Fisherman's Blues

Memorial day weekend has come and gone. It was a busy one and the kiddies are fast asleep as they gear up for another busy week.

Before heading down to the lake for the holiday, Lily visited her future elementary school for a mini-orientation. With a few other kids, she met with the kindergarten teachers, and according to her (Mom and Dad were outside and unable to observe) they read a book asking and answering questions, she drew a picture of herself, and they identified shapes. She planted a sunflower seed and received a pencil with a funny eraser - she is very excited about starting school in three months!

On Thursday night, we headed down the Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gail's Lake House for the weekend. We had a great time - this year, much more so than ever before (for obvious reasons), Lily and Jack were much more independent and could entertain themselves a bit more. We had lots of pontooning, trips in the ski boat, sea dooing and even some fishing - both kids loved jumping off the dock and are looking forward to our next visit for 4th of July.

We came home Sunday night and had a busy holiday Monday. We started off with a season opening visit to the pool. We came home so Jack could have nice long nap (he had a lot of weekend to recover from). For dinner Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Maurice came over. The kids had fun playing in the backyard with the grandparents and were in in desperate need of a bath when the evening drew to a close.

Happy birthday wishes to Aunt Kelly this week!

On to the pictures ...


Jack with the catch of the day (or the dead fish that swam under the dock).


Paddle boating with Grandma Gail.


Lily and Jack. (He was a bit crabby.)


Driving the pontoon with Tom. Lily in a similar shot from 2006.


Drying off.


Fishing.


Fishing on the paddle boat.

Land of 1000 Dances

We had a fun visit by Aunt Donna, Uncle Stephen, and Bubbie over the weekend. The kids had fun doing crafts, art, playing with toys in the basement, and playing outside. On Sunday, Lily went to Build-a-Bear to spend her gift card she received for raising the most money for Make-A-Wish for 5-6 year olds. She selected a brown bunny and named her Macy - courtesty of Donna and Stephen, she will now be a well dressed bunny in her cheerleading outfit, 4th of July outfit, Tinkerbell outfit, and Hello Kitty pjs, and don't worry she has two pairs of shoes and one pair of slippers! Lily also selected a teddy bear for Jack who she dressed in a Nationals baseball uniform and who sings Take Me Out to the Ballgame - he loves his teddy!

The Montreal clan joined us for Lily's ballet recital this morning! This was Lily's final recital and she danced beautifully! After a morning spent hanging with Jack, Donna, Stephen, and Bubbie bid us goodbye!

Thanks for coming to visit, we had a great time as always! Happy belated anniversary to Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Maurice.


Reading a bed time story with Bubbie.


These kazoos were a lot of fun!


Working the sand.


Doing bubbles.


A tea party.


Swinging.


The fireman's brass band.


...


Jack with his bear.


Lily and her bunny.


Bedtime story.


Routine #1


Routine #2


Routine #3


The ballerina.


With Mommy.

More Bubbles (Interlude)

Funny snippets from the kids:

Lily: EEWWWW Gross! Jack just blessed youed all over me!
--
Jack: Mommy, I am just going to sit here and relax and take a nap.
--
Lily: Grandma Phyllis says that the dog (statue) laying in the basket comes awake at night and walks around.
Mommy: That sounds scary.
Lily: I'm glad we don't have one of those dogs!
--

We had a fun, pretty relaxing weekend with some nice weather. As you will see from the videos below, the kids got in some outdoor time and Lily had several playdates with her friend Madeleine. Friday even involved getting into bathing suits and playing with the water/sand table and in the sprinkler. On Saturday, we visited with Grandma Phyllis and Grandpa Maurice, and friends Chris, Melvin, Grace and Faith - the last time we saw them was on the Florida beach when Jack got stung by the man-of-war so we were glad to show them that he does not seem to have suffered any residuals. Lily and Faith had fun playing, and Jack attached himself to Grace. On Sunday, we bought Jack a big boy bed but it will not be delivered until August so he will rest comfortably in the crib until then.

