RE-ENTRY PART II

Before we get to the RE-ENTRY...

BLAST OFF!

There is no feeling in the world like leaving for vacation. Doesn't even matter where you are going really. Over here where we try to keep our scale balanced, vacations are precious. With hubby traveling every other week, we don't get alot of that family time anymore. So a week away ~together~ is the best! We headed to Seabrook, N.H. for a week~ our annual trip to Nana & Pop's beach house. We are lucky, because BabySis always join us for at least half the week.

ADVENTURES!
We had a week filled with family, sandy toes, wave ridin', walks to the rocks, castle building, arcade games, go-carts, water rides, beach juice and lots-o-fun on our adventure!

Grammy & Grammy Visit
Bocci on the Beach with G&G

Aunt N & Cousin E watched the Bocci challenge with me...


Turtle first, turned into a GREAT BIG DINOSAUR!


MIL (Grammy) helping cherub 1 work up the courage for the go-carts...


FIL (Grampy) & Cherub 3~ holding their own!


Hubby & Cherub 2~ determined to win the race!


Cherub 1 & I~ going...really...slow...per...cherub 1's....begging!


BabySis joined us just in time for the last race!


Arcade fun~



Cashin in...

Side note: on day two of the arcade escapades, I turned around to find Cherub 2,
"aka Mr. Independent", trading in his tickets all by himself to get his prize. ALL he wanted was goofy eyeballs!


Cherubs & Cousins...beach, fireworks, flashlight tag...lots o giggles!
One is NEVER too old for 'don't let the wave get ya'!

Hubby's box-o-fireworks...what a bang!

Can you see it?

Cherub 3 huggin Pops in between displays...

Cherubs 2&3 blocking out the bang!

Beach sparklers...


Beach Olympics
Hubby, BabySis & I enjoyed beach juice as the cherubs jumped over the REALLY big beach hole...we cheered and cracked up as they did tricks...
cherub 2

cherub 3

cherub 1


Soon I cheered hubby & BabySis on as they joined the fun (many a beachjuice in)...





WaterCountry!
Last day adventure...



THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you Nana & Pops (me mum & dad), we had a great week, as always! Poor Nana, suffering from a root canal gone bad the whole week did her best to have some fun. We will miss you until you return after Labor Day! Enjoy the rest of your vacation!!


RE-ENTRY
So, after a wonderful trip with Nana, Pops, and BigSis, hubby & I packed up the cherubs to take them home. We were all tanned and happy. Cherub 3 cried when he left. Just like him, I wanted to stay at the beach forever. However, it wouldn't be so special if we were there everyday! We packed up and got in the car JUST IN TIME...the hurricane that was wizzing towards New England brought a nasty stomr right to the beach. Made it a little easier to re-enter the world. As we left the beach the last time for the season, I had the cherubs turn as always and exclaim, "Bye Beach! See you next time!" We will be dreaming of the sounds of the waves and the tickle of the sand between our toes until we meet again.

Re-Entry PART I

Re-Entry into the real world after a blissful week on vacation is always hard. We had a wonderful week at Seabrook beach with family. Lots to post. Coming soon- Re-Entry Part II!

Irish Twins

I remember when I had an 8 week old baby (cherub 2) and I found out I was pregnant (cherub 3). Still to this day, I call it "God's plan" that these two little cherubs were born a SHORT 11 months apart. Truthfully, I was in such a sleep deprived state for the first 2yrs of their lives, the details are still a little fuzzy. Seriously. Now?

They are best friends. However, on any given day...they can plot. Take over the house. Drive cherub 1 (or me) crazy. Make double the mess. Make double the noise. Those Irish twins can certainly be double trouble.

Yet the other day at BigSis's pool, it was like they were the only ones on the earth. They spoke their own language. They needed nothing other than to giggle together as they made up swimming games. They made me smile- double time as I watched them enjoy the moment and each other.

