The Last FABULOUS FUN FRIDAY

This weekend was our last FABULOUS FUN FRIDAY! Karyn has a lot of stuff in August, plus her kids start school the last week of August... plus we are all out of money...LOL!!

We did it up right though!! Friday we drove to Portland and had lunch at the food court... ORANGE CHICKEN for me of COURSE!!

After lunch we headed to SPLASHTOWN! It was kinda drizzly so the park was not too busy, but it was still hot and humid, so it was a PERFECT day to play! I have no photos of Splashtown even though we went Friday AND Saturday because it is WAY too much freakin' fun for me to be wastin time takin' pictures!

The plan was to do Splashtown til they closed at 6pm, then Funtown for the evening, but at 4pm it started downpouring, so both parks closed down. Since they have a "weather guarantee" we got free 3pm-close passes to use another day (which would be the next day :-D ). Since our plans got rained out... we decided to have dinner at Fuji. It was a BLAST for all... except for Devon who was overtired and not feelin' too good :( He was a good sport about it though.

The food a Fuji is very plentifful and FREAKIN DELICIOUS!!! I don't even LIKE shrimp, scallops, lo mein, or even fried rice that much, but at Fuji I can't get enough of it all!! It's like MAGIC! ;-) We got back to the hotel around 11pm and got a good nights sleep. The next morning's plan (after some hotel shenanigans) was Aquaboggan.

We had a great time at Aquaboggan and it was actually a HOT, SUNNY Day.... WEIRD!! The plan was to go home afterwards... but those free tickets were burning holes in the kids pockets (ok... I admit... mine too), so they convinced us to leave Aquaboggan at around 4 and go over to Funtown... which ended up being a couple hours of Splashtown first (LOVES IT!), then funtown once Splashtown closed.

We stayed at funtown til they closed and didn't get home till 1am!! (not sure why this is all underlining... ignore that please)

We had SO much fun and I am feelin it today!! Every muscle in my body is sore!!

A PERFECT end to our FABULOUS FUN FRIDAYS!!

Kristina and Tristan's Wedding Slideshow

I am not a huge fan of camp.

There. I said it. It’s out there. I try… and I really wish that I did enjoy it like the rest of my family does, but I just don’t find enjoyment in being trapped in the middle of nowhere in an old, SMALL (REALLY SMALL… with sometimes 12 people CRAMMED into it!), musty, bat-mouse-and who knows what else-laden house. Sleeping and sitting on furniture with all the same characteristics mentioned above skeeves the hell out of me. Also not a fan of cooking in a sub-standard kitchen with no cutting board… large bowl… decent knife…. You get the idea.

But like I said… I do try. And I don’t hate it ALL. I love watching Liz read stories to the kids. She also plays this GREAT game with them where she fills a pillowcase with random objects and starts to tell a story. She then passes the pillowcase to the person beside her in the circle, they reach in and take an item, and then add on to the story using the item as inspiration. I think this years story ended up being about elves that had crazy magic hair in a battle with aliens using guns that shot chicken nuggets. There was a fairy involved at some point, but she had to excuse herself to make a phone call (old cell phone in the pillowcase…lol). And of course I love all the yummy food and hanging out and relaxing with friends and family. And I even love a swim in the lake now and then :)

We always thought it would be so much fun to have a dog at camp that swam. WRONG…lol!! Lucy had a blast and we couldn’t keep her OUT of the water… so she was wet all the time…. Chasing ducks all the time… getting tangled in fishing line (once), and just being a wild, crazy nuisance!! It was fun to watch her… but if I heard Rick yell “LUCY COME…NOW!!!” one more time…… Oh and SPEAKING of little miss Lucy… as a grand finale of the trip, she decided to squeeze out the window of the MOVING CAR on the way home. Lucky for her, we were still on the dirt camp road and I was driving slow enough to stop as I heard her climbing out, so I THINK that I may have been stopped before she landed, but it all happened so fast that I am not sure. She is perfectly fine… still dumb as ever.

