Bruin Lake

We spent a fun filled weekend with our friends the K's camping! Despite the especially hungry mosquitos and the rain, we managed to have a great time! E and her friends M and S enjoyed the K's inflatable Kayak.... but they could only go out 2 at a time!

I didn't take photos of breakfast - but we learned to make a new camping breakfast treat! Omelette's in a Baggie!

It was so easy - we plan to do it again every camping trip!

Here's how it works....
Start by putting your biggest pot on the stove/campfire/etc. about 2/3 full of water - and set it to boiling.

Write everybody's name on a quart sized ziploc baggie and pass them out. Break 2 eggs into each baggie. Add a dash of milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Shake, shake, shake the baggie - until everything is mixed together, yolks are broken, etc.

Then the fun part... add whatever other stuff you like in omelettes! Diced ham, Green Pepper, Onion, Mushroom, and CHEESE were the accompaniments we chose (well, we PACKED the mushrooms - but forgot to put them out - but they would have been yummy!!)

Then - put the sealed baggie into the boiling water for about 10-12 minutes... and you get a perfect omelette! It's amazing!! My pot can do 4 omelettes at once.

Backyard Retreat

Here's our backyard retreat! We've had a couple campfire nights... when the weather cooperates with us!
And here's the new patio set! We finally had dry and warm weather to have dinner out there last Sunday! Since then, it's rained almost every night. grrr.

Triathalon

The following photos were taken Sunday morning... my lifelong friend/cousin/childhood next door neighbor/mutual godparents to each other's kids.... S participated in a triathalon with her brother B. We went to cheer them on at the transitions, and provide moral support and mental encouragement! I am so proud of both of them - I can't even imagine having the stamina to complete one portion of the triathalon - let alone all three! S did the "sprint" distance, and B the "olympic" distance. B is also a veteran of an Ironman.... those distances are KILLER. They both told us that our being there to cheer them helped them continue, finish, and get better times! It was totally worth the sunburn I got!!! These are photos of each of them in each portion of the race, and at (or after) the finish!

If any of you go to the GLMM - you'll recognize S from the registration desk!! Betcha never guessed she was a scrapbooker AND a triathlete!

Maumee State Park

We camped for the first time at Maumee State Park in Ohio - we really liked the campground! The sites were very nice. Only thing that would have made it better would be water at the sites!
Although my whole family didn't camp for the weekend - we all convened on Saturday to wish my little sis J a happy 40th birthday! Here she is with her adorable kids! Don't you just love the great hat my seester M made for her to wear! We decorated as much as we could - given that the entire afternoon was a thunderstorm, and we spent it in the trailers - thank goodness we all have "rolling condos"!

We also had a special cake - Commercial plug - custom made by Cindy of "Dobo's Delights" in Picqua, Ohio! If you are in her area and you need a cake - check out her bakery in downtown Picqua!!

After a yummy dinner of assorted MEAT grilled by my BIL. (Hamburgs, Hot Dogs, Beer Brats, Chicken) and potluck sides - plus cake for dessert - E - the biggest kid - organized several games. First they all played freeze tag - and then she taught them all how to play "Red Rover"! Pretty soon it wasn't just the little kids playing "Red Rover"!!! Fun times!

Watch Out World.... Here she comes!!!

This was it... the big day!!! The first official driving lesson! Oh, yeah - we've had some unofficial ones - back and forth to the Middle School parking lot - and around and around it (it's deserted - it's SUMMER!) But this was the first official time - with the official teacher, and the official "I'm learning how to drive" signs all over the car! E and her buddy and driving partner M didn't completely object to the fact that I was there, armed with a camera to commemorate this milestone - although I did stand across the parking lot and zoom in - to make it a little less mortifying for them!

Then, I got all sneaky - and I pulled around the building (they meet at a BK to switch drivers, etc.) and lay in wait - for my baby to come driving around the building. She didn't even know I took the photo!! She texted me after she was done, and M was behind the wheel... "I did it!!! I'm still alive!!" whew! If all goes as planned - she'll have her permit by the Fourth of July!!

Stop that... or I'll BLOG you!!!

I have to make good on my threat - so here I am blogging the faces of A - all at dinner last night to celebrate the end of Dance Season. I just wanted a nice pic of her... was that so much to ask for? You see what I had to put up with before she finally agreed to smile for me!!

After the recital - we headed to Sam's Club, where we picked up a great Patio Furniture set that I eyed last week.... I'll post pics of it later - but while we were there, E & A schemed, and plotted, and convinced us if we all (the four of us) chipped in $40 we could get Rock Band. What a riot - took us going out to the internet to figure out how to get the mic to work (have to have a controller plugged in) but we played until 1am! Crazy fun!!! E's friend E came and played too - she's on drums. (I stink at drums - J ROCKS on the drums! I'm best at Bass.)

Dance Season is Finally Over!!!

Now that A is no longer doing any sort of competition dance, recital weekend isn't quite the ordeal it used to be!!! She was only in 2 shows - only did each of her numbers once - and we didn't even go to one of them - because it was a number we'd already seen both at Access Broadway, and at the Vocal Recital. But Sunday, she was tapping, and we hadn't seen her tap at all this year (one disadvantage of no competitions!)

First, they reprised the "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number - which was great - because it was the only one I didn't get any photos of at the vocal recital!


