Saratoga Historic National Park

The weather in New York was absolutely gorgeous today. The sun was out, clear sky, fresh air! And, my favorite part - it wasn't humid at all! After a slow morning Doug and I decided we had to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. I have been wanting to go see the Saratoga Battlefields so we drove about half an hour through the countryside to Stillwater, NY. The Battle of Saratoga is considered the turning point in the American Revolution so I was really excited to see the area. We got to the National Park and went to the visitors center where we watched a twenty minute video on the history of the area. Following that we drove a nine mile loop through the battlefields that has ten different stopping points with monuments, cannons, and the one remaining building from the battle. I couldn't get over how wonderful the weather was and that it was the perfect day to visit the park. The fields were full of wild flowers and you could see for miles into the distance.

Vermont

Doug has this weekend off from work so we decided to head to Vermont for a day-trip. Bennington, Vermont is about an hour drive east of us. We took the scenic route and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. Everything was very green and lush. Just outside of Bennington is the Bennington Battlefield so we stopped to look around and take pictures. Once we got into Bennington we were pleasantly surprised. The town is very quaint and has many cute shops and beautiful historic buildings. The Moose Festival 2009 has been going on and local businesses decorate moose in front of the businesses. We saw a pirate moose, a cow moose, the Starry Night moose, and many more! After walking around town for awhile Doug and I stopped in the Madison Brewing Co. for some "pub grub" and some local brew. Before leaving town we also stopped in the local chocolate store for some afternoon treats. We headed out of town in search of the famous covered bridges. We found three of the beautiful historic bridges. I was so amazed by the covered bridges. I have always loved history and the east coast, and really felt like I was in the midst of it all when we saw the bridges. We also stopped by the Robert Frost Stone House which was very pretty. The house has been turned into a museum that has information about Frost's life in general but particularly the years he spent in Vermont. The Vermont countryside was gorgeous, the historic sites were awe-inspiring, and we both had an enjoyable afternoon.

Doug and the Pirate Moose


Starry Night Moose


Robert Frost's Stone House

Me in front of a covered bridge

FEW & 100% Exam

This week has been an eventful one for Doug. He had both his Final Evaluated Watch (FEW) and 100% exam this week. The 100% exam is spread out over two days and following the second day of the exam Doug had his FEW. He passed his FEW and feels great about his exam (he should hear how he did later this week). It is a relief to have both of these done and out of the way. Over the next few weeks he will have little odds and ends to complete while studying for his final Oral Board which is the last step before he qualifies at prototype. Although it was a tiring week it was a productive one. We are still waiting to hear about orders but Doug, especially, is feeling like there is an end in sight.

Montreal

This past weekend Erin, a friend of mine that Doug works with, asked me if I was interested in going up to Montreal with her. She was heading up Sunday morning and planning to come back Monday afternoon. I decided to tag along for the short "girls trip," as Doug was busy with work and preparing for his tests this week. I have been to British Columbia but never over to the French side of Canada. The border of Canada is around three hours north of Ballston Spa. The drive through the Adirondack Forest was very beautiful and we enjoyed the scenery on the drive north. The line to cross the border was only a few cars long so we were into Quebec in no time. Since French is the primary language in Quebec so were all of the road signs which made for a few wrong turns but we made it into Montreal pretty easily. We stayed at the Sheridan hotel right downtown which had beautiful views of the city. Our hotel was very nice and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to stay right in the thick of things. We decided to go out and about and try and find Old Montreal. It was very odd for me because I felt like I had left home and driven a few hours and ended up in Europe. Old buildings, cobblestone streets, and everyone speaking French made for a fun "holiday" as we called it. Since neither Erin or I speak any French we were relieved that nearly everyone was bilingual and most things were posted in both French and English (minus the road signs). We wandered around town for several hours poking into shops, looking at beautiful art, and even enjoyed my recent discovery - crepes. Monday morning we drove around Montreal to see more of the city than we could access on foot. We drove by the 1976 Olympic Stadium which was very exciting to see. We slowly made our way back towards the border, not crossing before we made a stop at the duty-free shop for Canadian Ice Wine and smoked salmon. As far as spontaneous trips go - this one was towards the top of the list. Although it would have been wonderful for Doug to go along, I did have fun and enjoyed Montreal.


1976 Olympic Stadium

View out our hotel window of Cathedrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

View down a side street in Old Montreal

Crepes

"...sprinkled with sugar and eaten hot, they form an exquisite dish. They have a golden hue and are tempting to eat. Thin and transparent like muslin, their edges are trimmed to resemble fine lace. They are so light that after a good dinner, a man from Agen is still willing to sample three or four dozen of them! Crêpes form an integral part of every family celebration. Served with white wine, they take pride of place on all joyful occasions."

Anatole France, (Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault) French novelist, 'Le Temp'

This evening Doug and I drove into Saratoga to go to dinner at Ravenous. Ravenous is a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves delicious crepes of all kinds. I have only previously had crepes once - at the McKenzie's house on Christmas - and have never had dinner crepes before. My crepes had ham and asparagus and were very tasty. It was fun to try a new restaurant and it was fun for me to try something new.

