Back in the Saddle!

After a gentle nudge from Allison L. (Thanks girl!!)
I was reminded that the 3 people who still read my blog deserve updates! LOL

And update I did!!

You can scroll down the page or you can find each of the new blog posts right here!

#1: Hot Summer Nights

#2: Let Freedom Ring

#3: Out with the Old

#4: ABC, easy as: Over the Rainbow

#5: Old Friends come to call

#6: Ooooh Fuuudge

#7: Snug as a bug. If the bugs are trying to smother each other.

It's my new goal, to post at LEAST one thing each week, just to make sure I don't fall off the blog wagon again!!

Snug as a bug. If the bugs are trying to smother each other.

"Oh, how do you sleep in the morning time
When all the world is still?
Do you lazily dream or wake up scream
at the children you want to kiiiiill??

Is that what you do?? So do I!"




This is what most mornings look like.*
Dom and Di know better than to try and crowd Ed, so they naturally find
that smothering ME is much more ideal.

And I wonder why I can't sleep anymore.

(*Diana has slept in her own bed ... all night for 7 days running.
I'm afraid to make it official yet, but things are looking good!)

Ooooh Fuuuudge

I didn't know these pictures were even existence until recently.

Now, I'm not the overly protective type, but I think I relate a little more to
the Mom in "A Christmas Story" when it comes to BB guns.

But Dominick must have channeled his inner "Ralphie"
and somehow talked Ed into
buying him a BB gun.

While I still think he's going to take his eye out,
I have to admit that he's not a half bad shot!

Old Friends come to call

One of my oldest, and dearest friends in the world is Eileen W.

I've had the great priveledge of calling
her my friend for the past 14 years.
She's seen me at my best and worst,
and all of the stops in between!

I was thrilled (giddy with excitement actually)
when I found that she and
her son could stop in and visit with us
for a day on their way through to
Princeton, NJ!

They were only able to stay 34 hours
(but who's counting?) and I loved every minute!

Here are some of the best pictures from her stay:

Brooke getting to know the boys:
( I think she looks A LOT like Caity in this one!)


Diana actually let Eileen french braid her hair!


I took Eileen, her son Julian and his friend Sergio to the Clinch Mountain Look-Out:






These are from the Panther Creek Look-out:




And of course, we had to take them swimming!


The boys aren't sure if they're water proof yet:


And little Diana:

ABC, Easy as: Over the Rainbow

We finally got Diana's dance pictures back,
I may be her Mom, and I know that means I'm naturally biased,
but, come on!!! Do they come any cuter than this???

Tap costume.
Song: ABC by: The Jackson 5


Ballet costume.
Song: Over the Rainbow by: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Out with the old

And in the with the um, old.

We've had the same boat for about 7 years now.
A beautiful 23' Wellcraft Eclipse that Ed has done an
excellent job of maintaining in near perfect condition.

Old Red:


After some thought we decided that the boat
was just too big for our needs anymore.
On a typical day to the lake, we really just like to swim,
float around in our tubes and BBQ.
And a boat of this size and speed seemed wasted on us.
Granted, the kids really enjoyed
being able to hide in the cabin if it rained,
but it doesn't rain often enough to warrant
keeping it for that reason alone.

So, we sold her! (And quite easily actually!)

Finding a new boat, however, was a bit trickier. We
decided that, for how we spend our time on the lake,
a pontoon boat was the best bet. The search was on!

If you've ever bought anything from a classified ad,
whether it's Ebay, Craigslist, or the Sunday paper,
you'll have learned that the "condition" of an
object is highly objective. It shouldn't be, but it is.
What one man thinks is "Well taken care of" will be
found by another to be: "Left-it-out-in-the-rain-without-a-
cover-and-a-racoon-made-a-nest-and-died-under-the-deck".
It didn't seem like we'd find anything that met our (Ed's) standards.

Enter the hero: My brother-in-law, Dan.
Dan heard of our dilema and came to the rescue!
Offering us his 1980-something pontoon boat at a price
even the tightest of tightwads could not have refused!
Yes!, he warned us, it was older, outdated and
needed renovations, but the engine ran, and
the "bones" were as good as they came!

With hopes high, we left the comfort of TN, to meet
the new boat, "Blue", in South Carolina!
About an hour into the drive, the Suburban started
to act a little wonky. Nothing spectacularly worrying,
but enough to make us all perk up. Luckily,
we made it to the Lake house without any further incidents.

Our luck didn't last. As Dan was backing the Suburban up to the trailer,
he ran the Suburban aground in a ditch that had
been covered by high grass. After some head scratching
he called a truck in to pull it out, and all was well.
For a short while anyway.

After loading the pontoon and securing her down,
we began the 1.5 hour treck back to Asheville.
I think we made it 10 miles before the Suburban
decided it'd lost the will to live and stalled.
On the highway. In the middle of nowhere!
(I don't say that lightly, I live in Rural TN,
I know "the-middle-of-nowhere" when I see it!)
So began the awful, hot, horrid, hilarious FIVE HOUR adventure back home!

One of many roadside stops!


If you're wondering why we didn't just
give up and call a tow truck.... we tried.
Numerous times. It was "easier", and I use the
term as loosely as I can, to nurse the Suburban back.
It was slow going, about 10 miles at a time, but we succeeded!

As for now, the pontoon has been stripped of it's former garb, and is being outfitted with all new goodies! New Seats, new console, new sound system, new bimini, new cover...the works!
And we'll STILL be thousands below what we
would have spent on a new (to us) boat!

I'll have more picture updates soon!

Let Freedom Ring

The sun never seems to set on these long summer days.
After a full day of swimming and BBQing, we were
all pooped when it came time for the fireworks.

But we rallied and put on quite a show from our driveway!

Ed, Anthony and Dom were the masters of the pyrotechnics,
while the girls and I just played with our sparklers and
watched the show!

Di and Dom's favorite fireworks released little parachute men,
that they ran all over the yard chasing!





Brookie playing with a huge sparkler.











Toward the end of the evening, Diana and Brooke cuddled up and
watched from the sidelines!

Hot Summer Nights

Have I mentioned before that I love our Tennessee summers?
Ok, so maybe it's been said a time or two or twelve.

This year, my new found favorite thing about summer is: Porch sittin'.
Ed put up a Gazebo type canopy on the back deck, and we've spent
many a night doing nothing butlistening to
the splashing of the kids in the pool,
the chorus of the crickets and silence of
friendly comradery while we sit in our loungers,
snack on our favorite cherries and catch up on our reading.