11 years...

i've been married 11 years...


we went back to the place we got married... orcas island, WA
we got married at this very spot...


it was like nothing had changed...
and i was reminded just how lucky i am to have super hubby in my life...

wordless wednesday...

overcoming my fears...

we had our national sales meeting this past week...
Stone Mountain, Georgia...
and like any good sales meeting there was a team building exercise...

i'm terrified of heights... and not so found of climbing walls with people below me looking at my ass...

but i did it... and would even do it again...

so many fun facts that i thought my brain would burst....

perfect baby gift

i don't have too many people in my life still having babies... but i'm still always on the look out for the perfect baby gift that isn't a blanket, clothes or plastic toy....

and when i saw this today i had to share...

Zoolio Rainforest Activity Book by Manhattan Toy Six panels in assorted fabrics build motor skills by combining a cute animal with an action (a red frog with a zipper mouth, a toucan with a snap-on beak). Slip the panels in the carrying case and it can go from the car to the park with ease. (Ages 18 months to 3 years)

$24 - click here to find it online...

i caught a humpy....

B and super hubby went out salmon fishing today with some friends...

and all B can talk about is the humpy he caught... something not right about naming a fish humpy...

sort of like the cheerleaders that are down the road having a fundraiser with hot dogs... forget the car wash with bikini clad teens we've moved on to standing on street corners doing high kicks asking people to buy hot dogs...

where did the name come from???

ja-min... it's a long story... sort of...

one that will cause me to reveal B's name... it's benjamin... and when he was born my mom told me this story that one of her friends had shared with her...

"my grandson ben had done something he wasn't supposed to and when his mom asked him if he'd done it he said... no jamin did" from that day forward any time Ben did something naughty he blamed it on his alter ego "jamin"

when my B was born he was a collic ridden cranky baby... when super hubby or my mom would ask me how he was i said he was either great or he was a jamin... that became our new trade name for trouble...

so when we decided to buy this boat a few months later... i said that it was trouble... and therefore we would have to name it "jamin"... he tried to rename it PB&J... but it just didn't stick...

ja-min gets a face lift

so we have this boat... a ranger 20 something or other...

she's great fun for an afternoon sail... but she has never been very pretty...

in fact... she was down right ugly... this was taken after the black splotchy bottom paint was removed... she was even uglier then...


she's been living in our driveway for over 2 months now... and i was getting bitter... it was bad enough i couldn't park in my garage... but now i couldn't even park in the drive way...

it started out as a "i'm going to repaint the bottom"... then i went and opened my mouth...
"why don't you repaint the topside while it's here" in the end it was worth it...

isn't she purdy....

staycation...

we've been talking about doing one of these for a few years now...

B kept asking... and when super hubby planned a trip to the san juans for some kayaking with his side kick i decided it was the perfect time...

my friend hooked us up with an incredible room... it was really the view that made it!!!



we had a great first day...
Monorail
Science Center
fountain time
space needle
hotel pool
dinner

then day two started with crazy sibling fighting... that forced me to make the hard decision to head home... which totally pissed me off, then turned out to be a blessing in disguise as i got the stomach flu and proceeded to barf for 24 hours...

we'll do it again... especially since we didn't finish our planned activities... but next time i'm going with super hubby....

cheating again...

frankly... facebook is just easier to do... but just like last May... i'm missing my musings...

Bristol Warren Rap Son

a side of my parents town i have never seen...

game time...

random picture day...

i will get back to regular story telling soon... promise...

i'm on a bit of a blog vacation right now...

but....

when i came across this one i had to share... just like my senior photo... classic!!!

sad thing is i only know one other person in this photo... anyone look familar to you??? i'm second in from left top on diving board...

purging...

i've been in a crazy purging mode the last few weeks... something about coming home to my modest house after a 2 week vacation made me realize i have way too much stuff that i will NEVER need again...

