Catching Up, Some More, Again!

 You think that with all this lousy HOT weather, I would find more time to post on this thing.  So I will try to do more catching up and then hopefully keep it up.

Gabriel has such an artistic flair that
Garrett has felt over shadowed.  I loved the
way he put this all together.  He is doing
alright especially for a 5 year old.

The top view of his ship.  I hated to let him paint it, but
with Lincoln painting his bird feeder, it would have been a
disaster to let him.

He started with bright green, then sage green
then decided to add white as the top layer.  We called
it white with green under tones.

In the meant time, Linc was painting his
bird feeder.  Earthy colors seem
to be his preference, applied in a
sawing motion . .  great for the brush.

He really seemed to enjoy finally getting to do a big boy
project.  He paid attention to details, a little scary!

Ta-Dah!  The final view of our little guy's art piece.

While they were painting, we were enjoying
 a great storm outside that made this little
lake that of course, the boys REALLY wanted
to go and play in . . . NOT!

More Staycation . . .

The night Sarah graduated from high school, I admitted to Jon that I had been lying to him for years. I told him that he could get a motorcycle when the kids were all out of high school. . .  lie,, lie, lie.  So he asked if he could get a boat or plane.  I agreed with the  boat, I could "drive"it if needed.

So here he is, dreaming.  Isn't he too cute?  He was thoroughly enjoying himself, looking at all the great options.  Then I took him to the appropriate section ...

Every boat needs a motor, look closely to
see it  ;-)

He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes.  If you are wondering why this man puts up with me, just remember, he has NEVER  been bored.  I think he agreed that these were more our speed these days.  What do you think,. the smallest one, so that only the two of us will fit?  Sounds good to me!

OK, keeping in mind that I am in no way, nautical, when I saw these big white things, the first thing I thought of was the movie, "Operation Dumbo" .   Remember the elephant tranquilizer, the one that was not taken orally?  Hahaha, OK it's a stretch, but that is the what I thought of.  The other picture here is made me think, if it needs to be pink, maybe you should not  be shooting!

So this is the almost "staycation" part of our last few weeks.    After all the hard work in the brutal heat, it was so nice to get out of the heat, by going where we would be in air conditioning, get away from the unfinished work, and just enjoy some good company for a short time.  It was a little hard to come home, but it left Jon determined to get the digging out of his hair.  It just about killed both of us, him digging and me planting, but it did get done and we have been so relieved.  Since we have been still plugging away at the many projects, setting our home in order, or at least trying to.

Tomorrow starts a new semester.  Isn't it funny, 61 years old and my life still revolves around the school year.  I will have my little L's with me this year.  Not that it will be any less hectic.  That Lincoln seems determined to make or break us.  At least Jon will be here some, at least for awhile, so that does help when you can divide to conquer.

It's Those Simple Things That Really Count . . .

Hmmm, wonder just what I was going to talk about with this title . . . .hhhhhmmmm.  Oh well, maybe I will just go back through my pics and  see if that tells me something.  I do need to catch up.  I have realized that a lot of my incentive to post so often was to keep Jon updated while he was gone, but now that he is home all the time, he gets to experience most of it first hand.  This has been a way to "journal" our family events, something I have been remiss in, most of my life, so I will have to make a better effort.

I think I was going to talk about our "Staycation" this summer.  If you FB  you have already seen these, sorry. But it was our 2-day drive somewhere other than the back yard to unload something, so it was  so fun to see old friends and family, just because we wanted to see them.

Sister Romney (Lucille) and her baby girl Minyon, who
just a few months old when we moved to AZ.

Patrice, my best friend as a young child and remains a
special friend in my life.  Isn't it great to be a woman?
Not a lot of men can hold on to what we do with our friends.

I love Patrice in spite of her smooth face and big brown eyes.
Mine have gotten kind of squinty, but they work,
so I guess I'll keep them.

Here we are just before we went our separate ways.
Notice who has the doggie bag & is the fluffiest!

So after we left the restaurant, we decided to go to the aquarium at the AZ Mills Mall. when I found out how much it cost, I nixed that one . .  so we went to the Bass Pro Shop to see the fish in the big tank and indoor stream.  I am astounded . .  for about $35 a little girl can be all set for going camping/fishing.  But only if she has the right  clothes, tent, equipment, yada, yada, yada.   May say, what a rip off  . .  and what a racket?    I miss when you went down to the neighborhood military surplus store and got such wonderful, ugly, but wonderful deals and did they ever have the coolest stuff!  I did get some big laughs while we were in there.  It was fun . .  and I bought a bag of "Bit O'Honeys" when we left, yum!  I had to giggle when as I was sitting there chewing away.  I had my first Bit O' Honeys while visiting Patrice one summer.  I was 13.

Jon looking at the fish in the little stream.

Me in my all my frumpiness in front of the aquarium.
Lesson learned, don't try to hide under big shirts, it
doesn't work!

Gabriel's Birthday Party

Goodies were served in some fire hats, Garrett's and Papa's.

There were fire fighter clothes for a little atmosphere.

My not so little dollies just getting the nerve to take a dip.

Gabriel loves swimming, without any life jacket!

This is Suzanne.  She & her hubby are so
generous with their pool & back yard.

Everyone getting settled, before I became the
photographer and Papa kept a good look-out.

I can't count how many times I have seen this tiny
girl play  peek-a-boo.  Never misses a thing!

The favorite place for the kids to climb out.

Baby crunches . . . . Lynneah has to killer abs,
that's all we can say.

Aunt Sassy was kept busy taking nervous
kids out in the pool.

This little guy loved the water fall and climbing
all over and under it.  Smart kid!

This is Julie.  She was a 1st year beehive and had to
direct me up the mountain to camp.  She's always
been one of my "favorites".  shhhh!

I Love this picture!!!  His grin was just as
big when he came back up!

Mariah and the some for the other moms.
She's not tired or anything

Baby Bum, boop, boop, boop!

I giggle at Brianna and her hands on her hips.
It usually means she is really focused
keeping up with kids  ;-)

Just loved watching the bigger boy helping out
the smaller one.  Such a sweet sight.

Ah ha, the traditional musical card.  The kids love
when they  get them from Rob & Bri's family.

Mariah had a fun idea.  S'mores.  Graham cracker,
marshmallow creme, and a chunk of chocolate.
The grapes were eaten . . just a little ;-)

The happy birthday boy, with his s'more.

Garrett's swimming is coming along.  He'll love
jumping in without the life jacket.

The little guy with the glasses is Miles.  Our boys love
the "Peterswon" boys!  Miles is the youngest.

Torpedo Tati

OK Mom, get the picture!

Gabriel was a good sport and gave me a photo op
even though he had been going down the big slides

Water, water everywhere and Linc preferred
 playing in the hunks of plastic!

Our little Queen Bee, just hanging out!

Waiting in line to go out in the big giant balls

Gabriel in the giant ball, in the water.

Garrett getting his turn in the giant ball.
These kids are NUTS!

In case you didn't realize it, water spouts are for stepping on and jumping back when you let it
go! Way fun!!

Tati got the last turn in the ball before the leaf blower
 for blowing them died.  Poor Arianna didn't get a turn
and was such a big girl about it.  Pretty proud of her!

Linc finally got the nerve up and went
down the big slide on his own!

Love the grace here.  Our family dancer!

Linc did  a lot more fun swinging from
anything an d everything!

Arianna is sure that that front tooth.
 Nanny Mcphee is the look now!!