1st Day of School

 Today, this one went off to her first day of 3rd grade.

And this one went off to her first day of 1st grade.

 And we all happily marched down to the bus stop with our "pack-packs" on.

 Isn't the first day of school grande?

 And then they were off in a blur.

 And one little 2yr. old realized the bus was not taking her to school.

Dearest Adalyn, you will grow up soon enough.  Stay small for me for just a little while longer.

Where Has My Time Gone?

My silence in the land of the blog can mean only 1 of 2 things.  Either volleyball has started or I'm not taking many pictures.

Both this time around.

Volleyball started last week and as always is all consuming of any extra time or brain-space.  Right before that, my computer told me it's memory was nearing a tipping point and could no longer handle any more photos.  So I've taken some, but they are stuck on my memory card without a home.  This is a newish computer so I was surprised.  But it turns out those HD videos are space hoggers.

Now add to that the re-aquiring of the found pup...yes, yes.  Our neighbors had our found little guy for a while.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you are, he kept breaking out and making his way down to our yard.  At an almost embarrassing rate.  All of a sudden, he would just be in our back yard.  So the neighbors(4 houses down), who are really lovely and great and fun, asked us if we wanted him back since he seemed very clearly attached to us and we seemed equally attached to him.  After assuring us repetitively that there would be no hard feelings and no weirdness at all, we accepted the pup back.  Legend, the newest member, has been keeping us on our toes.  Has eaten, and then horked up, 4 socks(that I know of) has ripped holes in countless others, and generally been proving his puppiness.  Even as I type, I can hear strange, unsettling noises that will be sure to amount to some new mischief he can get into.  But he had already nuzzled his way into our soft hearts.  And onto the furniture.  Sigh.

Camping

The day after we were to arrive home from Key West, we planned to head out on a 3 day camping trip to Yogi Bear Campground.  Well, bad weather wreaked havoc on planes flying into Baltimore and a long story short, we got a bonus night of vacation in balmy Baltimore.  So that meant the day we flew home, we also were departing on a camping trip.  In hindsight, perhaps allowing 48 hrs. in between would have been wiser, but live and learn.  Borrowing my brother's awesome camper(w/potty and running water, and even air conditioning!) we braved the great outdoors.

Just what we all needed to re-bond together after our 5 day getaway.  The campground is great for kids.  Water park, boats, pedal carts, pool, miniature golf, all in a not-too-big but not-too-small campground.

Plus, we got to go with another awesome family.  Rylie and Adalyn just happened to be born on the same day and here they sit on the docks looking for fish.

The older 2 girls loved playing with their good friend Camryn.

And I loved playing with my very good friend, Kerrianne.

Cody(aka:  Doo-Doo  I'm not kidding, that's what Rylie started calling him one day and it stuck), now 16(!), was such a help with the little ones and such a cool guy to hang out with.  It made me want to rent my own teenager, though I have heard that if they belong to you, they are not always so helpful.

Daily we went on Heyrides(seriously loud person leading camp songs as they drive a large trailer full of overtired kids and underslept parents).

And to keep the whining to a minimum, we even rented a golf cart to ferry all our little tired legs to and from the water park back to our campsite.

It was a perfectly relaxed enjoyable weekend with some great friends.(Notice that all of the Bader's children seem to love getting close to Yogi.  Not so for the Kelly crew, who barely got within touching distance before turning tail and running.)  It was full of S'mores, and campfires, and no schedules, and easy conversation.

Sadly, a day after we returned from our camping adventure, Kerrianne's father, at age 64, had a major heart attack.  After a 4 day coma, he passed away.  I have known their family all my life and remember her Father with a big smile on his face and a booming voice.  It is so hard the way life can be so simply wonderful one minute and so devastating the next.  But I suppose without our lows, we would never be able to truly appreciate the highs.  My heart goes out to my dear friend and her family.  I feel like we are too young to lose any of our parents, but I suppose life does not hand out any guarantees.  I know they will all miss him terribly and that the days and months ahead will be so challenging.  But their family is full of strength and their attachment to each other is palpable.  I wish them peace as they go forward from here.

