The Beginnings of Some Epic Sh*t

Well, when school ended for the boys last month, my job did, too. (just temporarily) Working at the school has a definite perk: summers off! I am abso-freakin-lutely LOVING it.

Somewhere in May and before school ended, I saw something somewhere about doing "epic shit." It wasn't this, but it was something pretty similar. I'm pretty sure it was something I saw shared on Facebook (heretofore known as "FB") which is pretty ironic when you read the next few sentences, actually. I read it and decided, "YES!! That's what I need to be doing: epic shit!!" So, I decided to quit FB for the summer since it takes up way too much of my time. I have a love/hate thing with FB, anyway. I check in on it 5 times a day or so and find that I've been sitting there for a good 15-20 minutes per sitting. That adds up to over an hour a day that I waste just reading stupid stuff on FB! It doesn't even make me feel better or anything. I do love seeing pictures of friends babies and stuff like that, but it's almost not worth it to have to wade through all the other junk. At least not as often. Trust me, I have way too much going on in life to be spending that kind of time on the computer. My house would look totally awesome if I spent even half of that FB time tidying or cleaning. That would also mean I could start pina colada happy hour a half-hour early every day!

Simple choice.

Besides, these boys aren't getting any younger (neither am I) and I don't want to miss a thing. I won't remember what happened on FB this summer, but I will remember the smiles on everyone's faces as we hang out and enjoy this summer of family fun. So, thinking about it that way made it even simpler; I promised myself that I would take this summer and make it epic. You know, do cool stuff that enables me to say I spent my summer doing really epic shit! So far, so good-- I may never go back to FB! (I'm having so much more fun without it.)

We kicked off our summer of fun with an EPIC, three-week road trip to Sanibel Island, Florida, for my family reunion.  Less than a week after school was out, we kissed Lola goodbye and left her in the capable hands of an old friend. Over the course of the next three weeks, the ole minivan tacked on a neat 3,525 miles to the odometer and we now have a new bumper sticker to show we arrived at our destination--it's right next to my Show Us Your Gritty's! bumper sticker. My favorite bumper sticker is actually the one I gave Skip for the Volvo- it looks like THIS- but I didn't want to be a copycat and have the same one on the minivan. So, instead, I'll show you my Gritty's. They're not as pretty as they once were, but if you really want to see them...

Anyhoo, as far as getting stuck in a car with three four smelly guys goes, it was all pretty great. The boys travel so well on road trips- they love them! So much so that, nearly any time we pop into a gas station/quick-mart kinda thing, Owen will often say that it "smells like a road trip!" I'm sure some day a therapist will find that interesting...

Skip did most of the road trip driving. He says it's because he likes to drive, but I think we all know it's really because I'm the better navigator...

Blowing bubbles helps me navigate

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Rest Area break in CT-

everyone rolled their eyes when I suggested a photo op. Little did they know, it was just the beginning!

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Lightweights!

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Our first night after leaving Maine was a pitstop in Ashburn, VA- not too far from the DC area. We stayed at  Aloft- a pretty fun and spunky place owned by the same company that owns W hotels. Of course, within 5 minutes of our arrival, Owen had broken the swanky, hanging/sliding mirror door to the bathroom. We're talking "broke it" as in: crashed-it-off-the-track-and-cracked-the-mirror broke it. Argh! Luckily, the maintenance dude was very understanding and we didn't get hit with any extra charges on our checkout bill. Phew! After the mirror door fiasco, we ordered pizza in the room and watched a movie on the big TV via Skip's laptop before getting some shuteye. Bright and early the next morning, we were off again. The next stop was Savannah, GA; I really wish we could have seen more of the city, especially the historic waterfront district. But, another time, because we were off again to our first destination...

All smiles at this gas stop as we neared Florida...

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The boys thought the name of this gas station was totally hysterical

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Here's a closeup, in case you couldn't see it in the first pic.

Note how the El Cheapo ass is kicking high gas prices...

