Five on Friday Again!

Hi friends -- Hey look, it's time for 5 on Friday! Are you enjoying summer? I know we definitely are loving it after such a LONG, COLD and SNOWY winter!! I could do without some of the humidity - but "big hair" is my name so am accepting the frizzy look - until it really starts to drive me crazy! So, here's my 5 on Friday today!

1. Sunrise! I've been getting up early to walk in the mornings and love seeing the sun pop up!

2. Balloons! I saw a yard with these balloons all over for a kid's birthday! So cute! Service was called "Balloon My Yard!" I know "Card My Yard" is popular here in town, so maybe Balloon my Yard will catch on too???

3. Pool Time. We are loving going and relaxing at the pool this year. Last year even going to the pool was a bit stressful. This year is much better!

4. Speaking of Pools. Here's an oldie but a goodie of a fun pool where we are headed soon!

5. Another Hint. Going to the happiest and most magical place soon. We cannot wait!! However, I've been a bit of a nervous wreck worrying that I have our reservations mixed up. I sure hope they are all correct! See you when we get back!

xoxo

More Summer Wrap-Up

Ahhhh - I did not mean to go so long without posting on the blog, but time got away from me again!

I have all these posts floating around in my brain,

 but haven't taken the time to put pen to paper --

really I mean, fingers to keyboard to blog (!!) and post something!

It's time for me to put on my granny panties and buckle down!

 Hotter in Lincoln than at my sister's in Florida in July!

That is just not right!  

Maddie had a couple of adorable swimsuits this summer with . . . 

bigger bottoms -- you guessed it . . .  kind of granny panties!  

She looked adorable and asked if I wanted her to order me a "granny panty swimsuit! 

Ummm, no thanks on that. 

The granny panties I need are the spanx ones 

and I'm not showing you those!

So, a little more on summer!

Weather-wise - it was an odd summer with some very hot days and tons of rain!

Good for the lawn and water bill, but

not so good for pool time, but we hit the pool 

when we could and especially on the last day!

And now it's really hot and humid again and

the pool is closed!

So, saying goodbye to summer and the pool!

Fall temps we are ready and waiting for you!

Florida on Friday!

Wow -- February is just zipping by -

if only the snow would stop and go away - 

it would be a perfect month!

But, we were lucky and escaped winter for a few days!

Pool at our resort!

We had a perfectly wonderful quick trip

to Florida!

Most of our time was spent at Universal Studios -

which is a real departure for us as we

are generally diehard Disney World fans!

Happy Panda!

One of our favorite rides is a bit of a hidden

secret -- Jimmy Fallon's Race Through New York!

We liked it so much, we went on it two days in a row!

I must admit I hated the Jurassic Park movies when they 

came out as dinosaurs totally creep me out!

Something creeping up on us - about to nudge Connor!

Connor and Maddie talked me into visiting a Raptor Encounter!

Who's that coming up behind us????

EEEEEK!

Blue, the only Dinosaur remaining (according to the handlers),
 was in rare form that day!

I think she wanted to munch on my hair and take

a little bitty bite out of Maddie!

HELP!!!!!

What a blast!

Stay tuned! 

More favorites and photos to come!

Hello Summer!

Yay!  It's Officially Summer!

Time for swimsuits and pool parties and 

ice cream and lazy days!

But, our weather is not cooperating!

We had extremely hot conditions in May and earlier in June - 

like 98+ degree temps for days and days and days in a row.

We were roasting!!

So, we did get some pool time in then,

but now that its officially summer -- it's 70 and raining -

raining cats and dogs this week!

Oy! Hoping for better weather by the weekend!

Jodee and Kamree joined us for some pool time too!

It was a lovely hot night and the girls loved cooling

off in donut floaties!

Kamree had some mad/rad skills in flips off the diving board!

The Summer of the Pool Floaty - Size XL Please!

We are so sad to be saying "so long"

to our Floaty friends with the end of summer pool time!

Maddy had a blast at the pool

with the XL floaties that seemed

to be almost everywhere!

We started out with a Pineapple one -- loved it!

It was nearly as big as she was!

I had to put the back seats down in the jeep 

for the floaties to fit!

Loved the pineapple, but lo and behold -- 

she found a Unicorn  - 
MAGICAL!

Oh my word -- that one is crazy big!

I guess it's a good thing that the pool we visited was

not too crowded since the floaties took

up so much space!

