Picnic

On Saturday we packed up the car with bikes, baseballs and a picnic and went over to Indian Park. This park is practically in our backyard and really nice. We only had a few hours before nap time, but wanted to get out and enjoy the beautiful day. I have many more pictures from the day, but my computer is REALLY slow right now, so I stopped at two. My computer has been undergoing some routine maintenance and at the moment is very sluggish. Only temporary though - soon I should be faster than lightning :-) This is also the reason I haven't posted in a few days. Just to get one picture up is taking me about 10-15 minutes, and that doesn't count the time it takes to load the pictures into the computer. So bear with me, I will be back to normal posting soon, I promise. But back to our picnic - other than being very hot, we all had a great time. We had a nice lunch, played in the sandbox, rode the see saw, went for a bike ride and I got to take lots of pictures. All this, and just 10 minutes from home! I tend to forget some of the great spots right in our backyard.

Everyday beauty

These are on my front stoop, I walk by them everyday, and I enjoy them everyday, so I thought they deserved a spot on the blog. Trying to take notice of all the amazing beauty that is right under my nose, that often gets overlooked.

I See You...

Love Coop's eye through the headrest and into the mirror.

Broccoli

Last night we had to run some errands and ended up at Hoss's for dinner. I usually order something for the boys to split, cheeseburger, fish, whatever, but I always get broccoli as a side dish for them because they like it so much. Well, last night when the waitress brought out the broccoli, Coop and Dunc screamed "Yeah Broccoli". The waitress was stunned and said "I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever seen kids go nuts over broccoli!" I realized I actually have living proof of this love (at least from Duncan). Here is Dunc in Ocean City with his broccoli pizza that he INSISTED on. Check this one out...it's even RAW! (taken March 2007)

This is at Aunt Barbie's house for Super Bowl...Duncan is barely one year old here. (taken Feb 2006)

Mama

"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Harry Potter con't

It's 9:30 Saturday morning, cartoons are on at my house and I'm afraid to switch the channel, worried I will learn the answer. I don't want to surf the net because chances of stumbling across the ending are almost inevitable... I'm even scared to do my weekly shopping at Wegmans---I'm BOUND to find out.

So, does Harry live?

I have to admit I've only read 1, 2 & 3, so I'm 3 behind (soon to be 4) but it doesn't make the suspense any less. A few questions...

1.) The obvious - does Harry live?

The discussions are endless, the reasoning/arguments for and against. Those who say Harry will live argue that he was "the boy in the cupboard" for heavens sakes, he just can't die, there is a potential love interest now too, there is something for him to live for...maybe he will go on and become a teacher. Those who sadly say that Harry must die admit that sad but true, it's book 7, Harry Potter is over, both the books and the boy. JK Rowling has been quoted as saying that she understands authors who kill their character so that no one else can come along and write about them. The jury is out for me. I guess in my heart I hope he lives, I mean do any of us really want Harry to die? However, if anyone would kill her main character, I think Rowling among them.

2.) Snape - good or bad? Does it really matter?

3.) Maybe the biggest question for me is this. Since I have no plans to be at a bookstore at 12:01 Saturday morning and staying awake until the wee hours of the morning to reveal the answers, how soon will it be until the suspense is ruined for me? The ending will be revealved, it's inevitable, it's news, it's 10 years in the making. Have you wondered how you will hear about the ending? Will it be a news broadcast on tv? how about our local paper? the internet? This interests me almost more than the ending. I know a couple of people who probably will actually read until the sun comes up (Keri and my mother), but for the rest of us...

I listen to npr as many of you know and yesterday they announced that after a much heated debate within the station, we will not learn of Harry Potter's ending on their station - good for them! But not all will be so diplomatic, lets be honest.

Well at least I can say this to all the true fans out there... thank goodness a great book is still great, even if you do know the ending :-)

Poem

Taking a break from beach photos...found this and had to share it. It gave me chills when I read it. Guillaume Apollinaire : Come to the edge. We can't. We're afraid. Come to the edge. We can't. We will fall! Come to the edge. And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew.

Black & White

I'm playing with black & white tonight ~ trying to print some artsy stuff for my new living room walls. I always love turning a photo to black & white and seeing what happens to the "feel" of the picture. I don't have a trained enough eye yet to take a picture and just know it will be beautiful in black & white, in fact sometimes I make the switch and look at it and say "yuck"! Here are a few that I am really liking tonight... This is Duncan playing in the sand. I like his placement in the photo, I love that I don't see his face...I don't think you need to in order to feel what the photo is all about... Coop playing baseball on the beach with Aunt Barbie...love that the ball is in mid air (much easier with the new camera!)

Pruett reaching out a hand to a timid Duncan...I love that all you see is Pruett's hand because that is all the photo is about. Love the shadows too.

Reflective Cooper...just over all like this one a lot.

My printer is printing a bunch of these off now so don't be surprised if you see some next time you stop over... I can't tell you how much I am enjoying taking all these pictures and sharing them. Hope I'm not boring you all.

And we're back

And obviously we had no internet...sorry. But we had a wonderful time, maybe partly because there was no internet? The weather was gorgeous, we were on the beach everyday. Cooper played baseball on the beach daily (surprised?) and most of the time Duncan sat quietly playing with his tractors, shovels, watering can and buckets in the sand. I literally have hundreds of pictures. Between me, Pop, Barbie and Lynne, I downloaded nightly to my laptop and have quite a collection. Before the week is out I'm sure I will have you sick of beach photos...

Good to be home though. I didn't think there was a mattress out there worse than my own...remind me to stop complaining.

I did dream about a house Butch :-) And congratulations Sam on a totally awesome game/save ~ Grammy K gave me the play by play. Ah, hhhmmm, about the shell Aunt Carla...Coop didn't mention it, will some pictures do? Oh, and one more thing, I do believe Windy looks a bit thinner, is it my imagination?

And we're off

to the... I plan to take my computer and hopefully the house has internet so I can post while I'm gone. I can't wait to see my boys in the ocean, to take a million pictures, to read a few books, to spend time with my husband and rest for a short while. But for those of you that know me well, know that I will miss home too, I will miss my house, my mom and dad, my dear friends, the family here at home. I love you all, and I'll see you in a week. Mom ~ I hope your party is fantastic, tell everyone I said hello. Bryn and Richard (I know, funny typing those two names together again!) ~ thank you for caring for Windy - don't forget she's on a diet!

Keeping my word

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember my post about displaying pictures of ourselves. Most of us don't (myself included). And do you know, I can't think of one picture of myself on this blog since I so boldly said I was going to start including them? So in honor of keeping my word, and in honor of myself... After all, I write a blog about my thoughts, my family, my accomplishments, my hopes, my, my my. How about my picture? Now there's a thought. This was taken by my mother at Relay for Life.

First drive

I knew it would happen someday, I just didn't expect it at 3! Johnny let Coop drive (steer) the golf cart on Saturday up at the lake. You can not even imagine how much this dude was loving his first driving experience. Okay, if you're a boy, maybe you actually CAN imagine it. Life was SO good for this little boy that afternoon...