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We loved Sanibel Island, though not so much the no-seeums/sand fleas/whatever-they-weres! Rocco and I were totally eaten alive--it has been 3 weeks since we were there and the bite scars on our legs have just now disappeared! The good news is that the gross bites all over my legs made me appear to have something contagious. Why is that good news, you ask? Well, no strangers wanted to sit near me the following week as we moved onto Orlando and lounged at the poolside... The lounge chairs on either side of me always remained empty, so I had plenty of room to stretch! The weather in Florida was crazy hot and sticky/humid, but we didn't mind it so much since we were in the warm ocean water so much of the time. The beaches of Sanibel were just covered with shells- an amazing sight. We stayed at this place right on the beach and we shared a cottage with my mom & dad... which was really cool. The boys got to get up early and go ocean fishing with Dad a couple mornings. Unfortunately, they weren't with him the morning he caught a shark, but he video'd it for them before releasing it. Dad is now treated with rock star status in the boys' minds!

Owen & Rocco- enjoying one of their daily "siestas" in the cottage

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Dad & Skip grilling chicken for 40+ family members on a 

wicked toasty hot day

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Owen & Oscar digging for crabs on the beach in Sanibel

(they didn't find any)

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My cousin's daughter, Maya, and Owen went kayaking there in the Gulf of Mexico.

In this pic, Skip had made them paddle back to shore because he had forgotten to give them the "square dad" speech about staying where they could see land, etc. (So glad he did. It looked really fun, but was a bit unnerving to watch as a parent!) Even after the speech, Skip grabbed the binoculars so we could see them way out there on the horizon!

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Kayaking Teens

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Rocco- happy beach dude!

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Skip has turned into quite a sun bunny... 

note the '70's-esque unbuttoned shirt!

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Mom & Dad at Sanibel Island- cute pic!

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On one of those deliciously warm nights, my cousins, Skip & I all walked down to the beach at 1am. It was gorgeous down there: sooo dark, with a warm-but-also-cool ocean breeze whipping onto the beach and all the stars you could imagine up in the sky. Nothing but dark ocean and stars everywhere we looked. We thought it was so beautiful that we went back to our cottage to wake the sleeping boys and take them down to the beach. It sounded like a hassle to walk back there to attempt waking three sleeping boys, but this was epic stuff and- well, this is the summer of epic- so it was the only thing to do!

Well, not only was it kinda epic, but it became TOTALLY AMAZINGLY EPIC as we carried the boys back down to the beach. Suddenly, my sister appeared- running past us in the dark- saying something about there being a turtle down there. When we got back to the dark beach and our eyes adjusted to the dark again, there she was: a green sea turtle making her way out of the ocean and up the beach to lay her eggs. I can't imagine any of us will ever get to see that again in our lives, but we can hope. I can't even say how cool that was! Of course, even if I had my camera with me at the time, I wouldn't have been able to take a picture since it would have scared her away. Far be it from me to be the one who scares an endangered species from laying her eggs! Instead, we just stood there and watched her and she made her way back into the sea and swam away. Without any photgraphic evidence, you'll just have to take my word for it: it was THE COOLEST.

 The Sullivan Five on Sanibel Island!!

This is my new fave pic of us

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Later that week, we said our goodbyes to family in Sanibel and then we drifted over to Orlando to spend another week in the Florida sun. We visited the Magic Kingdom one day, but Rocco didn't seem to care too much about it. (?!? Is he really our kid??) Possibly, though, it was all that walking in some insane heat and humidity. He really wilts in the heat. But, perhaps, he didn't care for it because we sort of funneled him onto Space Mountain when it is clearly not his kind of ride- whoopsies! No, Rocco's favorite was the Dumbo ride-- can't blame the kid for liking the classics. We also went to Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios (which we still call MGM Studios.) Typhoon Lagoon was great, too- we all had a blast swimming the day away there. The boys and I also enjoyed a few days just lounging it at the hotel pool whilst poor Skip was stuck working from his laptop back in the hotel room. Sea World was the universal favorite that week, though. Skip & Owen (crazy people) went on the Manta roller coaster there, while Oscar, Rocco & I preferred checking out the sea lions. A big hit was spending time feeding the stingrays in the lagoon. We actually spent more money on stingray food that day than on food for us!

