Cook Out for Father's Day.

We decided to have a multi-neighbor cookout for father's day since we would all be hanging out in our yards anyway. The kids had an absolute blast! One of our neighbors brought their slide, we had great food, tons of fun and lots of sunburn. On the adults, not the children.

The kids played for hours on the slide, and in the backyard with playdoh. Such a fun afternoon.

The big hit of the day... Our neighbor Mike in his budweiser bathing suit, and the ribs and wings he made! Good times!

Sleeping Beauty

One of the most amazing things about Lulu is her love of sleeping. My wish for all parents is to have a Lulu. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to sleep (attn: non-child readers, that is HUGE. Most kids aren't big fans). By loving to sleep these things have occurred multiple times.

She continually puts herself to bed. She will say she wants to go to her room and play, and you will go up and find her asleep in her bed.

She was the only child that I ever know of that had to be stopped from always climbing into her bed to sleep, as opposed to most kids who climb out.

When she was little if I tried to stretch out her naps, she wouldn't have anything to do with it, and would just go upstairs and climb into bed and fall asleep.

She would never want you to read to her, the moment she went up to her room she would beg to get into bed, and then all but order you out of the room.

She is hysterical. I know she got her love for sleep from the both of us. The other thing is does not like is to cuddle..... You go up to her room, try to put her to bed and want to snuggle, it is nothing for her to say.... "um, you have to get out of my bed now, goodnight"

Today the girls were playing outside with the neighborhood kids and it hit a point where everyone was starting to get a little testy... So I said, "Why don't we all go home and go to bed for the day if we all can't get along" And Lulu yells YAY!!!! and throws her hands into the air. She is sooo funny.

So later on we went home and I told the girls we could have a snack and some quiet time. Lulu says she is going upstairs to change, haven't heard from her for a few minutes so I go up to check on her and this is what I see......

The other night we went to dinner and had our babysitter over. When we got home Lulu had only been in bed for a little over an hour. Of course she went to bed in her bed. We put her crib mattress next to her bed at night in case she falls out. (I know that they make gates, but I have already broken 1 and I thought she would grown out of falling out of her bed.) I am talking to Andrea, and Simon goes to check on the girls. He comes down and says, go check on the girls and bring a camera. This is what I see.

Lovely Lulu

We have our hands full! Lulu is a Princess. She firmly believes this..... She has spent the last 4 days straight in princess sandals. We have a rule that you can't ride your bike or scooter unless you have on your Keens or your tennis shoes.... "But princesses only wear slippers or flip flops" Also, she will only wear skirts or dresses. "That's only what princesses wear" for golf we had to tell her it was like soccer and she had to wear the uniform of shorts and a golf shirt. But upon returning home it was back to the princess attire.

She carries her purse with a phone in it and her baby in the baby carrier everywhere. And she is pretty crazy good in heels. In my best day I couldn't run in heels. I can't even walk in heels!

Golf and VBS

Ruthie and Lulu had their first golf lesson last weekend and they really enjoyed themselves. Ruthie was so excited to get her very own clubs (she has to share with Lulu, but Lulu has no interest in golf clubs at the moment).

Ruthie has been going to VBS (Vacation Bible School) this week with her good friend Anthony. He lives across the street and is the one with the basketball hoop in front of his house. He is going into 2nd grade and 7 years old, but those 2 could play together for hours! Ruthie loves playing lego's and boy things with Anthony. He is also the proud owner of a Razor Motorcycle that he zooms around the streets on. I really didn't think I would have to have the conversation with my 4 year old as to why she can't ride on her "boy" friends motorcycle. But with Ruthie, all the rules are different.

Here is the thing............

Secret is out..... (And no I AM NOT PREGNANT). I am going to compete in my first Triathlon. I am totally pumped nervous, excited, scared, afraid, determined....just to say a few.

I have been thinking about this for a while. I love to swim, I am ok on a bike, and I don't like to run unless someone is chasing me with a sharp object, that could cause me to bleed, BAD. When I was a working girl I loved to set goals, make lists, and work hard for something. Nowadays, it feels like the goals that I have been setting are.....

GOALS

Seeing how many days I can go without showering (the answer is 3, then things turn pretty, well you get my drift...)

Getting out of my pajamas (hello, why would I want to ruin my nice things, and jammies are so perfect for this line of work)

Actually how many beers can I drink in a 24 hour period....(No comment)

Having my girls use good manners on a regular basis (Feeling pretty good about this one)

Taking tons of pictures, updating blog, uploading pictures to snapfish (Just finished putting Ruthie's 3 year pics and Lulu's 2 yr pics in an album, getting there)

LISTS

Home repairs

Grocery Lists

Target Lists

Lowes Lists

Appt Lists (doctor, dentist, etc. for all 4 of us)

So you can see where I am going with this. I love my life, I love my Team. I am the happiest person ever. But I just need to set a new goal for me. I need to show my girls determination, healthy attitude and setting goals. We have been loyal members at the gym since we moved here, but this is something different. The girls love to go to the child watch, they have an indoor pool and I really have no excuse.

Hence the Triathlon.

I have been on the plan for a couple of weeks and I am kicking butt and taking names! I have been running (slowly but getting there). Biking, and swimming.

