3rd Annual Pumpkin Weight Contest

Look closely....I think that is pumpkin juice on his lips!!!!!

In anticipation of growing the biggest pumpkin this year, I lovingly started my pumpkin seeds in early april. I had Jack be Littles, Cinderalla, carvers, and of course the BIG MAX for the 3rd annual contest this year. I had so many pumpkin plants I filled every dirt spot I had around the house. I planted over 26 pumpkin plants in hopes of a record year of growing pumpkins. I had so many plants I gave them to neighbors, friends, church members....anyone who would take one and promise to plant them. They were growing well and I lost a few plants to rabbits, deer, and who knows what else. But never fear, I had several plants to replace those eaten. When we headed to Italy and Greece in late July I had a fairly good number of pumpkins growing. I hired the neighbor kids down the street who so lovingly took care of my garden last year. Well lets just say that when I got home from vacation.....EGADS!!!!!!!!! All the plants were eaten except for 3 pumpkins. No problem.....I will concentrate on those 3 and we will have the biggest pumpkin ever. Well would you believe the very next morning I woke up to this...........

My mom comes by her green thumb from her father who loved planting a huge garden every year. Mick and I when we were first married canned beans, tomatoes, and corn from his garden when Mick was going to school. Here is some of the beautiful flowers she had this year. When I was having such a terrible time with the deer eating my pumpkins I convinced her to plant some pumpkin seeds at the lakehouse. She started them the end of June and got a very large and fun crop.

Here it is the biggest of the many pumpkins my mom grew this year. This is the pumpkin for the contest this year. You can post your guess on this blog or e-mail me at mjjgjward@roadrunner.com by friday Nov 5th. Good luck. I have several candy bars, all Mars of course. Even have the new coconut Twix, coconut M&M's, pretzel M&M's etc.

Good Luck and Happy Halloween!!!

Ron and Ruth Wise come for a Jersey Visit

Ron and Ruth Wise from California came for a short visit. They arrived tuesday evening and stayed with us until early friday morning.
First thing we did wednesday was head to Hoboken to visit the Cake Boss. It was a beautiful sunny day and the view of the NYC skyline was superb.

We didn't see the cake boss or mamma this trip to Carlos Bakery, but look at all these cakes and goodies. Got a picture with the family though. We had famous canole, cream puffs, and a few other delictables. The line was just about an hour long from the outside line until we ordered and had our goodies in hand. Evidently that is a short wait.

We headed to Thomas Edisons factory for a tour after our Cake Boss adventure. This site has just reopened for visitors. We learned so much about Edison and how organized he was and what a brillant inventor he was. His home was closed for tours, but we got to see his lab and factory and tour the library. Here is Ron and Ruth in his lab, just the way Edison had it the day he died.

I had to work that evening, so Ruth dyed Janelle's hair red and they watched a movie. Janelle even popped popcorn for them.

We headed to Morristown to visit the Ford Mansion and Jockey Hollow on thursday. This is where Washington and his troops spent the winter of 1779-1780. It was the coldest winter in recorded history. We went to the Ford mansion first only to find we had just missed the tour and the next one was in 2 hours. So we decided to head over to Jockey Hollow first and come back to the Ford Mansion. This is a picture of Ruth and I by the gardens of the Wick home in Jockey Hollow. The fall leaves were gorgeous. If only the sun was shining. After coming back from Jockey Holley and the Wick house tour we found this note on the National Park Service Door. " We are closed for the rest of the year. Some emergency or something like that. Just came on suddenly. You know how these things happen"

I was so upset as Ron had already purchased our tickets for the Ford Mansion tour at this park site. So I decided to try the door. Sure enough it was open and here was Ranger Steve laughing. Guess I have been going too often to these sights, as now they are playing jokes on me, as well as being on a first name basis. But, I will say, we got a great tour. The Ford tour is usually 20 minutes long......ours was over 1 hour. I love hearing all the stories these park rangers have researched.

So come for a visit. We will surely go to Jockey Hollow and the Ford Mansion. Who knows what Ranger Steve or Ranger Keith will do.

Thanks again for coming Ron and Ruth. You know I love company!!!!!

