Happy (Belated...) 4th!!

Holy crud...this is definitely the longest that I've gone without updating the blog. That bites.

I'm going to start catching up with the awesome and completely exhausting July 4th holiday we had.  It started with some swinging to kick off the long weekend...

...and a long overdue visit with Aunt Amanda.  She moved to Ft. Wayne a year ago and we had been missing her! 

Friday we had a great time at Sarah and Brian's cooking out and hanging out.  Swimming for the kids, lots of food, fun and a firepit for all :)

And pretty flowers for me to take pictures of - which made my day.

Mason turned 20!!  No idea how that is possible.  He tried to recreate the wipe out of his 13th birthday by getting on another Rip Stick.  Luckily no broken arms this time!

Saturday we missed the Hilliard parade because the kids slept in late - the usual for them these days.  We made it down to watch the Doo Dah parade in the Short North though.  Our first time and we had so much fun.  Definitely NOT your typical parade!  Creative, fun, odd, goofy, different and sometimes scary for sure.  Super fun time that we hope to make a tradition!

Justin was at the parade too - apparently too busy hanging out with Lee or something.
 

From Doo Dah we went to the annual James pool party - luckily the weather was pretty decent and the kids got to swim.  Somehow I ended up with no pictures - must have been too busy gabbing!

Justin spent a HUGE chuck of Saturday cleaning out his truck and removing the cap so that he could do the Annual "drive the kids to the fireworks in the back of the truck" run. We had a nice clean truck to pile into the back of...so that we could promptly get eaten alive by 1 Billion mosquitoes.
We had a much smaller group of kids this year - Mason was working, Sarah was out of town, Ashlee with other friends...as they get older and go their other ways.  But we still had a great time.

 Michael, Silas, Allysa and Ella

Our neighborhood view is quite lovely considering we don't have to fight all the traffic to and hoards of people!  We followed this up with another firepit, more s'mores and sparkers!

Sunday -  when we thought we couldn't take any more fun...the women's US soccer team played in the World Cup on Sunday night.  A high school friend invited us over to swim and watch the game.  Awesome fun and awesome game!! 

I'm surprised that here it is - Tuesday - and I'm not still asleep.  Instead, I'm finally blogging! I am going to try VERY hard to keep up...

Busy Times!

We are ending our third week back to school and it's been pretty crazy. 

Soccer has also hit at full speed and we tend to have soccer at least five days a week... Which is a bit crazy as well!

One thing that's really helped with soccer this year is Ella got contacts. She still takes a lot of balls to the face but she's not breaking more glasses!

She's done really well with the contact so far - she can wear them all day and she can take them out by yourself.  Getting them in herself is still a bit of an issue. 

I can't remember if I mentioned that we are tearing out the ducky bathroom and redoing it because it started leaking...

This was a few weeks ago actually before school started and it's finally starting to come together. 

Justin ripped down pretty much to the nubs and started from scratch. 

This has taken us down to one bathroom or at least one shower, which is a royal pain in the butt for five people, especially with school starting :(

But it's going to be beautiful when it's done! 

Other than getting back into the swing of soccer and school, I've been working a ton, Justin's been working a ton and I've been trying to get out running, biking and walking as much as possible. Especially since we have the trail at Frank's park now that runs about 4 miles round trip. It's been great for getting a runner, bike or walk in every day. I take lots of pictures when I'm out!

I also got out for a 20 mile bike ride this past weekend, the farthest I think I have ridden my bike at least since college!

I love our Rails to Trails! 

This past weekend we also gathered to honor and remember Elijah. I can't believe it's been a year since the accident :(

We lit lanterns and sent balloons up from the cemetery. 

Still all so very hard to believe sometimes. 

I took Ella to a school night concert last night. Probably not a very good idea, but we had fun and we were both extremely exhausted today!

We saw Grouplove and Portugal the Man. 

I've been doing most of my blog updating via my iPhone for the last month or so. Otherwise I don't think I'd be getting any updating done. My computer is so old and so full from music and pictures and it barely runs anymore. 

It's hard to believe that today is the 13th anniversary of 9/11.  Still so vivid in my mind even 13 years later...
Never Forget. 

So, that's it in a nutshell for now! Ta-ta! 

Memorial Day Weekend

What a BUSY and FUN long weekend - it was a great mix of fun, productive, family and friends!

Friday was Silas' last day of preschool - as you can guess, it was very emotional for me!  They had a clapout at school and it was so sweet.  He is ready and excited for Kindergarten...he wanted to start this week!

Wednesday night will be the "official graduation".

Saturday night Justin and I went to a concert (The Avett Brothers) with Sarah, Brian, Donna and Lee. It was a PERFECT evening for an outdoor concert...warm & breezy. Justin even got to to take a little mini-nap in the middle of the concert.

Sunday the garden finally got planted and we got the flowers in the front beds and baskets.  Just in time for the 90 degree heat!!

