The Top 10 Things we loved about our 2008
Kingman Cousins Weekend at the Beach House!

10. Getting overstuffed Candy Bags from Aunt Betsey
9. Tie Dying
8. Getting Rope Bracelets from Cousin Peter and a fun Kid Cookbook from Megan, Katie and Jack
7. Playing Croquet and Pickle
6. Collecting Sea Glass and other treasures
5. Swimming in the Water and going on Boat Rides
4. Eating lots of Yummy Food
3. "Selling" Candy and Sea Glass to our Cousins
2. Meeting our cousin Peter's Fiance Stacey for the first time
1. Spending time with Family

A visit to the Audobon Center!

Today, I took the girls to the Audubon Center. They had a Bird Banding Demo going on. It was fun! There also is 2 large Peony Gardens that were in full bloom. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers. They are gorgeous and have a beautiful scent. I actually have one in my yard this year

Madeline does not look thrilled because we had just been to the Dentist's where she had a filling done. She claimed she couldn't smile! Maybe she'll Brush and Floss a little better now!

Max and Kadi!

Max and Kadi lounging around as usual. I wish I could get her motivated!

Girls Just Want to Have Summer Fun !!!!!

Christine, Madeline and Caroline are so excited for summer fun. They transformed our little jungle gym into a mini water park. They had a blast all afternoon playing with the sprinklers spraying them down! Hey its cheaper than driving to Fun Town Splash Town in Saco!!

John

Ducklings!

While I was on patrol the other day I came to a sudden stop as a duck and its duckling's started crossing the Stoneybrook Road. They all made it across safely and dove into the pond across the street from the brook. I was able to capture this photo very quickly before they disappeared into the abyss!

Girls Sleeping

I found my girls all asleep in one bed and an adjoining chair the other night! They never cease to amaze or shock me with there everyday antics!

A Proper Burial

Upon coming home from church today, I noticed a small bird that was stuck in the grille of my Part time Officers pickup parked in our dooryard. Christine and Madeline were very curious and saddened by the early demise of this young Canadian Warbler. They insisted that our feathered friend have a proper Burial under our Bird feeder. They took it upon themselves to dig a hole and place the bird on a paper plate with its official name at the time of its death, "Perchy". They put some bird seed inside of its coffin and then buried it. They circled the grave with small stones when they were complete!

Yikes, I went SHORT!

In honor of my Mom's Birthday, I decided to get my haircut and do something for myself. She would have been 74 today! I had 10 inches of hair chopped off! I've been wanting to donate it to Locks for Love and finally had the guts to just do it! I figured since I was doing it, I would get Highlights too. I'm still getting used to it but, I think it will be good for Summer!

Last Day of School!

We now have a Preschooler, a 3rd Grader and a 5th Grader! Today was Chris and Maddie's last day of School for the Summer. They are really going to miss their Teacher's as they have each had them for 2 years (they loop at our school). Madeline, however will have Mrs. Mott (who was Christine's teacher) next year. Miss. Harkins was Madeline's Teacher for the last 2 years and Christine's for 2 years before that. We'll really miss her and are keeping our fingers crossed that Caroline will have her when she enters 1st grade. Living in a small town definitely has it's benefits, especially if there are wonderful Teachers! We celebrated by going to the Library and signing up for Summer reading- thought we'd get that task done and over with early! We then indulged at DQ with Blizzards. We came home, picked up John and headed to Taco Bell/KFC for dinner and then to the movies where we had lots of Buttery Popcorn- I think I have gained 20 pounds TODAY!! We saw "Kung Fu Panda", it was a cute movie. All in all, I think the kids enjoyed their Last Day of School and of course the celebrating afterwards.

Field Day

Field Day was on Monday! Unfortunately the Weather was rainy, so the kids had almost all their games except Tye dying inside. Christine's class had their portion of the games postponed until Tuesday. At any rate, they had lots of fun. I helped out with a Picnic style Lunch, so Caroline was thrilled to eat with "the big kids".

