Home for the Holidays

We're headed home for Christmas in the morning. Roundtrip, approximately 2500 miles. The whole Griswold family Christmas vacation before us. The oversized vehicle loaded to the hilt inside with another big luggage box busting at the seams on top.

If you don't hear from me in another week or so, you'll know I bailed out somewhere in between. Seeing as how you're not supposed to drive over 60 mph with one of those things on top of your car, you can probably find me by following the underwear strewn along I-81.

Merry Christmas to all!!

Anchorwoman

If you have a fast connection, you can click on this if you want to see Dylan broadcasting the school news.

Bring in the New

I'm posting this on our new computer. "Old Faithful", after taking all the abuse it could, decided to give up on me. It seems so quiet around here now without hearing that grinding, sick tractor noise that it's been making for months. It was noisy, but it would always manage to crank back up. It wasn't pretty, either, all those wires and the extra keyboards hooked up to it. It's probably best that it's suffering has ended. Although, since Scott did give it to Isaac, that's probably not a true statement.

The rest of us are in slightly better shape. I think Isaac is finally beating this nasty cold that's had him down for a week. The rest of us have had it, but none of us were nearly as miserable as he has been.

The girls have been busy. After singing during the church service on Sunday morning, they performed in a Christmas program Sunday night. Both of them had speaking parts and solos in the program, and they both did great.

Dylan made her broadcasting debut on Monday. Along with her friend, Cameryn, she anchored the school's morning announcement program. I will attempt to post a link to this later. It's really cute.

Dylan's Orchestral Debut

We have been amazed at how Dylan has learned to play her clarinet so well in such a short period of time. Thursday was her first public performance and she did great! We're so proud of her!

(In the group shot, she is behind the post on the right.)

Scott's Turn

I'm usually the one with my mind on so many things that I end up doing something totally brainless (backing out of the garage before letting the garage door up, putting the phone in the refrigerator, etc., etc.). So, it's with glee that I relate the following story.

In the last month, Scott's had problems with his teeth. So he's been working in dentist appointments into his already overfilled schedule. On the last visit, he left work to get a broken crown fixed, taking the tooth with him.

As he was being examined, the dental assistant, looking confused, asked him to wait for a moment while she went to check on something. After a few moments, she returned with the dentist, who began to question Scott about his tooth which, oddly enough, didn't seem to fit into his mouth.

Of course, Scott argued with them. Of course it was his tooth. They were somehow mistaken. He wasn't thinking about the fact that his tooth might not be the only tooth lying around our house in a ziploc bag. He apparently forgot that the tooth fairy sometimes leaves a special little memento for us after one of her frequent late night visits. So there he was. With Dylan's tooth in a bag.

Oh, and this was the same day that he wore his sweater wrong side out.

Now it's my turn to say, "I'm not laughing AT you, ....."

Good Tidings to You

Oh, the joys of the family Christmas photo.

I could write for an hour describing our ordeal, but I'll just hit on the highlights.

Let's start with the weather. It was cloudy, windy, and in the 20's. But Scott was determined to get an outdoor shot. Needless to say, the coordinating outfits were no longer an issue. We would be wearing our heaviest winter survival gear.

Our next problem was the issue of taking the picture ourselves. Nobody else was crazy enough to brave the elements on a Saturday when they could be sleeping in. This meant Scott would have to set up the camera on a tripod and then attempt to get the kids to smile charmingly at a blinking black box.

The biggest problem of all was our very own little Ebenezer who was cold and cranky and in no mood to smile at anything or anyone.

So we got home with about 50 shots. Surely there would be one decent one. That's all we needed. Just one.

We had lots of shots of Scott's profile because the camera was on a 6 second timer and he wouldn't make it in time. We had one shot of just our backs as we are looking down at Scott after he tripped and fell trying to beat the timer. (This was actually funny later on, when we had thawed enough to see the humor in it). There were pictures of Isaac pulling Katherine's hair, pictures of me trying to hold Isaac down as he fought to get free, and lots of pictures with at least one person looking off to the right or left. We ended up with one good shot that captured everyone looking and smiling. The only problem was that Isaac wasn't even in it. He had finally managed a successful escape and was making a run for the car.

So we used the only other picture that met our very low standards - It actually had all five of us in it. It's not a good picture, but it will have to do.

