It's been an exhausting week. Back from vacation last Friday, I spent the weekend grocery shopping, cleaning and doing laundry. Then, Ben and Alek were in different camps, on different schedules in different parts of Cary all last week. It wasn't originally planned that way, but Ben's original climbing camp which was located next to Alek's football camp was cancelled, so Ben spent a week at the gym's climbing camp instead. Then, work for me and Gary was really hectic an filled with out-of-normal-work-hour-meetings, AND bookclub was at my house on Thursday night while Gary was at an anniversary dinner for a co-worker, so we had to get a sitter. How odd, to have a sitter in the house when I was home, but it worked out great because it was Andrew (back from college) and they boys all played Rock Band and went out for Chik-fil-a and to the pool. Then Weds, Ben (there's not rock climbing camp on weds so the kids can rest) was invited by his friend Evan (the rock-climbing friend Evan, not the neighborhood friend Evan) to go to the beach for his birthday for the day. Ben had a great time, and I hear he was well-behaved.
So, after all that on Friday afternoon, while getting ready to go the gym for my normal workout, I had a mini-breakdown, facing a two-foot deep pile of freshly laundered clothes that needed folding. So, I stayed home from the gym to fold laundry. Gross, I know. But, I'm glad I got it all folded, because Saturday was a busy one ...
Up at 6:30 to prepare and pack for the day. Gary and Alek left for the ball game at 8:15; Ben and I followed at 8:30. Alek had a great game, and got the game ball - HURRAY! He was so happy. Then Gary went home to mow, and the boys and I went to Holly Springs to a tie-dye extravaganza where we tie-died four t-shirts. It was great fun. Lunch at Wendy's on our way to friend Evan's house, for his birthday party. Dropped off Ben and Alek where they went to see Night at the Museum then back to Evan's neighborhood pool for a party. I went to a movie all by myself - great way to spend the afternoon, then picked them back up and headed home. Back home around 5, Gary and Alek left at 6 for the Railhawks game (soccer) and Ben and I left around 6:15 for the Cirque de la Symphony.
They Symphony was wonderful - circus performers were great, music was fantastic, and the night was beautiful. But, the place was crazy! So many people! Much more crowded than the other two had been. But, our friends the Parkers found us and had saved us a place to sit. Lovely evening, good friend, great music. We left during the last piece, because the traffic was so bad getting in and we wanted to get home quickly. We arrived just after Gary and Alek got home and we all went to bed.
This morning (well, it's afternoon now) I just can't wake up. Have been reading, drinking water, and snoozing all day. Still in my pj's, but after this week, I feel I deserve it.
Hopefully next week will be a little more calm, but with the boys both home all week, it could go either way.
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Ben at Pilot Mountain
Ben went with Daddo, his climbing coaches and the climbing team to Pilot Mountain on Sunday June 21. All the pictures were terrific, I couldn't choose!Summer Vacation
We just returned from a super fun family vacation. On Sunday, we drove from Raleigh to Baltimore, Maryland. Gary had meetings on Monday and Tuesday, so the boys and I tagged along to play. Monday we went to the Aquarium and Baltimore Harbor, and Tuesday we went to the Children's Museum. We had a lot of fun running around together! Tuesday evening we drove from Baltimore to Washington DC. We arrived around 5pm, and took the Metro from our hotel to the Mall. We walked from the Smithsonian Metro stop down to the Capital building, then around to the Washington Monument, and back to the Smithsonian Metro stop. About 2.5 miles of walking! We then walked from our hotel to the Sequoia restaurant and back. The next morning the boys (all 3 of them) got up early (6am) to go get in line for tickets to go up in the Washington Monument. I packed up the room, and then met them at the Mall. We went to the Smithsonian Castle, then to the Air and Space Museum, then to their Washington Monument appointment at 12:30. It started to rain, so I sat under a tent and waited. We ended up eating hotdogs from the tent in the rain. We then took a bicycle rickshaw down to the Lincoln Memorial. After touring there, the rain let up and we walked back to our hotel where our car was stored.
Wednesday afternoon we headed down to Ashland, Va, and spent a quiet evening at the hotel. Then bright and early the next morning we were up for a day at King's Dominion! We rode every rollercoaster, most of them two or more times, and stayed til closing. The next day we were back to spend most of the day in their water park. Then, Friday afternoon we drove back home.
