Memorial Day

Memorial Day officially comes to an end... with clothes in the washer... dishes in the sink... and I am ready for bed.... But first a few pictures that tell the story of this weekend. Amanda left to go to New Jersey-- Starting her internship and a grown up summer complete with a new hair cut... Christopher came down for the holiday weekend-- getting to be a kid for a moment in time... alittle baseball alittle fishing... alittle Nascar....And the unsolvable cube--- Nicholas made the Uncle Mike imposed 5:30 am start and got a fish... I got myself a new life jacket... one my daughter would be proud of...pink... Rusty showed off his waterskills to impress his girl.. on day three of fishing.. Both Mike and Christopher brought home the big one... and who knew two dogs could be lulled into submission with a few hours in the sun???
More later... sleep is calling...

 

 

Sunshine

Home again after a quick trip down to the lake to move my boat. As if on que mother nature came through with a wonderful weekend. We spent both Saturday and Sunday outside -- only coming in to sleep and shower-- alittle sunburned and a few sore muscles from cleaning up leaves, cleaning flower beds and scrubbing boats--- ahh it was a good weekend!!
Got to see Karen and Tim's new toys-- very cool new boat and a turbo charged jetski--like Karen needed more speed-- last we left her she had 9 hours and counting til she could go full throttle---
Madison was like a kid at christmas... she woke us at 7am on Saturday--hopping and jumping ready to get outside and find her some ducks--- those little legs didn't stop all day---needless to say she slept well-- and when she came home she had stories of Thrash, dogoggles, new neighbors and boatrides... way too much fun for someone so little!

Life can suck

 

There's always someone whose life is worst then yours... and you've now met them... its me. Yes I know you are thinking we've seen these pictures before but no its just another project gone bad. The carpet guy-- who I will now refer to as the ASS-- was supposed to do two bedrooms today and the living room and other bedroom tomorrow... but somehow after months of bringing me GREEN SAmples he brought me 60 yards of cracked wheat... yes this is After he asked for more money. Needless to say Ass did not lay the cracked Wheat nor did he get more money. And once again I have a living room full of stuff... as I can't put it back until I have carpet.. which Ass is now reordering... so see someone elses life is worse than yours...

Spent alittle time working browsing the internet looking at wedding flowers... ahh the fun of planning someone elses wedding. Found some arrangements that I have fallen in love with... ohh and then there are the cakes...

there is something about a simple cake with a few flowers... Call me crazy but I think after looking at a ton of pictures today that if it were me... I would be choosing a ivory and orange wedding.... kinda crazy sounding but white calla lilys, tiger lilys, roses.... the orange thing seems happy and the ivory elegant...
Alias its not me... and until Ruth comes up with something better we are planning a yellow wedding..

Throw out the life vest

It seems the world is moving forward a whirlwind speeds and I am treading water to keep up. Mike was gone all weekend and I was obviously in slow mode because today I have the drowning feeling... It could be because Amanda deposited her whole house (don't even ask how it all fit in her car) into my living room.... or maybe because I feel pressure to have answers for David regarding his wedding and am at the mercy of others... or maybe its that I know we still have new carpet to get put in, mulching to do, a basement to get clean... And then theres the---Amanda is leaving in about 12 days to go to New Jersey... ohhh and Alaska is just around the corner (hmm 24 days!!)

I need more time... a bigger calendar and more time.... did I say that already?

And the good news keeps on coming....

This week has been incredible when it comes to good family news... David and Ruth announced they were getting married!!! And since they are coming from Amsterdam and London in June-- What better time to throw a wedding--- So exciting to see David take the plunge... We've all thrown ourselves into the planning-- I just hope we can pull off a dream wedding via email and phone--

And then Amanda went on an interview for an Internship
today and nailed it! She'll be spending her summer in New Jersey doing research for L'oreal. I couldn't be prouder of her-- Should be an exciting summer and the learning experience of a lifetime. My heart sunk when she called-- I miss her terribly and can't imagine her not being here-- the reality is I've been counting the days down til the end of this semester and I wasn't ready to hear the news that she wouldn't be here.
My head tells me this is an awesome challenge for her -- my heart just hasn't caught up yet.
Did I mention how totally excited her dad for her?? He never doubted for a moment that she'd be heading off to greater things--

race

So sorry for the delay in sharing the Nascar pictures from this weekend. Our time in Richmond never disappoints us! Saturday we got to the track early enough that Mike was able to pull off getting a spot up close at gate 6. Which meant less walking for him and easy access to the track. Christopher got a promotion at work (couldn't be prouder) and while he had purchased season tickets was unable to get the day off to go to the Busch race. But that didn't stop him from joining us for alittle tailgating. And then it was off to work for him. David stayed using Christophers extra ticket and Mike C and Chris G slide into the parking spot we "saved" for them. All and all it was a good day-- We saved ourselves the ride home by going to Mike C. lakehouse in Lake Anna. Which by the way is mighty cute.
Whle the weather disappointed us on Sunday the good times did not. I had to laugh that after we set up the tents for tailgating A bunch of Christophers buddies showed up ---without race tickets... they came for the tailgating! Beer in hand and an attitude of finding a good time. They weren't there long before they found more friends from school- nothing like a bunch of rowdy boys to get the day going... But what was remarkable in no time they had the entire road in front of our tailgate filled with games!! They played bucketball, some kind of ringer game and beer pong. And no they didn't bring a game with them... they made friends fast-- and the pre-race party began

Nothing like a day filled with family and friends. We were worried that Nick and Robin wouldn't find us. But low and behold they showed --rain and all...It didn't take much for Nick to join in the games-- Christopher loves showing off his cool nephew-- and while I thought it important to introduce him... it seems all the boys remembered each other anyway---
. I would be remiss if I didn't comment on the seats that Mike scored for the race.. If you look at the picture-- look at the seats all the way up at the top!! yup we could see the entire track! Unfortunately without the "handicap" stamp everyone had to walk to the top. Which was a trek-- Needless to say Mike and I rode the elevator. Sundays race ended early with a rained out. So Guess ? what we ended up with three days of festivities--Nascar was no longer a two day race it was an event!... this time we decided that Saturday was a bit much and we parked in the handicap lot and made the kids come to us. The sun shone bright... but the wind was a bit much--(ok it was a bit much for me-- no one else seemed to have an issue)
Like a duck out of water-- I embraced the whole Nascar scene-- after all if you can't beat 'em -- join'em----

Busch Race

Just a quick photo of yesterday-- Don't we look all grown up at the Richmond Bush race? Check out the new glasses!! Should be posting NASCAR race pictures but after hanging out in cold damp weather-- the race was called for rain after about 12 laps under caution... so its back to Richmond for us tomorrow---- Boogedy Boogedy boogedy---lets go racing boys!!!

Weekend recap

This picture cracks me up-- yes the boys are home from Talledga and from the stories it sound like they had fun. The had a "travel package" to go see the race. It included Race Tickets, Hotel room and bus transportation to and from the Sat and Sun. races... What it didn't include was tailgating-- I mean really its a bus... But you know Mike and its not a race if theres not tailgating involved... So Saturday the boys convinced the bus driver to bring a grill Sunday and they would bring the meat! yes that driver actually brought her grill and surprisingly some food too... and Mike and Mike apparently took a taxi to the grocery store Saturday night and bought up a whole bunch of local sausage. I only wish I could have seen the two of them in the grocery store... (although this type of shopping comes naturally to my hubby) only my husband would figure a way to spend race day HIS WAY!

(yes that is a cardboard cut out of Clint Bowyer... and I would guess heavily airbrushed... cause god knows he doesn't look that good in real life!)