10 days filled with Las Vegas, Gallagher Games and Avalon

Flew out to VEGAS for work and Jake decided he would go with me. I can't wait to scrap these pictures. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind starting with the vegas trip. Weather completely delayed our flight but we got in just in time to see LOVE the beatles show at the Mirage.......came home to attend the Gallagher Games......

Here are the teams - that's us the BLUE team. We LOST. But it was a lot of fun. From the opening ceremonies to the grueling competitions! Have you done a hippity hop lately? Or how about a sack race! I realized how out of shape I am in. Trying to figure out a way to do the elliptical machine while I scrapbook....hmmmm maybe I am on to something.......

Finally it was time to pack and head down to AVALON for our beach vacation. All the cousins, aunts uncles and even boyfriends and girlfriends came down for relaxing family time. We used Rob's beach "log cabin". A quirky little house with lots of charm - mostly that it was only a block to the beach! We had a blast searching for seashells, going to the zoo, hitting the boardwalk and of course spending time on the beach! Uncle Josh and Daddy are not fond of the sand but the rest of us spent hours digging holes, building castles and catching up on our beach reading. I can't visit avalon without remembering all the years spent there as a kid.....crabbing, riding my bike, playing skeeball, making seashell necklaces.........ahhh the memories. Vacation was too short but I am home now and hoping to get some scrapbooking done........stay tuned!

Church Fair, $80 and 2 dead fish

This fish didn't make it! We took Jake and cousins Nick and Jack to the local fair for a night of fun. I thought it would be a nice fun family evening. Little did I know we would come home with Jake's first pet..... a lovely fair fish named "carshow carshow".....hmmmm taking him to too many carshows daddy?

Anyway after spending $10 to officially wing 2 fish but having 3 boys with us Brian "bought" one more. $15 worth of fair fish! 2 of Said fish didn't last 24 hours. Jack and Nick had a sleep over which the boys loved. They were perfect houseguests! Jack got up first and promptly said to me "I have 3 things to tell you aunt susie....First my fish is alive! The cat pooped in the hall and that bathroom is a mess"! How precious is that!

I wasn't quite sure how Jake and Nick were going to react to their dead fish but I opted to leave them be until Brian got up to deal with it! Luckily there were no lasting effect to the death of jakes first pet. We ended up going straight to the pet store after our breakfast of plate sized pancakes at Annamarie's in Royersford - see picture! We spent $1 replacing those darn fish and so far it has been 3 days and Jake's new pet fish "rock rock stare" is still alive. We really don't know where he is getting these names from!

Boy I thought I would be better at keeping this up!

Picture credit here goes to Mimi Leinbach! Maybe I will get some hits just by using my very talented sister in laws name ; )

Life really does get in the way of scrapping doesn't it......between work, mom time, wife time, play time, sleep time there is NO time left! I wish I had more scrap time but that isnt' the case these days.......maybe this weekend - fingers crossed! We enjoyed a typical 4th! We got to the skippack parade for some small town fun. Family parties all weekend long. It was nice but exhausting. We made no plans for this weekend so hopefully in between pool time I will get scrap time! Tomorrow is a big girlie night - flip flops by the Pool featuring my girlfriend Karen's Lia Sophia jewerly! http://www.liasophia.com/karencummings Check it out! Everything is buy one get TWO at 1/2 off this month......and the item you buy at full price can be the cheapest! That is a deal and the jewelry is fab!

Just another Monday...

Jake's First Play - earlier this year. The pictures were just begging to be scrapped.....

Our last family beach trip in November 07.......Daddy put his beer in his shoe so Jake had to do the same thing with his drink - like father like son ; )......

Another weekend of swimming, hanging out with friends and yes a little bit of scrapbooking. My goal this week is to let Jake explore his creative side. I have set up a station in the craft room so he has is own space and stocked it chock full of new stuff. I just love the smell of new craft paraphernalia. He loves playing with his markers and paper so I am hopeful he loves it just as much as I do!

All of it reminds me of my childhood and the long days of summer that stretched out ahead of me.......swimming at Skippack pool, rainy day movies, and crafts with Beth. All the sand dollar necklaces and "spin art". I wonder what happened to my masterpieces?