Home from Florida

My mom and I arrived home from our whirlwind trip to Florida around noon on Saturday.  Both of us somewhat exhausted and then she went and pulled an all nighter to wait for concert tickets that went on sale the next morning.  I took the more practical route and went home, packed for the cottage and took a lot of little naps and relaxed.

 Luke and I attempted to go watch the sunset but there were too many low clouds so it wasn't going to happen.  The sun disappeared from view 15 minutes before the actual sunset with no chance of the clouds breaking for a more beautiful sky.  Oh well, we tried.

 We went back to the cottage where Luke basically proceeded to rub my feet and calves for almost the entire Transformers movie that he rented.  Then he stayed up to do some work and slept on the couch so I could get a great night of sleep after all my travels.  He is an amazing husband and always trying to make me happy.  He's winning in that category (although I do complain sometimes).

My skirt haul from the trip to Florida cause my handsome Manfriend said, "get what you want."  In all fairness mom bought me 2 and one was already paid for and had to be picked up (saved shipping cost).

My 32nd Birthday

I will start off by saying that yes, I am a spoiled princess and I can be very moody.  Why would my birthday be any different?  Of course most of the family showed up at my parents for breakfast.  My mom does bacon, eggs and pancakes most days.  Today my sister stepped in and made crescent roll French Toast.  And since I am a spoiled princess I wanted regular French Toast so my sister made that for me and called me a piggy since I wanted 3 slices.  I love French Toast and could eat it every day.  Mind you I don't like bacon and didn't have any other breakfast goodies.  

 After breakfast people just hung around the yard and Michael climbed all over his car.  In and out, stand on the seat, sit down, turn the key, attempt to "squeak" the horn.

 I had him open our other gift.  He loved gift number 2 from us.  A box of tissues that he promptly started to pull out one at a time.  Very gently he pulled them out and left them all over the place.

 It is totally magical little dude how they keep coming out of the box.  They seem to be never ending.

 Manfriend and I took a walk up to the lake and enjoyed the cool temperatures and breeze.  The lake was still kind of rough but not as bad as the day before.  My mom let some Ben & Jerry's Triple Caramel Chunk ice cream get soft and put it in an Oreo pie crust, drizzled with hot fudge for my cake.  My moody self kicked in and complained about the hot fudge ruining the ice cream since it took away from the slight caramel flavor.  She was really worried about not even being able to make me a cake.  I was surprised that she did this for me and am thankful she did, although I told her it was technically a pie (told you I was in a mood).

 I took a nap on the couch and my parents took a nap on the hammock outside.  That night was the poker game that usually takes place on the 4th.  There is a new winner in town, Mr. Lucky (my dad).  He won $20 (which is small for the game that usually has the winner taking home about $80+).

 The first one out was a shocker to all.  Manfriend was the loser and winner of the poop.  Must be because I didn't sit in the cottage and "cheer" for you.  I chose to watch Aladdin on the projection screen set up that they have outside for night movies.  My feet got about 4 bug bites each and those are the only bites I have.  Lucky for me they only bother me when I put on my shoes for a run (grrrr).

 And, since I warned that I am a spoiled Princess I received these adorable t-shirts from my Momma and Papa Bear.  They are just perfect for me and I look forward to wearing them all the time.

 I was also given some SparkleSkirts.  yay for running stuff that is useful and that I love.  I was also given a jar of homemade strawberry jam in a wine bag.  They were hoping to trick me but some liquor was given to me a few weeks ago (Firefly Sweet Tea vodka--delicious mixed with lemonade).

 The big birthday surprise came in the form of the Midnight with Mickey Vera Bradley Hipster.  I love my tote that Luke got me around our anniversary and I have the zip ID case my mom got me for when I go to schools and have to leave ID and keys at the main office.  I love the print and my parents decided that it would be nice for me to have this cute little purse for when I travel.

I had a wonderful birthday and am so appreciative of everything my parents do for me and not just on my birthday but throughout the year.  Even though my birthday is right after the 4th they still find a way to make it a special day for me, despite the craziness of lots of family and such around the cottage.

Michael's First Birthday & 4th of July

Our usual 4th of July festivities kicked off with a delicious meal over at Patty and Danny's place.  We lucked out in that the weather was unusually "chilly" for the holiday.  Usually we are all sitting around sweating but this year we had many people scrambling for long sleeve shirts or pants.  It was actually a perfect temperature but after the heat and humidity in the days before it was a bit of a shock.  

 After lunch/dinner we usually have a poker game but this year we headed over to my parents place where Jen had set up an Ice Cream Shoppe for Michael's First Birthday.  She put a lot of the classic details into the decor and it was amazing.

 Of course the family loved it since we all have a bit of a large sweet tooth.  People sat around chatting and enjoying their sundaes and Root Beer floats.  She had so much leftover too that we invited the neighbors for ice cream and they were in heaven.

 Michael woke up from his nap and was not the happiest of campers.  Usually he is happy but he was just sort of crankity.  Here is Bob tossing him in the air trying to get him to smile before they did his smash cake.

