We went to PJ's for pancakes this morning and somehow ended up sitting at the counter. Sitting at the counter isn't generally a bad thing, unless one of the people who works there drops a syrup pourer and much of the syrup goes flying in a projectile that splatters it all over you. This is my hair full of syrup. Yum. I was supergrumpy, especially since the only person there who was apologetic or even acknowledge that we were covered in syrup was a woman who came with some wet wipey thingies - not the managers, not the person who actually dropped the projectile syrup... Anyway, I took a shower in my old dorm and we went on with the day.

Before we left, we went to the Bent Spoon and got a mini-cupcake. I meant for this to happen yesterday, but there was a huge line down the block and we wanted to get to the fireworks. Anyway, this treat is in honor of Blog's 1st birthday (which was yesterday). So, sorry it's a day late, but happy birthday, Blog! And thank you to my gentle readers, many of whom I saw this weekend. Where will the next year take us? Who knows! 

Reunions, day 2

Ben liked this car a lot.

I made Ben pretend to be posing for a picture so I could really take a picture of these two ridiculous looking girls.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE P-RADE:

Ready to march with two of my favoritest people.

You don't see pictures like this on the Princeton website. Drunken alums use the campus as a garbage can and it's all picked up almost instantaneously.

Oh the fireworks. Oooooh the fireworks!

A friend's band that plays at reunions. Really love them.

Ben got cold and E cuddled him to warm him. How cute.

Reunions, day 1

We drove to NJ, checked into hotel, ate Thai food for dinner, and began our search for the people in the picture below (who we found quickly without the aid of cell phones or any other technology) :

(J9 and E rock out while O looks on and O's husband feels his nipples.)

Then we all went to an arch sing. While there, we wondered how many generations of nassoons it takes to operate a keg while singing. Far too many. Unfortunately for them, it seemed their endeavor was largely unsuccessful.  Mostly foam. Later, Ben and I discussed how an arch sing with a keg is interpreted by the minds of small children, of which there were many in the audience. Also, notice the couple in the middle of the arch. They weren't performing. They were just cuddling and watching the group, in a highly unusual place.... Then we walked back to the car and saw this on campus:

REALLY?!? Does someone actually own this car?

Time to go to sleep. Heading to reunions tomorrow with Ben!!!

TIRED. Just after a good run on the treadmill. I can finally pull my hair back, which was very useful today.

I wore my contacts today for maybe the second time since the wedding. I forget how easy and fun it is!

I would have loved to continue the theme of strange animals (ducks, llamas...), but unfortunately, my camera died this morning just as I tried to take a picture of the wild turkey on the ropes course where I work. It was HUGE and right by my car when I pulled in. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but it kind of just ended up looking like woods. Anyway, I worked a tremendously fun program all day and then got an invitation to go to my friend R's lake house again. So I grabbed Ben, we grabbed some food for grilling, and headed over for a lovely dinner and an even lovelier pedal boat ride. 

And by lovelier, I mean... 

This is a picture of us during our first attempt at pedal boating. We weren't going very far and turning left was not really a possibility. There was some fear we'd end up stuck on the water because we couldn't really control where we were going. 

Then we got back to shore, and realized that when we had tipped the boat to empty out water, we had jammed the rudder under the boat, so it wasn't actually functional at all the first time we went out.... So we went back out again, and it was much more successful! And to prove it, here's R standing on a rock in the middle of the lake:

And here's Ben successfully peddling:

P.S. Notice the jacket? I tricked Ben with this one. He saw it and wanted it at IME, but didn't buy it and said we'd go back and buy it if it was still there on our way out of town, because that would be a sign! But I took fate into my own hands and bought it for him so I could surprise him when we got home. He was pretty bummed when it wasn't there on our way out of town, but pretty psyched when I gave it to him at home!

This is how I knew I was headed the right way: 

Celebration before the duck races started was a little lame, truthfully, despite the fact that there was a giant duck walking around. Every time it started drizzling, everyone ran and hid under tents. Glad I got there early, though, so I could park and buy a duck for the race.

