What's with the Name?

This is "Stick" aka: Brian.

We are the "Bones" aka: Boneheads, aka: Beth, Tara, and Sam

Brian has been called "Stick" by his entire family since he was a very little boy. He was very skinny. Skinny as a stick. Well, it stuck. (hehehe) All his school friends know him as that. When I met him though he asked me to call him Brian and not Stick. So, I do. If you have met him with in the last 10 years or so, he'll prefer Brian unless you are family or you've been "grandfathered" into the old name. There is a loop hole.... if you've been hunting, fishing, or some other type of manly activity with him where others have are calling him Stick than you get the green light. 

We are lovingly referred to as boneheads by none other than himself, Brian/Stick (whatever you call him :) It is a term of endearment that he uses with us quite frequently. Sometimes he even drops the proper/full name and uses the nickname of Bone/s. ;)

I am sure he will read this later, and shaking his head, will say...

"You are such a bonehead!"

And that is how I will know that he thinks I have completely over analyzed and dissected such a frivolous thing. It'll also be confirmation that I have been spending too much time on this and  the reason why the laundry is not done. ;)

So there you have it... 

the Life of Stick and the Bones!

36 Hours Isn't Enough Time....

Abbey, Paula, Emily, Craig, and Wendy

The Roberts (my cousin Paula and her family) came for a quick visit this weekend. They were able to visit here on the East coast because they had been on vacation in the OBX the previous week. Even though we are so grateful that we were able to see them, it just wasn't enough time!!! :( 

We did cram a lot in while they were here. Lots of laughing, giggling, catching up, playing, shopping, belated and upcoming birthday celebrations, an excursion to the park wit bike riding, a quick photo session, and a tearful goodbye. Our family is full of "goodbye criers". I think we all silently were trying to be strong at the end, and everybody was doing a great job..... It's all Emily's fault!!! One glance at her crying in the doorway sent us all over the edge! 

Meg and Stan - the two who started it all (my grandparents)

We all congregated at my grandparent's. They were so happy to have all the chaos and confusion of lots of kids running around. My Grandmother was in her glory having us all around her. Especially her little Elizabeth. Se loves getting up close and whispering in her ear. 

All of us at the park. Craig took this picture for us. 

Sam and his girls!

This is called a conference bike. It seats 7 and from the moment we got on Denise didn't stop laughing. In fact, we all couldn't stop smiling and laughing. We were definitely a spectacle through out the park.

Ok- so they're coming towards me on the path. And pictured below is the surrey bike we rented also. My mom, Angela, Abbey, and Beth were on this one. Sam insisted on riding solo. He loved that he was faster than all of us. 

We had a friendly competition between the rentals. Who could pass each other and was faster.

Sam tried a new trick... High fiving as he rode past... he was so proud to have mastered riding "one-handed"!

After the goodbye crying fest that ensued at my grandparent's house. Some of us decided to head over to the airport to watch them take off. We aren't sure if they were able to see us or not but we had fun trying! 

My mom, Donna, Denise, Sam, Jake, Amanda, Angela, and Beth waving goodbye at the United flight carrying the Roberts family back to California.

(Try to imagine us screaming and yelling "goodbye" while we were frantically waving our arms. Can you feel the love?)
Thanks for the wonderful visit. We had so much fun and hopefully you'll make it back out here this winter. Love you.

Riding Fools

Every waking moment they want to ride their bikes. We go to a park near our home because it's a place where the kids can ride their bikes without fear of cars. Sam is a speed demon. He just learned how to ride without the training wheels a couple of months ago and now is a pro. Beth just got back onto a "big girl" bike. She is so cute pedaling as fast as she can to try to keep up with him.

I love this park in the evenings. (Although I do have to admit that the Canadian Geese population is starting to over run the place. And with a lot geese comes a lot of goose poop!) 

This is Kristin, aka Miss Kristin, aka Molly-Kristin. She is known as a "Fun Mom" by my kids. You know the kind... the kind that demonstrates to the kids (and who ever else is on the beach) how to do a proper belly flop off a dock, the kind who decides she wants to join the kids in a baby pool so she comes running out of her house only to do an impressive slip n slide technique to get in, the kind that takes 4 kids on a bike ride by herself, the kind that will wear funny things on her head to get a laugh, the kind who teaches the kids to snowboard and rollerblade. She is just FUN!!! 