Oh yeah, and to make matters worse, it began to snow the very next day. There were beautiful, picturesque backgrounds in all directions. Scott's mom suggested that we go back out to get a picture of us in the snow. Let me just say, YOU COULD NOT PAY ME ENOUGH TO REPEAT THAT ORDEAL. It's behind us. Over. Done.

Until next year.

Welcome Winter

It's true that I'm not crazy about the cold weather, and it has been cold (26 degrees at noon today).

I have to admit, though, that today was really beautiful. As we were passing all the houses newly decorated for Christmas, it was like a winter wonderland scene come to life. And the girls really had fun sledding and getting some good use out of the snowball maker that Richard and Angie gave them!

Farewell Fall

It's baaack...

The cold weather has moved in. The icicles on our fish pond say it all.

The forecast for Sunday shows a high of 33 degrees. This may not be such a big deal for some folks (our neighbor left for Maine this summer to escape the "hot New Jersey summer" - her quote, not mine), but my southern blood is thin. And I'm going into a state of panic. So send warm thoughts our way. Literally. Please!!

THANKSGIVING

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Our good friends Richard, Angie and Ian came up from Alabama to spend the week with us.

It was a busy week - taking in the local sites, going to The Museum of Natural History, seeing the parade balloons up close, playing games, eating, talking, more eating, and of course, the traditional viewing of Planes, Trains & Automobiles.

But the highlight of the visit, from Dylan's perspective, was her ultimate show-and-tell moment when she took Ian to school with her on Tuesday!

KATHERINE'S BIRTHDAY

Katherine celebrated her birthday at Build-A-Bear with 15 of her "closest" friends. That's Katherine for you. (And this was after I shortened her list!)

Eight years old. It's really hard to believe. But it's been eight wonderful years.

Katherine has always been our easy child. Good sleeper. Good eater. Even tempered. Consistent. And, even when we didn't live up to her standards, she has been patient with us. For instance, she developed a habit of dressing in evening attire for dinner when she was 2 years old, yet she rarely turns her nose down at us as we humbly share her table in our lowly peasant attire.

She has certainly brought lots of love, laughter and joy to our lives!

Dad Update

Scott's dad had surgery yesterday. There were a few glitches, but things went well overall. He is recovering in the hospital for a few days, but should get to go home by the weekend if there are no complications.

Thanks for all of the prayers and well wishes. I will keep you updated on his progress as we know more.

I did dat!!

There is something so wrong about going to the pantry, opening the canister of rice, and finding that someone has filled it with dry dog food. Wrong on so many different levels.

You know, at first I wasn't absolutely certain of who the culprit was. It might seem obvious, but the girls have been known to pull a prank or two. (Lest we forget the dead mole they had waiting for me in the mailbox two summers ago. The one that was left over a long weekend in 90 degree south Alabama heat and humidity before I stuck my hand into it.)

So, I walked around with the canister.

"Dylan, did you do this?"

No, Mama!

"Katherine, did you do this?"

No. It wasn't me!

"Isaac, did you do this?"

(Big grin) I did dat!!

Parents In Town

October was a blur. Really, I don't know where it went. So I'm backtracking.

Scott's parents came up during the 3rd week and spent a few days with us. It seems like they arrived, we blinked, and they were gone again. But we did manage to cram a lot in the few days they were here. Especially considering the rain (actual downpours) for the first 3 days!

We spent some time in Pennsylvania where we shopped (a very little - we had Isaac and Pawpaw- Need I say more?) and toured the area where George Washington crossed the Delaware. On Sunday, we took Scott's mom to New York City where we hit some familiar spots and then saw Mary Poppins on Broadway. Scott's dad stayed behind with Isaac and they had a fun day at the park.

His name is T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Don't let that innocent smile fool you. He flashes it just long enough for you to let down your guard, and then he strikes.

The latest casualty? My laptop computer.

Friday morning had been really nice. Isaac had been unusually patient and good while we were out running errands. So when we got back home, in a moment that can only be described as temporary insanity (although it's leaning more toward the more permanent kind here lately - soon I'll be writing about my moments of temporary sanity), I thought I could leave him for just a minute to grab a quick shower.

I got him all situated on the couch with his bunny, his covers, his chocolate milk, and his favorite tv show. I ran upstairs and took a super quick "mom" shower and then bolted back downstairs, drying off as I went. Hearing the same show still on, I felt confident that my little angel would still be sitting just as I had left him.

