Weekends

Amy & I have been lax with our posts lately. We get caught up with keeping up with the boys and the house, and I have been trying to study for the project management exam.

This past weekend was a good one, though it went by very quickly. I ran a 5K Saturday morning, and I use the word 'run' liberally. It was my slowest time yet, but I was happy to get out there and run it. Then Saturday afternoon we were treated with a visit from the Thompson family -- Chris, Alyssa, Jackie, Samantha, and their golden retriever Sunny. The Thompsons were our next door neighbors until last summer when they moved to Pennsylvania. It was so very good to catch up with the changes we've all been through in the past year and a half -- the boys for us and new house, job, schools, and friends for them in PA.

We got to spend Saturday night with our neighbors Chad and Claudia. Chad & I were in sports fan heaven with three different football games, a baseball playoff game, and a Hurricanes hockey game on at the same time. Keeping up with that many games at once is a skill that sometimes goes unappreciated. ;-)

The weather has changed here for the better. It has turned cool, and we have had four straight days of slow, steady rain from Tropical Storm Tammy. It has been a soaking desperately welcomed. On Sunday I renewed my yearly exercise in futility in trying to grow grass in the yard. This enthusiasm will carry over into spring when everything is green, plush, and new. But by the second week of summer when it's hot & muggy and no rain falls, I'll mail it in. But hey, it's fall -- time for optimism.

Also on Sunday, Amy got some "me time" to go out shopping, although it wasn't as much as she would have liked (or as much as she deserves). While she was out I tried to entertain the boys by taking them to the park for a walk around the lake. Male bonding.....almost. It would have been much better had I remembered their pacifiers. I remembered them about halfway around the lake, at which point both boys decided to assail me vocally in unison for forgetting. We got quite a few stares from passers-by -- some sympathetic, some pretending to ignore. The way I look at it, it wouldn't be fair for me to keep their crooning abilities to myself when I can share them with everyone else, especially in a public place.

Our weekends seem to fly as I'm sure everyone else's do too. What we consider eventful now would have seemed so tame a year ago. We look forward to the upcoming weekend and the rip-roaring, mad fun it will bring. Cheers everyone!







Samantha gets reacquainted with our cat Harper (who has been in that position on that couch since 1999).






Chris and Sam with their dog Sunny, who enjoyed romping around the back yard with the Tuckster.







The gals -- Samantha, Amy (with Owen), and Jackie -- chat in the kitchen.






Amy & I with Jackie and Sam in our driveway. Chris and Alyssa got a good chuckle at the sight of the minivan where the truck used to be parked.