End of Season Team Party!

The Swim Team season ends July 31st. There's just the All-City meet left, so our team had their awards ceremony/team party last night. It was tons of fun!

The weather was just perfect, there was food, friends, and WATER!

I had taken everyone to the pool earlier in the day and I think Madelyn was just DONE with the pool. So, her and I only swam for a bit, then hung out with friends in the grass.

Brian and the other kids had a blast though, swimming until we left at 9:00pm.

The three coaches, Pat, Jackie, & John

Morgan just got her trophy.

Hayden got a trophy too. He started the season with the team, but wasn't 'into it', and later left. It was nice of them to still give him a trophy though!

What a fun season....now it's try-outs for winter swim!

Summer fruit....

One of the things I love about summer is all the wonderful fresh fruit!

We have been enjoying our farm share this year, and all the wonderful varieties they've brought us. We've had peaches, plums, nectarines, cantaloupe, and this past week, watermelon.....

It's been um, um good!

Madelyn was so in love with the water melon, 

she ate it down to the rind, and wouldn't let us take it from her...

Love that summer fruit!

On another note:

We have a laundry shoot in our house. You drop it down from our bedroom, and it comes out in the laundry room (which is just off the kitchen). Well, I'd couldn't find a shirt of mine for a while, and have been searching for it. I finally looked up the laundry shoot with a flashlight, and there it was stuck halfway up just where it bends. I looked all over for something to stick up the shoot that was long enough, that also bent so I could unhook the clothes! Then I realized, Ashlyn was small enough to fit through the opening, stand up, and she bends! It worked perfectly, and she had fun doing it!

Good Bye Car....

Tonight we gave away Brian's car. He is buying a new (to us) one from a woman in a few weeks. We decided it was time to say goodbye. It's hilarious to me how much the kids LOVED this car. It was a '92 Toyota Corolla, and they thought it was such a 'cool' car. So, they came out to give it one last wash before saying goodbye...

The windows had been decorated for Morgan's swim meets.

While the kids were washing, Madelyn kept playing with the soap bucket. She would splash it and rub the suds on her. Then she discovered that she could push the bucket around the driveway. She enjoyed playing keep away from the kids trying to get their sponges wet!

I LOVE these cheeks!

This is Madelyn's 'outside' crawl-hates to have her knees on the ground!

Might as well throw one more of Madelyn in...

She's standing!

Just don't tell her she is or she'll quickly sit down!

CRAZY hair girl!

Deer Friends...

Caught some visitors 2 doors down from us on the way home from the pool this week. The only camera I had with me was my phone. The kids were excited to know if they were Santa's reindeer checking up on them in the summertime! I love the wildlife around here!

In case you were wondering.....

This is what a weeks worth of laundry that needs to be folded looks like at our house!

The kids and I got it done in 30 minutes!! Hooray!

SWIM! SWIM! SWIM!

Morgan joined the neighborhood swim team this year, 'Phelps Luck Snappers'.

She LOVES it, every minute of it!

Her first meet she won first place for girls Freestyle, and 2nd place for Backstroke.

She's been placing every meet.

Not that winning ribbons is what it's all about-it's just plain fun, but the ribbons are nice too.

She's always been a fish, and now she's shinning in the water.

We are so proud of her, and love to watch her swim!

The whole family went to the first meet, and we quickly learned that it's just not fun for the other kids to stand out in the heat and WATCH other kids swim and NOT get in the water. So, Brian and I swap off going to the meets. The first few meets....I forgot my camera. My neighbor brought hers, but I haven't gotten the photos from her yet.

Two weeks ago it was my turn to go, and I REMEMBERED the camera!!!

Of course this was the day that it DOWN POURED! I should of worn my suit, as we were SOAKED! But, I did get some photos, so here they are:

Diving in to begin the Freestyle race.

Freestyle.

If you look yo can see the rain drops in the pool.

Morgan did really well, and came in 1st in her Heat-2nd for the overall event.

Getting ready for Backstroke.

