At Home in the Mountains

That's what a fire alarm sounds like going off at 5a.m. in your house on a Sunday morning. Most of you have probably heard about the little fire we had downstairs a couple of weeks ago. An aquarium light had a short in it and caught on fire. When the smoke alarms went off it was in flames. I got up first and went in to see what was going on. Talk about a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. I saw the aquarium light was on fire (thought it was a heater at the time) and yelled at Aaron to get the fire extinguisher. We had never had a fire extinguisher in the house until about a month ago, when the home study safety inspection for the adoption required us to get one. So thank goodness for bureaucracy for once! I grabbed Maddy and a blanket and my phone and went outside on the front steps while Aaron put out the fire. I was just thinking that I should probably go ahead and call 911. I called down to Aaron and he said, "It's out!" He had to use the entire 5# fire exting...

Well New York City was never in my top 10 of places I wanted to visit someday; it really was never on the list of places I wanted to visit period. In fact, it might have almost been on the list of places I want to avoid going to at all possible costs, but I enjoyed it much more than I expected. Though I'm not in a great hurry to go back to the hustle and bustle of the largest city in the U.S., I wouldn't mind going back someday to finish seeing and doing several things that I wanted to do but didn't have time. The streets stunk most of the time and I got tired of the crowds, the lines, the noise, and the traffic. I would not want to live there but it is a really interesting place to visit and I think anyone would enjoy going there. Whether you're a history buff, theater buff, nature buff, or night-life lover, there is something for you to do and see and enjoy in New York. Heckscher playground in Central Park  We flew into La Guardia late on Thursday night and caugh...