Sam broke his hand on Tuesday playing baseball. He caught a ball and tried to trap it with his right hand, but somehow his pinky finger got in the way. It is called a boxer's fracture because it usually happens to someone who has punched a stationary object, like someone's face. I asked Sam if he tried to take out the runner with a jab, but he swears he did not. Anyway, we did not know it was broken and he played another game (even pitched). I finally took him to the doctor yesterday and today he got the beautiful pink cast. Sam is nothing if not confident in his masculinity. Baseball 2008 is over! New nickname - Lobster Boy.

Gas Prices

Someday I will look back at this picture and remember fondly the day gas was only $4.17 a gallon!!!

Welcome to the Gun Show

From Sam: Thank you for the shirt Uncle Jonny. My exhibits are getting bigger.

From David: Uncle Jonny, thank you for the t-shirt. I will wear it to widely proclaim the size of my exhibits. AWESOME!

From Jack: Thank you for the shirt Uncle Jonny.

Philadelphia

We spent Feb. 16-19 in Pennsylvania, since the boys are on school break right now. We started in Valley Forge, then the next day we went to downtown Philly, then through the Amish country in Lancaster County, then to Gettysburg and ended in Hershey PA. It was a quick and busy trip, but very fun.

We spent a long day in Philadelphia touring the historic sites. It was very interesting, and I am so glad we went. Independence Park is an area in downtown Philadelphia that has around 40 buildings you can walk through. We toured only about 5 of the most historic sites. After spending the morning and afternoon rooted in history, we headed to the science museum, then off to a very famous spot called Gino's to have a Philly cheesesteak. Yum!

This is the City Tavern. It was a spot where Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and our other founding fathers spent a lot of time. We ate lunch here, served by waiters in period costumes. We all loved it!
This is the room inside Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. The boys with the Liberty Bell. You can see Independence Hall behind them through the window.
The first Senate chambers. Also where Adams and Jefferson were sworn in as President.
Independence Hall.

Franklin Institute Science Museum

After touring the historic sites we headed to the science museum where there was a Star Wars exhibit of many of the original costumes and props. Very cool.

The original Darth Vader costume.
Wookies. And Chewbacca and a friend behind them.
Jack was walking back to the truck to get something and did not see this Stormtrooper walking behind him. Brian yelled "Jack, look out for the Stormtrooper!" Jack jumped about a mile. It is very hard to read the expression of Stormtroopers, but I am pretty sure he was laughing.

Gettysburg

We took a driving tour through Gettysburg, with an audio CD we bought in the gift shop. That worked great as it led you from one site to the next explaining what happened. The battlefield is huge and it took us almost 2 hours to get through it, and I think by the end the boys were ready to move on to the hotel pool. Brian and I liked it though! We plan on watching the mini-series on Gettysburg sometime soon, and maybe then it will all become clearer.

David and Jack by the statue honoring the Minnesota battalion that fought. Most of them died near here during Pickett's charge.
This is near where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address.
The Yankees once again have the high ground on Little Round Top!

Hershey - The sweetest place on earth Check out the street lights in Hershey!
Jack got to work the hershey kisses line at Chocolate WorldIt really did smell like chocolate. The best part of Chocolate World?? The gift shop!

We had a snow day yesterday due to the very icy roads and winds. It snowed, rained, froze and snowed again. Not a good day to be on the roads. We stayed in and I baked Valentines cupcakes for Jack's class and did laundry. A very satisfying day!

The boys have next week off for winter break. They have both a winter break and a spring break, which is why they end school in the middle of June! Oh well...Brian and I decided to take advantage of the time off and take a short trip to Philadelphia. It is about 3.5 hours from here. We will leave on Saturday morning and drive to the Valley Forge area outside of Philly, where we will stay. Saturday night we may go to the King of Prussia mall which is the second largest mall in America, after you know where. It will probably be very disappointing to us native Minnesotans so we plan on mocking the people who shop there. Of course, when we can't find our car when it is time to leave, they may get the last laugh.

Sunday we will get up bright and early and explore our nation's history in downtown Philadelphia. We will all like it except for Sam, who is only coming along because the science museum has a Star Wars exhibit. The rest of us will enjoy seeing the Liberty Bell, the Constitution Museum and Independance Hall. We may also eat cheesesteak.

Monday morning we head for Gettysburg, where according to Sam, nothing much happened. (History is not his thing.) On the way, we will drive through Lancaster PA and hope to stop in some Amish communities. We hope for good weather so we can really get out and explore the countryside and battlefields.

After staying overnight in Gettysburg, we head to Hershey PA for a tour of Chocolate World! According to friends who have been there, the whole town smells like chocolate. Now this, Sam will dig.

Really, I am kidding about Sam. He is a trouper and loves to travel, but just does not get the whole interest in the history thing. It was so last year (or decade or century.) He and I made it through the Smithsonian in Washington DC in about 45 minutes flat.

We will be back in CT by Tuesday night. David has to see an eye doctor on Wednesday as he failed his eye exam at school. There goes his 4.0! (Just kidding) Then Jack has the dreaded oral surgery on Thursday, which we are not talking about in this house yet.

Will post some historical pictures next week.

I don't have a lot new to report...nothing much happening here. I thought I should post something so you don't forget about us!!!!

I guess the big news here right now is the Super Bowl of course. With both the Patriots and the Giants playing, everyone we know here is either rooting for one team or the other. Personally I don't care. Our neighbors the Roys have a Super Bowl party every year, so that's where we will be. Since I don't care who wins, I am only in it for the commercials and my neighbor's yummy bourbon chicken. I am in charge of providing desserts so I better get started on that. I'm making mini cheesecakes and a couple kinds of cookies, one of which is egg free for Sam. Speaking of Sam, I just found a fantastic egg-free brownie recipe that made him very, very happy. Very easy to do. Here goes...
Make a small box of instant chocolate pudding using 2 cups of milk. Just after whipping it, and before it hardens, whip into it one box of chocolate cake mix. After mixing that in well, add 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and bake in brownie pan (I think it is 15X10 maybe?) until the top bounces back when you touch it, which should be about 30-35 minutes. Very fudgy and yummy. I used a chocolate fudge cake mix that had pudding in the mix, so I guess it was extra, extra bad for us! Hence my poor job this week on Solseth's Biggest Loser!

Jack has to have oral surgery in February on his lower teeth. He has a mess of adult teeth coming in under his gums. They have to pull 3 baby teeth on each side and 1 permanent tooth that has not yet erupted. I seriously do not know how that child will chew! He is going to look like a hillbilly! After the surgery, he has to get fitted at the orthodontist for a spacer to keep those few teeth he has remaining, in place. He is nervous.

Sorry to hear about the miserable cold weather in MN. It is about 40 here now, but this past week we had some issues with ice and sleet, but nothing like in the midwest. We still miss it there though. Grass is always greener.

I have been having fun starting to plan the Solseth girls trip out here. We are for sure going to NYC and possibly Boston and other parts unknown. I can hardly wait.

Off to church to pray that you all don't freeze to death...