Then, it was time for tap!! A is so self-critical, I didn't know what to expect - but she and her class were fabulous! I don't know WHAT she was down on herself about! It was a cute number, with lots of complex tapping - I sure couldn't have kept up!!!



We've agreed - same type of schedule for dance again next year - it was just the right amount - and she does love to tap!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.... here are most of my favorite Dad's!!! J and his bro K are in back, and my Dad, and J's Dad are seated. We had a great Father's Day dinner here on Saturday night - featuring some very yummy Salmon prepared and grilled by J, and a spinach salad that my MIL helped me fix bacon dressing for, and spring asparagus - that E just loved... we'll be having that again!

It was a great evening of family and fun... We'll do it again sometime soon!!!

School's Out for Summer!!!

School's Out For Summer!!!! (Sing along with me!)
School's Out For Ever!!!
(ok - not reallly forever - but it is out for the summer!!)

This is my new 7th grader - celebrating!!!! The new 10th grader was so busy with Marching Band, and Driver's Ed and Dance Team tryouts that I never got "school's out" photos of her. bummer.

Then and Now.... how much she's changed over the course of 6th grade!! Thanks Cara for the idea to take a Last Day photo!!! Too bad I couldn't nail down the older girl!!!

Catching Up

Well... this is it - the last day of school!! The past couple of weeks have been filled with Awards ceremonies, final band concerts, and lots of studying!

Yesterday I accompanied A and the sixth grade to the Wave Pool - that was lots of fun - it was a great day for it! I lapped the lazy river four times!! The only downer was that I developed this terrible toothache yesterday - and the pain would come and go in waves - I couldn't predict what would set it off, or how long it would last. Finally, by the time we got home, it hurt so badly I was crying. John sent me off to the Dentist - who didn't find anything MAJOR. He filed down the painful tooth a bit to improve the bite, prescribed some antibiotics, and gave me license to take 800mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours. Well, the waves of pain are coming less frequently, and marginally less intensely. I hope that will do it - they took x-rays and didn't see anything wrong inside the tooth - so keep your fingers crossed.... because when the pain kicks in - the whole left side of my face hurts. argh.

E starts driver's ed in an hour! Her finals end at noon, and then at 12:30 she goes to her first class! s-c-a-r-y. School may be out for her, but she's just gearing up for a busy few days! Tomorrow, she has Driver's Ed - followed by Freshman Mini-Camp - followed by the first Dance Team tryout clinic. Saturday is the 2nd Freshman Mini-Camp - and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are more clinics, and finally the try-out.

Both girls had a great 2nd semester - and took home several awards from their respective awards nights. We learned that until E is a Senior - we're going to duck out of the Awards night after she gets her awards... it's a LONG night otherwise - and it really is dedicated more to the Seniors. A HAD to duck out of her awards night early - she had her last Tap class before the recital!

No pics to post... I dragged the camera to the water park, and then never took it out, and we sat so stinkin' far back at the awards nights, that the pictures are terrible.... and I'm not sure E would ever forgive me if I showed up at Driver's Ed to take pictures!!! (But it would be funny, wouldn't it?)

Happy Belated Birthday

Although I'm backdating this post - it's still belated. The girls insisted that I take a silly photo of J showing his age, just like i did of them on THEIR birthday's - and that I blog it. So begins the 30 day period when J is "officially" a year older than me (even though he's ALWAYS 30 days older than me - for THIS 30 days, the age number is different!!!)

The plan was to make cupcakes - but after getting the cake batter ready to go, I made the unfortunate discovery that I have used up what I thought was the lifetime supply of cupcake papers that my MIL gave me - oh, I dunno - 10 or 12 years ago!!!! Apparantly it was only a 10-12 year supply - not lifetime like I originally thought!!! So, instead I poured the batter into my covered cake pan, and sprinkled it up and decorated it. Tasted just as good as cupcakes!!

And here he is - blowing out his candles! Happy Birthday J!!! Here's to many, many more years of you being 30 days older than me!!!!

I Did It!!

I customized my blog! Cara did her's and Tara's and Amy's MONTHS ago - but I was busy with GLMM - so all I did way back then was shopped and picked out my digital kit from Polka Dot Potato - I selected "If You're Happy" by Laura Ping of www.pingdesigns.com. It's been sitting on my computer ever since... nagging me to DO SOMETHING with it!

Today was the day. Not sure what inspired me - but I decided I was going to tackle it today! Once I got "into" it - it wasn't as hard as I imagined. Some knowledge of HTML is necessary - but with that, it was pretty easy to get the background images into place where I wanted them!

I hope you like it! Appropriately enough.... it makes me Happy!

Sing, Sing, Sing...

This past weekend was the vocal recital. It is incredible how much talent there is in Mr. Keen's students! A did a fabulous job... above, she's dancing in the opening number.

Do you know how difficult it is to get good photos of your kid who is singing and dancing, when you can't use your flash? You take a blue million photos, and hope one turns out. But it's harder with your own kid - because you get nervous for them - and that doesn't help the camera shake AT ALL. Anyway - above A is performing in her class number - "I Won't Grow Up" from Peter Pan.

Finally - almost at the end of the show, A got her solo "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray! It's a difficult song, and she kept right up with it! No video as of yet... maybe later in the summer!