Well, we dropped Sean off at college yesterday. It was a very emotional day! It started out with a traffic jam - we luckily saw it before we were getting on the turnpike, so we took some back roads. It took us 3 hours instead of 2 hours to get there. But we didn't sit on the turnpike. We got to drive thru Gettysburg, which was neat seeing some of the Battlefields.

We got to Shippensburg and got a spot right in front of the dorm. His room is on the 5th floor! We got up to his room and met his roommate and his family. They were very nice. Ray and Sean started bringing the rest of his stuff up while Katie and I organized and setup his room. We had less time to unpack and organize than we hoped but we dot most of it done. We got his books - they were only $364.90. I thought they were going to be much more!! We said goodbye and headed for home.

We got on the main road to go home and stopped after ~2 miles. We than sat for 3 hours on the highway. We went a total of 27 miles. UUGGHH! It's amazing Ray and I didn't kill each other. With emotions being so high anyway, we were trying to keep our additudes to a minimum. Katie was fabulous considering we sat for 3 hours!! We finally detoured (that took about 1/2 hour to go about 2 miles) and stopped for dinner to try to give the accident more time to clear up. The service was absolutely horrible!!! We were finally able to get back on the road around 8:45pm. We got home at 10:45pm. What a LONG and draining day!!!

I think because of all the drama with the traffic, it hasn't sunk in yet that he is gone. I know he is only at college, but for 18 years, he has been here with me.

His last week home was one of the best weeks we have had in years. We went to Gring's Mill, ate dinner together as a family, and watched movies & sporting events together. We all got along so well! I really cherished this week! We took him to dinner at Shady Maple on Wednesday night for his "Last Supper"! :) There were 17 of us in total that went. I will post pictures of Gring's Mill and Shady Maple later this weekend.

USA!!!

Well... I haven't been blogging much because we have been watching the Olympics every spare moment. Such a sense of pride overcomes me when I route for our athletes. I get teary eyed everytime our National Anthem plays. It doesn't matter what time of day or night, we are yelling for our athletes. It was such an awesome swim when our Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay team beat the French who said they were going to smash us!



I spent a fabulous weekend at Taryn's Retreat House last weekend. I didn't get much done, but I really had a blast!



We went to Nicole's 7th birthday party. I can't believe how old she is getting. Katie really had fun!



We have been getting Sean ready for Shippensburg. I can't believe my baby is leaving for college in less than a week. We are going to have his "last supper" at Shady Maple because it's Sean's favorite restaurant.



Katie is getting ready for 4th grade. We just got her teacher assignment yesterday. Katie knows of her and is pleased having Mrs. Paulson.

Fun Times

Well, we have been busy running around the last few weeks.

Ray was in Omaha Nebraska for work the week of July 14th. His plan was delayed and then cancelled. He sat on the runway for 3 hours! He had to fly out Monday morning instead.

We spent some time with Kelly and Olivia on the 19th at Mom and Dad's house. We went swimming. Olivia spent most of the time climbing in and out of the pool using the steps and railing. She is a BIG GIRL now! She is just getting too big, too fast!! Katie is learning how to dive. She is getting better each time! She was snorkeling too. My little adventurer!

We then went to Tyler's 2nd birthday party. The kids had a blast in the sprinkler and throwing water balloons. Tyler and I were playing in the sandbox. He's at such a fun age!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tyler!!!

Katie went to the shore with Uncle Mark and Aunt Sherri from the 23rd - 25th. She had so much fun!!! She went in the water, collected sea shells, and went on the boardwalk! Life doesn't get any better than that!
Cute story alert... Katie and Aunt Sherri were collecting shells along the coast. Aunt Sherri noticed that Katie was picking up all the broken ones. Aunt Sherri asked her why she wasn't putting them back and keeping the whole shells. Katie said it's because the broken ones are UNIQUE!
Her shell collection is quite unique!!

I got the chance to crop at Scraptacular on Friday night and Saturday day. I cropped with a friend, Barb, who I haven't cropped with in a while and I met a bunch of new ladies who were a blast! Can't wait to crop with them again!

I went to Taryn's open house on the 27th to help her with the Make-N-Takes. There was a nice turn out! It's a great Retreat House!! A group of us are going Aug 8th-10th. I can't wait!!! I am attaching a link to her blog. http://thehamburghideaway.blogspot.com/

We then went to Mom and Dad's to go swimming. The rain was NOT going to ruin the day for me! I knew it would clear up eventually! ~ and Ray doubted me!! While we waited, we watched the Phillies win over the Braves ~WOO HOO! AND the Philadelphia SOUL won the championship!!! It was a scary at the end, but they won! We invited Michelle, Randall, Monica, Mikey, and Jonathan over for swimming and dinner. The kids couldn't wait to get in the pool. We even stayed late enough to turn on the pool light. Brings back lots of memories about awesome summers in the pool!

Sean is finalizing everything for college. He leaves Aug 21st! I can't believe it's only 3 weeks away! Ray is on vacation this week. He will be updating his resume and looking for jobs. He only has 4 weeks until his last day of work. Katie is staying home this week with Daddy. As much as she loves camp, I think she also enjoys just "chillin" at home! She has been attending soccer practice on Tuesdays. She can't wait for the season to begin! I am working this week, but only Mon-Thurs. I am going to be working in a vendor booth at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge on Friday and Saturday. Should be an experience.