The magical gates!!

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Waiting for the Magic Kingdom to open...

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Me & Rocco at Disney's Philharmagic

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The boys in the castle at MK

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Everyone loves Dumbo!

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In front of Tom Sawyer's Island

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I thought this would be hilarious: a picture of Skipper in front of the

"Attn: Skippers" sign as we waited in line for the Jungle Cruise... I guess it was funnier in my head

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Getting ready for 4th of July fireworks at the most magical place on Earth!

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This is my favorite parade at Disney- I remember seeing it with my Nana & Grampy when we visited their house in Florida

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Pete's Dragon blows off some steam

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The rest of our trip looked like this:

• After Orlando, we headed up the coast to the Cape Fear area-- my Aunt Chris has a place there, so we planted ourselves in North Carolina for a few days and had a really good time. Skip worked for most of the time we were there, but the kids and I checked out Historic Downtown Wilmington via trolley and we also enjoyed their serpentarium! (It smelled totally awful in there, but it was really cool!)
• Then we drove to Philadelphia for a whirlwind visit to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall before tossing down some philly cheesesteaks... Crashed there for a night and then we were- finally- homeward bound!

We've been home just over a week and I already have more to report, but that'll have to be in the next post... Right now I've got epic sh*t to do! 

xoxo k.

Welcome, 2013!

our friendly little snowman

Another new year makes an appearance and I am thoroughly enjoying it with a bowl of fresh, homemade guacamole. It's not as awesome as it sounds, though, since I am doing so from my hidey spot in my office, so as to get the guacamole to myself. Once Owen catches on to the fact that I have this, it will be inhaled in one breath! So, I am hunched over and acting like nothing much is happening anytime someone walks through my office. Glamorous.

So far, my five waking hours of 2013 have involved a lot of time ogling DIY crafts on Pinterest (oh, how I love thee, Pinterest!) and applying my favorite moisturizing facial mask. Pretty rough year so far. Skip & the boys are on Day 4 of the same Risk game... It's been a roller coaster of emotions. Skip is a pretty cutthroat player- even with the kids- yet they are holding their own, which pleases me. I would never be able to play that game without getting mad at Skip-- I just know it would be worse than when we play Scrabble!

this is getting serious

We had a great Christmas. The boys were again in the church pageant for the early family service on Christmas Eve. Owen was one of the three kings and Oscar was a shepherd. Rocco was scheduled to be a sheep, but got cold feet at the last minute. So, the shepherds has an invisible flock. It's always very spiritual to sit in the dim church and watch the kids recreating that special story. This year was no different, though I did find myself even more overcome with emotions than usual as we sat singing "Silent Night." My thoughts were flooded with those of my cousin Kyle. Which is nothing new, but it still catches me off guard sometimes. The church- especially Reverend Nancy- had really helped me get through losing him in 2011. Though I always found (and obviously still do) the hymns really open the floodgates for some reason. The nicer and more beautiful the song, the worse my crying. Back then, Rev. Nancy would often give me a reassuring look from the podium, as if to say, "You can do this. It's okay..." So glad to have had her there for me during that rough time; it was all very coincidental (?) that we even found ourselves at church at all that spring.