Ella is very much like her mom.  She told Justin that "she wished everyday could be like today".  When he asked why she said because she "got to lay in the hammock and read and eat watermelon" :)  My little summer girl!

Sunday afternoon we went to a family cookout and then got to spend the evening with the lovey neighbors at another cookout. Delicious food and great company at both!

Today was blazing hot and the kids got their bathing suits and sprinkler out. Si decided to try out Ella's grass skirt :)  They ran around and got the squirt guns out and had a good old time, which was much better than the morning when they were fighting like cats and dogs!

A couple weeks ago we got Si a new bike.  He was way too big for his other one and we decided to go up to an 18 inch.  Problem is, they don't have training wheels on that size, so now we are trying to teach him to ride it without them.  We went to the school and after a few wobbly minutes, he was actually getting the hang of it, except for the sharp turns he'd decide to randomly take.  I think if we practice a few times a week, he'll have it in a couple weeks!

It was a great weekend with a lot of cherished time just being together.  Perfect. But what I didn't get much of this weekend was REST...I need to go get that now!

Random update #129

So, it's finally been nice enough weather to get out and do some gardening, planting, hang out outside...it's a super busy time of year with the spring sports for the kids, finishing up school / end of year activities, outside yard work, busy times at work for both of us and sick kids...Si and Ella have both recently had a pookie bug.

Last weekend was my lovely book group and it was our first gathering of the season in the gardens at Susan's.  I could go over there weekly and never tire of taking pictures of her wonderful garden.

I'm finding that May is routinely becoming a very busy month.  This year I did the Race for the Cure again and it was an incredibly beautiful morning.  We had SO much fun. And we stopped afterward and had a yummy breakfast at great little cafe in the Arena district.

(Sarah's - I would never eat such an atrocity of calories! ;)

Emma Lou (Beth's mom) and Margie at the walk

Cool video clip of the race here

This week started some of the final count down stuff at schools.  Ella had crazy hat day on Monday.  She pulled out the perfect hat.  Tuesday was mismatch/backwards day and she wore striped pants and flowered shirt - both backwards. But i forgot to take a picture of that.

This week has also been "first corn on the cob eating" week.  Yay for Florida corn!  It was yummy and made Silas very happy (something that has been very hard to do these days...)!

And speaking of corn, we also planted our own this year.  When we first plant the garden it's so disappointing - how barren it looks. But I know within a month it will be absolutely bursting.  We planted some corn, 3 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets, snap peas, lettuce, some herbs...and we have a rhubarb plant the size of Texas. Looks like a big weed!

I was able to sneak out last week and take a few pictures - lilies, a bull frog hiding in the grass at Tara's, 

we have a nest and eggs in our shrub, some gorgeous roses have been blooming and I finally planted some pots and hanging baskets.

I'm ready for summer - bring it on!!

OBX '09 Days 9 and 10

Day 9 - Another gorgeous sunrise this morning. The evening storms made for beautiful skies in the morning.



Much of the day was spent just hanging out on the beach, relaxing, bumming...
We've seen so many dolphins this year. It's so fun to watch them swimming and flipping around.

The pelicans too have been fun to watch - I love this guy below (left) doing the dive for fish. The splash to the right is one that just dove in. Must have been dinner time!

We got a permit to have a bonfire on the beach. The kids LOVED it! We toasted marshmallows and made smores. YUM!

It was a fantastic way to spend the evening, relaxing around the fire with the waves crashing in the background.

Day 10 - A great day though we were slow to get moving...
It was a scorching hot day so we decided to go do some running around before spending the afternoon on the beach. We went to Manteo, which is a really cute little area with lots of shops and artsy stuff as well as some great historical parks.

Here's Ella and Si sitting in the BIG chair outside one of the shops...don't they look so itty-bitty!?

JP, Si and Ella - Ella wore her Michael Jackson glove most of the day (stunning that he died yesterday...)
Ella and Si crossing the bridge to Festival Park
They had some lots of beautiful flowers in the park area. I could have stayed and taken pictures all day!

After we got back to the house, we ended up spending the rest of the day on the beach...Mason and I were the last ones to come in, well after 7pm while Mason practiced his skim board.



And we took some family pictures on the beach - VERY difficult to get us all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone with somewhat of a smile!!

It took awhile to get a good one of these two goofs too!
We ended the last evening at the beach with some hot tub time (ahh....)


And I got up for one last sunrise before hitting the road home. Another beautiful (but cloudy) morning.
I bet these are the trips that the kids will remember forever...I know I will. I saw an older couple walking one day when we were playing on the beach. I saw them looking at the kids and then talking and laughing - like they were remembering their own times on similar beach vacations with their kids (or maybe they just thought that our kids were goofballs!). Either way, I know that when I am the old lady walking on the beach and see the young kids and their parents on the beach playing...I'll be reminiscing about our trips and all the fun that we've had. It doesn't get much better!!