hello mother, hello father.....

here I am at, Camp Granada....

well, today, we shipped out Boo to Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center over on Lake Erie - just kidding - on Lake Chautauqua. she's there for Confirmation Camps...she's going to have a great time, she just doesn't realize it.



that's her excited look, but like I said - she doesn't know how fun it will be.

7 hours before this image, the red spots were right over the camp. it was nasty. but, i think at this point tonight, the weather is finally clearing out.



on the way to the cabin, though, we still had rain and puddles, as Abigail was pointing out.

being first allows you to pick the top bunk. though I don't know when you've got 6 girls crammed into a room, if that is a good idea.



there is a fabulous view from the front deck of their cabin. we were jealous.



and then think, Boo goes all the way to camp to hang out with someone...from... north east?

w/e

- m

a fish bench...

just so you know, a fish bench is none of the following:

a fish shaped bench

a bench to fish off of

it is not a bench to watch fish off of next to a pond

it is not a bench made of little toy fishies

fish bench

- m

dancing, dancing in the streets....

so, i'm catching up with some of the dance pix from this year, and I've pulled some more from the second night of marguerites

sarah's going to be taking lessons next year - thank god (hope she doesn't read this!)

the star of the night.

still looking for old pix - but it's too nice out!

- m

i'm full of games

so, several years ago, we were introduced to Polish Horseshoes as we've learned to call it. since then, it's become rather popular. i remember the many libations with Jeremy & Wes, dreaming of one day when we would running our league, talking about the days when the sport would be bigger than the NHL. well, in this day and age, seems that anything can be bigger than the NHL, so nothing's accomplished there. plus, PH has taken on a new moniker in "Ladder Golf."

we could have made a killing. our's is better, faster(?) and stronger than the mass produced models.

so, now we'll turn our attention to.... cornhole!

the scoring is the same as PH and there isn't nearly the same level of danger with small hard objects flying around - unless that's your mission.

so, 1 - because i'm hooked, and 2 - i'm not spending ridiculous amounts of cash on deck/bags/paint job - i've gone and completed my set. inauguration of it is tonight, and it will be going to nags head.



set is ready to be painted



emma laughing at my mad woodworking skillz



colors starting to take shape



go gannon? nah, true hometown spirit... go Pickers!

finished boards





better learn!

- m

And we danced....

like a wave on the ocean ...

but back to the dancing part. last friday was the ever popular Marguerite's Dance Recital. this was Bailey's 9th(?) one, maybe 8th. it's been a long time. i'll try to dig some up later this weekend, but in the meantime, here's her before the dance. nice shoes, boo.

i will say that our seats for this years extravaganza were the best ever. front row in the balcony. didn't have to worry about where she was on stage, nor anyone for that matter - we could see it all.

after her three dances, we tracked her down and managed to get a few more pictures.



that's her and her friend Gabby



Abigail doing who know's what.



Mamaw and Boo



someone has to take the pictures though. :(

well, it's the weekend which means that, well, i get to do alot of stuff around the house...

- m

whoosh.....

what was that you say? productivity out the window?

FireNES

Translated from Spanish, but what it does is allow for NES games to be played from within Firefox.

All of them.

- m

eat a carrot...

for Carrot.

Carrot went on to the big Clover Field in the sky today. Reasons unknown.

- m

firstly....

Just wanted to take a moment to wish all the fathers that read this.... happy fathers day.

enjoy the day.

enjoy the kids.

sit back and take a moment to appreciate all that you have.

then, make yourself breakfast cause your kids are too tired to get up and do it for you....



omelets in a bag (it works just fine!)

- m

your Erie SeaWolves.......

hooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we hit the Uht up last night to a packed house for the "North East Little League Night." that's in quotes cause the representation by the NELL. but as the wonderful folks at underarmour would say.... we must protect this house!

well, I wouldn't say protect this house... kinda like, go check out the Uht.



since it was the NELLNight, we were treated to some extracurricular activities, such as the Field of Ginormus Dreams or some other marketing gimmick. basically, the kids from LL will be able to sprint out on the field with the players and stand out there for the opening ceremonies, then they will spring back at the end. abby wanted nothing to do with this, but emma was all about it!



so, we then settle in to a night of eating, watching, covering our eyes from the sun cause the 1st base seats are looking right into the sun until about the 6th inning or so - bad design.







that is, until the 7th inning.... the Kids Center Field Stampede!!!!!! Run.

basically, it's like cat herding, without the cats, but equally unresponsive and uncaring critters being herded. the get the kids out behind the center field fence, and then boom! the gates open up and there is a flood of kids just running. that's where the herding comes in.

i tried to find emma and abby during the run, and should have gotten some pix of the run, but failed. so i did find them at the end when they were getting off the field



good times good times.

the funnier part of the night was this guy



first, he had a mullet - business in the front, party in the back! awesome. secondly, he would say stuff to everyone that got up to bat, made a play, etc. so, that's fine - i can deal with that. but the thing that got me was for the last 3 innings or so, after his beer really kicked in, was that he would yell swing at *every* *single* *pitch* that a SeaWolf would through. every one. didn't miss. several times, the ball was on the way out of the catcher's mitt to be thrown back and he would yell swing. it was truly great. bailey even said something about billy ray.

- m

'smores

well, that was a heck of a storm that we had, wasn't it?

but since it was a nice night leading up to that point when all hell broke loose, we were outside cooking up some 'smores, enjoying the night and just plain relaxing.

but to catch up a bit - few weeks ago we went to the newara's for birthday parties - did snap a few pics inbetween innings of the game.

Like I said though, when we started the 'smore adventure '08 as we'll call it, it was a gorgeous night, as has been the case now for the past few weeks - 80's, 90's - blue skies! it's like living in the south! we love it. so what better way to deal with the heat then to build... a fire?



as you can see, good times and 'smores were had by all



grumpy abby had aiden over for fun and food, but, in true grumpy abby fasion, was grumpy and not having fun doing the chicken dance. booooo!

then the storm cut loose and the night was cut short.

but the 'smores were good!

- m

what is this crazy guy thinking....

ok - so I wake up this morning to a line of thunderstorms, heavy rains, and hail that will be moving in around 7:00 or so. needless to say this is when I'll be going into work and it should make for a fun commute.

i pull onto I-90 with black, ominous and foreboding skies to the west. and a mazda miata in the passing lanes just ahead of me.

it's bill.

not only is it him, he's driving with the top down. into a storm.

here, you can see him driving, with the top down into hell...



and, a blury one just to almost prove it's him...



in his "defense" he called me about 2 minutes later when the downpour started and said he got back in just in nick of time.

convertible drivers - sheesh

- m

it's love....

ok - since the playoffs intermissions are sponsored by heineken, they are constantly playing this commercial.

we are to the point where we can call when it's going to be on:

take me out to the ball game

ok. as many of you know, our girls have been into dance, girl scouts, soccer, etc. so when not one, not two, but all three of them decided that they wanted to play softball this year, it came as a complete shock.

forward to today.

bailey ended up not being able to play as all the games were on Monday and Wednesday - her dance days.

the other two, well, they're going full force. emma has turned into an allstar of pixies softball. her coaches are amazed by her level of softball ability:

abigail is just like every other kid when it comes to tee-ball. she's got a great arm, she can hit and belive it or not, she can run!

luckily, for us, there is no allstars for both pixies and teeball - so there will be no extended season for us.... this year!

- m