Bay's New Robe/Cover Up

I finished Bay's robe after making a trip to the local lame fabric store and picking up some terry cloth. I was really hoping to find something more brightly colored (royal blue, red) but my only choices were baby pastels. The olive green and cream were THE only viable option, so that is how it turned out. It ended up turning out pretty good after all. Not what I had envisioned, but nice and just what Bay needs for his shivering little body when he gets out of the pool!
I added rows of stitching along the belt, hood and front and bottom band for interest.
Here he is in Leah's bathroom trying it on. Now Eric wants one too...go figure! Anyone know how to adapt a pattern to fit someone 8 sizes larger?

Fishing with Gramps

One of the really great things about living near family is the kids' opportunities to spend time with Grandparents. My dad has been purposefully taking the kids fishing one at a time as often as possible this summer. They usually just go down to the water's edge and stand on the bulkhead and cast. Usually they catch something in the shady areas under the trees. I have yet to actually get down there and photograph them actually fishing (don't want to break the Gramps magic!). Last evening it was Bay's turn and they evidently did well.

Poor fish...all Leah had to say was that now our picnic table is all yucky!

100th post!!!

Wow, it's my 100th post and I can't believe it's taken so long :) Well, I think it is fitting for this post to share pics of my newest sewing machine creation for my little sweetie! A robe/cover up for getting out of the pool on cool afternoons. I modified a pattern to include the hood, and since I didnt' have enought pink terry cloth, I used a white towel for the main part of the robe. Turned out pretty darn cute and she really likes it! That's all folks for this one!

Visit to Uncle Andy's!

Today we went to visit Heather's brother where he keeps his sailboat/house. He just recently got transferred to the East Coast and this was the first time in, well.....ever...that we (meaning just our own family) have been able to hang out with Andy on his own turf. It was great fun! The day was non-eventful and totally relaxing. Enjoy some selected shots from the day!

When we arrived at the yacht club, Bay saw this written on the parking lot and made this face. Perfect! Flush!
Lunch (kabobs and dogs) on the grill on Andy's sailboat, aptly named "Barefoot"

View of the Patapsco River from the yacht club playground.

Hanging out in the pool (what we spent most of our time doing)

Bay is always silly

Heather hangin' out...something that doesn't happen too often :)

On the way home it stormed, and then there was a beautiful rainbow that arched across the entire sky. I stood out our sunroof to photograph this, but only part of it would fit in the camera frame. For a little while it was actually a double rainbow all the way across!

Endless Summer.......

There is something comforting in rituals...both for us as the parents and also for the kids. I think they signal something in our brains that help us cope with time and transitions. At the end of the swim team season every year for as long as I can remember has been our Volunteer Fire Department's Carnival. Every year it is the same, every year it is different. The rides are the same. The kids are different in how they react to the rides, the people we see are different. But one thing that stays the same is the signal that summer is coming to an end...it is kind of the last hurrah of the season, kind of hard to explain.

I'm not sure how all other fireman's carnivals are run, but our fireman have purchased all of their rides, and store them, service them, paint them, set them up and run them themselves. It adds quite a local touch. We know many of our fireman and enjoy seeing them each year at the Carnival.

If you read last years post on the carnival, you may have noticed that Eric's expression on this ride was markedly different! I'm not sure what happened this year, but he was very cooperative to ride with his siblings and even enjoyed himself from the start of the ride!

Leah and her Granni on the carousel. After the first two rides she finally let go of Granni and held on by herself! Lessons in bravery :)

Dennis took Bay and Leah on the kiddie rides for awhile while I went on the Tilt-A-Whirl with Eric. One time. That was all I could handle. What happened to my body when I turned 30 that I can no longer tolerate rides that go around and around? Poor Eric, I was his last hope of going on those rides with him. He'll have to convince his brother to be brave I guess!

Oh look...he did convince Mr. Brave and Daring that the Tilt-A-Whirl would be fun! Last year Bay went with a grown-up, this time just the two of them had a blast together.

Each child got to spend $1 on treats...that is the other amazing thing about this carnival...it doesn't break the bank! The concessions are dirt cheap! Eric chose a sno-cone, Bay chose green cotton candy, and Leah chose chocolate ice-cream. After a few tastes, they all ended up trading !!! You can see what Leah got her hands on!

Trip to California

Dennis just got back from a trip to California to go riding (Harley's) with his brothers, Kevin & Mike. Needless to say he enjoyed himself thoroughly. They rode from the L.A. area up north to Morro Bay, then back down south again along the coast, through Santa Barbara and back to Kevin's house. They spent the most time in Morro Bay, pictured below. He saw sea lions all over the place, jumping onto the piers. The weather was gorgeous, of course. While riding along the coast he saw whales and some pretty amazing mountains.

They rode out on the pier in Santa Barbara, here he is on Kevin's bike.
We're glad to have him back home, and he's happy to be home too. Great experience, something he's always wanted to do!

Back in the posting world again!

I'm not sure if I remember how to do this!!! Just kidding. It has been a very busy 2 months and I certainly will not bore you with all of the details, though most of them were the same from day to day. I am glad to be in August, and am proud to say that today was the first day in 2 months I stayed in my pj's past 6:30 am.

We started out June with a quick weekend trip to Ohio to visit Heather's dad's side of the family...the kids' great-grandmother, Heather's uncles/aunts/cousins. We enjoyed catching up with everyone (though it was terribly hot). That's Eric behind the giant orange frisbee!

This picture is out of order, but when we got back we celebrated Dennis' mom's birthday. I put fresh flowers on her cake, you can see it in the foreground. Fun.
Now back to Ohio. We stayed at a quaint cottage on Lake Eerie. It was simple, small and fabulous. They had a beach with toys, playground and volleyball for the kids. Yard games, picnic tables and a beautifully manicured community lawn area. We could have stayed there the whole time and enjoyed ourselves, but we tried to spend some time with family too!!!
As soon as we got back, swim team and swim lessons started. Swim team is every week day morning from 9:30-11:30 (Heather helped out with coaching both practices). Then we came home to have lunch. Most days Heather taught about 1 1/2 hours of swim lessons at our house, either group or private. Then, if it wasnt' a swim meet night, we had some time at home together. If there was a swim meet, we were out the door around 4ish to set up and run the swim meet. BUSY is the only word I can say to describe the past 7 weeks. I can honestly say that the kids were never bored for 1 second, and they had a great time...swimming lots, seeing friends lots (Eric craves that friend time)...and sleeping when they could!

Here's Bay all ready for a race in his green goggles. He swam REALLY well this summer, a huge improvement over last year. He learned to swim backstroke as well as freestyle, and if you get the chance to ask me, i can tell you a funny story about one of his races!
Eric and one of his swim team buddies, Tommy. Eric also made lots of improvements this summer, earned several heat winners and took lots of time off many of his strokes.
Now we are done with swim team (except the banquet) and enjoying our mornings at home, getting things done around the house. I am started cleaning out and doing my annual reorganization of the school room. It seems every year i have new ideas about how to make the school room work better. Maybe by the time Eric graduates, i will have it all figured out!