The crepes were so good, in fact, that I decided to come home and make some dessert crepes. I am happy to say my first crepes turned out great! See my first banana crepes below.

Visit from Mom

What a whirl-wind weekend! On Saturday morning Levi and I headed to water slide world for day-2 of swimming. We enjoyed floating around (my favorite) and going on some slides. We left in time to go home and change before driving down to Albany to pick my mom up from the train station. She had been in Boston for the past week taking a class for work and was able to extend the trip so she could come over to Ballston Spa for a few days. After we picked up my mom we had dinner and headed back to the apartment for the evening. It was great to see my mom and have a visit from family. Doug was working mids (7:30pm-7:30am) all week so although he didn't see my mom much it was nice for me to have a distraction from missing him. My mom, Levi, and I had a great visit which included, in no particular order:

1 drive to RPI to see where Jameson lived for the past 4 years
4 unnecessary trips through toll roads due to my wrong-turns
1 movie (Julie/Julia - very enjoyable! even compared to the book)
1 visit to Cracker Barrel - first for me & Levi
1 visit to Saratoga Springs
1 visit to Lake George
4 rounds of Monopoly
2 sudden thunderstorms
Countless quote-able comments from Levi

All in all we had a great time and it was wonderful to see some more family.


Work update: Doug had a 'practice' board and did great and got pointers on how to excel on his final board in a few weeks. He is scheduled to take his 100% Exam two days next week, directly followed by his Final Evaluated Watch. The Surface Warfare Officers (SWO) found out where they are headed but the Submarine Officers have yet to find out. We are hoping that news comes soon! It was hard to find out our friends know where they are going but we still have no clue. Keeping our fingers crossed!

First Class

Well, I did it! I completed my first graduate course. The class - Human Behavior and Development - officially ended today. It feels great to have that under my "belt" and am excited about my progress in the second class which is half way complete. Fall quarter begins at the end of September and I have a few decisions to make before then. I have applied to Seattle Pacific University to transfer into a M.Ed. program starting fall '10. They offer non-matriculated students who have applied for admission the opportunity to enroll in online courses. The first chance for me to do so would be beginning this fall. I am hoping that we have Doug's orders before I have to make my decision. If we are going to WA I will for sure enroll in SPU's online courses with the hopes of transfering into their program. If we do not get orders to go to WA I will continue the courses I am taking at CU and look for a program to transfer to wherever we end up going.

Work Update

Have I given an update recently? There hasn't been any information in a long time but we did get a little bit of news. It sounds like Doug's "official" graduation date is September 18th. There is no graduation ceremony so really that just means they want everyone in his class to finish before the 18th. Depending on when Doug takes his boards he could be finished several days before the 18th (that is my hope). However, what that means as far as orders or as far as moving to CT we still do not know. We should have orders before leaving NY (I hope they come around say - September 3rd - and give me a nice birthday present) but as far as when we are leaving NY we don't know. Doug and I have discussed the possibility that we will stay in NY until the next sub school which starts November 2nd. If that happens we don't know if Doug would actually work every day (doing what?) or if he would just muster. The other possibility is that we would leave NY shortly after the 18th and Doug would muster in CT every day. Only time will tell. Either way we are hoping that we will get the opportunity to take some leave and have our better-late-than-never honeymoon.

So, in conclusion:

Still no orders (that is the big question on our minds)
Not sure when we are going to CT
Doug should graduate from prototype on/around the 18th of September.

Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course

Today was the big day! Levi, Doug and I all piled into the hummer and headed up to Bolton Landing to the Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course. www.adirondackextreme.com They have five different courses that progress in difficulty as you go along. Each course has bridges to cross - sometimes swinging poles, tight-ropes, or barrels. They also have zip lines that take you from tree to tree (by far my favorite parts of the course). The course starts out at around 10 feet off the ground and gets up to around 60 feet above the ground. When we started out we were with a large group so we kept stopping to wait due to restrictions on how many people can be in what area at a time. Throughout the entire course you wear a harness and strap yourself to cables. It was amazing to go "flying through the trees" and see the progress we had made - a real feeling of accomplishment. Levi and I stopped after the third course while Doug completed all five. Levi attributed this to the fact that "Doug had all that navy training." For several hours of fun and adventure this was well worth the $$ and time.

Whistling Kettle, Giving Blood, & Adirondack Extreme

Before Doug left for work today we headed to Whistling Kettle to have lunch. It was a warm and muggy afternoon so it felt nice to go into the air conditioned restaurant and have specialty iced-tea.

This afternoon after Doug left for work Levi and I headed up the street to the blood drive. We both were able to give blood today. Afterwards Levi was a bit light-headed so we waited around for a bit until he was feeling better. We have both been feeling fine then. After giving blood we relaxed for a bit before heading out to go shopping and run a few errands.

Tomorrow is Doug's day off so the three of us are heading up to Bolton Landing to Adirondack Extreme, a high adventure course. We plan to spend a few hours on the ropes courses and different adventure activities they have. I will be sure to post about that tomorrow.

