Let's kill some time...

hehe....Kyle's newest creation

First Snow Storm 08

We're getting a nice little nor'easter today. Amazing! Kyle just ran out and took these pics.

Singing at Preakness

Ryan had the opportunity to sing at Preakness Bible Church today. It was a real blessing for us. This is Ryan singing "In Thee, O Lord".

Thank you, Pastor Karl.

Farewell Tommy

Tommy the Triops - deceased

Ryan wrote this last week.

Our pet Tommy likes to swim around in his tank and eat the food that we give him, such as bits of peas and carrots. At times we've seen him overcome with a very strange behavior in which he crazily tries to dig under the little plastic fossil in his tank, switching between a medium fast pace and a super revved-up mode. Dad has said that perhaps he tries to dig under the rock to shed his exoskeleton (or "shell", as we say).

Tommy has an interesting appearance as a so-called "prehistoric" crustacean. He's about 2 inches long, with probably about 1 inch of that being his tail. He has a sort of crescent-shaped plate on (or for) his head with 3 eyes on it (2 big eyes and a little one for sensing whether he's right side-up or upside-down) with the points on the crescent pointing backards and out. Under his body, he has many legs, like a centipede, which produce a sort of strobe effect when they move. His mouth is also on his underside (like a manta ray) and sometimes we've seen him eat food while going around on his back.

The happy home owners...

Here we are at Dana's house...uh, I mean, OUR house...lol! We had a very nice visit with her.
Dana's dog, Emmet, loved me! I wanted to sneak him into our car and bring him home!
Hey look! We actually know how to sit down and eat together as a family! Wow!
The guys hanging out in the kitchen.

The boys made up this silly song and had fun singing it for us on the way to Dana's house. After this they had to get school work done, until Kyle felt sick, and then he got to take a nap.

Mountain Road

Before you come upon our house, there rests a sharp, swerving road, which winds itself upon our hill, just like a serpentine snake, with bends forcing a cautionary pace upon most who enter its domain. It lies in a forested area, almost hidden off of the bustling highway. Yet what may appear to some a path of warning, we traverse with joy, tackling its corners at a thrilling pace, as if we had taken our ride in a rollercoaster.

In the summer, however, our speed is often replaced with relaxed steps, stopping frequently to fill our mouths with the red raspberries that adorn the sides of the road. These juicy berries sweeten our tongues and set our hands in motion to pick all the more, even succumbing us to “double-fisted berry-picking”.

Yes, this road has become a pleasant thought; and though its name is more suitable to some trail upon the majestic Appalachians, I believe my mind may forever be imprinted with memories of this “Mountain Road”.

- Ryan Vegh

Tommy is 2 months old today!!

Not sure how much longer he is going to be alive. Sometimes when I come downstairs in the morning he is upside down on the bottom. So, I am worried he may not last long.

Maggie the maggot...uh, fly

WHAT? Doesn't everybody have a pet maggot?

Maggie was only with us about 2 weeks. We watched him from the beginning of his little life when he was just a disgusting wiggly white wormy thing. That first day he came into our lives, we lovingly gave him a piece of raw ground beef. We wished to give Maggie some colorful rainbow wings when he became a fly, so our plan was to put drops of food coloring on him. But we didn't have any food coloring, and I procrastinated about buying some. By the time we got it, little Maggie was enclosed in a tiny black cocoon thingy... We looked up online how long this stage would last and found out it could be "a week, a month, or a year" so we waited with anticipation as each day passed.

Today, the unthinkable, the unimaginable happened. Ryan looked in the jelly jar and there was our beautiful new creature flying around in there... free at last from the confines of that hard outer shell.

Yes, Maggie is free now. Flying carefree outside in the cold NJ air so Darryl didn't swat him. Goodbye Maggie!

Gotta have my football fix!

Linda loves football.... go Giants. Sometimes I just gotta be silly... and let go.
Go Eli!

Up close and personal

Kyle took these close-up pics of our little crustacean. They are pretty good. You can see the armor on him. Not sure what we'll do when we go to Michigan next month. If old Tommy is still alive, I wonder if we'll have to get a Triops Sitter... lol