Summer Happenings

The lazy man's post......a link to Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=186898&id=835979709&l=1b4155cf99

Spring 2010 pics...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176744&id=835979709&l=0a03726656

Motorcycle Accident

Well, in case you haven't heard.....Andy and I were hit by a car one week ago today. We were lucky. A 16 year old girl (license for 3 months or less) was turning right onto the two-lane highway. We were in the left lane. Instead of turning right into the right lane, she decided to turn all the way into the left lane.....thus, hitting us. Her back end just nipped our front end, but enough to throw us into the guardrail and then off the bike. I (Beth) was thrown about 10 feet into the left lane......sounds bad but my helmut and armored jacket did it's job! For me, I lost my favorite pair of jeans and have a bruised, swollen and road rashed knee. Somehow Andy ended up under the bike. He has bad road rash on his right arm (since he was not wearing his armored jacket), a swollen and bruised left ankle (from the guardrail) and a few other sore spots. Like I said, we were very lucky.

Insurance was a bit of a nightmare since she's only 16, but it all turned out well (she has insurance!! Whoo hoo) and we will be getting reimbursed for all medical, messed up gear, etc.

The bike was totalled. Here are some pics.



It doesn't look that bad, but the parts that were damaged are quite pricey (and the prongs in front, which are connected to the frame - I think - were bent).

Needless to say, Andy will be getting another bike. Here's a link to the one he has his eye on. My only request was that he got a bike that was louder and brighter (in hopes that stupid people like the girl who hit us would see us better). This one also has six lights on the front which also helps. There is no doubt that he will be fully geared from now on too!

And I will be getting back on it too......it just might take me a little longer than him. Yes, things happen and some view it as "dangerous" but remember that things happen in cars, airplanes and public transit everyday. And remember....WATCH FOR BIKERS when you're on the road!!! Look twice....or even three times, PLEASE :-)

Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring!

The last time I posted, winter was just ending.....again, it's been a while. Spring is in full swing and the pollen is wicked! Since my last post, we've been here and there:

St. Patty's Day in D.C.: Click here to see pics

Winery in Aldie (where we found a new favorite!), Painting at home with Buddy's help, and a new favorite sleeping spot for Bud: Click here to see the pics.

In other news, Andy is well on his way to get his Doctorate! He's in his second quarter and doing great. I'm on business travel over the next couple of months. This month I'll be in Salt Lake City and Raleigh for green building conferences and in July I'm going to Nashville conference.

Other than that, we've been enjoying our down time on the bike. We found a new route along the river where traffic doesn't exist! Check it out:
View Larger Map

60 mile Breast Cancer Walk

This year, Beth will be participating in a very special event called the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure (breast cancer) with a team from work in October.

She'll walk 60 miles over the course of three days (which will require great shoes and lots of training!). During the event the team will walk 20 miles, camp during the night, and so on for three days.

In order to even participate, she's agreed to raise at least $2,300 in donations. With that said, she needs your help and would GREATLY appreciate ANY amount you'd be willing to donate toward the cause. Net proceeds are invested in breast cancer research and community programs.

You can give online at The3Day.org. Just follow the link below to visit Beth's personal fundraising Web page and make a donation. You can also call 800-996-3DAY to donate over the phone.

http://www.the3day.org/goto/shean

One person is diagnosed with breast cancer every three minutes in the United States. That's why Beth and fellow HBI-ers (Home Builders Institute) are walking this year. Beth and the HBI team are excited for the event and thanks you in advance for your generosity!

Brody is Walking!

Click here to view the videos! http://sharing.theflip.com/session/a8da817b965536fdf886182274413a95/video/11416761

BU Babes

Beth went home to Reading this past weekend to visit with old friends and their families. Unfortunately she didn't get many pictures b/c the battery ran out, but she stole some from the other girls' blogs ;-) The little BU babes are getting so big and Tara has another on the way, due in June! They also celebrated Tara and Meredith's 30th Birthdays! Happy Belated Birthday girls!

She also visited with the Delaquito family that night, but her camera was completely dead at that point (and she's still waiting to steal Sonia's pics). Evelyn is SO cute and getting big, too!

It's been a month!

I know, I know.....it's been a whole month since I last posted! I can blame it on all of the snow, the lack of a left index finger (recently had 13 stitches due to a blender incident)....or.....I just don't even want to look at the computer once I get home from work!

So......here are a few pics from the last month (beware, one is of my chopped up finger!):

Videos of Brody

Click here to see videos of Brody's First Christmas!

Xmas 09!

Click here for pics! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130064&id=835979709&l=dec4eb21c0

Kitchen almost done!

Mom and Dad (Sheeler) came down this weekend. Dad and Andy built a beautiful built-in bench while Mom and I made fudge. Once we paint the bench/shelves we'll post more pics!

Halloween in RI

We spent Halloween in RI with Meg and Mike and had a great time. Here are some pics!

Busy Traveling!

We've been busy travelers over the last month. Andy was in...

San Fran,



St. Louis,


amongst others...

while I was in Boston.


During one of our free weekends, we pretended to be tourists and visited Georgetown. We took an unexpected detour past Congress...


This past weekend, Beth was in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia celebrating a friend's birthday...

September

This past weekend our friends Rachel and Nick came for a visit. It was a beautiful September weekend, so we spent most of Saturday outdoors. First we went to the National Harbor and then to Old Town, Alexandria. The first picture is "The Awakening" statue at the National Harbor. The last picture is of Nick playing the glasses in Old Town, Alexandria.

Life Is Good

A candid pic I got of Copper.....

Kitchen Painted

The kitchen was painted a few weeks ago! The painters did a great job, in less than 8 hours! It would have taken us weeks to do b/w work, summer BBQs, painting prep, etc. Two days later, Copper decided to chew the corner of one of the walls. I was not happy! There area few other random pics in there too:

Another BBQ!

We went to the East side of PA for Beth's parent's BBQ, celebrating both grandmom's 80th birthdays! HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gram Sheeler and Gram Tula!! Here are some pics. Unfortunately we didn't think to get a pic with both Grams, but we got LOTS of pics of Brody!

OBX 2009

We're back from the beach - our annual Outer Banks trip with the Youngs. As always, we had a wonderful time. While we were there, Copper made a new best friend at camp - Madison, an 85 lb Bernese Mountain Dog! Double click the slideshow below to see our pics.

Enjoy!

Summer Picnics

We've had a busy summer so far. A few weeks ago we were in Derry for a family picnic and last weekend I was home for Sonia & Chris's baby shower! Unfortunately we missed OCJN again this year, but I stole a beach pic of Brody from Megan and created a comparison of him - now versus 1 week! Click on the slide shows below to view the pictures from our latest adventures and enjoy :-)

From Brody Vallas Winters

A "Splash" of a 4th

Mom and Dad (Sheeler) came down for the weekend and helped put in a kitchen backsplash and changed our original lights. It looks great and we couldn't have done it without them! Check out some of our photos (Click to enlarge):