Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Carly & I took our first annual girl's trip this summer -- to Boothbay Harbor, Maine! I pretty much invited us to stay at the home of Robert & Ruth Zollinger (Rob's parents), who live up there May through October. They have a beautiful home and were wonderful hosts!

We mostly hung around their property... we ate breakfast in the nook overlooking the bay, played in a kids room full of toys, picked fresh raspberries & blueberries from the garden and played on the playground in the backyard. We took a few trips into town to shop and dine, went to Boothbay Harbor's only beach to look for crabs and visited their small aqaurium.


It was very peaceful & relaxing, but we started to miss the craziness of our house (Roger, Justin & Chase of course) on Friday and were home on Saturday by 6 pm. I did have a chance to visit the L.L.Bean "campus" on the way to the airport and got Chase a new backpack for his Kindergarten year at the Celebration School. Cool!

Thank you again to Robert & Ruth and also Rob & Terri for being gracious hosts. I hope to return to Maine with the whole family someday to visit Acadia National Park and some other points of interest.

Toothless Celebration

We had a quick ice cream party tonight to celebrate Justin's tooth falling out since he had to wait so long for it to happen. Katie came over along with Davis, Walker & Clayton. Yum!

New Smyrna Beach to visit the Sams

We finally got to visit with the Sams family... not in Vero, but in New Smyrna Beach where they vacation for a week every year in July with family. We drove out in the morning, played on the beach, had lunch, swam in the pool, then hit the beach & the pool one more time before we headed home in the afternoon storms. The kids enjoyed playing together and Carly was a trooper all day even though she only napped for 30 minutes in the car on the way there. We look forward to seeing the Sams again soon... this time in Orlando to celebrate Dan's 1-year from diagnosis anniversary, Leah & Dan's wedding anniversary and Mary Kathryn's 8th birthday. Yahoo!

Another First!

Justin FINALLY lost his first tooth this morning!!! We've been waiting for this day for 7 1/2 years, so he is very excited. Blake, Katie Arce, Chase, Carly & I were all here to give a woo-hoo!!! Justin put it in the tooth fairy pillow that Ampy gave him when he was born and is wondering how much money he'll find under his pillow when he wakes up.

Happy 4th of July & Happy Anniversary!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!! We celebrated the day as usual... went to the parade (Justin marched with Cub Scouts), did stuff around the house, went swimming (in the rain!), bbq'd, watched a pretty good fireworks show downtown and then ended the day with our own fireworks & dessert at home with some friends.

Also, a Happy Anniversary to my parents, who were married 44 years ago on the 4th of July. They are happily visiting my brother, sister-in-law and their three kids in Chicago.

And in the spirit of 4th of July, here is an article about freedom written by a Celebration High School graduate that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel.

Neighbors

Our next door neighbors, Brian & Linda, just sold their house and moved to a new home back in Artisan Park (in Celebration). We went for a visit the other day and I snapped this shot of Brian reading the kids a book. It was cute... Carly just backed right up and sat on his lap! We are sad that they moved, but glad that they moved within Celebration!

Vacation Bible School

This is our fifth year participating in Vacation Bible School at Community Presbyterian Church here in Celebration. In 2003, I volunteered with the craft group and in 2004 Justin started attending at age 3 1/2. This year, both Justin & Chase got to attend the same week (K-5th grade) and had a blast with friends and other familiar faces from the community singing songs, doing crafts, learning bible stories, playing games and eating snacks. It will be fun to see Carly attend in a couple years!

Summer Fun

Well, we're officially 1 month into summer and enjoying almost every minute of it. It's nice not to rush off to school in the morning, but sometimes the boys get bored and "fight" more than usual. We've been having lots of playdates, sleepovers, swimming at the pool, going to Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon, reading and doing the occasional page in their school workbooks.

Blake's Graduation Continued

Here are some additional pictures from Blake's graduation weekend. Everyone had a great time gathering at the Halverson home in Oakwood for a BBQ on Sunday. Thank you to Wendy & Kent for providing such a good meal! We ate, chatted and played games... ping pong, badminton, street hockey and some pretty competitive croquet. Then a few of us attended the Baccalaureate service at Westminster Presbyterian Church, which was very nice. We thought the sermon was really good, but when we talked to Blake about it afterwards, all he could rememeber hearing was the last sentence -- "get out there and raise heaven!"

On Monday, most of us went to visit the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, which was amazing. It is the world's largest military aviation museum with over "400 aerospace vehicles and exhibits that bring history to life and connect the Wright brothers' legacy with today's stealth and precision technology." If you ever have the chance to visit, you should. Otherwise, check out the website!

Then came the graduation ceremony on Monday evening at the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton. Blake had 20 family members attend the cermony... his two immediate families, both sets of grandparents, an aunt & uncle and 4 cousins! When it came time for him to receive his diploma, I think we were one of the loudest families applauding!

Even though we were there for 3 1/2 days, it seems like we didn't see Blake that much. He was busy attending pre and post-graduation parties and enjoying his last couple weeks in Dayton with his friends. Roger flew up on June 23 and then drove back to Florida with Blake in his car containing all his possessions. He's staying at our house until he can move into his apartment on August 22. Classes at UCF start August 25... summer will fly by!!!