Duck Pond (Sept. 5th)

I keep the ends of bread so we can go feed the ducks. The kids love it. The ducks seemed pretty hungry on this day. One even took bread straight from Brian's hand. I love the action shot of Dillon throwing bread to the ducks. Note how long his hair is getting! Doesn't Bridget have the best smile!

A walk in the creek

Last Thursday we met Emily at Miller Park for some fun on the playground, and in the nearby creek. Dillon and Megan played catch. The kids rode bikes, swung, and played on the fun playground. Then, we walked down to the creek. It was really low, so we walked in the creek. This was quite the hit...a bit messy, but hey it was hot and the creek was cool. :)

Running with Michelle

Last weekend we went to our friend's Dave and Michelle's house to swim and hang out. Michelle has been running many mornings with neighborhood Moms. Taylor really wanted to run with her, so Taylor, Michelle and Bridget went for a run. It was really cute - they stretched and everything. I'm not a runner - so I took pictures.

Izzy

While the kids and I were gone a kitten adopted Brian. She showed up the week he got home, and hasn't left. Ok - I told him he should feed her and take care of her...so that's probably why she hasn't left. Bridget named her Isabella knowing that we might not keep her. So far she's been staying outside and really sticking to the front porch. We have yet to take her to the vet, but she's probably only a few months old. She's very sweet and I love her coloring.
We seem to be down to one other cat - our original - Panda. Brian only saw Deacon a few times over the summer and we haven't seen him since we got back. I'm sad about that, we had really good cats....it just got too hard having them all inside...and some of them liked their freedom outside too much.
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of Izzy. She's probably here to stay - I just can't help it!

LBI Summer 2009

After 8 weeks of beaching, swimming in the ocean, bike riding, feeding the seagulls, and eating ice cream (everyday) we are back in NC. I was terrible about posting pictures while we were gone, but eventually decided I would make collages when we got back. Brian said, you love those collages don't you. Well, yeah, sometimes. They are the easiest thing to do when I have a lot of pictures I want to show you - and here I do. Now that we are back I'm going to be more diligent about posting pictures, so there won't be so many collages. It's just so darn hard to choose only a few pictures to post. I can't help it, I love taking pictures of my gorgeous (I can say it, they are) children. LOL
We had a fun time in NJ this summer. It was great for the kids to be so free to run around the yard sorting stones, or on the beach looking for shells and making new friends. Bridget is quite the social butterfly....I think we befriended all the weeklong renters, and all the permanent summer residents. I learned the names of people on the street that I'd always said HI to but didn't really know. Bike rides were quite a highlight - Dillon loved being in the seat behind me pointing out all the dogs, waving to all the airplanes and saying Hi to pretty much everyone that went by. I enjoyed seeing him put smiles on everyone's face as we rode by. Bridget felt like a queen in her chariot in the pull along. Next year we hope to get a third wheel with bike seat to make a tandum bike for Bridget to use.
We had fun visiting my Aunt Nancy and cousins (Laura, David, Karen, Andrew and Laura's 2 little ones - Jesse and Henry) who were here from CA in June, and visiting with my Aunt Sally a few times throughout the summer. Sarah had some friends visit and they were very patient and fun with the kids as well - I appreciated that.
We are happy to be home and ready to get preschool going again - Bridget starts Aug. 31st. And now we are going start working to get our house ready to sell - hopefully in the spring. We are busting at the seams here and are ready after almost 9 years for something new. It took me a week to actually decide to unpack my suitcase!
We missed our friends, and Brian's family - so we'll make up for lost time this fall.

Here are 3 collages of our summer adventures (remember you can click on them to make them bigger to see the pictures better):

June 2009
Here you'll see some cloudy days, some fun with cousins, and some funny faces.

July 2009
We were at the shore for the whole month of July! Bridget and I went to see Peter Pan at the Surflight theater. We went to see the bird man at Fantasy Island. We went to the maritime museum where Bridget and Dillon pretended to be ship captains. Mom's friend, Alan, came a few times with his son Patrick and we enjoyed their company.

August 2009
I seem to have the most pictures in this collage. We went on a Giant Clam hunt around the island - you'll see a few pictures of them. We saw the Coast Guard helicopter doing a practice drill in the bay. We, of course, went to the beach! The highlight was Brian's arrival for our last week in NJ. While he was there he and Bridget went to see Sleeping Beauty at the Surflight. We climbed Barnegat Lighthouse. We had fun with Daddy!

I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged. We have been at the shore for 3 1/2 weeks. I had to think about that, it doesn't feel like that long. In that time we have visited with my aunt and cousins from CA - Nancy, Laura, David, Karen, and Andrew. And Laura's 2 little ones - Jesse who is 4, and Henry who is 1. The kids had fun playing together, and we had fun playing together and we had fun catching up. Brian was with us the 1st week and it was a fun time! The weather wasn't that great, but we had fun playing at home. Sarah was still at school - we missed her, and were glad when she got here the Thurs. before July 4th with her friend Nicole.
While we've been here Dillon has really started talking a lot more. He tries to repeat what I say all the time now. He says "airpane" and waves to them with both hands in the air....."hi airpane." He says "anma" for grandma, and "awah" for Sarah. He loves to say HI or yell HELLO to everyone we pass in the stroller or anyone who passes by the house or anyone on the beach - oh and the boats and helicopters! :) He still loves balls and seems to say his version of baseball and basketball. He is really enjoying the bike cart, and stroller rides...while pointing out all the bikes and dogs (there are a lot!), playing on the beach, and chasing his sister around the house (every night after dinner).
Bridget has had a lot of fun too. She says Hi to everyone and is keeps making new friends. She talks to the lifeguards everyday we are at the beach. She asks them when lowtide is, what the water temperature is, and any other ocean/beach related question she can think of. They have been very patient with her - I actually think they like the attention and questions...keeps them on her toes. Bridget has been taking swim lessons for the last couple of weeks and is really enjoying it. She is much braver and has been swimming with noodles under her arms. She is so close to going under. I'm hoping it will help warm her up to the ocean - she's nervous about the waves. We've built some good sandcastles....so that giant Bridget can stomp on them. LOL She's rather outgoing on the beach making new friends to play with....she gets tired of us after awhile. :)
We have webcam'd with Brian several times since he left. The kids love it. They are cute to watch - Dillon says "hi daddy!" and Bridget tells him about our day. They fight for a place in front of the camera.

I'm going to work on some picture collages to post...very soon! And will keep updating more.
For now....Good Night!

SciWorks - June 09

I'm finally getting a chance to blog a little bit. We went to SciWorks in June just before coming to the beach. It was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed the hands on exhibits. We met Emily, Chris and Megan there - you can see that Dillon and Megan had a blast on the pea in the pod seesaw.