New Fashion Trends

Pause. This ensemble had to be noted. The jean on jean, the tank, the boots. A look that only a mom can love. Cherub 1 is growing up fast, experimenting with her looks and still remains so sweet and cute. (Although I don't think we'll wear this to some places, like say, school or church or anywhere out in public.) Cherub 2 & I told her she looked beautiful!

Back to the 80's!

Last Saturday night was girls night! It was a gorgeous night in the city. A perfect night to enjoy cocktails and dinner outside and enjoy and outside concert. Flashback to the 80's~ we headed to see Blondie and Pat Benatar! Here are some snap shots of the night...with a few quick laughs.

Kidnapped
The night starts by all of us kidnapping RLF, C. She was in town with her family and were on the awesome deck of a restaurant ordering cocktails and apps. Text, we are here. Text, come with. Next thing you know, she has entered the 80's.


Celebrate Friends
This is a great pic of BigSis and her college roomies. Such a great one!


Chocolate Cherries?
C,C, & I were the last ones to leave the restaurant. On the way to the concert we stopped in to the neighborhood store for contact solution~for the kidnapped one. We stocked up on chocolate for late night. Hey, girls will be girls. PS- How many times did that lady count the chocolate cherries?


Dare- not truth!
A conspiring bunch. We were left to our devices after half the group went off to sing to Blondie. Before she went off to see Blondie, BigSis saw a group with matching black and pink t-shirts on. They were all part of a bachelorette party. C vowed to wear one of the shirts by the end of the night. BigSis said there was no way. C&I agreed, why does she doubt C? It became a challenge. Of course, C had the t-shirt on within 20 minutes! She is hysterical!


80's Flashback
Here are just two people of the MANY that took the 80's concert seriously. I was trying to do the whole "C, pose over here so I can pretend to take your picture thing" (not for this couple but another chick). C cracked me up as she just walked right over and ASKED the girl if she could take her picture! OMG. We laughed and ran away! Notice the comb in his back pocket!


All together...a blast!

Mr. Fix-It

I was always say, hubby is amazing. He fixes everything, installs anything, builds many things. When we bought our first home in 1997(!) hubby took down a wall, put a hole in our house (to put in a slider), among many other things. Over the years (and in our 5 homes), hubby has self-taught himself plumbing, electricity (some scary moments there), flooring, etc. You name it, he has probably tried it. I used to ask, "why can't we just hire someone?" It was awesome he could do anything but it took us longer to get through all our projects. He is the type that would not hire a plumber to do something he could try himself- not unless his entire house was flooding.

I have learned to appreciate and admire his can-do-anything trait. I understand that he loves the challenge and I have learned alot from him. I am NOT being sarcastic, I really mean that. Seriously.

Our most recent project was replacing our master bathroom toilet. He has done this in the past many times with no problems. (Remember, cherub 2 used to flush binkies, matchbox cars, etc down our toilet ALL the time.) This toilet project, projected to be easy, was kind of a nightmare. Here is how it played out:

~ Take off old toilet.
~ Install new one.
~ New one leaked.
~ Start over. Three times.
~ Change cap.
~ This doesn't help.
~ Become frustrated and leave bathroom project for weeks.
~ Do not seal the cap.
~ Find HUNDREDS of gross bugs in bathroom.
~ Realize they are from the poop pipe. Freak out.
~ Watch hubby freak out.
~ Hubby did not get rid of them. I had to.
~ Curse hubby. Three times.
~ I sterilize home. At least three times.
~ Hubby caps pipe and announces that "that must be why they should be capped".
~ Sigh. Agree.
~ Last weekend, hubby motivates and tries again.
~ Succeeds!!
~ Master bathroom in working, clean order.
~ Vow never to leave another cap off.

Here is a pic of hubby last weekend lowering the new toilet down. Cherub 3 was helping him "guide" it to the right place. I was laughing that his 6 year old was the guidance chip in the master plan.

Other than the leaving the bugs to me, I am very thankful for hubby & the bathroom!

Alien Invasion?

