First day of school

"It's the most... wonderful time... of the year!"  I've always thought that was a great office supply commercial.  The dad is skipping down the aisles, and the kids are trailing behind him looking all dejected.  

The kids here today didn't look too dejected - they had mixed feelings about going back to school.  Bailey was sad that summer was over but excited about the experience awaiting her at middle school.  AJ has been excited about school starting for a couple of weeks now.  Sydney forgot her homework already - I hope that's not a bad sign.

I'm ready to reclaim my house!

Family fun in PA

We took a one-day trip to Pennsylvania yesterday.  My cousin Matt and his wife Wanda were throwing a birthday party for two of their children, and my Michigan cousin, Mike, and his wife, Jayne, and their two kids were in town.  We hadn't been up there to see my Aunt Janet in quite a while (partly because she's been doing a good job of coming down here regularly), so it was a perfect chance to see a bunch of people in one place at one time.  I love that!  The kids all agreed that they would rather go to PA than the big summer picnic at church we'd been eagerly awaiting (how long do you think a family trip in the car for about 9 hours will be their idea of a good time?!)  It was a perfect day and a great trip.

Sydney's new 'do

Rachel squeezed the girls in for haircut appointments this evening.  I wasn't even paying attention when Rachel quickly left the room and came running back with a ruler.  Sydney had asked how short her hair would be if she donated it!  And here's the answer...

Busch Gardens

We went to Busch Gardens today to celebrate Bailey's birthday (just a little group of 17).  Our first ride was the Griffon, a horrible roller coaster that I would never go on again.  We came off the ride, and they had this bank of monitors with pictures available for sale.  When I finally found our photo and saw Sydney's face, I thought I was going to die.  Every time I look at it, I almost wet my pants.  And poor Cal!  His face WOULD HAVE BEEN hilarious, too, if Sydney didn't totally trump him.  I am very thankful to Mark for figuring out how to add this pic to the blog.  I  hope it makes your day.

A day at the pond

We may have saved the best for last on this trip.  Emily's folks have a summer house on a gigantic pond, and we visited them on our last day.  Ken, Emily's dad, took all of us out on his boat and pulled us around on inner tubes.  It was awesome!  It was a beautiful day, and a fun time was had by all.  It was good that we saved it for the last day because Ken and Michelle might not have enjoyed it when the kids insisted we return to the pond every day of our vacation!  Oh, and as if all that water fun wasn't enough, they also have a kitten...Harry!

RI fun with Jackson

I'll admit up front that I'm being completely unfair to Sue, Chris, Dave, Emily, my friend Keri and probably more, but the biggest draw in RI is by far our awesome nephew/cousin Jackson.  Not that we're biased or anything, but he's clearly the cutest kid for miles.  He's fourteen months old, just learned to walk, and he's just starting to talk, too.  He's even-tempered and sweet, and none of us could get enough of him.  We celebrated Bailey's birthday, too, but she's already had 10.  It's Jackson you want to see - take a look...

Red Sox game

My brother, Dave, accompanied Mark, Cal and Bailey to the Red Sox game at Fenway Park tonight. It was only the second game with new acquisition Jason Bay who was just traded for Manny Ramirez, and Jason hit a 3-run homer. Dave and Emily gave Bailey a Youkilis jersey for her birthday that she proudly wore, and he had two home runs. (She's thankful that they didn't get her a Ramirez jersey.) The Red Sox ended up winning 12-2.