Memory Lane, No.2

May 2004, Sand Key Beach

We've been friends with the Warren's for years.  Micah was a baby... now he's 14.  And the Tall One in the picture....  Jacob (center) is 9 months older than Ben.  They get Ben.  This event was Jacob's 6th birthday party.  

I love this picture of Ben... just relaxing, and thinking.  With a smile.  He was probably giggling all to himself, too... 

and not to be left out... Yup, another instance where I took a picture of her displeasure, rather than, you know, carrying her to the water.  She got all ready on her own to "swim" a little too far from the water.  Classic picture.  

Isn't it fun looking at Ben and Carly all little again?  But, I must say, we are REALLY enjoying the fact that they AREN'T all little anymore, too... Baseball games are a lot more fun for me if Carly is keeping her OWN scorecard and not crawling all over me!  Ha!

Memory Lane... No.1

My camera is on vacation... I am not.  So feel free to sit back, and ENJOY my Memory Lane posts.  Good times. 

April 2003, the Rec Center

Happy, happy Ben (age 4) coming down the Frog Slide... note the "at-the-time-ever-present" Rubber Ducky.  His love for this duck inspired the kids bathroom until our recent redecoration efforts.  And this particular day was JackPot day:

A baby duck was waddling around the pools and BEN set his right down in front of it.  We're McGregor's.  We aim to entertain.  All species.

And our fearless daughter... 18 months old and clamoring up the steps... complete with pool shoes.  Because they were cute, if I recall correctly.  Something tells me she won't enjoy this picture when she's 16.  

Of course, completely proud of herself... and yes, she slid down to the bottom (no photo because, I'm a good mother and caught her instead of photographing her... but I'm sure it was a toss-up).

The Batter's Eye

So, Tropicana Field has no seats in Centerfield... unless you eat in the Batter's Eye restaurant!  Ryan and I have done this a few times, and last night we took Ben and Carly with us...  Yummy food and a fun "unusual-for-us" view of our favorite team.  Here's Ben looking out the window at our table... BJ Upton was standing right below us.  He did not wave.  Ugh.

And just a few Random Pictures.  Because they are cute...

That would be Carly at the Dessert Buffet.  Just the kids indulged here... I could NOT believe they didn't want to try the Banana's Foster that the dessert chef was making!  

Carly's Sweetie, Evan.  Hey, it's a blog for the WHOLE family and I must keep my small wonder happy... loving the zoom on my camera!

Mommy's sweetie.  Ok, kidding.  It's just Carlos.

Mommy's Sweetie.  For Real.  Awwww... nice, huh?!?!  

... more sweetness.  

and my super tall son.  And.... the RAYS won.  Duh.

That's her sign that we are the winners.  Yup.  There's a sign.

... our Not So Rec-Less Summer

We spend a lot of time at the Recreation Center.  Lots.  Every day.  For years.   And for the past 2 years both Ben and Carly have been on their Year Round Swim Team.... Above is the view from the top of the Very Fun Slide:

1.  The 1 foot deep "baby pool" that Ben nearly drowned in when he was 3.  Yup, ran across it in my clothes.  

2.  That would be Ben during Swim Team practice...

3.  Coach Chris

4.  The Fitness Center, where Ryan ALWAYS goes when they are practicing.  Always.  

5.  Where I sit if I am the one taking the kids to Swim Team.... but usually I'm in #4, trying to be productive.  Unless I can come up with a really good excuse.  Which I usually can.  I'm a clever girl.

Over view of the Kids Pool, Splash pool, and the start (bottom left) of the Famous Peanut Pool.

The Peanut Pool (get it?)  Not sure if EVERYONE calls it this, or just Ben and Carly.  Oh!  And the chairs in the upper left corner... that's where we sit in the morning during what we affectionately call, Fun Swim.  That's AFTER swim team practice is over and we are just relaxing.  That area is shaded then... (enjoying this tour?)

Carly on the slide... and the arrow above points to Coach Chris... um, NOT watching Ben in the pool BEHIND him.... hmmmmmm.  WHAT AM I PAYING YOU FOR??!?!  ok, kidding.  But really, Um, stop talking to the life guards.