California Girls Week

September 28th through the 5th of October, I was blessed to have 3 good friends from California come out for a New Jersey visit. Laurel, Denise and I have been friends since our babies were just 3 years old. Jenny Summers and I became great friends when we served in the Stake YW together. We laughed, ate, and had great fun. Below are just a few of the many pictures we took

One of the rainy days we headed over on the ferry to one of my favorite places...Ellis Island. The stories always bring me to tears. A trip over to the Statue of Liberty completed the day.

Trip to the M&M's store is always fun.

We rode the train into the city and then took the subway around town. We even had a NYC taxi ride complete with cutting drivers off, horn honking, and Joni white knuckling it to get to our matinee broadway show on time.

Wouldn't be a trip into the city without being in Times Square. Look for Jenny in her NYC torquoise sweatshirt in the bottom left corner. This is a huge screen they have posted with a camera in the heart of Times Square. So fun to find yourself.

We ate at some fun restaurants. This is at Shake Shack, which is the In and Out Burger of NYC. Jenny who loves NY and their cheesecake, knew all the hot spots for that dessert. So Juniors and Stage Light Cafe were visited for that delight.

We were able to see 2 Broadway Shows. West Side Story, which was excellent and In the Heights with Jordan Sparks.

A visit to Hoboken, NJ to visit the bakery of The Cake Boss. Got to meet mamma.

Chicken leg skiing

Yesterday I finally got enough razzing to get in the cold lake...65degrees with outside temperature of 63 degrees, to go waterskiing. The lake was like glass, as we were the only boat on it, and Mick had just finished a superb run. I was dreading getting cold and wet, but when I heard a boat start up across the lake, I finally got in. Was it worth it.......you BET!!!!! It was perfect and with the wetsuit it wasn't too cold. Mick gives me a bad time about how I start on one ski, he calls it the chicken leg and he had us all laughing in the boat when he started skiing his last run imitating me.

This ones for you Steve......have a good laugh.

Summer Vacation - Day 9 (Split, Croatia)

Beautiful sunset from the cruise ship. It was the end of a perfect day as we departed Venice on our way down the Dalmatian coast.

Jamie had to pose with this picture of "So you Think You Can Dance" contestants.

As most of you know there are photographers all over the ship taking pictures of you. Graig just couldn't resist this shot at dinner one night. Then the whole table got into it. I don't think the photographers thought it was funny.

We awoke the next morning to find ourselves in Split, Croatia, the picturesque ancient Roman resort of Diocletian. It was a beautiful, clear morning leading to an afternoon with temperatures in the mid-90s. That was great because the girls wanted a summer climate for this vacation.

The following are some sights in Split, Croatia.

The port of Split, Croatia.

In an alley at Diocletian's palace.

The remains of Diocletian's palace.

This is the beach we walked to after walking around the town of Split. It is hard to see, but in the water they had soccer goals set up and several older gentlemen were playing water soccer. It was fun to watch, what at first we thought was a friendly game of water soccer, but when the first team scored their goal, we very quickly realized that they took it very seriously....in their speedos I might add........older men....some really old in stretched out speedos.

The water was very salty and it stung our skin.

Split Croatia where we swam in the Adriatic Sea.

Summer Vacation - Day 7 and 8 (Venice)

Friday we spent the day introducing Graig and Nicole to Venice...and gelato. We fought the crowds at the plaza of San Marcos (it was jammed!) to see the Doge's Palace and the cathedral of St. Mark. It appears they are doing quite a bit of renovations to the cathedral and the plaza because there was a lot of scaffolding which was covered with cosmetic and designer clothing advertisements. Accordingly, the plaza and cathedral were not as picturesque as usual but I am sure the advertising was working for somebody. The local residents must have heard what I was thinking because as I rounded a corner one of their flying ambassadors dropped a messy greeting card on my shoulder. It was a special treat but given the number of pigeons in the city it is probably more of a surprise that it did not happen to me earlier!
We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets but also took a boat to the island of Murano. Murano is known for its glassblowing and there are shops aplenty hawking their art. We watched a glassblowing demonstration and then walked the canal, peeking into the shops, before returning to Venice. It is amazing to me what the Venetian people accomplished in the 15th and 16th centuries. By dominating/controlling trade in southern Europe and the Mediterranean they were able to accumulate extraordinary wealth and build an amazing city with natural defenses. As we continue our cruise we will see their influence and the remains of their conquests.
Yesterday, we visited the Frari church where there are several spectacular works of art by Titian (e.g., The Asunscion). From the outside it is a rather plain looking 15th century chapel, but the inside is a unique treasure. It also contains the only remaining 15th century choir section which is ornately hand carved and a sight to see.
We then boarded the ship (Splendour of the Seas) and some in our group were overjoyed to have American food and drink. I was happy to be able to turn tour director duties over to Joni. She has all of the shipboard events scoped out and we are signed up for all of the games, drawings and contests.

