Labor Day Festivus: Appalachian Trail, Tennis & Primates

Meet Irene. I found him in the outdoor drain at the bottom of the basement steps during the Hurricane, which is why his name is Irene. I think it's a boy, because all snapping turtles are boys--my rational is that they're mean and bite everyone so they must be boys. Anywhoo, we were on a mission to set him free because snapping turtles don't make good pets (plus we had no idea what to feed him). We were going to my parents house in Pennsylvania for Labor Day weekend and decided to set him free in my parents pond.

During the car ride Irene was trying his best to escape, which sent Georgia into a frenzy. Here she is giving me the stare down puppy-dog eyes because I won't let her into the back seat to investigate the escapee situation and then I had to restrain her while explaining that we don't eat snapping turtles because they will eat your insides once ingested. I don't think she understood the word 'ingest.'

Once we got to my parents house we went straight down to set him free...

Now Georgia is sad her friend is gone. Donde esta mi amigo? On this trip Nick told me he thinks G speaks Spanish, jejeje, but wait, this actually explains a lot of things...Now, at least we know Irene has a happy new home! Hopefully he doesn't grow up and eat all my mom's fish. But hey, isn't their backyard an oasis! It's a permanent vacation. I just love going there it's so relaxing. The pond, pool, hot tub, bench swing, fire pits...I would be so much happier if I had one of each in my own backyard. Is that so much to ask? Oh well. This was all a part of my parents plan. They picked this house in PA so we'd actually want to come visit them :)  But as you can see, the upkeep is a full time job...

Groundskeeper, hard at work.

Step away from the Gladiator paraphernalia Nick.

Georgia loves coming here. She always finds lots of stuff to get into and of course is always starting trouble. Golf balls, cats, floats...

 Junebug, my moms kitty, is always trying to chase Georgia around the house. Luckily she is declawed and can't do much damage to little G. I can imagine Junebug saying, "Everything from the doorknobs down is MINE, dog" which is a quote from my all-time favorite Disney movie Oliver & Company. I came down one morning and heard my mom explain to Georgia, "Don't tug on Superman's cape." Referring to JB, which in my sleep delerium made me LOL.

So, onto the Labor Day Festivus activities. My mom knows that Nick & I love doing outdoorsy stuff and it just do happens so does she. Her only problem is she can't get anyone to ever get off their bum and join her. Occasionally my dad will, but that's just cause she's the boss of him :) So we started off on the Appalachian Trail in the Cumberland Valley. We parked on the closest street and headed off for the trail..isn't it weird that you could be hiking for days and then suddenly cross under a highway in the middle of town? I think it would be totally bizarre...

Mr. Bigfoot, are you home? This might come as a shock to you but I believe that Bigfoots are real. I watch that show on Discovery Finding Bigfoot. And yes I occasionally check out the BFRO website for the newest sightings. Yea, I'm weird. I don't believe in the Loch Ness though, for real, that's just nonsensical.

Strangest plant/fungi I've ever seen.  

Nice little family (minus the sister) pic that Bigfoot took for us. Haha, sike. We photoshopped my dad in there :) So we hiked for 3 miles. It took us an 1.4 hours to hike to the top and only 30 minutes to get back down, isn't that crazy!? We didn't even stop that much on the way up. It was an awesome time, great workout, and my mom's already planning to hike the "double blue" trail next time. Then the next morning we played doubles tennis match. Nick & I won, aka Team Starburst (hence the outfit).

 After the game, we came home got cleaned up for dinner at chop chop Japanese steak house, yummm! Me love it long time. Right before we left my mom had this idea for pictures she's been wanting to try...

Oh the wonders of photoshop! Great pics mom, thank you! Afterwards we saw Planet of the Apes-surprisingly really good (maybe my love of Bigfoots is really a love of apes?) Anyways, after the movie I'm seriously thinking of becoming involved with PETA. Need to find a local chapter...We watched the Marshall game on Sunday, GO HERD. Sadly they lost after the game was cancelled due to rain. Speaking of which, it is STILL raining here. The 5th day in a row of straight rain. I'm starting to think that Noah guy had a pretty good idea. Giraffes anyone?

xo

Suz

Have you had any damage from the rain and flooding? Are you excited as we are for the Football season to be officially underway? What outdoor fun did you partake in over Labor Day?