Uncle Doug and Aunt Marie took all the kids to Hartwick Pines and the kids got to hand-feed the birds! Katie got too freaked out but Owen did it!!
Category Archives: Family
WHAT U TALKIN BOUT
The cousins were all having a ball playing together and I thought they’d have a blast playing “WHAT U TALKIN BOUT?” (the game where you try to say phrases while wearing dental mouthpieces—there are many versions of this game). Katie had bought it for Owen for Christmas and we weren’t set to open it for days but I am glad we did…we haven’t laughed so hard in a long time! It was definitely worth the $2.50 sale price at the dollar store.
Katie tiger!
Can you tell the face paints were a HUGE success?! This one was painted by cousin Gabby!
Maine, Day 3
Unfortunately a dreary day for sightseeing.
So let’s go candy shopping! Yummy caramels, toffee, and treats for the kids!
And let’s have lobster for lunch.
Day 3: lobster #3 — lobster BLT
Then it was off to visit the marina where mom and David left from on their honeymoon—they’re pointing to it!
Aaaand lobster rolls again for dinner. Mom makes them SOOOOO good we didn’t want anything else.
Day 3: lobster #4
Maine, Day 2
I woke up to this on the table. (Yes, it was my 45th birthday!) It was tempting to eat right then but I refrained.
The view from the back deck did not suck.
Then it was off to start sightseeing. Or first stop was the prison show room (gift shop) why lots of hand made things.
Then it was off to Pemaquid Point, mom’s favorite spot in Maine. It was really quite cool and fun to walk around on the rocks.
All the girls!
Then we went up in the lighthouse.
(That big boulder toward the upper left? That’s the one I climbed on top of in the earlier pic!)
And then as we were headed out we saw some Monarchs in the garden.
Then it was off to find lunch. We ended up at Shaw’s Seafood…where everything sounded good so good so how do you decide?! I actually opted for a scallop roll because I love scallops. It wasn’t what I expected but it was tasty.
These came home with us for dinner.
We also stopped at a family market and had to try some fresh strawberry shortcake! Mmmm.
We stopped at a grocery store to get celebratory birthday drinks and got these new drinks for a birthday flight for us all to share.
Look at this delicious dinner…
Day 2: lobster #2 — fresh mom-made lobster roll
Overall a great birthday…
Maine, I am in you.
I’ve always wanted to experience Maine (and lobsters!) with my mom, so when she and David rented a cottage (in South Thomaston) for two weeks to celebrate their 20th anniversary and invited us to join them, I decided THIS was FINALLY going to be the year to do so. We lucked out in that my stepsisters Kathryn and Beth were also able to join us!!
This was dinner our first night!
Day 1: lobster #1 — fresh lobster dinner
Amazon makes Katie happy!
Katie has been bugging me for a doll stroller for awhile now. I wasn’t going to get her one because she doesn’t need anything else…but then I remembered she had Christmas money from Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim. So she and I looked at them on Amazon and two days later, we had a happy little girl.
She walks it all over. Takes it down to Sofia’s. Takes it down to the park (almost a half mile walk!)…
Len Christmas in July, Year 5
And the meat festival begins…Of course Timmy brought a ton of his amazing brats…but this year he added smoked brisket to the menu! HOLY WAH!
And no, your eyes aren’t deceiving you…that’s a Gummy Bear brat. With real gummy bears in it. It wasn’t bad…just a sweet taste. I thought Katie would love it because she LOVES gummy bears but nope. Silly kid.
And the annual kid comparison! After last year when Owen was taller, Nick pulled ahead (which he should, as he’s almost 14).
2017:
The kids goofing around while I was getting the camera set up.
My test shot to make sure the settings were okay, and I loved it so much I kept it. It’s also fun to see how we can all pull it together for the real photo!
Nick and Owen…conspiring? Planning? Who knows.
Gramma created a project for the kids—money frozen in a block! They had to figure out how to get to it! (It didn’t take them long!)
