Fish Rubbing

Ever hear of it?  I'm a big time crafter and I hadn't heard of it either but it's pretty cool. 

We were visiting with our good friends, Leo and Andi, on Sunday when Leo decided to do some fish rubbing with the kids.

Leo pinned a real fish down on a board and then painted it different colors.

 He then laid a t-shirt over the painted fish and gently rubbed the paint into the shirt.  Here you can see Leo rubbing the shirt as Logan looks on.

 And here is what the finished product looked like. 

 

  Caterina took her turn painting the fish with her choice of colors. 

  And her finished product.

Once your fish print is on, all you have to do is turn the shirt inside out and iron it to heat set the paint.

Very cool craft, Leo!  Thanks for teaching me something new and for the shirts for the kids.

Another Gift

Hello, friends.

I think you'll remember last year when our neighbor, Dave, bought Logan a surfboard.  You can read about it here.

Well, tonight, that kind man did it again.  Dave came over tonight; we thought to say hello and hang out for a while.  He had a box with him which he gave to Logan.  In the box was a brand new wetsuit.  Yes, that's right.  Dave bought my son a wetsuit to go along with the surfboard he got last year. 

Logan couldn't wait to try it on.  It's a perfect fit.  The kid didn't want to take it off.  You can see how happy he is.

Look at Logan's big smile here.  He's beaming with joy.  I, on the other hand, was in tears from Dave's kindness.  His generosity towards my son has touched my heart. 

Now Logan is ready to go surfing.  They are both looking forward to a fun summer catching waves.

A most heartfelt thank you to Dave! 

Really Cool RAK/Birthday Present

So last Sunday night, I came home from a work dinner to find Logan freaking out with joy. I'm telling you, the kid was over the moon jumping up and down and grinning like a fool from ear to ear.  I, of course, was surprised and more than curious what could have elicited such an overwhelming display of emotion from my normally unimpressible, whatevah kind of attitudy teenager.  

Logan managed to contain himself long enough to show me what all the commotion was about.  He brought out the 8 foot reason for his elation.  Yes, indeedy.  He was the proud owner of a surfboard.  The very thing he's been asking for since early summer when our neighbor, Dave, taught him how to surf. 

I looked at Jim with wide, questioning eyes like, did you really buy him a surfboard?!?!  Jim, reading my eyes, put his hands up while shaking his head back and forth and said, "not me".  Then Logan told me it was Dave who'd bought him the surfboard.  I stood there a moment while I tried to understand that our neighbor, not a family member, not a really close family friend, but a neighbor bought my son an expensive gift like that. 

Logan explained that Dave had just brought it over and given it to him as a belated birthday gift.  Logan's birthday was earlier this month but this is a huge gift.  I couldn't believe it but there he stood in front of me with all 8 feet of proof. 

I took a walk across the street and knocked on Dave's door to profusely thank him.  But how little the words thank you seem in the face of such a hugely generous gesture.  I came back home to find Logan lying on his surfboard which he'd laid on our king size bed.  Later on I think I caught him hugging it!

Today, the boys went to the beach so Logan could try out his cool board.  The waves were a bit much but that didn't stop him.

 Here's Dave and his board.

 Here's Logan getting up on his board.

Jim rented the wetsuit for Logan today but I think we'll have to invest in one for next season and then he'll be all set for a summer of surfing. 

I sometimes take a double look at that white surfboard, at first because I'm not used to seeing such a big thing in my house, then because I can't believe Dave actually bought that for my child.

I am really, truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

A Few Halloween Sights

On Halloween, we went upstate to visit with Leo and Andi and they took us to the famous town of Sleepy Hollow. I'd never been there so it was a new experience for me. As we were driving through the area, I saw this sign and made Jim pull over so I could take a picture of it. This was a nice condominium development right on the Hudson River but the sign caught my eye.

Here is Jim and Leo. Yes, they were walking around in Kmart with those costumes on.

This was a pretty collection of leaf colors outside Leo's chiropractic office. It was much more vibrant in real life.

And this beauty was in Andi's garden. It was not only a lovely shade of pink but it was a very fragrant rose, too. It was nearly sunset at this time so the picture is dark but I think you can appreciate how pretty it is.

