the Lake

We spent four great days camping at the lake with Grandma & Grandpa and Deb & the girls.

We took long boat rides.

Spent lots of time hanging out and laughing together.

We swam along the shore line. Jackson fished. We ate great food. (Grandma and Grandpa are the best at camp cooking!) We enjoyed nature.

Harold and I rode the big intertube as Mom captained the boat.

And most importantly we made great memories.

Saturday night we went to the big naturalist Bird show at the camp. Just so you know I'm terrified of birds. Don't know why. But oh am I ever. I sat right in the middle not dreaming that the blasted things would be flying all over the tent right over our heads. One's feathers even touched Mom's hair. Deb claims we'd win the Funniest Videos contest hands down if we'd had the video player. She said my eyes got as big as saucers and I'd fling out of the direction the birds were going. Big old nasty vultures. Ravens. Falcons. I thought for sure I'd have nightmares. But after I got over myself some. And after Mom and Deb laughed until they cried. We all learned a ton about the birds. Really cool stuff. Did you know that the Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on earth? That girl birds are bigger than boy birds? That their bones are hollow? That they live like 20 years? The state park where we camp has a great naturalist who has programs every weekend. They have a junior naturalist program that the kids just love.

The rest of the time we entertained each other. These are the girls "Dalton head scarfs" cause all the old ladies in my grandma's home town always wore them. We played many rousing games of go fish and bingo. Jackson used the curtain that separates the bed from the rest of the RV to create a puppet show for us. The curtain stopped about a foot off the ground. So he made a puppet show using his feet. Very funny and very creative.

And at night we curled up inside the nice air conditioned RV and fell right asleep all safe and secure. Except for the night we had the lightening storm. Debbie and Lauren slept in a tent right outside (some of us on the inside um snore) But they high tailed it inside at about 2 in the morning when the storm hit. Jackson and Erin are sleeping on what during the day time is the table. And Lauren and I slept on the couch.

the No No

It was a spectacular summer evening highlighted by a dominating pitching performance. Tonight on June 25 Jackson in his first start pitched a masterful no-hitter. He struck out 9 of the 13 batters he faced, walking only one en route to his first career victory. He also lead offensively with a triple, a double and three RBI's in the 10 to nothing rout. The boy with the rock star hairdo made his arrival known to all in attendance.

The Ace, pictured here with the world famous third base coach and 1977 Shed Park Little League All-Star Game MVP. (as we are often reminded!) And very proud Dad.

Someday Cooperstown may call for this ball! Or maybe not.

Getting Along Swimmingly

We swim. Almost every day we go to the pool with Deb and the girls. This blog could be filled with a hundred azure blue pictures of our handsome, beautiful children with really long hair. I'll spare you that fate every day. But I did want to give you a taste of our summer.

Erin loves the water.

Lauren has taken to riding her bike to the pool- with either mom or I following along behind her. It's too cute. Those little legs are pumping. We sing the witch song from the wizard of oz. Dum, da,dum dad daaaa. Ya know the witch is going to town on her bike screeching "I'll get you my pretty." Amusing our selves is important here at Myers house.

Completely unrelated. ....After trying on 35 different swimming suits over a period of about a week. I brought in reinforcements. Deb and I were on a mission and came away with one workable cooper and black suit that will hopefully last until I am in a wheelchair.

On another completely unrelated pictureless thread....I have applied to be a Faith Writer for the local paper. They have about a dozen rotating columnist who write about living their faith. It's an unpaid gig but one with lots of exposure. I'm sure that I was one of about a thousand 40 year old Christians who wanted to write about their faith. But hey I at least put it out there.

Memory Full

That annoying little pop up message that appears way too frequently on my camera is a perfect description of my nice ordinary Summer Saturday. Memory Full. Just good stuff. Swimming with Jack. John's awesome summer supper. Tinkering around in the backyard. An adorable little black and white ball of fluff kitten at the nursery where I picked out plants. Dairy Queen ice cream. Reading under the shade tree with Jack.


