Halloween '08

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I guess because you get to act like a kid, and pretend to be someone else for a day. Not to mention the candy... This year it fell on a Friday, which was excellent. We have a costume contest and a pumpkin contest at work every year, with great prizes. I'm pretty sure my pumpkins would have won at least one prize! However, Kip woke up with a bad sore throat, so I had to stay home from work and take him to the doctor. I figured if it was strep, we'd get a jump on it and he'd be okay to go back to school on Monday. Turned out not to be strep, though, which is a good thing.

Kip insisted he is too old to go trick-or-treating anymore. So he sat on the front steps in his skull mask and handed out the candy. Several of his classmates came by in costume, proving that 13 is apparently NOT too old... He hit the nail right on the head when he told me, "Mom, you're grown up physically, but on Halloween you're still like 9 years old!" Hey, I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'll always be a kid at heart!

Playing the Ponies

Our annual trip to Laurel, MD for the Maryland Million horse races paid off nicely this year. We always go with Charlie & Ruth, and try to get other friends to join us. This year, Norma and her son Dean came down from Connecticut. It was actually Norma's second time with us. She studied the program while Lon studied the horses being paraded by. We all placed our bets. Then everyone stood on the picnic tables to scream at the horses as they raced. Okay, they're not screaming in this picture... I think they were still loading the horses into the gate at that point. Anyway, Lon bet on a longshot named "He's a Dixie Boy" in the last race, who came around to win! He graciously treated all 7 of us to dinner at Outback. Lon did, that is, not the horse. What a great day -- gorgeous weather, the company of good friends, and winning money!

A Boy and His Hair

Kip loved his long, shaggy hair. So when his dad told him he had to get it cut, he was dismayed, to say the least! (I tried to get him in the same pose so you could see the difference) Kip acted like he'd gotten a crew cut... The barber did take a significant amount off, but it's still relatively long, as you can see. And like I told him, the one good thing about a haircut is -- it always grows back! I had written down what he should say to the barber: 1. Just re-layer it. 2. Do NOT cut the bangs above my eyebrows. 3. Angle it down in the front. 4. Don't take anything off the back. Well, he ended up telling the guy to take some off the back, and wasn't happy with the results when his hair suddenly became 3 inches shorter... (it was even longer than it looks in the "before" picture) But at least the guy left his bangs long, although they are no longer below his eyes. And Lon was satisfied. Now the question is, will Kip let me blow-dry his hair for his class picture next month, or will he want to just shake it out and go, straight from the shower? We'll have to wait and see!

Labor Day Weekend

Another great (long) weekend in West Virginia! There was us 3, Charlie & Ruth and their youngest son Sam and his friend Josh, Ralph and his daughter Emylee, his baby daughter Madison, his brother Rick, and Rick's son Jonathan. The kids unwisely challenged the oldsters to a game of volleyball, and were severely trounced not once, not twice, but three times in a row! Sure taught them cocky kids a lesson! Reminded us of our younger days playing in the sand at Assateague...

Sunday we took a canoe/kayak trip downriver, where Kip & I learned a valuable lesson ourselves. Rules are there for a reason, and when you break them, the consequences can sometimes be serious. Always wear your life vests!! We dumped our canoe in a rapid and got a little banged up. Could have been WAY worse, but was scary enough as it was. (Kip says the lesson he learned was never again let Mom steer the canoe! har har har)

Monday we relaxed in the river, right in front of the house. Blizzard got in a little swimming, too. Poor dog will have to get used to being alone all day again, now that school will be starting!

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!