Hope you enjoyed! Come back soon!

Weekend shots 8/28

This past Saturday night was our monthly gamenight. I had the a/c kicking and my friend, Doug, was freezing. We decided to bundle him up. Doesn't he look all toasty?At gamenight, we always order food in. Some of the group wanted Chinese food and the others went for Italian. Ok, so fast-forward to Sunday morning, I heard Gizmo making some noise. With that cat, noise is never a good thing! So I got up to investigate what he was up to. I chased him through the house until I cornered him. See that thing under his paw? That's a spare rib. Darling Demon Cat went into the trash bin and found himself a nice, juicy rib. Let me tell you, he was not happy that I took his rib away. (Oh and that little stuffed reindeer, that belongs to Dusty.)

Guess I have to make doubly sure now that the lid is down on the garbage bin!

Adventureland Adventure

Last night we went to a local amusement park called Adventureland. It's located about 40 minutes away from us on Long Island. It was a relatively cool night compared to the scorchers we've had all summer so it was a good night to go. We went with my friend Maria and her son, Matthew, and her daughter, Melissa. We also brought Eddie, Raja and Caterina with us.

Here's a shot of all of the kids.
Here are some of the stooges, Logan, Eddie and Raja, as Jim calls them. Don't ask me which is which stooge.

Here are the girls, Melissa and Caterina.

Another of Melissa and Matthew.

Here is that pirate again. I can't tell you how many pics we have of this same pirate on the right. We've encountered him in Florida, the Bahamas, and now on Long Island.

Here is a pic of the kids in the balloon lob. They place water filled balloons in the red buckets above them, pull back and let 'em go at each other. Naturally, they were soaked after this attraction. Thank goodness I thought ahead and had them all bring a change of clothes.

On the floom ride. Another opportunity to get wet.

Don't need a license to drive these cars.

Logan got the last ride of the night on the swings. I got dizzy just looking at them going round and round on this ride.

Didn't know we had our own version of the Eiffel Tower right here on Long Island.

Did ya ever see such a huge chocolate bar? Notice the chocolate covered drake's cakes devil dogs or marshmallows above it to get a sense of perspective. It was huge!

We closed the park and left around 11:30 p.m. Everyone had a great night and a lot of fun.

Memorial Day Weekend

The lovely 3-day long Memorial Day weekend is winding up and it'll be back to reality soon but I thought I'd take a little more play time and update my blog which I haven't done in a while. It was a really nice weekend as we had no rain for a change. It was a little warmer than I would like but one can't have everything, can one?

A lot has happened since my last post. Let's see, I went to Texas and Oklahoma to see my friends, Lisa and Kathi. I had a blast to say the least and I thank Lisa, David and Kathi for their hospitality. They treated me so well and totally spoiled me. It was a really nice trip but it flew by way too quickly. Isn't that always the case when you're having fun? I can't wait to go back to see my friends. Maybe in September for Kathi's crop if the airfare prices cooperate. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed they do.

Here is a picture of what happened when I was packing for my trip. Whenever I pack, my kitties think I'm giving them new places to hang out and inevitably, I end up having to move them out of the suitcases so I can continue to pack. Here we see Shave sleeping on the back of couch, Gizmo in the large suitcase and Bluebell in the smaller one.
Logan had 2 baseball games last week. Here is Logan getting ready for one of those games. It was 96 degrees that day. To say it was a scorcher is an understatement but we were there cheering him on. Boy, did we all need showers after that game.

And here's one of him up at bat. He batted an rbi in this time.

So take a look at another little baby resting on Jim's shoulder. This is a different kitten from the same litter as the kitten I posted last time. This one is a sweet, little girl and she's just darling. She's 4 weeks old now and extremely lovable and playful. We are very much considering keeping her. She's still on kitten replacement formula and I feed her every few of hours with a small baby bottle. I can't help but be reminded of when my son was an infant with the middle of the night feedings. I also hear my mom's words in my head "babies are for the young" because let me tell you, it's way harder getting up for those early morning feedings now than it was 13 years ago when my son was little. I'm trying to get her to lap up her milk from a saucer and she's slowly getting it so that's good.

