the Choral director's award for Dedication. As the student director of the Madrigal's, he needs to know the music extra well to direct beginnings and cutoffs, and to give the first pitch for each song. (Wow, how does he do that?) Dan got his third year participation award for Concert Choir, Madrigals, Mens Chorus, Jazz Band, Marching Band and Symphonic Band.


Julia received a Letter this year for her 2nd year of participation in Concert Choir, Womens Chorus, Marching Band and Symphonic Band. Julia also went to the podium to give an award that she made for another student.

Let me also mention here that at their recent competition at Virginia Beach, VA, their school won FIRST PLACE for every group! Every chorus, band and orchestra.
And, an award was also surprisingly given to a dedicated parent who co-chaired the sub sales this year (1600 subs were sold, and assembled by the students as a fund-raiser.)


And Andrea and I were a good audience. Well, Andrea got tired and went home early...

Mother's Day

I have a great mom and others who have nurtured me, and I enjoy being the mom of 6 great children. As it happened this year, both Kara in Colorado and Erika in China were asked to speak in church about motherhood. It was interesting to talk to them as they prepared, and also to hear later what they said.

Some of the highlights of my day were: (in no particular order)

1. talking to my mom on the phone and reminiscing

2. a visit that week with my mother-in-law--who raised the best son ever

3. a package (of spring bulbs) and a card sent from Kara--how thoughtful!

4. a home 'spa' coupon from Julia for massage, manicure and light snacks!

5. a nice card from Daniel

6. an e-card from China from Erika (and a long phone call with her the next day making sure she wasn't affected by the earthquake in China)

7. a 45-minute call with our missionary son, James (whose next call will be at Christmas)

8. Andrea made it a party by making everyone invitations for a party in our basement. She set out chairs, got the video camera ready and tied a rope to the middle of her blanket and threw the rope over a beam. After a countdown she pulled on the rope and revealed her present. It was some of my favorite licorice candy--Good and Plenty and SNAPS--which I hadn't had since I was little. She also made a gift in school- a pot with a couple coupons stuck in-- 1 hug, 1 massage, and my favorite, 'I will put my plate in the dishwasher. Good 1 time!' (Got to love her!)

She also wrote me a song and had everyone sing it:
If you want to be like Mom
Well, you gotta

Like to swim in the pool
and look so cool

Like to eat
while being neat

Like writing and reading
and overachieving!

That's why we love you!

9. some pretty potted plants from my wonderful hubby, David, with a very sweet letter/card. He also brought me breakfast in bed by himself this year, and made dinner with the kids. They ended up grilling inside due to the weather.

10. remembering that Dave and I met on Mother's Day 25 years ago. It was definitely a red-letter day for me that year, and he has made it a special day for me every since by being such a good dad that he has made me look like a decent Mom.


Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Julie

Dave's parents live in Cincinnati. They came for a visit with his sister Julie, who helped them drive out here. They had just visited Dave's sister, Kathy, in PA, and saw a couple shows in NYC. They arrived Tuesday night and we had a nice visit--breaking in our new deck furniture with them. It was the first night of Daniel and Julia's High School music concert. They are both in the Concert Choir--but with getting Andrea to gymnastics and having company, we decided to just see Daniel and Julia on Thursday night.

Wednesday I took our guests for a day trip to Annapolis. It was fortunate that Dave unexpectedly decided to meet us down there because right after he came his father started feeling unwell. A kind shop owner got him a chair and some water, but it then became apparent that he needed more help and we called 911. Dad was doing better even before the ambulance arrived, but we went to the hospital to have him checked. Dave helped convince the doctors not to keep him overnight and he was home by dinner--which was a big relief.

Thursday night we all attended Dan and Julia's concert. One or both of them was in every group--Jazz Band, Mens Ensemble [which sang 'Sherry baby' :)], Womens Ensemble, Madrigals (Dan is also the student director), and Symphonic Band. Everything was very professional looking and sounding, and entertaining.

Friday Dave took the day off and we went to the Inner Harbor with Dad, Mom and Julie. We toured a Mexican ship that was in port and walked around a little--having crab cakes at Phillips and then gelato at Vacarro's in Little Italy. [My nocciola (hazelnut) gelato with whip cream and almonds was huge and delicious!]
We watched the rented movie, Les Miserables, that night.

Saturday we relaxed and then the whole family went to Toby's dinner theater to see the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.