Fathers Day!

Last weekend was my weekend to work. There's nothing like saying, "Sorry honey, I have to work, so on Fathers Day you need to get all 3 girls up, make sure they are dressed, feed them and then bring them to church all by yourself"! Since I have to work about 3 out of 9 weekends, this is a common occurrence. I did however feel a little bad that my weekend fell on Fathers Day this year. At any rate John didn't complain one bit- that's what I love about him. We had a nice afternoon together, with a game of Scrabble, a Steak Dinner and a Family walk. We gave John a Baseball Glove this year- He and the kids have been having a ball playing catch in the yard. Thanks John for being such a wonderful Husband and Father!

Boston Celtics Rule!

Quote To Note: “Oh, my goodness, man, this is just an unbelievable experience. If you’re going to win a championship, you want to win one with the Boston Celtics, man. I can’t put into words how to describe how I’m feeling right now, just … this has been great, man. This has been great.”—Paul Pierce, who was voted Finals MVP.

We are so proud of the Celtics! They really did an outstanding job this year! They creamed the Lakers at the Final Game and won their 17th championship on the 17th! It's been 22 years since they have won a championship! Great job Celtics, you make us proud!

Caroline Out Again!

I was driving Caroline to Ruby Tuesday's and suddenly did not hear her singing. I looked back and found her suddenly sound asleep again. She first had her hand under her chin until I made turn and her head fell to her side. Yes I am multi talented and can take digital pictures while driving. They taught us how to do that at the Police Academy!

Tim Russert of N.B.C Passes Suddenly at 58 - Huge Loss

Kadi and I took Christine and Caroline to Ruby Tuesday's to dinner before she headed out to work. Madeline was sleeping over a friends house for the night. We sat down in our booth and Kadi immediately noticed something on the T.V above us, Breaking News Tim Russert dead at 58.Well if you know anything about U.S politics or news, you definitely knew who Tim Russert was. Needles to say I am still jarred by his loss. I loved his show Meet the Press and always enjoyed his coverage of any elections. Tim Russert was not only a good reporter but a great son, husband, and father. A couple of close colleagues and friends spoke about his passion for his faith and family. I just saw an old snip it of Tim Russert talking about being a dad. He stated "Dad's teach lessons that's what dads do". Former Speaker of the house Newt Gingrich stated that "Tim Russert moved to Washington but never left Buffalo". He grew up there and never forgot his roots. He loved his family, friends and neighbors even after stardom. To quote one of Amy Lawson's favorite news commentators - Sean Hannity "Tim Russert was the gold standard". I will miss Tim Russert very much and remember his great work on and off television. We all should pray for his family and friends to be comforted at this time.

John

The School Spring Concert!

Last night Madeline and Christine had their Spring Concert. They did a great job. Here is some video coverage. Sorry for the shakiness- I'm just an Amatuer. The video of the Band is "Another One Bite's the Dust" by Queen. I couldn't help but remember how I loved to RollerSkate to that song when I was a kid- it was my FAVORITE song.

Our Yard Sale!

So Saturday I decided would be a great day for a Yard Sale. After All, we tend to be collectors and really needed to get rid of lots of stuff. In fact I had a whole corner in my basement which had been piling up for years, that was designated to be sold at a Yard Sale. So I woke up at 6am and started hauling stuff out to be transported to the end of our subdivision. There's an open space that we used there because our house is kind of hidden away. I sold stuff for really cheap. At one point both John and I were there and someone came up with a brand new smoke detector asking us how much we wanted, John exclaimed $3, I looked at him in disbelief and said, "oh no, $1" . The buyer compromised and gave us $2. By the end of the yard sale, I was just giving stuff away. Anything that was left over, I hauled to Good Will. The girls had fun selling Lemonade and Sweet Treats. So, how much do you think I made??????? Maybe $350+ like my hubby's Tae Kwon Do class made at their 2.5 hour car wash?!!!!! No, I made about $90! Yes that's right, $90 for a good 12 hours of WORK. At any rate I got rid of a ton of stuff and I am $90 richer.

