Catching up posts :) back in September...

The kids were elated at the fun of their own room complete w/ tall bunk beds!  The first thing they did when they saw them was climb up and look guilty up there,  I had to snap a picture :)

Chloe took her golf game more seriously then anyone else!

I have no idea what this pose was all about but they rocked it regardless!

Odd how tired we always look when we are "relaxing" on vacation :)

I have more pictures of these two walking away,  it always strikes me as so sweet side by side

Brian doing his favorite pool game,  heaving the children into the water

Love those folks!

Me and my sister Sue,  we talked ourselves hoarse ...again this weekend

more flying kids

my girls love their uncle Dave!

poor Hamilton,  his daddy got him good

I love this 1920's looking suit Sue gave her

Dad was high as a kite on happiness at spending the day at the UVA game...and they won!

amazing how Sue got them all to line up and smile,  she's got mad skill that one!

Only Sue could convince us to go back out after dinner to sit by the pool.   Obviously we are pooped and would rather curl up in front of a fire and watch a movie.  We had a great time though and were so glad we went back out.  And below is me and Sue whipping out our Just Dance moves when a familiar song came on, Brian and Dave were so...proud of their wives :)

One of the best pictures of mom and dad I've seen

Cause we should all be brave enough to don boots and Hello Kitty for breakfast!

Maddie just took initiative and plopped down in the hot sun, took her shoes off and sunk her toes into the water.  Her face says it all, this child does NOT like the outdoors it's so funny !

 "too bright mommy!"

Such a great get a way we got at a weekend at mom and dad's timeshare.    It's such a peaceful beautiful place to take the kids and this year we tried the new cabins and they were really special.   We got 2 cabins so Sue's family could be right beside us and we just had the best time. Amy and Shannon were tied up in swim practices so they couldn't join us unfortunately.  The rest of us enjoyed a close to the summer and a relaxing time in the beautiful mountains together.  We ate wonderful food and talked non stop!  Poor mom was so sick but toughed it out like a champ still enjoying her grand babies.  Dad was just thrilled to sit and watch it all and let Brian cook him bacon.  The kids ran like wild loving the independence to run back and forth between cabins. We brought the kids bikes and they got some good practice in on the low traffic little roads.  This year it was warm enough to swim and enjoy the pools for a change so we traded pretty fall foliage for pool play.   It was a great weekend and we hope to keep this up as an annual family thing to kick off the fall.  

sianora summertime!

Sweet Mindy is getting bigger and cuter!

Chloe keeping herself busy one night while I cooked dinner.  I gave her a value pack to keep her entertained and ....she ate it.

 

My friend from growing up paid us a visit with her sweet Callie and of course it involved dress up!

We have had a great summer this year.  The girls were getting more independent at the pool which made life so much sweeter for me.   We didn't have any glamorous plans or big vacations but we did the small simple things and had a ball with the good family days.   We love our pool and we keep them in business some weeks almost daily.    Abigail mastered her swimming and even decided she would take a crack at the diving board one night.  It was hilarious.  She watched a gymnast do some impressive dives off of the high dive and decided there was no reason she could take up flipping off the diving board as well.  It was almost like she didn't know to be intimidated by it.  She walked up turned around backwards and flipped into the water upside down and head first.  It was a riot!  She flipped off time after time and even had the lifeguards cheering for her.  She looked so tiny flipping over and cutting into the water.   I really think she doesn't have enough mass for it to hurt her when her little body smacked the water in random positions.  :)  Chloe is fearless as always with anything life can throw at her.  It drove her nuts that Abigail could go off the diving board and she couldn't, so of course by summers end we let her do it too.
  The rule was they can't go off with any floatation devices so a few brave (or stupid) times we took off Chloe's floaty and one of us sat on a noodle  in the water under the diving board.  The other one would make sure she got up the ladder ok and helped her walk the plank if you will.    We learned the hard way to spot her on the ladder when she went off backwards when she was too tired one night and slapped her back, bum and head on the concrete.  I never knew how fast I could pop out of a pool and that the lifeguards have a distress whistle blow consisting of 3 hard blows.  The whole pool emptied and lifeguards came running out of the offices and down from their platforms to check on our Chloe.  So typical,  that this girl be the one to prompt the stress whistle!!!  The good news is she knew to brace her fall on her back and bum and her skull never hit hard if at all.  Gave us all a good scare, and Chloe was over it in 20 min and begged to go again.  Brian and me however took longer to shake off  the shakes.  :) 
   Both girls grew a lot this summer and Brian and I had fun keeping up.  He and I got some nice date nights.  He took me up to a nice Brazilian restaurant one night. It was a beautiful summer evening out on a veranda patio.  The sun was setting and the panorama of mountains kept us happy and content catching up with out... distractions.  :)  Amazing how much you forget how wonderful it is simply talking.  You know, Brian's a nice guy, I miss just having a conversation with him.  We rarely get to do that anymore.  It was heavenly.  He took me shopping at Khols after then to ice cream at Dairy Queen.  Yeah,  good times.