relaxing with friends and family- a perfect Memorial Day weekend

Bug and I loaded up the car on Friday night and headed to Michigan to visit friends.  The drive to Michigan is fairly boring- flat farm land.  This time, though, it was a sad drive.  We drove past farm after farm flooded from all the rain this Spring.  The fields should be filled with corn by now, but instead the fields are standing lakes.  The only growing is weeds.  It broke my heart.  Food prices are going to awful this year due to all this rain and the fact hat farmers have not been able to get into the fields.  But enough of the sad stuff.  Bug slept for an hour on the trip and then proceeded to ask me on a regular basis if "we were there yet".  This stemming from the fact that he refused to pack crayons and color books and he refused to play his leapster game system that I insisted he pack.  He definitely learned his lesson, because on the way home, he happily played his leapster for 2 hours.

We got to Michigan late and sleep was elusive, but the morning arrived and Bug was happy to make muffins with Little Miss Busy.

And they played pirates- Bug was in heaven- the house had 4 play swords and he pretty much claimed them all the time he was there

Another E.Lmo was sacrificed.  I am not sure why Bug feels the need to beat on E.Lmo, but it is funny.

Princess Quiet happily showed off her reading skills by reading to Bug.  yes, he lived in the pirate hat all weekend.

E and I took the kids plant shopping.  I thought it would be great to take a picture of all 3 kids- it was a cute picture, until Bug decided he was not participating.

And, once home, Bug discovered he could in fact ride a scooter!!!  I thought this would be a great present for him for his birthday, but my sister has one to give him, so he should have his own scooter this week.  At home, he will be using a helmet. 

Measuring up at the playground.  The mulch is too deep- Bug is not 4 feet tall yet- but he is getting closer. 

Lots of fun and excitement.

And the swords were also taken to the playground. 

Back at the house, dish washing is a serious time for Little Miss Busy.  She loves to rinse the dishes.  C is the guru of dish washing because it takes 4 times as long to wash dishes with a 2 year old- probably the reason I never did this with Bug.  But after this weekend, both Bug and I are inspired to do more together in cleaning the house.  It might take us 2x as long, but at least I will not carry the burden of cleaning most of the house alone.

Our drive home was uneventful.  2 days in Michigan was refreshing- a good chance to get away from our routine and recharge ourselves.

We arrived home Sunday night and today, we had Jas' birthday.  Bug and Pap had a good time coloring together.

Bug, the bear, Jas and Auntie Lulu.  Bug has suddenly taken to having this bear with him all the time. 

blowing out the trick candles.  I thought it would be fun to use them- I will not be doing that again.  Way too much smoke!!!!!!

Bug has Tuesday off too, so we have a 5 day weekend.  Bug is looking forward to another momma day tomorrow and I am looking forward to another day to sleep in.

Love and hugs,

Deb

visiting with friends is a wonderful way to spend the morning and early afternoon

No need for an alarm clock with a cute 2 year old in the house.  She was up past 1 am this morning and up again by 7 am.  She is little Miss Busy.   I had forgotten how much time and attention 2 years take. 

Bug had T Ball photos this morning - this is just the boys standing waiting for the photographer to set them in place some more.  We should have the official photos in 2 weeks.

After photos, we came home had breakfast and played outside.  This is Little Miss Busy and daddy blowing bubbles.  Their momma was visiting her father while we played.

My PEONY bloomed.  Last year I had one bud that refused to open, this year I have lots of buds and hopefully will have lots of blooms

Bug had a great time playing with Princess E. They chalked, ran, played on the swings, and took turns helping Little Miss Busy.

A proud daddy with his girls

Momma came home and everyone is happy

Momma E and  have been friends since junior high school.

A wonderful family.  We are heading to their house next weekend for a few days of fun. 

Bug was watching it all.  I am looking forward to some time away from home next weekend- just a few days, but sometimes a change of location helps refresh the body and mind.

Well, I am tired.  Bug and Princess E helped me plant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini and eggplant. Hoping for lots of yummy veggies in another month or so.

Love and hugs,
Deb

catching up again

I'll start with some pictures of the gardens right now- please ignore the overgrown grass surrounding the garden beds.  This is the radish and carrots bed.  The radishes are going gang busters again, the carrots, (lower left corner) are wimping out again.

The lettuce and snap peas are doing great, so great in fact, I better start eating the lettuce before it all bolts . 

The grass is just a jungle this week.  We have had another week of rain.  There was a day I should have cut grass, but I choose to have fun with Bug.  Which meant I went 2 weeks without cutting grass.  That is not good when it rains all the time.  I started cutting grass on Thursday and ran out of gas.  The pile of leaves in the upper left side, that is a garden bed, you can not even see the edges!!!!  The grass I managed to cut yesterday now looks like a hay field.  I finished off the grass this evening. glad that is done.

