A Visit to the Aquarium

Summer has been a whirlwind of activities. I haven't had even a chance to blog about even 1/2 of them! I need to catch up!! Back on August 6th, we took a trip to the NJ State Aquarium.

We love this place. It's full of lots of exibits and there are a lot of interactive things here as well.

The girls had a blast in the 'touch pools'. The water is FREEZING cold. They were able to touch starfish, shrimp and a few other critters. Ellie wanted, sooo badly, to pick up the starfish and give them a kiss. I was cracking up!!

Below we see Mackie here with her frozen hands in the touch pool.

I caught a rare moment of Sisterly Love here on film!

Ahh.. the giftshop. Of course, the girls wanted one of each thing they saw! This is just silliness!

Everyone needs an octopus to wear on their head, right??

Yeah.. there's this plexiglass TUNNEL that you walk through to get from one part of the aquarium to the next. You walk in and you're being transported under the sea. Imagine this thing coming at you as you scuba dive..........
NO THANK YOU!!

Overall it was a great day. A little crowded but a great day just the same!!!

Send in the Marines!!

We went to the Trenton/Mercer Airport to see a WW2 Bomber Display. They had 3 gorgeous planes that we were able to view and tour. Alongside the planes was a small display of military vehicles. There were 2 WW2 Era Jeeps, our WW2 Dodge Ambulance and a modern Marine Corp Truck, complete with it's crew.

It was a gorgeous day, the high reaching only about 75 degrees! I loved seeing the planes and reading the poster boards about them and their crews and missions during WW2. The planes look so big and bulky that you can hardly imagine them being graceful and stealthy!
What I love most about the planes is their nose art. Some of them have some really detailed artwork on them. This one is one of my favorites. It doesn't have all that much artwork on it but it lists the names of all the crew who ever worked with this particular plane. It's amazing that so many people are connected with just this one plane.

The names cover almost the entire side of the aircraft. Here you can see only a small area. It's amazing!
After the display closed at 5PM they sold rides on the bombers. The money goes to the upkeep and fuel for these flying fortresses. It's a pretty penny for a flight at $425.00 for just 30 minutes! Most of those who flew that day were Vets who had actually been crew members on a B17, B25 or B24 Bombers during WW2.
For my girls, the highlight of the day was hangin' with the Marines. We were set up next to their huge truck and the girls befriended one Marine in particular. PFC Wolf. He was fantastic with the girls, showing them the truck and equipment. He was so nice to them that they just wanted to hug him all day long! Thanks PFC Wolf!

My friend recently posted this on a scrapbooking site we are on together. I wanted to give it a little more exposure so I decided to post it here in my blog.
Thanks for your support!
~Gabi

My mother is terminally ill with congestive heart failure, copd, and emphasema

and is on oxygen 24/7. My mother lives in MN and I am in WV. I am not able to give her the support that she needs due to how far apart we live. My mom's birthday is August 25th. I wonder if anyone is interested and has the time, could make my mother a birthday card and send to her with well wishes.
This would be so uplifting for her during this very hard time.
She also spends 5 days a week alone because her husband is in construction and is gone the whole week. I've seen other communities doing this for others and I think this would be so wonderful.

Many thanks and hugs,
Denise

If you are interested I'd be very happy to give you my moms mailing

address, please email me - emersyn_mom@yahoo.com
thank you!

Studio Friday - August 17th, 2007

Favorite item in the Studio
"Thanks Lauren for suggesting this Friday's topic! It might be difficult to narrow it down to just one?!! item, but let's try and have a look..."

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When I first saw the Topic I knew exactly what I would write about. See this little, cluttered, green table?

It belongs to another artist with whom I share my studio.
She's 5, very creative and I think she has this artist thing mastered, straight down to the cluttered work space!!
This table is my favourite thing in my studio. It makes me happy to see my girls wanting to be creative. It gives me hope that they will spend many hours in here with me, just hangin' out, playing and spending precious time together creating!

Scrapdragon Challenge #2

Here is my layout for Scrapdragon's Challenge #2!

I had a blast creating it with Laura's sketch!
You can see it if you mosey on over to Scrapdragon!
Head on over and enter and check out the prize!

A day at the beach!

Yesterday we went to the beach with Laura and her kids, Rachel and Caleb. We went to Point Pleasant to Jenkinson's Beach and had a fantastic day. The weather could not have been more perfect!

Laura and I had a blast watching the kids enjoying the sun, sand and surf!

We always have a fantastic time together!! The kids get along wonderfully and play so well together.

We found a beached mermaid!!


The surf was really rough and pretty high at times. Mackie and Rachel LOVED being out in the waves.

A great time was had by all of us!!

Challenge 8 issued by A True Friend A Priceless Treasure blog!

When A True Friend posted Challenge 8 , I knew it was one I had to take!! This is my cat, playing with one of his many toys. He's not really spoiled he's just UBER-LOVED!!!

I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger!

Lissa nominated me for "Rockin' Girl Blogger" status! WOOO! Thanks Lis!!

Ok so here's how it goes. I tag FIVE bloggers I feel are 'ROCKIN' GIRL BLOGGER' material and then they tag 5 and so forth and so on!

I choose:
Laura - She's the one who keeps me going day to day! My creative soundboard and biggest cheerleader! Her blog is just kickin' with fun stuff!
Tracie - Definitely a ROCKIN' GIRL BLOGGER! Her fire and determination are SO inspiring to me. She is a talented writer and has me going back for more, every day! GO ROCKIN' GIRL!!!
Debbie - Her wit and art inspires me to strive to bring my creativity to the next level. She writes with a style that just has me going back for more! She's totally a ROCKIN' GIRL BLOGGER!!
Nik - A very talented Aussie scrapper and one of my dearest friends! Her work both inspires me and brightens my day! YOU ARE A ROCKIN' GIRL BLOGGER!
Scrapdragons - A fabulous NEW challenge blog that has taken off like a wildfire and is definitely ROCKIN'! GO GIRLIES GO!!

Already August?!

Wow it's already August. I'm stunned at how quickly the summer is whizzin' by!
I did this layout this morning for Scrapdragon. We just posted our 1st contest over there so everyone's just GOTTA check it out!!
I also uploaded it over at The School of Scrap for their August Advanced Math challenge!