Lake days...

Last year, I blogged post after post about going to the lake. I thought it got a little boring after a while and made an effort to exclude the lake from my blogging entries. It's the end of August so I think it's fair to make one blog entry for the summer!

We love the lake! It's how I get into my Zen state of mind for the week.

Jack was extremely pleased because he just pushed Maxine in the water. (She's the big splash in the background.)

Juliet was excited that she and Jack got to share a soda.

Maxine was excited that no one was bugging her.

I'm a little sad that lake season is coming to an end. I'll miss the lazy evenings with my toes in the warm water but I'm excited for Halloween. :)

500 Days of Summer...

I was excited when I watched the previews for the movie 500 Days of Summer and then was bummed when it didn't initially come to my town. I learned from Shelly that it came to our town late and that she'd seen it and liked it! Yeah! My SIL called me up the other night and said she was in town and really wanted to see it. We had both previously watched the preview together and commented how fun it looked. So we went and saw it and I thought it was delicious and clever. It was the Sundance Film Festival's Official Selection for 2009. I really liked it! So you should go see it before this independent film skips town. :)

BTW, our lonely towel was reunited with its rightful owners. And who said blogging never amounted to anything! :)

I want to come home!!

About a month or two ago, this towel ended up in our boat. It really wants to go home. Does anyone know who it belongs to?

It's a nice, large beach towel from Target and frankly, I want to keep it for myself. But I can tell it doesn't want to stay with me. Please help us find its home!

And on a side note: I purchased a replacement DVD remote off Ebay since my original remote has been lost for over a month and I want to navigate DVD menus. It was $8 and free shipping so I felt pretty good about it. I guess I should've just purchased a new DVD player because now my player will only play DVDs when it's upside down. It makes an awful noise and skips when it's right-side up. *sigh* How dumb. I really want a DVD recorder but they're more expensive so I'm trying to hold off and save my pennies so when this DVD player bites it, and I mean really bites it, I can buy a cool recorder. Forget it. I'm just going back to VHS.

Weekend hangover...

I've taken 2 naps today. Why? Because I'm hung over from the weekend. I'm not hung over in the traditional sense but I've spent the last 2 nights in a strange bed with my kids sleeping on the floor at a reunion. I'm always paranoid that my kids are going to wake up other people's kids. Jack woke up and wimpered a bit because he couldn't find his blankie in the dark. So I sprang out of bed and stumbled around to try and find it as fast as possible. Such sleep leaves me feeling a little worn out after 2 nights.

Other than being a little sleepy, we had lots of fun. We played ping pong as a group, I think it's called "around the world," and the game starts with a group gathered around the table. A person will serve the ball and then put down the paddle and rotate around. So everyone is hurrying to hit the ball, set down the paddle, and make their way to the other end of the table to pick up that paddle and hit the ball and continue around. We usually start with 6-8 people running around. If you mess up, you're out. Once it's down to 2 people, one person will serve, put down the paddle, spin a 360, and then pick up the paddle to receive the ball. Just watch, it's fun and funny.

Merril's little sister, Megan, won that round.

Merril was resting for a bit with the kids. Maxine, Merril and I all played. Merril and I both won a couple of times. Woops, I didn't fix the red eyes.

We went swimming, played way too much Wii, gabbed a lot, and ate tons of food. There was also a talent show and an auction. We were each given $500 of play money and all who attended were asked to donate some items. We chose to donate a selection of candy bars. Maxine bought some colored pencils and a notebook. Jack got an activity book and I bought some bracelets. We pooled our money at the end because Maxine really wanted to buy some playdough. She paid $630 for it. Fun fun!

The grudge match...

Since Merril's car got stuck in his heat, he was able to compete one last time in a heat called the grudge match. Everyone who got stuck or got their car running again can compete for a chance to advance to the final round. Merril is red car #3.

The blue car #57 ended up winning the whole thing in the final heat.

