Lifesong

Back From the Beach....

So many photos to edit and things to unpack and relaxing to do.

Oh, wait, we just did that, didn't we?

Ah, well, it's hard to come back from vacation.

Hope to be back to normal blogging soon! I have LOTS of fun pictures to post soon.

Nothing Remains Quite the Same

We are home from the beach, after the 22-hour drive. I may have rounded up. But I never was very good at math. Or rounding.

Round-OFFS, though, I nailed, back in the day. 

I blame the salty, fresh air. It's made me a little loopy.

And the Jimmy Buffet lyrics swirling in my head, I blame them, too. Hence the title. 

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane.

I really can't get him out of my head. It's like a beach curse.

This photo is also a beach curse. It is the rare My-Parents-Let-Me-Eat-Anything-I-Want-Because-We-Are-On-Vacation Virus. 

You know how when you take Pepto it turns your tongue black? And then, you discover later, something else as well? That's the way this worked, too - blue tongues meant other blue things later, resulting in a minor freak out from the Girl. 

Ahh, vacation memories.

I'll be posting the pictures from our trip soon, after a good night's sleep. And lots of David Crowder. 

The Pictures

I got our professional pictures in the mail and I wanted to share them. For the third take on these pictures, they turned out really well. You can hardly see how irritated the guys were.

Me and John:

Me and Ashley:

All four of us:

These are the tshirts Ashley and I ordered for everyone before we left. We thought they were so cute, and lots of people at Deer Valley thought so as well.

You can't see it as well in a photo of a photo, but our shirts say "snowbunny" with little bunny ears, and the guys shirts say "I am married to a snow bunny."

And always my favorite, the jump shot. A tradition now, I think - well a tradition of two years anyway.

I don't know how John and Mark get that high, because it's really hard to jump with ski boots on!

But after three tries, I love the way they finally turned out!  

Ski Trip 2010

We had a great time skiing with our good friends Mark and Ashley last week at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah (just outside of Salt Lake City).

This time skiing, I couldn't help but think of how amazed Ansley would be at ALL that snow, and I noticed all the little kids in ski school and kept picturing Ansley. So, maybe next year....we will see. But this year was definitely a fun, enjoyable time to hang out as couples and catch up, eat late dinners and sleep in, laugh and talk and get totally exhausted by skiing and not kids. It's a lot of work, that's for sure! 

This is one of my favorite stories from our trip. Ashley and I were getting ready for dinner after a day of skiing, and when we walked out, we literally had on almost exactly the same thing. Do you find that as crazy as we did? We laughed about it all night. Skinny jeans, boots, the SAME EXACT sweater and a pretty darn close necklace. The only thing missing was me straightening my hair or her curling her hair. We found ourselves quite amusing.

But back to skiing. Deer Valley has one hundred runs - yes, I'm serious. It was huge, and the runs were pretty long and some of them pretty challenging. It was very pretty, and we stuck to mostly greens, only doing blues on accident.

John made us pose this way. I think he was tired of the frozen smiles. It was a little chilly. But see behind us there, how it just suddenly drops off? That was a black. We avoided those like the plague. If you peered over the edge of that, you literally couldn't see the bottom. I was amazed to watch people skiing right down it, like it was nothing.

Me and Ashley stopping our speed for a quick picture:

John and I playing with the camera one night before we left for dinner:

Resort food is.....well, it's resort food. It's overpriced, and it's not what you would expect for the money. So on the second or third night, I can't remember....we had spotted a Ruth's Chris and decided to go there.

We were not disappointed. It was YUMMY.

It took us three times to get good professional pictures. Did I mention the wind? It was so windy on the top of the mountain that it was really difficult to get a decent picture. So finally on the last day, we were able to get some great pictures. I can't wait to get them, and I will post them. Ashley and I ordered tshirts for everyone, and they got LOTS of comments while we were there. We may have to market them. So stay tuned......

{And Mark and Ashley, as always, we had such a great time with ya'll!}

  

Family Day

While Mimi was in town, we took a day trip to Johnson City to visit my Grandma and Aunt Nancy. Grandma will be 90 this year, but she is still so engaging and funny to my kids. You might think that spending the day at a 90-year old woman's house with no toys or other children around might be boring, but Ansley and Christian will tell you otherwise! They keep asking when we are going again.

And this right outside the door didn't hurt:

A kitty cat came wandering around Grandma's house, so of course Ansley had to feed it, and then follow it around from window to window (inside, of course, since there were some snow flurries). Isn't it weird how we say "kitty cat" or "puppy dog" but we don't say calfy cow or colty horse? The English language sure is interesting, especially when you are teaching phonics to a six year old.  

Anyway....Ansley showing Grandma how well she can read. Ansley loves praise, if you can't tell!

Ansley and Grandma being silly.

