Rooms With a View

GOODBYE SUMMER VACATION PART 2!

More photos from our LAST DAY OF SUMMER VACATION!

 

Anna Kate, Vinny, & Abigail!

 

Anna Kate & Abigail!

 

Nice dive Vinny!

 

Abigail. I am so proud of both Abigail and Anna Kate. Earlier in the summer I taught them both how to dive off the diving board and now they are pros!

 

Anna Kate!

 

Mitchell being crazy!

 

Abigail!

 

Vinny!

The next 7 photos were taken by Mitchell.

 

Vinny!

 

Anna Kate!

 

Anna Kate!

 

The girls with their "Martha Washington" hair.

 

Abigail!

 

Vinny & Abigail!

 

One of my new favorite photos of Vinny.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Monday.

GOODBYE SUMMER VACATION!

For the past three summers we have celebrated the last day of summer vacation with a little swimming and lots of fun. This year we added some friends to the party and had even more fun. Here are some photos from our day!

 

Every summer I try to get a couple of shots like this. It is harder than it looks.

 

Love this one of Mitchell.

 

Finally, one with all three kids looking at me.

 

Meet Molly! We met Molly at the Great Wolf Lodge in NC last week. She lives in Greenville, about 30 minutes away, and is the same age as Patrick. Is she not adorable?

 

 

 

Christi, Anna Kate, & Vinny.

 

Anna Kate, Vinny, & Abigail.

 

That is Al Jr. hiding behind his cell phone.

 

Who is that behind those Foster Grants?

 

Mitchell! He actually looks good in my sunglasses.

 

Mitchell took this photo of Charlie. Not sure why he is making this funny face.

Well, that is it for now. I am still battling this bug. Thanks for stopping by!

SHOPPING, MUFFULETTAS, AND SILVER COWBOYS

On our third day in New Orleans, we spent the morning shopping with Anna and Donna while Erin and Christy ran some errands for the Baptism. Vinny and I needed shoes and a lite weight top to go over our dresses for the baptism. We hit a few shops on Canal Street and found just what we needed except for a top for me. Then we met Danny, Erin, Christy, Joel, and sweet Vivian in the French Quarter for Muffulettas from Central Grocery. A Muffuletta is a round sandwich with Olive Salad, Salami, Prosciutto, Provolone and perhaps one more cheese and meat. They are not my choice so I always opt for something else from a street vendor. Here is a photo from Central Grocery...

 

This is only a half.

Next we did a little shopping at the flea market. Mitchell found some bracelets and a scarf, Vinny found some sunglasses, I found a new Baptism gift, and Patrick found a cool hat. 

 

Mitchell, Vinny and Patrick in front of a Christmas shop. Don't you love Patrick's new hat?

We decided to walk along some of the streets to find an ice-cream shop. There are numerous street performers in the French Quarter. We ran into this guy...

 

That's Mitchell putting some money in the cowboy's bucket. He is pointing at something or someone...

 

Yes, he was pointing at me.

 

Miss Vivian didn't quite know what to think of the silver cowboy.

After the French Quarter we went to Canal Place to find my top which we finally found on sale at Banana Republic. I drove home with Anna in the Vet while the kids and Charlie walked back. I snapped a few shots on the way to the hotel...

 

I took the next two photos from the parking garage. The building in the bottom right corner is the Aquarium. The Mississippi River is in the background.

If you look closely or click on the photo to enlarge it you will see a tug boat pushing a barge up the river.

 

A beautiful old building on Canal Street.

I just fell in love with this window which is across from our hotel.

We had subway sandwiches for dinner then the kids went for a quick swim in the hotel's toilet, I mean pool. I will explain more about the pool in a later post.

 

Vinny.

 

Mitchell.

 

And last but not least Patrick. He was not swimming, just hanging out with me. We went to bed early since the next day was the Baptism.

Thanks for stopping by!

GREEN EGGS & SAM

This post has nothing to do with Green Eggs. It does have to do with the last day of Sam's visit. I just thought the title was kind of catchy. So, on the last day Sam, Vinny, Mitchell and I started our day off early with some water aerobics.

