Sebago Lake, Maine

Best Buds
Nana goes for a ride with the girls
Katie ready to go fishing for minnows
No he is not in a gang
What a Gentleman!
Brody is done fishing!
"BRODY!!!!"
Kelly and Ben
The new tube, the kids LOVED it.
Brody...Isn't he cute!

I Found My Cord!!!

The Lesley Girls go to Seattle!
Holly and I decided this was the hill Dr.McDreamy from Grey's was building his dream home
Me and the Pike Place Fish Monger
Yuki and Frank made 100 Cranes (orgami) for their wedding
She is soooo cute pregnant! This is Holly
Waiting for Todd to come pick us up from Pikes Place
Hey we left the kids and hubbies at home!
Me enjoying a local beer,yes we got a little silly
Hmmm...what should we eat?
Cindy looking for a street...HOlly resting
Pike Place Flowers...Tons of gorgeous flowers
Yummy Coffee Makes me HAPPY! This is the 1st STARBUCKS SHOP!
Seattle...Sarah had to go to Nordstrom's RACK and try on shoes!
LOOK AT THese...THanks Gram!
Katie at Splash Pad
Ben At Splash Pad

Oh Dear!

We are back from vacation and have just enjoyed our first week home ALL TOGETHER!!

The Oh Dear is not for that. We've done quite well all being home, under one roof, sharing the same space for an entire day and for the entire week.
The Oh Dear is that I can not find my cord for my camera to download all of the fun pictures from my trip to Seattle and our family trip to Maine! Oh Dear is right. Tonight when we are all home we will do an all out search!

For now you will have to imagine the sights and sounds as I tell you about the last two weeks. Okay?

First, I got out of school the 24th so on the 25th I needed to jump into being a stay at home mom for the summer. I've never had this much time off with the kids without being in major pain and numbness from my back (2003), my maternity leave with Ben (2004) and then the ever memorable time when I broke my first ankle (2006). So I am looking forward to being home and staying healthy! Yes, please say a prayer for that one.

We went to this awesome playground in a nearby town that has a playground and a Splash Pad/Sprinkle Pad for the kids. You know what that means...WATER! The kids love it! We've been a few times now.

On July 3rd I headed out to Seattle for Yuki's wedding. Those of you who do not know Yuki she is one of my best friends from college. She is the last of the 5 of us to get married! Jason and the kids dropped me off at Sarah's in New Hampshire and then they headed up to Maine to start the vacation without me at my parents place on Sebago Lake.

Sarah, Cindy and I flew out of Boston. It was a L-O-N-G flight to San Fransisco. I did well, you know I have flying issues. Sarah kept me occupied by talking, looking at the gossip magazines and playing travel SCRABBLE. She beat me by 1 point. I might add (let's see if she really reads my blog) that the girl sitting next to her started to help her towards the end (she had been napping)! So I'm not sure she really won!

We had a wonderful time in Seattle. Holly and Todd were there too and stayed in our hotel. Holly is pregnant and looks SOOOO cute! She is beaming and feeling good. We had lots of fun talking baby stuff with her, sharing a few labor stories, and of course there was a lot of belly rubbing.
I had a Starbucks coffee everyday! Somedays I had 2! It is really true that there is a Starbucks on every corner and some streets had one in between the two on the corners!!! I was in heaven. I enjoyed Iced French Vanilla Lattes and 1 or 2 frozen frappachino thingies.
We went to Pikes Place, wait till you see the picture of me with one of the fish monger guys! We took a ferry ride to Branbridge Island, sooooo pretty going across.
Unfortunately we couldn't see MT Rainer (Famous MT) because the clouds were low, but it was beautiful weather everyday. We went by the Space Needle, but not up. That was FINE with me.
We hit some shops, ate yummy seafood and oh went on a tour of the secret underground.
Then the best part was the wedding. Yuki and Frank were married in a traditional Buddhist ceremony at a Shinto Shrine. Yuki wore a traditional Kimono with two layers. The outside was a lovely cream and the inside peach. Her hair and makeup were done too. Frank and her parents also wore traditional Japanese garments. It was a very interesting and once in a lifetime event for all of us to witness. The traditional ceremony was so different from what we are use to. The biggest difference, besides the religious part, was how quiet it was, besides the big gong. The priest does all of the talking and chanting mostly in Japanese. There is no singing. When he asks them to say their vows they do them quietly to each other. At first we thought something was wrong! No, they were soooo quiet. After the ceremony Yuki's brother explained they are suppose to only say the vows, how they feel, to each other. Interesting. Then they have to each drink 3 sips of Saki, 3 times. Yikes. At the end we too had to take a sip. I did not like it!
Once the ceremony was over we had a brief reception with Black Cake and tea. Black Cake? you say. Well, Frank's mother is from Trinidad and Black Cake is a tradition in the Islands. It is fermented liquor and fruits that the family saves in a large bottle. Then they take some of it to make the base for the cake. That's the short version.
That night we had another little reception in downtown Seattle to watch the fireworks. Very nice.
The next day it rained. Luckily the reception was held at a farm with a large barn. It was lovely. They had it all decorated with white lights...so pretty. It was great to meet a lot of Yuki and Frank's friends and family that came. The ceremony was very small at the shrine, so not everyone was invited to that. They had a video of it playing during the larger reception. Sarah took all the pictures that day so those will be up when I get them.
The worst part of the trip was that the little patch of poison ivy I had when I flew out exploded all over my body. Yes! Some of you know how allergic I am. After two days of being very uncomfortable, not complaining, Sarah and Cindy insisted I call my doctor. It looked really bad and was now painful. So my doc called in a prescription (I love technology) and I was put on Prednasone and an antibiotic. I started feeling better:) Good thing, the plane ride home (a RED EYE) was AWFUL. Enough said.