As you likely know, we are not even remotely religious in the going-to-church sense. However, because Skip's parents have been members there for years and it's where Skip attended church growing up, we would always go for the Christmas service. Sometimes Easter, too- but that was about it. And it was really more for his folks' benefit- or so we thought. We were total fair weather friends with the church. But that spring Owen was working toward his God & Family achievement for Scouts. It involved meeting one-on-one with Rev. Nancy for an hour or so... every week for about 2 months. Since we live about 50 minutes away from the church, it was just as easy to attend services and then help out around the church while we waited for Owen and Rev. Nancy to finish their meeting afterwards. It was during this period of time that we lost Kyle and I happened to find myself at church every weekend. I dreaded going to church because I knew I was going to lose it during service and it was so emotionally draining. And I did lose it- for many weeks on end. I would sit quietly sniffling... during the hymns, my voice would start cracking and wavering so that, eventually, my mouth was moving but no words would come out. I was a complete hot mess. However, through e-mails and in person, Rev. Nancy was always there and she really helped me keep it together. I can't say exactly how, because it was very smooth and quiet. It certainly wasn't through quoting scripture or anything "churchy" like that because I would have been completely turned off.

Well, Owen did earn his special achievement for Scouts and we kept going to church most every Sunday that summer. A year+ later, we are back to our biannual attendance, mainly due to distance and gas prices, but we have a special connection to the church that we didn't have before. I know we all feel it... The kids have such a great relationship with Rev. Nancy, too. It just about overflowed our hearts when, at the end of this year's Christmas Eve service, Skip and I heard Rocco say "Merry Christmas, Reverend Nancy!" in his adorable 6-year-old voice... Too. Cute.  Our lives are full of many blessings... I just have to work some times more than others to not let them be overshadowed by our great losses. Always looking for ways to make it all matter, you know?

I think the new year will be a good one. My (champagne) glass is half-full. Has been for about a week, actually, since it feels like I have been on a steady drip of mimosas since Christmas Day. Being on break from school and also from work for the last two weeks has been pretty awesome. But it also means I need to have a lot more willpower to not be drinking champagne all day long, every day! ha Luckily, I'm not a huge Dom Perignon fan. I'll take a bottle of $9 Barefoot Bubbly Extra Dry over Dom any day. No joke.

Soon, we will have even more reason to celebrate... or perhaps quake in our boots. Not sure yet which... but, either way: Skip has a birthday in a couple weeks and then a few days later Owen will be a teenager! (yikes) Can he really be that old?? This is where I would normally insert a picture of him from 13 years ago, but due to my brand new computer I haven't migrated all the old pics over yet. *insert mental image of adorable, smiling baby boy here*

I don't promise to post again in January. I think we should aim for once a month, at best. Who knows, but let's not take things too fast here, okay? I will try to post as often as I think to, and not a bit more! I have started my new year with more meaningful goals, like refreshing my love for random acts of kindness... I hope the new year also brings you many ways to find joy within yourself.

Happy 2009!

Owen & Oscar love their MegaBlocks
pirate ships from Uncle Mike
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You may recall that I'm not big on making New Year's resolutions. I am, however, a fan of lists...

So. Here's my 2009 To Do List:

*Get a job
*Learn to knit
*Stay fit
*Actually use my scrapbooking supplies
*Dance a lot
*Donate blood more often
*Take the kids camping (somewhere other than the backyard)
*Sing a lot
*Organize my office
*Give even when I don't have it
*Spend more time with friends
*Refresh my CPR certification
*Cut back to one cup o' joe a day (in the stress of the last couple months I've been baaaaaad.)
*Forgive

I figure if I get around to any of these things even once, I'll be looking pretty good!

Rocco- checking out a spinning carousel
ornament before I pack it away for another year
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We rang in the new year on a happily mellow note... Stayed in with the kiddos and played board games. (Sorry!, Mancala and Oscar's new Cat in the Hat game.)

I forgot to break out the party hats, but life went on, if you can imagine... Skip and I drank some cheap wine and the kids were pretty occupied coloring their new cardboard playhouse they received for Christmas. It's very cool. And very BIG. They love it.

The boys playing with/decorating the gargantuan
playhouse on New Year's Eve
(they were drawing xmas lights on the roof)
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Rocco crashed around 10pm, which is when Owen and Oscar headed into their sleepover together. Skip and I played Buzz trivia on the PS3 until just after midnight (I won't mention who won 2 out of the 3 games... haha) Then we snuck upstairs to kiss the boys and wish them Happy New Year. Owen and Oz were wide awake and in full "party!" mode... Lights were on and they were hanging out playing... We told them to go to bed soon, but it wasn't actually until we were headed to bed at 2:15a, that we saw their lights go out!

