Pictures of Summer

Between work and Rotary activities, summer has been flying by and I just realized I hadn't posted anything here in almost a month!!

So, here are some photos of summer activities -- I'll post a few more tomorrow as well.

Most notably, we have been to see the Rothwell's in Lenior (who have new baby ducks!); to see Gallagher (the comic) in person at Charlie Goodnights with our good friends, Mark and Maria; to a Jonas Brothers concert last Wednesday at Alltel Pavilion with Jill Dunn and her kids; and to a Durham Bull's game with the Girl Scouts!!
Can you tell which picture is from which event?


We drive to Florida on Friday morning for 3 days to drop Danny off with his mom for the school year, and after I get back I'll write a more interesting update. :)

I've also put a couple of summer pics of the older girls in the right-hand column -- aren't they gorgeous??!

Tennis, Sleepaway Camp, Fireworks, and Fifth Grade

The last ten days have been frenetic! With soccer on a back burner for the moment, Kennedy asked if she could try tennis. She took lessons two years ago with 3 other kids in our subdivision, taught by a friend who had worked as a tennis pro in a previous life, but that was two years ago, and we haven't frequented the courts here in Holly Glen since. So, I found a tennis clinic at the local tennis club for her age group and she's been attending lessons twice a week for a couple of weeks. This, of course, is in addition to the theater class she's taking on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so her afternoons are pretty full. It's hard trying to juggle summertime activities while still going to school -- everyone else is boating, swimming, playing tennis, and vacationing while Kennedy and her pals are taking end-of-grade tests and transitioning from 4th to 5th grade!

Then, we had the long-anticipated "Horse Camp" -- Kennedy survived it, but not without a few tears and much angst at bedtime. She still won't say she "had a good time" but she also isn't ruling out a return next summer. Her only opinion on that so far is "I don't want to stay FIVE days next time, Mom!" :)

When we drove to Camp Mary Atkinson to pick her up on Friday, she was very calm and showed us her horse, Ruby, and talked non-stop about her favorite counselors, so I think she'll remember the experience with fonder memories as she puts some distance between now and then. When I get her photos developed, I will post some -- I'm sure they'll be hilarious!

We brought her home just in time for the annual block party for the Fourth of July. All the neighbors got together for the 4th year in a row, and we were able to complete our tradition of cul-de-sac fireworks despite a couple of torrential downpours in the middle of things -- we even enjoyed a whole stack of fireworks of "questionable origin" (can you say South Carolina?) thanks to Nina Haynes! I totally forgot to take photos during that evening, so you'll have to take my word for it that it happened at all. :) Saturday night was the night of the Holly Springs town fireworks, and after we cooked dinner on the grill, we scuttled down to the new Wal-mart parking lot and set our folding soccer chairs up with all the rest of the rednecks! All that was missing was the cooler of beer and sparklers for the kids! The rain started during the show, and we all prayed that they'd get to the finale before the heavens completely opened!! They did, and I took a couple of pics that I have uploaded on the right side of this page for your admiring eyes!

Sunday we snuck in a movie - I took Kennedy to see Kitt Kittredge, American Girl, in celebration of starting 5th grade on Monday. It was a pretty good flick -- a bit predictable, but prompted a lot of questions from Kennedy about the Depression and hobos, and such. That and a little mother-daughter shopping at Justice for a new backpack, lunchbox, and back-to-school outfit, and we were ready for school!

The 2nd annual Back-to-School shaving cream fight, sponsored by the Savoldi's, was postponed by rain until Monday afternoon, but all the neighborhood kids under age 12 were invited to the cul-de-sac for a shaving cream war. Much fun was had by all and Kennedy went through two full cans of shaving cream in 20 minutes!! Fifteen kids and 30 cans of shaving cream later, the cul-de-sac looked like it had snowed and the kids looked like Italian gellato! It was a great way to kick off the new school year!

This weekend is Mark's birthday, so I'm sure I'll have some cool new pics to share by Sunday! :)

Horse Camp and Weddings!

This has been a CRAZY month! Work has been relentless and with an extra kid in the house (Danny) and a Rotary Officer Installation ceremony to plan, I have barely had time to breathe! However, being that busy has meant that there has been very little to write about.

Today we delivered Kennedy into the hands of the Girl Scouts at Camp Mary Atkinson in Selma, NC for "Horse Camp!" This is her very first attempt at overnight camp, and except for a meltdown last night (due mostly to exhaustion), she has not exhibited any signs of backing out of the experience! She is going with four other friends, and her best friend Savannah is her bunkmate. They've been planning this since February when the camp brochure came out, and I am so proud of her for sticking with it. This is the same girl who threw a FIT two summers ago when I signed her up for a performing arts summer day camp! :)

In other non-camp related news, Kennedy is taking tennis lessons now that soccer is off the table for the foreseeable future, and was just cast as "Tink" in a local production of "Peter Pan" told from Tinkerbell's perspective. Kennedy's role is the sarcastic, jealous side of Tinkerbell, and she's having a blast with the play and her part so far. She has developed a great working relationship with her director and even took a day off from school to work with Miss Cindy on writing the lines for her Tinkerbell character!

