Category Archives: Photos

Walking the bridge

The weather is amazing…have you heard?  We don’t have the lovely leaves here in the Sunshine state that y’all have a little further north, however…..we’ve got the beach and the sea breeze and shorts in October.  And November.  And sometimes December.  If you’re our cold desensitized son, January and February are game, too.  Tonight, we embraced that weather and the girls and I hit the bridge.  (Dad was swimming laps and the boys were doing their own thang, including starting dinner!).  It was awesome.  Killed thirty minutes before dinner and burned a few cals.  Perhaps even set a “healthy example” for our girls.  Made it with a minimum of bickering and they finally got to spit….not from the top of the bridge…only the edge of the dock…they were happy with that.  For now….

Gearing up. You know you want socks like that…..

Such a pretty time of the evening

They were so excited to be EXACTLY at the top

Options. Always looking for option.

They aren’t hams at all. Nope.

Apparently we came just in time to catch the sunset..

Love!!

Then we checked out the various fishing docks

We weren’t disappointed

Someone ran out of steam…

Leaving evidence….

I came across this article the other day (and reposted it to my FB page) and thought, “Oh, my.  That’s me. ”  Except, Allison Tate wrote it…not me 😉

I HATE having my picture taken.  HATE.  IT.  There is NO picture with me in it that I don’t criticize positively EVERYthing about it.  And therefore, the majority of our family pictures are taken by….moi!

I did realize a few years back that our poor children will have so little photographic memories of me when they are older and that I should make a better effort to get in a few pictures.  And then…..I forget about it.  Or hit delete.  <sigh>

Forever searching for the “right angle” and really, I just need to get over it.  I’m so ridiculously vain sometimes.  I am who I am.  And with 2000+entries of moms in a “slide show” format with this article, obviously there are lots of us who need to “get over it” and get in front of the lens!

Incidentally, we have our family photo scheduled at the end of the month, so I’ll for sure be in that one as well.  IN the meantime…..enjoy these 2 little ditties from our own Photo Booth!  Blessings!

the girls surrounded me with their animals….I’m pretending to be scairt!

Au naturel….goofing with the girls….Photo Booth provides tons of fun with ALL kids!

 

Wings, waves and fabulous fall weather!

My sis and the boys came to town for the air show at the beach.  (BIL had to work–BOO HISS!).  It was phenomenal fall weather and and AWE-inspiring air show!!

Crowds lined the beach for a perfect view!

The Snow birds were a HUGE hit (and our first act…a hard one to follow!)

This little trick of “crossing paths” took my sister’s breath away.  Every time.  Serious.

The Geico planes

The Thunderbirds.  Man those jets are loud.  And they give you goosebumps!!

This was a T-bird “putting on the brakes”…all the way past the pier…CRAZAY!!!

A great day to fly a kite, too!

 

Woop, woop, wrapping it up!

TGIF!  It would seem this is the only day of the week I actually have a GOAL in posting…the days/weeks are flying by and fortunately I don’t get paid to blog or we’d be starving!!!    And so, I’ll just lob onto the many fabulous people blogging on @ 7 Quick Takes with Jennifer Fulwiler @ Conversion Diary.

And since our weeks are basically work, school, taxi to cheer/soccer/church, try to squeeze in some exercise, feed the family (without burning down the house and/or my fingers) and get everyone showered (mostly) and in bed (at a somewhat reasonable hour) , that would probably sound like YOUR week, so I’ll just entertain you with a few pics and words from our weekend, K?  K.

1)  Our cheerleader and I drove to Merritt Island for an early game (be there @ 7:30 a.m….it’s an hour and 15 minutes away….you do the math) on Saturday.  We did have most of the day left, so that was good….

2)  These are the cute little reminders that it is October, ladies.  (Guys, make sure the ladies in your life get theirs! ) Yes.  Go ahead.  Make the appointment.  Get the girls squashed.  Get over your dread.  It’s less than 10 minutes and it can SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!  Get your mammogram today!!!  Or at least make the appointment.  Have your bestie make one, too and then go to lunch.  WhatevAH works for you, just.  do.  it.  K?  K.

3)  Saturday night we did S’mores.  We’ve been promising since last weekend.  And then it rained on Saturday.  We resorted to the gas grill with sticks that were losing their “stiffness” and everyone still enjoyed them.  No one lost an eye, thanks to my drill sergeant persona as well as droopy sticks.  We tried out pumpkin spice marshmallows which weren’t such a hit with the kids, but for Mama (who doesn’t really love marshmallows) I LIKED ’em.  yum.  So, more for me…

4)  We went to our town’s bi-annual carnival and business expo.  The kids love it.  We tolerate it.  In small doses.  Like the sidewalk art….fabulous.  Oh to have a smidgen of that talent. What would it be like?  sigh.  I’ll never know, but I am certainly grateful that people DO have this talent!

