A Taste of Maine

A neighbor family just returned from their trip to Maine, so we got to enjoy the taste of Maine at a little block party cookout last night. When my neighbor originally asked if I wanted to order lobster, I figured I'd pass since I'm not a huge seafood fan...and frankly, wasn't too interested in cooking the wiggly things in my house! However, when I realized that we'd cook them all outside together in a neighbor's turkey cooker, I thought it was an experience that we couldn't pass up.

The gear


The victims

Ready to walk the plank

Neighbor with victim #1

It started to rain, so we couldn't hear them squeal...thankfully!

Our Maine connection with them nice and red--done!

Kids getting excited--to play with the tools...not to eat them.

Chefs

Notice there's more steak on their plates than lobster!


Celebrating many August birthdays on our block!

Another late night for the kids...

Ball Game Fun

Since last night was one of the last games of the season, Joe took the kids to see our local minor league game.

The kids with a friend's son.

Goofing around and doing gymnastics at the game.


Just a little summer fun!

Jimmer's special outing with Dad

Jimmer spent all day outside helping Joe with the lawn the other day. He swept up all the grass clippings and put them in the garbage, and he made sure that Daddy always had a full jug of cold water. He took his job very seriously.

The only request he had after that day was to do something special with Daddy. So yesterday, Joe took him to a nearby pond to feed some ducks. Pictures are better than words.



Jimmer took this picture of Dad feeding the ducks!

Their little outing ended on a refreshing note!

Birthday Cake

I forgot to explain about Mary Kate's birthday cake. Our kids' always make specific requests about what kind of birthday cake they would like. So, this year Mary Kate asked for a "sleep-over" cake...and this is what she got. You can click here and check out past requests and cake creations. Since the kids are all reading, we now make up a scavenger hunt for them to find their gifts--with all the clues in verse. I had started writing clues for Mary Kate's scavenger hunt about a week in advance, but on her birthday I couldn't find my notebook. (I had put it in a very special place. Sooooo special that not even I could find it again!) So, I had to recreate it all. The things we do for our children! Is this where some of the gray hairs come from..or is this what keeps us young? Hmmm...

Mary Kate turns eight!

Yesterday was Mary Kate's 8th birthday, so we celebrated by taking her to the zoo. Out of everyone in our family, she is the biggest animal lover! Here are some pictures from the day...along with her trying out a couple of her birthday gifts!

Mum on Monday (explanation to follow)

Hey, hey, we're the Monkeys...

Here we come,
Walkin' down the street.
We get the funniest looks from
Ev'ry one we meet.
Hey, hey, we're the Monkeys...

(Anybody? Is there anyone out there who remembers this song?)

Let the lessons begin.

Violin has started back up after a short 3-week summer break. Here are the kids as I see them each week going to their lessons--all lined up walking, usually quite briskly since somehow--even though we only live a few houses away from their teacher--we're always running a little late!

The sweet lady in this picture with the kids is the one who gave me her antique violin...and helpful gear...and books...and videos!

Enjoying a new Olympic sport

What do you get when you have four children watching the Olympics for a couple of weeks? You get children who suddenly get even more active...and come up with their own unique Olympic sports!


I'm not sure what they call this new sport, but I think it may have been inspired by watching the equestrian competition--only they've increased the difficulty and execution by not using bridles...and they race (kind of) instead of jump.
This new sport also involves frequent crashes. Of course!

We're back!

WE didn't go anywhere, our computer just left us for a while! Here are some things we've been up to since our computer took a short-notice vacation last week!

We visited with some friends who were nice enough to have us over for dinner and let us enjoy their pool.

Our kids entered their house, greeted our friends, were escorted out to the pool, jumped in (this all took only about 1-1/2 minutes!) and were not heard from again until we had dinner. Then they ate, quickly jumped back in the pool--even though their skin was still shriveled--and had to be coaxed out around 10pm!
With the kids happily occupied and playing with other kids, we actually got to visit with our friends! How novel!

My computer is on vacation--at the cyber spa!

Yes, I do like to update this blog more frequently. I was delinquent the first few days in not posting, but after that our computer got a little moody. I decided to give it a vacation and brought it to the shop. I used a computer once while I was at the library with the kids over the weekend, and now I'm using a friend's computer to check emails once a day.

So while our computer is at the "spa" getting rejuvenated, I've been a little frustrated yet refreshed myself. After the first couple of days of frustration at not being able to access everything at any time, I started appreciating the fact that I didn't need to hop on the Internet whenever something of wonder hit my brain or whenever my kids asked a question I couldn't answer. It's kind of like being on vacation with no TV or telephones--a nice break, but only meant to be temporary! So, as I look forward getting my computer back in the next couple of days I'll enjoy my old-fashioned life--B.C. (before computers).

I will say that I've gotten a little more school planning done than expected!

The Olympics--reality TV at its best!

We're not big TV watchers...except when it's an Olympic year! The kids have been very interested in watching the competitions so far, and it's quite fun to see them get so excited for the athletes!

As we were watching tonight, Jimmer had some classic one-liners. I don't even remember them all--he was on such a roll. Here are a few.

Jimmer (watching dressage): "That looks like Abraham Lincoln riding his horse."

Jimmer (watching all of the male gynmasts warm up before their competition): "Daddy, are those big, tall men?"

Daddy: "Well, they're young men with big muscles."

Jimmer: "But are they tall?"

Daddy: "They're usually not very tall. (pause) Maybe they're the world's shortest giants."

Jimmer: "Or world's tallest elfs?"

Then watching as the gymnasts started their pommel horse routines...

Jimmer: "Uh, I think that must be the world's largest mail box!" (Referring to the pommel horse!)

Then after watching President Bush hitting the ball around with the women's beach volleyball team...

Jimmer: "What if President Bush was wearing one of the women's beach volleyball uniforms?"
(Yikes! Let's try to erase that mental image!)

Mary Kate: "Hey, they're playing soccer in the water." (Watching water polo.)

Jimmer (following up with Mary Kate's comment about water polo): "Whoa, do you see their swimming suits? They look like girly panties!"

Agreed!

Baby Faces

There's been quite a bit of this going on in the house.All of the kids want their fair share of feeding time with our little visitor.

There have also been a lot of these faces to enjoy!