So it was great to be able to recover from my poison ivy, delusions from my prednasone and jet lag up in Maine at the lake. I think I finally woke up on Wednesday.

When I see you remind me to tell you the story of my trip through security in Seattle to leave.

Up in Maine the kids had a blast as usual. Katie and Brody did a lot of minnow fishing at the dock and out at Jane's raft. They thought they were very BIG when we let them row out to the raft alone. It's ok, only about 100 feet from shore and they wear their life vests. To watch them try to paddle in a large tube was quite a sight. Brody always ended up jumping in and pulling them back.
Ben is a maniac. Seriously, this child has no fear. He just runs and jumps and doesn't care. He wore his new Spider Man life vest and thought he was Spider Man I guess.

Walter got back from Colorado on Tuesday. He had a good trip out to visit his daughter and her family. No snow.

So this week was all about picking up the house, unpacking and staying cool. It has been HOT this week. We have the air conditioners going.

Well I hope to find my cord so I can put up some pictures, until then stay cool.

It's 10:15 pm...Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

Yup I'm up late just browsing around my favorite blogs. I had to write because I haven't been keeping up with all the funny things that the kids have been saying lately. Kids really do say the funniest things.
So, I'm sitting in bed browsing and in walks Ben. It's 10:15 at NIGHT. Yes he took a nap.
He walks in and he has on his Spider Man life jacket. Yup.
I ask him why he has it on. His eyes are downcast, shrugs his shoulds and he says "I can't get it off."
I unclip it and off he goes.
Two minutes later I see a flashlight on my door...he doesn't come in!!

I could yell, I could go in and tell him to go to sleep but ya know, sometimes he just needs to unwind.

Blurry

I know the pictures are looking a bit blurry. I'm wondering if it's the new template I got from a new site. Hmmm.
Well if you click on the picture it will enlarge and it's not blurry.
Sorry.

WOW! AWESOME! HOOHOO!

Well he did it in record time...it's done. The famous and long awaited PlaySet!
He gets lots of hiphip hoorays from us. The kids were sooo excited when we called them out to see the almost done set. They were so exited.
Here's how the day started. The kids and I came home from church to find this...


He is so smart and so creative. He was a little concerned last night how he was going to manage that beam. Then he came up with using the tractor. That tractor is old but it can kick butt!!
Here are some pictures of that process.



Once the beam was secure and we tested it out we called the kids to come out. It was a drizzly day and they were inside. By now it's about 4:30.
When they came out we heard "AWESOME" From Ben and "HOOHOO" from Katie. They couldn't wait to climb up. They then helped with all the finishing touches, the swings, grips and wheel. Katie couldn't wait to test out the swings. She LOVES to swing. Ben couldn't stop telling us how COOL AND AWESOME it was. Jason was so happy.



Of course Katie had to give a few directions.


Then Grandpa Walter came out to check things out and give some last minute instructions to Jason.



Daddy's Helpers with the finishing touches. Ben is so patient and watches every move Jason makes with all the tools! He can't wait to get his hands on them!








It's DONE, It's LEVEL and Jason is HAPPY.

WOOD=$700 PLANS=$350 SWEAT=GALLONS

SMILING FACES and THANK YOU DADDY!=PRICELESS

JASON ROCKS!!!!

I helped put that huge beam up! Katie was standing by ready to call 911 if we got knocked out!

Checking his plans. He was so organized. Everything was labeled and set out in the garage. Amazing. He was a worker bee today!

Ben takes a break from playing in his little pool to help Daddy with some screws.



Look at him go...

Look at this. It's 6pm he had to stop because Thunder was coming...
Look what he's gotten done in one day!!!
He rocks and he really rocks since it's Father's Day Weekend.