This is what the mowed portion look liked today.

Bug had T ball tonight.  usually I would be helping, but I was pretty sick this week (more on that later).  So I sat on the sidelines tonight and had a great time cheering the boys on and taking pictures.

Little M smashing the ball.  I had to take photos thru the fence, so try to ignore the borders.  The regular coach was not at the game, so another parent, Wes, stepped up.  the boys had a great time with him as the coach. 

Bug, giving it all he's got.

And connecting!!!!

Little M bats right before Bug, so it is easy to get photos of both boys as they circle the bases.

Little M was on third base, so Bug is on second base. 

our boys in the field

Bug was supposed to be playing second base, but he moved up at one point while chasing a ball and never went back to second base.

checking his hat- ever so important while on the field

This was the best night of baseball - I think the coach should stay home or at work more often

I spent the week sick.  At first I thought I just had a sinus infection- because of rain, rain and more rain every single day.  But then my eye started hurting and by Monday night, it was oozing gunk.

luckily I had some medicine in the house that I could use Monday night, after a call to the doctor.  I went to see him on Tuesday and he told me I was not going back to work until Thursday.  I spent Tuesday and Wednesday sleeping.  Thursday I went back to work and OMG, it was hard.  staring at a computer screen when you have pink eye (conjunctivitis) is not good.  I was exhausted by 10 am.  Today I did much better, but I had to take breaks every 2 hours to let my eye rest- something about a flickering computer screen really was hard.  I am still recovering and I still am battling the sinus infection- this has certainly been a bad Spring for me.
We had a total of 2 days of sun (Thursday evening to tomorrow afternoon) and then we are going back to rain for another 5 days.  

In other news- Bug officially has 8 more days of school left.  The count down is on for his first summer break. 

I am off to finish laundry and rest.  Have a wonderful weekend,
love and hugs,
Deb

The zoo, the rain, the truth- I am not to be trusted with weather reports

Today we headed out for breakfast with Mam and Pap.  Bug entertained us with some superheros toy antics. And he neglected to eat his breakfast. He has missed his Pap this week and seeing them play was just lovely.  They had a great time and let me eat my breakfast and talk to Mam without  interruption.

Then we headed out to the zoo.  The weather reports last night said we were going to get a morning shower and then there was a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.  As soon as we got the zoo, I had to buy Bug a long sleeve adult size tee shirt because it was so much cooler than expected.  The tee shirt was $25.00 on sale.

We saw the new baby giraffe.

before seeing the giraffe, Mam bought 2 umbrellas because the rain kept falling, that was another $18.00.  Then after the giraffes, we bought rain ponchos- 3 for us and 2 for Hermano and his momma who were joining us.  These ponchos were another $25.00. And Bug got a toy.

 We headed over to see the bears and the polar bears were loving the weather.

The lions were tolerating the rain.  we were excited to see the male lions out.  Usually we only see the females.

They alternate days on exhibit, so the females will be on display tomorrow.

We saw some cool lizards

And a baby alligator- I touched it, but Bug did not.

We saw the manatees.  while we were here, we got the call that Hermano and his momma had arrive

So we headed back to the zoo entrance to join up with them.

Hermano wanted to see the penguins- they were loving the wet weather too

Then we headed over to see the Mexican grey wolves.  I love them

2 little boys played chase in the play den

We went down to see the tigers and measure the boys.  They are growing so BIG.  I will have to pull up the pictures from last summer to see how much they have grown this year.

Bug is pouting and Hermano is running for president here.

Love their silly attitudes- they had so much fun together.

Then we headed to the ampitheater to have lunch before seeing the show.  The boys were loving it.  we had salami and cheese on tortillas, frozen grapes, gold fish, and cookies, along with the water we packed.

The show included dancing and singing

and some butt wiggling

And our favorite monkey!!!!!!!

The boys were listening intently to the story and watching carefully

We rode the merry-go-round.  Bug had to ride the tiger

Hermano rode the white tiger

A great day at the zoo

Waving at Mam while she waiting for us to be done

The boys had to go again, and you can see Mam in the background in blue

hanging with friends is the best

And we ended the day with a train ride.

it rained most of the time we were there.  This after I told hermano's momma that it was not supposed to rain all day and we would be fine.  She is going to remind me for the next month that I told her the rain would be gone while we were at the zoo.  But if we had stayed home, it would have been sunny and dry.  I am glad we went, the boys love being together and the mommas love to walk, talk and watch our boys enjoying themselves. And even though my mistake with the weather cost us nearly $100.00, it was still a great day.  All the ponchos and umbrellas are being boxed to keep in the car for the next time. and one day, the teeshirt will fit Bug perfectly.

Love and hugs,

Deb