An ACTUAL HOT AND SUNNY DAY!!

 

 

 

 

We had a great day today!! In the morning we got the house picked up and took the dogs for a walk (which about gave me heat stroke I think... isn't feeling like you want to vomit one of the symptoms of that?). Then Nicole, Brhaun and ALL the kids came over for some meat smokin'... sprinkler playin'.... bush-wackin'.... snake catchin... photo editin'.... rib eatin'... FUN!! ;-)

We all had a GREAT time and can't WAIT for more of the same at the lake next weekend!!

Just a few from the wedding....

WOWZERS!! That was SOMETHIN'!! On the way there, Nicole and I were so excited and nervous and talking about how this could be the beginnings of a career and a partnership... we even spend who knows how long trying to think of a business name.

On the way BACK... we were beat up... exhausted... achey... and totally doubting ourselves. Shooting weddings is FREAKIN EXHAUSTING!! Not to mention the day was probably THE MOST COMPLICATED DAY FOR SHOOTING PHOTOS EVER!! It POURED, then the sun came out, it was foggy, it was clear, it was indoors in an old seaside home, it was outside in a wedding tent................ DAMN!!

Today... I am back to excited! It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding. Not over-the-top, just a bunch of people so happy to see each other and be there to support the commitment of the couple. the bride and bridesmaids were gracious and sweet, the groom and groomsmen were down to earth and welcoming. Actually EVERYONE was welcoming! They all knew that this was Nicole and my first wedding shoot and everyone was SO helpful and nice.

I can't BELIEVE how many pictures we took and how HARD it was to choose just 8 for this post!

Off to take the kids to Harry Potter :)

I learned that getting Rick Cabela's giftcards is a great way to trick him into an OOB trip!!

We had a great day yesterday!! Rick had some GC's he wanted to use at Cabela's and wanted to go down and spend them.... I said sure. Then thought... hmmmm....... Old Orchard Beach is near Cabela's..... and I haven't been boogie boarding in a couple WEEKS!! To my SHOCK... I suggested maybe we could go and Rick was totally on board. Shock because he is NOT a "beach guy" at ALL! Even after he agreed and even as we were walking to the beach, I was expecting a grumpy "Can we go yet?" dude that I would want to kill. Happily... I was wrong!! Even though the water was at LEAST 10-20 degrees colder than last time which cut our boogie boarding short, we still had a blast!!

NCA.... over.

....and as the last trophies were awarded, and the teams rejoiced over their spirit sticks one last time. The NCA team arranged themselves into formation ONE LAST TIME to preform a slow motion re-enactment of the highlights of cheer camp set to the inspirational voice of Miley Cyrus signing "The Climb." Cuz.... There's ALWAYS gonna be another mountain... and it's ALL about THE CLIMB. After all.... they are CHEERLEADERS goddamnit!

they may not know it
But these are the moments that
they're gonna remember most, yeah.

And one single tear streamed down my left cheek.

Ok Ok... I tease... but I am very proud of Jessi, her team is really good and won first place for their cheer and earned the opportunity to compete in nationals or something (a lot of the cheer talk may as well be swahili or that clickety-clack language ...lol). GO JESSI!!!!


(but seriously... all I could think of during that slow motion Miley Cyrus thing was the signing performance at the talent show in Napoleon Dynamite)

Trimmin' the blog hedges

Did a little trimmin' the hedges around the ole blog. Wow... it's been awhile since I've done that. What a difference getting a job and a life can make on internet use! It's kinda sad how much I was attached to that damn laptop!! Now I sit in front of a screen all day long at work, so it's about the LAST thing I want to do at home. (TV does not count... loves me some TV... especially since I got DirecTv "for Rick" and got all the movie channels free for 3 months!!!)

If your blog is gone from my blog list... sorry... I either got sick of waiting for you to blog... got bored of your site... or you were a casuality of my lost interest in scrapbooking. If you got an add onto my list... well consider yourself extremely privileged that I would want to spend my time reading your blog when I should be doing other things! ;-)

Taking Jessi to a college and getting her all set up in a dorm room

....is too much like taking Jessi to college and getting her set up in a dorm room.

