Birthday and Turtle

My mother had a birthday dinner/lunch thing for me on Sunday. I only have this one, lone picture and I'm not even in it! Poor Shannon is blurry, but still cute. Jeff is mixing salad (with pink tongs) and Jake and Nan are loading up their plates. More stuff happened, but you'll have to check Sara's blog for pictorial proof.









Jeff and I found this lovely turtle on a walk. For some reason, Jeff determined he was thirsty and looking for water. Just how he knew this, I cannot explain. So, Jeff brought him home and set him on our outside table. Jeff and Sean stared at him for a bit before I took him and gave him some water.








Can't you see it in his eyes, "My kingdom for a drink of water. Please, I am so dry I cannot go on".

He had a bath and a drink and did, in fact, go on. We have not seen him since. Godspeed little turtle friend.

July 4th continues

After the parade, we went to the Capt. Salem Avery museum for their 4th Celebration. There was a children's craft table set up and we just couldn't pull Nan away. Here is Sara modeling the visor that Nan decorated for her.














Sean with his 3rd Place Pie Contest Ribbon. I actually made the pie and put Sean's name on it. Needless to say, he was a bit surprised when his name was called. teehee.

They had a bunch of local politicians doing the judging.

Sean and Jeff were both working the hamburger/hotdog booth. Jeff was cooking and Sean was selling and taking money. No rest for the weary.













Sean in a sack.

I was so tired when I took this picture, I could barely keep my eyes open. Can you tell?










Sean hopped to Jasper, handed off the bag, and here is Jasper hopping back. They were both fast, but there was trouble getting in and out of the sack and it slowed them down. Doesn't matter - everyone was a winner!











Jake went to the Quik-E-Mart and bought Sean a box of KrustyO's cereal and some Buzz cola. What a nice brother. I, in turn, bought Jake some hair gel. It's called "paying it forward".


posted by Amy

4th of July Parade

For those of you who missed the famous Shady Side 4th of July Parade, here are a few highlights. I have several of the least painful pics I could find, so I'll make my comments brief.



Patriotic Rednecks








Homemade space car













Boy scouts















Uncle Sam lip synching to Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful" or whatever it's called, you know the song I mean.









duh, US Coast Guard (they had a cool dog too)














A woman exploiting her grandmotherly-ness. Shameful!














A wrecked taxi














Lame















Poetic















old truck and man














Scary (I think that's supposed to be Moses)













Churchy
















Nice













Fun












This float had great musicians playing bluegrass. As a bonus, you can see Jeff in the corner.














I was so afraid for these kids. I was sure one of them would fall and we'd have brain matter splashed all over the road.















Cubs, they weren't too lively, maybe due to the heat.















Don't know the story of this guy. I guess he's plugging the Ruitans.


















Little Miss Cedarhurst and her driver.

All in all, it was a pretty good parade. We got lots of candy, beads and water bottles thrown at us, but it was worth it.

Sailing

We were lucky enough to be invited on a sailing trip by Jeff's friend Dave, and his wife Karol. It was such a fun day and we had great weather. They keep their boat in Eastport, which is such a fun place to stroll thru.














Here is Sean steering the boat.













Partial view of the inside. This is a racing sailboat, and it's new and beautiful.















Ooops, how did this get here? It's the bay bridge from the underneath side.













Another bridge pic. Nothing new here, I promise this will be the last one.










Here is Sean and Josh on the bow. They were the same age and got along really well.



















Here is Cap't Dave with the boys. He is the best captain EVER! And, he's a huge Buffy fan - what's not to like?

Chef in Training

Sean attend Vo-Tech camp last week. The two areas he studied were "Culinary Arts" and "Welding". I was able to peek into the former, but not the latter.

This is the kitchen they worked in. That's Sean in the hat. No one else was wearing a hat...hmmm.









A now hatless Sean showing off his snazzy pizza dough.













That's his teacher in the white coat. He was very nice and the kids were quiet and studious. There was no acting up, which means they all really wanted to be there.














Here, Sean is trimming the fat off a piece of chicken. I hope that's not sassy, back talk chicken. Because if it is.......









........it must be beaten into submission.

Actually, they were making Chicken Cordon Bleu, so he is pounding the living daylights out of a chicken breast, per his teacher's instructions.

By the way, I ate a lot of the stuff he made and am now about 7 pounds heavier for my trouble.

EMT

Jake is an EMT!!! Here is the badge to prove it. He attended many classes and worked long, hard hours but it all paid off. Keep a close watch, he could be saving a life near you!

Cute Cats

Hi People. Well, I have some cutie-cute cat pictures for you. I know SOME of you are ready to scroll away from these pics, because they are the equivilent of boring, old vacation slides. Well, settle in, because here we go.

This is Yoda yawning in his sleep. I like that his head is resting on the pillow so nicely.







Yoda sleeping like the angel he is. All that's missing is the halo.















He was up on the cabinets chasing a huge fly. He wanted that fly SO BAD, but he never got it. I usually don't allow him up there, but, I'm a pushover.

















"Maybe if I'm still enough, it will fly right to me", thought Yoda.













Here is Fran hiding in her "hole". This was the same day she was chased by that horrible fox.


See, that wasn't so bad. Props to all my cat-loving friends. To the rest of you...well....even my dog loves cats, so maybe there is hope for you too.

Catch you later!
Amy