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Today we took a day trip to Misquamicut Beach and Watch Hill. We were sitting outside a little shop and all of a sudden I heard baby birds and saw a mother robin feeding them above us. She flew away before I could get my camera out, but I waited awhile and got this picture of her being a good mama!

P.S. Happy 8th Birthday Marley!

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We bought new furniture for the family room tonight. Paul has needed a new chair for a long time, and our couch is about 27 years old, so it was time. We bought a leather couch, chair and ottoman. It's coming in a little over a week. We're very excited!

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This has to be my favorite fast food sandwich. Spicy Chicken Filet from Wendys. Yummy!

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We went to see this movie tonight. Oh my goodness, I loved it. I really like museums and the thought of them coming to life at night just intrigues me. I'm not sure which one I like the most, the first one or this one. They're both right up my alley!

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The rhododendron in the front of my house is in full bloom. It was given to us as a house warming present by Paul's aunt and uncle, Pat and George, back in 1973.

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Paul and Mark went kayaking at Lake Mashapaug today. I have Paul trained pretty well. He took a nice picture for my 365 blog. Thanks, Paul.

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We went kayaking at Three Mile Pond in Sheffield, Ma. today. Four years ago we went there at the end of July and it was like a swamp; I hated it. I wanted to try it again in the spring this year before all the weed stuff grew. It was wonderful. The day was beautiful, warm and sunny, but not hot. The weed stuff had just started to come out but not bad. There is a peat moss island in the pond that is just wonderful. Little islands to paddle in and out of full of birds, frogs, muskrats. There was also a blow up swan that we thought was real until it didn't swim away as we got near. Across the lake there were two, male and female, fake ducks in the water. Not sure what was up with that. I'm so glad we decided to give it another chance. I will definitely go back, just not in July!

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Today we celebrated Marley's 8th birthday. Next Sunday is actually her birthday, but they are going to the camper for the weekend, so we had our family party today. Janelle's mother and sister came up for the event. We all had a fun time singing happy birthday, eating frozen Boston creme pie*, watching her open presents, and then later playing one of her favorite games Apples to Apples Junior.

*The story behind the frozen Boston cream pie is this - two years ago she had Boston cream pie at Toby's mother's house and she said she wanted that for her birthday cake. When I asked her at the end of her birthday party that year if she liked her cake, she said that she liked the frozen one better. I had no idea what she was talking about until Kristen explained that when they had it at Barbara's it wasn't quite thawed when they ate it. So, this year, I froze the cake and took it out before dinner so that it was still about half frozen when we ate it. Everyone got a kick out of the whole story (Stacia brought a pie and Amy made Smores, so those who didn't want frozen Boston cream pie could have a choice). LOL, LOL!!

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Today was our annual "Build-A-Bear" excursion. This is our 5th time doing this for Marley's birthday. She told me today that she wanted to do Build-A-Bear every year until she got married. Marley wanted to go to Yankee Candle to get the "bear" but go to the mall Build-A-Bear to get the clothes and accessories (they have a much bigger and better selection). I think she likes the whole process of going to Yankee Candle and looking around up there, but the Build-A-Bear at the mall is much better really. This year she chose a black lab and called him Blackie. We bought Blackie two outfits, a denim pocketbook, a collar and leash, and another leash. What a fun day. Kris called later tonight and asked Marley if she had a good day and she said it was "fabulous."

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My ferns have really taken off. I love how they keep spreading every year.

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So....as a followup to my post #124, the new store with the escalator right at the entrance is now open. It is called XXI forever, and is a store for just what it says, people who are "21 forever." It's a huge store and if I was 21 I'm sure I would love it. The store has only one floor though, so the escalator just goes to the second floor of the mall. Really different!

P.S. This post just had to have two pictures for the full effect!

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This is Marley and another Prim playing Concentration (a hand slapping game) at the end of Prims tonight.

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Today we went kayaking at West Lake in Sandisfield, MA. This is the place where I saw the frogs mating in 2006 and 2008, and also where Paul caught his 6 lb. bass in 2007. I think it might be one of our favorite places to kayak. There is hardly ever anyone there; we usually have the lake to ourselves. It is small, but big enough not to get bored. Today as we were getting the kayaks ready to put in the water, a girl on a horse rode up. She went right down to the water on the horse and then in the water. Then, to my surprise, the horse started almost "playing" in the water. He kept lifting his leg and splashing. I couldn't believe it. When the girl rode out, I said to her that watching her horse was so funny, that I had never seen anything like it. She started laughing and said he is just like a dog. You can see more pictures on Debbie's Blog.

