To be practical or not

As I mentioned previously, my car is getting older and has needed a lot of work. We are torn because we have dumped so much money into it lately. We wonder, should keep it a while or unload it as fast as we can. It has a fairly decent trade in value for a 9 year old car.

I love my car and am finding it hard to part with it. It is just the right size for our family. But I feel it is probably time to get a new vehicle.

I test drove a new Sequoia the other night. It is really large, so much more than my 9 year old one. It was a nice drive but the thought of having to park it leaves me a little uneasy. It is a good amount over what we would like to spend for a vehicle.

We have also talked about a Sienna. Yes, I said it a mini-van. Something I swore I would never drive. It has automatic doors. Second row has 2 captain chairs, which means less arguing of children who are now forced to sit right next to each other. It even comes with a dual DVD player and GPS. It is large enough for the luggage we take on our excursions. It is definitely more affordable than the above.

What to do?

The fun and not so fun

My husband asked us to schedule a day to meet him downtown to have lunch. Today seemed like a good day since the boys were in camp until 11 am and I was not going to be in workout clothes all morning (as is the case most days). As he was saying goodbye this morning, he asks me if I was bringing lunch. I am pretty sure he invited us to lunch. Wouldn't that mean he would either take us out or he would make it?

We went to this really neat deli place known for their tea. It was delicious.

The older boys are in Golf Camp Monday through Wednesday this week. So far they have been happy with all of the camps they have attended this summer.

This past weekend, we went out with some neighbors. One of our friends is celebrating her 40th birthday in August. She planned her own party, a beach get-away towards the end of August. Many people are not going to be able to make it to the beach, so my neighbor forced (strong word but this is my opinion) birthday girl's husband into a smaller celebration with a few neighbors. They actually gave him the option of doing a party in their backyard, they would do all the work if he funded it. That idea was nixed. The outing was planned for this past Saturday and we literally did not know what we were doing until Friday evening. An even then the plan was not solid.

So we headed downtown and were lucky enough to be seated at one of my favorite restaurants. It was a slow dinner but it was delicious. We then headed over to the Pier to hear the Beach Boys. It turned out to be a lot of fun. John Stamos plays the drums at some of their concerts. Cutey! We got as close as we could to get a good look, he is shorter than I expected.....but still nice to look at.

My car started acting up this weekend while my husband was driving it. We have been talking about replacing my car as we have sunk a lot of money into it. It is almost 9 years old but I love it and I will have a hard time parting with it. If you haven't figured it out, this falls into the not so fun category. We had it towed and found out that the cylinders were not working correctly. $$$$ ugh! We are still trying to figure out what to do about a new car.

We wouldn't be so concerned if we weren't just about to leave on vacation for 2 weeks. Yes, that is right the beach followed by some time at my parent's house in Florida. Two weeks is a long time for me to be away.

I have so much to do between now and the weekend. My friend, who is in town because of her brother being hospitalized, is coming over tomorrow to spend some time with us. Good in that now I really have to get my house cleaned up. No worries I have spent a good part of the afternoon cleaning.

As I was cleaning, Jay looks at me and say "Mom, why are you cleaning?" My response, "you really just asked me that?" It is like I never clean around here.

I got nothing done

I expected this weekend to be one in which I catch-up on housework and laundry. I did a lot of things.....but no housecleaning.

On Thursday, I got a call from a very good friend of mine with some bad news. Her younger brother, who lives in Maryland not far from me, was in the hospital. He had suffered an aortic dissection. I googled this and it is not a good thing. If you don't get immediate help you die. Luckily, a friend was on the phone with him when he told him he did not feel well and to call an ambulance. They say the pain is like someone is stabbing you. He had severe damage and it took a long time to repair. As of today, he has not responded to any commands. It is a waiting game to see what happens. If he makes it through this, they feel recovery will be long and slow. The family needs a lot of prayers.

My friend lost her brother in 1995 as a result of a similar condition. His case was detected prior to a dissection. There were many complications and he ended up having a brain anuerysm less than a year out of surgery. I dated her brother back when all of this happened and she and I become good friends.

My friend lives in Connecticut. She is staying here until with her Mom....... She has a daughter that is the boys' age. Her husband drove in this weekend with their daughter. I went and picked her up to spend some time with us, swimming and playing. There really is not much for her to do at the hospital. The boys had a great time with her. Definitely different to have a girl in the house.

She spent the night with us last night so they had a lot of time to play. We swam a lot! I think she will be very tired for her drive home this evening.

The kids.

The kids with silly faces.

I am so glad that I was able to spend some time with her. She is sweet even though she is a bit bossy. I hope to be able to spend more time with her in the future.

Another Busy week

Another week of summer has flown by. I wish I could make the time slow down a bit. My sister came back from the beach on Tuesday morning. She didn't leave until Wednesday evening. This sister's daughter lives with us.

We spent the majority of both days in the backyard relaxing in the pool. It was very hot both days so it was very refreshing.

My sister and her daughter.

Me and my sister.

Jay, the photographer for the day.

My sister's boyfriend and Tee.

The boyfriend's son and E.

More playing in the pool.

My fish. Tee has learned how to swim. He easily picked up swimming this year. But he was made to stay at the steps to play. I told him if he wanted to swim in the pool he was going to have to figure out how to get his head above water and swim at the same time. Well, he DID. Now he is a swimming machine.

