Firework

It seems like forever since we posted last ... well not really but a lot happens around in two weeks during the summer.  Rather than waste a lot of good picture/video space on text, we will run down the highlights in list order by day  ...

Week 1

Monday - I have no real recollection of Monday two weeks ago.  The kids had another week of school camp for Jack and nature camp for Lily.  They both seem to be having a good time.

Tuesday - Not really sure what happened Tuesday either but I know that the ever reliable Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom were over for a visit and to help out with after camp responsibilities.  I think we had a visit from Grandpa Maurice as well but the days all blend together and that could have been Wednesday.

Wednesday - SWIM MEET.  Lily swam freestyle, backstroke and added breast stroke to the repertoire.  It was the first go with the breast stroke and she loved it but she got disqualified since her stroke was off.  It is tough stroke but she is working on it and will be back at it tomorrow.  It was Marcy's best stroke so hopefully the power of genes and some more lessons will get her over the hump at the next meet.

Thursday - Kind of a blur.  That is why we update every week!

Friday - BIG STORM!  We finished up dinner, put the kids to bed and were watching tv when the biggest storm I have ever seen ripped through the area.  Lots of tree branches down and no power for a couple of days. Fortunately, we were headed to the lake so we did not have sit in the swelter for long.

Saturday - We left bright and early for the lake.  We packed up the car headed off to the lake with much of the contents of our fridge along with us.  We made it the lake in great time and spent most of the day in the water and hanging out with Grandma Gail, Grandpa Tom, Great Uncle Mike and Cousin Davis.  Aunt Tracy, Uncle Stan, cousins Casey and Garret arrived around bedtime.

Week 2

Sunday - Lot's of lake time.  The kids were like fish and swam, rode tubes, jet skis and all the other boats.  Lily also continued to work on her water skiing and is improving by leaps and bounds.  Jack did a bit of knee boarding and the kids had a great time.  Aunt Kelly and Bodie arrived during the afternoon.

Monday - Grandma Gail, Grandpa Tom and cousin Garrett stayed home while the rest of the gang headed to Busch Gardens for a fun day.  Lots of rides and food and everyone had a great time.

Tuesday - More lake time.

Wednesday - 4th of July.  Lots of patriotic bathing suits and some sparklers.  Cousin Alex arrived for a visit.

Thursday - More lake.

Friday - Even more lake time.

Saturday - Lake time and then an evening of fireworks.

Sunday - We came home.  Marcy and Lily headed off to the kennel to pick up Daisy and Jack and I went to his friend Ben's birthday party.  Grandpa Maurice stopped by after dinner and read the kids a bed time story and everyone slept well after such a fun/busy week.

We all had a great time.  It was great to see the family for the annual 4th of July festivities.  Thanks to Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom for their fantastic hospitality.

Freestyle at the swim meet.

On the way to the lake.



Casey, Garett, Lily and Jack.



Jack loved it when Davis threw him in the air.  Davis was a good sport and did this over and over and over.  Jack would bob back up and immediately ask to go again!



...



Waterskiing.



Casey and Lily with Uncle Mike.



Killing a gingerbread man.



Waiting for the bumper cars.



On a spinny ride.



Everyone with a prize from whack a hun.



With Elmo.



On the Grover Coaster.  Lily and Jack and Mike and Casey.





Hot dogging.



Jack ready to knee board.



Driving the boat.



Working with a sparkler.



A little lippy.



Catching some rays.



...



It is hard to believe how big she is getting.



Post ride hair.



The grandparents and grandkids.





The whole fam.



Playing washers with Davis.



Fourth of July.

Ticket to Ride

A busy week but we did a poor job documenting with pictures.  I am sure once we are completely settled we will remember to bring the camera out again.

Lily and Jack both had successful weeks at camp.  Jack has acclimated to his new school and is having a great time. Lily is enjoying nature camp and is looking forward to her next few weeks there.

On Wednesday, Lily had her second swim meet.  She is enjoying swim team and getting adjusted to the racing concept.  Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom came out to cheer her on.

On Thursday, Lily and Jack went down for a quick trip to the lake.  They visited with Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom and Aunt Kelly and some of Kelly's friends.  Once they got back, Lily had her friend Lucy's birthday party - a movie and sleepover.  She had a great time and was a champ for the sleep over part.  Jack had a dinner date with his friend Oliver so he had a great night too.

On Sunday, we had brunch with Grandpa Maurice and a visiting Great Uncle Jon.  Then we did some stuff around the house.

No post next week but we will be back in two weeks with lots of lake pictures!

Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July next week to everyone!

Also, early happy birthday wishes to Grandpa Maurice!


Jack and Oliver at dinner.


Jack was working on riding without his training wheels.