She doesn't 'like' the backstroke, but is strong in it. She placed 2nd at this meet for Backstroke as well.

This past Saturday was Brian's turn to attend the meet. He literally came home with 140 pictures! He snaps quicker than I do! He was lucky and had the sun with him, and got some good shots!

This is the team starting out with their cheers before the meet.

Morgan and her friend & neighbor Haleigh.

The national anthem to begin the meet.

In the water for Freestyle.

Breaststroke.

100 meter relay.

Morgan and the ribbons she's earned thus far.

We still have one more meet, and then the All-City meet. She's going to try out for the winter swim team, she LOVES it!

Ashlyn has been saying every time we go to the pool "I be on Swim Team! I will swim FAST!!" Well, last night at the pool with Brian she SWAM between us! She was so good and fearless! We kept backing up farther, and she kept making it! I was so impressed. My other kids  couldn't of done that at 2!  She can't wait to go back again tonight! I think Morgan might have a swim buddy real soon!

Open Blog

So, I have been thinking and talking for some time, and have decided to open my blog again. I've gone back and forth on this, and for now this is the decision I've come up with. I might change my mind at a latter time, but here it is for now! The wonderful part of being a woman is having the prerogative to change her mind!

KENTUCKY!

For the 4th of July weekend, we decided to take a quick road trip to Kentucky and visit with Brian's brother Kevin and his family!

THURSDAY JULY 1, 2010

The plan was to leave at 11:00am or 12:00pm. Well, Brian ended up at work a bit longer than he planned that morning, & I think we left before 3:00pm! So, a little behind schedule, but we hit the road! We drove through West Virgina, and HAD to stop and get a picture of Morgan in Morgantown, WV.

We stopped to sleep at the halfway point (Charleston, WV) around 10:00pm. Due to the size of our family, we had to get 2 rooms-we figured we'd have a boys room & girls room. Well, Duncan was SO OVER TIRED, and just cried about everything! He wanted to sleep with Brian, he wanted to sleep in the window bed, he wanted to sleep with me-it was INSANE! I ended up swapping Brian rooms and slept with Duncan! He was ALL OVER the bed, and I was TIRED the next morning!

But, on we went!

FRIDAY JULY 2, 2010

We made it to Louisville around lunchtime, and after we ate went straight to the Louisville Slugger Museum. This was a fun place. We got to watch them make the bats, everyone got a little bat, we hit some balls in the batting cage, and just played around.

Duncan, Ronan, Ashlyn, & Morgan in the over sized mitt!

That's one big bat!

Tried to get everyone out front for a photo....this is what we got. Ashlyn's crouched down to the left, Duncan's off to the right, and some random girl in there as well!

Ashlyn and Babe Ruth's bat. 

She was the main reason for stopping here. The other kids enjoy watching baseball, but Ashlyn is our first who is in LOVE with playing it! "I hit the ball and win the game!" is what she tells me!

Morgan at home plate.

Hayden and his "Mom, I am WAY to old to pose for this photo" look.

We had talked about going on a river boat, and to Church Hill Downs, but reality was that by the time we left the Slugger Museum, everyone was tired of being couped up, and needed to RUN. So we headed to the base (Ft. Knox) to meet up with Kevin, Danielle and Connor and to PLAY at a PARK! We had a great time, then crashed at the hotel.

SATURDAY JULY 3, 2010

We visited Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home in the morning.  I enjoyed the film at the birthplace site, and it was a beautiful walk around the grounds. I enjoyed myself so much that I didn't take a single picture! The kids each got a small toy from the gift shop, and we (Madelyn & I) laid in the grass while they played with their civil war army men. It was a nice morning. We left when the park ranger got upset because the boys were tearing up some dried pieces of bark that were on the ground! Thought that was a little obsessive, but oh well!

We then met up with Kevin & family at Lincoln's boyhood home:

Inside the one room house. 

Walking down to the river from his home.

The boys quickly found a water snake at the river!