5)  The kids love the rides.  The girls opted for a wristband and ran and rode like the wind to get their max spending power out of that band in the alloted time.  I’m happy to say, yes.  yes they did rock that band.  (The boys went Friday night with friends and promptly passed out after coming home—6 hours at the carnival is apparently too much for some….)

6)  Coke.  Ice cold.  In a bottle.   What can I say, it was exhausting watching the girls ride those rides.

7)  One more sky shot.  God paints a mean sky, doesn’t He?

Lessons learned…wisdom earned? Time will tell….

Friday, Friday and the kids have no school and yet…..yes, that’s right…..Mama and Papa have work.  Stinkers.  Whatev….Either way, I am wrapping up my week with a few lessons (in Quick Take, Conversion Diary form)  learned from this week.

Lesson 1.  Home with the youngest on Monday and I learned that I could do without HALF of my closet.  I mean really, how MANY pair of khaki capris and shorts does one need?  Between donating 5 bags (Publix size, not garbage!) to our church’s thrift store and then reorganizing by color, I feel refreshed, uncluttered and actually inspired to be a little more “fashionable”.  I’ll do it again once it’s cool enough to bring the winter-ish clothes down.  True fact.

Nice right? OK, not my closet, but you can find some great organizing ideas AND this picture HERE!

Lesson 2.  There is a need to revamp my social media.  Apparently.  Now I know why people are always face down in their phones.  They are updating tweets, RTs, MTs, statuses, blog reading, photo sharing, liking, commenting.  You HAVE to be face down 24/7 to keep up. Farm out the laundry, dinner, kid care, schooling, house chores, work for $$ job, because you cain’t do none of that if you’re doing the other. Serious. As for me,  I joined Twitter to be more abreast on the world.  Facebook to KIT with fam and friends.  Pinterest…..ah, I’m not sure on that one but I’ve gotten lost on there a few times and have really added to Hubby’s “to-do” list.  Instagram b/c I love photos, taking and looking.  However, the sad fact is that I don’t get paid to be social 24/7, so I am going to just chill.  Check in when necessary, disregard the numbers and try to relax on the house projects.  ‘Cuz it’s crazy yo!!!    True fact.

Image cred and social media organizing tips HERE

Lesson 3.  Walking near dusk with a gator in the lake, the podcast must be turned down, eyes must be watchful, legs must be ready to run and camera must be ready to shoot.  Sadly I missed the basketball versus gator wrestling match, I heard it was a doozy.  True fact.

Image cred…ME..on Instagram 🙂

Lesson 4.  If perhaps you are with a middle schooler for after school pick up and you see a fight going on with the amoeba crowd closing in and would by chance, I don’t know, lay on the horn like a crazy lady a few things would happen:  a) the amoeba crowd would scatter like ants and, b) the middle schooler in your vehicle would become like melted butter and sink to the floor of the vehicle.  Then, if you were to call the Rec center to report the fight and the coppers came and some kids almost got arrested, YOUR middle schooler would be the scapegoat the next day.  However, if you use The Jedi Mind Trick and remind him that cell phones are pretty popular and ANYONE could have called as well as blaming the honking on a mother– reminding him to remind his friends that their parents are embarrassing sometimes, too….suddenly the scapegoat is freed and the mob are again little kittens eating out of his hands.  And he wouldn’t be mad at his mother anymore either.  Hypothetically true fact.  Of course.

Lesson 5.  If you call your friend to chat and her 2 toddlers answer taking turns regaling you of tales of nausea and vomiting  and “Mama in the shower”…she probably isn’t going to get that message.  True fact.

Lesson 6.  If one is tempted off their healthy eating focus by a son’s birthday it most definitely is a force to be reckoned with to get back on track.  4 1/2 days later I think I broke the spell with a 40 minute power walk, abs and arms workout followed by a healthy dinner!  The fact is, “we can start our day over at any time….even if it’s 5:30 p.m.”  True fact.

Lesson 7.  Open house at the girls elementary school was eye-opening as our district introduces “standard based grading” and implementing all steps at the same time.  And…..it’s not fully ready yet.  All I can say is, holy crap.  These teachers are getting the shaft.  The tediousness in grading in this manner is ridic beyond words.  Not to mention I am going to need a ruler, reading glasses and a freakin’ LEGEND to interpret the grades when this thing is finally up and running.  I am seriously drafting a letter (sans text lingo and cussing) to the school board, because apparently someone with way too much alphabet soup behind their name decided a nice complicated system would make them look like they are earning their grotesque salaries!  Well, guess what…I have alphabet soup, too….(BS)(RT)(R)(CT).  This  IS putting a teacher’s day far beyond the 8 hours required for their job and I honestly believe… 3 months off for summer isn’t enough.  True fact.

That’s all folks.   Hope you learned a thing or two from my own experiences.  Have a great weekend!  Be sure to check in with the MANY awesome peeps @Conversion Diary with Jen (Reality star).  There’s a bunch so a beverage and snack come in handy when reading through…it’s a great Saturday morning distraction for me 🙂