Camera lust

Micah was in a very big soccer tournament this past weekend in Cleveland. There were a zillion tents and vendors set up all over the place. His team didn't do very well because they had 2 or 3 kids not show up for various reasons, plus...they were younger than most of the teams in their division. They weren't exactly slaughtered, but they didn't win anything.

I wandered over to this big Sony tent to see what was going on and a very chipper lady greeted me with, "would you like to know what we are doing today?". Apparently , they were lending their cameras for the soccer games. You had to give them your drivers license and in return you were given this Sony Alpha DSLR camera with a big zoom lens attached to use for an hour and a half. When you returned it they put all the pictures that you took onto a CD for you and gave you a coupon for 100.00 off that camera. (They weren't selling cameras there though).

Yeah, so I am in lust with that camera. Man, what a difference!! It was sooooo nice and pretty easy to figure out. I took 104 pictures and only 5 or 6 were blurry. At least 3 of those were my own fault because I kept my finger on the button and took extra shots when I was pulling away from a shot. The camera did get heavy with that big zoom on it, but it took lovely pictures. Here are a few of my shots....

I know , I know...my camera takes nice shots too, but this one was so much fun to use! Hey, with the zoom lens it's only about 900.00, KACHING! When someone wins the lottery they can buy that for me, okay? hahaha

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a nice slow...relaxing 4th of July. I am a wee bit sad that I am not down in Florida with all my sisters, but life goes on! LOL

I invited dad over for lunch since mom is down in Florida and Glenn and Pam are in D.C. I'm sure that you all want to hear about my lovely lunch, don't you? I swear that I stood in that kitchen and "prepared" food just as long as I do for Thanksgiving.

Here was our menu:

cupcakes...ala Jake (he did the frosting and sprinkles)

macaroni salad (home made)

baked beans

hamburgers/ hot dogs

corn on the cob

grilled pork cubes with veggies (zucchini, squash, onion, mushrooms, and red peppers)

It was all very yummy and I made sure that dad took some home for his dinner later. Caleb left for work immediately after we ate lunch and Alex left about an hour after that. She just got home from Florida around noon today and had to leave for work at 3:15...poor thing was exhausted. She crashed on the couch as soon as she got home and we had to wake her up for lunch. It was like trying to wake Rip Van Winkle. MAN, that girl can SLEEP!! Here she is, crashed on the couch...heehee

I put Caleb and Micah in charge of the grill today. They are true men and have a passion for grilling. What can I say? They do a good job, so why fight it?

After the "big" kids left, Jacob drug Grandpa upstairs and forced him to watch Sponge Bob on a 13 inch tv. Grandpa was very nice and accepted Jake's invitation to sit on his bed and watch his tv. Grandpa came back downstairs and said, "hey, SpongeBob is actually pretty funny". We do love SpongeBob! LOL

Finally, we settled in on the couches and watched Tomb Raider on our brand new 47" LCD flat screen tv. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh finally!! During the movie Jake brought us each a cupcake. He was so proud of those strawberry sprinkle masterpieces and he had a huge smile on his face as he handed them out. A little while later we delved into some chocolate turtle pie. yummmy!!

Dad went home around 6pm and we just sat around and played the Wii. No, seriously...we did! We probably won't be venturing out to see fireworks tonight because we have to leave the house at 6am for Micah's final soccer tournament. We promised Jake that we would take him to see fireworks at the Scrapper field in a few weeks instead. We will try to catch a glimpse of the Packard Park fireworks out the back window before we go to bed.

It was a nice quiet day...like I said! HUGS!

The weekend...

Another long weekend in our house. Alex and Caleb both worked about 22 hours over the weekend, so we didn't see them to much. We were in Hudson all day Saturday and most of Sunday for a soccer tournament. Micah's team did pretty well and made it to the play offs, but there was a thunderstorm churning when the game was to be held. They canceled the game and said that the team with the most goals overall, throughout that tournament, was the winner. It wasn't Micah's team...so he got second place by default. I caught this picture during his first game on Sunday and it just cracks me up. There was a "free kick" going on and they were protecting themselves. LOL



We came home to a very rainy evening. Caleb went to Wal-Mart and bought Rock Band for the Wii. The boys ended up playing it for several hours that night. They cracked me up because they were all so tired, but it didn't matter...they wanted to play. Jake was the only with with some energy because he slept in the van all the way home. Caleb's friend , Maureen, came over later and livened up the place. I retreated to my room , but my peace was shattered when Alex got home from work and came bursting into my room laughing hysterically. She threw herself on the bed and through her giggles I heard her say, "dad is singing down there can you hear him". I couldn't miss it...he was pretty loud and off key. I said, "Is Maureen still down there?". She was!! LOL He came upstairs a few minutes later and said, "I sang a song on rock band and I was off key. They were murdering those classic rock songs". He didn't seem to mind one bit that Caleb's friend had witnessed that whole "fun", but knowing Caleb...he didn't care. hahaha
sigh..... I don't think Alex will soon forget those moments. She was gasping for air. :)