Truth be told - there were lots of other floaties 

of similar sizes this summer!

The last big floaty of the summer

was the crabby duck!

We hate to put these things away for the winter,

but they don't really go with 

our house decor very well!  

The unicorn is currently lingering in the dining room

waiting for one last pool visit!

The pool and the floaties were Maddy's happy place

this summer especially during the trying times

of driver's ed classes!

Everybody needs an escape, am I right??

It's been a fun summer at the pool

with our pool friends! 

Fingers crossed for nice hot weather on the

weekend before we put the pool and floaties to bed

for this year.

Ahhhhh summer - we'll miss ya!

Ka-Boom! Fun on the Fourth!

We love the 4th of July --

celebrating our country and our freedom is so special -- 

and  let's be truthful here . . . 

having an extra day off work is also very nice!  :)

We had blasted hot, hot, hot temps before the 4th,

but then rain and chilly weather in the days leading up to the 4th.

We were hopeful for clear and sunny skies, and finally the clouds moved out,

the humidity moved in and the

 temps soared!

Look at that camel  whispering in her ear!

Maddy and I went to the zoo in the morning when it was rather

unseasonably cool out and NO crowds at all!  Sweet!!

After the skies finally cleared off, we headed to the pool 

for noodle races, ice cream sandwiches and 

the lovely smell of sunscreen!!

However, the chilly days prior along with a lot of

rain made the water temp icy cold! 

Brrrr!

Love the shades, but they are hard to see clearly through!

Then it was time to hit the fireworks stands!

Although I've been buying fireworks for what seems to be a million years,

I always forget which ones are the faves.

I neglected to get any artillery shells (really, I don't like to light those),

but smoke bombs, sparkling balls and some screaming bees and sparklers

all made their way into our bags.

Guess I have toned the fireworks way down

since the boys were young and every single year, we had a

fireworks-related "incident!"   

Not kidding here -- one time, a lighted firework fell over and ignited 

a bag of other explosives - burning a hole in our patio umbrella

and a burn mark on the patio table! 

Luckily for us, some neighbors had a quite a show

of artillery shells and we could see the

Country Club's fireworks from our driveway!

All in all, it was a fun and safe 4th -- just the way I like it!

KA-BOOM!  

Ka-Boom! Fun on the Fourth!

We love the 4th of July --

celebrating our country and our freedom is so special -- 

and  let's be truthful here . . . 

having an extra day off work is also very nice!  :)

We had blasted hot, hot, hot temps before the 4th,

but then rain and chilly weather in the days leading up to the 4th.

We were hopeful for clear and sunny skies, and finally the clouds moved out,

the humidity moved in and the

 temps soared!

Look at that camel  whispering in her ear!

Maddy and I went to the zoo in the morning when it was rather

unseasonably cool out and NO crowds at all!  Sweet!!

After the skies finally cleared off, we headed to the pool 

for noodle races, ice cream sandwiches and 

the lovely smell of sunscreen!!

However, the chilly days prior along with a lot of

rain made the water temp icy cold! 

Brrrr!

Love the shades, but they are hard to see clearly through!

Then it was time to hit the fireworks stands!

Although I've been buying fireworks for what seems to be a million years,

I always forget which ones are the faves.

I neglected to get any artillery shells (really, I don't like to light those),

but smoke balls, sparkling balls and some screaming bees and sparklers

all made their way into our bags.

Guess I have toned the fireworks way down

since the boys were young and every single year, we had a

fireworks-related "incident!"   

Not kidding here -- one time, a lighted firework fell over and ignited 

a bag of other explosives - burning a hole in our patio umbrella

and a burn mark on the patio table! 

Luckily for us, some neighbors had a quite a show

of artillery shells and we could see the

Country Club's fireworks from our driveway!

All in all, it was a fun and safe 4th -- just the way I like it!

KA-BOOM!  

TGIF a/k/a Finally Friday!

Hello Friends!  Happy Friday -- 

are you ready for the weekend??

Pool at our Disney resort

We've had such incredibly hot temps for so early in the year

and high humidity to go along with it -- some days

the heat index has been 105 or more!

Oh dear -- the only place to go when it gets

that hot . . . the pool!

Pool back at home

Do you have any special plans this weekend?

Maddy and I are taking the two oldest littles 

(Janie who is 6 and Walt who is 5)

to Paint Yourself Silly!

I really hope they don't paint themselves

or each other! :)

It will be interesting to see what each selects to paint!