Oh yeah! We also gained a dog for an hour or so. Mom didn’t recognize him and Tom called the number on his tag and it was animal control…?!? He was good and just hung out with us—got a few pets and belly rubs (Maggie pretty much ignored him). After awhile a young girl came looking for him—and we found out she was visiting someone in the neighborhood.
Overall it was a perfectly gorgeous day—not too hot and not too cold, lots of good food (too much, actually, but we’re Lens so it’s expected), and great visiting with family and watching the cousins play!
It’s Christmas all up in here today.
I love being home with family…and celebrating Christmas in the summer is amazing! (And what’s Christmas with family without a few adult bevvies?)
Camp Cadillac
We spent the day in Cadillac with Tom’s extended family at a local campground where the kids enjoyed meeting new friends and playing in the pool.
Katie liked the animals. (Yes there were animals there. She especially liked the goats.)
Maggie didn’t bark once all day…until she got in front of the goats. At which point she thought she was ferocious.
After some visiting I just amused myself. There might have been margaritas involved.
One of my happy places.
Being in the military has its ups and downs, pros and cons… This move has had its share of cons, but the one definite bonus is that we are close enough to home to visit easily—and this weekend we had a spur of the moment trip home. I hate that we only got about 13 hours to spend at my childhood home (and that includes sleep!) but it’s 13 hours in one of my happy places.
A weekend with Uncle Rob and Miss Dee!
They came to visit us for the first time and to take the kids out for their Christmas presents—they had given them certificates for dinner and a movie!!
They also decided to take them bowling on base! The kids had a blast (they also got to play some video games and air hockey plus have lunch at McDonald’s).
On Saturday Katie monopolized Miss Dee doing puzzles and playing kitchen. That afternoon they went to a movie then to Unos for pizza!
Sunday we went out for breakfast and then it was time to say goodbye.
Welcome to today’s hell.
A gift to Katie from a well-meaning aunt. While Katie does love puzzles, of course she doesn’t have the attention span for this (hell, I barely do) but she really wants to color it. If it was up to me I’d just throw it in the trash (well I’m not an idiot, I’d give it away). But guess who will end up doing it all?? Her face just about sums it up for me too. 😂
#whowantstohelp
#idonthavetimeforthis
#puzzleparty
#ihavewineandmargaritas
#whendotheygobacktoschool
#thisauntisonmyshitlist
A friend is going to come help Friday.
Christmas with the Schwalms
Thanksgiving 2017
Our turkey chef tonight! #infraredfryer #17pounds #50degreesinmichigan #thanksgiving
I thoroughly enjoyed drinking my first wine in two weeks tonight with Dee (Rob’s girlfriend)… But it gave me a headache. Maybe we should have stopped after the first bottle! 😂
And all the leftovers!!
Then and now with Uncle Jim
Playing in the snow with cousins!
Apparently shoveling is fun if you’re doing it with cousins and not because a parent asked you to do it.
We didn’t bring snow pants so jammies have to suffice. She didn’t care one bit.
Attack on the living room window!
Cousins Gabby and Robert!
Then and now—me and Tim 26 years later…
Then, my neighbor and high school classmate. Now, my cousin (well, since 1998).
Cousins on the Schwalm side
Everyone was gathered for Aunt Florence’s memorial—and it was the first time our kids met the Hough side of the Schwalm clan. They are lined up by age, with Katie being the youngest at 5 and Gabrielle the oldest at 14.
Then we took a selfie because we haven’t done so in awhile.
It pays to know the owner.Â
Shopping before the store opens…the benefits of being related to the owner. We brought home 18 packs of brats!!
Len Christmas in July, Year 4
Nick and Gracie making Christmas M&Ms (the rest went into Lisa’s monster cookies).
Just a few brats to cook…
All the kids like to fish but they say Aubrey is the one who loves it the most and is the best at it. She apparently gives lessons to other kids at their house!
Katie caught a fish!
Someone took an unplanned jump into the river (learning you can’t walk on lily pads):
Drying off…
I think this picture is a tradition.