We woke up (at 10am!) to a kinder, gentler year. Thank you, 2009... and WELCOME!

Owen, Rocco & Oz
ready for their first all-brothers sleepover last week
(Rocco slept with them, too!)
Not much sleeping occurred, but they all had a blast.
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A Fond Farewell, One Degree and Two More Days

Cute Xmas card from Keall and fam this year!
(front and inside)
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We've been a whirlwind of activity lately. Most of which involves either the boys' Christmas concerts (adorable!) and/or me frantically finishing craft gifts. However, we did have to say goodbye to Skip's grandfather Daniel last week, so that forced us to slow down. He was a truck driver for a local grocery store chain and he was a proud member of the Million Mile Club. (That's a lot of time in a truck!) Grampa was super sweet and I just adored him.

Skip & I with Grampa at his 80th birthday party
(two years ago)
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However, as is so often the case when you have kids, you aren't allowed to wallow for too long since kids' schedules continue whether you like it or not!

Oscar had his first Christmas concert on Friday and he was too cute. He's a little on the shorter side so he was in the front row and easy to spot. (The doctor likes to say Oscar is a square, since his weight is about the same in pounds as his height is in inches.) Anyway, he was too cute- sandwiched in between two girls in his class. They performed the same show as Owen's wing of the school, which was called "Melton, the Warm-Hearted Snowman." ("We'll call him 'Melton' cause that's just what he'll do!") Owen had several speaking lines in it, which he performed with a small amount of enthusiasm... You'd never have known how excited he was for the show or how much he loves singing to watch him, but he was pretty proud of himself up there and so were we.

from Aunt Laura and Uncle Butch-
a picture of their bunny, Luna, decked out as an angel
The kids loved this one!
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We had a great "holiday" with my parents and sister and her family this weekend... And, as usual, it was all the smaller stuff that brought the kids the most joy. Someday we'll get smart and just stuff the tree with matchbox cars and be done with it!

Last night we had a delicious lobster and steak dinner with friends at their house- yummmm. We swapped gifts and drank wine and couldn't have had a nicer time. Rocco was thrilled to have a fresh selection of construction vehicles and cars to play with, so he kept himself pretty entertained for most of the evening- awesome!

So, I'm always a fan of having a white Christmas, but this is just overkill. It's one degree outside at the moment and the deck has about 18" of snow on it. I've already shoveled it twice in the last week and I'm putting off doing it again until this afternoon. I'd put it off longer, but it's supposed to rain tonight and I don't want to deal with that. At least at the moment it's pretty light and fluffy. Just a whole lot of it! Bleck.

Well, I should beat it now since I still have wrapping to do and this is the kids' last day of school before vacation. I'll be bringing cookies to Oscar's class party this afternoon, too. His teacher invited me to attend, saying "Please join us at our celebration on Tuesday. It's sure to be a hectic affair." Sounds like a cry for help, doesn't it?

Hope you're enjoying the merriment of the season where you are and that you can feel the love coming from our house to yours!

from Oscar's 2nd- grade, school reading buddies
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Hoppy Easter

Well, the sugar buzz continues... Rocco enjoyed his first taste of marshmallow peeps... and managed to sneak an extra one from someone else's basket when we weren't looking!

Rocco wonders where we've been hiding
the Peeps for the last 18 months...
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Rocco also got a new baby doll that we aren't sure if he loves or envies... He has been giving it the hairy eyeball, as if it's trying to take his spot as the resident baby of the house... Owen & Oscar each got the usual basket goodies- stuff like sticker books, matchbox cars, a stuffed animal each and plenty of jellybeans and chocolate eggs! We told them they could eat as much candy as they could manage until breakfast time, when they are expected to stop and have a real meal. We usually let them gorge on candy all day long- encouraging it, actually. It's amazing how quickly it gets old. By tomorrow night they won't even care when we are tossing the leftovers!