 I might have been kind of unhappy too if all these people were staring at me and I'm not used to all the fuss from that many people.  I am sure that everyone got a great photo of him not smashing his cake while I took one of them all staring at the handsome little dude.

 He did smile for Great Gee-Gee though and had fun sitting in his lap.  Who wouldn't want to smile with Grandpa Zip singing songs and smiling.  He is such a happy guy that it is contagious.

 In the other part of the yard the kids were gathered on the hammock making kickball teams.  Kickball did happen but we were feeding the neighbors ice cream and didn't make it back to Patty and Danny's for that.

 I insisted on giving Michael his gift from Luke and I.  He was very happy and had a huge grin on his face.  It was just what Jen and Bob needed for him to have so he would have some smiling one year photos from the party.  It was a Monsters Inc. inspired coupe.

 Then they did a picture of all the Mikes...

 That night we went to the former Pier One for karioke and drinks.  Our family consisted of about 3/4 of the people there and they were supposed to stop the singing at 9:30 but kept it going until about 1:30.  Crazy.

It was a wonderful 4th of July celebrated with friends and family plus a birthday thrown in there.  A little crazy but that is how most family events are for us and I love it most of the time.

Happy Anniversary!

Luke and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary the other day.  It was pretty low key.  We went to the cottage the weekend before and planned to go for a picnic lunch and a boat ride.  Well, it ended up being quite chilly and very windy.  Picnic lunch in the car for the win.

 Enjoying our lunches in my car.  Cottage style clothing at it's finest and my headband starting to pop off my head.

 Since it was so chilly we had a very snuggly kitty cat that joined us.  She took turns snuggling on Luke and I throughout the weekend and slept curled up next to me both nights.

 Here she is all snuggled up on me while we watched some Netflix on our ipad.

 When it was time to go home she was once again a good little girl and sat all curled up on the back seat.  I am so lucky that she travels well in the car.

 For our real anniversary we had dinner at home with breaded chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans with shaved almonds plus some Relax wine.

 Yup, we were bums just hanging out in t-shirts and jeans at home and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy 3 year Anniversary my love and here's to many more bummin' it at home anniversaries cause I rock the sweatpants like no one else.

One week Belated Papa Bear Day!

Wanted to wish my Papa Bear a belated Father's day.  I had a great time doing all sorts of little things with him at the cottage.  I had asked him about touching up the rust spot on my car a while back.  He brought some tool to the cottage to brush off the rust and then painted up the spot with a "primer/inhibiter for rust."  Another day we will put on some "Subaru Blue" paint to hopefully blend it in a little better.

Next we hung up a swing for when little guy is in town over the summer.  Papa Bear had the rope and clip thing so we just had to figure out how to get it over the branch and tie it up.  I must say that it came out fantastic and it is a good thing that he has so many odds and ends that he keeps cause you never know when you might need them.  He used some old hook thing to wrap the rope around so it doesn't tangle when he puts it away.

 Later he helped me to catch a sunfish on a fly rod.  I've never used a fly rod before and the fish weren't in a biting mood that day.  They would kind of nibble/play but not bite.   I did end up catching one but it took a long time.  I still need to work on the whole getting the fly out there part.

I also helped him to straighten out the one cable on his boat hoist since it was rubbing funny.  I had a great day helping my Papa Bear out and learning some new things (like how to fly fish--sort of, putting up a swing and fixing my rusted spot).  I hope you enjoyed the afternoon and your time fishing!

Memorial Day Lobster Fest 2014

My folks hosted a Memorial Day lobster picnic again this year.  The weather was a little bit chilly but not too bad.  Everyone was asked to bring a dish to pass and all the food was delicious.

 We set up all the tables for eating outside and the "buffet line" was inside.  We had pasta salad, fruit salad, salad, corn on the cob, cheese and crackers plus clam chowder and roseamarina salad.

 Of course the kids were entertained by the one and only babysitter called the sandbox.  Providing free hours of entertainment for over 28 years.

 Papa Bear was our chef for the evening steaming the lobsters and grilling chicken at the same time.

 Once we were adequately stuffed we enjoyed some cookie cake for dessert.  Two people said they would bring dessert and both showed up with cookie cake.  A crowd pleaser every time!

 That evening a large group stuck around to watch the Rochester Knighthawks lacrosse team play game one of the championship.  Unfortunately they lost the game.

 The next day Luke and I went for a row boat ride to check out the bay.  A few new stairs to the bay are being built, places are for sale and such but for the most part it was quite quiet.

 Of course a trip to Brooks for ice cream was necessary.  We all ordered a small and of course they were huge compared to a small anywhere else.

That evening, after several naps (cottage is for eating and sleeping and repeating), we headed over to Patty and Danny's for poker.  Luke won the first game of the season.  Aunt Patty thought that giving him a bunch of wine would provide her an edge over him.  It did not work this time.  We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.  Let summer begin!