playing hookey

the second week of school we took max, nik and whitney to the bahamas, which apparently was a great time to go cause' no one was there. i guess all the responsible people had their kids in school. lucky for us.


pretty much our routine consisted of beach, water slides and pools, snorkeling, aquariums, more beach.






whitney had this look on her face the ENTIRE time. put this girl in water and she knows no greater happiness. put her in water for seven straight days and...well, you get the picture.

this resort was amazing. it had miles of water slides and rivers, three gorgeous beaches, 12 pools, humongous aquariums, reefs for snorkeling. it was perfect for parking your butt for a week and keeping everyone happy. kind of a lazy way to vacation, i'll admit.



and this is the look wade had on his face the ENTIRE time.




aren't these fish disgusting?!








every tiny speck of shell was of magnificent importance.


wade almost peed his pants every time we saw this yacht. he almost went so far as to knock on the door and beg for a look around. and when he saw people coming off the yacht he made us all wait and watch to see what kind of people they were. he was sure they'd be movie stars or something.



one of our favorite things was the snorkeling. we took the kids on an open ocean snorkeling trip. whitney got her finger devoured by a rabid fish the second she jumped in. but she got over it quickly.


max and nik had to drive the boat, of course.

then we all swam with the sharks. not whitney. she was a bit too morsel sized for that.
more pictures of that later.


we got caught in a terrific rain storm on the way to a pirate museum and then found ourselves almost frozen to the bone once we entered the over air-conditioned building.


a little pirate jig.




then we all got sent to pirate time-out.




would you like some chips with that sand?






every night we'd walk to the little village, eat, shop around and enjoy the live music. wade REALLY got into it.



this is how we survived the LONG LONG trip home: movies, naps and about two million games of uno.
good thing we left devan at home or i don't think we would have ever come back.
the major success of the trip: no one got burnt. after two bottles of 50 and a bottle of 30 i think we were covered.

2 came so fast

happy birthday dear, sweet, little baby girl of mine.

suga' lips

i was going through some old photos and thought these were hilarious.
especially number four.







blech! now go wash your face.

here we go again

summer is officially over. i think i'm going to cry... or celebrate.

you know what's really fun?

when you're perusing the the shirt section at goodwill and your #3 says she has to go potty.
you say she's got to wait two seconds.
and when two seconds are up you turn to realize that #3 is nowhere to be found.
and i mean NOWHERE.
soooo....
you ask the cute clerk if he's seen a little blondie in pink leotard and tights
"how old?"
"three."
and he gets all worried.
"i have a little girl myself blah blah"
yes, but i'm concerned with my little girl right now.
so, search search search
get on the floor to check beneath all the racks for hiding feet.
dang it!
now mister bald head and mustache from loading joins the search after cute guy and then i check out the loading docks.
"whitney! whitney! come out!"
next, miss dyed black hair comes to the search party
right before cute guy gets on the p.a.
"whitney, will you please come to the front?"
and max points out that she doesn't know where the front is.
right.
now i'm starting to panic and wishing i'd gone straight to the front of the store to catch the getaway car 5 minutes ago.
then i reassure myself that no one in their right mind would snatch whitney and if they did they'd return her in 10 minutes.
so, finally
mister bald head and mustache yells that he's found her.
in the dressing room.
duh.
miss dyed black hair says she knocked on all the doors.
"well, she was hiding" like i'd told them before.
i stick my head under the door and all i see are two pink legs with purple slip-ons curled under a pink bum on the bench.
she thought it was the bathroom.
then she realized it was a good hiding spot.
then all the employees stand around my cart watching to make sure i'm putting her in it this time

ice cream anyone?

last night summer and i hosted a back-to-school ice cream block party. we blocked off the street so the kids could run wild, which they did, and let the good times roll.
we've been saying for three years we were gonna do it and (this is kind of pathetic) a lot of people came that we didn't know ... people who live on our street. wouldn't it be great if i could say i've known all these people and have built our friendships for the past three years.
because they were all really nice interesting and good people just like us (yes i'm applying all those adjectives to me and my family).
but, kick my hiney, i've wasted three years of good neighborly cheer. on what? insecurities? inconveniences? whatever my excuses i hope i can be a lot more neighborly in the future.
and hopefully, next year our party won't get crashed by the police.
no. they didn't come for the ice cream

to tuft or not to tuft...

so my upholstery guy, arnie, has a couch of mine waiting to be done, and he's had it for two or three months cause' i can't
A - find the right fabric or
B - decide if i should tuft the back or not.
as it is now the entire back cushion is tufted but i kind of want the clean look of no tufts, sometimes. the couch is very similar to these couches below and will eventually have all the woodwork painted white and chocolate velvet upholstery, or something. any suggestions or links to sway me one way or the other? this is for my office.

EDIT: here is an example of a tufted couch.

image via little green notebook