Winding Down Vacation

Sleeping in your own bed at night.                                                                

Zero Dollars.

Getting our favorite pizza from Pizza Hut.                                                   

Eleven Dollars.

Golf two Saturdays in a row.                                                         

Not sure, but not all that many Dollars.

Cleaning out and mulching the front beds and one of the palm tree beds.         

Seventy Dollars.

Going to the neighborhood pool at 9:00am.                                                 

Zero Dollars.

Putting puzzles together at the table at 4:30 pm.

Zero Dollars.

Only doing laundry that was absolutely-can't-wait-necessary.

Zero Dollars. 

Picking up boiled peanuts at the local farmer's market.                             

Seven Dollars.

Getting fixin's for homemade salsa at same farmer's market.                   

Ten Dollars.

Eating lunch and supper in the living room while watching movies.  All Week Long.     

Zero Dollars.

Playing in the rain.                                                                                           

Zero Dollars. 

Having an entire week with the whole family together, getting to be with my precious Jmk all week, falling more in love with my family, and being able to justify almost everything by saying "hey - we're on vacation!"......

PRICELESS!!!

The Old Man And The Sea

Jmk came up with that one when he first saw this picture. :-)
But I did think it was pretty funny.

My dad, a.k.a. GaGa, is the cutest Old Man on the sea or the Reservoir, and this picture proves it.













The mast of the Chaser. My brother's 21 ft Santana sailboat that he keeps at the Reservoir.


I love the way a mast looks when the main sail isn't up. (hoisted?)










This past Sunday, which was my brother David's birthday, Robert took him, my dad, and me out for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. My dear Jmk, the sweetest husband ever, kept the kids at home so I could enjoy myself without chasing the kids. Dad was sitting on the bow as we motored out into the main water, and he hoisted the jib sail.








The birthday boy hoisted the main sail. Robert, as skipper, was giving the orders, steering the boat, and etc.

I was..... um...... doing very important things. To the untrained eye, it probably looked like I was just sitting on deck watching my boys do all the work. But the important things that I was doing are just way too complicated to discuss here. You'll just have to use your imagination.













GaGa, Captain Robert, David. Hanging out, being groovy. I was on the bow, hanging out to one of the shrouds to take this picture. (Can you tell that I tried very hard to learn as much boat terminology as I could in those two hours?)

The Chaser's Main sail - it was nice to be sitting under it.

I think I'm going to have to have a birthday sail of my own next year! heehee!














The birthday boy again. I hardly ever get pictures of David, because he really hates being in front of a camera. But I got lucky and got a few of him on this trip!










The boys folded up the jib sail quite nicely. I got to help fold up the main sail. And, I also got to help with the jib sail while we were on the water. I was on the port side, Dad was on starboard. I had NO idea what I was doing, but everyone was really patient.







Ahhhh - the weary sailors, home from sea.

Okay. The not-all-that-tired sailors home from a couple of hours on the reservoir. Man, I had a good time. There is something about the physical aspects of sailing a ship that intrigue me as well as motivate me. And, I just like the feel of it all. Granted, we weren't in "real" water, nor were we in terribly daunting winds. But I can see how addicting this activity could be. There is always something to learn and perfect. I still think Robert needs to sail to the Keys and go diving and fishing. I'll be your first mate! :-)

VACAY!

We're on vacation this week!!!!

Jmk made a last-minute-type decision about mid-week last week. He was taking this week off from work!

Now, that's totally fine with me. Because with gas prices the way they are, this is going to be a great vacation. No, we're not actually going anywhere. BUT, we're going to relax the rules for a week. We're not going to worry about chores and stuff. We're going to go to the zoo if we feel like it. Or, we're not. We're going to go pay waaaaay too much for ice cream at the ice cream shop. Jmk is going to play some golf if he feels like it. I went sailing with my brothers and my dad yesterday afternoon.

I'm going to blog a lot or not at all. We're going to go to the pool or play in the sprinklers or hose down the dog. We're going to have nacho night a LOT and we're going to eat popcorn at 9:30 in the morning. (no lie - the kids are watching Hermie and Friends Christmas movie right this minute while eating popcorn).

We're going to do all the fun things that "being on vacation" lets one do, but we get to sleep in our own beds, we don't have a road trip to deal with, and we don't have to pay for gas or a hotel room. We're going to take pictures (Robert, if you won't kill me, I'm going to keep your camera kidnapped for just one more week, then I'll give it back. I promise!) and we're going to have picnics on the porch. We're going to go to the water park or we're not. We're going to take naps in the afternoon and we're going to get some yard work done. We're going to have fun and we're not going waste this wonderful week of having Daddy home all the time!!! :-)

Maybe we will do stuff and maybe we won't. There are almost no rules - we're on vacation!!!

Thank you MooMoo! Bock Bock!

You know, if they don't bring back those Cadbury creme egg commercials, there's going to be a whole generation of folks who have no idea what "Tank you Eastah Bunny! Bock Bock!" means. But I digress.


This huge bowl of yummy blueberries came from MooMoo and GaGa's bushes on their side yard. And this was the bowl that I picked. The one that MooMoo picked for us while I was picking berries was even bigger than that one. We have a freezer full of blueberries, and there are still berries ripening on the bushes as I type! YUM-MO!!!

