What a great day! We spent most of the afternoon on the Allegany Highlands Trail. Earlier in the week, Brent and I bought two brand spanking new bikes at a local bike shop. The weather has been so great lately (although very chilly at night. . . 48 degrees) that we felt that we were really missing out by not hitting the trails and taking advantage of these cool days. So today we took to the trail for the first time. We were warned that it was uphill going out (towards Pittsburgh) but on the way back, it was all downhill. . . and really fun! For anyone that is interested in the trail, it goes all the way from Pittsburgh to D.C. You get on the trail two blocks from our house and you can decided to go northeast towards Pittsburgh, or west to Cumberland. Cumberland is about ten or so miles from Frostburg but it is downhill. . . so that means that on the way back you are going uphill at a two percent grade. I don't know much about what all that means, but what it does mean to me is that I would much rather work hard first then take it easy on the way back. So that is exactly what we did, and it definitely paid off. Going up was difficult and took us maybe about an hour and a half or so to go four miles, then we turned around and it took us maybe thirty minutes to get back! There wasn't too much scenery, as far as landscape views go, but we have a feeling that if we would have kept going that the trail would have opened up. So for next time, we will head out a little earlier and definitely pack a lunch. Hope you enjoy the pics from our ride. The tunnel does not look very impressive in the picture but when you are riding through the middle of it, it seems extremely long and very dark! It was not nearly as fun as I thought it would be. . . it was actually scary!!! On the house front, we are still unpacking boxes and painting. It feels like it is taking forever, but slowly the number of boxes left to unpack is dwindling. Will post some more pictures soon!

This was a great weekend because we finally got to sleep in our finished bedroom! It really looks great. I am working on taking pictures of the whole room so that you can see the final product. It is amazing to wake up to that perfect view. It is such a great way to start the day. We also started painting the living room, we aren't done, but it looks great already. What a difference a can of paint makes. However, I do have one thing to say. . . paneling stinks. It is ugly and it is hard to paint. Brent took this lovely snapshot of me painting the wall, and it was not fun. You have to paint each ridge by hand because the roller misses it. Once I painted all the ridges, then I broke out the roller. I don't know if there is any easier way to paint paneling, but that was all I could think of. Brent also took this picture of the Preying Mantis that he found outside. I hope you enjoy that, Mary Scott. Brent wanted to make sure that you saw it, because he knew you would appreciate it. :) Brent is getting ready to start his first day at his new job. He is working on his syllabi, right now. We have completely filled the closet up with all of our clothes. I only have one more box that is half filled with clothing. It was nice to get some boxes emptied and get the contents put away in its proper place. It feels really good! The last picture is of Maverick hanging out in the sunroom. He is enjoying the view just as much as we are! Stay tuned for the final bedroom pics! I know that the suspense must really be getting to you!