The traditional "Dino Picture"... I have many pictures of these crazy kids with this thing... 

...and the cutest boy ever, himself!   Now, lest you think this tour was just a space-filler... I took all these BEFORE their first swim meet of the summer was supposed to start... however, since it was at 6:45pm, a giant thunder and lightening storm blew in, and well, the gig was cancelled.  You know, AFTER we set everything up!  Oh well... there will be more this summer.  Carly did get to swim ONE race, 25m FreeStyle... and her time was 22:39 seconds, which is a big improvement over her previous races!  

More RANDOM goodness... again.

This morning... Eli came over for a couple of hours to hang out with his favorite-people-with-a- really-big-HDTV.  I know everyone is SHOCKED to see ELI holding one of Ryan's SACRED ships.  Yup, I almost fell over when Ryan asked me to go get him one.  For Eli.  To Play With.  All brought on by Eli's great choice in clothing.  You'd think WE bought that shirt for him, but no, his mother did.  Nice work, Rochel!

Eli gets flying lessons from his Uncle.  Not picture would be Eli "playing" on the floor with a lone baseball.  MLB Regulation, of course, and a FINE toy for a baby... and I guess I COULD show you a picture of him watching TV with Ryan, but I think you get the picture.  Ha... no pun intended.  Really.

Brings us to yesterday... finally made it back to Coquina Beach and had a fun day with my parents, who are FINALLY back from being SomeWhereElse, which is where they ALWAYS are.  You can read about their recent travels to the Philippines HERE.  Anyways, (you knew there was a story, right?!)  While we were eating lunch (which, by the way, I would NOT recommend doing on a beach, I'm just saying) a possessed SeaGull swooped down, and grabbed, of all sandwiches, Ben's.  Did not go over well.  It's hard being 10 with Asperger's, and a notoriously healthy eater, and the ONE healthy thing your mother brought for your lunch was just consumed by a SeaGull, the 2nd dirtiest of birds.  Yes, we know statistics on birds... Pigeon. Because, I know someone is going to ask.  ANYWAYS.... later on, he came out of the waves for a snack and I looked over and my Very Efficient Boy was eating a granola bar in this fashion.  Smart.  

Carly Crested

We get bored around here sometimes.  Sometimes it just LOOKS like we are bored.  And have nothing better to do.  Than torment the children.  

Last week when Tracy and Torrey were here, we were planning on going to the beach (for the 2nd time)... however, it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  I had already pulled Carly's hair up to avoid the "in-her-face" day we had on our previous beach trip.  You know, just threw it into hair elastics in random fashion.  Well, the rain.  So we rented "Hotel for Dogs" on pay-per-view.  And sometime later that night it occurred to my sister and I that Carly looked like, well, a Chinese Crested.  Dog.  Oh boy!  And we laughed.  And laughed.  And she begged me to recreate the look for a photo.  And blog entry.  Aren't you lucky!  Yup... too much free-time.

Here's Romeo, from the movie (Which is super cute, and certainly worth renting)

And the Princess, looking oddly enough, like her Crazy Hair day photo.  She was happy to oblige in the photo, and even said, "Next time can you make me look like a chihuahua?"

Ok, supposed to be getting ready for the RAYS game.  Yes, this is how she's going to the game.  And the sunburn is courtesy of our morning at the rec-center for swim team and staying too long without reapplying sunscreen.  Rats.  She's usually pink, but not THAT pink!  

Hope you enjoyed this entry, Tracy.

Father Abraham

So, my little angel sweetly asked me to do devotions with her last night.  Part stalling, Part really wants to learn something... So I open her book and decide we need to learn about Rebekah, because hey, Carly has a WebKinz that she has graced with this name.  We are reading about her going to the well and giving Abraham's servant water and watering his camels (What a thoughtful girl!) and pointing out God's Plan.  She's listening so intently and looking so thoughtful, you know, the look you REALLY want to see when you are teaching Sunday School, etc.  Just when we are about to pray she says, "I have a question."  I so should have said, "No questions allowed."  I will know in the future.  You just never know what you are going to get.  Did NOT see this coming.  

