Rise and Shine

I had to mix things up this morning. Christian is in the city of "brotherly love", and we needed a little more sunshine this morning. So I did something I've never done before with my kids...went for donuts.

I've heard Kanes is the best donut shop around. It was in a small town with winding, tree-lined roads. We rolled the windows down and sang "Life is a Highway" at the top of our lungs because that is their favorite song. There are frequent outbursts of that song during random parts of the day.

The shop had a table full of old men, hanging out with their morning coffee. They all guessed my pregnant belly indicated "boy". That is the first time any old man has commented like that to me...mostly old ladies take a gander at the gender of the baby. Right after, the lady behind the counter said

"I hope its a girl!"

I just want a healthy baby.


And of coarse the most popular donut was the one laden with blue 42, yellow 54, red 87, orange, 12, 67 lbs of sugar, 87623409 grams of saturated fat, etc. But the experience was once in a lifetime...and probably will remain that way, because now I have a stomach ache.

The Pool is Open...and Other Happenings

The pool is open! If you can't find us this summer, check the pool.

This is what Daniel does most of the time.
He's turned into such a little swimmer.
I'm so proud of him.
I love teaching my kids how to swim.
I used to be a big time swimmer...3-4 hrs a day.
I know a thing or two.

This one is a stair dweller (the water is a little chilly for his tender skin).

We picked strawberries.
James ate them faster then I could pick.
So our spring bounty was not so bounteous.
The goats got a lot of good eats though.

After refereeing in 876234578612986 toy disputes,
we let them work it out.

Lemonade, Get Your Lemonade

I have got an investment opportunity for you. These kids made BANK with their lemonade stand. College, here they come.

I understand potential investors may want to view some of the financial records before providing any investment capital. I'm the CFO. I mostly get paid with giggles and smiles, huge bonuses throughout the year and many other non-monetary perks. I'll provide the income statement. If you need the cash flows or balance statement, just let me know.

Income Statement
June 19th, 2010

Revenue

• Gross Profit ....................................................$18.00

Expenses

• Wages ...............................................................$ 2.00
• Lemonade ............................................................1.00
• Cups ...................................................................... .10
• Snow Cone Flavoring ............................................ .50

Total Expenses ..............................................................$3.60

Net Income ...................................................................$14.40

Not bad for some kids who maybe make a quarter/day taking out the trash.

We do have a little issue with the COO. He happens to be a juice and gadget-holic (not a good combination for a lemonade stand). At least the CEO is a great whistle blower to the CFO.

The Daddy-O

The worst time of the day: When Dad leaves for work.
The best time of the day: When dad pulls up honking and waving

Why?

Because...

Our kids love the "Daddy-O". To them, he is magical. To me, he is wonderful. We are grateful for a day to celebrate him. We let him prop his feet up while we fed him grapes all day. Well, not really, but maybe he could imagine we did that, because imagination is something Christian has brought to life for our children and helped me re-discover. Just look at this guy...

Last year for Father's Day, Christian got an old traveling trunk. It looks intriguing and mysterious. It stays in the basement and occasionally comes out on those rainy days. Inside the trunk is an endless number of stories and adventures of which the protagonists are always Daniel and James. The kids have been all over the universe thanks to Christian.

So today we added some more props to the trunk, and we made him take us on an adventure.

And what an adventure it was...all from our living room.

Now, I just want to know, where can I get the machine the cat and the hat uses to clean everything up so easily? That would be a great Mother's Day present.

Roommates Reunited

We've had visitors.
We LOVE visitors.

Whose coming next?
Tim?
Joan?

Two Months to Go

I'm dreaming of....

• Sleeping on my stomach
• Painting my toenails
• Going for a long run

...Holding a little baby.

Scooperbowl 2010

The Jimmy fund does an annual ice cream fund raiser. You pay a flat entry fee and have access to all the ice cream you can eat from about 10 different vendors with 4 different flavors each.

Thank goodness it is just once a year, my poor pancreas. If this baby comes out weighing more than 10lbs...I'm blaming it solely on the scooperbowl...not our pioneer heritage, or Christian's 6'3" frame, or the strong Duffin genes...just on the scooperbowl.

The best flavor this year...hands down...was

Ciao Bello's Key Lime Graham Gelato

We ate the whole cup of that. All the others we just sampled and threw the rest away.
That is kind of wasteful huh?
I figure it is better to waste it than to give us type II diabetes.

Our trophy: 23 cups

That means we each had 22 small bites of ice cream
and
one cup of key lime graham gelato.

Leaving the World Behind

Martha's Vineyard

It will make you fall in love with life all over again



And I'm already in love!

We missed the 10:45 ferry.
Once the shuttle driver realized she was going to be stuck
with all of us for an hour,
she raced us to the freight ferry.
We were as glad as she was to be off the shuttle.

the picnic spot
and kite flying spot
and fishing spot

and skipping rocks spot

13 miles
it was flat
and beautiful

Are you in love yet?
I am.
Especially with those two.

The oldest carousel in America

Listening for the ocean

The End

A Confession

I'm a binge and purge blogger huh? Sorry about the overload of posts. I'll try and space them out better.

One of Us is Missing

Dear Christian,

You have been gone a lot. In May alone you were in Long Island, Pittsburgh, Austin, and Cleveland. Now you are sitting on the tarmac in Buffalo. I feel badly you are stuck there for three hours. I will be sleeping soundly when you get home. Thanks for fighting the battle of work every day so I can have nice cloudy bed to sleep on at night...I just wish you were asleep next to me and not on a tarmac.

love,

Tara

Walden Pond

Today I took the kids to Walden Pond. Henry David Thoreau put this place on the map when he decided to simplify his life and live out here for a while. From what I remember from my High School reading of "Walden", he spent his days hiking, meditating, constructing, and maintaining a meticulous record of all his expenses.

I was hoping to get some meditative thoughts in, and maybe I would have if I didn't have to keep untangling fishing line from the trees, or make sure my kids weren't playing with the dead fish they found floating near the shore, or keep the peace with one shovel and two kids, or lug James after the first 10m of our hike.


In reality though, I feel bad for Thoreau because my kids help me discover way more about life than I would ever observe on my own.

Just Trying To Stay Cool

We only have three more weeks until out second home opens up (the neighborhood pool).

I Heart Sears

It's time to head back to Sears.
This will be our 4th return on Daniel's two pairs of pants.
We are on the buy 1 get 3 free program thanks to KidVantage.