Key West

Last week Wayne and I took off for a four day getaway to Key West, sans kids.  I hate leaving my kids and I swore to him as we left for the airport and Denver was crying that I wouldn't be doing this for at least another 6 years.  But once there, I could see how much a trip without our little darlings was needed.  Conversations uninterrupted.  Energy to focus on each other.  Activities not even remotely possible with wee ones along.  Like our marriage had been a long distance runner and had stopped on an enjoyable run, to take a drink of water.  

 Key West was lovely and had a few quirks that made it feel unique.  First, the island has a ton of free roaming chickens.  We started counting and got up to 54.  They do not, however, know how to tell time as proved by their excessive crowing.  While eating at a restaurant(outside of course, like so many tropical places, everything happened outside), it was not unusual to have a chicken pass under your table.  There is even a stiff penalty in Key West for harm caused to the little creatures.

Every night in Mallory Square there is a Sunset Festival.  Street performers, craft people, and tourists all gather to watch the Sunset and get a little entertainment as well.  Including this crazy dude known as the Catman.  Seriously had a few marbles loose but has trained his little herd of cats to perform.  

 We took a day trip out to the Dry Tortugas National Park.  Leaving very early in the morning on a high speed ferry we motored for 2 hours 70 miles West of Key West.  My stomach was not a fan of the boat ride but the trip was still a big highlight.  While there we went snorkeling off the island and saw some very cool fish.  The fort was very interesting to walk around and although there was heavy cloud cover and rain throughout much of the day, we still ended up a little sunburned.

 The pylons you see sticking out of the water were where we saw the coolest fish.  A couple hundred year old, they have started to turn into a reef of sorts.  I think the biggest fish we saw was about a 4 foot tarpon.

 This boat held 22 Cubans seeking asylum in the US.  If they can reach the Tortugas, they have made it. It was said that they even knew the Rangers name when they arrived.

 Our last morning we spent on this little scooter touring the island, which is really not that big.  Wayne is now convinced we should buy one.  We drove past Hemingway's house, but did not go in.  It was just too fun on the scooter.

Then home, sort of.  We ended up getting a bonus night in Baltimore due to weather and missing our connection by 20 minutes.  Maybe waiting 6 more years to do this again might be too long.  The girls missed us, Denver in particular had a hard time, and we missed them but it was magical to be away with the love of my life.

Barnard Fireman's Parade and Carnival 2011

I know it's Summer when it's time to drag our chairs a few streets over for the annual Barnard Fireman's Parade and Carnival.  Luckily the rain stayed away for our annual fun-filled night.

 

2 must be the best age to watch a parade because Adalyn was so animated the whole night.  The joy you get from watching your kids be happy is a benefit from parenting that always surprises me.

We brought out new 'neighbors' too!  Shawn(Wayne's youngest brother) and his lovely wife Lesley bought a house one street over from ours.  I think there may be 5 houses between ours.  They have 3 kids too, close to the ages of ours.  It's been another great thing about our evolving neighborhood to have family so close.  Our back yards are nearly kiddie corner and well within walking distance.

The next night we headed down to partake of the carnival pleasures.  Only that night the rain didn't hold off and there was about a 20 min downpour during which we stayed under the beer tent and ate really-bad-for-you carnival food.

My parents joined us and my Mom and I got a couple dozen clams so of course the girls had to play with the shells.  Who knew clam shells in the rain could be so fun?

Then it was time for rides.  With all the rain keeping people away, the girls had the whole thing practically to themselves.  We learned one important piece of  information:  1 ride on the swings for Willa is fun, 2 rides back to back is very, very bad:(  But I will say she recovered quickly.  Adalyn could only go on a few rides, but she did those in repetitious bliss while the other 2 ran around on the rides they were tall enough for.  Denver and Willa knew more people than we did.  And of course we had to visit the Duck Pond where Adalyn kept trying to get more and more ducks till we had to drag her away from the game all together.  Actually, every game we played seemed to follow that same pattern.  Maybe 2 year olds are not quite so ready for carnival games.  But a great time was had by all and 3 very tired girls were tucked in that night with carousel horses dancing in their dreams.