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Tonight we went to Mark and Janelle's to bring over the dressing table. We had it at our house because we were cleaning it up and patching up the paint (it was Marley's). They have been getting the room ready and it looks so cute. This is a picture of the crib (and added bonus of Janelle and Baby Radtke to the left :)

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On Saturday while Marley and I were at the Daisies/Prims Rally, Paul bought this little bug house at a tag sale on Big Baba's street. She was so excited to get it; she loves bugs (she gets that from her father). After church on Sunday, she and Paul "hunted" for bugs. She found a flea and a slug that she brought over to her parents' house (we went there for dinner). She decided to let them go when we got to her house because she didn't want them to die. We decided that the bug house would just be for observation and not actually keeping them. See more on Debbie's Blog.

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This is the group that we (Miss Linda the Daisy Leader, Miss Pat and I the Prims leaders) took to the 2009 Daisies/Prims Rally Day. The Daisys are in the yellow shirts, and the Prims are in the pink shirts. It was about a 45 minute ride in the church van. What luck that Miss Linda is a school bus driver. She was great with the kids, i.e. line up, one at a time in the van until seat belts are on, inside voices, etc. The weather was great, warm but not too much sun, i.e. no sunburns, and no ticks this year (last year they came home early because of so many ticks). The kids had a fun time, but they were all anxious to see their parents at the end of the day (the leaders were too!).

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I'm glad Marley is not growing up too fast (at least in some things). She has loved this mop thing since she first got it when she was about 3. I don't always let her use it because I'm afraid someone is going to slip on the wet floor. Tonight it was just Marley, Paul and I here so when she asked if she could get it out I said yes. She likes to pretend we are sisters and our job is to clean someone's (it varies) house. It's really a win/win situation. She's doing something she really likes and I get a clean floor, at least in spots :)

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Flowers for Mother's Day from Mark and Janelle.

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This is National Hospital Week and we have been celebrating all week at my work. Monday was Hawaiian day, Tuesday was Red, White, and Blue Day, and today was Celebrate your favorite bygone era day. The guy is one of our bosses. I'd say his era is the 50's, and the girl is one of my co-workers, and she is definitely the
70's. Peace, man.

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Tonight Kris and I had pedicures at Paris Nails. We have been going there since 2004 so we have gotten to know the two girls who own the shop. They are Vietnamese and we love their accents (although sometimes with the masks on it can be a little hard to understand them). They sure do a good job every May to make our feet "summer presentable."

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These are the sweaters and little fruit hats (blueberry and pumpkin) that Kristen knit for Janelle's baby shower. Aren't they cute?

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Happy Mother's Day!

I asked Paul to take a picture of the "mothers" today. So...we were standing there waiting for him to adjust the camera (which I thought was taking him a long time), and then to tell us when he was ready. You know, one, two, three....Smile. Well, that never happened. All of a sudden he said he was done. This picture was about the best of the bunch. All we got was all three of us looking like we were hanging around waiting. Next time I'll use the timer :)

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These are the pages that I worked on at the crop at my friend Janice's house. Some of them are not finished because I haven't done the "journaling" yet. We had such a fun day! Thanks, Janice :)

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Happy Birthday Baba!

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This is my Aunt Dot's patio. We went over there tonight to bring her a flowering plant for Mother's Day. She really loves her patio and it shows. She keeps everything looking so pretty.

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Does anyone know what kind of flower this is? I have them growing like weeds in my backyard. Maybe they are weeds. They're pretty though.

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Tonight I am frantically trying to get stuff together and pictures printed for the crop at my friend Janice's on Saturday. I always say I am not going to leave everything for the last few days, but guess what? I NEED MORE TIME!

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Tonight we went to the Mall (Monday night at Borders) and next to Borders they are working on a new store. Years ago when Lord and Taylor was at the Mall, it used to be a huge store with two floors and its own door to the outside. Part of Lord and Taylor was made into the Borders store and the rest was blocked off with a wall. Lately, they have been working on a new store (XXII ??) and the weird thing is that the escalator from Lord and Taylor is right at the opening of this new store. I can't imagine how this is going to look when it's done. It's interesting to watch though!

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This picture is of Coast Guard Beach at the Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham, the outer edge of the Cape. It was so beautiful there. It was cloudy, but with a certain brightness that made the water several shades of blue. More pictures (eventually) on Debbie's Blog!

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We went to the Cape today. Except for when we took Marley to visit with Paul's Aunt and Uncle who have a house on the Cape, we haven't been in five years. It was so much fun to just drive around to all of our old haunts. When the kids were young we used to take four days in April (without the kids) at the Cape. We always stayed at the same place, Cape Sojourn (which changed to Lewis Bay Lodge and is now Howard Johnson's) in West Yarmouth. So many memories. This picture is in Chatham. Paul was feeding this seagull crackers. He eventually got him to eat out of his hand.

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Packing up to go to the Cape tomorrow. We haven't been in 5 years. I'm so excited!