The latest addition to the family!

This is totally uncharacteristic of me, but I fell in love with this RV, yes RV. Some girls want diamond tennis bracelets and a 2 cartat engagement ring - me I love to travel. Given that travel abroad isn't in our cards right now we'll have to settle for road trips in style. It also completes our little "Redneck Yacht Club" we have built here in the county since movin' from the big city -We now have our pop-up pool, slip-n-slide and big old RV on the side of the garage. I have at least 2 more acres here to fill with stuff!

Groovin' into the Future

I grew up in the house we now live in and my best friend and I would do the same dancing on top of the fireboxes. It was so funny to come in and see them both grooving to the music. How do you like the new bookcases that Grandma' and Dad built on both sides of the fireplace and the new mantle and firebox covers! Off to clean the house now ):

Old Friends

This is my friend Beth and I met her back in the Tech Boom in 1999 (I believe). We were both recruiters with the same tech company in Baltimore. It was a crazy time and we had lots of fun enjoying all of the cool perks that came with the boom. Now she is an organizational guru and she can set your life straight or at least get your space in order. You can see her hanging out here at Simply Organized or providing life tips at Simply Inspired. She's a busy girl, but I was so happy that her and her hubby were able to stop over for lunch a couple of weeks ago!

So Much to Celebrate

On the 4th of July we had a July 4th, Happy Birthday and Retirement party. The significant thing to note in these pictures is that Bella wouldn't get near the water last year and this year she's a nut. It's amazing what a year can do! Perhaps next year the kids will get along all the time, hey it's a dream I know, but what difference a year can make.

Up Up and Away!

Grandma and her buddy playing around as usual.

The British are Coming!

We decided to sign The Boy up for a traveling British Soccer Camp. His coaches came to the US to teach kids how to play soccer and they are traveling all over the US this summer. Well this week they are here and The Boy has been perfecting his soccer skills which up to this point include watching planes in the sky, picking grass and walking like a robot in the field. Man, they have their work cut out for them. I was impressed to see that he was actually playing the game! He did still maintain his normal trying to chat with all of the ponytail girls, but he was actually running after the ball! Perhaps soccer will be different this year, we shall see in the fall.

Frontier Town Camping

We took the family camping at Frontier Town just outside of O.C. The kids had a blast. Here is what our typical day looked like: horses on the beach at Assateague and "surfing", water park and pool after lunch and then 2 nights of all you can eat seafood buffets for dinner then S'mores by the campfire at night. It was a nice long weekend.

Random Thoughts

"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”

All By Myself

Bella has been harassing us to let her spend the night "all by myself" at her friend's house. We were pretty hesitant since we made The Boy wait till he was 5 and a half, but we decided to let the strings out a bit early and let her go. They were so excited and we made an even exchange by having her brother spend the night with us so the boys could play. Here they are all dolled up for the sleep over with their flip flops, sun dresses, purses and overnight bag. I love the hand on the thigh and pointed toe as her BFF smiles for the camera. I can just see this same pose 10 years in the future. They had a great time and couldn't wait till it got dark so they could put on their PJs, get in bed and have an official sleepover. No calls in the middle of the night and now she can't wait to have the next sleep over.

Happy Daddy Day!

The kids made cards for Father's Day and a couple weeks before we took Hubby to pick out his new Droid. We have pretty much lost Dad since the acquisition of his new toy. Just like any good Dad he made us dinner on Father's Day and smoked the world's largest rack of ribs. Any excuse to drink beer and roast meat with fire - right? He's such a great Dad and Husband that he really deserved the day off, but he insisted on the cooking, he's a good egg.

Happy Birthday Part III - Get Out Your Guns

The Boy wanted a laser tag party for his birthday which sounded great since I would not have to come up with games and entertain children. Well, about 1.5 hours before the party we got a call that they were running late. The thought of 22 boys and nothing to do was quite frightening. Luckily, the hubby had an idea to just switch the timing around and do cake and ice cream first along with gifts. That all worked out and they threw in a candy cannon to make up for the schedule. The Boy thanked us for the next few days for the candy cannon surprise. We just let him think that we threw it in as an extra - shhhhhh. Even the "older" boys had fun.