He was still sitting, alright. Sitting at my computer. All around him, the floor was littered with the keys that he had pried off the keyboard. EVERY SINGLE KEY. Broken off.

When he saw me, he just flashed another one of his great big, innocent looking smiles.

Trick or Treat!

We took the kids trick or treating with our friends, Brian and Stacye, and their kids Alex and Amy. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time.

Isaac caught on pretty fast. Unfortunately, though, the dragon snout in his eyes slowed him down quite a bit. The big kids would be at the door getting candy, and Isaac would still be half a block away yelling, "Tick or Teat!!"

Fall Fun

We had a nice weekend with great weather. Cool weather. Plenty cool enough to build a fire for roasting wieners and what Isaac calls mod-meddows.

Great News!

For those of you who haven't heard, we received great news about Scott's dad. The test results have shown that his cancer has not spread to other areas.

Thanks to all of you who have kept him in your prayers. He will have surgery in November and is looking forward to a full and complete recovery. We are so thankful that he has a very treatable type of cancer and that it was caught early on.

.......

Just saying...

The Face of...

After our last experience with markers, which thankfully were the washable kind, we've all but banished permanent markers from the house. Yesterday, however, when I went to the post office to mail a package, I carried a black Sharpie with me.

Fast forward to this morning. While I unloaded groceries, Isaac played in the front seat of the car.

You can see where this is going.

He had drawn all over the steering wheel, the driver's seat, the middle console, and obviously himself. (I think the resemblance to Hitler is no coincidence.)

**file this under information you should know but hopefully never have to put into action**

A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser will remove almost all of the marks left by a permanent Sharpie on leather if used immediately and if you're willing to scrub vigorously for about 30 minutes. It will also remove the color from the leather. But...Whaddya gonna do???

Health Report

Poor Dylan. She made it through a total of 15 days of school before getting sick. New year... new friends...new germs...

She's been running a fever since Monday night.

On a brighter note, Isaac had his 2 year check-up today and is the picture of health. He even got lucky enough to have his vaccinations postponed until next time. And when they pricked his finger for blood work, he didn't even cry. He was more concerned with the band-aid the nurse put on his finger. He doesn't like anything stuck on him. We left the office with him holding his finger out and repeating his new favorite phrase over and over. What you doin' wit Eye-sheek??

Our Little Secret

We live in a quiet, safe little corner of New Jersey. Most people don't lock their doors, and the honor system still works at the little roadside produce stands where you help yourself and leave your money in the unlocked boxes.

Our house is on a quiet little country lane here in the northeast's version of Mayberry. The neighbors are friendly and look out for each other. All of which makes the rest of the story so bizarre.

At the end of our road, you run into a gated drive. There are signs - private property and no trespassing. Totally out of place. But, because it's so secluded from everyone else, it's never really bothered us. The people who live there keep to themselves and we only occasionally see them drive by.

When we first moved here, we were surprised at how many people couldn't wait to spill the beans on our reclusive neighbors.

It seems that, in our quiet little haven, we moved 3 doors down from... the mafia. The real mafia. Our neighbor was the lawyer for a family whose name you would probably recognize. (I won't name names, but it rhymes with Bambino.)

But we got used to the idea, and haven't really given it much thought in a long time. We just planned to stay out of their way and not do anything to ruffle any feathers.

But now there's a little problem. It seems that the other neighbors are rallying together against him to try to stop him from building onto their compound. Apparently he's been uncooperative with them in the past, and now they want to get together to fight him from being able to get some of the building permits he needs. And they want us to join them???

Okay, I've seen enough of the Godfather movies to know that you don't want to mess the mob. Unless you like waking up with a horse head in your bed. (I don't even like waking up with Isaac in my bed.)

But we like our nice neighbors, and we don't want to get them mad at us, either. So, this weekend, Scott's meeting with some of them. Hopefully we can figure out how to remain neutral without offending the good neighbors or the bad ones! Wish us luck.

Dad

We received news on Thursday that Scott's daddy has prostate cancer.

We are relieved that it was caught early, and the chances are good that it hasn't spread to other areas. The hardest part now is waiting for confirmation of that.

He is ready to tackle this head-on and, being one of the strongest people I've ever met, I'm sure he'll do just that.

When my mother battled her cancer, I saw in her a strength and determination that I hadn't seen before. She was determined to beat it, and now she has been cancer free for several years.

