Happy Memorial Day!

What a fun Memorial Day weekend!

We had a fun party at our place on Saturday - no pictures! I was having too much fun! And we had a great Memorial Day today. We went to the botanical gardens for a nature walk this morning, went to the neighborhood pool around noon. Both the boys were in the pool the entire time. Oh, except for the moments when a GIANT snow cone truck pulled onto the pool deck. Graham was so excited for a "BIG" special treat! He got cherry, Kyle got grape. Both boys slept for about 3 hours - completely zonked from the pool time. Then after naps, Kyle took Graham out on the boat - such fun time for the two of them. (Truthfully, I'm quite jealous of their time on the boat!! It was a little too hot to take Brooks. 90 degrees, and he'd already been in the pool for a few hours.)

Memories

We had a crazy tornado come through Virginia Beach this past week. Tuesday afternoon. (And Kyle was out of town - so surprising!). I was outside with the dogs, gorgeous day with blue skies. In the blink of an eye, the sky turned black, I heard the "freight train", got the dogs in the house. In less than ten minutes it had completely passed and the sky was blue again. Really eerie. Unfortunately, in the storm's wake we were left without power or telephones. So strange because we normally have phone service (I keep an old fashioned "hard line" phone on hand just for this purpose), but we didn't. Well, our neighborhood had power restored late Wednesday night. Not us Gifts. We got power back but then it fizzled again. We had the same problem we had in December when we lost all connection to the power company. (Which is why I bring in the picture below - Brooks was three days old, and we had no power. And it was about 12 degrees outside.

We finally got power back Friday morning - wow isn't air conditioning such a blessing!! It's been about 90 degrees here every day. I finally hit a wall on Thursday. I took the dogs to the kennel and then took the kids to my parents' house. We had a nice dinner and I actually got some sleep that night.

Kyle got home around 3am on Friday morning, and we were ready for the holiday weekend.

Sweet Ladies

My sweet Molly gets more cuddlier by the day. She LOVES snuggling in bed with us!! (We were remembering the time when we first got her, and she was so nervous....she's such a different dog! She definitely makes herself at home - even on the lounge chairs at the pool! And sweet Kona Brown is LOVING swim season! She walks around with a tennis ball ALL THE TIME begging to swim laps. LOVE that sweet old lady!!!

"What's...?"

What's that making that noise, Momma?

That is the question of the day. Every day. Almost every hour. And I LOVE it!!! The sweet voice that asks is irresistible to me!

Oh yes - that's in front of our house!

We hosted almost 50 kids from an urban school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at our home last Wednesday. A former superintendent now goes to our church and still maintains a connection to the school. They were on a summer vacation with their school visiting Virginia - Jamestown, Williamsburg, DC. So they made a slight detour to Virginia Beach. What a wonderful bunch of kids! And what a treat for Graham that this bus was parked in front of our house!!! He was able to get a tour and even sat in the driver's seat. He was able to speak into the microphone - "I am the bus driver!" Such fun!

Kyle and I were laughing with our neighbors - who have lived next door to us for just a year - the cops have been to our house twice. Because I've messed up the alarm system twice. We have two very loud dogs. And then a huge bus shows up! I hope we're not annoying neighbors!!

Another Opossum....

Kyle was cleaning the skimmer baskets in the pool the other day. When something lunged at him and hissed. Oh yes. ANOTHER opossum. And this one was in the skimmer basket and very much alive. YUCK!!! (I'm shocked this didn't happen while Kyle was out of town. I usually have some sort of critter to deal with in the skimmer baskets while he's gone. Inevitably, I have to call in back-ups. I don't do critters. Luckily, my dad does!)

LOVE this face!!!

It's amazing this sweet face isn't chapped. I chew on it ALL THE TIME!

Open House - Beach House

Mom and Dad had an open house last weekend at the beach house, and we went for another weekend. (Twist our arms!) We happened to bring gummy bugs for Graham's special snack. He was fascinated by them!! Shelly and Jason were able to come down and they brought the girls. And Dean and Reid came up and tried kiteboarding again. (The wind died down.) Another fun time!

Beach House with Friends

We went to my parents' beach house with friends a few weekends ago - The Ziemers, Sabins, and Dean. What a fun time! And what amazing food we ate! Eggs benedict, homemade pancakes, steaks and chicken on the grill....and, of course, amazing coffee drinks by our own resident barista, Dean. The kids had a blast! One of my favorite times is taking the kids out to the beach after dinner but before dessert. They find the ghost crabs, and all kinds of "evening" critters.

Such wonderful, relaxing time with friends!! We loved being with all of you!!

Funny Shoes

Graham found June's nice white shoes and immediately put them on to dance around. Made me laugh hysterically!

Cookies

One of Graham's favorite apps on my iPad is "Cookie Doodle". It's really quite amazing. He makes his own batter - mixes all the ingredients together on the screen. Shakes the screen for the salt, tilts the screen for the vanilla, actually cracks the eggs, mixes, bakes, decorates, etc. Well, Jennifer brought cookies for the kids to make together, and Graham was so excited! To be making cookies but also to have more time with the two little ladies!

Happy Fellas

Summer at the Beach House

It is FINALLY summer at the beach house!!! And we have been there two out of the last four weekends. We've finally gotten some use out of those 4 paddle boards we bought for the house last year!! It is so relaxing at the beach. And without TV, we're really enjoying time together. Talking, reading, relaxing. And really not being connected to the outside world. (There is wi-fi, though.) Graham is such a water bug. He goes to the beach after breakfast and stays there until it's nap time. And he easily take an almost 3 hour nap each day. He doesn't stop! He loves the outdoor shower! Particularly since it's home to two little frogs. And, I've truly settled into my role of Mom to two boys. I am picking up more bugs these days. The same bugs that used to send me jumping on top of furniture to get away from them. Oh my!