Summer Send-Off: Thrill Rides

Ladies and gentleman, it's time to say farewell to a much loved, small town America tradition...The Carnival. You know, those totally safe and perfectly clean rides that are set up in 30 minutes and run by men who smell like Jack Daniels and cigarette smoke?

Ah, yes...and what an innocent, sweet, summer tradition it is (as you cover your kids' ears in hopes that they won't hear the multi-pierced teenagers swearing like a bunch of drunken sailors). My friends, carnivals are small town at its finest. And honestly, I love ours.

Love. It.

Except for the five minutes when Ellie was sucking on the hand bar of the ferris wheel (It's okay, though, because I'm sure it was cleaned with lysol wipes by the tattoo covered, dog collar wearing ride operator just moments before she sat down).

So here's a quick farewell to our beloved carnival and all the colorful sights and sounds (and people) that go along with it.

Summer Send-Off: Farewell to Sprinkles

My girls love sprinkles. Me? Not so much. Melty ice cream with dripping sprinkles is not among my top five summer pleasures. But the girls think it is hilarious to get sprinkles up their noses, down their shirts, and in their socks. Seriously, though...how could you not love a little shot of sprinkles up your nose?

Excuses...and Summer Send-Off #1

I wasn't abducted by aliens.
I wasn't on a deserted island shooting Survivor Season #58.
I wasn't hanging out with a man named Bubba in an 8x8 jail cell.

And I most definitely was not outside a certain Kindergarten classroom, hiding behind a prickly bush with binoculars around my neck making sure my girl was okay (but only because Steve said I would be arrested and locked in an 8x8 jail cell with Bubba).

What I have been doing is holding a cranky three-year-old who had her tonsils removed, crying over a garden that is producing way more than I can keep up with, wearing a winter coat and gloves while driving at high speeds on a boat, editing pictures from last months photo shoots, nagging a certain little girl to do her homework, driving to swimming and dance classes, and finding ways to avoid the gym.

I thought I had writers block, but I just realized that I had too much to write about and I didn't know where to start.

And so, without further ado...I have made an executive blogging decision. It's time for....

Drumroll please...

My much anticipated and well loved Summer Send-Off Series (aka: Holly's way of posting all those summer pictures that she was too lazy busy to post during the summer).

So, are you with me (or are you wishing I was filming Survivor right now? Just so you know, Steve says I would be the first one voted off because my head spins in circles, I grow claws and fangs, and I hurt things when I get hungry...or something like that).

Summer Send-Off #1 Farewell to Ocean Waves and Sand Between Your Toes...





























And just so I don't ever forget, my favorite things about the beach this year were:
*Watching the girls fly a kite and run around the beach until the sun set
*Swimming in the ocean with Kate...she loved "riding the waves."
*Spending the day at Assateague on a private little bay-side beach where we saw a sting ray, crabs, clams, and jelly fish (but the girls still swam in there, without fear)!
*Eating popcicles on the porch of our beach house with my parents after a long day on the beach
*An impromptu steamed shrimp lunch in our beach house...my favorite meal of the whole trip!
*Curling up in bed at night with a good book while my girls slept on either side of me (we had a room with three twin beds in a row). I finished two books in one week.
*Riding bikes on the boardwalk with just Steve while the girls stayed home with Grammy and Pappy
*Coming home from that bike ride to see my dad, pulling Ellie on her bike down the boardwalk using his belt!

What a great week!

Summer Send-Off: Final Edition

I went camping this weekend.
It was freezing.
I dressed the girls in coats and hats and mittens.
I wore brown fuzzy boots and black sweatpants (at the same time...classy, huh?)
I shivered while sitting next to a fire.
I realized that summer is long, long gone.
And so, too, should be my Summer Send-Off Series.

Here's one final Hoorah to a season filled with swingsets and wagon rides, afternoons at the park and evenings at the pool. I'm sending you off with five of my favorite photos from this summer. I will hold my breath (and I mean that figuratively, as I don't want to pass out before I have a chance to eat all of my children's Halloween candy), until summer comes back to our region again (only seven short months, but who's counting?).

Summer Send-Off: Answered Prayers

Twenty weeks. That's how long it took me to believe that I was really pregnant. I was a dedicated journaler prior to that, and I wrote extensively about my struggle with infertility. But I didn't write one word from the time I found out I was pregnant until I hit the 20-week mark.

Thirty weeks. That's when I found out the baby I was carrying was a girl.

Thirty two weeks. That's when I bought the first thing for that sweet girl.

Thirty six weeks. That's when I told my mom that she could have a shower for me (not before). I was still afraid and a little shocked after everything we had been through.

Thirty eight weeks. That's when Steve hung up the precious words around the top of the nursery. All the things that I wanted to do when we had a baby. All the things I had dreamt about and prayed for. All the things that I finally believed we might get to experience.
Chase Fireflies. Roast Marshmallows. Build Sandcastles. Make Snow Angels.

They're simple things. They're things that we take for granted every day (even me, even after everything I've been through). When I saw these pictures, they reminded me of that nursery wall. Blow Bubbles. A simple thing. A thing that I had longed to do with my sweet kids.

Four and Half Years: That's how long it took me to realize that God had answered another one of my prayers. Blow Bubbles. It may be a simple thing, but it is a Big thing to me.

Summer Send-Off: Tomatos vs. Peppers

Remember my tomato plantlings? The ones that were squeezed into pots with the pepper plants (just like I was squeezed into a tiny dorm room with a strange roommate and her beer-drinking, boxer-short-wearing, 20-something boyfriend)? Is it all coming back to you yet? Well, I wanted to let you know that my sweet tomato plantlings refused to be pushed aside by those pesky peppers (wish I could say the same about myself, but I only lasted one semester with that dreadful roommate before I ran to a new room as fast as my short, little legs would carry me). But not my tomato plantlings. Oh no. They're tough and they held their own, producing just enough fruit to keep bruchetta, BLTs, and Steve's special tomato pasta on our menu all summer long. And while the experiment was a success, I think we'll make plans to plant a real garden next summer. Because even hardy tomato plantlings deserve some space, don't you think?

Summer Send-Off: The Little Waterskier Who Could...

If....

At first....

You Don't Succeed...

Tie the fronts of your skis together. It's much easier that way! Seriously...it is easier. I have waterskied a few times in the past without hooking my skis together, but for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't do it this time. I thought for sure that it was the equipment, because it definitely couldn't be my waterskiing skills (or lack there of) right?

But then this guy came along and proved me wrong, again. He makes it look like a stroll in the park, jumping wakes and waving to the girls (both the wee small ones on our boat and the hot, bikini-clad ones on passing boats...ha!). He's been waterskiing since he was a preschooler, so I guess he should be pretty good. And he has informed me that we will have our own boat next summer, so I will have plenty of time to work on my pathetic waterskiing skills. Great. Must stock up on Ibuprofin before then!