We had good seats and enjoyed the singing and dancing. The buffet was yummy, too. I happened to be sitting near one of the instructor's I see often at the gym. Dan's trombone section leader was doing the lights and their choral teacher, DK, was playing the piano for the orchestra. Dan also recognized our waitor who helped with his school play (That night he played the Pharoah/portrayed as Elvis--you know, 'the King'.)

They left on Sunday morning, Mother's Day. It was great having them visit. It was like a little vacation. And it was nice to enjoy the fun things in this area that we don't usually take time for.

Our Missionary

Our son James (Elder Meiners) is really enjoying the experiences he is having in Riverside, California on his Spanish-speaking mission. He has been in California about two months now. He and his companion, Elder Harding, have been teaching many people. Last Sunday James had his first opportunity to baptize, and baptized children of a family. Their grandma was also baptized. I am proud of his enthusiasm, humility and hard work.



Elder Harding (left) and Elder Meiners

Elder Harding and Meiners with Grandma Julia, Kimberly, Wilson and Angel who were baptised last Sunday

Solomons Island

Friday Dave and I drove to Solomons Island, MD to celebrate our 24th anniversary. It's a narrow little town situated along Patuxent River on three sides which empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

There are lots of inlets and it seemed like there were sailboats docked everywhere.


The view on the east


We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast called Solomons Victorian Inn. Our room was here in the former carriage house.


the view from our window, (screen and all)


a 100-watt bulb with reflective glass at the top of the lighthouse can be seen 13 miles

the lighthouse from the museum


We attended a Celtic Festival on Saturday. There were authentic games. In this competition, the men threw 22-pound clubs behind them. One threw it 95 feet.






Various bagpipe groups performed for us. They played a folksong, 'Scottish Dance' that we know in our hymn book as 'Praise to the Man'.


Scottish clans had booth about their family origin. I learned that my ancestor Reynolds Cahoon's family was probably a member of the Calquhoun clan (pronounced the same).

< Dave considers owning a kilt. Each clan has their own pattern (tartan).

These men were in their Scottish 1600s attire.


Soon afterward, they were in a time warp and had a skirmish on the field with Colonial forces.


We felt like we were in a time warp, too--back 24 years ago when there was just the two of us.

Andrea's card for us

Jonas Brothers Concert

Andrea was furtunate enough to be invited by a friend to go to the White House Easter Egg roll and festivities on the Mall in Washington, DC. Tickets are free, but her friend's dad had to camp overnight to pick up the tickets.

The girls didn't care if they missed the other events. They just wanted to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. They were way in the back and couldn't see anything during the first concert, but as soon as it ended they went up to the front row and waited there for 4 hours--holding tight to their spots until the next concert.

She was amply rewarded by being almost close enough to touch them, [and to get these close up shots] and she's pretty sure Nick actually waved to her. :)

Flash Back to 4 years ago

Dave at the front doors of the famous domed cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, (Il Duomo)

Four years ago today Dave and I were celebrating our 20th anniversary (a few weeks early) in Florence, Italy. David had an emergency appendectomy just two weeks earlier. However it didn't stop us from walking all day long each day to see the great museums and cathedrals of the world housed in this one city. We rented an apartment for the week to live like the Italians. It was on Via Delle Terme near Palazzo Vecchio in the center of town. We would come home for lunch and both take a few aspirin for our aching legs, and then go out again. It reminded me a bit of all the walking I did many years earlier as a missionary in Italy.

My favorite story of our trip, though, is eating at a trattoria that had been recommended in my Frommer's book-- 'Il Pennello' on Via Dante Alighieri. The food was excellent, and our waiter was friendly. I said to him in my best Italian, "I understand that many famous painters used to come to this restaurant. Is that true?" Rather than just give me an answer, he asked us to come with him. He took us through a hall and up a few steps to another room that was empty--except for a full size painting that covered one wall. The painting was by Mariotto Albertinelli. He was a painter by hobby who opened the restaurant in the 1500s. The portrait was of the room we were in. We could match up the columns and architectural features in the painting with those of the room. In the portrait, facing us in life size was Michelangelo, and other celebrated Flortentine artists of the time like Del Sarto and Cellini who liked to hang out at Albertinelli's place.)