Please keep Scott's dad in your prayers, specifically for a good report next week.

Totally Two

Isaac's birthday was just a couple of weeks ago, and he's already acting so much like a 2 year old. I was expecting him to slowly transition into a toddler. But he's fully there.

He's definitely got the "I can do it myself" syndrome. Eye-seek do it!! He's determined to do everything without help.

He can now get a cup from the cabinet, take it to the refrigerator, push the button on the door, and fill his cup. Which, by the way, wouldn't be such a bad thing except that half the time he completely misses the cup and gets more water on himself and the floor than in the cup.

You can follow the trail of destruction and know exactly where he's been. Yesterday, I found my reading glasses in two pieces. And I'm constantly finding strange things like tissue boxes and hot wheels in my washing machine. The salt shaker mysteriously became clogged until I caught him in the act of licking it and then putting it back in place. The list is endless.

I'm sure the girls went through this stage as well. I've just blocked it from my memory. Well, almost. I do remember Katherine's obsession with flushing everything down the toilet. Including Dylan's new kitten. The cat survived, but he was never really quite right after that. Dylan named him Sally Bop because of his habit of "bopping" himself into the wall. A habit that he developed after being flushed away.

Friday Fun

I'm not a morning person, so fixing Dylan's hair Friday morning for picture day was a less-than-enjoyable experience. I had to fix it while she ate breakfast because we didn't have an extra 4 minutes to spare. And considering that I was functioning on only one cup of coffee at the time, I thought Dylan should have been grateful that I didn't burn one of her ears off with the hair iron.

But she just looked in the mirror and said, in a very disappointed tone, "Oh, I thought it was gonna look different. I wanted it just like is was in last year's picture."

But when she burst through the door that afternoon, she very cheerfully announced, "Today wasn't picture day! It's next Friday!! And I want you to fix my hair exactly the same way next week!!!

A few minutes later, I walked down to meet Katherine at the bus stop. I waited for the bus. And I watched as the bus approached. And I watched as the bus drove past me without slowing. I watched Katherine press both hands against the window. I yelled at her to tell the driver to stop, but she only stared back with the same look you would expect from someone stuck on a runaway train.

At first I wasn't too concerned. I fully expected the bus to be back in about 30 seconds. I didn't know Katherine would stay on another 15 minutes before getting up the nerve to tell the driver that he'd missed her stop!

I wish I could say that Isaac was my easy child.

More Joys of Motherhood

I guess some of the most dreaded words a mom hears from her school-age child, spoken at bedtime is, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, but my teacher said I needed a ______ . And I have to have it tomorrow. And, did you remember that tomorrow is picture day?"

Dylan is the world's worst.

It's hard to believe we've fallen so quickly. I mean, school just started Monday. But, with yesterday being a holiday, after only 3 days of school, it was enough to derail us.

Last night, it wasn't just one, but two things, she had to have.

The first, a shoe box filled with items that would help tell about Dylan. Important little items with lots of meaning and stories behind them. Things to give one a sense of who Dylan is. What makes her tick.

But, when you're scrambling to get hair clean and special outfits ready for school picture day, and it's already well past bedtime, it's hard to sum up 10 years of Dylan. But we did our best. Thrown into a beat up Keds box was just about anything located within arms reach.

A toothpaste tube lid? That'll do! Talk about how it's your favorite flavor and all.

A dirty sock? Great!! Tell about how you have this freaky toe thing that drives you crazy if the toe part of the sock bunches up and it takes about 10 minutes to put them on and take them off again and how your mom has to get your socks from only one store that carries a special no-seam toe and they cost about 5 times more than regular socks and how we end up spending more on socks than we do on shoes.

A popsicle stick? Sure. That's a good one. You can start with how your brother calls them poppa-see-wees and how we discovered that the real reason he loves them so much is because he can coax the puppy to come near him by sharing his poppa-see-wees with her and how your mom screamed and went on about where that dog's tongue has been and why does she even bother any more.

But that shoe box had not been filled for more than 5 minutes when Dylan remembered something else she just had to have. Tomorrow. A book cover.

There's no way I can get a book cover tonight, Dylan. You'll have to tell your teacher we'll get it this weekend.

I've got to have it tomorrow! She said something about being on me like something about rice. I don't know what she meant. But it sounded bad!!