I'm sure it will be a fun time -- and I believe

it will be Walt's first painting experience there.

On Sunday, we are headed to an 80th birthday

brunch for our incredibly sweet neighbors - Marcia and Jim.

Their daughter is hosting it and Marcia told me

the mimosa bar is already set up! Yessss! :)

There's a movement underway to stop at the outlet

mall on the way home from brunch!

Can't go wrong with mimosas in the morning

and shopping in the afternoon.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend too!

xoxo

Summer's Last Blast!

Last weekend - Labor Day weekend
-- the official end of summer!
Boo hoo !

We had one of the best summers!
While I worked until about 1 or 2 pm every day, Maddy
slept late, took the pup for a walk, tidied up the house
and watched a movie or show on Netflix.
Add to that her zoo crew duties and some sports camps
and the summer flew by!

Mads and I spent a ton of time at the pool -- not during the heat
of the day getting all sunburned, but instead in the evenings,
and we often had the whole pool to ourselves or shared it with
only a few others.

The last couple weeks, the weather changed and it was a
little chilly for August, but we were determined
and continued to hit the pool, even
with its shorter hours after school started.
We became such regulars that if we were a little late, the lifeguards
started calling to make sure we were on our way! :)

Labor Day was the last day of pool-time fun
 and sadly, our pool (club) is closing forever.

On one of the last nights there, I was
able to get these silhouette photos
with my iPhone of some folks going off the high
diving board!

We will really miss that place!

The July 4th Report!

We had a really fun 4th of July --

 hope you did too!

Now, on to the report.

Happy 4th of July!

This is the final year for our golf/tennis/swim club's 4th of July festivities

as the club is being sold. :( 

We are really trying to make the most of

its last summer season.

Clowns at the pool!

Maddy and I are hitting the pool a lot 

when the weather cooperates.

It was a little cool a few evenings ago - so 

besides us, there were 3 lifeguards and a Mom and little kid!

Nice to have it all to ourselves!

Noodle racing!

On to the 4th!

This place knows how to celebrate the 4th of July!

The morning starts with tennis and golf tournaments 

and then on to pool festivities!

Noodle races, big splash contests, lip sync competition,

and yummy food and drink!

Guy in the orange hat almost won the big splash contest!

Singing and Dancing!! 

The finale is 

4 skydivers landing on the golf course!

Getting closer -- no worries -- he missed the trees!

The last skydiver carries the flag and everyone sings

The Star Spangled Banner!

We celebrated a little at home too later with a few fireworks.

It's really much quieter and a lot cheaper then when the boys were Maddy's age!

I'm not saying who (both of them), 

but they nearly blew up a metal patio table and burned holes through the umbrella one year!

The 4th scared me a lot back in those days!  :)

Sparklers, a few artillery shells and some cracklin balls and our 

fireworks bill totaled only about $20 this year!

Good for us and good for our pup Muffy, who

was hiding in the basement watching tv and trying not to be too afraid!

We topped off the evening celebrating our country's freedom with a 

traditional bowl of red/white/blue rainbow sherbet. 

Go USA!

Hellooooo September!

Hello September!

Bye-bye summer!

But really, I don't consider summer to be totally over

until it is officially fall -- which I believe will be later this month.

Oh yes, Husker football started on Saturday -- how

could I forget to mention something 

sooooo important!!! :)

Did you all have a good long Labor Day weekend?

Yes??

We did too!

Finally, after trying to get together at the pool 

All. Summer. Long.

we were able to have Jodee and Kamree

meet us on the next to last day the pool was open!

And even then, it almost didn't happen!

It was rainy in the morning  -- 

but . . . 

the weather cleared, the sun came out and it was HOT!

We had so much fun with those two

and bonus -- the pool was not crowded at all!

Maddy and Kam jumped off the diving board,

dove for diving sticks, splashed a lot 

and had a few snacks!

Perfect! 

Jodee and I were able to chit-chat a little.

Have I mentioned how much I've missed her and my 

friends/co-workers

since leaving the office?

I hate to talk about it as it makes me a little sad.

So, moving on . . . 

Ready, set, jump!

Storms rolled back in late afternoon with lightning, thunder, hail 

and torrential rain and even tornadoes nearby!  

On yes, the weather in Nebraska is always

entertaining (and sometimes scary)!

Perfect ending to August.

Looking forward to some cooler 

lovely temps for September!