And the mandatory annual family Christmas photo! Every year they give us grief about taking it… And this year with the craziness of the move I didn’t post it immediately and they were all asking about it!! So there. :p
And the annual kid comparison—Katie is getting closer to Aubrey but Aubrey is still ahead (which should be the case, as she’s almost 9). And as usual, Owen is definitely taller than Gracie…
But I think he beats Nick this year!!
Last year:
More fishing!
After a campfire and s’mores it was time for bed. The kids decided to all sleep in the living room… Poor Timmy. 🙂
The smell and taste of my childhood.
We made plans to pick up some of our favorite sausage before the Len Summer Christmas started. My family has been getting the amazing smoked and fresh sausage here for 60 years! It’s the smell and taste of my childhood! 💕
We always do fireworks at Gramma’s!
The crazy ladybug!
Owen’s first big league baseball game!!
Lisa and Lori are huge baseball fans and Tom has wanted to take Owen to a professional baseball game since we’ve been here, so it seemed fitting that they all go together while Katie and I stayed home. I wouldn’t have minded going, but I know Katie would have gotten bored (she’s used to being able to run around and play with her friends during Owen’s SHORT games, so I couldn’t imagine her sitting for a three-hour game) so I kept her home and took her to the Friday Night Swim instead.
Owen even had the right cap to wear as one of his previous baseball teams was the Nationals! (He thought her had a shirt, too, except we determined that was the season they only got plain red shirts with logo caps.)
They got home about 11:30 (there was an hour metro ride home after the game) and Owen was STILL excited when he walked in the door. I’m so glad they got to go and he got to see everything!
Pool, Day 8: Aunt Lori was the only brave one.
Katie got in the pool, but it is still QUITE cold…but Aunt Lori was the only adult brave enough to go in. Katie loved it!
Trail walk with my girls!
Lisa and Lori came down for the weekend since they hadn’t yet been here and we’re (obviously) moving soon! So, I did what I do and took them for a walk on our neighborhood trail!
Bunny Head
Granny Lin sent the kids some Easter treats… These are chair covers that Owen immediately co-opted for a hat.
Time with Grauntie and Gruntie
Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim also stay down here during the winter, so they came over for lunch. We had hoped to be able to take the kids to the pool or the beach but it was cold and rainy…so there were a few games of Katie’s new favorite: Go Fish!
Another birthday cake for Owen.Â
Gramma made a yummy-looking cake for Owen! Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim came over to celebrate, too!
It’s official: we’re headed to Chicago!
Well, what can I say about the military other than you just never know what’s going to happen…?!
For the past few months we’ve been thinking we’ll be headed to California. Tom’s top two job choices were there and we haven’t been on that coast yet, so we thought it was all set. It was a catch-22 for me—I know I would love the weather but it was SOOO far from family. It’s hella expensive there…but when else are we going to get the chance to test living there for three years? But I had honestly just started to wrap my head around it and get kind of excited about it…when Tom got an URGENT email from the monitor with text that included “Ignore this message at your own peril.” Yeah, that’s never good.
Turns out they need recruiters AGAIN. And he fits the four-point requirements perfectly (correct rank, summer mover, previous excellent record in recruiting, etc.). And the positions are in the Chicago area, Pennsylvania, San Diego, and Parris Island, South Carolina.
Crap.
So long story short…after calling and talking to the monitor, they had eight people and six positions to fill. Which wasn’t quite the odds we were hoping for. But good news, Tom was the first to respond so he’d likely get his top choice (and at the very least, he wouldn’t get the place he did NOT want). So…our top choice was Chicago (to be closer to family), followed by Pennsylvania and California.
Of course, it wasn’t an immediate done deal. They had to check some other things and yada yada yada they told us we would know by the end of January if he would be doing recruiting or if we’d be back to waiting to hear on our previous California options. Then I think it was only like four days until they said he was officially tapped for the recruiting in Chicago (well, technically Great Lakes Naval Station).
And they already have his web orders completed so this is serious.
So, yuck for weather…but yay for being 7 hours from Papa and Grannie and 6 hours from Gramma Jean and Grandpa David.