I just sit back and take pictures of it. Oh- by the way during her bike train outing I was able to sit back and relax and read travel books and dream a little. Thank you Miss Kristin!
So we are just enjoying the summer days and evenings. It's all going by so fast, I can't believe tomorrow is August! 

~Tara

Hey Guys Wait for Me....

Did you know that I gave birth to an "airplane junkie" 5 years ago? Well I did. He is enamored with anything that flies. He loves helicopters, fighter jets, seaplanes, gliders, and even kites! A while ago he was very upset telling me that he wasn't smart. Being very concerned I sat down with him to get to the bottom of what was going on. 

me - "Why do you think that your not smart?"

him- lightly crying,"Because I can't say my 's' sound.... I don't know how to fix an airplane engine.... (and something else that I can't remember at this time.)"

me- trying so hard not to crack a smile and start laughing, "you are learning to do your 's' sounds really well and about the airplane engine... not many people know how to fix those anyway. Dad doesn't even know how to do that.

him- still pouting,"Yeah, I watch too much TV"

me- "What does TV have to do with it? And by the way, you don't watch too much TV."

him- " Watching TV sucks all the smart right out of my brain  and I just can't help it because I love it so much."

me- trying even harder to conceal myself, "Honey, everything is ok with the TV. You watch some wonderful shows that you learn a lot from. And about the airplane engine... well, that's what you go to college for. You can learn about it there."

him- "I'm not going to college."

me- "What? Why?"

Him- "Because I don't ever want to get anymore shots!"

Ok- I decided to drop the subject. I wouldn't tackle the college issue right now. 

But this explains our most recent adventure. We took the kids to the USAF Thunderbirds show in Rochester. It was hot, there was no shade, lots of walking but worth all of it. Getting to see airplanes and helicopters of all sizes and the kids happiness was so much fun. The stunt shows were really amazing. We had a great time and I am grateful we had the opportunity to go.

#9

In celebration of mine and Brian's 9th wedding anniversary I decided to start our family blog. I wanted to be able to journal our lives independently and together as a family. All our milestones... little and big! So I begin today.
Brian and I met 13 years ago this weekend at a local event called Harborfest in Oswego,NY (on Lake Ontario). It was the summer of 1995, the summer of Hootie and the Blowfish, working at the Waterfront restaurant, and jet skiing everyday. I loving recall those memories as being the most fun and carefree of my life. Who knew that on the same weekend 4 years later, we would marry? Even though we didn't have children right away I consider our wedding date the birth of our family. This is the day our journey together officially started. 
Some people would be aghast to know that we spent this year's anniversary with our kids, that we didn't carve a little bit of time just for ourselves. The truth is that if we had people knocking down our front door to take our kids, we probably would have gone away alone. But we don't. And I'll share another fact, we really ENJOY traveling with them. I think the way we look at it is that we had eight years of adventures and togetherness with out kids.  So sometimes it's logistics and easier to take them with us, and other times it's just purely because we covet time with them. Someday they may be too involved with school, activities, friends, or jobs and family time will be more difficult to accommodate.
I guess this is my round about way of saying that we took a "day-cation" to celebrate #9. We drove to Ithaca, well Trumansburg to be exact, and hiked to Taughannock Falls. I did this a few times as a kid with my family and always loved it. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The kids and Brian in their bathing suits and I with the camera (Shocking I know!) Well actually I was a nervous wreck that I would slip on a slippery rock and the $****.**'s worth of camera gear around my neck would be ruined. But who know whether it was the stupidity or the dare-devilishness that took over... I carried it the entire way and wound up with some great images of the day. After the falls we drove to a winery, Wagner Vineyards, to sample wine, beer, and root beer. In our typical fashion we drove to the winery using our map and only country and seasonal roads. It's so much more fun that way!!! The kids loved it! On the seasonal roads Sam thought we were truly 4-wheeling and he mentioned several times, "look at all the dust we are kicking up!" Beth got a kick out of the tree branches that were hitting the car and the leaves falling into her lap. Dust and leaves... simple pleasures indeed!
We drove home only to meet up with Dad and Ellen for dinner at a restaurant. The kids went straight to bed for the night and Brian and I got our quiet time together. We threw in the latest Netflix delivery and cuddled on the couch. We watched "The Bucket List". Decent movie, not the greatest of all time or even worthy of my top 10 list, but worthy of a watch. It reminded us of our "life lists" we wrote a couple of years ago... but that's for another day, another post!
Enjoy some of our pictures from our "day-cation"!