I spent most of Saturday folding laundry that Gary had washed overnight (many many loads!). Alek had a baseball game at 9 am, then we had symphony tickets at 7 pm. The symphony was music from the movies and it was quite nice. The evening cooled off from 96 to 85 degrees and there was a nice breeze. We all got to bed quite late.
Sunday morning Ben and Gary were up early again (6 am!) to pack up for the day climbing at Pilot Mountain. All went well, and they arrived back home by 5 pm, tired and happy. I'm downloading pictures now, and will post soon. 1426 pictures from the last week ... I have a lot of editing to do! Alek and I spent the day shopping for shorts for him (we were successful!) and grocery shopping. Now Gary is cooking brats and asparagus on the grill and we're looking forward to a delicious father's day dinner!
Wednesday afternoon we headed down to Ashland, Va, and spent a quiet evening at the hotel. Then bright and early the next morning we were up for a day at King's Dominion! We rode every rollercoaster, most of them two or more times, and stayed til closing. The next day we were back to spend most of the day in their water park. Then, Friday afternoon we drove back home.
I spent most of Saturday folding laundry that Gary had washed overnight (many many loads!). Alek had a baseball game at 9 am, then we had symphony tickets at 7 pm. The symphony was music from the movies and it was quite nice. The evening cooled off from 96 to 85 degrees and there was a nice breeze. We all got to bed quite late.
Sunday morning Ben and Gary were up early again (6 am!) to pack up for the day climbing at Pilot Mountain. All went well, and they arrived back home by 5 pm, tired and happy. I'm downloading pictures now, and will post soon. 1426 pictures from the last week ... I have a lot of editing to do! Alek and I spent the day shopping for shorts for him (we were successful!) and grocery shopping. Now Gary is cooking brats and asparagus on the grill and we're looking forward to a delicious father's day dinner!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
2009 Baseball pictures of Alek
These pictures were taken by one of the dads during the Saturday morning games so far. I've pulled down only the ones of Alek for posting here. We're so proud of him!
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Produce Box
Our weekly produce boxes keep getting better and better. Last weeks box ...
Contained the first zuchini and squash, and lots of blueberries (we ordered extra). Tomatos, onions, new potatoes, and a huge cabbage. We're still struggling to each the cabbage each week. But the blueberries were 'impressive' according to Alek, our fruit lover.
This week we ordered the extra fruit BOX in order to get the peaches. These are the first of the season, so we didn't know what to expect. They are small, but they are lovely. Very peachy in color, great flocking, and deliciously sweet. We got 12 on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning there were only 4 left. The extra strawberries and blueberries have been frozen for smoothies. The tomatoes aer delicious. The pickling cucubers are cute, and will be eaten, though I doubt I'll pickle them. But the star of this week's box was ...
This enormous brocolli!!! It was so huge, and perfect. The color looks a little funny in the picture, but it was absolutely perfect. We'll be having this for dinner every night this week.
Here it is up close. Green beans start next week, and corn on the cob is not far off! We'll be buying the extra peaches as long as they are available! If you live in the Raleigh area, check out http://www.theproducebox.com/
Contained the first zuchini and squash, and lots of blueberries (we ordered extra). Tomatos, onions, new potatoes, and a huge cabbage. We're still struggling to each the cabbage each week. But the blueberries were 'impressive' according to Alek, our fruit lover. This week we ordered the extra fruit BOX in order to get the peaches. These are the first of the season, so we didn't know what to expect. They are small, but they are lovely. Very peachy in color, great flocking, and deliciously sweet. We got 12 on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning there were only 4 left. The extra strawberries and blueberries have been frozen for smoothies. The tomatoes aer delicious. The pickling cucubers are cute, and will be eaten, though I doubt I'll pickle them. But the star of this week's box was ...
This enormous brocolli!!! It was so huge, and perfect. The color looks a little funny in the picture, but it was absolutely perfect. We'll be having this for dinner every night this week.
Here it is up close. Green beans start next week, and corn on the cob is not far off! We'll be buying the extra peaches as long as they are available! If you live in the Raleigh area, check out http://www.theproducebox.com/