Cherub 2 emptied all of the trash today. Without being asked. Who stole my cherub? Aliens? When I realized what he was doing I ran to get the camera for evidence!

Poodles!

Last night our friends made balloon creatures with the cherubs. Cherub 3 unwrapped his this morning and made this poodle all by himself. Sooooo cute. :o)

He was smiling ear to ear until it popped. :o(

Snacks

Pre-requisite to story:
Dark & Stormy, n. ginger beer, mixed with Bermuda rum. L&D's Bermuda wedding drink. Makes a quite tasty cocktail during happy hour. When made too strong may be referred to as a "Hurricane".

RLF, L sends her son J over to invite us for some Dark & Stormies tonight~ a little happy hour. Below is the invitation conversation between her son and cherub 3.

J: Hi! My mom wants to know if you guys (speaking to all of us) want to come over for a Dark & Stormy.

Cherub 3: Yeah! I've never seen that movie.

J: No, it's not a movie. It is food.

Cherub 3: Oh, we already ate dinner.

J: It's not dinner, it's a snack.

By now, hubby & I are keeling over laughing. We headed on out for some neighborhood "snacks".

VBF 2009!

Vacation Bible Fest, "VBF", is one of the cherub's favorite weeks of the summer. As always, this year was no exception! We "rocked the dock" with FABULOUS music, had our faces painted, played games, watched skits, participated in our own bible lesson plays and shared tons of giggles. Sharing this week together, even at their different ages, brings them closer- sharing the experience. They reconnect in their own young ways to our beliefs and we just have a TON of fun! It truly is one of my favorite things to do with them. This is how church SHOULD be for the cherubs (and adults for that matter). Age appropriate, fun and spiritual. VBF rocks!

Hotel for Frogs

The cherubs, like most normal kids have a frog fetish. They love chasing frogs, catching frogs, following them around, drawing pictures of them, etc. Recently, cherub 2 had caught two frogs in his bug catcher and he played with him all day. We convinced him at the end of the afternoon to set them free~ explaining they live in nature and can not live indoors with us.

About a week later I was going to the bathroom at midnight in our upstairs bathroom when something jumped over my leg! Stifling a startled scream, I found that this little jumper was a frog! Hubby rescued the frog setting it free into the yard. In the am, over breakfast, I told the cherubs of the amazing story about the frog that made it upstairs to our bathroom. I asked them if anyone had any idea how that could happen? Cherub 2, all guilty-eyed, giggled and told me that the frog had been living in his bedroom for a week and must have gotten free. WHA? That poor thing had no food! I made sure to hide how hilarious I thought this was so he didn't make a habit out of bringing little creatures home then decided it was time to find a new way to enjoy our frogs...

Off on our recent camping trip with FIL, MIL & BabySis, the cherubs and I spotted a "Hotel for Frogs". A little copycat from the movie Hotel for Dogs, we were enthralled with that handmade wooden box that had been painted lovingly and was in someones garden. This hotel welcoming all the local frogs. I suggested to the cherubs that we build one of our own.

The cherubs & I, joined by our neighbor friend, got busy recently on a Saturday afternoon. We picked through our old wood, broke out the paint and planned out our own original version of "The Hotel for Frogs". While I was spreading mulch (and to keep them busy) I told them they needed to have a meeting to decide together what their roles would be in the building process, what the design would look like and how they would work together-in harmony (no small feat for the cherubs sometimes). Neighbor friend made a "blue print" of the hotel, cherub 3 insisted the hotel must resemble a "castle", cherub 2 wanted to design a "flag" and cherub 1 was the "manager". Working together, settling minor disputes and giggling ALOT they produced the be all of hotels!

Here's a picture from part-way through the process:


Of course, in true cherub form, I learned later that they had added a "slide" for the frogs~ for the frogs entertainment of course. Unfortunately, this slide was catapulting the frogs from quite the height. The slide came down after our "you want the hotel to be a place where they come to visit, somewhere they can be safe" talk. (Needless to say, not too many frogs have visited.)