Snapping Turtle Rescue

I was headed to a report of two four wheelers racing up and down Rt. 209, when I came across this huge snapping turtle in the middle of Rt. 209 Phippsburg's major road. I pulled over and put on my emergency lights to warn traffic and grabbed my big plastic shovel. The turtle was extremely aggressive trying to snap at me. I was able to get it over onto the soft shoulder after a couple of minutes. He then disappeared under the guardrail into the swamp. I love to help save animals even turtles!

Car Wash on a Rainy Day ?

I had scheduled a car wash/bake sale fundraiser to help purchase Tee Shirts for our Tae Kwon Do Class. I scheduled it for today over a week ago when the extended forecast showed the weather being hot, 85 degrees with sun. Well the forecast changed and it was raining most of the day. I had several parents including my wife who thought maybe I should cancel because of the inclement weather. I called the local NBS affiliate channel 6 and spoke to their meteorologist. He told me that I would be safe as the rain was breaking up. I stuck to my guns and about fifteen of us washed cars and sold cookies, brownies, and lemonade. My goal for the day to make at least $50.00. in the three hour period. We were so successful raising $353.00 in two in a half hours on a gloomy day. It's amazing what you can do when you keep the faith. He always comes through for you!

Caroline's last Swim Lesson till Fall

Caroline completed her 6 weeks of swim lessons today. She really enjoyed it and learned quite a bit. She swam across the kid pool today without even a bubble on! That video came out a little too blurry though, so I decided to share this other one.

Today Christine's class did a Wax Museum at school. They all dressed up in costume acted frozen until you pressed a "button". After pressing their button, each student would tell you about the character they represented from memory. Christine was Clara Barton. There were various famous people represented from Princess Diana to Walt Disney to Albert Einstein and the list goes on. The Slide Show has a couple of Christine's friends- Maddie as Helen Keller, Scott as Abe Lincoln and Ben as Benjamin Frnaklin. It was really well done!

Fourth Grade Wax Museum!

Caroline Has Crashed For The Night!

Caroline has crashed sound asleep in her bathing suit with her shaggy favorite blanky! Sweet Dream Honey!

Adventures in Gardening

Kadi and I love to garden and the kids do to. There is nothing like walking out to your garden in August and picking ripe cucumbers or summer squash. With such high food prices I recommend that every one give it a try. It's a great way to bond as a family. I find it to be a great stress reliever as well. I was hoeing the garden out for an hour the other morning and got a great work out too. This year we will have best variety ever, lots of cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, radsihes, carrots, cabbage, corn, sunflowers, strawberries, zucchini, broccoli, and zinnia flowers. I will periodically post pictures through the summers with updates on our farm. My grandfather would be proud as he was potato and and squash farmer.

Spring Time Lawn Repairs

I have spent many hours over the past couple of weeks repairing winter damage done to my lawn. Some of the damage was caused from the snow plow peeling back the edge along the driveway. The other damage was from the snow hill I made in-between our house and garage. Then there was the septic pump that went last week and the tank needing to be pumped out. I have documented some of the repairs for a couple of reasons. First so Kadi cant throw back at me that she does everything around the house. I need to take credit for some of the work I do. I remember a couple of months ago when she was at work and I cleaned the house and did all the dishes. I took a picture of the empty sink and posted it on our blog. It was a amazing how quickly she took the post and picture down. Do all wives do that? Next, I am posting this as a warning to all family and friends. If or when you come to visit please respect my hard work. Don't do a Rich Talyor and come over with the family in your van and drive over a 100' of my freshly planted grass. Rich the bill is in the mail (lol)!!. Last I want to remember my hard work because I am getting old and my memory fails me from time to time. Just ask Kadi I can never find my car keys and she swears she and the kids don't hide them on me!