Gone Fishing

Safer Here

In this box by Alida,

than on the road where I'm almost always swerving out here to avoid them...

Conversations

I pick up  the kids from camp the other day for their physicals, and there is immediate worry over drawing blood, which we'd already worried over to no end the night before.

Boys show up to the car first, together:

Me: Hey, my boss (a hematologist) wants some of your blood if they take some from you today.  Would you give him some extra?

Nick: if they numb me, so I don’t feel it.

Ben: Tell your boss he can have my blood, but only when I’m 11. I’m 9 now, so in two years.  It’ll be the same blood.

Nick: Wait, what does he want our blood for?

Me: He’s going to take it to his lab and look at it and use it to develop some tests.

Nick: Oh, cool.  Like they could use my blood to find cures for diseases. Sure, he can have some, but only a quart.  I think I have like a gallon of that stuff; he can have a quart.  Ben, you should give him some.

Ben: I will, when I’m 11.

Nick: What if they could find a cure for diseases?  Like that disease that makes your arms fall off?

Ben: What?  My arms will fall off in my sleep, so it won’t hurt.  I’m good. He can have it when I’m 11.

Nick: Well, he can have a quart of mine. But only a quart

Girls arrive, one at a time.

Alida: No Way.

Elaine: Sure, just leave me enough so I can keep living.

Alida (competitive): Oh, you can have all of mine.  I don’t need to live.

While it stormed at the beach,

 

It really stormed at home.

 

Would have thought I was murdering them during the hour and half deadfall pick up one Saturday morning. 

 

I kept telling them that I thought we were done as soon as they took the last two piles I'd made over to the burn pit.  But, then I added that I would be adding to them along the way.  So with four against one, all they had to do was get the piles cleared and when I had no pile left to add to, we would be done.

 

Then they wandered about taking breaks and doing anything but work for another half an hour until I was really ready to be done and re-explained that they needed to beat me, and it was a competition, and the only way we would stop was when they won. 

 

Then things got moving. 

Found on our ocean retreat

 

Glad we didn't swim in the river next to the hotel.

Safety First

 

 A little over a year here;

we have enough grass to mow.

 

When I asked where his glasses were, he came out of the garage in this.

 

It took about five minutes.

Life Size Hungry-Hungry Hippos

Big Kid Toys

 

A friend showed up Saturday afternoon with this to play with.

 

 

 

The next afternoon, we had this as the end-of-summer project.

Eight Months--Eighty Pounds

 

This guy is having no problem fitting in.

 

The girls: eight years, a combined 86 pounds.

 

At their physicals the other day, after weighing in at 3rd and 5th percentile, we got our nutritional supplement marching orders with a goal of at least five more pounds on each. 

No diabetes, however.  So that was good news.

 



Bacon and Grits

 

Listening to everyone exclaim how they want her bacon and grits from the buffet.

 

 

A little ninja action to keep people off.

 

 

But then Ben snuck in a hand and got some anyway.

 

 

Warning off Nicholas next.

 

 

But he didn't heed the warning.

 

 

Until he figured out he could go get his own plate.

 

 

Alida too.

 

Ben, horrified that no one bothered to bring him back a plate.

The Ocean

 

Ben couldn't understand why we couldn't bring the dog to dig in big holes with him.

 

I couldn't understand why anyone would ever think this was a good idea.

 

 

A storm rolled in one day, but it didn't stop them.

 

Sun tired.

 

Everywhere but in the camera.

They played and ran for three days, no stopping.

 

We've really found our own little spot of the world.

This is July 4th weekend.  We had a football field sized stretch, mostly to ourselves.

 

 

Good for viewing pirate ships.

Christmas in July

 

Texted to me: a picture from the car wash during a pre-July 4th-weekend cleaning of the car.

 

Nasty.

Ready for Camp

 

Cowboy Boots.

Star Wars swimsuit.

Oversized T-shirt, that I had to tell him to turn around because it was on backward.

 

This is fashion sense at its best here.

Piano

 

Five weeks over the summer.

 

They nearly faint dead when I tell them I took lessons for 7 years.

 

We'll keep this going during the school year.

One Thing

 

About having summer guests around.

 

 

We make a mess.

 

But we also make some masterpieces.

 

The 'junk pizza' was incredible--shrimp, bacon, sausage, four cheeses. 

 

 

 

Of course there are some unorthodox kitchen techniques that are not mommy approved...

July 4 Weekend

 

There are some perks to living in the South.

Family Photos

 

Ha--this one will be published in the church directory.

It was the best of this bunch...

 

We became a little more comfortable.

The boys tell me later they thought their teeth were dirty, so they wouldn't smile without their lips tightly pursed.

 

 

The photographer got them though, once mom and dad were removed from the picture.

Handsome crew.

A little summer paintball

Until maybe it got too hot for those helmets.

But the bruising is amazing, so helmets on unless you're in target practice mode.

Not that anyone will ever get this guy. 

Reminds me of the Bigfoot picture.

Spring Soccer

 

The girls' poor little team by the end of the season;

if the ladies didn't show up, the game had to be called. 

 

 

But we didn't miss one, and Alida did it in style and out of uniform often.

I love a reserved Saturday morning watching the kids--no phones, no computers, no distractions, just relaxing and cheering them on.

 

 

I think I may have enjoyed soccer more than the kids.

Maybe not Patric, who was called in over there to ref during this game, but I was so distracted by the other team's coach, who looked exactly like Seth Rogan, that I couldn't be bothered to help him.

Patric was a sweaty mess by the end.

 

 

I particularly enjoyed watching Elaine, who never stopped and was always in the game.

 

 

Ok, so sometimes, she was taking on her own teammates, but she was always in the game.

Technically

We do have enough seating.