This is a continuation of the last two posts…

This is it, I will subject you to no more from this weekend…

But you all know I will probably take more later this week, right?

I saw a field of deep purple, so I had to stop and appreciate it.

Then it was off to Harbor Days…

(Ben and I were married under the trees on the left side of this picture.)

I took my toys with me.

Is it a weed or a flower? A flower on a weed?

Beech tree… also a beAch tree…  Aren’t I cleaver. *snort*

With people…

The END…

If I walked up to you on the street and asked you to look through my magnifying glass and let me take your picture, WOULD YOU DO IT?

I have felt like a wicked witch all day.

I hate that feeling.

The 150 bulbs the kids and I planted last fall all came up.

Isabelle has said we need to plant at least another 150 this year.

I agree.

Every year Ben and I have to empty our trees of tent worms.

This year we were a little late and they ate half of one of my favorite apple trees.

These were in the process of setting up another nest when we scooped them up and squished them.

I am not remorseful.

Isabelle posed for me in a field of mustard weed.

I only took a few shots before I had to move my car so the farmer could get his tractor out.

I think we’ll go back and try again later this week if it isn’t all mowed under.

We went in early evening too.

We’ll go earlier next time.

Notice she is still wearing her new shoes, even in the field.

Does any one know why I feel so crabby and mean lately?

I  had birthday cake for breakfast this morning and I STILL  felt mean.

What do you do to snap yourself out of it?

Isabelles TAG testing is today, I just dropped her off and now I need something to do until I pick her up.

I love asking you guys hypotheticals, I enjoy discussing them but Ben HATES it… so I need to get them out somewhere… so you guys have to suffer!

If you it were your sole responsibility to repopulate the human race and you had a choice between two people to take as a mate… One of them has incredible beauty, the other has  incredible intelligence… which would you choose?  You can only have ONE!

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Isabelle made it back form her test… she said it was easy as pie…

THIS POST made my day…

I love my Is. She is a smart, beautiful, funny little girl.

This week I got a letter from the school saying that they want her  to test for the TAG program… Talented and gifted kids. Only two kids in her school recieved letters. If she made it into the program it would require driving her to a different school. No big deal, we would work it out.

Isabelle told her best friend DJ about the letter..

This is Dj and Is at her birthday.

Ok so DJ flipped a little and started telling her she needs to fail the test… that she can’t leave him.

HMMM…

The kid lives down the block! During the summer she can start riding her bike to his house. She sees him on the weekends even.

I talked to her about it and explained to her that its a wonderful opportunity for her. She is bored in school occasionally because the teacher won’t let her play flash cards in math because she wins all of the time which isn’t fun for the other kids… She knows all of the answers and she needs a challenge.

ANYWAY… she says she will do her best no matter what… I hope that’s true. I hope she won’t let a boy dictate her behavior. She deserves so much more.

A sample of her great art…

Its a snowman thief… she says he almost got away with the jewels.

I am spoiled ROTTEN!

I think I’ve told you that before.

Ben got me an inexpensive underwater camera I had been eyeballing since Christmas.

We took it to the pool last night. We try to take the kids at least once a week.

NO… we aren’t rich, I just have a husband who makes GREAT work exchanges…

Wanna see what I shot?!?

Tough, I’m gonna show you anyways…

It was dark so some of them came out blurry but they still look cool.

Is this the face of an Olympian or what?!

Working those muscles, Cooper was out of the water I was in.

Charlie head…

I am going to have SO much fun with this new toy…

Charlie- “Mom, spell up.”

Isabelle stands by grinning.

Me- “U-P.”

Isabelle giggling behind hand.

Charlie laughing and holding gut- “spell ip.”

Me- “I-P.”

Charlie practically rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter…

Isabelle laughing- ” Mom, Mom, spell cup!”

Me- “C-U-P”

Kids both falling over with laughter…

Oh, to be so easily entertained…

I was putting away decorations tonight when I witnessed  an actual Huck Finn moment.

Charlie has an extensive nutcracker collection. After he had taken them all down from the piano, he sat staring at them, then turned to Isabelle and said “Is,  you wanna start wrapping them? Your SO GOOD at it.”

She did.

