All-City Track Meet

Connor is finally in third grade and that is the grade where the kids participate in the track meet. He placed in two events, relay and tug-of-war so off to the All-City track meet we went.

I only have a couple of complaints about all-city.

First, it usually takes over 4 hours for the whole thing. That is a long time. I get why it takes so long, but getting home at 8:30 on a school night is tough on wee ones.

Second, it is super hot in the bleachers as the sun beats on you. And squinting for 4 hours is annoying and painful.

Third, I have a lot of patience for children all day long. Once 3:00 hits, I only have patience for my own and sometimes that is stretching it. Dealing with kids running up and down bleachers all night is not my idea of a good time.

Fourth, parking is brutal.

This year, it was a beautiful day/night. Since Connor didn't place in an event I needed to be at the finish line for (hurdles, 50 or 100 meter dash, mile, etc) I decided to try the other side of the bleachers where the sun would be at our backs. 

Talk about perfect.

Not only wasn't it hot, we didn't spend the whole time squinting into the sun. Plus, Connor was the third leg in his relay and pretty much started right in front of us.

And there was NO ONE over there. I parked right by the entrance.

Connor was in the tug-of-war which is always the first event of of the night.

His team ended up taking third.





Then we had a two hour wait. Mike decided to take Noah and run to subway for us. I had packed Connor a supper so he ate and then found his friends and they ran around and played football.

Finally it was time for his relay.

Lots of stretching is required.

I ran out of space on my camera so I didn't get a picture of him actually running past me.

They took second!

A successful night!

Only three more years of track meets.

Why I edit

I got those actions downloaded. It went much better than last time, whew!

See why I edit......

Slight edit, I know (it's hard to take a bad picture of pretty flowers). But, the little tweaks make me happy. It gets rid of all the stuff I CAN'T do with my camera (because I don't know how to use it like I should) and it fixes things. People pride themselves on taking SOOTC (straight out of the camera) pictures that look amazing.....well, I am not ashamed to say I can't do it.

But, I can edit to make them look better.

Peace out,

LB



State of the Union

Well, here is the story. It all starts with the computer crashing (don't all stories start this way) and having to get a whole new computer. The lovely people that sell you computers say they will transfer all your files and programs seamlessly, but they lie.


I sat down to edit some Easter pics only to find that my editing software is gone. Now, downloading Photoshop is easy peasy. But, finding the 4390 different sites that I downloaded various actions from throughout the years.....not so much. The last time I had to do this took me about 6 hours and I have a straight highway to hell due to all the swear words I used. I rarely use the actual photoshop program to edit, I always use these FREE actions. But, you have to have Photoshop in order to have a place for the actions to go.


The bottom line, I don't post any pictures I don't edit. Plain and simple. I am kind-of obsessed with pictures looking better and nicer if I am taking the time to post them. These are the ones I save to my computer and I get rid of the others. I can't blog without an edited picture so I just haven't blogged.


Then on top of that, the program I use to write my blog isn't installed either. No biggie, you say. Just go to the Microsoft website and download it again, right?  Um, no. I can't figure out how to do it without starting a whole new blog.


So, here I am back at Blogger creating a post. Did you know Blogger has changed completely in the last few months? Who knew? As I type I have no idea how I am going to post this. In fact, I should probably just stop here and see what happens.


My goal is to get around to finding the actions, getting Photoshop loaded, and be up and running by the weekend. Lots has been happening and lots is coming up (including a brief visit from my BFF!) so I need to get this figured out.


Until then, stick with me....will ya?

Florida 2012

 

Another Spring Break has come and gone. We added an extra day this year and it still wasn’t enough. There has yet to be a trip in 6 years where we have wanted to come home when it was time. I guess that says it all when it comes to how much we love it in Florida!

 

This was the year of the family! We started the week in Orlando with Mike’s side of the family. Cindy and Dave, the Mensink’s , and us…..all 13 of us were excited for some fun in the Disney parks!

 

We stayed at a three bedroom condo, and the others rented a whole house. Both had their own pools, along with a resort pool which was a lot of fun for the kids.

 

 

The first park we visited was Magic Kingdom. Disney isn’t complete without fireworks and the lighted parade.

It rained that day, which cooled it down some…which was okay! Florida was experiencing hotter than normal temps, 10 degrees hotter as a matter of fact. It was steamy!

 

The second park we visited was Animal Kingdom, which happens to be my favorite. It was just as hot and sweltering…

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We seemed able to go on more rides this day. Mike loved being able to ride the bigger rides. The last time we were here the kids were too little and scared. Not this year….

 

The third day we were there we went to Hollywood Studios. Two of our favorite things there are the Stunt Show and the Indiana Jones Show.

 

 

I just have to brag a little bit here….

You would think traveling with THAT many kids, there would be issues. Can I just say, there was not one whine, not one complaint, not one crabby kid? They certainly had reason to to do all of those things; it was so hot (over 90), they walked miles and miles each day, they stood in long lines for short rides, they waited for each other to ride various rides that they maybe didn’t want to go on…and not once did one of them say a negative word. We did good raising these kids!

 

This trip was mostly paid for by Mike’s mom, Cindy. This was a trip grandpa Dave and she had wanted to take us on when the kids got older. Even though he wasn’t with us physically, I am sure he was watching over us and smiling. THANK YOU grandma Cindy for making this wish come true. It was one none of us will forget!

 

We then hopped in our very little rental car and headed 3 hours south to Ft Myers where my parents were for part II of our family vacation. We went straight to the Twins game and met my parents there. We were able to get tickets to the last preseason game this year…..

 

 

It was SO hot! We only were able to stay through the 5th inning. When we left, the ambulance arrived with a stretcher. I am sure due to the heat. It was fun to see, but even the kids couldn’t take that heat anymore. We headed straight for the pool instead!

 

 

Mostly while in ft Myers we swim and eat! This year we took the free waterboat from our resort over to Ft Myers beach. It was an hour long ride and it was a lot of fun. They picked us up three hours later, which was perfect.

 

We even saw a bald eagle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

On this trip we tried a couple of different restaurants that we found in the back of a book in our room. Edison Restaurant and Crave. Both were awesome and I miss that food already. I had the best huckleberry martini at Edison’s and the best chicken salad sandwich at Crave!

 

Thanks for joining us, Mom and Dad! We hope you loved our home-away-from-home as much as we do!

 

       

Such great memories every year. I think Connor is even starting to remember some of them…..

LB