So he didn't win but he had lots of fun. The derby was long but the kids did okay. Grandma C. helped out by taking Max and Jack to ride some rides between heats. Grandma G. was busy holding kids and making sure they didn't fall out of the stands. We had friends and family all over the stands. We had family and friends in the pit crew too! Thanks to everyone who showed up to support Merril!

I didn't take very many pictures of Merril because I was filming but I snagged a few of me and the kids. We made team shirts!

They were red and said things like, "We crash for cash!" and "Daddy is car #3!"

The derby got over at 11:00 p.m. so it lasted for 4 hours. There's a lot of silly down time that doesn't need to be there. We all felt it could've moved a lot faster. It took me 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot afterwards. Hee hee. All the kids fell asleep while waiting so I was content to just take my time.

Yesterday, (Sunday) I realized that I didn't even get a chance to buy a funnel cake with all the crazy derby stuff going on at the fair. So we celebrated the closing of the fair with funnel cakes and they are so delicious!! It's just pancake batter drizzled in hot oil until golden brown and then topped with chocolate or carmel sauce, powdered sugar, or whipped cream. Oh.....SO.....YUMMY!

This is for you Jared...

Merril competed in the demolition derby last night and his BFF, Jared, was unable to attend because of a reception. Merril didn't win the derby but had lots of fun! I just wanted to hurry and post a bit of video before church. This is from the heat that Merril competed in. He drove and smashed and then got stuck under another car. Merril was also able to compete in the grudge match but I'll post that later. Merril's is the red #3 car.

I apologize for being so cliche...

It's the 1st day of school and so I have to do the traditional post. We all woke up early and had plenty of time to spare. Maxine surprised me by skipping all the way to the bus stop and yelling, "I'm so excited for 1st grade!"

We took a picture on the lawn together courtesy of Jack. That's the reason the picture's slightly crooked and I didn't care to fix it in photoshop.

I think it enhances the realness of the scene. ;) But I've tried to take advantage of the free time and cleaned bathrooms and oiled the wood cabinets. We just finished lunch but I still get the feeling it's time to pick up Maxine. With Kindergarten, her bus would get to the bus stop around lunch time. I still feel like that's the case and keep thinking, "Isn't Maxine supposed to be home by now??" Nope, I've got 3 1/2 more hours. But I have specific instructions that I'm supposed to be waiting for her on the front porch.

I'm starting to sweat...

No, our A/C is working just fine. It's about the derby. I've been a little nervous since Merril's demolition derby dream became more of a reality. But I'm struggling through and just asked that he mount a fire extinguisher within arm's length so he could put out any miscellaneous fires in the cab. Do I really think he'll catch on fire??? No. I've just watched too many movies. They've taught me that cars blow up at the drop of a hat. :)

Other than that, we're just getting ready for Maxine to start school. I put some money on her lunch card so she could get milk to drink with her sack lunch. We also took some pictures together and put them in her bag because she frets about things.

I've always been really excited for her to start school but I'm just now realizing that I'm losing my biggest helper with the kids. She entertains them, she helps them get drinks and tells me when someone's poopy. Very important stuff. I hope I can survive without her.

We had to get them, they're red...

What's better than one demolition derby car???

Two, of course.

Merril will be competing in this year's demolition derby at the fair. It's coming up in a week and a half so if you've ever wanted to see Merril get pounded, now would be a good time. (Come on ladies, I know you're out there!) Car #2 is up for sale so if there's any men out there wishing to fulfill a boyhood dream, now would be the time. It's competition ready and the Starsky and Hutch racing strip comes free of charge. 1st place is $3,000.

The demolition derby has sold out for the past couple of years but tickets are still being sold here and look for ticket purchase. Children 5 and under are free.

But you may be asking yourself, "Where did Merril buy demolition derby cars?" He found this pair on Ebay in Louisiana. So Merril and his buddy, Brent, drove to Louisiana and back over the weekend. Nice. One thing's for certain, he definitely ambitious.