Fourth of July 2010 -- weekend of celebrating, part 1

Living near the Nation's capitol means that we have lots of opportunities to celebrating the Declaration of Independence and the founding of our country.  We're even luckier than most as our neighborhood has an old-style celebration that is an all-day event ...

Our weekend started with the arrival of my favorite Godson named Steve ... just recently graduated from college and interning in Maryland.  He came down on Friday evening ... and launched right in to entertaining us all with his own particular wit and intelligence.

Saturday morning found us up and ready to watch the Parade ... a mix of classic cars, club floats and politicians kissing babies ...

(that would be BamBam drooling over the Austin Healy ... but I REALLY liked the candy-apple red pickup!) ...

after a flag-raising ceremony, it was off to the point for swimming, eating and the traditional

face-painting .... which I actually helped with this year (4 hours of painting faces) ...

[oh, in case you're wondering, vaseline or lotion gets off the rather thick, dried-on face-paint in time to be presentable to serve 7:30 a.m. Mass!]

Here's LegoManiac with two dear friends -- Miss Marion helped win the "best appearance for a marching unit" for the Players!

After dinner by the Lake (dh and said nephew made sandwiches, hamburgers and brought the essentials, including a St. Pauli Girl Dark for his favorite aunt), the water ski club put on a show that kept us all enthralled ...

well, mostly anyway (Steve thoroughly enjoyed a book I lent him).

Then once it got dark, we were treated to front-row seats for an amazing fireworks show that last about 30 minutes and was one of the best I've ever seen.  Lovely.

Today, it's off to a friend's house for their annual get-together ... more food, fun and fireworks! [See the post, Part 2, tomorrow]

Life in America is GOOD!

God bless America!

 

Lake: Fishing Tournament today!

Life at the Lake is an amazing family experience.

Today is a prime example of the wonderful memories we are building down here: the littles and dh and I headed to the front pond this morning (at 0800, no less) for the annual Children's Fishing Tournament hosted by the non-profit Lake Youth Foundation (I'm on the board of directors of LYF as secretary so I had to help, but we would have gone anyway).

Bam-Bam caught two fish ... Lego Maniac caught one ... String Bean tried (she's a trouper -- she really didn't WANT to try, but did anyway).  String Bean also helped schlep paper plates, napkins and chips in anticipation of the hungry hordes descending on the food tables when the buzzer blew to mark the end of the tournament.

Here are some pix to give you a good idea of mine and the 130+ kids (plus their families) who came to enjoy the time as the lake, try to win one of the 20 trophies, eat a wonderful lunch of hotdogs/hamburgers donated  (and cooked!) by Clearwater Grill, and come home with a fishing rod, reel, lures and all kinds of other cool stuff (yep, EVERY single fisher went home with a whole "fishing kit" to encourage this wonderful outdoor activity).

The next LYF activity?  Cardboard Boat Regatta in July ... the boys are already designing their Greek War Ship ....

Life is good out here at the Lake.

Snow: Blizzard of February 5-6, 2010

Wow ... have we had a snowfall this weekend ... much more (and wetter, messier) than the snow in December.  We had better warning this time ... dh didn't have school on Friday ... so we were able to brace for it a bit (stocking up on essentials like baking supplies, SuperBowl snack-foods and beverages) and movies/books from the library.

Yesterday, the snow started early, but it was just above freezing so nothing was sticking.  Poor LegoManiac was sure we wouldn't have much at'all. 

Hah, was he wrong!

Here's a photo-essay of our day today ....

At 0630, we were getting a pretty good layer of snow on top of the snow from yesterday.  The temp hovered just below freezing all night, so the snow was pretty wet.  Our poor magnolia ... we didn't think it would survive December ... and we're pretty sure it won't survive February!

Still snowing at 0800 but time to start shoveling ... the bird-bath on the left and feeder just to the left of center are good indicators of snow amounts.

At 0900, I took a break from shoveling to get a picture of this bluebird trying to eat from the suet feeder ... after a few attempts, he gave up and we haven't seen them all day

At 1000, I realized, we never had a picture shooting toward the house ... I love how the dark house looks behind the winter-wonderland of the front yard.

At 1530 today ... we're getting a bit tired of the snow... See the power line drooping? It's our neighbor's line but it would be a real shame to lose power tonight!  You can't even see the Lake .... it's pretty much a white out around here.

A fellow teacher of Rick's stopped in to say howdy (his mom lives at the Lake) and we had a wonderful afternoon respite from shoveling and ate Hello Dolly Bars and drank tea.   At 1730, dh is outside shoveling again while I prep dinner .... we're hoping to get to Mass tomorrow but may not even be able to drive out of the neighborhood!  But, we're cozy and warm and have plenty to eat and drink and nowhere to go tonight and no one to worry about coming .... life is good and the snow is beautiful!