Once done with the historical site-seeing, and since it was 90 degrees, we decided to hit the water park on the base in the afternoon! It was a great water park, with slides, Lilly pads, and awesome baby pool-had a great time!

Had to snap a photo of our Nations Gold Depository on the way out!

Ronan SO wanted to be amongst the gold, but this is the only view we got!

SUNDAY JULY 4, 2010  

We planned to hang out on the base with Kevin & Danielle for the 4th celebrations. We started out visiting the Patton Museum (which was free). The kids LOVED it! SO many tanks in one place was like heaven to some of my children.

Hayden pointing out the "Lee" tank (his middle name is Lee).

The boys certainly didn't have a monopoly on loving the tanks! 

Morgan was quite happy to be there as well!

I didn't get a picture because Brian had my camera at the time, but on our way out the gentleman that worked there picked Ashlyn up and put her in Gen. Patton's jeep. Ronan was with us, and was SO jealous of this! "I want to say I was in Patton's Jeep too!" he told me. But some things are reserved for cute 2 year old girls I told him! :) She reminded the gentleman of his granddaughter.

Some outside displays

After some afternoon naps, a movie, and some pool time at the hotel 

we were ready for the festivities of the 4th! 

We had a BBQ at Kevin & Danielle's, and then headed over near 

the airfield to wait for the fireworks show. 

While waiting we passed the time by catching fireflies- one of my 

FAVORITE summertime activities!

If you look close you can see the light above that she's about to catch!

The on who lived.

A firefly that she walked passed.

Here she has 'caught' him *smack*!

Poor things don't survive her catching very well.

Madelyn sat and watched the kids running around.

Hayden caught 4 at a time!

Here's another poor soul that was got by Ashlyn.

Brian so badly wanted a photo of everyone together....

This was the best of the bunch. Too much excitement to sit still for a photo!

The Fire works begin!!!

The big kids enjoyed the view from the top of the van!

It was a GREAT show! Tons of fireworks, we had a great time. 

We hung around and played when it was done to try and let the crowd get out a bit.

We were at the hotel by midnight, and enjoyed a sleeping in the next morning.

MONDAY JULY 5, 2010  

Monday we got up and packed and left around 10:00 or 11:00am. We decided that we would take 2 days to get back if we needed too, no need to kill ourselves. Well, by 3:00pm I was REALLY just wanting to get home, and not unload the van into another hotel room. So I suggested that we press on and just get home late that night. Well....the battery on the lap top was dead, 2 DS units were dead, with the other 3 quickly to be dead soon. I brought NO car chargers for these things!!!! Why was that??? I told Brian if we were going to keep driving, we had to stop at a Best Buy or something, and get some car chargers (I didn't really bring anything else for the kids to do). 

So we stop at the mall in the center of Charleston, WV. I went in to find an Apple or electronic store. When I asked the man at FYE if they had anything, or if there was a Best Buy near by, he told me they had nothing for me, and the ONLY Best Buy in ALL of West Virginia was in Huntington (which we passed an hour before)!! I asked for an Apple store, and he said he didn't think there was one at all in WV! OK, a Radio Shack maybe? Yes, there was one in the mall! Now this was my favorite conversation I had the whole trip, with the man at the Radio Shack!:

Me:"Do you have a car charger that would work with my Apple?"

R.S. man:"An Apple???"

Me:"Ya, a Macintosh computer."

R.S. man:"It's a computer, and they call it an apple?!"

Me:"Yep"

R.S. man:"Ha, they call the computer an apple!!"

I was completely stunned! I hope he was pulling my chain, if so, he did a GREAT job of 'looking' confused! Can you really live in America and NOT know what an Apple is? AND work at at Radio Shack????

Anyway, we got a converter, and set off for the long haul home. At one point we thought we might run out of gas on the freeway.....that was exciting. We didn't realize that we had passed the last gas station that would be open! We stopped 3 times at 9:30pm to find the stations CLOSED! Everyone cheered when we pulled up to an OPEN station! We made it home by midnight. Sleep.