We have some post-race news to report, Lily raised the most money of the 5&6 year olds who entered the Make-A-Wish Duathlon, so she was awarded a Build-a-Bear gift card which we plan to use this coming weekend, she is very excited! Lily again wants to thank all of her contributors and supporters!

Enjoy the pics!


Jack as a pirate with a cat mask and a wooden spoon.

\
Partners in crime.


Video.


Bubbles.


More bubbles.


Swinging around with Faith.


Lily and Jack with Faith and Grace.

River Deep, Mountain High

A whirlwind trip to the Rockies (our second this year) is in the books. While out west we celebrated two birthdays, a graduation and Mother's Day. it was busy trip to say the least.

We had a regular Monday and Tuesday and then on Wednesday we boarded our afternoon flight to Denver. Aunty Kelly met us at the airport with car seats for the kids. We drove out to Boulder to spend a couple of days there visiting with Kelly and getting ready to celebrate her graduation from business school. On Thursday we met up with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gail, Aunt Tracy, Uncle Stan and cousin Casey. We had a nice celebratory dinner for Aunt Kelly's graduation and then Friday we attended graduation and celebrated Grandma Gail's birthday.

After graduation, we headed out to Tracy and Stan's house. On Saturday we celebrated Marcy's birthday and had a nice relaxing day. All three kids had a chance to play and the grownups did some shopping. After a great birthday dinner prepped by Tracy and Stan we had some homemade birthday cake.

Sunday, we spent Mother's Day in travel back. Tired but glad to be home, everyone slept well in their own bed last night.

Thanks to Kelly, Tracy, Stan and Casey for their hospitality. Happy belated birthday to Grandma Gail and Marcy an Happy Mother's Day to all qualified.


Stalked by a large praying mantis and the butterfly pavilion.


Holding a tarantula.


Jack checking out a starfish.


Checking out a butterfly.


With some specimens.


...


Riding the pig.


Jack and Casey at the hotel pool.


Jack swimming.


The graduate.


Graduating. Congrats Kelly!


Jack doing some lippy in a "big boy" bed.


Eating some batter from Marcy's cake.


The scenery at this playground was quite something.


Jack.


Me and Jack.


Jack, Lily and Casey.

Running to Stand Still

To say that it was a busy week around here would be quite the understatement ...

Things ramped up on Friday with a concert and parent's breakfast at Lily's school. Jack joined us for some music and breakfast and everyone had a good time. We finished off Friday night with movie night of Horton Hears a Who.

Saturday started off early with Lily's last soccer game. Then a quick trip to Costco to resupply on some essentials where Lily, Jack and I had a great chance to sample all the samples! Lily then was off to friend Madeline's house for her first lemonade stand. It was a very profitable venture as each of the three girls cleated $5.75 - the angel investors did not seek to recoup startup costs. We finished Saturday off with a trip to see the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox play. The kids had a great time and we made it through about seven innings before heading home.

We had to get up early on Sunday because Lily was participating in her first duathlon (like a triathlon but only running and biking - no swimming). LIly did great and had a great time, all while raising some money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Jack had a good time cheering on his sister and he is looking forward to participating in three years. We finished up the weekend with some play time and dinner with friend of Lily's from school and her parents and sister. We were exhausted by the end of the day and were ready to relax with a normal Monday.

We are off to visit the Colorado contingent on Wednesday. Maybe we will have some snowy pictures to share next week.


Jack waiting for the concert to start.


The show.


It was superhero soccer but Lily did not want to wear the cape so Jack borrowed it back. During soccer he always spent a lot of time hanging out by the unused goal post.


Lily with her medal and Jack.


Prepping the lemonade stand with Madeline and Eileen.


Working.


The best part of the Oriole game?


Lily, Hayley and Geico gecko. A very exciting mascot sighting.


Checking out batting practice from the outfield.


Monkey see ...


Monkeying around.


On the right, #133. Getting ready for the start.


Racing.


Finishing.


Jack getting some face painting.