This is the quintessential organic blueberry. Yum, yum, yum. Poodle did a great job picking berries this year. And Toot finally got the hang of it before we had to leave. Although he did pick a few... ahem... not so ripe berries in the process. :-) But they were cute about the picking process, and didn't even seem to mind the buzzing bumblebees on the bushes near us. It was a very productive hour on Thursday morning.

Thank you again M&G!!!

Sharing pics

A few pics to share.... sort of to make up for the lack of my having my camera on Mother's Day!










Toot seems to be either in a serious discussion regarding the growth patterns of bermuda grass or he really just wants to get down and go play.










I thought this was a cool shot - Jmk took it with Robert's camera. To me this represents one of the neat things about the growth process. Watching them learn how to do things like swing themselves.










My love bugs. :-)

God or Adam?

First, we would appreciate your prayers for our poor, pitiful, sniffly house. No one is desperately sick. But in the past two weeks, we've dealt with two different cold viruses and Poodle has also had a fever virus. It's ridiculous. Every one of us missed church last Sunday. Blugh. I'm sick of us all being sick.

Anyway, yesterday, I learned something I didn't know. Well, at least something I didn't remember. We were watching this Children's Bible DVD thingy yesterday, and it was discussing how God brought the animals to Adam for him to name them all. And I mentioned to Poodle that this is why a giraffe is a giraffe and why a zebra is a zebra, etc. Then, the DVD talked about Eve and how she came to be and then it moved on.

Poodle turns to me and says "but who gave Eve her name?".

Hmmm. I looked at Poodle. Who named Eve, I wondered. God or Adam? Hmmm. I looked at the t.v. as though it would magically give me the answer. Amazingly, it didn't. Huh. I looked at Poodle again and admitted that I wasn't sure. Honestly, I felt sort of dumb at that point. So, I got out my Bible.

Do you know?

Genesis 3:20:
And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

I'm glad I looked it up. My first answer would have been wrong.

Have you loved your sibling today?

I guess they're covered. :-)

The boots, btw, are constant with him. They're Poodle's boots, but Toot likes to wear them. We guess it's because he can get them on and off easily all by himself. ::shrug:: You'd think I'd get myself to a store and buy the boy some boots so he wouldn't walk around in pink ones.

It's on the list!

44 Years

Mom and Dad - may your life together only be sweeter as each day passes. And may your love for each other grow bigger than you thought possible.

Happy Anniversary!!!

Pics with Robert's camera

Isn't this cool? Robert actually took this one (I don't have those kinds of skills) - and all that "blurriness" was not photoshopped in. He manipulated his camera to do that. In a very low light situation to boot. He's good!










Hey, Phillip! :-) We're training him early.











Now, I did fiddle with this and the next picture a bit. Obviously, the sepia tones aren't from the camera. Although, Mr. D1 might do that for all I know.










He's just a dude. What can I tell ya.

A Father's Love

Grateful hat tip to Patty Sartor for this beautiful link.

Go see the video.

It's an extraordinary portrayal of a father's love for his son. And no matter the devotion you see in this video, our Heavenly Father loves us infinitely more than that. Which is incomprehensible to me who is infinitely unworthy of that love.

And, just be aware that you will probably need a tissue or two.

Where the pictures are.

My dear brother has let me borrow his very cool Nikon D1, and I have been so impressed with what it does and can do. Even in the hands of a total novice. It really makes me want to save my dollars to get a "real" camera one of these days. (Granted, it will take awhile to afford something like that, but like my dad says, nothing of any value ever comes easy). Anyway, most of the recent pics of the kids are on Robert's camera. I have gotten a card reader so as to retrieve said pictures, but haven't gotten around to getting them off of the camera and on to the computer.

We're having Singing School at church this week (for non-PB's, think VBS but for all ages and with the concentration focused on learning more about shaped note singing). So, that along with the crud that I got from the kids has me tired and yucky. And not wanting to do anything after the kids go to bed. Thus, the pictures remain.

This picture, btw, was one that Poodle took of me while I was taking pictures of her. Did I mention how cool this camera was? A camera like this can't replace the wonderful convenience of a purse-sized point and shoot digital camera. But for some wow-look-at-that-flower kinds of photos, it's awfully nice to have a tech-wise brother with some really groovy toys.

The Sickies

What is it about fast food play yards? Don't get me wrong - I like Chick-fil-A. The company, the founder, and the food. The place is as clean as can be expected, and the employees are nice. But for at least 50% of the times we go, the kids come back with a virus of some sort. We had a play date for lunch last Friday. By Sunday night, Poodle was running fever. Tooter's fever started last night.

I mean, it's just a mild cold. Not a big deal, and they aren't feeling that bad. But until the fever is good and gone, I don't want to take them anywhere. Nor do I want them getting outside and getting overheated. Blugh. The thing is, CFA (and play!) takes great pains to try to prevent this type of thing by putting sanitizing wipes right at the door to the play area. But most folks don't see them or remember to wipe their hands down. (I'm guilty of that myself!)

Yeah - I have no real point here. Just thought I'd share my whining with you. I know you're SO glad of it. ;-)

Overheard one Sunday morning

Scene: Poodle is at the table drawing a picture to give to one of her friends at church.

Mom: What are you drawing honey?
Poodle: A picture for Abigail.
Mom: I see - and what is that a picture of?
Poodle: I don't know yet.
Mom: Ah. So it's a work in progress, huh?
Poodle: No, it's a picture.