Yes, Julie. In Jersey, we really do say it. Whaddya gonna do?

School Starts

It's finally here. The first day of school!

The girls were very excited and a little nervous as they left this morning.

I'm sure they'll have lots of stories when they get home today. And I can't wait to hear them. I miss them already!

2 Today!!!

I can't believe our little guy is two years old! The time has flown by! He has been the easiest child a mom could've asked for. A good sleeper from the beginning, he's always been obedient and patient in just about any situation. He quietly makes his needs known. Having him around has kept me young. Made me feel younger, in fact.

Okay, I just wanted to see what it felt like to say that.

From the time he was a few hours old and his piercing screams got him kicked out of the hospital nursery, he has been anything but quiet when making his needs known. And sleep? Who needs it? Not Isaac, for sure.

And whoever said having a baby keeps you young was senile.

But I wouldn't trade a second of the last two years for anything in the world. For all the earsplitting screams, impatient groans and moans, and days of surviving on 2 or 3 hours of sleep, there have been many more smiles.

I say, keep 'em coming! (The smiles, that is.)

Happy Birthday, Isaac!!

Weekend of Labor

Looking back now, I guess I have only myself to blame for our Labor Day weekend gone bust.

On Thursday, I was looking forward to a long holiday weekend with perfect weather predicted. Sunny. Temperatures in the 70's.

With the kids starting school in a week, I was anticipating some fun family time. Lots of grilling out and playing games in the backyard.

To make things even better, we had dinner plans on Sunday at a very nice restaurant with some very nice people. Adults. And we were lucky enough to get The Good Babysitter. The older one. The one that can control our wild kids. She's usually already taken, so this too was a special treat. Oh, and did I mention that the dinner was going to be free?

Sounds too good to be true.

And it was.

On Friday, Dylan got sick. High fever throughout the weekend. I took her to the doctor today to rule out anything needing medication or hospitalization. Thankfully, it was just a random virus that she's slowly recuperating from.

I wouldn't dream of blaming poor Dylan. She certainly didn't ask for it.

But I should have known better. If the weather predictions had called for nonstop rain...if the only babysitter available had been the one that we refer to simply as The Zookeeper - for obvious reasons... if the only place for us to eat had been McDonalds...then everything would've have gone as planned.

Six Flags

We took the kids to Six Flags last weekend.

Dylan got up the nerve to ride her first two roller coasters. Scott practically dragged her onto the first one, but she willingly rode the second one and loved every minute of it!

Katherine focused more on consuming all the junk food she could handle. Actually more than she could handle. When Katherine consumes her weight in candy, I should have a bucket nearby. (This happened on Halloween as well.)

Isaac's favorite ride was the spinning teacups. After screaming and crying the first time, he begged to ride it again. He loved it the second time. We also took him to a Wiggles Show, but he nodded off in the middle of it, leaving us to do the hand motions with Dorothy the Dinosaur with all the other screaming 2-3 year olds while he was snoozing.

Our Projects

For some reason, I've had a hard time getting the color of our kitchen right. We started with beige wallpaper. But I wanted a cheery kitchen. So we spent DAYS stripping wallpaper and painting the kitchen red. Even though I tried, I never did like it. But I kept quiet. At least for a while. After all that trouble, I was hoping I'd warm up to the red.

Didn't happen.

So.....We once again tackled the kitchen walls. This time going with green. But the dining room was already green. And I didn't want them both to be green. So we decided to repaint the dining room as well. The color we chose? None other than red. Yep. We changed the kitchen from red to green and the dining room from green to red. Sounds crazy. But I'm happy with the results. For now.

Isaac's redecorating project was not so desirable.

I'm constantly reminding the girls not to leave their markers or crayons within his reach. But all of my constant reminding wasn't enough.

I had gotten a babysitter to watch the kids for the morning while I ran some errands. Something I do very rarely. Like maybe once a year.

I arrived home to chaos. The kids were running wild. And the babysitter wasted no time in letting me know that Katherine had run away from her. Then she had locked herself in the sunroom, refusing to open the door until the sitter promised not to tell me what she had done.

As I was dealing with Katherine upstairs in her room, Isaac found that one black marker. Starting at the door of the sunroom, he proceeded to mark on the door, the wall, the tile floor, the rug, the couch, the pillows on the couch, the rocking horse, his wagon, a ball, a dog toy, the white cabinet, and the sofa table. When he had marked every spot in the room, he turned it on himself.