Training program looks like this:

Sunday: Run outside, long run

Monday: Cardio Weight lifting (and am going to add in swimming)

Tuesday: Run treadmill - (bike soon to be added on this day)

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Swim

Friday: Bike

Saturday: Rest (for now)

So today...biggest victory!!!!! 2000 yards that was 80 lengths of the 25 yard pool. I told myself on the way to the Y today that I wasn't getting out of the pool until I finished it. Started out with 500 yards freestyle, then 500 yards using kickboard only using legs, then 500 yards with the pull buoy only using arms freestyle, then 500 yards freestyle. It took me about 40 minutes but I was totally AWESOME!!!!! And I only nearly puked at 1700 yards. Then when it was over I almost felt like I could continue. Until I got out of the pool and was a little loopy. But I DID IT! TAKE THAT Triathlon! I am going to start mixing it up and do 2 activities on 1 day pretty soon so that my legs get used to the transition but I know it is going to be a long summer but I KNOW I CAN DO THIS.

So, Bring it August 29th. I can do this. It is going to be Awesome. But all this strenuous activity is making my brain a little crazy.... So good thing I still make those lists. The goals are still going strong. Still in my CLEAN workout/pajama (could almost be considered pajamas) outfit I wore to the Y, SHOWERED and then put them back on. Although, I am probably going to take the summer off of the beer goal. Don't want it to interfere with my workouts!

Look at me being a grown up!

Sometimes you just don't want to know what they can get up to.......

We have wonderful friends and neighbors (fellow buckeyes - we knew it was fate when they pulled up and had a Buckeye licence plate cover). Simon and Mike can find crazy things do do, rinsing rocks for the bottom of their pond, cutting wood, etc....They always have an enjoyable time. Well the talk for a while has been to take the end of our road that is between our house and their house that was never turned into a cul de sac and put a basketball hoop down there. The neighborhood when it was originally planned had our road continuing and putting more houses. Well they then decided to build no more house but never finished the road. We are on the corner that leads to another culdesac, but there is this random dead end right between our houses. We typically sit on the curb, drink adult beverages and thoroughly enjoy ourselves why the kids ride around on their bikes or scooters. There has been talk about a tiki bar, so fingers crossed that may come to plan.

Well Friday night after communal pizza and drinks they decide to get a hoop, dig a hole and cement the thing in. Right into the street! Too funny.

view from our yard during install

view from behind, our house in background. Girls in the background with dresses

No basketball but alot of dress up.

The dads admitting defeat or, just taking a drink break. We really like to hillbilly the neighborhood up! Good times!

Soccer

The girls are still enjoying soccer. Lulu even kicked the ball a little last week. Good thing the season only has one more game, just as they were starting to get the hang of it it is over.

Lulu is number 2 in this pick.

Weekend at Mackinac

Simon and I headed to Mackinac for our yearly visit. There is always a very large conference there that Simon has to attend. We had a wonderful time even though there was rain and cold weather. We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast that was tucked out of the way. It was magnificent. The yummy breakfast every morning was delicious and the innkeepers were so sweet. Even when we had to call them at 11pm one night because we were locked out.

The annual event was held at Grand Hotel where we have stayed in the past but decided we needed to stay away from the hustle and bustle.

I highly recommend a visit to this beautiful island.

Even better the girls had an amazing time with their Gammy. She took them on all sorts of adventures while she was staying at our house with them, and managed to spoil them to pieces. We love it when Gammy comes to visit. Just can't help but wonder why her bags are packed and she leaves as soon as we get home?

Plants

I have never had a green thumb. I once had a house plant (named Axel) that hated living with me so much he decided to take his own life! Literally, we came home from a long weekend and he jumped off the top of the tv unit and we found the scene too dire to fix, soil everywhere and dried up roots. Poor guy.

Anyhoo, I really am going to try (again, something I say every year) So we have 1 hanging basket, and 3 pots of flowers. This year, we (I) decided I was going to teach the girls that vegetables come from plants and not just the grocery store. We planted tomatos ( I am the only one that likes tomato's - Simon once worked on a tomato farm and now hates all tomatos - just the flesh, he loves ketchup. Anyway, much like his bizarre thinking that his kids would talk with British accents because HE is british he thinks they inherited his dislike for tomato's.) Whatever.

Wow, glad I got that off my chest. I am going to beat this! We are going to like tomato's. There is nothing betting than tomato and basil fresh from a garden. Obviously not mine, Hello People?!? SO, back to the post.......

We planted 2 tomato plants, 1 cherry and 1 larger size. Also, we planted 4 broccoli plants. The girls favorite vegetable is broccoli so I thought they would like to watch it grow. We had to do them in pots since the deer are horrendous where we are. They would eat all our grass every night if we let them. As it stands we have a gate on our deck to keep them off, but I wouldn't put it past them to get up there.

Stay tuned, I am having to mark every few days the growth of the plant with sidewalk chalk to keep them interested.

Simon has had to water everything regularly since I have forgotten many times already. I love him. And I am glad he puts up with me.

Playtime with friends

David

Ruthie and Lulu's BFF's are David and Charlie (and their mom is my great friend Kris). We spend lots of time with them and love every minute. Ruthie loves doing "boy things" with David, yet he is kind enough to play house with Lulu every once and a while.

Lulu would rather play dolls

Well, they don't dissappoint with the boy excitement. A couple weekends ago Kris called with some exciting newws. They found 2 salamanders! Yippee, I thought they would be similar to the ones we all know and love from camp little orange things. NOT EVEN CLOSE!

Ruthie always has such a serious look on her face but she loved every minute of it





Lulu getting into it

loving a frog

bring on the salamander

salamander, ice cream, and dog waiting for both!

slide!