Speed Blogging

Our summer consisted of 8 weeks covering 9 states and sleeping in 11 different beds. Needless to say no free directory assistant would have been able to find us this summer. So to share some of our summer adventures I thought I would do a bit of "speed blogging".

The kids and I flew back to the states on June 12. We spent the first week at the beach with Keri, Shannon and their kids. It was relaxing to work my jet lag off with my feet in the sand.



See more beach week #1 pictures here.

The following week Emily went to gymnastics camp, the kids and I spent visiting North Carolina friends, at the pool and attending Sami and Ryan's "wedding".




See more Hanging in NC pictures here.

Matt flew into North Carolina June 26, where we spent our annual week at the beach with college friends and their families. This year the beach crew consisted of 5 houses with 23 kids aged 13 and under.





You can see more Beach Week #2 pictures here.

On July 5 we headed to our parents house, but not before stopping in Columbus to attend a "Blackburn Hall" reunion and staying overnight with our friends Josh and Laurie.


The next 3 weeks, before Matt flew back to Japan, were full of spending time with family and friends, soccer camp, an overnight trip to Put-in-Bay, a family reunion at Lake Erie and camping with all our nieces and nephews.






Lots more pictures can be found here, here and here.

Matt flew back on July 23, while the girls and I took a road trip to Missouri and Illinois for a week. (Chris stayed back for some one-on-one time with the grandparents) It was a very nice and relaxing week.







Lots of Missouri pictures here and Illinois pictures here.

After Illinois it was back to Ohio for 9 days, before driving back to North Carolina for a day and then flying out.





It was a jam packed summer, as you can tell. But it was also a summer full of memories, laughter and even some tears.

Oak Island 2008 –– Beach Week #1

Three weeks ago, we went for our 7th annual Oak Island beach trip with friends from college. In 2000 Matt & Kate invited us to come along and other than 2001 (the year they got married) and 2003 (the year I was due July 4 with Sami) we have always come to Oak Island the same week in June. Throughout the years we have had other couples/families in our "college group" come with us as well. This was Steve and Jess's 4th year coming and unless they are having a wee one next year at this time, they will be back.

We always share a house and during this week all together there are about 6 houses and almost 40 kids in our "party" (brothers of Kate's and their families, other friends of theirs, etc) After 7 years together all the houses are like one big happy family. It is neat to watch the kids all grow up together each summer. And since the number of girls is almost double of boys, someday Chris will really enjoy going to the beach.

I have uploaded over 200 pictures here. The humidity was so high that I had some problems with my lens a few days so some of the pictures are wacked. And due to my fear of sand in my Nikon, I mainly used my point and shoot while on the beach. I regret that now. Oh well. Make sure you check out the pictures for some really cool storm shots. During my two weeks at Oak Island, it only rained one time but it was such a cool storm rolling up the coast I had to get pictures.

Here are a few sneak peeks into our week. For the rest, you will need to make sure you check out my shots here. I'll blog about week #2 shortly.

My birthday cake! I turned 33 while at the beach and Kate surprised me with this cool cake. She even put bathing suits on the teddy grahams!

Emily still loves to play in the sand. At almost 13, it was interesting to watch how she and the other older girls hung out. It was way less sand time this year and mush more body surfing and walks.

Chris hates to get his picture taken.


Sami being, well, Sami.

Me and Sami.

Everyone in our beach house (Geneva Too). Matt and Kate and their 3 wee girls, ourselves and Steve and Jess with their daughter Gabby.

All the kids in our beach house acting silly.

Our family. I need to find a new person to run my camera next year. LOL

The beach in the am. One this I love about Oak Island is that it is so not touristy. So quiet and peaceful.

Can you say Daddy's girl?

Matt & I out at dinner.
My girls posing while on a walk to the marina.

Some of the older kids in our "party". They were trying to organize a soccer game.


Matt pulling Sami on the boogie board. Sami lived in the water practically all week.

Matt digging his daily hole. I have no idea why he did this, but he thought it was cool to dig a hole each day. Must be a guy thing.

Greetings From Oak Island!

