A Season (or two) in Photos

An Autumn Photo in our front yard

Brainiac & Yummy Pasta Mama after a volleyball tournament

A 70's Girl and 2 Dogs... Trick or Treat!

Bikeman in a race

...and another photo in a race

Chick Magnet turns EIGHT!

Mellow Boy hanging with the pumkins!

Just chillin' at the pumpkin farm

Brainiac and her cool gourd!

Taking our autumn treasures back to the farm

Brainiac and Mocha

The Men

The kids

A cool tree

A cool view

Mellow boy - poolside

Mellow Boy's first day of kindergarten

Bathtime for Mocha!

Chick Magnet's room - finally done!

"Dinosaurs in the Jungle" themed room

Brainiac & Chick Magnet tubing

Brainiac - the speed demon!

Mellow Boy along for the ride

Brainiac jumping off the high dive

Chick Magnet angry with himself for not having the courage to jump... he went to the edge and back on 6 separate occasions. This was the last swim day of the summer. Maybe next year, dude!

Where do I even begin???

WOW! It has been so unbelievably long since I last posted. The summer came and went. Autumn is nearing it's end. Christmas is creeping up on us! And I have failed to post any photos of our adventures or filled you in on any juicy gossip. What an AWFUL blogger I am! Bad blogger! Bad blogger! Shame, shame, shame! Everybody knows my name!





Well, let me give you the extremely abbreviated version of the second half of the summer. First, we went to numerous areas of the state to accompany Bikeman on his race weekends. I'll post a few photos of that. Bikeman finished 2nd for the season... Yay, Bikeman!





The kiddos started school. Brainiac is in 5th grade and doing well. She just finished her first season of volleyball. And basketball just started. She has taken a break from guitar lessons to play the alto sax in the school band. She keeps busy! Chick Magnet is in second grade and falling into the routine quite nicely. He still loves to mountain bike and build with Legos. He is not into team sports... he would much rather bike, swim, rock climb, and lately he mentions golf (Poor Bikeman! He is not a fan of golf!) Mellow Boy is in kindergarten and soaking everything up like a sponge. He participated in a sport sampler class, but much like his older brother, Mellow Boy isn't a big fan of team sports. All three kids love to create, whether it be artwork or dimentional structures or sidewalk chalk masterpieces. And they all love to read as well.





Mocha, the vicious puppy, is growing. He is a WHOPPING three pounds now. He has been "fixed" (poor guy) and is still having some house training/marking issues. He is lucky he is so darn cute! Otherwise we would feed him to the hawks who watch him through our patio door as they perch on our deck railing... (I'd never do that, for those of you who think I could really be that cruel! I'm not saying I haven't fantasized about it, though!)



My brother, let's call him "Uncle Fireman" just got engaged! Yippee! His fiance, let's call her BabyNurse, has asked me to stand. I am so excited! And screwed! I have about 4-5 months to do what I have been unable to do in 4-5 years... DROP MAJOR POUNDAGE!!! BLAH! I won't bore you with the drama and b*tch about it, but for all of you out there who have ever been disgusted about needing to drop a few (or more), you KNOW what I'm up against!



I am going to just post a bunch a photos in another entry directly after this post. I don't feel like doing some chronological photo journal entry right now. Too much work. A bit overwhelming. I'll just post some cool, random photos for your enjoyment! :)

A Sisters Trip

My sister, Skittles, and I went to Door County for our first ever Sisters Trip. Here is a photo collection of our journey... enjoy!

Skittles gazes out over the bay...

...and so do I.

The sun peeks through briefly, lending to sparkling water pictures

Kayaking... the weather was too windy to go out on either the Bay or Lake Michigan, so we ended up at Kangaroo Lake. Not as scenic or cool, but still darn hard to paddle with all of that wind!!!

We actually did quite well. I, for one, would love to do it again.

Sunset over the bay. We drove down a road right after an incredible Italian dinner, hoping to reach the shore and capture a sunset photo. We came over a hill and *voila!* ... glorious sunset!

We went to Cave Point the next day (which is where we were suppose to kayak the previous day). The weather was gorgeous. Many wonderful photo opportunities! This one is a photo of Skittles dangling about 8 feet above the surface of the water.

A neat little arch formed in the rugged shoreline. Last time I was here with Bike Man, this feature was at water level with waves swooshing back and forth through it.

