Monday, September 14, 2009

Wow, I've been MIA, haven't I?

It's been a busy summer by my standards. Let me tell you what's been happening!

Let's back up to August:

Last month, I took my lovely niece, Katlyn, her mother and best friend to Erie for our second annual girls' adventure. Last year I took hundreds of photos of the girls at the water park, amusement park and beach, but this year they proved that they learned from experience by hiding each time I got pointed the camera at them.

I was lucky to get a few photos so I could remember the trip:




And the hotel room:
With all the giggling that went on, I'd say they had a great time!

Mark took a few vacation days to head up to the river, relax a bit and work on extending the deck.

He got so much work done! In three days, he took this deck:
With all it's wonkiness...and worked this hard:
With Andy to help him:
And before you could say River Rat, it looked like this...Level, with all the spindles on the rail spaced evenly and all the same length! It looks wonderful and was just the spot for a Labor Day picnic! Hopefully, he'll get a few more days off so that he can get the rest of the roof on before we call it a summer.

We had a great Labor Day picnic this year...tons of food, people and laughter. We didn't let the rain get to us, we just kept having fun. The strangest part is that I spent a long weekend and did not take one single picture!

I know, I know, I assure you I was not sick. I just never thought about getting my camera out until it was over. Maybe I AM getting old!

After he got all but the roof done on the deck, Mark graciously offered to take me on a jet ski ride. I grabbed the point and shoot camera and jumped on! I managed to shap a few photos...

View looking forward...
I held the camera over my head so I could capture the view behind us...But if I leaned waaaaaaaaaaaa to the right, this is what I saw:~sigh~ I never get tired of that river...

BUT...every year, the Sunday after Labor day, our local pool has a doggie swim. Last year we took Bill,and discovered, he was not a swimmer, but he did make lots of friends:
This year Bill decided, when we got out of the van at the pool, that he would rather not go. Winnie, on the other hand, was thrilled...until they got to the water. That's when she started thinking she'd really rather not get into the water with all of THEM...

She's such a daddy's girl...so they sat down to have a little talk...They decided to go for a short jog...
Seems she told Tony that she was frightened of all the strange creatures like this curly haired giant...And thing one and thing two...She seemed to want to go where there was more water, less dogs, so they headed to the other end of the pool where she could practice some of those dives that she had seen on TV...

But even though it LOOKED deep enough...
A girl could still dream, right...So Winnie and her dad just chilled on the side of the pool...Oh Good Grief! Look at the time! Linda is sitting here, waiting for me to get the van loaded. She and I are going to the River for a few days! I'll post from there, though, and tell you about the rest of our month!

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Ahhhhhhhhh, family!

I've gotten several email asking to see the finished results of our family photo shoot. Since Kristina was instructed to keep shooting, there were many, many photos taken that day. I thought I'd share the rejects first and our selections another day.

Any objections?

Great! Remember, you can 'biggerize' any of these by clicking on them...but then...why would you want to?

^Michael and his lovely bride, CatherineMichael!
Vicky, Kailyn, Andy
JR, Vicky
Vicky, Jamie
JR, Vicky, Michael
Oh my!
JR, Morgan
Tony, JR, Morgan
My mom...or Jane looking for Tarzan!
Tony, my mom, Andy, Michael
Vicky, JR, Tony, my mom, Michael and behind Michael is Andy
The girls...Leslie, Kailyn, Katlyn, me, Catherine, my mother, Morgan and Vicky
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, family!

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Happy birthday Andy!

Yes, we have another birthday to celebrate. Twenty three years ago today, my middle son, Andrew, fulfilled many wishes: To celebrate with Mark the birth of his first child, to give poor Michael a brother, and to have a baby in the middle of the night! Michael and Vicky were both daytime babies...no excitement there.

So at 2:10 AM, weighing in at a respectable 9 pounds, 1 ounce, Baby Andrew appeared and we've celebrated ever since. I love you, Baby Andrew!

So...let the show begin...here are 23 of my most favorite photos of the birthday boy:


Andy's accomplice in the photo above is his cousin, Brian, who got married last Saturday!


651, kiddo!