YouTube - Ben playing sax with Michaela - Dec '10 Tone Zone Jam

YouTube - Ben playing sax with Michaela - Dec '10 Tone Zone Jam

Utah

Came home with 450 pictures from Zion and Bryce. Will try to limit it here!

The cousins on a hike to a waterfall in Bryce: The cousins on a hike in Zion:

Alek and Ben at the tip of a trail at the highest elevation in Bryce:

The cousins on a trail at Bryce:

Horseback riding into Bryce Canyon (Alek is in the grey sweatshirt):

Been a long time...

It's been a long time since I blogged ... I went back to work full time in on the first of June, and Gary traveled nearly every week over the summer, leaving me to shuttle the boys back and forth to camps while trying to focus on work. So, no blogging time.

But, we're settling into the new school year and work schedule, and I'm thinking I may have time to catch up a little soon. I have lots of pictures to post of our trip with the Carlsons to Disney, and with the Foxes & Smiths to the Nation Parks in Utah.

The Perfect Weekend

This has been an absolutely perfect weekend. I know I haven't written in a while, because we've just been so busy with the start of summer and camps and all, but this weekend was really notable for me.

It started around 4pm on Friday when I left with my friend Andrea. We got pedicures, went to dinner, and then out for the evening to a painting class. It was at this place in Raleigh, where you are led by an artist to paint your own painting. I painted a 16x20 canvas of a martini glass. It was really stressful, because I've never painted before, but it was also a lot of fun. And after I got it home and saw it the next morning, I didn't think it was too bad. It did suffer by comparison to the original, but on it's own it's kinda funky. I'll take a picture and post it sometime.

Saturday morning we all slept in, got up and went to our friends' house to swim in their pool. We played lots of diving and water games, and had a great time. Then we came home, regrouped, and went out to dinner with another set of friends. Our good friend Pam was visiting from California, so we got together with her and her pals at a restaurant we'd been wanting to try for a long time. The company was terrific, the food was OK. ;-) Then we left from dinner to go to Koka Booth Amphitheatre where the symphony was playing along with the Wizard of Oz movie. This is our second year getting summer symphony tickets and I enjoy it so much more than the winter series we did one year. They play in an outdoor amphitheatre in Cary and we take wine and dinner and snacks, and picnic while they play. Saturday night was a special event with the movie, and we met friends there for a great time in the hot Carolina night. Alek had been invited to his friend's birthday party sleep over, so it was just us and Ben.

Now on to Sunday! We started with brunch with Pam around 11, which was at our new favorite hamburger place (Alek was dissappointed that he didn't get to go) but Ben had fun with the grownups once again. After brunch we came home and met Alek at our house - he had a great time at his friend's sleep over. Then Pam left, and I did a little laundry. Then it was time to drop Ben off. Ben is at an all-week science camp at NC State. He doesn't sleep over, he will come home each night, but he is there for 11 hours each day. It's going to be an intense week for him! It's a big camp for grade schoolers, and so they are broken down into small groups of 10-11 each. The boys in his group seem very nice, and we got to meet his Lego Robotics instructor. How fortuitous! He lives here in Apex and teaches grade school & middle school teams, and runs the Lego Robotics camp in Cary Parks & Rec - which I had been intending to sign Alek up for. However, Alek may be out of camp opportunities for this year because we are on the verge of our busiest weeks of the summer.

Anyway, part of my new job at IBM is managing our global K-12 outreach efforts which include camps for girls and boys. I'm the global manager, and there are local managers around the world who run the local camps - I coordinate and provide financing, oversight, business controls, etc. Anyway, this guy knows the guy who just retired and whose job I took over. Small world! Anyway, the meeting may be fortuitous for both of us.

So now I'm folding laundry, Alek vacuumed the upstairs (!), and in a few minutes we leave again to go pick Ben up.

It's gonna be a busy week! Hope you're all having fun!

More Memorial Day Pictures

More pictures of our fun weekend with our family over Memorial Day Weekend. Mema and Papa came early, Thursday evening, so they could see Alek's baseball practice. They got to see him play and pitch.

Gary, Ben and Papa on the bench watching Alek's practice.

On Friday morning they got to come to the Retirement Community next to the school to see Ben's recorder club perform. Here we are in the lobby waiting for Ben and the club to arrive.

Ben, playing the flute, in the recorder club.

My sister and her kids arrived on Friday night, and then we went gem mining on Saturday. Very fun and very dirty!

On Sunday we picked some of my hydrangeas and made a bouquet.

Here is Papa with all the kids, watching TV in the play room.

Cousins' Visit

For Memorial Day my sister and her three kids and my mom and dad all came for a visit! Mom and Dad arrived early on Thursday to watch Alek practice baseball, and they got to see him pitch! A base hit, then three strike-outs, that's the way he does it! Then on Friday, they got to see Ben play his flute in the Advanced Recorder Club concert at the old folks' home. I'm so glad they got to come early!

Friday night we took everyone downtown to The Pit for real NC BBQ. It was delicious, but by breakfast time the next morning, the kids were all hungry again. Here they are snacking on bacon before the pancakes are ready ... And here is Papa hard at work making pancakes for everyone ...

For lunch on Sunday, we went to Tribecca Tavern for BIG hamburgers, and the kids were hanging out. We got to sit outside, it was such a lovely day.

My sister and my youngest niece ...

Mema and Papa ...

The whole Smith side of the family (except for Andrea's husband, who had to stay home and work ... so sad)

We picked some of my hydrangeas, and they were huge. They made a nice bouquet in the kitchen. I love the pink one!