Christian had a great time with Grandma, too, but you know he never strays far from Mimi or his trains. He stuck close by both of them. Here: Christian, Mimi, Grandma, Aunt Nancy. (My Mom, her Mom and her sister. You probably figured that out already.)

Then I told them they were all looking a little serious in the picture, so they changed it up for me.

Ah, that's better. A little humor adds a lot to a photo, don't you think?

Christian on Pappa's rocking chair, which is over 85 years old. Christian loved using it as a tunnel for his trains, and it kept him very occupied! I have a picture of Ansley on this rocking chair at ten months old. Ah, how fast time goes!

We had a great time spending the day with family!

Two Thousand Ten

Or, Twenty-Ten. But I didn't say Twenty-Oh-Nine, so that sounds a little weird to me. I prefer good ol' Two Thousand Ten. I may even get crazy and throw an "and" after Thousand but before Ten.

Yep, random.

But here we are in a new year. It's crazy how fast years pass once you get old enough to realize it. I realize how slowly time passes for children, given the fact that when I say we are doing something next week their jaws drop as they declare "THAT will take FOREVER." A week. I remember when a week used to seem like a long time. Now a year passes in what seems like a week's time.

A new year brings some changes for us. Well, mostly one change: John is going back to school! He is getting his MBA from the University of Tennessee. It will be a sacrifice for both of us, but we keep reminding each other we can do it for one year. One year and he will have his MBA, so that will be a good change. It will make for an interesting year, though.

We celebrated the new year by meeting our good friends Mark and Ashley in Chattanooga and spending the day with them at the Tennessee Aquarium. It was such a fun day, and definitely something we should do more often.

This may be my favorite shot of the day:

Isn't that adorable? I may be biased, but are those some cute kids or what? And can you tell how deliriously happy Ansley is to be the Mama Hen of these two boys? Oh, yes, she takes her role very seriously!

It was quite an aqaurium. These little guys were my favorites, and Ansley and Christian even fed them some fish. They begged for it.

Ansley also enjoyed touching these sturgeons. Some type of fish, I don't really know I just remembered it because I thought surgeon with a 't'.

We saw the coolest looking sting rays - they literally looked like beautiful rug patterns. Here are the boys checking them out.

Another one of Ansley's favorites - the butterfly garden. I'm not sure what this has to do with an aquarium, but I didn't ask questions, I just enjoyed it.

Then we all got to go in a cage underwater, and this Great White shark came right up to the cage! It was freaky.

And we were all very scared, can't you tell? This photo makes me laugh. I obviously like my shark attack photos.

So much so that we had to get the Jansen's to get attacked by a shark too.

Ansley also really enjoyed this exhibit, where you could touch sting rays and small sharks. Sometimes when I watch her, while I'm snapping away with my camera, I wonder how she is my daughter. In fact, I think Mark asked me how it was possible. I'm not sure.

The penguins were so cute. They were a lot of fun to watch - we stayed here for a long time!

 
The kids had such a blast with Hamilton, and Christian has been drawing octopus and jellyfish ever since!

A fun little bubble in one of the big tanks you could climb into, so Ashley and I climbed in with the kids.

 
As we were leaving, there was a huge bridge you could cross over, but underneath was just concrete, so there wasn't really a purpose in it. You could exert a lot of energy climbing all these steps, or just walk on flat ground to the parking lot. But the kids wanted to go over the bridge, so Ashley and I were thankful for husbands who took the kids up it while we walked on the ground. Without exerting much energy.

We all enjoyed watching The Polar Express in the IMAX theatre, and then had dinner at Cracker Barrel before heading our separate ways. A fun way to kick off Two Thousand Ten.

Happy New Year!   

A Few More

I found these on Ansley's camera, and thought I'd post them, too.

 

 

 

Rosemary Beach

We have been back for a few days, but between celebrating my birthday, starting school, as well as other activities, I haven't had much time to edit the 900 photos I took.

But I do have one or two or maybe fifty for you to see. So get comfortable, here's our week in photos!

Arrival Day: We were just happy to be there. The kids played on the beach, fully dressed, and were very excited and happy to be there. The weather was perfect and very non-crowded, which is just how we like it. This is the Boy's first view of the ocean (well, that he can remember anyway).

 

 

 

Day One: On the beach, all day long. We didn't worry about naptime this week, we just played and played until someone crashed (usually JonJon). So the kids spent long days on the beach, building sandcastles, playing in the water, getting out on floats, and going non-stop. We got Ansley a mask and snorkel, and she LOVED watching all the fish under the water.

 

 

 

We also enjoyed a round of Putt-Putt. For the fun of it. And because Ansley has been asking to play for months, so why not on vacation?