I've made pretty good progress... B's room is finally under control and has been for almost a week now...

and my office... holy scary land... i've been crazy busy coming and going and when most things don't have a place to live well... it gets VERY out of hand...

naturally the best part for me of these projects are the gems i find along the way...

like this...

my senior portrait...
class of 1988...
noblesville high school...
i was a lady miller...and i wore too much makeup!!!

i found 30 wallet size copies of this and a few 5x7...

why on earth did i keep them? no idea, but they have left for a landfill somewhere in WA... and i got a good laugh...

pizza night...

i think chuckles would have burst at the seems if he did not get to see his friends on Friday for pizza night... he talked about them to anyone who would listen when were were on vacation...

i love that we have neighbors who are like family... that our kids can't wait to see when they get back from vacation... and that they make it so easy to just be...

make way for the paklets...

when i was a kid we read make way for ducklings... a real classic even today... loved this book so much that i bought it before i even had kids...

B could have cared less about it... he went to the public garden to see them when he was only 6 months old... at that point he couldn't sit thru the whole book... and he preferred duck is dirty... another family fav... and has about 25 total words in it...


but chuckleberry loves this book... it's one of the two I read to him all the time... perhaps your remember the post about my grandma passing... when i mentioned she helped me find the lost book... anyway...

i was determined that i was taking C to see the ducklings before we headed home... so on our way to take me to the airport we stopped in the public garden for a picnic, a ride on the swan boat and a photo op... it was so awesome to see his face light up when we walked in to the park and he was putting it all together... just AWESOME... i even got a little tear in my eye i was so happy...

he's sitting on the duckling "pack" in this one :)

add heat.... and things grow

so both B and C grew 1/2 inch while we were on vacation... i know it seems like nothing but that's in 2 weeks! all that photosynthesizing during the summer really showed on these two..






even more amazing was color explosion that happened in my garden while we were gone and the sun was shinning... it was like a color explosion... too bad i don't have before shots to really drive home how different it looks from when we left... picture this but all green...

magic moments...

back from vacation and having a hard time getting back in the bloggie saddle.

doesn't help that it has been a million degrees...
when i landed in seattle last week it was 87 degrees @ 1 in the morning... NOT NORMAL~

i had to work from Starbucks all day tuesday because it was too damn hot in my office... and by hot i mean 92 inside by 10 am... not working out for me... thanks to my good buddy megan for suggesting the starbucks office... VERY smart!!! and strangely i was the only one there...

super hubby and the kids came home 2 days after i did so thankfully i didn't have to rush out and stock the fridge and pantry the first day...

and that turned out to be my lucky day because when i went to costco on wednesday i scored a window ac unit... it was sheer luck and timing... and i believe a whole lot of magic...

you couldn't even buy a fan anywhere in Washington let alone an ac unit... i still can't believe i am now the proud owner of one of these...

it has made all the difference in the world and worth every single penny...

a thousand word thursday

the boys may not like to eat lobster but they sure had a great time wearing them out...


more ATWT over @ Jen's place

boogie boarding mama

beach day in newport... and the boys got me out on the boogie board...

i've decided that i really need to add the tour de france to my list of things to do...

another reason i love my summer vacation is because i get to watch the tour... i watch in amazement as these people beat themselves up and sit on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will happen... it really is exciting if you have the patience to watch...

i guess the same can be said about any sport...

see this post to see the rest...

summer bike shakedown...

nonna took B out to find a summer bike (bike to use while @ nonni's) at the salvation army... and we found this sweet number... yes it is pink and purple... and only $15!!!

thankfully B saw the potential so with a whole lot more work than he thought...

and a photo shot he insisted on for the "blog"

and we ended up with this... pretty great huh????

arnie the doughnut...

in our house arnie the doughnut is a favorite book... Laurie Keller writes all kinds of awesome books and we are fans of them all...

Chuckles is especially fond of arnie...


we come from starbucks land.... i don't think we even have a dunkin' dounuts... so when we are here we always eat doughnuts... the boys love the idea of an entire place dedicated to doughnuts...

thousand word thursday

this view is peace to me... the view from my parents house...

check out more over @ the mom jen...

race day...commando...

wednesday is race day for my parents and when we are in town super hubby races with my dad instead of my mom...

it's serious business for my father... they are contenders... first place over all last year and i think they are headed that way again this year...

getting ready to leave the mooring... by dad fell in the drink (harbor)... and he hadn't brought a spare set of clothes... so what is a sailor to do... strip down to nothing and put your clothes on the line to dry hopefully before the race begins...

i don't know how super hubby did it... sailing along with my dad going commando... now that is a son in law... one who can hang with his totally naked FIL... like there is nothing abnormal about it...

first day...

we made it to RI in one piece...