I was almost speechless. Of all the paintings we had seen in all the museums this one was powerful because it was in the original location. I could easily imagine these great artists in this same room 500 years ago! And they were talking and eating there just like we were. The waiter could see how deeply impressed I was by this unexpected surprise--and then told us that 200 years before Albertinelli had owned the place, it had belonged to the great writer, Dante!


He kindly gave me this postcard that tells of the history of the place. Though it may not be known with certainty that this was the actual house of Dante, it is agreed that Dante lived on the block--which was named for him. The sense of history and all the many great people who lived in this one town is absolutely astounding.

We were also able to tour Michelangelo's house and to walk by Galileo's house, the church where Amerigo Vespucci attended, the burial place (SantaCroce Cathedral) of Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo, and Niccolo Machiavelli. We saw the great works of Brunelleschi, Ghirlandaio, Boticelli, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Donnatello, and Della Robbia. We took a day trip to nearby Fiesole where we saw models of Leonardo da Vinco's inventions as well as Roman baths and an Etruscan temple.

This year's anniversary will be great in another way--I'll be with the same great guy! You can check back in a few weeks for details on this year's 24th anniversary.

Happy Easter

We celebrated a quiet Easter today. At church, Daniel, Andrea and I performed Easter music with the ward choir.

On Friday afternoon we had our family egg hunt in our yard.



















Daniel used his counter to help him keep track of all the eggs he found.




















That night we colored eggs as a family. Everyone had an egg 'dedicated' to them including James (in California), Erika (in China) Kara and Luke (in Colorado) who weren't with us.



















Sunday afternoon we relaxed together and everyone helped make part of our dinner.




















We had a roast, sauteed asparagas and baby carrots, a green salad, mashed potatoes made by Daniel, a braided bread with cinnamon icing made by Julia and strawberries and whipped cream over angel food cake made by Andrea.


This day renewed my gratitude for Jesus Christ whose atonement erases my sins that I repent of, heals every kind of sorrow, and whose resurrection promises each of us the gift of being resurrected to a glorious life hereafter.

Andrea's Room

Andrea has been wanting to change her room around. Since all the walls really needed to be painted, we started by clearing almost everything out of the room, leaving the heavy furniture in the middle. A friend gave us a bed frame which I painted white.

I shampooed the carpet and Monday Julia helped Andrea and I paint trim and doors white and put on a primer coat on all the walls as we listened to music from Hairspray and Jack Johnson. We came back to it on Thursday, painting all the walls Laura Ashley lavender in 2 shades (which you can't tell apart!).

Friday I touched up and we moved the furniture back in with new lavender gingham bedding. We had also painted her bookshelf (soft green) and a shelf and some picture frames white. This was the first time Andrea had this much say in her decorating, and I'm pretty sure it will always look this tidy :).

Spring Break

This year for Spring Break we decided to do something separately with Daniel, Julia and Andrea to have some time with each of them to do something they wanted to do.

Dave drove up to NYC with Daniel. We went as a family last spring at about this time, but there were things Daniel still hoped to do there. They drove up early on Tuesday and walked through Central Park. Daniel was interested in seeing the various statues in the park. Here's Dan with Balto.


They saw the Julliard School of Music and its bookstore. Dan also wanted to see the Nintendo store at Rockefeller Center. Here he is playing the new Super Smash Brothers Brawl game on a Wii there.


They also went to see Ground Zero and were on a tour by a fireman who was the only survivor from his unit.

Click the pic to see Dad and Dan in NYC-2008

Julia and Andrea and I enjoyed "Horton Hears a Who", had lunch and shopped for clothes at the mall.

Service Project for Women with Cancer

For the past four years I have been the President of our women's group, Relief Society, for about 175 women in our ward. [In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we all receive unpaid callings to serve as teachers, leaders or in other ways we are asked.] One of our Relief Society goals is to strengthen each other and to serve those around us.



This 2 1/2 minute 'movie' made by Christie Wall shows a service project that women from our ward completed last Saturday to benefit local women with breast cancer. Some women learned to knit or crochet to assist in this project. I knit two scarves (before the event) and made pillows. We were excited to present over 40 scarves and 100 small pillows to comfort women in our area.

Gymnastics Performance

Last week we attended Andrea's end of the year gymnastics performance. Here she is on the trampoline. After these amazing jumps the coach asked her if she wanted to be a cheerleader.


We saw her climb a rope,



on the balance beam
and other fun things.



Here she is with her participation awards.