Summer Fun

Summer is winding down and the kids are now really trying to keep boredum from creeping in.....so yesterday Ben, Markie and Alex made a fort in Alex's room. I had to help move matresses, but they created the design. It looked fun and I remember doing the same thing with my brother and sister when I was a kid. Of course, I mostly had to put it all away later that night, but I actually tried to enjoy watching them instead of getting aggrevated by the chaos they were creating! I can always shut the door to the room too!

Dressing Up

I think it's fair to say that while Christmas is any kids' favorite holiday, Alex probably would say that Halloween is a close second! That boy loves to dress up in costumes! My sister in law told me she did some major cleaning last week, so she brought over costumes that her boys had outgrown! Alex tried them all on one day. That boy makes me laugh every day!

More swimming

A couple Sunday's ago, we got Alex and Zach together again to play. We went back to the Rhoades Pool and the boys had so much fun. They were moving so fast, I couldn't get any pictures of them playing in the actual water - the only time they were both sitting still for more than 10 seconds was at the chairs as we were getting ready to leave. There was lots of splashy splishy sun-drenched fun with two buddies!

A new baby nephew update

Here is little Michael Hawk at just about 1 month old. He doesn't like coming to my house - Roy tries to lick him and he doesn't like small dogs since his dog is a very large horse-like animal and that is what he's used to. M.H.'s head bobbles a lot, but he's doing good on keeping it up with his little baby neck. He is losing his hair, but wears the baby bald look well. All the siblings and cousins love the little guy and his novelty has not tarnished too much yet with them. This is a pretty cute picture of the little one, don't ya think?

Down Under Wines

A trip to the Down Under Wine bar was in order last week. Here are the reasons why we had to have a girl's wine night:

1. Lynn's birthday was 2 weeks before and we needed wine to celebrate. 2. Lynn had to get out since she has a 4-week old baby and he eats (nurses) ALL the TIME! 3. It was the middle of summer with the kids' home. 4. It's hot. OK, I kinda made the 4th one up as a reason to need wine! We also managed to plan an October trip to Vegas that night....hmmmm......well, if that's the worse trouble we get into at a wine bar, that's OK! Don't you love our table top full of empty and almost empty wine glasses. Don't you love the slice of chocolate cake the waiter treated us to, in honor of the birthday girl?! It actually tasted as heavenly as it looks!

Pedi's and Wings

Bahama Mama night this time was planned by Holly. Elaine, Becky and I packed provisions in a ice chest for the hour + ride to Holly's world (side of town) and first had pedicures at Holly's nail place. Walking in was like Cheers and everyone looked and said "Holly!". Basically, she goes there a lot! They did a great job in my toes, complete with a little flower. After that, we had wings at the only place to go for wings, Native New Yorker - and yes, they have one way over on that side of town! Holly (she also goes there a lot) introduced me to parmasean dusted wings - - YUM! And Elaine had her typical make us all feel guilty for eating fattening foods, low-cal, no-cal guiltless like chicken patty plain with a glass of water or something like that for her meal! Becky stuck with the "wing girls". Thanks Becky.

If you don't know by now, the Bahama Mama's are us 4 gals who became good friends on a trip to the Bahama's with PartyLite. Don't know when it was...it's been many years (at least probably 6 or so) we have been getting together, sometimes more often that other's, depending on our schedules, to laugh, catch up and hang out, while doing different activities. In short, these gals are awesome and I love our get togethers! Who knows what we'll be up to next time.....

Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr. is sorta our place of choice when we want the kids to run off some steam and also feed them lunch relatively cheaply. While Ben was off enjoying Camp, Lynn and I and her friend Tami and her daughter and our other kids minus Ben went to lunch. The kids ran around and used up some of their endless summer energy. The play area has a door, so the rest of the patrons can't hear the sounds of kids playing, and it's so COOL in there - perfect for a summer afternoon!