I have been busy creating pages for Scraptacular for the August kit. The challenge for the "So Tell Me Your Story" Blog was to create a page about my name. Here's the page.

Well, there you have it. Sorry for the long post, but life happens!

The Day I was Born...

I started working on a challenge blog created by Lucy Chesna called... So Tell Me Your Story http://sotellmeyourstory.blogspot.com/

We scrap so much about our family and friends we sometimes forget to tell our story. I know I wish I knew more about my ancestors. So, here's my first submission...

The Day I was born:

Philly - 7/4/08 & 7/5/08

The 4th of July Parade... See pics on the side. Great parade... as usual!

We also walked around city hall and looked at the building architecture and the statues. Katie loves learning about the city from our personal tour guide (Daddy)!! We watched the fireworks from LOVE park. It was raining, but they were still beautiful.


On July 5th, we went back down for the fireworks at Penn Landing. They were absolutely gorgeous. While we were waiting for them, we got to listen to Boys II Men in concert. It was fabulous. (pictures on the side)

Hershey Park 7/1/08

Katie, Tyler, and Nicole at the entrance of Hershey Park.















Sean and Chris heading off to ride some more coasters.



















Katie riding the pirate ship again to get over her fear. We are so proud of you!
















Katie and Nicole were part of the show!! Katie, Nicole, Michele, & Tyler posing with the Milk Men.















Katie and Mommy on the log flume.


















Katie and Nicole on the Whip.














Katie, Daddy, Michele, & Nicole on the Canyon River Rapids.















Katie, Daddy, Michele, & Nicole on Tidal Force.















Sean & Katie coming off the Lightning Racers.

Catching up...

Well... I have been a bad blogger... I finally have a few minutes to catch everything up, so here goes...

since I last posted:

We spent a lovely day at Kel's on 6/8/08. Katie and Olivia were keeping cool in the backyard with the water toys.

6/10/08 - Katie's last day 3rd grade- she will certainly miss Mr. Miller. She was overloaded with projects she completed throughout the year.

6/15/08 - Father's Day at Dad's. Kids had a blast in the pool! Katie made Dump Cake all by herself for dessert that night. It was delicious!!!!

June : My tiger lillies finally started to bloom. I LOVE the vibrant color!

6/19/08 - Sean passed his driver's test!!! Because it takes so long to schedule an appointment at the Lancaster Ave. office, he scheduled his test in Lebanon. He thought it was on 6/18/08 @1pm, so Ray took the day off and they drove up there... turns out the appointment was for 6/19/08 @ 9:45am. So, I took the day off to take him up there. I actually got to snap a few photos of him taking the test... sssshhh.. don't tell anyone! His instructor was very sweet. She even gave Sean a tic tac! Here's a picture of Sean taking his first SOLO ride! Needless to say... I have MANY more grey hair now! I am still a nervous wreck everytime he goes out.

6/20/08 - A dear friend and co-worker is moving back home to Norway. This was her going away party. We held it at Happy Landings in Exeter Township. It was a picnic for the staff and their families. Here's a picture of Michelle, me, & Gidget. It was getting late, but I wanted to get a picture of Gidget, Corey, and Olivia. Olivia was getting very tired and didn't want to smile... so, they made SILLY faces!!!

6/21/08 - Katie is a HUGE Phillies fan! Jayson Werth was signing autographs at Vanity Fair, so Daddy took Katie over to meet him. (She got to meet Shane Victorino - the flyin' Hawaiian last year!) She also got to see the Reading Phillies mascot - Screwball and the Philly Phanatic. She also got her face painted. She had a blast!!!

6/21/08 - Sean's graduation party at Nana's and Boompa's. Before everyone got there, Sean and Katie were out by the pool. Katie laid in the same position as her big brother. It was so sweet!! Everyone had a blast swimming and chit chatting. I made Chicken Teryaki (Sean's favorite), potato salad, fruit salad, and ceasar salad (Sean's favorite). We went through 20 lbs of chicken, 2 huge bowls of fruit salad, almost 7 lbs of potato salad, and 3 huge heads of lettuce for the ceasar salad. I must admit... it was tasty!!!

Katie has been attending Bydenwood Day Camp everyday. She LOVES it! She goes hiking and

swimming everyday.

I have been busy scrappin' everyday. I made 2 albums for Gidget's going away party and I submitted some pages and a mini-album for my Design Team Membership at Scraptacular. I also donated a mini album to Save the Memory Crop.

We are on vacation next week. Heading off to Hershey Park on Tuesday with Mike, Michele, Nicole, and Tyler. We are going to Philly on Thursday & Friday for 4th of July.

well... sorry for the long post, but now I think we are caught up!

Crop for a Cure

For anyone interested in a fun scrappin' weekend for a great cause... this is it!!!

CROP FOR A CURE
Starting Friday, Oct 3rd @ 3pm until Sunday, Oct 5th @ 3pm
Weekend or Day Packages Available
Check out the website @ www.cropforacurepa.zoomshare.com for details.
Registration is open! Space is limited! Reserve your spot as quickly as possible.

We are also pleased to announce we are getting more space this year, so LET'S FILL IT! Spread the word. Post to your message boards, send this to your friends. remember you can do one day or the whole weekend, or any combination of days.
We will of course hold ourselves to our previous standards of awesome prizes, door prizes, vendors and food. As well as smiles to go around!

Thanks so much!!!
The Crop for a Cure Team