As a side note - I have completed my first graduate course and am really happy with my progress. My second class is 4 weeks into the 10 week class. I have a major assignment due this week (wish me luck) and two more major projects over the next 6 weeks. So far, so good. Since the first class has ended and I only have the one to focus on I should be just fine. With the hopes of moving back to Seattle (still no word) I am in the process of applying to Seattle Pacific University's school of education for their school counseling program. More news on that later.

Glass Working

This morning Doug, Levi, and I walked down the street to the glass working study that is part of the National Bottle Museum. We spent two hours learning how to work with class and got to practice making pendants. We all make our first pendant with the help of the instructor. For the second pendants we made the instructor left us to our own devices to see what we could come up. We all had a great time and came home with souvenirs.
Top row from left-right: My two , Doug's two
Bottom row: Levi's two

First Fridays & Ballston Spa Film Festival

Levi and I had a great evening out and about in Ballston Spa. We took advantage of the nice weather and took a walk around town before settling at The Whistling Kettle for some iced tea and treats. They were celebrating "First Fridays" by having a live bluegrass band play, providing us with some great entertainment. Luckily we arrived early and had a great table to relax and enjoy the music. After we finished up listening to the bluegrass band we headed down the street to the National Bottle Museum. Although it always seems intersting I had never made it inside until today. We got to see hundreds of handmade bottles in all shapes (violin shaped even), sizes, and colors (one that 'Saratogan' because the bluest shade of green bottle is only made in this area). After looking around the museum we headed over to their shop where one of the instructors was showing glass working techniques. He was so talented and fun to watch! That is another thing I have been meaing to do - take a glass working class - so I got us all signed up for bright and early tomorrow morning. Levi and I are both really excited and I can't wait to tell Doug what I got us all into! We ended the night with the 3rd Annual Ballston Spa Film Festival. The short films were made all around the world and ranged in type and quality. Today was a fun adventure for Levi and me.

Visit from Levi

My younger brother Levi just arrived in town this morning. He flew in from Seattle on a red-eye flight and made it in to Albany just fine. Doug and I drove down to pick him up and took him to lunch before Doug had to leave for work. It is great to have family visiting and we have a lot of fun things planned for the week. More to come on our adventures with Levi.

Glens Falls Golden Eagles vs Saratoga Phillies

With the sun out Doug and I have been trying to spend as much time outside as possible. Last night we drove up to Glens Falls to watch a minor league baseball game between the Glens Falls team and the Saratoga team. The game was the third in a play-off series between the two teams. Both teams are made up collegiate players from colleges around the country. We definitely enjoyed being outside and enjoying a warm evening watching a baseball game. Glens Falls won 2-1.

Water Slide World

Monday was the last day of our 4-day weekend and the sun decided to come out for the day. Doug and I took advantage of the sun and headed up to Lake George to Water Slide World. Although the park seems a bit "kiddy" it was actually really fun. We enjoyed being in the water and relaxing for a few hours. Doug and I went down a few slides each but enjoyed an hour or so floating in tubes around the "lazy river." We are hoping the sun will stay out for the rest of the month and we will be able to go back again.

White Water Rafting on the Hudson

Wanting to take full advantage of our long weekend we decided to go white water rafting on the Hudson today. Doug and I had made prior reservations so when we woke up to gloomy skies there was no going back. We left home just before 8:00 this morning to drive just over an hour northwest. We have both gone white water rafting before so we were excited and hoping for big rapids. A few clouds weren't about to stop us. Our group was finally in the water around 10:45 and had a 17 mile trip ahead of us. The scenery was beautiful! There was mist coming off the hills, flowers blooming, and everything was so green and lush. Around a third of the way through the trip (in time, not distance) the rain started. At first it was just sprinkling and Doug and I both laughed because the last time we had gone rafting (in Washington state) it rained the whole way. But, when it rains, it pours! Already being soaked from the rapids the rain didn't bother us much. We swam outside of the boat several different times, stopped for a snack mid-trip, and even got to jump off a cliff into the water. Towards the end of the trip the rain really started coming down. Couldn't have picked a rainier day to go rafting, but the water was warm and fun was had by all.

Kayaking Lake George

Saturday morning Doug and I woke up to beautiful weather. We have had a shortage of sunny days on the east coast this summer so it was a very pleasant surprise. I told Doug I was going to hurry and shower and before I finished he should come up with something to do in the sun. He did good. A friend of ours (the same one we went flying with) had recently gone Kayaking on Lake George and had a great time. So, we decided we'd give it a try too. The drive up to the lake was absolutely beautiful. Everything is green here as we have had so much rain, and with the sun shining it was just gorgeous. We ended up crossing over onto a little island off of Bolton Landing. The company we used was Lake George Kayak Co. and they were very friendly and had everything we needed for a fun trip. The water was a bit choppy so we did get a little wet. We saw lots of boaters, fishermen, and even some people parasailing while we were out. We kayaked around the main island and another smaller island before passing a beautiful resort and heading back to the starting point. When we arrived back we had a pleasant surprise - an "unspoken" 50% military discount! I do love military discounts :). Needless to say, we will for sure be going back for some more kayaking on Lake George.