Summer Lovin’ – Be Back Soon…

On August 12, 2012August 10, 2012 By Stephanie IngramIn Family and Fun4 Comments

As much as I love to participate in Six Sentence Sunday and share snippets of my latest and greatest, this week I must pass. Summer days will soon be a distant memory so we’re making the most of them while we still can. Imagine me in this moment sitting around a campfire, maybe enjoying a pizza mountain pie, and looking out at all the trees around me. Hopefully I’m having fun and hopefully the family isn’t making me too crazy. I’ll be back to regular posting soon, including those fun six sentence snippets on Sundays. After all, the start of school is just around the corner.

Until then… Happy Summer!

Tuesday Photos – Camping Fun

On July 3, 2012 By Stephanie IngramIn Family and Fun, Photos10 Comments

Camping has always been one of my favorite summer activities. There are so many beautiful state parks in Pennsylvania to choose from that it’s impossible to pinpoint a favorite. This year we haven’t made our way out on a family adventure just yet but in light of the upcoming holiday, I have been reminiscing about the fun we had last year in July. I decided to share a few photos from that camping trip with you today.

We didn’t escape the heat and humidity but we found that taking walks during the evening was ideal. I love the way the sunshine filters through the trees as we walk along the path in a fairly empty campground. Most others had packed up to go back to work and life during the week.

The following morning we hiked along a more secluded trail through the woods. Along the stream, we found these pretty red flowers.

A little bridge takes us over the stream where we continue to explore.

Beautiful sunset on the drive home.

Hope everyone has a happy, fun, safe Fourth of July holiday!

Holy caterpillar, Batman!

On June 28, 2012 By Stephanie IngramIn Family and Fun5 Comments

So, I had some rough ideas about what I might post in my blog today, most of which didn’t seem particularly interesting, even to me. Then, as I finished filling the little plastic toddler pool for my guys to splash around in on this hot day, I saw this from across the yard…

Now first of all, let me explain that (1) I’m not normally skittish around bugs and (2) the photo does not do this thing justice.

It’s a caterpillar of some description and I’m sure with a little Google effort, I’ll be able to find out exactly what kind and (gulp) what it might later turn into. Right now, I’m a little too freaked to find out. I didn’t let the kids touch it, explaining that not every caterpillar is okay to touch – some are poisonous. I didn’t say it to them, but in the case of this one, I suspect it might be sizing us up for lunch. I did the only sensible thing a person in my situation would do – I ran and grabbed the camera.

The more I look at it, the more curious I become. I’m trying to imagine a gigantic butterfly landing on my flowers. What if it’s a monster and it’s going to come after me while I’m sleeping? This could be the creepy thing lurking in the closet when I was a kid for all I know and now here it is crawling nonchalantly through my backyard. I might not sleep tonight knowing this is out there … somewhere … waiting for me…

The caterpillar isn’t moving very quickly. I’m half tempted to catch it and put it in the butterfly enclosure that the boys got when we watched our tiny little monarch caterpillars change into cocoons and eventually to butterflies. Now, those things were cool. I loved watching them grow and I had just as much fun as the kids did when we took the butterflies outside to let them go. We each got to hold one before we said goodbye.

But this monstrosity in my yard? Eeeeeekkks…. I’m fairly well convinced now that it’s all true. The end of the world is near. There are portals open to parallel universes, alien life forms are invading our planet, whatever. This is my proof.

I couldn’t help but to share it with the world. Your thoughts?

Tuesday Photos – Purple Blooms

On June 12, 2012June 24, 2012 By Stephanie IngramIn Photos2 Comments

I live in Southwestern Pennsylvania. If you have never visited the area, I highly recommend it, doubly so if like me, you enjoy all that the outdoors has to offer. Because I love to spend time outside, because I am constantly amazed at how beautiful PA is, and because I have to post something in this blog, I am dedicating Tuesdays to my recent favorite photos.

As my first photo post, it’s hard to choose! After much deliberation, I finally settled on sharing these two. Both were taken in May of this year when the woods were really just starting to bloom. My son and I took a walk through the woods before school and fell in love with all those purple flowers. I love his smile as he poses for the camera amongst them. As it had rained recently, if you look closely, you’ll see rain drops on the close-up photo.

I never get bored looking at these sort of photos … and I hope you don’t either!