"Is this Abraham Lincoln we are talking about?"

Oh dear.  

No kidding, I made her get up and taught her the Father Abraham song.  (Which she had never heard before... we've been so remiss!)  She looked at me like I was nuts at first....

Father Abraham had many sons,

many sons had Father Abraham.

I am one of them, and so are you.

So lets just praise the Lord!

Right arm....

then she decided, "oh! A dancing song!" and was completely into it!  And was laughing so hard by the time I got to "Nod your head!" that she actually collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath for the giggles.  Glad I can be so entertaining.  If you know Carly, you can COMPLETELY picture this scene...

Cousin Beach Fun

Ok, I am somewhat remiss in posting these pictures... they are from a WEEK ago!  Our day at Coquina Beach.  With Torrey, the infamous cousin who now resides in Texas.  These 3 have practically grown up together and are STILL thick as thieves.  There was a lot of giggling this past week... lots of Nintendo DS, too!  

Wild hair girl... we went to see the movie UP! (pretty cute) and Tracy and I were completely convinced that when they show Ellie as a little girl, it's Carly.  Completely.  Especially when she took her helmet off and her hair went EVERYWHERE!!!  Um, and the constant talking, and missing front tooth.  

It's so hard to believe Torrey is 13!  She is quite the little lady now... but still makes time for her little fan club.  She also informed me that she reads my blog!  HA!  I have arrived... so, here's my shout out to TORREY!  What I really loved about this week were the glimpses of her mama I saw in her!  So sweet.

Ben and Ryan had a great time playing catch on the beach.  Ryan also made the sandcastle with Ben.  Such a great Dad!  He always makes sure his kids have a good time.  You know, by spending time with them!  Love that.

And, because I couldn't resist... Carly saw this boat speed by and went "AAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!!  A pirate ship!"  She might have run for cover, too.  I'm not sure, I was too busy cracking up and scrambling for my camera.  Always entertaining, that girl.

Papoo throwing buckets of water on the kids... Ben was the 3rd one he got, and you notice no one is running away.  The didn't mind one bit.  He could have saved his time sneaking up on them!  

We had a great time at this beach and are looking forward to many more Beach Days this summer!

A word about the header... and today

New Blog Header.  But as I changed to a new one, I realized that there would be no "record" of the old one, which was pretty meaningful to me... so here it is.

Ryan on the beach in Washington State.  September 2007.  It was our first time seeing the Pacific Ocean and we were both pretty emotional about it.  It just seemed bigger than the Atlantic Coast.  So vast.  Endless.  Our first thought was how much the kids would LOVE seeing it.  So we are taking them this summer...  

Ryan is a fantastic father.  He won't love me saying this, and I know he won't agree, but he so completely shows Ben and Carly a picture of their Heavenly Father's love in his words and actions.  He is consistent, and dedicated to showing them God... and he loves them.  Completely.  The words I wrote on this picture (www.picnik.com... love that site!) are from one of my favorite songs that we sing in church.  At Easter time, I wrote out the words here.  Good stuff...  

Now the New Header... 

Ben at Coquino Beach, last Sunday.  We had this really fantastic day with my parents and Tracy and Torrey.  We loved it so much, we are going back tomorrow.  We went in the late afternoon and the sun was amazing over the water, as you can see.  This picture has not been altered, except for the verse I added.  When I run (you know, for a block...) I so often feel like I'm not good enough (I'm SO SLOW... and I STILL just stop!!) and I have been using that as an opportunity to be thankful that I CAN run, walk, move...  And as I was watching Ben run around the beach, playing in the water with his cousin and sister, I just had to be so thankful that he CAN.  We are blessed with wonderfully healthy kids.  And after Ben's Birthday choking incident (yes, that event is STILL one of those life altering things for me, but in a completely good way), I am REALLY loving this verse.  It is perfect with the picture of him in the depths of the ocean.   And yes, while we were at the beach Sunday Ryan and I kept saying, "They are going to LOVE the Pacific Ocean!"  Can't wait.

Today.  Last day of school.  Ready for a FUN summer!