WHAT'S NEW....: End of Summer...

Well we are fast approaching the end of summer. One thing I really thought I'd do more of was hang outside on my new back grass patio. I especially loved to sit out in the morning and drink my coffee. I'd watch Ella run around, stop-look-and wonder, watch the butterflies hang out on my lovely purple bush and just listen.

I wish I did it more, but I am not going to haven ANY regrets about this summer!

It was a PERFECT summer!!!! Sure I didn't do everything on my Summer To-Do List, but then again, how many people get through theirs??????

We did lots of relaxing, I needed that, and had lots of fun! Did we have all out fun everyday, no, but who cares! We were together, right! Mommy and Daddy were home everyday! No work for us!!!

Sure the kids needed a few reminders to be "THANKFUL" for what we were doing!

Sure they needed a few, well a lot of reminders to "stop..." you fill in the blank!

I only had to use "I am counting...", "Go to your room", "Do I look happy?", "Are ya kidding me?", "I mean it!" a few times here and there : ) (Smiling)

But hey, that's all ancient history as I look back on the Summer of 2010...

#1 we welcomed home Uncle Mike from his deployment of 8 LONG months!!! That was awesome!!!!

We went up to Maine for a great vacation! We stayed at my parents place on the lake and had lots of fun and only left the cottage a few times : )

Really what's better than being able to drive 8 minutes to your beach?

We went our town beach several times. All but twice, each time we went it clouded over within 30 minutes of us getting there and started to rain or looked like rain. No joke. We still had fun.

The kids went crabbing at our beach at least twice.

We went swimming lots at Kathy's house with our friends. THANK YOU!!!!!

Katie had several sleep-overs with friends here and at their houses! Lots of fun!!!

Ben had his first sleep-over and then a couple more and we all survived the night!

K & B slept outside with Daddy in their tents! We had a few camp fires. A few only because it was SOOOOO hot and humid at night this summer.

We went to DQ a few times during the day and at night. We also had lots of yummy ice cream cones at home too.

Although K thinks I weeded my flower beds "all the time", I weeded them a few times and they still look decent. The front, well, I tried as always, but that is much harder to control with the constant threat of poison ivy.

I almost forgot!!!! I DID NOT get that once this summer!!!! I had all the needed supplies and a new natural relief to try too! Not that I am complaining!!!!!

We had lots of fun watching movies on Net Flix/Wii. They got caught up on some oldies but goodies. They really liked the Home Alone movies. They did not like BIG.

Katie and I read lots of great books! She finished most of the Ramona series (Thanks H for lending them to her). I read some good summer reads too!

Jason took the kids up to New Hampshire to visit Grandma and Grandpa! Lots of fun!!! They were getting over their colds, but they still had a blast with them. Grandma always makes it fun with sleeping in the camper, cooking home-made goodies, walking to the pond and Grandpa gets out the water slide! WooHoo.

That same weekend I went scrap booking with my sister and some of our friends for an overnight. Boring for some, NOT for us!!!! It was great to catch up with Amy and hang with the girl friends, ya know what I'm saying!

Jason was busy all of July into August re-vamping the garden. Instead of just an okay garden he turned it into an "WoW, look at your garden!" I am so proud of him. He's been wanting to this and he put his mind to it and did it. We will be reaping the rewards next spring and summer! (You want to give the soil a season to prepare : ))

We visited the local attractions: Sub Museum, Chatfield Hollow, Niantic Boardwalk (just J & Me).

Visited with friends....both spontanous and planned.

Caught a two teeny tiny bunnies.

Jason went fishing in the ocean.

Ben and Daddy build a logging truck from scratch!

Katie and Me attempted to sew with her sewing machine. Yeah, I really need some lessons on that one.

I know I missed a few things, but that's okay. I'm sure they were fun too!

Today I asked the kids to go outside and write about, I know, they gave me that look too, what their favorite part of summer was.

Ben, well his page was blank. Yeah. I asked why and he told me, "I don't know. I don't really remember." Great.

It's okay Ben, I remembered all the fun for us!!!!!

Katie wrote a novel. Here's a few snipets:

"My summer vacation was AWESOME. I traveled, I relaxed and I read and I had so much fun doing it!"
"my favorite part was spending time with my family and friends."
She loved going to Maine and New Hampshire.
Sleep Overs with friends.
Going to the West Farms Mall (she's never been to a mall that big!) with her friend M.

Not bad. She wasn't to happy about having to go outside and write. She prefers to write spontanously.

So I'm off to the lake for one last hurrah for a few days before we all head back to school.

I will miss you Summer of 2010. I really, really enjoyed hanging out with you!

Uncle Mike's Cake