Rugged shoreline

More rugged shoreline

Hanging out on the shoreline

Skittles at the shoreline, high above the water.

A super-cute, tiny wild strawberry

Skittles takes photos from a 30 foot cliff

A close up of me in a rocky, shoreline cave

More posing for photos...

And, finally, a crazy garden shop in Fish Creek. These glass-topped wooden-staked mushrooms were screaming "retro" and "groovy" and "trippy"... and then we took a closer look. They began to be TOO PHALIC! Like a garden full of.... hmmm.... strange! There were just SO MANY of them!!!

Should have been in bed hours ago...

It is 2 a.m. and I should be at least through one full cycle of sleep by now!!! (If I am remembering correctly way back to nursing school, that is about 90 minutes or so...) Instead, I am goofying off...accomplishing nothing...kicking myself in the ass (which is a hard feat considering I am sitting ON my ass at the computer!!!) I should really have posted the mountain of pictures I have, but I am too tired to start. I could really tell you all about my minivan that went to some automotive heaven quite unexpectedly, but I am too sick of that story already. So what could I possibly share at 2 a.m.?

Well, last week, when I was ACTUALLY SLEEPING for once, I fell out of bed...seriously! Like a toddler who just transfered out of a crib. I flat - out fell...and it was NOT linked to any kinky acrobatics! I was truly asleep. WHAT THE HECK???!!! I am 34! Do I need SIDERAILS??? And to make matters worse, I really hurt my arm on the corner of my nightstand. My arm is bruised and sore and UGLY! When I ungracefully rolled over and thudded on the floor, Bike Man woke up and asked what happened. I clutched my arm and groggily stated that I fell. He turned away from me and I could see his shoulders bounce up and down as he silently laugh at me. THANKS A LOT!!!

Well, I hope that gives you all a chuckle, too!

Biking Weekend ~ One of Many

Bike Man races off-road endurance mountain bike races. His races take us ALL OVER. He participates in the 6 hour races, which leaves the kids, the puppy, and I to our own devices. We tend to hang out at the trails or venture out into the neighboring communities. And sometimes I get a little inspired by the scenery (and overcome with boredom) and go a wee bit camera happy (go figure!)... here are my latest photo shoot results!

Mocha - so darn cute!

Brainiac and Mocha

Chick Magnet and Mocha chilling in the grass

Mellow Boy chilling under our sun shade

Mocha panting - awe... so cute!

The next day we went as a family to a bike trail that was built along an old railroad track. We were exceptionally excited to take the kids there. Being an old railway, there were 3 old tunnels. We chose a route that would take us through the longest one... nearly one mile long. Our boys are huge train fans. They own pretty much every Brio and Thomas piece of train and track, and they have the most monstrously large train table (thanks, Grandpa!!!). So we thought (in error, of course) that seeing a REAL tunnel and going into it would ROCK! Well, WRONG!!! The boys FREAKED OUT BIGTIME! We didn't even get a half a block into it and they cried and screamed to get out. The echo of their dismay was seriously painful to my ears (and head). I couldn't get them out fast enough! Bike Man and Brainiac did venture the whole way through and back. They loved it. Oh well! Live and learn!

Chick Magnet outside the tunnel - happy to be out of there!

Moments before the chaos and freaking out began

Brainiac and Chick Magnet on the trail

Mellow Boy and Mocha hanging out in the Burley

Chick Magnet playing in the sun rays (I LOVE THIS PHOTO! Kind of like God shining down on him...)

Bike Man's aerial view of his bike on the trail - a really cool shot, thanks to the shadow in the sunspot!

The tunnel entrance and Bike Man's pride & joy - his new 29-er (fancy, schmancy bike)

We went to Perkins for dinner. It was HOT outside, and we didn't want Mocha to suffer in the car. So we snuck him in via his "doggy purse!" He-he! No one was the wiser!

During the week, I took the kids to a farm to pick strawberries and sugar snap peas with a friend of mine. Yum! Yum! They loved it! And, boy, doesn't it ALWAYS taste better straight from the field!!! We ate nearly as much as we picked! (Oops!!!)

Chick Magnet sitting amidst the strawberries, taking his role as a picker very seriously.

Mellow Boy shows off a perfect strawberry that moments later he declared was very yummy!