Owen & Oz- reading the next clue in
the Easter egg hunt (yes, I know it's blurry)
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This Easter was a big hit with the kids... The Easter bunny left eggs all over the house for the kids to find. Each new egg contained a clue as to where to find the next egg... and so on... until finally, the twelfth egg (they come in dozens, of course) had a clue as to where the Easter baskets were hidden! We only had one near-miss incident with the eggs... Skip wasn't aware of the Easter Bunny's egg placement plan and had turned on the oven to start breakfast while the kids hunted for eggs... So the one egg that was hidden in the oven nearly dead-ended the hunt! Luckily, Owen & Oscar were very quick to figure out all the clues that came before it, so by the time they got to that one, the plastic egg had only melted slightly and the paper clue inside was still in tact. Phew! (Note to Bunny & Skip... perhaps some coordination next year would prevent any further egg casualties! haha) All told, though: a great Easter.

The Easter egg that had the unfortunate
hiding spot in the oven...
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In other news... (And I use the word "news" lightly... It's a holiday and, thus, a light news day, People!) The boys have new hair cuts this weekend... Lately, we've been in the bad habit of taking the kids to Snip-Its for hair cuts and I wanted to try to find a nice, local place instead that could become our regular hair cut place. Snip-Its is a great place- don't get me wrong. (If you've never heard of it, then just imagine the Disney World of hair salons... It's super colorful with a monitor at each chair so the kids can either play a video game or watch a short movie while they get their hair cut. They have their own cast of characters that star in the movies and adorn the walls of the salon... And when your hair cut it over you insert a pass into the front desk, where you're given a gumball-machine-style prize.) There are a few reasons I don't care for the place: the first, and most important being that it's about 35-minutes away. Which just seems crazy when Oscar's hair grows like a Chia Pet and needs to be cut every 4-6 weeks or he looks like a wild bushman! Plus, they charge about $4 more per cut than we get charged closer to home. I also feel that the place just has so much going on visually... It's like walking into ADD-Land. I mean, what's wrong with just having to sit still for a haircut without a cartoon to keep you occupied? Didn't we all have to learn how to do that at some point? I do want to note that the kids have always had good cuts there, though.

Anyway, long story short: We tried a new place this weekend. Skip took the kids and told them exactly what I wanted... Which is not what I got.

Oscar's new "curly on the top?" cut
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Take a look at Oscar's hair and tell me if you would consider that "just an all-over trim, but leaving the curls on the top." I wanted to cry when I saw him!! Actually, I think my eyes did water up! I have issues with the kids' hair. There, I said it. But only when it's not cut right- they just don't look like themselves with really short hair cuts! (Anyone who remembers Owen's infamous buzz cut from about 4 years ago knows how well I handled that one! haha) Ahhh, well. The good news is that Oscar's hair grows like a weed and in another six weeks should look almost normal. I'll have to go back to a trusted stylist and ask her to reshape it the way it used to be, but otherwise we'll be good as new.

In the meantime, I am off to enjoy the rest of the day off with my guys... I'm throwing on a bunch of pictures (from today and the last week) for you to enjoy... Hope you've had a lovely Easter.

xoxo k.

More Easter Pictures...

Rocco & his new slinky
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Rocco as "Swamp Thing"
-as his brothers called him after
plopping easter grass on his head
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Pictures from Last Week:

Rocco sitting in the hidey cupboard
about 20 minutes after a
major face plant in the driveway!
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Rocco's faceplant injuries up close
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Several days later we have Rocco again...
Having a wonderful day...
(the scabs from the afore-mentioned
faceplant injuries are almost gone!)
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A mere ten minutes later this same day and...
we have a goose egg on the forehead! .... Ahhhh, BOYS!
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Owen in a new paper mask he made at home
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Oscar quietly sitting in the breakfast room...
I just love the morning light in there!
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