Ahhhh, Vacation....

We headed out of town again this weekend but this time for a plain ol' vacation (no running required).

On the way there, Ed had to stop to check out his fields (that's him working hard), while I stayed in the car and did this.
We were headed for a wine tasting tour and we had so much fun that I have very few pictures! We had yummy, yummy food, more wine than I've had in a long time, and a lots of friends to enjoy it with.

I wanted to get one shot of Ed at this winery because the guy there to the left, the winemaker, went to Jr. High with Ed and they played baseball together....small world. This was one of our favorite wineries--still newish and pretty small but good wine and very friendly--check them out here.

We ended at Three Rivers Winery where I chilled (in the sweltering 100 degrees) on the deck while some of the group hit the Par-3 course.

On trying new things...

Ava says, "mom, can we have pie for lunch?" And I of course say, "we don't have any pie!" To which she replies, "you could bake a pie! (long pause) seriously mom, you should try baking... you might like it."

Oops I Did it Again!

I like the way she thinks...

Ava took this one.

A good day.

A picnic.

Jack has his bucket, football, and trusty plastic hunting knife by his feet.

Ava has baby Cate by hers.

I love them.

My boys looking for signs of wildlife.

Ava took a walk and came back with this. For me.

This is why we always pack the big boots.

Totally tuckered out.
Yes, that's the trunk of the car and no, we didn't drive with him back there.


I see that I have no pictures of Jemma Jane...she was there and she was sweet and she spent most of the day asleep.

Workin' hard

Ed rototilled the yard with his trusty buddy close behind.

Jack of course loved the whole thing and would like to know when are we going to mow the dirt again?!

Happy Aniversary!

to Paul & Connie!

25 years!

Their kids threw a surprise party for them Sunday night but I think the bigger surprise was that Sam, who is in the Navy and stationed in Virginia, flew home to surprise Connie for the weekend.

The whole family. Hard to believe Sam and Emma were little enough to be the ring bearer and flower girl at our wedding.

Yummy food!

A rare picture of us and important because we were still standing (and having fun!) after the race that morning.

CDA 1/2 Marathon (or, did we actually pay to do this??)

Paula and Joe were nice enough to take our kids for 24 hours (don't worry--their turn is next month) so we headed up to CDA the night before and had a fantastic dinner at our new favorite restaurant, squeezed in a quick Target trip, and then relaxed at my Aunt Julie's.

Ed's smirking because he cannot believe I am taking a picture at the restaurant.

Bright and early and on our way.

Post-race whiskey at Red Robin.

Sorry no race pictures (because, as you can see, I take all the pictures and I was running)--but a little race update: Ed finished in a very fast 1:43 and then he had a good 25 minutes to wait for me :) Actually, it was a beautiful run right on the river and the lake, nice and sunny (too sunny for me, just right for Ed) and for the most part I had a good time, except from miles 10-12 when I kept thinking "did I actually pay to do this?? And, more importantly, I am getting some seriously bad tan lines!" But the last mile was not too bad and I averaged under 10 minute miles so I think we can call it a success.

Ready to go!

Ava and Jack were packed and waiting for their big weekend at their cousins'.

(Ava packed for both of them and I like how she gives Bunny and Cougar room to breathe!)

School's Out For Summer.

(That song has been in my head all day!!)

Ava is especially excited to be home so she can watch her favorite 'toon that is on at 10:30 and, more importantly, she gets to join the playdates that she missed all year while in school. Yesterday was technically the first day of summer break but since I was catering all day, I'm starting with today and it was a good one--I slept in till 8:00, we had a leisurely breakfast, we spent 2 and a half hours at the park with friends, and everyone was so pooped out that they slept all afternoon.

I like summer.

We had the Casebolt kids for the evening...

and while the bigs were busy doing this....

the littles were doing this....
(Actually it wasn't until I left them to get the camera to capture all their cuteness that they started that)

But we saved the evening with a little of this....

Retro Friday

CDA 1/2 Marathon last year.

And...we are heading up tomorrow to do it again this year.

First Graders!

Oh, the joy!

Happy Graduation!

Ava is a lucky girl to have all her family nearby and this year she was especially lucky to have her Grandma as her very first teacher! She has loved, loved kindergarten and we are so proud of her! She is so bright and hard-working and still so imaginative and creative. After a busy, blessed year, she graduated from kindergarten yesterday with a sweet little ceremony.

Getting her "diploma" with a nice pose and smile for the family.

Cousins!

All the local family was there and Ed's mom came up for the big day.

Celebrating with dinner at Pizza Hut (of course)!

Happiness is....

playing hockey in the house!

This kid is a sports nut! He is always playing something--baseball, basketball, golf, volleyball, football, soccer, you name it, he loves it.

Good to the last drop!

Meanwhile life goes on...

While Ava was quarantined, Jack had a suberb day doing what he loves best--playing outside and working with his daddy!
I took him to buy some yard stuff and he was a delight! He loved picking out plants and flowers and he "read" all the tags to tell me if they were good for shade and at one point after spending a good chunk of time looking for someone to help us, he remarked as cheerfully as can be, "this is atro-shus! They need some more of those worker guys here!"
He also tried out some riding lawnmowers, "tractors," and wanted to know if he had enough in his "penny-bank" to buy one.

Sick day.

I was working at a wedding all day Saturday and when I called Ed on my way home that night, he said "I have to call you back...I'm cleaning Ava's throw up out of the car." Gross. Gross. And thank goodness I missed it.

Poor Ava, who was exhausted from a long week of school, overfull of junk, and out in the heat all day, finally had enough. Ava has a little of her daddy's stomach issues so this is not totally unusual (although doing it in the car is!). She is an independent girl and handled the whole ordeal without a single tear and in fact politely knocked on our door a couple times in the night to poke her head in and say, "I threw up again" and then pitter patter back to bed.

By the morning she was her usual cheerful self even though I made her sit here on the couch for most of the day.

Ballerina!

Getting excited!

She's on the left.

Jack watching Ava's performance.

When it was over, he said (loudly), "Good job Ava! (pause) Can I hug her?"

My favorite ballerina!

Sara & Jack

Ben had an appointment this morning so Sara came to play with Jack. These two play so well together, I love it! They were busy little bees and I could hear their happy little voices playing in Jack's room all morning till I finally interrupted them to get this shot.

Cute!

Keeping busy

So it's May and that means we are busy, busy, busy. The next four weeks are so packed, I needed to write something on my calendar and I didn't have room! We have some school events, fun trips, another 1/2 marathon, birthdays, and more, including me heading back to work this weekend and then doing another event next week. The good news is that we like full, busy days, especially now that the sun is out!

Waiting for a ride to school.

Keeping Jem happy with some rice krispies before dinner.

Bedtime giggles.

Bedtime kisses.

Bedtime stories.

Chilling out with some tunes.

(is that face me or her daddy??)

Retro Friday

Snugglin' in 2007

Good work

Each of the grandkids have a tree planted in their honor on my parents' property but a few years ago Ava's Aspen got sick and it finally conked out this year, so my dad took her to pick out a new tree and they chose a Sugar Maple (she calls it a Sweet Maple!) so we headed out awhile ago to plant it.

Jemma Jane loving her bare toes in the grass!

Digging the hole (with a little help from Grandpa and some supervision from Daddy)

A sweet maple for a sweet girl!

Cleaning up!

And of course finishing with a bowl of ice cream!

When they were all done, sweet Jack touched a leaf on the tree and said, "Have a good life!"