Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Catching up on the rest of the week....

Friday
While it was gloomy and rainy outside, it was a very good thing as it gave us a down day...a day of rest, as it was leading to....

A Very Full Weekend!

Saturday
OK, my day started back in our backyard trying to complete the work I had started on Thursday.  Another several hours of work and I had the edging done.

Doesn't really look like that many hours of work, does it?

Now, I just need to reinforce the low sides and order the filler material.

For the afternoon, Kristen put together a bowling trip for the family with another family, the Conroy's.  It was the first time for Kevin and Ben, the Conroy's two boys, got to go bowling that wasn't candle pin variety.  We had a great time at PINZ, though I was so busy that I didn't even take one picture!  We then made it home for a late dinner and a little relaxation before bedtime.

Sunday
We started the day at church, of course.  Then, home to get ready for another get together at the house.  Kristen invited a number of friends and their kids to come hang out for the afternoon starting at 4:00.  So, we had lunch and let the kids have some down time, while Kristen put her ribs in the oven.  Then friends arrived and we had the whole front and side yard full of games, people and excitement.

We were exhausted by the end of the night and had enough energy to simply get the kids inside, wash their feet and get them and ourselves to bed.  A fun weekend, but tiring.  Hopefully a few good memories and time well spent for everyone.

Vacation, day 4

So, you saw the pool in the previous posts...you also could see that it didn't seem to be too full.  Well, it is supposed to be able to fill up to around 30" of water.  Of course, that is contingent on a person setting it up in a flat space.  It wasn't set up in a flat space.

So, I have been tasked with creating said flat space.  And I started that work yesterday.  I can't say I made a lot of progress.  I certainly did a lot of surveying and planning and such...but only got so far in digging the areas for the 2x4's and driving in the stakes.  Hopefully, I can get it dug out and set up by the end of the weekend and figure out how much pea gravel or sand or whatever we need to put in it to level the area out.


After all that hard work, we did have some friends come over for dinner.  The kids had a blast, we had awesome ribs that Kristen made and she go to enjoy her second fire in our fire pit.



The weather was perfect for it and the kids got to play out side till 10:30, which they thought was an awesome treat.  They even learned a new game called "Man Hunt" from the other kids.

July vacation day 3

So, yesterday was a toss up day...we were not exactly sure how it was going to turn out because of the work calls I had to be on to start the day and the fact that I had a ministry meeting scheduled in the evening.  I was up until about 2am finishing the work stuff...so I wasn't really sure if I would have the energy to do anything either....  

Me the night before..... :)

Luckily, I got through the calls, (the boys and mom were also busy during this time washing the cars!...Thanks boys for my shiny, clean car!) still had energy and we decided to go back to the YMCA for family swim time.  We had a good time, even though the water was cold and the pool was packed.  Kristen even got in the water for awhile so that I could work with both boys on their swimming.  She ditched us a short time later for the hot-tub that resides right next to the pool....but at least she came in for awhile.

Post swimming, we went home and had dinner but then decided to head out to the local beach for some more time in the water.  The weather was too perfect not to be out and we figured it would be a fun memory for the week.







Well, the memory for the day may end up being me having to splash into the water to grab Jude who was trying to drown himself...so not exactly the memory we were expecting....but everyone was safe at the end of the day, tired and had enjoyed themselves...so a good vacation day nonetheless.

Busy Spring...

Maybe I will take a couple of posts and try to recap the last couple months since I have not been blogging.  However, today, I am simply going to post that it is my "vacation" week.  I say "vacation", because I still have to do some work today and tomorrow and I still have to do some ministry stuff....BUT, it is a week I hope to spend a good bit more time than I usually get to with the family (so long as we don't kill each other in the process).

So, yesterday we celebrated the 4th with Kristen's family here at the house with a barbecue and time in the above ground pool that Kristen bought.  It may have only held about a foot of water for the day because of the slant it was on, but the kids still had a blast.  They hung out till around 4pm and then went home for Todd to have a baseball practice.




For us, we relaxed until the evening and then went to a fantastic fireworks show in Bellingham.  We got to play football with the boys (can't forget to mention what an amazing arm Kristen has...she should be playing quarterback somewhere ;) ) and have a picnic dinner while listening to some music coming from a band playing at the event.  The fireworks show was so long that both Kristen and I actually kept wondering when it would end...yep, that's the finale...oh, just kidding!  Can't imagine how much it cost!  A great memory with the kids so, all in all, a great day.

A Few pictures from our vacation

know that Kristen posted some pictures on her blog alread, but I figured I would add a few as well...these include her a little more anyway since they are from my camera :)
Thank you to all who made time to see us, hang out and go places and most of all...you just made it a wonderful memory for our whole family.
I will post a few more on Facebook!

I

Upcoming week...time off (kind of)

I am excited to spend some time with the family this week and to finish up some of my books that I have been reading. While I have to work some because it is EMC's qtr end...my company is actually shut down and I am supposed to have the week off. I will be trying to enjoy that as much as possible starting today :)

So, look for some more book postings, some videos or pictures of the family and hopefully a story or two about our week together :)

StoryLand

I know Kristen will end up posting an awesome set of pictures from our trip to StoryLand, but I wanted to post about it as well. Yes, it was a long drive to get up there for one day but it was fun for the kids. Our goal was to leave on Friday and get up there in time to enjoy a couple of hours at the park and then get dinner, swim, etc and go back to the park on Saturday for the day before driving home. The weather did not cooperate. As soon as we got up into the park area it started pouring and we got stuck at the hotel. So, instead of going to the park, the kids got to go to a kids event for the evening at the hotel and we got to go out...just the adults and Jude...to dinner. They enjoyed themselves and so did we.

The following day we got up and went to breakfast at a little restaurant that we had been to last year and then went to the park. I did NOT feel well all day. Didn't eat breakfast or lunch and had Kristen go on most of the rides with the kids. (she was due for that anyway though since last year she didn't get to go on any rides as she was pregnant). I toughed it out, and I think Janelle was in a similar boat all day as well. The kids had fun, and then off we went back to MA. We didn't end up getting home until very late, but it was a fun day and will hold good memories. Here is one of my favorites...we paid for this one at the park but it was worth it :) I love the expressions on everyone's faces...

hill

This was the walk down to the beach.

Lifeguard Jacob

Dinner pic 1

Jude was just a little bit happy while sitting in a high chair for the first time at a restaurant.

Walk on the beach

A beach in Wellfleet after dinner.

Campground beach

We will post pictures later..but we went to Campground Beach today based on the recommendation of one of the people at our motel. It was a good day. I tried to hide from the sun with Jude...the older boys threw rocks into the water and Kristen tried to get a tan...she will be fried, I know. Elizabeth got too much sun and has red streaks on her back. Now we are off to dinner on the beach.

Scenic overlook

We stopped by a scenic overlook so that Kristen could take a picture. She got the picture of the bridge but startled a snake and so she ran back to the car :) This is her getting in the car as fast as she could...

Vacation time!

Van is packed.
Kids are watching a movie.
Kristen has a coffee.
We are on our way to the cape!