Hope you're having a lovely, cozy day, too! 

Snow's Done ... now for some fun ....

The January snow stopped last night ... and today dawned bright, sunny and COOOOOOLD -- 5 degrees at 7a.m. ..  very much snow-shoveling weather.  I even got out there and helped with the path-clearing so we could get to 9:00 a.m. Mass (which looked more like a daily Mass ... I guess most folks don't have a dh who gets up at 4:00 to strategize the snow-clearing once the sun is up!).  Here at the Lake we got about 12-inches ... and with today's blue skies, it looks gorgeous!

These are a few pictures from this morning ... the kids will be sledding later but for now, BamBam has built a snow fort in the front and is ready to pelt anyone brave enough to go out (sunny but 22 at 10:45 a.m.)....

Hope y'all stay cozy and warm and enjoy God's bounty today ...

Hospitality: visits from old friends are the best!

We are so fortunate because we have dear friends who
don't mind driving hours (even in Friday traffic on I-95) to come visit us ...
sleep on our floor ...
hang out drinking good wine and smoking (or just smelling) good cigars ...
playing at the lake twice in one day ...
staying up late reading ...
cooking sausages over a barbeque while pancakes sizzle on the griddle ...
even sharing a good cry or two!

So, from Hilltop Farm,

thank God for old friends and their new babies (two since last we hung out together!) ...

Make new friends, but keep the old

one is silver and the other gold!

End of Summer, Start of Fall ...

... and school all the time and college football and cooler weather -- as my 6 yos says, "bring it on"!

Saturday, we celebrated the end of summer and beginning of Fall:  the opening day of college football party and the annual lighted-boat parade here at the lake.

We love college football games around here ... and this year, since we finally have cable, we actually can watch and SEE the games!  Unfortunately, the games weren't the best -- we were watching Nevada at Notre Dame and it was such a rout, that it got boring after the first quarter.  We switched around but all the games that were on seemed similar routs.  What to do?  Eat all the junk food String Bean and I prepared for the boys:  buffalo wings, taquitos, dilled cream cheese, pizza, chips, crackers, celery & carrots (for SOME nutrition), and just about every other kind of game-day food you can imagine ... with pride of place going to our traditional "game day menu": cheese whiz!  We know it's bad for us all ... but hey, we just buy it for college football games!

On Saturday evening, LegoManiac and I boarded a party barge and headed out into the lighted-boat parade.  This parade had been postponed twice due to rain ... but we couldn't have asked for a better night -- full "corn moon", clear skies and calm "seas".  Our "Mame" boat didn't win, but we had a great time and dh and the littles said we looked great.

Today, I attended the annual "hoa" meeting ... not alot discussed but good to get involved.  The rest of today was spent in true holiday fashion -- laying around, reading fun books and catching some smaller college football games.  Don't you just love Labor Day?  And yes, it's getting chillier here -- less than 75 degrees all day, kind of gloomy and a bit rainy ... leaves are starting to change and windows and doors wide open to bring in the fresh air!

Welcome FALL!

Hospitality: handsome man and friends abound

We have had such a lovely weekend and it's not even over yet!

On Friday, we finished off VBS at Church with a pot-luck supper and slide show (where BamBam featured prominently) and then a big soccer game while we waited for dh to return from the train station with one of my favorite men: my godson and rising FUS senior! He has been working in Maryland all summer on a Federal grant/internship and decided to come spend his second to last weekend with his favorite aunt named Mary!

We had a great visit last night and today. While he was here, we had one of dh's fellow-teachers and his family come for a visit to the lake and dinner here ... Godson joined us at the lake and he and Kotch did wonders with keeping the kids entertained while dh and I visited and barbequed up a pile of burgers, dogs and beef (can't really call it "steak"!) .

Here's a photo chronicle of the visit:

That would be our favorite godson swimming in the lake ... yes, he's outside the swimming rope, but he's big enough ...
Here's our guests' only daughter -- a 2 year old cutie that won the hearts of both Lego Maniac and BamBam!
Our guest's 4 year old son and BamBam having a blast while younger brother looks on ....
Bam-Bam swimming and enjoying the gorgeous afternoon ...
including the building of an amazing mountain, sand dam, and moat!

In the evening, dh made awesome barbeque and the kiddoes toasted marshmallows. It was the first time for our friends' children and our kids mentored theirs with the start of wonderful memories ... What a wonderful experience for us all ...

Unfortunately, said evening had to come to an end ... and said godson has to go back to Maryland tomorrow ... but we'll see all the guests again soon!

If you can spare a moment or two ... please send up a prayer for dear godson as he starts his senior year at Franciscan University and discerns God's will for him in this next stage of life!