its a wrap

Today was the last weekday of summer vacation.  After this three day weekend, we'll be settling back into our fall routine.  I think we're all ready.

But, we couldn't say goodbye to summer vacation without one final great day at a local pool with some great friends!

we're baaaack.......

....and I suppose you could say I have a vacation hangover.  It was a lovely seven days filled with plenty of belly laughs and around the clock fun.  But now I'm trying to re-group and just get back into the swing of things around this joint.  Lots and lots to do, and four more weeks until school begins. 

It seems every year at the lake house gets better and better. It gets slightly easier the more independent the kids are, and the more things they can try to do. This year Logan went tubing by himself for the first time, and Dylan practically lived on the tube being pulled behind the boat.  We spent just about every waking hour on the beach soaking up the sun, and going back down after dinner for campfires and cornhole. 

Its not a truly relaxing vacation when you have 9 kids in the same house.  Meltdowns are inevitable and there's pretty much a big mess everywhere you look.   So, you just hunker down and enjoy the change of scenery, while eating great food and enjoying the company.  The bonding time you get from living in a house for a week with other people is priceless.   I love that our kids will have these memories with their cousins forever.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the week, but narrowing them down from well over 100 photos wasn't easy!

Bubbles on the beach..

Robby measures to make sure the cornhole boards are regulation distance.

Dylan on the boat.

Andrew and Chris fish on the boat dock.

Aunt Jasmine and Cousin Trent

Grandma and Aunt Jessica serve up afternoon slushies.

Chris and Josh drive the boat.

Logan, Maya and Josh munching on some popcorn.

Dylan and Jimmy get ready for some tubing..

Mom and Robby

double tubing...

Logan helps Grandpa drive the boat.

Aunt Heather and Ryder..

crab feast!

30 pounds of legs

Dylan picks his first crab.

Messy and delicious.

Robby and Logan build the campfire.

Logan and Maya share a hug.

campfire fun.

Scary Logan.

Tattoos!

Mid-afternoon ice cream party on the beach.

This is pretty much how we spend our days there.

family kickball tournament - The Crips against The Bloods (Uncle Jay and his brothers Jimmy and Jesse)

Andrew and Dylan take a tube ride.

Maya and Logan take a turn, their first time alone!

Another great vacation, a hundred more memories...

countdown to vacation

One might look in our dining room right now and surmise we're preparing for the end of the world or The Blizzard of 2010, Part Deux. 

No, we haven't become hoarders.  We're preparing for our annual week-long cohabitation vacation at our Lake Anna house with my Mom, step dad, brother, SIL, stepsisters and everyones' assorted children (9 total plus a few more at the end of the week). It will be a cousin-fest and a week of kickball tournaments, grilling feasts, corn hole competitions, floating happy hours, Popsicle licking, campfires, beach picnics, lingering boat rides, butt bouncing tubing sessions and jet skiing, digging our toes in the sand and just all around good family time. 

It takes a lot of shopping and planning to feed a house of 19 - 23 people. All the goods must be brought down since there's no grocery store near the house, unless you count the beer and bait at the gas station down the road.

And in fact, the above doesn't take into account clothing, swim suits, towels, cooler stuff, fishing gear, sheets, the 17 stuffed animals each boy insists on bringing, gallons of sunscreen, ipods, cameras, life vests and other assorted goodies I've been piling up for the week.

The one thing I'm not taking, however, is my laptop. Its always nice to just kind of be unplugged down there.  So no bloggie for a week.    Less bloggie, more bookie.  I picked this up to dive into while we're sitting on the beach, when I'm not having a swim-a-thon with the kids.

We look forward to this week every year, and the kids are chomping at the bit to load up the car and live in swim suits for a week.  Good thing its only a couple of hours away so we don't have to listen to "Are we there yet???  How much longer???"  for toooooo long.


P.S. - If you're a burglar reading this and you know where we live and you plan to rob our house, please know we have a vicious dog we're depriving of food. She'll be holding down fort while we're gone just waiting for you to come by so she can nibble your feet Hannibal style.

"hey dumb dumb..."

Yesterday we met some friends at a nearby little waterpark for a change of pool scenery.   Wasn't long before the thunder came and sent us running for shelter (straight to Friendly's for ice cream sundaes).  We've been to this particular waterpark quite a few times but this year they changed the motif to a Polynesian theme.

When we walked in, we found this guy and guess what movie they started quoting immediately?

the ride

The weather has cooled down a few degrees (only in the mid 90's now) so we're getting out more this week and going places other than just to soak in the pool.   We have a great farm park near us that we frequent often throughout the year, with lots of animals, a farmers market, hay rides, playground and lots to see and do.  This morning the farm hosted a very cute and funny puppet show about dinosaurs.    So we spread our blanket out in the shade and kicked off our shoes for a while. The boys were so good and really enjoyed it, so afterwards we took a hayride and then enjoyed lunch at our favorite burrito joint.   A nice little outing, and back home before it got too hot again. 

You know, I love getting to do stuff like this with my boys.  They won't always be young enough to enjoy the simplicity of a puppet show and some farm animals and a hayride.  They're getting so big, so fast.   While we were on the hayride, they both held my hands and would occasionally look up at me, grinning and just enjoying the ride.  And it is a ride isn't it?  Being a parent is one big ride.  Sometimes you don't know where you're going, other times it can make you feel a little dizzy.  Sometimes its loud, and you're almost always sweaty.  You can't get off in the middle, and you do things you never thought possible.  It's certainly messy, and exhausting and exhilarating.

And at the end of the day, as the park closes and you see those two sweet faces sleeping peacefully, you know you'll gladly get back on the ride tomorrow and do it all over again.   

down at the county fair

Last night, we embarked on our annual family tradition of taking the boys to opening night of our local county fair.  We've taken them every summer I can remember, and the main attraction and what they look forward to all year is the demolitian derby (they still refer to it as the "Dirty").  But the fair itself is an honest-to-goodness real country fair, with lots of cowboy boots, farm animals (last night we watched some of the goat show....how many people can say that?), and fried meats on sticks.  Its always good people watchin', and a chance to get a big fat funnel cake too.    Two years ago, we took Logan for the first time, and last year we all enjoyed it again.

Here are some photos from last night, it was a great time!

h-o-t

Today is a record breaking, ass scorching on your car seat, hotter than hell day. We tried to get out back and do a little yardwork this morning before the stifling heat arrived but we didn't last too long.  It was off to the pool and into the deep end for a cool down.  Today's the kind of day where you can only be one of two places - inside with the A/C at full blast, or in a pool up to your shoulders in cool water. 

Unless you're a sunflower.  If you're a sunflower, this is the kind of day you live for.