Just stopping by real quick to let everyone know that I am still alive and well. I have not drown, drank enough to feel like I am on Anoretix or been eaten by a shark. at least not yet. I still have 9 days left here. We are having a blast just relaxing, soaking up the rays, boogie boarding, swimming, hanging with friends and having a dance party . I had a great birthday at the beach with lots of cool presents, including personalized book labels!

If we get a rainy day (which I hope not) I will work on uploading some pictures. Don't worry, after this trip I will be back in full blogging capacity.

Kibbles and Bits

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day! I have been blessed with one of the best dads ever and now I am married to an amazing dad as well.

Just a few Kibbles & Bits on this Sunday evening!

• We leave for the beach in 6 days. I am so excited. We have gone every year but once since 2000 to Oak Island, NC. A bunch of us from college, plus their friends and family, go down and rent a bunch of houses all in a row for a week. Luckily we live only 2.5 hours away, compared to the 18 hours when we lived in Illinois. Can we say cheap gas budget? I will then stay another week with just the kids and meet up with my neighbor Keri and her kids, and Shannon and David. I am sure I will need an Orovo detox from the beach after being there 14 days. But hey imagine all the books I will get to read.
  
• I emailed out 4 Caterpillar projects tonight. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. Now I just have to wait on their edits, and in the meantime, get working on 2 new projects of theirs. (Plus some other client work)
  
• Sami starts kindergarten camp tomorrow. Every day this week from 8:15 am to 12:15 pm. She is a bit leery of not just camp, but school in general, so hopefully this will help. And in the meantime it will give me time to try to clean, shop and pack with one less kid.
  
• Emily starts softball tournaments tomorrow night. It is single elimination. Their team has done really well this season, but considering we will be missing several girls due to vacation who knows how they will do. Of course if Emily hits another homerun like last time it will be a huge help. (Yes, you read that right. Emily had a homerun!)
  
• Chris has his last game tomorrow night as well. He has really enjoyed baseball this season and is already counting down the days until football starts.
  
• I am so behind on blog reading. I apologize and promise to get caught up soon.
  
• Matt had a great trip to Brazil, but is glad to be back. With his crazy travel schedule the first half of the year he is more than ready for a travel break. He brought back some cool gifts since this was his first time in Brazil, including a handmade vase and two bottles of Cachaça, a liquor made from sugar cane, for me. (Hey, I have been alone with these kids for almost 4 weeks. Give me some slack)
  
• We had a scare with our dog Kylee Saturday night. She will be 13 next month and we really thought we were going to have to say goodbye. However it appears that she had geriatric vestibular syndrome, something similar to vertigo in humans. A few doses of Dramamine and she is doing 100x better. Fingers crossed that's all it was.
  
• I am turning 33 29 a week from tomorrow. ((sigh))
  
• Only 63 days until the American Idol tour. I can't wait.\
• Today is my BIL & SIL (Stephanie & Adam) 12th anniversary. Happy anniversary guys!
  
• I am still blogging about our Thailand trip. I have lots to show, including a trip to James Bond Island, our stay in Patong, and our trip to Singapore. I am trying to label each picture before I blog so that takes some extra time. But I promise I will get it done soon. I am hoping that we have Internet access at the beach house so I work on it over vacation.
  
• There has been some exciting news in my family, but it may be a while before I can share. And no, I can't give any hints.
  

Enjoy the rest of your Father's Day!

Happy or Sad?

No more homework, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks. Today is the last day of school. I am not sure if I should be happy or not. On one hand, no more waiting for the bus at 6:30 am, no more homework, carpool lane, packing lunches, extra laundry. But then on the other hand, I will have all three kids, all day, every day.

Our summer will still be filled with running around between gymnastics, the end of ball season, pool time and meeting up with friends. But I will cherish these few summer days because in just 2.5 months I will have a 7th grader, a 4th grader and a kindergartner. Yikes. Before I know it my days will not only be filled with homework and carpool, but with acne treatment, fending off the boys (girls in Chris' case), arguing about makeup, smelly sweat socks (hopefully just with Chris), tears over friends and in just a short 2.5 years driving (you drive at 15 in North Carolina. What are these people thinking?!)

Where does time go?