Summer Vacation - Day 6 (Salzburg)

Yesterday we toured Salzburg including the fortress and cathedral and also the catacombs. The catacombs were fascinating to me as they date back to 600 A.D. where the hermits would repel down the mountain to get to the opening. We went out to Hellbrunn palace where there were trick fountains a bishop had put in to trick his guests and also a beautiful palace there we toured. But the real reason for the visit was the gazebo from the movie "The Sound of Music". By the way, the people of Salzburg do not understand the American passion for the movie memoriabilia. The gazebo door was locked so Jamie couldn't dance and sing around like in the movie, but she loved it none the less. When we walked back to the bus it started to pour down rain, so we grabbed a quick dinner and passed on a concert due to weather. However, we did go to the local laundromat where we washed 2 loads and met several people from all over the world there...tourists doing their laundry too. We played Farkle and had a great time visiting while the wash was being done.
Today we began our drive to Venice fairly early so we could be at the Venice airport by 1pm to meet up with Graig and Nicole. The drive through the Alps was beautiful and fast (love the Autobahn!). Their flight was on time and all went well catching the vaparetto to our hotel. We checked into our bed and breakfast and then walked to a restaurant for dinner. Just as we sat down the winds started to blow, thunder clapped, lightning flashed and heavy rains came down. The rains continued to pour while we ate and by the time we were done it was just raining lightly. Walked to San Marcos square, but Graig and Nicole were so tired from their 26 plus hours of travel that we returned to the hotel. It was just in time as the skies opened up again upon our arrival. Mick, Jamie and I sat out on the hotel's veranda overlooking the Grand Canal and Rialto Bridge, watching the crowds below, the boats on the canal and checked e-mails. The skies cleared to a beautiful night with gondolas back on the canal so the 3 of us took a long walk around the town and enjoyed a gelato. It was our second of the day, having had one after dinner also. Graig did not appear to be all that impressed with his first gelato. However, he sought out many other opportunities to sample the dessert, so I think his reaction might have been a feint.

Graig and Nicole's first impression of Venice was not a great one due to the weather. I don't remember Venice being so run down and the graffiti everywhere on our last visit just 3 years ago.
We missed Janelle on this trip. She brings something special when she travels overseas with us.

Summer Vacation - Day 3, 4, 5 (Bavaria)

This is the view from our hotel in Austria. The lights on the mountain tops are two of castles in the Ehrenberg Castle Ensemble outside of Reutte. These are ruins of four castles that once made up the largest fort in Tirol. This part of Bavaria was beautiful with its mountains, lakes, ancient castles and palaces.

This is one of the many gardens of the Linderhof Palace that King Ludwig lived in during the winter months. Notice the gazebo in the center of the picture. Had to hike there for Jamie. The palace was very ornate, to the point I found them gaudy. Ludwig even had an underground cave built where private operas were given, complete with lake and balcony seats.

Beautiful view of the Hohenschwangau Castle from Neuschwanstein Castle.

This is the Hohenschwangau Castle where King Ludwig II spent his summers while growing up. There is a beautiful lake view and the surronding scenery is maginificient. From this castle you can see the Neuschwanstein Castle that Ludwig had built for himself.

A view of Neuschwanstein Castle from Mary's Bridge. It was a 45 minute hike from the castle, but truly worth it. The views were amazing. This is the castle that was the inspiration for Disney's Magic Kingdom Castle. King Ludwig II had this castle built for him but he died before it was completed. He even had a cave like room built beside his bedroom.
Would you believe the castle here and the one below are the same one. Just from different angles. It was amazing inside.

Neuschwanstein Castle

This is the restaurant where we ate in Innsbruck. The seating was on the bank of the Inn River with the beautiful Alps behind. I had my favorite dinner of the entire trip here. - the roasted vegetables and meats were delicious and eating on the riverside created a wonderful ambiance. We hope to return to Innsbruck someday to spend more time.

