Thursday, July 26, 2007

I'm finished the Deathly Hallows...


Actually I was up until midnight Monday finishing it. I had reached a point in the book around 10 p.m. and knew I just wasn't going to be able to put it down until I found out how it all turned out... There was one point where I got major chills and all the hairs on my arms actually stood up!

I can't believe that there won't be anymore HP books. Sigh. I won't post any details for those who may still be reading, but I will say that it was a great book. Quite the roller coaster ride. And I liked that JKR answered most of the major questions that had been lingering from previous books, although not always in the way I had hoped...

So, if you're back in the world of Muggles and want to discuss, call me!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Past Weeks in Pictures


Cousins (Olivia, Riley and Katelyn, all 4 years old)


Cousin Devin (7)


Three Silly Heads on their way to Fort Delaware


Not necessarily what you want to see posted outside of an inn... (fortunately they were just talking about their restaurant)!


Ryan checks out the big cannons at Fort Delaware


Ryan taking the test to be recruited to the Union Army at Fort Delaware


Katy sharing her snack with Ally at the pool


Norah, Katy, Mia, Olivia and Carly waiting for the fireworks


Watching the fireworks


Liam and Ryan acting(!) like noisy boys at the fireworks


Beach Bound


Life's a Beach


Ice Cream on the deck at the beach...can life get much better?


Christmas photos?


No Beach Bums Here!
Olivia (4), Ryan (7), Samantha (7), Cameron (5), Katelyn(4)


Beach Babes


Muscle Beach (?)


Lovin' the Beach


Katy looking for a wave with her new boogie board


Livvy rides her wave


Surfer Dude


Can
You
Say
Private
Beach?!?!?



Beach Ball


Sitting pretty


Coquinas (live baby clams-kids LOVED digging them up!)


Putt Putt Anyone?


Tuckered Out


The BEST Sand Castle Ever. Period.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Home Again, Home Again...

Wow. What a month and half. Since last I posted my time has been spent as follows:

June 9: Drove to Blacksburg, VA to pick up Olivia and Katelyn from their visit with Nana and Pappy. Ryan was supposed to go with me and spend the next week with them, but he woke up that morning with a fever, so we cancelled those plans.

June 10: I woke up with pink eye, Olivia and Ryan both have fevers over 102 F. We decide to take them to urgent care to check for strep and get them onto antibiotics if deemed necessary. They have something called an adenovirus which isn't treatable by antibiotics. It just needs to run its course.

June 11: I wake up with a fever close to 103, and realize that I, too, have the adenovirus.

June 12 - 17: I continue to feel like doo doo. We change our plans for traveling to MD/DE the following week.

June 19: I drive to northern VA with the kids and spend the night at Stephanie's.

June 20: I leave Stephanie's and drive to Middletown, DE to spend the next 4 days with the Claytors. We had a great visit, with lots of fun activities like going to Fort Delaware, a day with Riley & Devin, and a trip to the Brandywine Zoo.

June 24: We leave the Claytor's late in the day and drive to Street, MD to spend the next 5 days with mom and dad. Once again, it was a really good visit and I got to see my childhood friend, Susan one of the days just before she moved out to Indiana. The other days we went to Annie's Playground, swimming at Bel Air Athletic Club, Ryan went golfing a few times, we went to Rock's State Park, and spent some time just hanging around the house.

June 30: We left the Patrinicola's and headed to Odenton, MD to spend the day with Beth, Rob and Ally. It was a fun day at the pool, and Katy learned to swim around in her life vest without me holding her!

July 1: We leave the Stewart's and head home. It was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG drive because Katy needed to stop for potty breaks much more than usual. Home looked wonderful once we got there around 5 p.m.

July 2: Unpack and do laundry

July 3: Get ready to go see fireworks at the YMCA and then go to the festival that evening around 5 p.m.

July 4: A day on the boat with the Kennedys.

July 5: Run to stores to pick up last minute items for the beach and to get grocery items from BJs

July 6: Pack for two weeks at the beach.

July 7 - 20: We spend a blissful two weeks at Topsail Island, NC. It was amazing. I am spoiled! I will never be able to stay at the beach and not be oceanfront. We had the beach practically to ourselves because it is almost entirely residential--not the commercial mess of the more northern beaches. Sigh.

And now we are home. We decided to go ahead and leave last night (Friday), because we had to come in off the beach around lunch time due to a sizeable thunderstorm that lasted most of the afternoon. We figured we might as well just pack up the cars entirely and head on home instead of putzing around and partially loading the cars just to sleep one more night there (we had to check out by 10 a.m., so it was going to be a crazy early morning for us anyway).

I have never been so relieved and happy to be home! And we don't have any more travels planned for a while. Now I must go and pick up my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Don't plan on hearing from me until it's done...