So far behind, and only 4 weeks left.

The last month has been unbelievably busy. What am I saying? It's July. Of course it is busy! This is the one month of the year that my Heathens and I never stop moving or traveling.

Last time I wrote, we had just finished VBS. Since then, let's see...

Ryan & Brandi's wedding (June 27, 2009)

The Asst. Zookeeper and I actually found someone willing to spend the night with our Heathens while we went to a friend's wedding. Eight years ago, Ryan was part of our wedding party. It was wonderful to attend his wedding as well. No one deserves to be happier than Ryan. All the best wishes from our household to our adopted "Uncle Mindo." The Heathens have also decided unanimously that Brandi is also "Aunt Brandi." Welcome to the zoo, honey!

Boy Scout Camp 2009 (June 28-July 4, 2009)

After years of visiting his grandfather at scout camp and desperately wishing he was old enough to actually attend, Heathen #1's wish finally came true. We packed him off to Seph Mack for his first week as a boy scout at camp. Despite the rain, he had the best week ever. Here's a link to a skit his troop did. He's in there as well.

2nd Mile (July 5-10, 2009)

Heathen #1 was home overnight from scout camp before we packed him off to State College to attend a camp called 2nd Mile. He was there for a week and really had a great time. He made some great new friends.

Cub Scout Day Camp (July 8-10, 2009)

While Heathen #1 was at 2nd mile, the younger two Heathens and I attended Cub Scout Day Camp for three days out in New Germany. It's three days of BB guns, archery, slingshots, crafts, games, skits, songs, etc. It's absolutely exhausting, is what it is. But it is also a great three days.

Heathen #3's birthday party (July 11, 2009)

We celebrated the youngest Heathen's 4th birthday this month. I'm not adjusting well to the idea of having a 4-year-old as my youngest. He's much too independent! We had sparklers and other fireworks for his party. It was a bit damp and dreary, so most of the party was in the house. But we still had a great time!

Cub Scout Overnighter (July 18-19, 2009)

The cub scout pack had an overnight trip to Living Waters (very convenient!). I took the three Heathens out and they had a great time making and racing paper boats.

Middler Camp/ Kindergarten, First, Second Grade Camp

After a week off in the middle from any major traveling, I packed up all three Heathens for a week at Living Waters in Bedford, PA. Heathen #2 attended K, 1, 2 Camp for three days, before joining my camp on the hill. Heathen #1 was old enough for the first year to attend the camp that I direct every summer. It was strange to have him with me. It was definitely hard to figure out where the line was between being the mom and being the director. I don't know that I always got it right, but he had a great time. Heathen #3 tagged along with me for the week. A special KUDOS to my staff for the week: Farrah Felten, Sara Galko, and Sam Telep. And a huge thanks to Joni and Kat for everything!

Uncle Rhys & Aunt Michelle in town!

We came home from camp this past Saturday and were only home long enough to shower and change clothing. My brother and his wife were in town from Texas and my mother held a picnic. It was great to see them!

and since then...

We've now been home for a total of three days/nights. So far, all three of the Heathens have spent a day and evening sick with stomach flu. Nothing is more fun than a child that starts to vomit with little or NO warning. But they all seem to have recovered.

BUT WE'RE LEAVING AGAIN IN TWO DAYS!!!!

The Asst. Zookeeper and I are packing up the Heathens for another canoe trip to Kinzua. We leave Friday morning and aren't planning to come back until dinner time on Monday. Plenty of time to paddle in the quiet, play on the rope swing on the lake, and just vegetate. I can't wait...

Boomerang Express

Another year of Vacation Bible School is over! HURRAY!!!!! I love it and I look forward to it every year, but it is such a long week. This year's curriculum was Boomerang Express, written by LifeWay. It was fantastic and the kids had a great week.

As always, Trinity worked with Grace Assembly from across the street and we averaged 35 to 40 kids per evening. Grace's minister, Pastor Price, once again created a character to show up and entertain the kids. This year, it was Bruce, the boxing kangaroo!

"Team Member Spotlight"

The Asst. Zookeeper's company puts out a quarterly newsletter. He and his brothers were featured in the latest mailing.

Team Member Spotlight

by Hank Parke

THE MILLER BROTHERS

Underground Coal Miners

Brothers are often very competitice and have many things in common. Tim, Dan, and Todd Miller are no exception. The three grew up in Westmont and it seems that they have a long history of following in each others' foot steps. All three brothers are underground miners: Tim is a section mechanic at Quecreek, Dan works at the Miller Mine ad chief electrician and Todd is assistant mine foreman at Quecreek. They are fourth generation miners and proud of it. Dan began mining first and he said, "Once Tim saw how much I liked it, he began his mining career." Todd was the last one to get into mining, starting in July 2003 at Quecreek.

All three of them are Eagle Scouts. As Dan explained, "We grew up in scouting. We started as Cub Scouts and as we grew up we worked at scout camp in the summers." All three brother and their wives enjoy riding motorcycles along with their parents, Krista and Robert. Todd said, "We ride just about any time of the year." Dan and his family also like both flat water and whitewater canoeing. They go on summer canoe camping trips at Kinzua State Park.

Both Dan and Todd have their EMT certification and Tim is currently taking class. Tim is the last brother to take the class because he was off work for two years undergoing kidney dialysis. On April 23, 2008 he received a kidney from his brother Todd. "Both my brothers were willing and Todd was the best match" said Tim. He added, "I really missed mining during that time. I'm underground again now and I'm happy."