Day Two: More beach! We brought a big tent canopy this year, which worked out very well for relaxing under or eating lunch or even playing in the sand without getting burned. Christian really enjoyed finding seashells, and they both enjoyed watching lots of fish and various sea creatures.

 

 

Day Three: Did I mention we were at the beach? But the house we rent also has a pool, so the kids (especially Ansley) enjoyed that as well.

 

Day Four: John and JonJon played golf, while the girls (and Christian) spent the day shopping. We went out to eat that evening together. Beach walks and watching sunsets and crab hunting. At some point in the week I captured what may be my favorite picture of the year. I can't remember when - the days start running together when all you do is relax, eat and sleep.

Day Five: This was the only day it was a little bit rainy, so we headed to an outdoor mall for a few hours of shopping (or maybe it was all day).  We enjoyed a yummy meal back at the house.

 

Day Six: We went parasailing! Yes, me, John and Ansley! I'd say Ansley was easily the least nervous out of the three of us. It was a lot of fun. Jonathan and Missy went as well, and Mimi and Christian were on the boat with us, just not parasailing. We have pictures as well, but they aren't on my computer, so I will have to put this in a separate post. Then we ate at Carraba's for my birthday dinner.

Day Seven: We returned home.

A very fun vacation, and one the kids are still talking about! I will put a Rosemary Beach album on the sidebar. I will try to do it now, but if not, I'll do my best to get to it tonight, so you can check back.

Savoring Summer's End

 

I love our Rosemary Beach tradition. Well, okay, this will be our second year, but it's already one of my favorites. It gives us something to look forward to all summer, and it's kind of our So Long Summer trip. When we return, it seems fall is moving in quickly.

But for that one week, we soak up the sun, enjoy the waves, the sand, being with family. At dusk crab hunts, feeding seagulls, watching the sun set, the sun rise (okay, so I've never done that, but there's a first time for everything), not knowing what time it is and not caring. The kids have been talking for weeks about all their memories from last year.

No school? No schedule? No problem.

Lake Weekend, Take Two

This past weekend we headed to Hartwell Lake (Georgia) with our good friends Mark and Ashley and son Hamilton and Chris and Kimberly and son Mack. We arrived on Thursday evening so we could have a nice long weekend to hang out together, catch up and enjoy the lake.

And, as a side note, on the way to the lake I heard that song slip sliding away that I mentioned in a previous post. Isn't that weird? Or maybe it's weird that I was listening to 80's songs. I dunno.

This post will probably be a little short on words and long on pictures. Because I've spent the last three days editing hundreds of photos, and I'm ready to just post them now. I was the only one who brought my camera to the lake (gasp, right?) so I was the official photographer of the weekend (which is why you will see not a single picture of me. But I promise I was actually there.)

 

Ansley loves the boat. (Ashley, that reminds me of a story....) We have been coming to this lake on this boat with these friends since Ansley was two years old. I can't believe she is almost six. But that's another post. I will dig up a picture of our first lake trip when Ans was two sometime...but not now because that would require a trip upstairs and that's not happening. My point is that Ansley is very comfortable on the boat, and with these friends. She had a blast.

 

Christian loves it too. I can't even remember Ansley at this age, but she was a two year old boat lovin' buoy pointin' happy little girl, and Christian is the same way, minus the girl, of course.

 

We rode for awhile, and then stopped to swim and play. It's fun to see Ansley get more daring each year and interact with some of our favorite people who have been around her whole life. Chris talked Ansley into jumping off with him.

 

And there was lots of floating and splashing and laughing. Kimberly and Ansley floating together.

 

Mark and Hamilton enjoying the lake.

 

I always love a good hiney shot.

 

The from-the-back photos always speak to me. I don't know why.

After a long day, we came home and put all the boys down for a nap. Chris and Ansley got in some reading time together.

 

Then Kimberly helped Ansley make a necklace. (I made one, too!)

 

Later the (big) boys wanted to do some fishing, so we all went down to the dock. Did I say this was going to be short on words? Okay, here are just some pictures of the fishing time. They speak for themselves, and they make me laugh.

 

(Yes, she held them in her hands too. Oops, okay. No more words.)

 

(Chris caught the first fish, and it was quite exciting for everyone. Okay, no more!)

 

 

Hamilton and Christian on the dock swing. Aren't they sweet?

 

The McLeod family - Mack, Chris and Kimberly - and one little Greiner snuck in.

 

The next day was more of the same - playing, boating, swimming, eating. I may not have mentioned eating before, but there was lots of that.

Here is John playing. Now you see him......

And now you don't.

 

 

This afternoon while the boys napped, Ansley decided she was in need of a nap, too. Who wouldn't fall asleep, though, while someone rubbed their back?

 

That evening we let the kids stay up late and enjoyed a sunset boat ride. It was beautiful!

 

A fun filled weekend with great friends!