Rockin' Daddy

Summer has officially begun! Lily finished up 1st grade on Tuesday and Jack finished up at his preschool on Wednesday! To celebrate, we went to an Orioles game that night - our second annual last day of school baseball game. The game was fun with lots of hits and runs by the players and the kids also had fun in the moon bounce, batting cage and pitching cage.

On Wednesday, Jack brought cupcakes to his friends at school to say goodbye. Lily had her first B meet that night - she swam freestyle and backstroke - she beat her freestyle time by about 6 seconds! Thanks to Grandpa Maurice for coming to cheer Lily on.

On Thursday friends Maddie, Claire, and Eliza came over for lunch and to go to the pool. Jack had his first group swim lesson where he worked on freestyle and Lily had swim practice and then we headed to a pool party for friend Pierce.

On Friday, we finally tackled the basement - trying to organize the chaos - and then headed to the pool which included a swim team pep rally.

On Saturday, friends Brooke, Andersen, and Holden came over for a BBQ - Brooke and Andersen are moving to CO and we are hoping to hit the slopes with them this winter! Later we went to the Bethesda Big Train baseball game, a local college wood bat league that is just down the street - Grandpa Maurice joined us.

On Sunday we celebrated Dad with breakfast in bed and crabs for dinner. We also hung some Fathead sports players - the kids and Dad love the decor, Mom is still on the fence. ;). Hope everyone had a nice Father's Day!

Enjoy the pics and video.


Breakfast at the bus stop on the last day of school.


Marley, Lily and Maddie.


The two Jacks.


At the Orioles game on the last day of school.


With the bird ...


and a large bobble head.


Lily's first swim meet - freestyle.  She is in lane two with the yellow goggles.


Backstroke - lane 2 again.


The construction crew - Brooke, Anderson, Holden, Lily and Jack.


The gang up close.


Silly faces on father's day eve.


At the Big Train game.


Chatting with Buzz.


A week of mascots - with Homer.

The Right Time

Another week, another blog entry.  We have had a busy couple of weeks settling in to the new house.  We are pretty set at this point but there are pockets of space that have not yet been addressed.  We will get there soon enough.

The kids had a busy last full week of school.  Lily had a visit to the local creek on Friday as her last field trip, ice cream and pizza at school and an end of the year party after school.  Jack and I went to an Orioles game on Friday night and he had a great time.

For the weekend we also had a visit from Cousin Emilie who came down from New York to visit and help us further settle in.  Em earned her stripes putting together some Ikea furniture for us with the help of Lily and Jack!

On Saturday morning we had swim team time trials for Lily.  These were her first races - freestyle and backstroke - and she did great.  She is on the "B" team for the 7 -8 year old group and will have first meet on Wednesday.  She has been meeting new kids and things at the pool are going swimmingly.

We finished off Saturday with more time at the pool and then dinner with Grandpa Maurice.

Sunday was clean up time and Emilie and the kids built a great house out cardboard boxes while we cleaned out the garage.  It was a great success.  In the afternoon, we dropped Emilie off and headed off to our old pool for a goodbye party thrown by our former neighbors.  We had a great time seeing everyone and hanging out at the pool.

Camp starts next week and summer is in full swing.  Here are some pictures and video.



Em and Jack waiting for the swimming to begin.


Ready to dive in for warmups.


Taking a breather.


Jack with a mid-trials snack.


Being social.


Freestyle time trial.


Making some music.

Pet Sounds

Summer vacation is almost upon us here and we finished up a busy week with a beautiful weekend.  Swimming season is in full swing and Lily has been attending practice almost everyday.  She is also finishing up her spring tennis lessons.  School ends next week and then she will be knee deep in summer camp.

Jack is finishing up at his school next week and will be starting summer camp at his new pre-school the week after.

This past week we had our weekly visit from Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom on Tuesday.

On Friday, we had the annual end of the year party at Jack's school.  Despite a horrible summer storm, the petting zoo and pony ride went off without a hitch but with some modifications.  The petting zoo was in the church lobby and the pony ride was under cover.

On Saturday we visited with friends John, Michelle, Hayley and Cole.  Unfortunately, this was one of our last visits locally as they are moving to Massachusetts this summer.  We will miss them but we are sure to see them up north!

On Saturday evening we had dinner with Grandpa Maurice and and a visiting Great Uncle John who was in town for a visit.

On Sunday we visited with Aunt Kelly, Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gail to celebrate Kelly's birthday.  We had a great lunch and visit downtown.  Lily came home and practiced some tennis with Marcy and Jack and I ran off to Ikea to pick up some stuff for the house.

A casualty of the busy week were the photos - a couple of blurry camera photos to show for the week.  We will try to do better next week.

Happy birthday wishes to Aunt Kelly whose actual birthday is tomorrow.


Riding the pony.


A terrible picture but she is sitting on the pony there.