Looking upstream, towards the waterfall where 3000 or so ducks were FINALLY released.... The rain stopped and it got really hot right before the race started. The thing that kept my attention while I waited was the fact that there were dozens of kids playing on the wet rocks while they waited to unstick stuck ducks. I was certain someone was gonna get hurt, but it seemed to go okay.
The excitement kind of ended once the ducks started passing by. I left before they announced the winner because they were also announcing around 70 raffle prizes and it seemed like good old Duck #494 hadn't ever had a chance.....

When I went to EMS to pick Ben up after his climbing course, I saw something unusual outside. 2 llamas? I almost asked if we could try to fit them in my car because they say you can do things like that in a Fit.... 
Then we went home.... 

Cafe at which I took up residence. It was nice to be outside, except when the people at the tables surrounding me all started smoking. Gross.

When Ben came back, we went down the street to Diana's Baths. Pretty and fun!!

Then he took me to look at White Horse, where he had been climbing that day. It's cool 'cause it's just a huge wide expanse of flat slabby rock. It's hard to tell from this picture that the rock is actually vertical, so I took a picture of us looking at it, so you can tell:

You have to drive a Fit to stay at our B+B:
Apparently, you have to drive a blue Fit to climb on Cathedral Ledge: 

I spend the morning doing work at a cafe and then took a long steep walk. As I walked the road up to the top of Cathedral Ledge, I thought I saw my car, but it was really another blue Fit, then just after it, it was my car, and then past that - a third one!!! Crazy! 
We drove to the top of Cathedral Ledge the night before, but the view seemed much better after I had walked the whole way from the B+B. Also, I made friends with lots of people and ended up explaining to them how people climb (the concept of ropes, belaying, etc.), which was fun. On my walk up, nobody offered me a ride, on my walk down, EVERYBODY did. I walked, though, of course.

Ben came home and we ate dinner, then went to IME, where we tried on the most attractive pieces of clothing we could find:

Car packed for a weekend away. There's more stuff in the backseat too. Ben was taking a climbing course up in North Conway, and since my work day on Friday got cancelled, I came along with him to write in a different setting... 

Since we ran out of milk for cereal and have both been so busy/sick, we've started making oatmeal. Then we ran out of raisins and Ben wouldn't eat it anymore, but I like it with craisins, so I was fine. Anyway, I made myself oatmeal before an all-day school observation today. I made it in the microwave, and I guess I put too much in a small bowl, or for too long or too high, or something, because when it beeped and I opened the microwave, I saw that about 3/4 of my oatmeal was all over the bottom of the microwave. So I cleaned it up and ate what was left in the bowl and went on with my day... 

Another day working at the cafe.... 

Ben reorganized the kitchen!!!!

So, I just spent about a half an hour sitting by the sliding door of my apartment waiting to try to capture the strange things that were happening on my street. These are the best I've got: 

This was on the first trip these gentlemen took up the hill. I couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but I saw them stop on the street and take this little tricycley-bigwheely thing out of the truck, and didn't have my glasses on, but it looked like they were playing with a hose, which seemed weird, so I grabbed my glasses and then my camera, and got a shot of them just before they dragged the guy on the little wheeled vehicle up the hill. I thought, for sure, they wouldn't be headed down, but this was their return trip: 

Unfortunately, I didn't get the truck in the picture. It was trailing, but doesn't seem to be attached. This happened a couple more times and then they stopped...  The following picture is their last trip up the hill. Maybe they noticed me taking pictures and decided to find a hill without spectators....

They don't really look like kids, do they? In any case, I'm glad that they seem to all still be alive.

Facilitated an awesome group today. Passed out on my couch afterwards, feeling crappy. Then went to a great end of the year party at R's house, where I drank tea and tried not to hug too many people. (Hopefully pictures from that will be forthcoming.)