minus 20 and counting.....

So happy to make this check mark -- another 10lbs down.  It is slowly coming off but that's okay!!!

Go Gators!!!

I am happy to cross another item off my 101 things list but I am even more happy at the reason I get to cross it off.  Ariel decided to play field hockey this fall.  I am so proud of her for venturing out and trying something that is completely new to her.  Coming from the girl who proudly proclaimed "shopping is my SPORT!" this was a big venture.  She is playing rec field hockey for the Perry Hall Gators soooo.......what better reason than to go out and buy a sweatshirt from my alma mater than to proudly support my daughter and her team!!!

Surprise Trip to "a" beach with the kids!

Some may say this is a slight stretch since the actual item on my list is "take the kids on a surprise trip to the beach" and if you live in the Baltimore-area and say "the beach" it is usually understood that you mean Ocean City BUT since it is my list I think I can allow some lee-way in the interpretation.

Our plan was to take the kids tubing on the Gunpowder River.  This is an acutal item on my "list" and I was excited about our plans.  However, rain the night before and a chilly morning didn't make river tubing look too promising so we decided to take the kids to the beach at the Hammerman area of Gunpowder State Park. 

2nd Item Done -- Lose 10lbs

It feels good to check another off the list especially when that one involves losing weight!  Yes, the scale shows I am down 10lbs!  Now on to the next 10. 

101 in 1001 List Complete

Early, early this AM I completed my 101 things I want to accomplish in 1001 days list.  I love the idea of this.  I am a BIG list maker so this is perfect for me.  I love having a list of things to do and get great satisfaction over crossing them off!  The items on this list should challenge me, enrich me and bring me great pleasure.    Let the adventure begin......

2009 Camping Trips -- A Year In Review (Part 3 of 7)

Hershey High Meadows Campground
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania

June 5-7, 2009

I really, really liked this campground.  We camped with Ariel's Brownie Troop.  Three families in campers and 10+ in tents.  We had quite the set-up between our camper and the Varzandeh Family's with the screenhouse and pop-up canopy. 

It rained during set-up on Friday so we were all little damp

and much to the kids' delight we were blessed with a large mud puddle in front of the site that lasted the entire weekend. 

The campground is very pretty with shaded sites; heated and clean bathrooms; large pool area; 2 playgrounds; creek running thru it and a river that the kids delighted in exploring.  Also, Wi-Fi.  :-)

We cooked a great dinner -- hotdogs for kids, steaks, garlic shrimp and eggplant for adults - YUM!!!. 

After dinner, we went to Hershey's Chocolate World for a tour and to finish off the day with Ice Cream! 

Back at camp, we told ghost stories -- Boo Hag and Black Aggy.

Day 2 -- Hershey Park Happy!

The sun came out and after a great breakfast we headed over to HP. 

We left Riley in the "Barking Lot" Kennel for $10/day with a large new bone to enjoy!

We spent most of the day at the park in the Boardwalk Water Park area. 

Got back to camp around 7pm and Kashy got us a good fire going which lasted until midnight.

Our last day we cooked another good breakfast and went to Camp-o-Ree farwell.  We were pleasted to find out that there were girl scouts from 17 states as far away as Alaska present.  3000 people in all.  We enjoyed the rest of the morning with our friends before heading home.

2009 Camping Trips -- A Year In Review (Part 2 of 7) -- Gettysburg, PA

Granite Hill Campground
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

April 25-27, 2009

Our first trip in the new camper. This was the trip to work all the bugs out. Weather was sunny and unseasonably warm for April. Setup seemed to go fine and the kids quickly made friends with a little girl at a neigboring campsite. They were disappointed the roads were not paved so they couldn't ride bikes or scooters easily.

In setting up the canopy we found out that a piece was broken so a trip to Walmart was needed. This whole "taking a trip to Walmart while on vacation" thing is not a foreign concept to us. Most Wagerman Family Vacations involve a trip at somepoint to a Walmart. Also, not surprisingly, I didn't feeling like cooking. Hey, I was about to sleep overnight in something other than my warm waterbed, don't think I was going to go cold turkey and start cooking over a campfire, too! We went to Walmart, dined at Perkins and the kids fell asleep watching High School Musical III on the laptop. Ahh, the perks of camping in the 21st Century!

Funniest part of the day had to be trying to get Riley (our 125 pound furry family member) into the camper for the first time. 

It was mid-night when we said "Come on, Riley, let's go to bed".  He came to the camper but wouldn't walk up  the steps...so I pulled on the leased and coaxed and Doug pushed from behind but he wouldn't budge.  Finally, we had to lift him (remember, 125 pounds) into the camper.  Once inside, he wanted to be with the kids so he hoped in bed next to them and stayed there all night.



Day 2

My Mom and Dad drove up today and we went to Boyd's Bear Country. 

Kids were antsy afterwards and started saying the dreaded "B" word -- Bored!!  We decided to do the drive-thru/audio tour of the Gettysburg battlefields.  Carter was very interested BUT Ariel slept thru day 1 and 2 of the battle :-). 

We watched the sunset over the battlefied and took some gorgeous photographs.  Not wanting to cook tonight either (hey, some things don't change) we opted for McDonald's drive-thru.

All in all, a great first camping trip in the new camper.  Can't wait for our next adventure....