Yay me because I am kind of sort of caught up with keeping you "updated!" I have at least made it through the summer. Now I just have Fall, field trips, football, our Fall Break trip to the beach with Shannon, the holidays, winter . . .
Both Gabriel and John Mark have summer birthdays. In fact, their birthdays are almost exactly a month apart. Sometimes, we will have a combined birthday party on some weekend that falls between their birth dates. This year we had it at the public pool in Rome. The boys affectionately call it "the pool with the twisty slide." Even I have to admit the slide is awesome.
Because we were having a pool party, we decided to make it a Pirate party! Since Memuph could not join us, she sent the boys a real pirate flag (the Calico Jack - not the Jolly Roger) .
We had a pool, twisty slide, cupcakes, friends, goody bags, and eye-patches; everything but a bright sunny day. In the middle of a huge and lengthy drought, it stormed that day. AAaarrr. But the clouds parted long enough to have the party - even if some of the parents did get slightly rained on.
Despite the overcast and rainy weather, a good time was had by all. Thanks to Amy & Shannon for taking pics and to Jennifer Morgan for all her help in trying to carve order out of chaos.
So we had a visit from our Aunt Memuph (mee-muff), whose birth name is actually Meredith, this summer. Since she has moved to New York, we only "expect" a visit during the holidays; so a middle-of-the-summer visit was a real treat.
One of the great things about Aunt Mempuh is that she will rough-house with the boys
get in the pool fully clothed
and not "bat an eye" when the youngest one comes out in the yard clad only in a pull up and a Superman cape
We had another short, impromptu visit with Memuph this fall. She was able to bring cousin Libby Kate to Gabriel and John Mark's Fun Run at school, where she surprised both boys, neither of whom had the slightest idea that Aunt Memuph was not in New York but in their school yard!
In the spirit of the crazy weather we have been having where one day it is blistering cold and the next day it is breezy and balmy, I thought I would continue to show you pictures from last summer (since I am still half a year behind). So, if you put in a little Jimmy Buffet or Bob Marley, make a little something cold to drink, wear some flip flops and (depending on the day) open your windows, you might actually feel like it is summer outside.
One of our adventures this summer was being able to enjoy a lake house. We had such a restful, peaceful time. It was wonderful to have our days filled with nothing but fishing, swimming, and canoeing or kayaking around the lake.
The boys would get up first thing and want to go out to go fishing. They would fish with daddy for hours. Content to cast and pull up fish. Mitch spent his time untangling fishing line, baiting hooks, and getting lines un-stuck. Mommy spent her time drinking coffee and reading a magazine while ooohing and aaahhing over the spoils.
When they would tire of fishing we would don our life vests and either go swimming or kayak or pile all of us in a canoe and traverse the lake. We discovered nooks and crannies around the cove and would go out into the main channel to a sand bar we discovered. This became our daily ritual; canoe out to the sand bar and spend a couple of hours tromping around in the mud, having mud ball fights and swimming.
Mitch and I still laugh at ourselves, schlepping them around the lake to the chorus of "How much longer til we get there," "I'm hungry," "Sit down Daniel," "I wanna get out," "You can't lean over Daniel you'll dump us all out . . ."
I was very thankful for the opportunity to take them to a lake and thankful for the family bonding time.
And thankful that for the entire week, "doing laundry" consisted of this:
