Surgery

I will either have lots of time to update this blog or none at all. Off to have my shoulder surgery this morning. Hopefully, in just a few days, I will be able to move my arm enough to reach the keyboard so I can update all the happenings from the last month.

Birthday Wishes

Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes. Since I signed up on Facebook, I have been able to come in contact with people I have not seen in many years. Even if it is just a quick 'hello', it is still a great way to stay connected. Because of this, so many people were able to help make this a special day. Again, I thank all of you.

Today was just like any other day, Brian had to work til 7:00. Boys and I went about our day like normal. However, since school is approaching fast, we had Back to School Night for Logan (Brandon's will be next week). This evening, we had a chance to meet Logan's 2nd grade Teacher, Mrs Brown. We checked out his classroom, found his desk and found a few of his friends that will be in his class. Logan is a little nervous about the new year, but I think he is excited to see his friends and continue learning new things.

Once that was finished, we were joined by Danelle, Jake and Waverly Schaffner for dinner. Not planning on doing anything fancy, we headed to Burger King. Food didn't matter, it was just nice to be with friends for the evening (Brian was still at work.)

Since, I am the only one who bakes cakes around here and I am usually tired of baking by the time my birthday rolls around I end up not having a cake. I bought a mix to make Brownies for this evening, but didn't feel like doing that either. Boys wanted to go to Dairy Queen after dinner, so I thought we could get an ice cream cake. I absolutely love those cakes. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, I had realized how big the cakes were and decided I did not need to be the only one eating that for the next month. I know I training hard for my triathlon, but I don't think I could work off enough calories to make it enjoyable. So the boys each got a blizzard and we improvised on the cake:

They absolutely loved the idea of putting the candles in the ice cream. They just had to sing really fast. LOL.

It was finally time for presents, which they had been trying all day to give me. Brandon woke up this morning and said 'Mom, today's your birthday, right?' I told him it was. He proceeded with the proper "Happy Birthday" and then "Can we give you your presents now?" I told him we had to wait til Daddy was home (Logan was not even up yet). He was a little disappointed but he decided they could give me the pictures they colored after Logan woke up. (I will take a picture of those and then post). Later that morning, the boys tried again to give me my present. I told them we had to wait until Daddy was home to open them, but if they wanted to put them on the table they could do that. Well they ran to their hiding place and brought the gifts out (which mind you, were NOT wrapped). Surprise completely blown, but they were so proud of themselves. But at least I knew that I would like my present, since it was the only thing I asked for.

My present was the Wii Sports Resort. It is actually pretty cool. We spent the remaining part of the evening playing. They have sword dueling, where you need to knock your opponent into the water. The most fun watching the boys play against one another. Brian, of course, is still playing as I am typing this. He must perfect all the games before the rest of us or before anyone else comes over to play.

Once again, Thank you to all for making this a nice birthday.

And the Final Sunday Beach Picnic

We ended the weekend with another Beach Picnic. This one was for Boy Scouts. As the summer is beginning to wind down, the Boy Scout Pack got together for a bbq. We were at another Beach and this time the boys were busy searching for little crabs. Logan was very excited that he actually caught one. (I will update the photo tomorrow, camera is in car)

Once the sun was shining high in the sky, the weather was very pleasant and the boys enjoyed the afternoon at the park after lunch. Unfortunately, Brian was not able to join us since he was called into work. But the boys were happy to see their friends before school starts, which by the way is not until September 9th. So we have more than another week.

After a busy and exhausting weekend, I am ready to head to bed.

Saturday Beach Picnic

The rest of the weekend was filled with picnics at two different beaches. On Saturday evening, we had a Mom's Club Picnic that all involved had so much fun. We were supposed to be home and settled by 7:30, we didn't even leave the park until after 8:00, surprisingly there were very few meltdowns by the children.

I really only have one photo of the boys while they were eating dinner.

The rest of the pictures were of my friend Kristin's son, David. He is a three year old boy who knows how to work the crowd, well at least the moms of the group. Earlier in the evening he went walking along the beach and returned soaked from head to foot. Kristin, being the well prepared mother, had a change of clothes ready for him when he returned. As the group was beginning to clean up, Brian took the boys down to the beach again, five of them total. Another dad went with them with his son, Eliott. After the moms finished cleaning up, Kristin, Jessica and I went down to help Brian control the children. When we arrived, they were trying to copy Brian while he was skipping rocks, unfortunately most of their rocks were big thunks in the water. Still they were having fun. Eliott is only about two years old and knew he was not allowed to get wet. Well all of them knew they were not supposed to get wet, but that doesn't mean anything in boy speak. So Eliott would throw a stick and it would get too close to the water, so he would nicely encourage David to go and get it. This went on for about 15 minutes. Then the stick went further into the water and of course a few minutes later in went David to get it. Only the bottoms of his pants were wet, but since he already was there, he thought it would be alright to go in further. Again, I am sorry Kristin for laughing as hard as we were. It was just the funniest thing I have witnessed in a very long time. Here are a few of the pictures of David.

"Mom, I only got a little wet."

"Are you sure there isn't a dry spot back there?"

