Summer Vacation 2008

I thought my vacation would NEVER get here...but it always does, eventually! Here we are at Marla's in Wilmington. Lon's nephew Justin came for the weekend with his wife Lori and their baby Jordan. Jordan really took a liking to Kip's friend Bailey. She brought her blankie and stuffed animal over and put them on his lap, making a nest for herself. He didn't know WHAT to do, ha ha. Lon loves Jordan's little baby feet. In the photo it looks like she's sharing a secret, but really she was waving to someone. Bailey & Kip were as good as angels (ahem, cough cough) and as usual we could hardly get them out of the water to go home. Where did the week go?! It seems like we just got here... I'm not NEARLY sunburned enough!

He's a Teenager!!

Yup, Kip is 13 now... My baby is a teenager! Lon and I gave him a "Cosmic Bowling" party and he invited his friends Taylor, Sam and Paul. I tried to take some videos, but every time I did, they ended up throwing gutter balls... It was a bit too dark in there anyway, what with the laser lights and all. Kip joked that his age equals his shoe size. It's actually been that way for the past couple of years. I hope that trend doesn't continue for much longer, or we'll have to special order his shoes! (Look at the hair on these boys! I feel like I'm back in the 70's, ha ha)

Kings Dominion

This year, Kip wanted us to take him to Kings Dominion for his birthday. We hadn't been in several years. No friends this time, just a family thing. Awwwww, he still loves us! So we took off work Friday, figuring it wouldn't be quite as crowded as on a weekend. The temperature was in the high 80's, but it wasn't as humid as it has been lately, thankfully. Here's Kip riding the Avalanche, in the blue "France" car. Then him and Lon on the Rebel Yell, in the very back car. The Rebel Yell is an old wooden roller coaster. I remember thinking it was awesome, 30 years ago, when you used to have the choice to ride it backwards. No, not sit in the seat backwards... duh... the whole train went backwards! I guess they don't do that anymore. Kip said the Rebel Yell was his favorite part of the day. Mine was cooling off on the Whitewater Canyon ride. We got SO DRENCHED! But Kip had won a souvenir towel by throwing baseballs, so we were able to dry off a little. All that fun and sun really wiped us out!

July 4th weekend

The long holiday weekend wasn't the sunniest we've seen. That's probably the understatement of the year! Friday it rained off and on all day, but cleared up in time for a great fireworks show, put on mostly by Charlie. He picked up the good stuff from PA. Saturday was nice but we took too long to get on the river, and our luck ran out. No sooner had we gotten in our tubes, then the sky opened up on us. (Ruth, Sam, Michael, Kip and me) It was funny because Charlie had insisted it was gonna rain and we all insisted it wasn't. So while we were getting poured on, floating down the river, we all agreed to adamantly deny that it had rained at all. (Like Charlie would believe that, ha ha!) The sun came out when we were about 1/4 mile from the house, and we had a nice campfire going that night. No pictures of any of that... What I do have is a pretty cloud (Lon made fun of me taking that photo) and Kip playing Greg's guitar while Sam's friend Michael played with his cell phone, and Sam lounged all over everyone. Despite the weather, we had a good time just hanging out together, and I finished 2 books! More on the next post...

4th of July 2008

We love spending long weekends in WV with our friends Charlie and Ruth! This weekend their son Sam turned 16, and Ruth made a cake for him. The rain stopped long enough for us to set off some awesome fireworks. Wish we had gotten pictures of Blizzard attacking the blazing fountains! He actually knocked one down and was trying to bite it! We joked later about his whiskers being singed off, but they weren't really. He didn't seem affected at all, and we determined that he only attacked the ones that whistle and screech. Maybe they hurt his ears? At one point he tried to hide under Lon's arm, you can see his head is under the arm of the camp chair, and Lon is reassuring him. How cute...

Deck-orated!

Our deck was a mess, and we didn't have the time or the inclination to do what needed to be done. Too hot out for people our age to be doing labor-intensive work! So while Lon was out of town I surprised him by hiring a company to power wash and then seal the deck. I laid down a new outdoor rug and a Kokopelli welcome mat. (Blizzard already has hair all over it!) Kip and I put together a new patio table and chairs all by ourselves, and I put the finishing touches (for now) today: A bushel basket of red impatiens as a centerpiece, and over in the corner of the bench, white impatiens in Kip's old beach pail, and red begonias in a gold foil-wrapped pot. There's also a small terracotta pot full of seashells. Just need some windchimes now, and some flowers in the other corner that you can't see here... I'm up for other suggestions! (Like get rid of the trash can? ha ha)

Grillin'!

While Lon is away, the "man chores" fall to Kip. We all know outdoor cooking is man's work, ha ha! So here's Kip flippin' the chicken and veggies on the grill. He proclaimed it the best chicken he ever ate. It really WAS delicious, good job, buddy! :) We've been grilling all week, since I can't stand to heat up the kitchen. Last night it was shrimp. Again, the best Kip ever tasted! There's just something about cooking out...maybe it's the lines on the food, ha ha.

(Hey, what's Blizzard sniffing at in the background?!)