We went to Leo and Andi's house yesterday for another great bbq. We took the baby with us as she needs constant care. Here she is ready for her road trip. Cute, right? She slept on my shoulder for the hour ride to their house.

And since it was so lovely in their backyard, she thought she'd just take another little catnap on the patio furniture after her afternoon feeding. Notice her full belly, the little piggy.

We went back to that pond Leo took us to the last time we visited them. While it was very sunny and hot, a perfectly positioned tree lent me some shade from where I could enjoy the scenery. Caterina caught her very own fish which was very exciting for her. It's called a "sunny" and after posing for this proud picture, she released her catch back into the pond.

Well, it's dinner time now and reality has crept back in to pop my 3-day long weekend bubble.

Hope you had a great weekend and took a moment to remember our veterans on this day. We owe them so much for their sacrifices.

Nice evening, all!

Gamenight crowd

You always hear me talk about my gamenight friends. These are long time friends. So long time, in fact, that they've transcended the friend barrier and have become family. I thought it would be nice for you to see what this bunch of dear friends looks like.

I host gamenight about once a month. These pictures were taken at our last night a couple of weeks ago.

This is my friend Doug. I lovingly call him Dougalee and we've been friends since I was 12. He is the reason I got through 7th grade algebra, thanks to his tutoring. The big goofy guy next to him in the blue is my husband, Jim.

These are the girls, Karen and Vicky, a/k/a Vicoula, as I call her. She's Greek, hence the Vicoula. I've known Karen since kindergarten. Vicky and I go back to high school. We all went to college together.

This is John. He is a schoolmate of my husband. He's a great guy but also a nudge, (pronounced noodge). He loves to tease me about my son growing up and leaving me. John's a great guy and a dear friend to us even if I do want to hurt him sometimes when he teases me about my son going off to the University of Hawaii.

Oh, I just realized that you can see my scrap corner behind him. It's a bit messy but can you see the huge paper stack? Those are mostly DCWV stacks.
Here's one of Tommy, Vicoula's husband. He and Jim are like 2 peas in a pod and we make the joke that they share the same brain cell.

Last but certainly not least, we have Joe. Joe was a friend of Vicky but he's now part of our intimate family.

So now you know what my crowd looks like and I'm grateful for each and every one of them.

Mud Sledding

Over the weekend we went to visit our friends, Leo and Andi, at their house in Westchester. Leo and Jim took Logan and Caterina sledding while Andi and I stayed back at the house to enjoy some "girl time" without kids and husbands. I assumed that they were going snow sledding and we'd brought the kids' snow clothing with us for just that reason. However, in their haste to conquer that hill the kids started sledding prior to donning their snow gear and being as it was 54 degrees on Saturday, snow sledding turned into mud sledding.

Here you can see my kid airborn as he rides the mud. I'm told he barely missed a tree in front of him.

This is Caterina on one of her downhill slides.

This is the result of her downhill slide.

Andi was most kind and threw their muddy clothes into her washing machine. Thanks, Andi.

There is a dam nearby where they went sledding. Here are the kids in front of it.

In this picture you can see a bit of a rainbow created by the falling water.

And here's one of Leo and the kids.

After the kids were de-mudified, Leo and Andi took all of us out to eat at a great Chinese Buffet place. We had an excellent meal complete with peel 'n eat shrimp and freshly steamed crab legs. Yum! Thank you, Leo and Andi.

After our bellies were full and we'd read our fortune cookies we went to Michael's and Walmart. I needed vellum adhesive for one of Logan's school projects and being that Walmart was right next door to Mike's, well, I just HAD to hit that too. We don't have a Wally World close to us so I wasn't passing up that opportunity. I almost bought the From My Kitchen Cricut cart at Walmart but I was a good girl and put it back. Aren't you proud of me? We then hit Best Buy which was in the same shopping center where I bought some photo paper that I was running very low on.

After our little shopping spree, we went back to the house and enjoyed some down time until it was time to leave. What a nice day it was and we very much appreciate Leo and Andi's wonderful hospitality.