Friday Fair

This weekend the Kitsap County Fair and Rodeo came into town. For just $0.25, the boys and I were able to spend the day at the fair with some of our good friends. It is amazing at how expensive everything has become as you walk around a fair and look at all the food and rides available. The boys were able to go on only two rides and it still cost more than $10. Good thing it only cost a quarter to get in. They still had fun though.

The enjoyed their first ride on the planes:

Their second ride was on big green slide which they thought was so much fun.

They also got to sit up on top of a Marine Tank:

And be a farmer for a few minutes and dig for potatoes. They were a little disappointed when they had to rebury them for the next kids.

Danskin Triathlon

Most of you know that since the beginning of June, I have been in full training mode for Triathlons. This past weekend was one of the biggest triathlon that I will do this summer. Most of the races include about 300-500 people. This race had 5500 people. There were so many people it was amazing. Here is only one section of the transition area. It was not even my section, I was at the WAY back of the area.
There was a huge EXPO on Saturday, which afterwards you need to take your bike over to the transition area since there were so many people involved. Since the boys would have driven me crazy if they were over there the entire day, I met up with a few of my TriBabe Friends. We were all set and ready to go.
After completing .5 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3.1 mile run, I felt pretty good. Of course, I would always like to be faster, but I was happy with my time overall. I have another triathlon coming up in three weeks which I am looking forward to doing just as well. The course will be much harder, so I am guessing my time will not be the same, but here's to more training. And possibly extending my comfort zone by completing an Olympic Distance Triathlon. Just in case you are wondering that is .93 mile swim, 25 mile bike and 6.2 mile run.

Dungeness Spit

Dungeness Spit

There are very few weekends that we do not have anything planned in advance and with our lovely weather (sarcasm again), it is very difficult to plan for outdoor activities. One afternoon, we decided to drive out to Sequim and visit the Dungeness Spit. The boys and I have been there once before but we never made it past the lookout spot where we had our picnic. Actually walking down by the water was amazing. We had our lunch on the logs and watched all the people walking along the beach.

After lunch, we walked about two miles down the 5.5 mile beach. I think if it was warmer the boys would have been able to walk to the end, but we were a little cold and the boys were ready to head back (ok, I guess I should be classified in that category, because I was very happy when they were able to convice Brian to start heading back to the car.

As the boys are getting older they are constantly trying to take pictures with my camera. So eventually there will be a decent one of Brian and me together. Here is one taken by Logan on our walk along the spit.

And of course, we almost always find a cute one of the boys when they are willing to cooperate. Here is one from the Lookout Spot.

Trip to SeaFair

Wow, where did the time go? I can not believe it has been almost a month since I last updated this blog. A big SORRY to Katy and Amy, I know this is the only way to update you on the boys.

I have tons of pictures of Big Andy's wedding that I will include over the next few posts. But this one was our trip to SeaFair. The boys had so much fun seeing the Blue Angels. They can not wait until Jeff graduates from the Academy so that we can see them again in May. (Guess that means we will definitely be planning a visit home about that time.)

It was an adventure just to get there. We took the Ferry over to Seattle and then parked our car at the Coast Guard Station. Because we figured there would not be enough walking at the Park (heavy sarcasm on my part), we decided to walk about a mile to the light train station. Here are the boys waiting anxiously for the train to arrive.

After taking the train to one of the stations near the park, we then had to jump on a bus to be shuttled to the actual park. This was very exciting because it started the boys talking about getting back to school. I am definitely ready for that to happen.

We watched the Blue Angels and Hydroracing. It was amazing. I only have a video of a few of the passes and I think it will take to long to try to download it, but while we were waiting Brandon was enjoying actually being allowed to play with my camera. Here is a cute one of Logan and me together and then Brandon finally figuring out how to smile into the camera while taking a picture of himself.

Big Andy's Wedding Weekend

We spent this past weekend in Annapolis visiting Brian's brother Andy.

There was a nice bbq at Andy's house Friday evening. This is the time that all the families were gathered together to kick off the celebration of Andy and Amy's wedding. We also had them open their wedding presents at this time because we were going to need them for all the celebrating we would be doing over the weekend.

On Saturday evening, we had a very nice dinner at Harry Browne's in downtown Annapolis. For those of you who were around for Brian and My Wedding this is the fabulous place that catered our reception. It was still just as delicious as we remembered it. We had a little bit of delay because the boys had completely zonked out after a day of golfing with the gentlemen.

After we finally made it over to the dinner, fortunately we just missed the cocktail hour, the boys were given stuffed animals from Great Grandmon Blanche. Brandon carried a frog and Logan carried a penguin around with them the entire rest of the weekend. They were very cute and kept the boys entertained during the 'adult moments'.

Here is Amy with the boys.

By the end of the evening, both of the boys were done being good, I must admit they faired very well during the dinner. After wrapping themselves in Nana's and Katy 89's sweaters we have managed to capture the perfect angelic face and the perfect Daredevil face (some even think he might look like he belongs to the Slytherin House).

Fruit Basket from Great Papa

A big Thank you to Great Papa, for sending this beautiful Fruit Basket. It arrived a little earlier than dinner and of course the boys immediately dove into enjoy all the strawberries and grapes.