Although many families end up scattered all over the country because of job availability, all three Miller brothers still live in Cambria County. The mining industry has kept them close to their parents and their long mining tradition. Tim, Dan, and Todd wouldn't have it any other way.

There was additional note in the newsletter concerning Dan's mine:

Miller Mine has been the shining star of the deep mines for the past several months. After completing the seal and cut-through project, which seemed to last forever, production and conditions have been better than expected. Congratulations to all the men at Miller for a job well done.

A Rainy Afternoon

It's Wednesday. It's the last full day of school for the older two Heathens - and my last day of relative peace until August returns them to school. :) I'm thrilled to have them for the summer.

Today it's rainy and foggy. I'm just sort of sitting around and wasting the day. I have one cat in my lap and purring like a well-oiled engine. A second cat is visible out the window where she is skulking in the flower beds. A third cat is walking around my feet and winding her way around my legs. Who knows where the other feline is at the moment - my guess is close to the food dish. The Duchess is around the Zoo somewhere as well. She's easier to find - simply say her name, and she appears. Instantly.

The younger two Heathens are playing nicely in the basement. I told Heathen #2 to head out the door for the bus this morning. He said okay and I quit paying attention at that point. This was at 8:15 this morning. At 10:30, he walked into my bedroom and announced that he had missed the bus!!! Apparently, he stayed in front of the morning cartoons and never headed to the bus stop.

If I was a "good" mother - I would have taken him to school as soon as I discovered that he was still home. But, what could he possibly be missing on the second to last day of school? So, he's home with Heathen #3. Thank goodness I never applied for that "good mother" title!

This past Saturday, I woke up and laid in bed thinking that it was going to be a regular Saturday at the Zoo. We were going to get up, go to the soccer field for Heathen #2's game, and then spend the day working in the yard. Wow, was I wrong.

After the Asst. Zookeeper got home from work, he borrowed his father's backhoe to help one of our neighbors. They brought it down to the house and parked it in front. He then jumped into the van and drove down to the neighbors to check somethings before he took the backhoe down. During all of this, I was mowing the grass at the Zoo. Our Heathens and the neighbor's three kids are all in our yard playing.

And then this happened:

While parked, the backhoe popped out of gear, and then drifted across the road (in front of a VERY surprised Cable truck) and rolled over the hill and into the creek across the street!

I'd like to say that I watched this very calmly, but I didn't. I shrieked and started counting children. Thankfully, none of them were anywhere near it and everyone was okay!

So, I called the Asst. Zookeeper and his father both and explained what had happened. They both arrived in a few minutes and decided that they couldn't drive it out. So they called for a wrecker. Moxham Mobile's wrecker arrived about an hour later - but couldn't budge it. In fact, one of the tow cables snapped in the attempts. After about an hour of trying with no success, Moxham Mobile left.

During all of this, I was collecting neighborhood men and children in front of my house. The longer it went on, the more people we collected.

Our neighbor's son, Jake, directed traffic for us!


Then the wrecker arrived from Cernic's - the one used for big rigs. They hooked onto the backhoe and LIFTED it out of the creek as though it really didn't weigh much of anything!

The Past Month at Our Zoo!

Since my last post, the Zoo has been INCREDIBLY busy!!!! Here's what we've been up to, along with the photos as evidence! (These are in order of what pops into my head!)

New Furniture Arrives!

And it wasn't even in the house an entire five minutes before they started to shed on it.

Climbing at REI

We hold a membership at REI - it makes it nice to know when the sales are coming! About three weeks ago, the Asst. Zookeeper and I took the Heathens down to the store in Pittsburgh for a sale. And the nice benefit of being a member is that members get to climb the wall for free! The Heathens LOVE when we go visit. Heathen #1 made it up two of the four routes. Heathen #2 made it about half way up. And Heathen #3 gave it a try for the first time and did very well for being so little!

Bridging to Wolf Cubs!

At the May pack meeting, Heathen #2 bridged from Tiger Cubs into Wolf Cubs. While on one hand I was thrilled for him, it was a little sad to realize just how fast this year has gone.

Memorial Day Bicycle Parade

Every year, Westmont Boro sponsors the Memorial Day parade in our area. The children decorate their bicycles in patriotic colors and meet at the middle school at 7:30 am. Then, they ride their bicycles in the parade to Grandview Cemetery (1 mile away). Children of all ages participate. There are toddlers on tricycles that peddle the entire way. We take part every year and it is something that the Heathens look forward to - despite the early start time!

Maiden Voyage

Heathen #1 received a kayak for Christmas from his grandparents. This weekend, we took the Heathens to Shawnee State Park and it had it in the water for the very first time. If he didn't love it before we went, he definitely does now!

Soccer Season 2009 Begins

Playing three days a week, we've added a family member to the soccer field this year. Skinny Minnie, my niece, is on the same team as Heathen #2. And they are on the same team as our friends' children as well. Needless to say, the sideline is anything but quiet!

Landon's Spring Program

Last Friday, 4/24/09, Heathen #3's school had their annual spring program. Everyone ages 15 months and older was part of it.

They sang several songs and they really did a great job. For anyone who has never gone to see a program of this sort - you are definitely missing a great evening.

Both grandmothers, Heathen #2 and I were able to attend. I took this photo on our way into the building for the program. At this point, Heathen #3's shirt was still tucked in. If you look at the first photo (the first time he appeared on stage), it was already untucked. Oh, well! I tried!