Reflections

While I was out back walking Anah this evening I stood at the lake behind our house, mesmerized by the way the clouds were reflecting in the water. It was just so pretty to me. I notice it almost every night, and I often want to take my camera out there, but I just never make it. So I came back in, grabbed my camera, and sat down by the lake with Anah and my camera for about 30 minutes. I watched the sun set completely, watched the cloud formations change, and just relaxed. The alligator that lives in the lake was swimming around in front of us, the fish were jumping, and cranes came and went. It was just perfect.

The picture of the house is for you, mom. I know you wanted to see my BMW when I got it last year, and I never got around to sending you a picture of it. You can see it in this picture.

A fundraiser, a movie, and the beach

Brian, Erin and I attended a local fundraiser for families of local firefighters and police officers who have been killed in the line of duty today. It was a great cause, and there was a lot of activities for the kids, as well as plenty of smoked beef brisket (one of Brian's favorites)!

Afterwards the three of us went to see Kung Fu Panda, and then headed down to Clearwater Beach for sunset. This time we walked across the bridge that crosses the intercoastal before heading over to the Gulf, and Erin had a great time watching the pirate ship head out for its nightly sunset cruise. The Pirate Cruise is one of the most popular tourist attractions (this IS Buccaneer territory after all!) around here, and the boat is all pirate themed. You go out for a 90 minute sunset cruise out into the Gulf of Mexico, eat dinner, and just after sunset they launch the cannons. It's really neat, especially for the little kids that are into the pirate stuff (Erin is not).

It was a nice day, but I am missing my boys. A lot.

One of the many types of beautiful cranes that are local to our area (he was about 3.5 feet)

Friday night

The girl loves to fish!

Coloring after it got too dark to fish

Sean and Bren

They'll be on their way to Atlanta tonight. They leave for two weeks with their dad and family, and they are excited. Erin...not so much. She's been begging them not to go for the past couple of days.

They get home on July 8th. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the fun stuff that they do while they are there!

Pam and Michelle time!!!!!!!

It's our trip time, and this time we are headed to Columbus, Ohio at the end of July. It's a dual-purpose trip, because I want to see the home where my great grandparents lived. I also want to spend some time at Ohio State University where my great grandfather taught as the department head of the school of dentistry after he retired as a dental surgeon from the Army. This is where they both lived until my great grandfather died.

I am so excited to see Pam again, and to be going on another one of our trips. I love that we do this!

The two of us on our flight to Boston (2007)

Summer time playing

While I was working I could see Sean, Bren and Erin out on the swing set in the back yard. They were having a great time together, and had taken the hose and made a slippery slide on the slide. I knew they would run if they saw the camera, so I went to the window in the den, and snapped a couple of pictures of them playing together. 

Baking cookies

Erin and Bren baked some cookies today. Before Erin could even come into the kitchen she had to put on her apron and chef hat! The two of them were so cute together, and they had a lot of fun.

Night swimming

Sean and Bren

Erin swimming

Greyson

Napping in one of Erin's toy baskets that was laying emptied on top of the jacuzzi.

Swimming

Erin, Bren and Brian met Lars and LT at the pool at the Y tonight while I was at school, and then I met them there. Erin gets to swim a lot, and is swimming completely on her own now. Our next door neighbors have a pool, and they have her over almost every single day for several hours to swim. It's great exercise for her, and she enjoys being in the water.

This is blurry, but still a cute one of her swimming to me

Lars

Day trip to Orlando

We took a quick ride over to Nana's house on Sunday. My Aunt Susie was down from Virginia, so that was a nice surprise. Most of my cousins were there, and it ended up being a house full (as usual). My Aunt Diana and I took the kids to a water park just a few miles down the road from their house, and Erin had a blast. As you can see the child loves to have her picture taken!

On the swingset in Nana's back yard

Aunt Linda, Susie, and Diana (l-r)

Erin and Sidney 

Sidney is my cousin Elizabeth's daughter

Speaking of Sean...

This is what I normally get when I try to take his picture...

But he actually let me take one today.  I love it.

Sean

I don't get many pictures of Sean (teen boys don't appreciate having their picture taken!), but I managed to get one of him while he was concentrating on hitting his golf ball at Congo River last night. All five of us went, and we had a blast. Here is my big boy.

A visit with the ducks

Erin and Russ (the duck man)

This is Susan

There are 12 siblings...they have been here since they were born (mama was right behind)

Going for a stroll along the sidewalk

Finished with the school year

Sean and Bren are officially finished with school for the year. Today was the last day, and they both completed another year with honor roll. I'm so proud of my boys. Sean is really excited for 8th grade next year, and Bren is anxious, excited, and a bit scared about middle school (6th grade). He'll be just fine, because he'll have his big brother there with him.

To celebrate their accomplishments for the year we went out for ice cream tonight after I got home from school at about 9:30pm! It was a late, but nice treat.

So in just a couple more months all three of my kiddos will officially be in "real" school. Erin is absolutely ecstatic about kindergarten. The girl is reading like an absolute pro now, doing addition and subtraction like crazy...just completely ready to go. We aren't even able to spell words in front of her to keep her from knowing what we are saying any more, because most of the time she ends of figuring out what we spelled! She's a trip.

Sean and Bren will be flying up to their dad's in a few weeks, and I know that they are anxious to see all of their family there (including you Aunt Jodie!). I miss them like crazy for the couple of weeks that they are gone, but I know that they have a blast while they are there. They may also be going back out to Oregon this summer, so we'll have to see what the summer has in store for them!

Baseball party

The River Cats had their end of season party today.

One of Bren's teammates (Jacob) stayed over last night after their last game, and Brian took them to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball game (they won!). Then they were up until almost 3am this morning playing Xbox 360. They got up today, and went right outside to play until it was time to go to the party.

The party was great. The boys on the team presented the head coach, Dave, with a card that they had all signed (and a gift card), and he completely broke down when he read it. There was a lot of food, swimming, and playing all day (1:30-7:00pm). Each of the boys got a baseball with the team name and year on it so that they could have the coaches and their teammates sign it. It was a nice gift from the coach.

Brendan and Jacob (pitcher and catcher)

Sean watching a jellyfish (yes, his hair is curlier than Erin's)