Cannonball!

Today we had a pool party for the staff of Beach Scrapbooks. These ladies truly make our store the very best that it can be...day after day, month after month. We are so appreciative of them! Today, we had some fun :)

Gone Fishin'

I have to admit...I really did NOT want to go camping on my birthday, but it turned out to be lots of fun! The boys got to fish...we all got to swim...the food was amazing (Adam cooks better at a campsite than I do at home!!)...the weather was perfect...the campfires were cozy...the singing and guitar playing were awesome...the moon was full...the flag retirement ceremony was moving (only the Boy Scouts and the VFW can officially retire flags by burning them in a respectful manner)...the mosquitos weren't that bad after a whole bottle of bug spray...the smores were fantastic...and the kids had an absolute blast! And, after all the kids were asleep, a few of us hung around the campfire until the wee hours of the morning. I wasn't scared of all the talk about a crazy man with a hatchette. Really. Thanks to Adam, Sean and Kim for organizing such a great weekend! And, thanks to all for the group birthday song and wishes for a happy 29th :)

Oops...almost forgot about the Raingutter Regatta. Colby won first place in his grade level for the second year in a row. Rock on little buddy!

All in a day's work...

Here are some random pictures from yesterday. Crazy girls, a cool rainbow, an awesome colored sky and beautiful flowers. Enjoy :)

May you rest in peace

This morning started off like a regular morning. After taking Reese to the groomer, I made a quick stop at my mom's house to get my camera. We drove up to Richmond yesterday to meet my brother for lunch. He doesn't live there...he was just there for the day on business. I wound up leaving my camera in my mom's car, so I needed to get it. Anyway...I took a picture of Colby and Marisa with Brian yesterday, along with some silly pictures of Marisa holding the GIANT cucumbers and squash that came out of Brian's garden. Those were going to be my blog pictures for today...

At 11:00, Marisa had an appointment at her school to be evaluated for kindergarten. As soon as we turned in to the parking lot, there was a sea of police motorcycles. I immediately knew they were lining up for the funeral of Michael Phillips, a Virginia Beach police detective who was recently killed in the line of duty. Because I had just come from my mom's house, I tore out my camera and took a few pictures. There wasn't much time though, because I had to get Marisa to her testing. Plus, I didn't want them to think I was some strange papparazzi...

Fortunately, when we left the school, the motors were still there. I parked the car and took the opportunity to talk to the kids about the police family (units from all over the state were in attendance), the danger of drugs, good guys, bad guys and everything in between. We eventually got out of the car, sat on the sidewalk and just watched and listened. The man in charge was instructing the policemen on how to stop their bikes and dismount. It was a series of several actions, all which were done in perfect unison. They practiced and then eventually left, two by two.

It was all very touching, very meaningful. Especially since my brother is one of them. God bless the family and friends of Det. Phillips and all the other men and women who are out there protecting us.

Been there, done that, already scrapbooked it...

Well, not exactly! We returned from our cruise to Alaska on Sunday morning at about 1 a.m. and are still trying to adjust our bodies to east coast time. Marisa slept in until 11 this morning! Hopefully, we can get the kids in bed ON TIME tonight in hopes of getting them back on track. After all, school is just around the corner (woo hoooo!)!

We had a wonderful time, and, yes, Alaska is BEAUTIFUL! We saw whales, orca, american bald eagles, seals, huskies, salmon, snow covered mountains, glaciers, icebergs (just little ones called berggies), evergreen trees, beautiful sunsets, rain, cool weather (we did NOT miss this humidity!!) and lots, lots more. I have over 3000 photos to sort through over the next few days as I just couldn't stop taking pictures! Now, figuring out which ones to scrap will be a whole other subject...