Yup...slacker mode again...

This summer is just flying by and school starts 4 weeks from today. Yikes! Honestly, I haven't really felt much like writing, so that's why I haven't posted anything. Just feeling a little uninspired, which means I've probably missed out on sharing some funny JD gems and things like that. I also have 3 trips worth of photos to go through. Could I post them as is? Sure. Will I? Probably not. The curse of being an art major. LOL Anyway, I thought I'd try to just post the highlights starting in May.

MAY

• We helped our friend Betsy's parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary! That's a huge milestone. It was a crazy weekend too since Reece worked 10 hours on Saturday and 8 hours before the party on Sunday.
• The Friday before Mother's Day, JD and I went to the Mother/Son event at school. They had a DJ and games to play. He had a great time with his friends and it was fun watching them dance. A bunch of K-5 graders dancing to Gangnam Style...priceless! LOL
• We had a bunch of friends over for a Memorial Day cookout. Reece got a smoked/grill for an early Father's Day gift and smoked a brisket...delicious!

JUNE

• The Friday before school was finished, JD's class got together to celebrate the end of the year and to say goodbye to Mrs. Zanti, their teacher, who was moving to Arizona. Here's a photo of all the kids with her.

Mrs Zanti and her kindergarten class (2012-13)

• School got out on June 12 and the next morning JD and I drove to NJ to spend some time with my family. Unfortunately this trip also included a memorial service for a friend who just lost her husband to cancer...from diagnosis to his passing was only a month.
• June 21-23, we took out first camping trip of the year. Yes, I said first! Reece had been working so much and we just kind of waited too long to start making reservations, so first thing we could get was June. Anyway, JD and I did a lot of hiking with grandaddy and got to spend time with the Magees, who were also there that weekend. (Photos to come)

JULY

• We had a small 4th of July picnic at our house and then did our own fireworks display in the neighborhood. The boys have all decided to up the ante next year for a bigger show. LOL
• We left on July 6th for our week at Castaways in Ocean City. The Magees were also there. It's going to be our annual trip I think.  Had 4 great days with no rain...went to Asateague Island and saw the horses close up, spent time in the pool, and went to the boardwalk. Thursday and Friday it rained...A LOT! We found a leak in the camper and had to collect water in pans. Fun, fun! Headed into Salisbury on Thursday to see Despicable Me 2 and ran into an old college roomie and her kids. After the movie we went to Salisbury University so I could get a new alumni sticker and show Reece and JD the campus. We also made it to Frontier Town Water Park and Mini Golf again and had steamed crabs for dinner at the Shrimp Boat! Awesome! No splinter emergencies this year, I'm happy to report! Here are a few photos, but to see the rest click here.

• The weekend after we got back from the beach, we were off again, this time to Hershey Park! We had never been and stayed at the Hershey Highmeadow Campground, which I would highly recommend. The sites are pull through and really level; the staff is friendly; the pool is great; and there's a shuttle to take you to and from the park! Awesome...drops you right off near the gate and runs until and hour after the park closes. Also, having pre-purchased tickets gets you in the park 2 1/2 hours before closing the night before and staying on Hershey property gets you in an hour early the day your are going. We went on rides all morning and then had lunch and went back to camp for a break. Took JD to the pool while Reece slept and then we went back at 5 to go to the water park and on the way out, at 9:30 pm, took JD to Chocolate World, where he made his own chocolate bar.  If you've never been to Hershey Park, I really recommend it...very family friendly, lots of rides for younger kids.
• Right now, JD is spending his second full week at the daycare he goes to before school. Grandmom and Grandaddy are enjoying their vacation on a Princess cruise in the Europe...Britain, Ireland, Scotland and a stop in France. We sure hope they have a great time, but I'm sure JD will be happy to see them again next week.

This is just the big stuff. There's always something going on. JD has been spending 3 days a week this summer with Grandmom and 2 days a week at daycare. They take the kids on all kinds of field trips, including swimming, which is great because we really wanted him to have more time in the pool. He's still using swimmies, but at Hershey, he let me take them off and tried swimming without them and he even jumped in without them on. Yippie! They've been to a dairy farm, local parks, the science center, mini-golf, the movies, and cascade lake too. I joined the new Gold's Gym up the street from the house and have started going again...my goal, to see a difference by the holidays. Hoping using the weight machines will help me out. Reece has been working alot, as I said, and he worked again this past Saturday.

We've still got the month of August to go and hope to get together with some of his old classmates and head to NJ to see mom-mom and pop-pop one weekend, and we have a birthday party to go to and back-to-school night for our 1st grader. Hopefully soon we'll find out what soccer team JD is on and when practices are. Oh yeah, Rennfest starts the last weekend in August too. Ooh, and last but not least....JD has his first loose tooth, so we'll soon have a visit from the tooth fairy. My niece asked me how I do everything I do. I told her I just do it and sometimes I don't really know how. LOL