Chuckles decided he didn't really need to sleep on the red eye so it has been a long 30+ hours... and B announced on his 36th hour of being awake that he just wanted to go home or at least back to the airport because it was way more fun.... was he kidding...

worth every minute... because now i can just enjoy life for the next few weeks and not have to worry about the promotional challenges of the northwest...

the first day @ Nonni's always involves the capturing of the crabs...



b

slip n skim...

the key is flat surface, lots of water, and patience...

thousand word thursday...

summer vacation is just around the corner... and in honor of that i found a classic photo from my own childhood summer vacation... me and my super cool cat suit... circa 1977...

check out more at Cheaper than Therapy

thank you notes

last week we had a bday party for BIG B...
with that comes the task of getting him to right his thank you notes...
it is painful to get him to sit down and just do it...
lots of threats to take away toys etc...

then he writes notes like these and my heart swells with pride...
i don't get notes with this much thought from grown ups...

welcome race fans...

super hubby and i went to our own birthday party recently...

we wanted to have B's party there but he wasn't big enough yet...
so instead we went with the neighbors to celebrate his birthday...

enter TRAXX racing...

we had a blast... and i had completely forgotten just how much work it was to drive those little suckers... my arms hurt for 2 days...

super hubby checking out the safety video...


he was sporting his own racing shoes :)...


super hubby and super neighbor posing cheese style with their hair socks...

topsy turvy week 6...

so much progress...
in case you missed week one...
or week two...


we even have fruit on them now...

thousand word thursday

i love taking photos in the side mirrors... and no... i wasn't moving...



check out other great shots over at Cheaper than Therapy...

bed time

"Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed."

—Robert Gallagher

views from the road...

Back on the road... But this week the views are spectacular... Even in the side view mirror...

happy birthday Big B...

interview with an 8 year old...

favorite color... orange
favorite toy... legos and my DS
best friends... Nate, Jaden, Jared, Max, Tyler, Colin& Ethan
favorite place to go... camping
favorite movie... the incredibles
favorite book... wimpy kid series
favorite subject in school... science and math... P.E.
favorite animal... poison dart frog
favorite video game... Super Mario Brothers
favorite food... snacks... any and all
favorite TV Show... Destroy Bill Destroy...

go here for pictures of the first 7 years...

what michael jackson song are you...

over on facebook i took a little quiz in honor of the pop king... what michael jackson song are you

You are "Thriller" - Michael Jackson's great song. You like to have fun, but at the same time you enjoy excitement and....well... thrill. There is a lot of energy in you which you don't show to others. But sometimes when people don't see you, you become unpredictable. You can transform into something else - a monster: a werewolf, vampire or a zombie. But a friendly monster. If an old lady needed some help while crossing a street, you would generously help her even as a monster. And of course you would dance the famous "Thriller" dance in the middle of the street with her!

favorite things about summer...

• 2 weeks with my family in Rhode Island
• cocktails on the deck at the end of the day with super hubby
• sleeping with the windows open
• all the photo ops
• my garden... i love how my garden looks in the summer
• corn on the cob
• cherries... cherries... cherries...
• the smell of fresh rain

and for me... this picture sums up summer with the paklets

a thousand word thursday

my brother lives in Madison... WI... land of cheese...

these popped up on my screen this week and i instantly thought they'd be perfect for ATWT...


yes that is me being malled by the dog... Truman... he always thought i was my mom when we came to visit so he insisted on sitting on me... if you look real close i think he has his tongue in my mouth...

cousins circa 2003...

i think this was easily one of the best trips we ever took with B when he was little...

stop on by Cheaper than Therapy to see some more ATWT