 

Vinny doing leg lifts.

 

Sam.

 

Sam doing the twist on the diving board.

 

Mitchell practicing the hand splash.

 

More hand splashing.

 

And more hand splashing!

 

Vinny showing Sam how to do a sit jump off the diving board.

 

Floating sit-ups.

 

Preparing for a race.

 

As you can see Vinny is in the lead. She ended up losing by a finger.

 

Catching their breath.

 

Still catching their breath while having a little chat.

 

Trying out the side stroke.

 

Vinny doing some pull-ups.

 

Vinny preparing to judge a race between Sam and Mitchell.

 

And the boys racing. I think Mitchell might have won this one.

Monday night Patrick had a friend over and we all played Catch Phrase for over an hour. I did not take any photos since the game moves so quickly I simply did not have time between turns. We had the best time with Sam and we missed him the minute he left for the airport. We are looking forward to seeing him in May of 2010 for Patrick's High School Graduation.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a groovy Wednesday!

HOW TO DUNK A PRETTY LADY!

Christi had no problem getting into the pool. The only thing she would not do was put her head under water. Well, Patrick found this to be a challenge and he never steps away from a challenge. So, here is how to dunk a beautiful woman...

 

The un-expecting victim.

 

The not so sneaky dunker...

 

Still unaware of what is headed her way.

 

Down she goes...

 

And she still looks amazing and fortunately she did not lose her contacts.

And the last great photo of the night...

 

Anna Kate, Vinny and Abigail. Are they not the cutest girls you have ever seen?

Thanks for stopping by.

HOW TO EXERCISE OFF CAKE AND COOKIES.

One advantage to owning a pool is being able to work off some of the calories consumed during parties. Everyone has their favorite exercises and they vary from person to person. Here are a few from our Friday Night event.

 

Sam prefers pull-ups as well as ....

 

Sit-ups.

 

Patrick is giving weight lifting a try with a pink blown-up raft.

 

He also likes sit-ups.

 

Christi practice arm curls with her lemon cooler.

 

Vinny prefers the leg press with the skateboard.

Well, I am exhausted just looking at these photos so I am off to bed. Thanks for stopping by!

THE CREATURES OF THE PADDOCK POOL.

When you put kids, drinking adults, and pool toys into a pool, you sometimes end up with some scary creatures. Friday night was no exception and thanks again to Al Jr. for photographing this dangerous assignment.

 

The Masked Creature aka Patrick.

 

The Screamer Creature aka Sam.

 

The Time Out Creature aka Mitchell.

 

The Giggle Creature aka Anna Kate.

 

The Hair Swooshing Creature aka Vinny.

 

The Beautiful Creature aka Christi and the Gray Haired Creature aka Me.

There were a couple of other creatures out and about in the pool that are just too scary to post.

Thanks for stopping by!

HOW TO GET A RELUNCTANT DAD INTO THE POOL.

On Friday night while Christi and her kids were over we were all having a great time in the pool. There were only two people not in the water; Al Jr. due to a bad back and Charlie. I put Al to work as the photographer of the evening so he had a job. Charlie, on the other hand, was not doing much of anything...

 

Eventually he made his way to the side of the pool...

 

My kids were not going to have their dad sitting on the side of the pool during a party. So, operation 'Get Dad Into the Pool' commenced...

 

First, the youngest who is the most innocent sneaks up to her dad.

 

Then, the oldest and biggest does a front flip landing as close as possible to the sitting dad making sure to make a big splash.

Meanwhile, the middle son has snuck out of the pool and is quietly approaching the sitting duck, I mean dad.

 

Part one is complete, dad is in the pool. 

 

Next, make sure that the dad is nice and wet. This way he has not excuse not to get all the way in.

 

Continue to splash the dad until he is nice and soaked.

 

Operation Get Dad Into the Pool is a success. Thank you Al for taking these amazing photos!

Thanks for stopping by!