When the boys were tired swimming they played a little baseball until they were hot and then got back in the pool.

It has been so hot here that we spend many afternoons in the pool. It is a great way to expend some energy and get some exercise. I think we have been in our pool this summer more than the previous two.

I felt like on Thursday we needed a little break from the pool. I took the boys to see Toy Story 3. The two older boys enjoyed it. This was Tee's first movie. It was a much different experience than the one I had with the two older ones. At their first movie, they both sat on my lap the entire movie a bit scared. Tee sat in his own seat and didn't seem frightened at all. Well, he did have a really (he couldn't shake the dream for over 1 hour) bad night dreaming the other night. He said that there was a red pig chasing him. There was a piggy bank in the movie. It was a little long for him to sit through.

The two older boys have had friends come over to play and they have gone to other's homes to play. Definitely a fun week.

Grandma visits

We were so happy that the husband's Mom was able to visit us in early July. We were fortunate that the really hot weather did not happen until the end of her visit. My husband took Friday off of work so that we could venture down to Annapolis. It is only about a 30 minute drive from our house.

We were not really sure what it would be like down there. But once we finally got down there we realized we would have plenty to do with lots of walking.

Of course, everyone was hungry so first on the list was to eat. It was a gorgeous day so we ate outside.

The colonial man we ran into at the informational desk was admiring my elbows. Yes, I said elbows. He said that he was not used to women dressing in such a manner. The manner being shorts and a shirt I might add. I told him things have changed a bit from his time.

Our first stop was to the Navel Academy. Once we were checked out and frisked, kidding, we made our way to get some pictures taken with a beautiful backdrop.

We decided to go to the museum that was suggested by the person at the information desk. We didn't realize that it was so far from where we were. But we walked to the museum and looked around. If you are a history buff, this is the place for you.

Sitting on the cannon in front of the museum.

It was a very nice day. We definitely need to visit again.

We spent a lot of time in the pool that weekend. It ended up getting hot and the pool is always a good way to get cooled off and to get a little exercise.

We managed to get a few more pictures of Grandma and the boys.

Mom and Son.

The boys always enjoy visits from Grandma. They know she always brings them a little something. This time she brought the 3-d Puzzles. The boys spent the entire afternoon putting the puzzle together. They loved it.

We hope we can see Grandma again sometime soon.

Take a deep breath

It has been non-stop since school let out. After our trip, we came home and had one day to clean up for Grandma's visit. More on the visit with pictures soon. We had a great time.

Last week the boys were in baseball camp (for hitting). It was a great camp but it was just unfortunate that the weather was so hot. The temperatures reached over 100 degrees several days in a row. Luckily, the camp was only 3 hours and they were kept well hydrated. It is nice for them to have a busy morning.

This week the boys are in vacation bible school at our church. Tee had his reservations on Monday but he has had a really good time. E and Jay are having a nice time too. This is our 3rd summer here doing VBS which is a really nice program.

We had a visitor this week also. My sister had business up this way and stayed the night last night. I finally got to meet her boyfriend. I loved him. He is so nice and seems to be good to her. I have told her not to mess this one up. They headed to a Delaware beach this morning but will be back on Tuesday of next week. We will get to meet the boyfriend's youngest son then also. Looking forward to spending more time with them.

We are having some remodeling done in our house. Last week started with the counter tops. They look so nice. I am hoping this week we will have new cabinets installed. More on this also with pictures.

The two older boys have friends over today. Tee has his buddy coming over in a little while. So time to get ready to do some swimming. I hope to find more time soon to download pictures and write more.

Road Trip

What a whirlwind of a trip. Our first stop was in South Carolina to visit my friend with the triplet girls. If you remember the boys and girls were best of friends when we lived in NC.

Me and Nic!

We spent a lot of time at the pool!

My friend got a sitter for the kids so we could go out. We got to see a little bit of downtown Greenville. I knew I was in the south with Shrimp and Grits on the menu. It was soo delicious.

After a few first awkward moments, the kids played so well together. It was like they had not missed a day apart. We had a great time visiting with them. We miss them a lot.

After two days in SC, we headed to NC. We stopped by south Charlotte to visit some of our good friends. My husband went to college with the husband and I became friends with his wife. A very nice family. We spent several years going to the mountains of NC with them. We miss our trips.

While we visited, my husband went to lunch with some ex-coworkers.

Me and Eli.

We would try to get the kids together as much as possible but we lived on separate parts of town. It is a good 40 plus minutes. The kids played so nicely together.

Once we left Eli's house we made our way back to our old neighborhood. We drove around a little. We saw our first house and our second house. I was afraid I was not going to be able to see my friend Amy. Our original plan was to be in NC for 2 days, but work got in the way and we had to come back a day early.

I really didn't want to be so close and not see her so we dropped by unexpected. We only visited an hour but I was so happy to be able to have that time together.

Me and Amy!

Grace and Tee. Amy and I were pregnant the same time and our due dates were a few months apart. I think Tee fell in love with that sweet Grace.

The boys played so nicely together. We so wish we had more time.

A trip back to the old town would not have been complete without a trip to our favorite pizza place.

Patiently waiting for our pizza.

I definitely missed Bruster's. We stopped in for ice cream before we collapsed in our hotel.

It was a fun and quick trip.