When I found him, he looked like one of those blackfaced vaudeville performers with white around his mouth and eyes. He gave me a big grin and said, "Isaac draw a kitty kitty."

Boston Pics

1st picture: Boston Harbor

2nd: Very Old Historical Cemetary

3rd: Paul Revere's House

4th: The Girls on the Sailing Ship

5th: The Guys

6th: The Trouble Maker

Boston

Scott had a conference in Boston, so the rest of us tagged along to take in the sights while he attended meetings.

We experienced a little of our usual chaos when we reached our hotel room and were missing Isaac's security blanket/bunny/old rag. To him, it's simply Uh-oh. But he's completely attached to it and has to take it everywhere. Except, somewhere between the plane and our room, he had become completely unattached to it.

We retraced our steps, looked in every spot we could think of, enlisted the help of half of Boston, but still no Uh-oh. It seemed that Uh-oh had become a big UH-OH. After we managed to distract Isaac and even get him to sleep without it, we awoke to a message from the front desk that they were holding something for us. Sure enough, at 1:00 in the morning, Uh-oh had made it's way back to us. After being left in the car we'd taken from the airport to our hotel, apparently he'd had a big night out on the town, even taking in a concert over an hour away.

After our rough start, the rest of the trip was wonderful. The weather was great, so we were able to walk through several of Boston's historical districts. We saw Paul Revere's home and several old cemeteries. We ate clam chowder and took a sunset sail through the Boston Harbor on a beautiful sailing ship. We went to the aquarium, saw the swans, and the kids swam at the fountain in the middle of Boston Commons.

We packed a lot into a few days, but it was great! Boston's a beautiful city and I can't wait to go back.

You Turkeys

We've seen our wild turkey friends here in our yard several times in the last few weeks.

At first I thought it was a mama and daddy with their babies. But when you look closely, you can see that the chicks are not all the same age. Scott also went on to explain the difference between the mamas and daddies - something about a beard and all.

Anyway, there's something about these two mama turkeys hanging out together and taking the young'uns out for a stroll that really cracks me up.

The Newest Addition

Hi!This is Dylan.I'm here to talk about our BABY. She is ten weeks old!And her name is GRACIE.ISN'T SHE SO CUTE!!!BYE!!!

Berry Berry Happy

It's true that there have been a few things that we don't have here (such as family sized tea bags), but there have been plenty of other things to make up for these.

Our latest treat was the wild raspberries in our backyard. For 2 weeks, we've been picking berries. After we've all eaten our fill, including fresh pie, we had enough extra to fill a corner of the freezer.

Jersey Tea Party

You may have seen the latest shopping carts for kids at the grocery store. Unlike the little cars with the cart just behind the little driver seats, this one has an entire car body between you and the cart. When we go to the one store in our area that has one, I have to drive around the parking lot looking for the big red convertible. It's not like it's hard to spot. It's about 15 feet long and practically needs it's own parking space.

The bad news is that when I'm pushing this tank, I usually take down at least 3 or 4 of those store displays that are in the center aisle.

The good news is that after I wrecked into yet another display, it turned out to be a whole display of Lipton family-sized tea bags!

One of the things I haven't been able to find here in the northeast is family-sized tea bags. I can get those little tea bags meant for a cup of hot tea. Or I can get that powdered instant kind. Or I can get bottled tea such as Snapple that comes in flavors such as peach or mango. And as far as I'm concerned, these last two options are not really options. So, for about a year, I've been unwrapping little tea bags to make a pitcher of iced tea. 9 bags for a gallon pitcher.

But, for now, my tea bag unwrapping days are over. At least for a while. I took advantage of my good fortune and stocked up. I bought every one I had knocked to the floor.

Trip Part Two

These pictures are from the second half of our Alabama trip.

We spent this time with my family in Birmingham and had a great time.

The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins, Cameron, Justin, Meagan and Kaili. They all played in the pool together, and then Katherine and Meagan hunted frogs. Unfortunately, at least one of these escaped from it's jar somewhere in my mother's house.

Isaac was happy that his Granddaddy also had a tractee and a truck. The boy's obsessed!

We spent a fun day at Kim's lake house. She fed us well and took us out on the boat for several hours. We rode on the intertube, and, thanks to Cameron and Justin, ended up in the water.