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.

Crater Lake

Unpacking and organizing the house continues, and while there is still lots to do, everyone seems to be adjusting to the new digs!

 We took a break from the unpacking and went to Lake Gaston for Memorial Day weekend to see Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom. Aunt Tracy, Uncle Stan, Casey, and Garrett were in town, and Aunt Kelly also joined us. The cousins had lots of fun together during the beautiful weekend. Garrett is beginning to crawl and roll and is very smiley and cute, he is going to be on the move when we see him again in a month. Lily, Jack and Casey jumped right into lake activities - they rode the hot dog and Gladiator multiple times. Lily spent most of the weekend in the lake, on the slide, the island, or just swimming/diving around with her lake friend Ainsley. Jack loved the slide, jumping in, and pretend fishing. The exciting news is that Lily got up on water skis for the the first time! She was definitely nervous but after a few attempts she popped right up. Jack also rode the kneeboard like a pro. Overall, it was a fun weekend with lots of activity, some relaxation, and great family time!

 On Monday, Lily and Jack went to breakfast with Grandpa Maurice and then went to a local park for some playtime. Later in the day friends Debbie, Bill, Fisher and Stuart came over for a BBQ which was a lot of fun.

Today Lily and Jack returned to school, where Jack enjoyed his last class with his favorite music teacher Ms. Jan. Grandma Gail picked the kids up from school and took the kids for the first time to our new neighborhood pool for Lily to be assessed for swim team and to practice. She made the regular swim team - the Sun Devils - (opposed to the Little Devils) so she was excited about that. She will have practice every day from 5-5:30, and Jack will get to enjoy the rest of the pool which has a great 2-3 foot shallow end. Lily also continues to take tennis on Thursdays at the neighborhood tennis courts which will continue for another few weeks.

 Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend!
Enjoy the pics and video!



Out for a ride with Aunt Tracy.  Check out that hair (on Jack).


Jumping in ...


A little lippy before a ride.


Lily working on her paddle board technique.


Ready for some fishing off the pontoon boat.


Up on skis for the first time.


The next run.


Jack on the knee board.


Casey and Jack off on a paddle boat ride with Aunt Kelly and Bodie.


Having a snack.


Drinking some lake water from the slip and slide.


Too much fun!


The happy gang and friend Ainsley ready for a ride.  They all look very excited!


Grandparents and the gang.

Moving Out

It has been a long time since our last post and there is a lot to report.  The last three weeks have been a blur or activities, packing, moving and packing.  I think we have all just been focusing on the "next" activity in order to make it through the craziness.

So in a nutshell ... here is the last three weeks ...

We packed up the old house and moved into the new house.

We started unpacking the new house ... a slow process but much progress has been made over the past few days.

Lily and Jack have finished up soccer for the season.  Both had a great time during the season and plan on continuing in the fall.

We had multiple visits from Grandpa Maurice and Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom who were all helpful in the move process.  Grandma Gail and Grandpa Tom were movers assistants and helped transport Lily's fragile Barbie Dreamhouse and some Legos.  Grandpa Maurice came through a vacuum cleaner and took a nice walk with Lily this past weekend so they could explore the new neighborhood.  They made an interesting find nearby of a house with two real firetrucks ... I am sure we will be back to visit those with Jack in the next couple of days.

We had a chance to visit with Great Uncle Simon who was in town for a visit.

Marcy had strep throat for a few days - she did not feel well for an entire weekend and Mother's Day was very subdued this year.  We will try again next year!

This past weekend we had a great visit from Aunt Donna and Uncle Stephen who came down this weekend to help us unpack and visit.  They were house guests in a house of chaos but they really helped us bring order to the mess.  They helped us unpack multiple rooms - including many toys.  They helped us organize - the kitchen and garage and linen closet among others.  A patio set was purchased and put together!  Overall, a huge help and much appreciated working visit.

So since we are not all set up, we don't have all our pictures available.  Here are two and we hope to be up and running soon.


Grandpa Tom took this one of Lily, Marley, Maddy and Pierce on the last day at the bus stop while living in the old neighborhood.


Lily in front of the neighborhood fire trucks.


Jack watching Lily's soccer game.


Lily getting her medal after a successful season.

Hiatus

We will be back with more posts once the move is complete. There is just too much going on right now. Besides we managed not to take a single picture this week!