NCA day has FINALLY arrived!!!

YAY!!! Jessi has been ready to BURST with excitement ever since school ended for NCA cheer camp! Today I drop her off at Husson University and won't see her again til Saturday.

On Saturday morning they have the last big cheer "thing" and anyone can go watch... so if anyone out there wants to come, it's at 9am and the directions just say "don't worry.... you can't miss us!!"

Cuz 1 get together and 2 blog posts weren't nearly enough....

Rick REALLY wanted to smoke some meat with his new toy... AND we learned that having a get-together the day AFTER a get together is GREAT incentive to clean the house from the first get-together... get it? ;-)

An attempt at redemption for the horrible photos I took last night ;-)

Rick's birthday weekend

Even though the weather didn't cooperate... the party was great!! Rick got some great gifts and everyone had a great time (ok... well I know _I_ did... I guess I can't really speak for everyone else...lol) Rick is head over heels in love with the smoker that his parents and brother got for him. I guess it's a good thing I am back to low-carb with a vengeance tomorrow since I have a feeling there is a LOT of smoked meat in my future!

Bath time!!

Cooper LOVES bath time..... NOT!!!

"Oh please god, not me next."

Tomorrow is your day, Sampson. Lucy's day is EVERY day... that damn dog can NOT stay dry!!

The thing about Old Orchard Beach......

Is that you have to embrace it's complete and total ghetto-fabulousness!! So many people turn their noses up at the mere mention of the place... but not this girl. I FREAKIN' LOVE IT!! From the fat WAY TOO TAN french dudes in speedos.... to the rode-hard-put-away-wet chicks with their cigs and lighter tucked into the string of their bikini... to the lobster red beer bellies.... COME ON... what is NOT to love!!?? I could just sit and watch people all day long.... if there weren't some totally rad waves to catch, dude. ;-)

Last time I made this, it was so labor and time intensive I swore it would be a LOOOONG time before it happened again.

It was SO much easier this time... "I'D" make it again ANYTIME!! ;) ;)

Summer has officially arrived

(Let's just pretend it's not cold and raining out)

Today is the first of our FABULOUS FUN FRIDAYS!!!! We wanted to start it off with some something REALLY COOL... but since it's raining, we settled for "pretty darn cool" with a trip to the UMO rec center WAY COOL POOL, lunch at Pat's Pizza, and then going to see the movie UP! I LOVE that Karyn has Friday's off too and is up for any kind of adventure with all the kids! I even caught her googling "sea kayaking in Maine" the other day!! BRING IT ON KARYN!!

it's only NOON!!!???

We are kickin' ass and takin' names today!!! The den of crap is actually almost presentable!! The hallway of "where the hell should we put this... I don't know just put it in the hallway" is CLEAN and ALL of our shoes are in the CLOSET on SHELVES!! Thanks to all my scrappy stuff going bye bye... I actually have SPACES to put things!!

Rick took about 127 contractor sized bags of bottles down to the bottle drive to save the "B" teams that got cut out of the schools budget. We will be taking FULL credit when the teams are out there playing next year. Rick also took... and is still taking... 2,769 bags of junk to the dump as he works on cleaning out the basement. I think it's ok that we skipped the gym this morning since we are both a sweaty mess!!

We also cleaned Sean's room. The dump and goodwill are now fully stocked. For reals. It was BAD.

I'd love to say now that we have it all good... it will stay that way, but who am I even trying to kid?

Orono Farmer's Market and some garden on campus...

The market wasn't really the "jackpot" for me. I bought some flowers to plant, but other than that there wasn't really anything I was interested in. After that Sean and I found a little garden to take some photos in.

Very glad to have some sunshine today!!

Chris and Raffi.... seperated at birth?

I'm just sayin'.......

Jessi has whipped up a little dessert....