Along with the basket of fruit for the adults, the boys received Teddy Bears from Great Papa and Ardie and I think they will be going with them all over the place for the next few days.

Of course the boys thought the best part of this fruit basket was the chocolate covered strawberries. I must admit, i started eating strawberries only so I could enjoy chocolate covered ones. I did not get an upclose photo of Logan, but he had chocolate all over his face. Big Andy walked into the kitchen with his white uniform on and we made the boys stand on the other side of the kitchen so they would not get anywhere near him with chocolate all over themselves.

Thank you again, Great Papa. Once again this basket will be enjoyed by all those present in Annapolis.

Quick Sewing Sunday

Last year I made a sweatshirt for Logan with Mater on it. He loves it and wears it quite often. Surprisingly, it took Brandon a very long time to decide that he was missing out on something. In planning our trip to Ohio, the boys were thinking about what they needed for the plane ride and sweatshirt was at the top of the list. And here was the question I had been waiting for: Mom, when are you going to make me one?

Trying to be the best mom I can be, I decided it was a good time to do it today.

Here is a picture of Logan's sweatshirt:

And here is Brandon's sweatshirt:

4th of July Fun Run

After a very late night watching fireworks on Friday, I had to get everyone up early for my race, the Kingston Fourth of July Fun Run (5K). I felt horrible all morning, I was not even sure why I was there. Although I did have to come up with an answer for that one, when Brian asked why we were there when I didn't want to run? Well, I had already paid for it, and just because I feel like crap does not mean I should exercise. If that was the case, I probably would never workout.

Believe it or not, I ended up placing third in my division and I had one of my best times of the season thus far. I was a little disappointed because they only gave out ribbons to the first place in each division. Although, I still know where I stand. haha. There must be something special about the 4th of July, because this was the same weekend last year that I placed in the triathlon. I always knew this was my favorite holiday.

There was a huge hill at the end of the first mile and I thought I would never make it up. I usually force myself to keep running, but I have realized that I can stretch my stride if I walk fast. It was a relief to finally get up it. At about 2.5 miles, I felt that my sock had fallen below my shoe and I was getting a blister. (A very good reason, why I will ONLY wear running sock from now on). But I pushed through it and found myself looking up the last stretch of the course and it was another hill. I could see the Brian and the boys waiting near the finish line and kept my motivation in focus. I pushed myself to the end and could barely get my stupid number off before throwing up. Andy, you would be proud, third race in a row, need to figure out something to do about that. At least, I didn't almost run the guy down, like I did last time. Oops!

After I was finished, I felt good as usual. I am not sure it is because I actually exercised or just because I can eat anything I want throughout the rest of the day. Either way, it feels like a good accomplishment.

3rd of July

Brian was able to find a good deal on some fireworks of our own. Which the boys could not contain their excitement.

We allowed them to do a few before we headed to the Professional fireworks:

Fireworks were held on Friday, the 3rd, in Poulsbo. We picked up a friend of the boys, Jake, and then headed to a field across from the Walmart parking lot. Since it gets light so early in the morning, it of course stays light late into the night. The fireworks were supposed to start around 10:20 pm. So because the boys were getting tired, even after a nap, they were all a little silly.

The fireworks were not as close as we thought they might be, so there was little to hold their interests. That's ok, they found other things to be entertaining. Like, right before the fireworks were about to begin, the grounds around Walmart had their sprinkler system turned on. Now very funny, from our point of view, since we were across the street. Not so funny, for those who got wet. The boys found it absolutely hilarious. We had the glowing bracelets and I think they were trying to put them on my car while they were sitting on the roof.

Hanging at a friend's house

Seems we have been a little lucky lately with our weather, because we seem to have had a few days this week that have been warm enough for the kids to play in the water. A friend of ours has an awesome water slide in their backyard and I could barely get the kids off of it long enough to eat some lunch.

Although they did come running for some popsicles. Now there is a surprise...

Sprinkler/Trampoline Fun

We have been very fortunate to have some sunny days this past week. Since they are so few and far between, we need to take advantage of them while we can. We water the grass and the boys water themselves. Instead of the traditional running through the sprinkler, the boys need to strategically discuss how to make the most of the water. Brandon feels it is necessary to stick his little tushy in the water:

Since it is just plain boring to run through the sprinkler, they need to make it more entertaining by incorporating the trampoline into the fun.

And yes, of course, Brandon had to watch very closely to make sure the water was going in the right direction.

Sewing Frenzy

I spent most of this weekend in my sewing room while the boys were being entertained by Brian. Very nice, indeed. Here are a few of the projects I was able to finish up this while locked away.


A teacher gift: And yes a stocking:

(Christmas in July)

And finally another teacher gift, this time a sweatshirt. Heard everyone that saw it today, loved it. That is very nice to hear, especially since Kristin knew how much of pain this one was for me.

Front: Back:

My goal for the summer is to continually post new things that I have been working on. Next up, I am going to need to tackle some pj bottoms for the boys. Heading back to Ohio in a few weeks, the long sleeves and pants are going to be WAY TOO HOT! They have requested some shorts. Now I just need to search for a pattern.