This is my very own Stanley Cup. Finally fitted in all it's glory for the summer season. I made it last year and my intention is to fill the planter with flowers in the colors of whatever team wins the cup each year. Or as close as possible. Some teams will be a real challenge. What do you do with black flowers? Or teal? Last year's Anaheim Duck's gold and black ended up being ugly old marigolds. This year's cup plays honor to the Detroit Red Wings and even features a small team flag purchased on Ebay. A few weeks ago the dogs knocked over the cup and broke the top. My search for a new one ended after three stores. Cause no one in their right mind would go to four stores looking for a terra cotta pot oh about 12 inches across and not very deep. So I painstakingly gorilla glued it back together. Don't ya just love that stuff. New coat of paint. Good as new.

Next on the tour of Myers House back yard..... the bistro table in the gazebo with those awesome newly painted chairs. Remember beige is bad.

Your entertainment on this tour is Brady the wonder cat. Shown here getting his first real taste of the backyard. He's an indoor cat. Jack lynched him up to some kind of leash and the two looked completely ridiculous but had a thoroughly good time out there together. Please excuse those gashes on Jack's neck. I'm sure that Brady is really sorry. And that Jack probably deserved them.

Cooper just laughed and looked beautiful. He's like a walking Hallmark card.

John kept me company as I planted and placed and picked around on my landscaping. Colby hung out under the hammock. But couldn't get any pictures because yes you guessed it..... memory full.

Friday Folleys

The first official day of summer. Nick and Andrew hung out with us today and shot some hoops at the park. Then laughed their selves silly watching funny videos on You Tube.


Then Jack and Andrew teams went head to head in baseball. It wasn't pretty. Nope. The pirates got their planks busted. Here's the fan club enjoying a night out at the ball park.

Speed

Speed evidently is important in football. Important enough to have an entire camp designed to make football players faster. Speed camp. The boys loved it. Today was the last day.

The boys brought home brand new spankin' jump ropes. We did the Rocky scene on the drive way when they got home. Wonder why the boys think I'm the corniest Mom on the block.

Wednesday

Love those Celtics! The Boston three party. Patriots, Red Sox and now the Celtics.

Tuesday

Jack and Nick soak up some sun at the pool.

Brady Video

Since Brady has proven a bit unphotogenic Jackson experimented with the video feature of the camera.

Cherry Ice Summer

Nothing tops off a day better than a cherry Hawaiian ice. Jack loves them. This seems to have replace his beloved "two ball screw ball" that he ordered religiously every day from the pop sickle man when he was little. Pink ice cream with two little balls of candy in the bottom. Our pop sickle man was a boy from Russia. So there was a bit of culture in the 5 minute daily exchange. He was a clean cut kid from Latvia studying engineering. Jack had a new question for him every night. My favorite was the fourth of July when Jack couldn't wait to ask him what the fourth of July was in his country.... Um the 4th of July.

Garage Sale Lessons

Jackson and I went to the local farmers market this morning and then set off to find garage sale bargains. We discussed religion and politics along the way making for a lively debate and conversation. This being prompted by the Jehovah Witnesses that met me at the driveway first thing this morning. "Mom, what was that all about?"

We found some wonderful bargains. 5 great big teacher size books, 2 regular size readers just right for Lauren and 2 books for me. Cost: $2.25.

Two big sets of nice horses just right for two nice nieces. And one un-photogenic big bag of Barbie pet shop set stuff good for at least one entire afternoon of play. Cost $4.00

And, drum roll please, the biggest find of all new Mary Kay makeup. Two bottles of foundation, one concealer, one nail polish, two lip sticks, two eye shadows and one blush. Retail cost $91.50 not including tax and that weird "handling charge." ( I looked it up the retail cost on their web site) Garage sale cost: $4.50 and the friendship of the two women who were scrounging the goodies with me. Nothing brings women together faster than a good bargain. Otherwise what would propel complete strangers from offering make up tips to each other ala "oh this would go great with your skin color.

Thursday ~ Football Camp

Jackson attended football camp this week with the high school coaches.

After camp on Thursday his friend Kyle hung out with us. I love this picture for it's ordinariness. Back yard wiffle ball. I love the way these two pretty serious baseball players still love the game so much they play wiffle ball in the back yard. I love the fact that John was also playing (but darted out of the picture) I love my gazeboo with the pretty blue chairs and new flower pots. I love the way that Cooper is an outfielder. Our dogs aren't just accessories- they live their lives right beside us. I can't imagine a wiffle ball game where Cooper isn't in the middle of the action. Colby is off camera but supervising none the less. If anything needs herding- remember she's our gal.