The other news is that our friend David Bubb (neighbor) married Stacy Vacca yesterday and we spent the evening munching on yummy food and dancing at their reception at the Crabtree Marriott! We were remarking that it's the first wedding we've been invited to in about 8 years. We're also now in the age range where the weddings are "second marriages" instead of "first." I guess that's the way it will be until our kids are the ones getting married. :)

There was another wedding in the neighborhood this weekend -- the young man who works for Mark married the daughter of a neighbor. Their wedding planning, however, was very contentious because the mother and daughter disagreed over just about everything. Both of them wanted control, and the daughter refused to include her siblings or invite any of the mother's friends. It has really been an eye-opener for me about how NOT to plan a wedding! In this day and age where most young people are paying for their own weddings, I firmly believe they should make plans that showcase what is important to them -- not to their parents! I sincerely hope my kids will want my opinion when it comes time to plan their weddings, but I can't imagine trying to "dictate" to them how it should be!

Kennedy returns home on Friday, and we'll be spending the 4th of July with our neighbors at our annual 4th of July block party. Then on Saturday night we have another pool party and fireworks downtown, so it will again be a very busy weekend! I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Happy Father's Day!

Well, we have had a busy weekend! Not to be outdone by our escapades at the Race for the Cure on Saturday, we went to the Carolina Mudcats game in a Girl Scouts-sponsored "Take Your Dad to the Ballgame" event in Zebulon on Father's Day. Kennedy wanted to go in celebration of Dad's Day, and we all willingly went to check out yet another sports team in the Triangle! Kennedy's best friend, Savannah, and her family also went to the game, and we all got to sit together.

We arrived at 1:00 p.m. for a 2:00 p.m. game, got our hot dog, chips, and soda, bought a stuffed Muddy the Mudcat doll and sat back for an afternoon of baseball and sunshine! We all got a bit sunburned and we drank a lot of lemonade, soda, water, and (in Mark's case) beer. At the end of the game (the Mudcats lost, btw), the kids were able to go out on the field and run the bases! Kennedy, Savannah, and Savannah's brother, James all ran the bases before we left for home.

Once home, Mark and I took quick showers (Holly Springs is in the middle of a water emergency due to a water main break, so we're not supposed to be using water) and waited for Serena and Sam to get home for dinner. Then we grilled chicken, made a Caeser salad, and enjoyed dinner together -- well, almost together -- the kids went to the pool to rinse off in lieu of showers, so they ate after Mark and I were done. :) All-in-all, it was a great weekend!

We went, we walked, we witnessed!

First, thanks to all who donated to our walk today! Kennedy and I raised $200 over and above our registration fees, which was our goal! Mark and Danny decided to join us, so we walked as a whole family, which was very cool. Our friends Maria and JoAnna walked with us as well. The other family who was there together was Meredith, Marshall, and Katie Mac -- Meredith is our friend who is fighting breast cancer. There were other team members there, but they were all individual team members. So, it was a family event for us, and the heat stayed away until we were done, so we didn't pass out! Both Danny and Kennedy walked without a single complaint. Danny even told us over lunch that he wants to keep his race number as a souvenir and that he really enjoyed himself. It was the most animated I've seen him since he got here last Saturday -- maybe there's hope for him yet! :)

I have been to a couple other 5K races before, once as a participant and a couple times as a volunteer. I have NEVER before seen the number of people at a race that participated in the event today. They are estimating that over 23,000 people either walked or ran in the event, and that didn't include the vendors, volunteers, and observers. It was wall-to-wall people during the walk, and close to that at the finish line with all the tents with breast cancer information, massage therapists, and food. All-in-all, it was an amazing morning! We had to take a bus to the event from the parking, which was 5-6 miles away, so after we got back to our car we raced home, took showers, and went to lunch at Home Grown. needless to say, we are tired and our feet are sore, but we had a great time and it felt good to do something constructive to support a friend that way!

Walk for the Cure!

Please don't forget that Mark and Kennedy and I are walking in the Susan Komen Walk for the Cure this coming Saturday morning to raise money for breast cancer research and resources for women battling this disease right here in the Triangle region!

Our goal was to raise $200 over the cost of our registration fees, and we're at about $175. If anyone wants to push us up to (or over) our goal, please see the link in the right column of this blog for our webpage with all the donation information on it.

Our friend, Meredith Groves, just started her chemotherapy last week, and is doing well with it so far, but is constantly in our thoughts and prayers.

Please join us by donating to the cause! You'll be on the walk with us in spirit! :)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

It's been wayyyy too long since I posted anything, so I'll start with the mundane. :)

We've been experiencing a heat wave over the past week or so -- temps averaging 100 degrees by 2pm every day. It's supposed to cool off today, but I've heard THAT one before! Of course, I planted our garden about a month ago, and it got 2 solid weeks of rain every other day before it turned hot, but I don't handle the heat very well, so I haven't even LOOKED at the garden since the heat wave started.

Well, the other day, I took a peek while I was feeding the dogs on the back deck and to my surprise -- I had a lettuce tree growing in my garden! Between all the rain and then all the sun, my one lettuce plant had grown to over 2 feet tall and was threatening to flower at the top!! So, I had Kennedy and her friend Katie go out and cut it down and bring it in and we snapped this photo of it before I plucked all the leaves off of it. It's the coolest thing I've ever seen!

The rest of the garden is growing like a weed, and even with water restrictions still in place, we can water it every other day, so it looks GOOD so far! Even the onions I tried planting for the first time this year look great!