Getting Fancy

Sometimes we just don't get around to the dishes and we are plum out of bowls, mugs, tupperware and all other conceivable vessels for eating cereal.

That's when we get to dip into Mom's stash of strange and wonderful thrift store dishes.

Kinda looks like  fancy barbie tub.

But it does an excellent job with our Rice Krispies.

Ethan+job-bills=growing up!

Ethan is the proud owner of a checking account and a debit card. And he's feeling might fine!

Say Goodbye to Cross Country

Let's be real here. Megan has discovered one very important thing from her participation in cross country. 

She hates running. 

That's a problem when someone is strapping a timing chip to your shoe. 

Megan stands on the sidelines waiting with her friend, Leandra. The race is imminent. Her body language is not screaming "I'm so excited for this!" Let's zoom in...

Oh dear. This is about the last place she wants to be. I'm getting the feeling my dreams for her and track are drifting far far away.

The race starts! Oh look! She's got a huge smile! Maybe I misunderstood! She's loving every minute!

Uh oh. Pain face. I see the pain face. And I recognize that particular posture.. those legs have "side cramp" written all over them.

But she's a trooper and musters a winning smile as she passes us. Way to rally, my girl!

But the pain face wins in the end. Running is awful. There's no way around it. The only cure is....

A massive donut. 

You did it, lady. And you most likely will never have to do it again.

Ethan's first job

Ethan has a job! He is a checker at our local Neighborhood Market. We couldn't resist going in to give him a little bit of a tough time. But it's okay, it was the activity for our Family Home Evening...so it's righteous.

Mark turns 40!!

He's 40! 

He's the very best thing in my life. And he gave me 6 of the other best things in my life. He didn't want to eat tacos with hundreds of people...but he did want to have his friends here and so we made some chips and dips, cut up some fruit and of course....had Mark's most essential Chocolate Lover's cake.

Happy 40th, my love!

Best buddies

Taco Lover

I get a kick out of this girl.

She likes food.

Tacos are one of her favorites.

Momentary peace

These boys haven't gotten along for a pretty long time. I kinda feels like forever. Every look is a threat, ever comment is and invitation to bicker. They are oil and water.

So you can understand why I'd want to capture this brotherly cease fire....

The Eye of the Tiger.

Best song EVER.

Military man

Ethan has dreams to become a Marine. He spotted these dress blues at the thrift store for 5 bucks and couldn't resist.

He put them on and my heart stopped a bit.

Cross Country Megan

Megan has a love/hate relationship with running. I think she is proud of it, but she really dislikes the actual running.

But the hanging out with friends beforehand part is pretty cool!

We definitely enjoy the starting pistol and the made dash to get ahead.

And then the disappear somewhere behind the school. That's where the true grit and suffering takes place.

And suddenly...she's rounding the bend!

She has the pain face. Running is horrible! Why did she sign up for this? How many more races are there, anyway?!?

I have a feeling she might not sign up for cross country next year.

Old Settler's 2017

And viola! Back from my wonderful trip to Europe and home just in time to go to Old Settler's.

The girlies with their notebooks. I love love love that wherever we go, all they need is some paper and something to write with and they are occupied. 

Megan!!! Look her at her rocking that snare! Little did I know that carrying that drum on her shoulders was crazy hard and her legs got bruises where it hit the bottom lip over and over. Ouch!

Ethan is looking very disciplined (and tan) in his Falcon Regiment uniform. Mathew is a freshman this year, so he doesn't join the marching band until he's a sophomore. Little breakie!

I continued my perfect record of weeping at all marching band performances. I tell you...it's unstoppable!

Europe - Day 14 Hiking Monterosso to Vernazza

We intended to get up early and set out on a hike from Vernazza to Monterosso, but you know how that goes. How can you not spend a few moments in the covers, with the windows open and the sound of the waves coming into the marina?

We had decided to take the trail from Vernazza to Monterosso because we read that the trail from Monterosso to Vernazza started with 700 steps!! 700 steps??

700 steps.

Better to go down them than up them, we say!

So, we took the train to Vernazza.

And somehow, we got off in Monterosso.  whoops.

700 steps, here we come!

But first, we need sandwiches. We found yummy "chicken and mayonnaise" sandwiches in a little shop near the beach and grabbed an extra water.

Okay...now 700 steps, here we come!

Luckily, the stairs were not all right at the beginning. I think they were counting how many stairs there were until you reached the peak.

They came in spurts. Some of them were very long spurts.

But this trail was gorgeous. There were so many interesting things to see, and walk through and climb over. It was not boring.

This is the mark for the Monterosso -> Vernazza trail. If you see this stripe, you are not lost.

We reached the summit and we could see the Ligurian coast and see how each village was nestled in between the hills.

There is Corniglia, you can see its stronghold there on the end.

As we came down into Vernazza, we ran came upon two ladies that were headed the other way to Monterosso. It was starting to get pretty warm and they were huffing and puffing. They stopped to ask us how hard did we think it was going to be? They were also wearing no shirts!! There they were, standing in their white and beige playtex bras!! They didn't bat an eye, so we didn't either...lol.  We told them that it was challenging but they could do it! Just take lots of breaks and enjoy the views!

When they hiked past us, we both started laughing....what in the world was that?!?

Not long after, we were walking down into Vernazza.

This was the moment when we were so glad that we got off in the wrong town. You can't beat that sight. And do you know what? We could hear the Accordian Man playing! His song was floating right up to us from somewhere in Vernazza!

When we came all the way down the trail, it dumped us right out onto a street in the middle of the town. I turned around and took this picture... this is what the "trailhead" to Monterosso looks like!:

We were pretty tired from our hike, so we didn't stick around in Vernazza too long, although it seemed like they were having a market day in the main "square" (there are not really any squares in Vernazza....just like, lot's of twisty, windy spots).

We went back through the blue tunnel and guess who was there?

The Accordian man!

He beat us back from Vernazza!

The rest of the day was spent snoozing, reading and eating new flavors of gelato.  And of course we went back to the beach...our last Italian sunset!