Random-ness

These are just a few random pics that were taken a few weeks ago. Just thought I'd post them.

Beach Photo Shoot

Okay, this year at Amelia, Laura decided we needed to take some good beach photos. So, everyone knows I love to take pics so that's what we did one evening. It was great! I have just posted a few below. Some of them already are on facebook and you may have seen them before.

Amelia Island 2009 - Family Vacation

Alrighty, Amelia was a blast again this year. We always have such a wonderful time and it was just the same this year. We pretty much stay on the beach or by the pool at all times of day even into the night. The boys if they want, play golf and we do a lot of cooking in with an occasional meal out on the town.







Megan is one of the cutest little girls I know. This is her in her swimming attire and ready to go.









Aunt Cathy - funny pose!












This is the hot tub! Our pool does not allow children in swim diapers to get into the big pool so they fixed up this little side pool and our kids named it the hot tub. They enjoyed it for sure.







This year we probably ate in more than usual but with all of the children at the ages they are, it's just easier. One night we did a shrimp boil where you boil shrimp, corn, potatoes and sausage all together and then you just dump it all out on the table on newspaper. You then eat from the newspaper - it was super enjoyable!!

It only rained one day, thank the Lord so we were able to be outside the rest of the time. We counted and I think we had at least 50 people there this time all knowing eachother so it really is an amazing set up with all the children having so many play-mates. Amelia is a trip I look forward to every year.

Lake Trip #2

We got another chance to hang out at the lake house again. We did most of the same stuff as before so I'm just going to post some cute pictures and you know the drill....jet skiing and more jet skiing and this time boating. I attempted to ski but to no avail, couldn't get up out of the water. Will, however, attempted and succeeded, he did a much better job than me!





This is on the boat before we left in it, everyone looks so happy and ready to roll.









This is Blake and his best buddy Joseph. They are inseperable, it seems. They get along so well and always manage to have a good time!!

So cute.





This picture cracks me up, this is all of our 3 families minus Eric who is taking the picture. But my favorite part is Blake and Joseph - they make it seem like we are going 80 miles per hour on a boat with their hair that way. Anyhow, fun times.

Happy Birthday Phyllis!

This is a classic picture of the 9 grandchildren that we took at Phyllis' b-day this year.

Phyllis doesn't ask for much on her b-day but she likes us all to be there for it. So we try to get down there if we can or sometimes it happens while we are in Amelia.



Cute picture of Laura and Parker below. He's her middle schooler who is getting all grown up!

Basketball Camp 09

Whew! I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm going to start waaaaaay back to basketball camp in early June. Both Blake and Brett went to camp this year. Well, Brett went but he mostly hung out and socialized (imagine that!).







It was the Lee camp run by our very own Coach Tommy Brown and company. The kids had a fun time and I've got some pics to post to show it.







This is Matt and Tommy taking a much needed break from all the stresses of camp. :)




And....this is Sarah who is also taking a much needed break from the stresses of camp. Sarah is in charge of a lot of stuff and this might have been on Thurs. maybe Friday when she was pretty much pooped out.













Like I said, Brett mostly socialized at camp. I hope next year when he's of official age, he'll be able to concentrate more on the actual camp activities. We'll see...



















Brett again, with some friends.

Memorial Day weekend at the lake

Our friends Tommy and Sarah had access to this wonderful lake house for the Memorial Day weekend. So, we got the invite and probably over-stayed our welcome but they kept saying it was fine. We went on Saturday and didn't come back into Cleveland until Tuesday morning. It was great fun and I've got lots of pics to post from that event. Our days pretty much went the same way each day we were there. Sarah and I usually cooked breakfast and we attempted to eat, just the 4 of us, but that didn't happen with 7 children in the house. Then by 10:00 we were mostly all down on the dock, hanging out listening to music and just sitting around. The jet ski didn't stop most days, there was always someone on it. Even Graham and Tucker rode and they LOVED it. Snacks were had about 10:30 and then lunch came about 12 or 12:30 each day. After lunch we did much of the same, hang out on the dock, ride the jet ski and swim in the lake water (not me but the kids did). After lunch is when we'd start thinking about what we were going to do for dinner and then we all pitched in to eat pretty well while we were out there. We grilled a few times and had a roast one night and of course dessert was involved, I mean, I was there right? Matt and April came out during the day on 2 days and Eric and Missy got to come one day/evening as well. Emmy was getting over strep throat so they didn't spend the night, just came to hang out. It was great fun! By the time night came, the adults were toast and pretty much just laid around watching stupid NBA games (can't you tell I love those). However, we did not start laying around until we had a fire in the fire pit every single night making smores.



This was one of those staple activities that the kids looked forward to all 3 nights we were there!! The kids however caught a second wind and would play card games or hide and seek outside - they had a blast!!





Matt and April were such troopers with the kids. Since they don't have any of their own yet, they basically have adopted ours and Tommy and Sarahs as their own. They are super sweet!










This is Graham and April jet skiing, cuties!!











We had some friends come over one day with their boat and they took people out tubing and boat riding. The kids enjoyed this part too.
































Graham and Tucker loved playing on this float thing. It entertained them for quite awhile!








There are 2 really funny things that happened that must be put on record so no one forgets them. First one involves me, unfortunately. Okay, so I'm not an avid water skiier or boater or jet skiier for that matter, I like it but I'd rather let someone else drive while I ride (stop it with the "that's what she said" - i can hear you all saying it). Anyhow, so at first I went with Emma Kate all the time b/c she needed an adult to ride with her. I can't remember if this was Sat. or Sun, that part has slipped my mind. But anyhow, we get done riding and EK pulls it up onto the ramp successfully - we think - and she hops off and heads up the ladder. Well that leaves me by myself and the jet ski sliding off the back of the dock thing and into the water. So, I crank her up and pull around and try not once, twice but 3 times to get it where its supposed to be on the dock. Okay, Tommy enters story. He comes over there to help me or so he thinks to help me. He stands on the dock, full body weight, while I floor the gas and almost drive the jet ski up under the ramp. Well it did go under the ramp and actually even got jammed up and it took an act of Congress to get it out. So when you're using someone else's jet ski, be careful to not floor it with someone's body weight on the dock or you will wreck, as I did. We laughed later about it but I felt TERRIBLE and still do a little bit.

Funny story #2 involves Eric and I have a pic to go along with it.
This is how this story begins. Tommy takes Emmy on the jet ski b/c E&M don't have swimsuits with them. When they get back, Tommy pulls close to the dock so we can grab Emmy and get her back up on the dock. So Eric goes over to get her and I'm not sure really what happened but below is how it ended up.
Yes, that is Eric, on the jet ski, facing the wrong direction and really hanging on for dear life to the side of it. What happened was as he was grabbing Emmy, the jet ski floated away leaving him with a decision to make so he just kind of fell onto the jet ski as shown above. We all laughed pretty hard. Good times.

So, that's about it. Sorry it took so long to post this but at least I got it done!!

Thanks to the Browns for a very fun 3 days!! We'll repay in July.