Weekend at home

It's so nice to have a weekend at home! I've been getting the house ready for visitors next weekend - my mom and dad and my sister and her kids are all coming here! We can't wait. So, we've taken down all the kids artwork in the playroom (since we just moved all the family room furniture in there two weekends ago), and I re-framed everything yesterday. Gary has spackled all the holes, and tonight we hope to sand and touch-up paint so I can re-hang the art tomorrow.

Last night was very relaxing. The boys each had a friend over and they all played outside til dark. I love that they are getting older and can run around outside more.

Today Alek had an early game - and they won!! Here are some pictures ...

Gary took the boys to the batting cages this afternoon, and I went shopping. Now, it looks like rain! Hurray ... we'll stay inside and maybe watch a movie, although I have lots of clean laundry to fold. Guess it's time to get on that!

Sport Climbing Regional Competition - video

Here's the video of all Ben's climbs from the comp on Saturday - 3 qualifying difficulty routes, two speed climbing routes, and one final difficulty route.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdssBu5vkD0

Big win for Prime Mortgage on Saturday

Prime Mortgage is now 5-3, winning their most recent game in the heat on Saturday afternoon.
Alek batting ... Pep talk from Coach Andy ... Alek is #11 with his back to the camera...

Taking the field ... lots of excitement! ... Alek is in the foreground ...

Team stretching and resting before the game ... Alek is on the left ...

Alek pitched to four boys ... walked the first, then three strike-outs!

The wind up ...

Regionals

These pictures are not in order ... I am so tired I can't even think about how to move them around.
Waiting to climb the final route ... Flashed the first route, tied in for second route...Team TRC took FIRST PLACE! We are so happy and so proud of all the competitors and coaches!

Youth D boys from TRC ... fierce competitors but also good friends ...

Wow, what a weekend at Regionals for Ben. Lots of fun, but the result is Ben got 2nd place in the Youth D finals and a nice silver medal, 3rd place in speed climbing for Youth D and a nice bronze medal, and 4th place overall Youth D and an invitation to Divisional Competition next month. We're going!

Happy Mother's Day

This has been a perfect Mother's Day. I was woken up with breakfast made by my boys and then they agreed to follow my direction and we rearranged the entire house! I love it!
The Living Room
First, the big old couch with the rip in it (the hide-a-bed couch) moved back into the living room, only this time it is up against the windows because the piano is along the main wall. The love seat is over in front of the bookcase near the dining room - not ideal, but it fits. The new rug I bought for the breakfast nook now lives in the living room because for summer we needed to expose the airconditioning vent in the breakfast nook, and the rug covers it.I know the red blanket on the covered couch is not ideal, but we really like the Penny Road Panda blanket with our name on it. Suddenly, there are a lot of pictures over the love seat. Someday, I'll get that clock working again. I love that clock ... mom and dad gave it to us as a wedding present.

What a pretty Chase in the picture. He was following me around.The Family Room

Is EMPTY! Oh yea, this is the most exciting part - almost everything is out of the family room and we went shopping today for a new sectional sofa to put in here! I can't wait, but it will be several weeks. We've narrowed the choices down to two ... on a nice brown leather and one a toasty colored cordoroy. Cordoroy fabric seems to be very popular on couches these days - and it's very soft and cozy. But, it does look like something my friends back home would have had in their basements in the '80's. So, we've got some more discussing to do.

The Play Room

Most of the family room furniture moved into the playroom. This is good, because now the curtains are back with the matching furniture. We had separated them three years ago when we built the addition. The boys don't need so much open space to play anymore, so now they have a couch, a double chair, a table and a coffee table in the playroom. There's still room for Wii, and dance parties, and grandma's table can be popped up for puzzles any time. They each space for their laptops, and the family computer has moved upstairs, since they really don't use it anymore.

The Breakfast Nook

Is unchanged, but was pretty with the sun shining in. We are managing to keep Ben's plant alive. Oh, and the plants outside in the backyard are doing very nicely too.

This is the flower Alek got me, along with the mug he decorated himself.

This is the new salad plate from the boys. It came with beautiful beaded salad tongs that were made by my neighbors Mary and Rita. I didn't get a picture of them, but I love them!

The salad plate is sitting on the buffet, ready for use.

Upstairs Nook

Several years ago we floored our two-story foyer, creating a nook in the hallway upstairs. This has been the most useful space. For many years it was a play area for Little People, Thomas Trains, remote control cars, slot car racing, etc. Most recently it has been a dog hang-out. Now, it's a peaceful reading area with the striped chair and ottoman from the family room next to the computer on the computer table. This is where I'm working right now, because this computer is the one I use to download and store all my pictures. Perfect for reading.

Well, I hear Gary and Alek coming home. Oh, they put up my hammock first thing today, but I haven't had a chance to sit in it yet. We put it up and take it down each time we use it so it doesn't get dirty. There's a nice place to store it right in the backyard shed.

We're heading out for dinner tonight and I'm supposed to decide ... I hate deciding. But, I am getting hungry.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

US National Whitewater Center

So, we did take some pictures at Ben's last comp ... just found them on my camera today!

This first picture was taken as we arrived - you can see the high climbing tower in the background, and some of the whitewater routes behind it. This is a lovely place, and we had a lot of fun that day before it rained. We will definately go back and raft and climb again. Gary and the boys ....

Part of the climbing team ... in back is Paxton, second row is Amanda, don't know the next girl, then Ben and Cameron. In front are another girl whose name I don't know, Megan the coach, and on the right is Cayley.

Ben's first climb was good ... before the rain started!