I love the little fountains they have around the towns where you can wash up and fill up your water bottles.

Below is a photo op that is set up in town.......

Here is the e-mail :

As we were wrapping up Day 3 - "Bavarian Castles 301", I decided to check our hotel reservations in Salzburg, Austria for Tuesday and Wednesday. We had booked a good deal at the Renaissance Salzburg to enjoy the comfort and earn some additional Marriott points. When I pulled up the reservation on the Marriott website, it showed a status of "CANCELLED". After a moment of orderly panic, I concluded something must have went terribly wrong for Marriott to cancel the reservation without notifying us and we would surely be able to find alternative sleeping arrangements.

I had left some unscheduled time in our Tuesday itinerary to allow us to exercise some options. We talked about what to do and concluded that either seeing the Oberammagau Passion Play (we had dinner in Oberammagau Monday night) which is playing now or visiting a concentration camp would be our top two choices. The weather threatened to be rainy on Tuesday and Joni has often said that she wanted to visit a Nazi concentration camp memorial (the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. really moved her). And since it would only add about 45 minutes to our drive to Salzburg to swing through Dachau, Germany, we decided to make Dachau our Tuesday morning destination. I gave both the girls a melatonin so they might sleep through my snoring with their promise to get up early!?!

We hit breakfast at the crack of 8:00am and I asked the hotel clerk to find us some options for accommodations in Salzburg. We were able to find a room for three at a pension near the train station (and the former Renaissance - it is now a Radisson and apparently the change was not an amiable one!). Not quite like the Renaissance (the desk clerk pointed out to me on our check in that "the Renaissance is a four star hotel and they are only a two"), but well located, tolerably comfortable, and costs less than the Renaissance. We were on the road to Dachau by 9:00am - so much for an early start.

The first hour of the drive was through the Bavarian countryside which runs through beautiful green valleys and alpine lakes surrounded by first forested, then craggy mountain peaks. It is truly gorgeous - probably the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen! The second hour of the drive was on the Autobahn where there is no speed limit, when there is no construction. If only Joni could have slept in the car so I did not have to hear the constant "you better slow down!" from the back seat! Exceeding 100 mph was not unusual, and yet I was never the fastest vehicle on the road. Driving can be fun!

Our experience at Dachau was very interesting and impressive. Joni teared up as soon as we started the audio tour by entering the gates of the former concentration camp. Much of the prisoner compound and supporting buildings (offices, crematory, guard towers, etc.) remain but none of the original barracks are still standing. A couple of barracks were recreated to show the conditions prisoners lived in throughout the operation of the camp. Over 200,000 prisoners experienced Dachau and very few lived to tell about it. The audio tour was comprehensive and well done, mixing facts with perspectives from surviving prisoners and liberators. It is hard to imagine human life being valued so little by anybody - it is truly a tragic period of human history that while not since matched in scope, unfortunately continues to emerge periodically throughout the world. We left Dachau feeling more somber than we began the day.

We stopped in a grocery store to peruse the local offerings. We purchased some great breads, fruit and some Bounty Dark Chocolate for our lunch then started our journey to Salzburg. The Autobahn delivered us to Salzburg in about 1.25 hours (averaged over 80 mph). The Salzburg Music Festival is in progress now so Mozart and Haydn are everywhere. There are concert venues set up in several of the large platz (city squares) and tourists abound in the old town. Salzburg is watched over by a fortress (Hohensalzburg Castle) built on tall hill in the middle of town as a defense for the city. It is very impressive and gives a "Lord of the Rings" feeling to the city. We had time to visit the birthplace of Mozart and the home where his family lived in his teen years. Very interesting to see how the middle class lived in mid-18th century Europe. It helps you understand why the mortality rate for children was 50% and the life expectancy for adults was about 50 years. What a blessing to live in the 21st century where medical science and hygiene gives us so many more years to overcome our mistakes and weaknesses!

Tomorrow we will explore the Hohensalzburg Castle, enjoy a concert in one of the cathedrals or baroque halls, and take in some of the "Sound of Music" sights - Jamie can only think about seeing the gazebo where "I am 16, Going on 17" was sung.