I'm tired

Micah is in another soccer tournament this weekend. It's not as far...just about 45 minutes away. He had 2 games yesterday...won the first, lost the second....and it was bright bright sun. I took shelter under an umbrella, but I still got the "sun itches" as I like to call them. I was miserable last night as my arms and legs were covered in a raised red itchy rash. I hate the sun...evil thing. Giant flaming ball of gas :P

I am getting ready right now to drive back out there for another game. If they win they will have to stay for the playoffs a few hours later. I guess we will have to find something fun to do...OUT of the sun!

Cleveland Rainforest

I know...I know...these blogs are out of order, but that's how I think! LOL

If you read the soccer blog about Jake...this is part of that day. In between the 2 games we drove over to the Cleveland Zoo and just went to the Rain forest part. It was a good way to kill time and I had some free tickets. Jacob was so excited to get there and babbled on about it for days on end, but when we actually got to the zoo he was not as interested as we thought he'd be. I guess it's because it was the rain forest and not main zoo where the BIG animals were that he was interested in seeing. He did love the sea otters though and we had to buy him a little stuffed one to take home with us.

Micah had fun searching for every lizard and frog in the displays. We were pretty enthralled with the moss frogs (they looked just like the tree) and the porcupines were having some type of serious controversy when we were in their part of the exhibit. They make a sound that I could never in a million years mimic. It looked as if they were fighting over digging rights in the dirt...who knows? Only a porcupine could tell you what was going on there. LOL

I would have to say that the MOST fun that Jake had at the zoo was the tram ride in the parking lot. He thought that was amazing and didn't want to get off. Considering that parking is free at the zoo...and the tram ride is also free...I think I should just go up there and ride the tram all over the parking lot for an hour. Jake would be in heaven.

I think I'll add this tiny video clip I took with my camera while we were looking at the anteaters. Notice how thrilled Jacob is to be in there and Micah couldn't get past the smell. Those anteaters really stink! LOL Hey, I had fun...does that count?

Caleb's graduated

How sad...sniff sniff...seems like only yesterday that I was sending him off to Kindergarten. He has always done well in school, but generally felt it moved to slow or was pointless. I think he'll do very well in college because he seems to have been ready for that atmosphere since he was in the first grade. LOL

He's already started college and is taking a 4 week summer course for pre Calculus. He won a scholarship to take the course for free as well as an added bonus of more money (renewable) per year if he took this summer class. How could he refuse? He merely has to maintain a GPA of 2.5 to keep that scholarship. I think he'll be fine...although....he did take 19 credit hours his first semester! Crazy Caleb!

It's nice that he will be at YSU with his sister. It makes it easier on me and Tilden. We don't have to drive two separate ways to drop the kids off at college this fall. It's going to be so sad when Alex and Caleb go back to school in August. The house will be so quiet with only 2 kids.

I just wanted to say....way to go, Caleb! I was so proud to see him sitting up there on the stage with his honors sash. I always knew he was going to accomplish great things, it was very evident when he read the Star Trek technical manual to me at the age of 4...sigh...he was so cute!

Ignorant blogger...

I am trying to figure this out..truly I am! It seems like it should be simple to add some pictures or video's, but I am lame...lame ...lame.

My first 2 post are old! I need to write more about my kids and what's going on at home, so this will be a test. I shall write about our mini trip to the Cleveland for a soccer tournament. :)

Micah was in a soccer tournament just west of Cleveland. His first game was at 9:50am and his second game wasn't until 4:30pm. With gas prices being what they are...we didn't want to go home and come back up, plus that was just to much time in the car.

Micah's team won their first game 3-2. He did a pretty good job of moving that ball around.

Jacob can only take so much "fun" and he has never been one to actually WATCH the game. He loves the sport, but he is definitely not a spectator. He brought a large backpack full of toys and spent the morning playing. He lined up cars on his chair and then decided that I was intruding on his "space" and asked me to move. My legs were feeling a bit "crispy" from the sun, so I decided to stand up and watch the game for awhile. Jacob's "friends" quickly took over my seat. I'm glad to see that SOMEONE was watching the game!!

Last, but not least....he decided that his stuffed "Peep" was a fun ball. Notice the game going on behind him and the lack of visibility for MOM! This is a typical soccer game for me and Jake. For some reason he doesn't bother dad...hmmmmmmmm???

..........ahhhhhhhhhh. Life with Jake :)