I made him go make dinner. ;-D

A successful few hours at the beach.

Take…

A DOG,

ONE,

TWO,

THREE CRAZY CHILDREN,

Get off my bucket!

Where was I… three crazy children…

A DOG, sand chair, Profitable Glass and Games magazines’,

beach hat, owned and worn since high school, a must!

sunglasses, a bucket and a frisbee.

These are the ingredients for a great few hours.

FIRST try to exhaust the dog…

Isabelle had Cooper and George running after the frisbee.

Works for me.

Come on throw it again…

Good air catch

Occasionally throw it in the water so you can see this.

Shall we see that a little closer?

Ick…

Keep throwing frisbee until it looks like this…

Second, watch the kids build dams and moats that are doomed from the start…

But still they carry bucket after bucket of water…

He was huffing and puffing the whole way…

They told him to keep em coming…

Finally he was done.

Hey me… what about me… more pictures of me… remember ME!

Trying to take picture of beach hat to show everyone, since it is one of my favorite things.

I CREATED A MONSTER!

A true camera hound…

Cooper did this to himself.

A LITTLE HELP HERE!

Yes… he loves his bucket.

It is going to be a GREAT summer.

Hope you all are having even HALF as much fun as I am…

ANG

My friend seedsower is in the (unofficial) Xanga video contest.

She has entered a video of her little niece and the first quilt that she made for her coming sibling… It is so SWEET!

  <~ click the link… you know you wanna…

 I promise, her’s really is the cutest… check it out and please vote.

Today is the last day, so get your votes in now.  Thanks you guys. ANG

Now back to my regularly scheduled post!

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We last left our monsters at the dock, running towards a waiting boat and Grandpa.

The fog drifting slowly through the harbor, sailboats anchored in the background.

Life jackets were donned and off we went into the FOG…

The tall ship Manitou at dock.

Usually I’m on the shore and she’s in the Bay.

We crept slowly out of the harbor.

Then away we went!

When we got out aways Pop said “Here Ang, steer towards the buoy.”

To which my response was “WHAT buoy?”

I’m not good at steering normally, I need a land mark to steer towards.

SO in the fog I was worse, much worse.

See the pink lines… all of the straight ones are when Pop was driving, all of the crazy circles…

Yup, that was me.

My Pop the Captain.

 He is taken ladies, hands off!

He and my Mamala have been married for 38 years…

No wonder he fishes…

Just kidding MOM!

The rods were in and we were trolling. Four poles in the water.

Pop played pick a number between one and five…

To see who got to real in the first fish, just in case… 

Major childhood flashback since that is how my Pop used to settle anything between D and I.

Finally the Buoy!

No bites here.

We went to a different spot.

Remember this picture?

Well this is from the other side.

No matter how nicely we talked to them, the fishies weren’t bitting.

So we headed back to the harbor.

Me driving the boat while Pop reeled in.

I can hear him in my head saying

“No wonder she couldn’t drive straight… She was taking pictures! ”

I wasn’t!

Only like two… maybe three…

Back in the harbor the kids read the boat names…

We were only out a couple of hours.

No bites at all, we had a great time though.

We entertained ourselves by making faces at the camera

(I’ll save those for another day.)

and just enjoying being together.

We all LOVE fishing with Pop.

Can’t wait until next time.
Ang

I am so tired today… I hate it.

Over the weekend I pulled the brilliant stunt of slamming my eye into the arm of an office chair. Now it looks like I have eye shadow on one eye… and every time I touch my eyebrow it hurts.

I know your saying SO don’t touch your eyebrow… Well I’m not doing it on purpose… I forget and then wham, pain.

GEMS from Isabelle.

In predinner conversation the other day the kids and I were talking about school and I mentioned that I hope to go back to school some day soon…

Isabelle says. “Why? So you can finish your degree in map folding?”

It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. When I stopped laughing I had to explain it to her… Boy did I get a dirty look and a disgusted “MOMMMMM.”

 She collects maps from rest stops on our road trips and always wants me to refold them. I have told her a few times that I never got my degree in map folding…

All of that good sarcasm, wasted… 

  I hope the little man takes a nap soon so I can take one… They should make Tylenol PM for kids… nah, probably not a good idea.