The Rabbit Died

There has been a murder here at Myers house. This sweet bunny died at the teeth of my Cooper last night. Nasty, nasty, nasty. He loves to chase them and up until know they've had the speed and wisdom to avoid this fate. This one was bit in the butt. I'm just trying to keep it real. The good, the bad and the dead bunnies in the back yard.

Rainy Days and Mondays

We gave Lauren this Easy Bake oven for her birthday. And today we were invited to it's inaugural baking. Everyone helped. Jackson installed the 100 watt light bulb and supervised the stirring. Erin carefully added the water. And Lauren poured the mix into the tiny little pan.

Lauren mixed the chocolate frosting.

The finished product. About one tablespoon of batter and some chocolate smeared on the top.

We made it a birthday cake for Deb whose birthday was last week. And we sang. Oh boy did we sing. And then cut the cake into tiny mini-bite pieces of cake on tea party size Cinderella plates from the playroom. By the way...... that was the nastiest cake we've ever eaten. But what a fun thing to do on a cozy, rainy Monday afternoon.

The remainder of our wonderful afternoon was spent playing with Lauren's new toys. Including these amazing Little House in the Prairie dolls. (a gift from Deb and Brian) Lauren enjoyed playing with the "Laura on the Prairie." And Erin told me all about the big hairy boy doll "his name is Pa."

Happy Birthday Lauren

Saturday we celebrated Lauren's sixth birthday with a castle themed birthday party at a local park. Many lovely princess and brave knights took part.

Including Aunt Renie! I was the Queen of Birthdayland.

This is King Burger. AKA as the Burger King. If he looks a bit under the weather it might have had something to do with the birthday party that he attended the night before. The slumber party didn't slumber. So this is what ya look like when you've been up all night.

This little princess really enjoyed her jewel topped cup cake.

Crown Center

Friday we spent a fun day at Crown Center. We ate at the train restaurant and enjoyed the new Moneyville exhibit. They did a good job of teaching basic economics to kiddos and also taught about money. (things like how to spot counterfeit, what other cultures used for money, and you could even make your own money with your picture on it) Then we headed to Hallmark's Kaleidoscope. The girls were almost overwhelmed at all the creative options available.

Lauren made a banner with her name.

Jackson and Deb make father's day cards.

Lauren and Erin work the bank of Moneyville.

Stanley Cup

The Detroit Red Wings lifted this very cup last night. Debbie and I caught the cup a few years back while John and Jackson were on spring break in Boston. I kissed that baby. With so much enthusiasm that Deb thought I had lost it. "Do you know how many people's fingers have been on that thing- there could be boogers!" Well.... every great hockey player has touched it.

What an amazing memory. Did you catch Dallas Drake's face last night. He's played 14 seasons. It was his first cup victory. And he was the first person that Nick Lidstrom handed it to once he received it from the commissioner. I don't know if Dallas has ever been the best player on any team he's played for. But he's played with the most heart on all the teams he's played for. By the way that's former Blues captain Dallas Drake!

One Last Gift

Jack and John hit the bike trail today. Jack used the bike for the first time that his Grandpa Jack bought him for Christmas 4 years ago. It was way too big for him at the time. But he said "someday you'll have another gift from your grandpa." We had no way of knowing that he wouldn't be here when Jack used it. But it was a such a sweet thing for him to take it from the back of the garage where it has been waiting.

Taking Cover Part Two

The storms came rumbling in again last night. Out of the blue the sirens went off. We in the midwest watch a show called "current weather conditions" and last night it was on from 6:30-10:00. Lots of drama and suspense. So when I say out of the blue. Well Katie didn't call it. No national weather service has issued..... Just the sirens. Which is waaaayyy spookier. And when they announced that a funnel with rotation had been spotted. We got our butts in the closet and fast. In the interest of fair journalism, I should tell you that this pic was taken the second time we hit the closet when the sirens went off the second time. But notice that one closet fits one boy and two dogs comfortably. It's like a dang clown car when you add the Mom and Dad and the cat. One goofy puppy still goes into the closet whenever he sees anyone else go in there. But one smarter border collie lady remembers it was hot in that closet and they shut the door.