POOL PUPS

What do you get when you mix 

a retriever and a poodle?

You get these overactive lovebugs

that want to be in the middle of everything and do everything we are doing. 

We spent a little time out by the pool yesterday, in between rainstorms. 

I knew it wouldn't take long before they were showing interest in the pool.

Lola tried to work up the nerve to jump in herself, but thank goodness 

she just wasn't brave enough yet.

Now that Charlie is all healed from his broken leg an surgery,

he is making up for lost time and is getting into things double time. 

I think he is going through his terrible twos.

We waisted bought $40 swim booties for them

because we thought it would protect the steps in the pool from getting scratched

and the rafts from tearing.

They wouldn't stay on their feet. 

We'll give them another try today. 

Lola enjoyed her lounge time. 

'

Barking at each

other.....

Fighting over the booties!

Charlie and Lola were having a chat with BF1.

I think we might have two waterbugs now instead of lovebugs. 

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Today was #3's last day of seventh grade. 

We took our annual 

"Last Day of School Pictures"

on the porch this morning.

She has matured so much this year.

She has become such a beautiful young lady. 

She has straight A's for the entire year.

She has an 98 average when all of her classes are combined.

There is a chance she may not be my child because her

average in algebra is a 100.

This was back in August on the first day of school.

  It has been a very unusual school year at our house.

Not everything has been good. 

She's  had two broken bones, H1N1, rainy fieldtrips, overloaded soccer schedules,

lost both of her grandmas, learned what a true friend is, learned about confrontation, had her second sister leave for college and became the only child at home.

                          

She has been a trooper through it all! 

I am sure she will be all smiles when I go to pick her up this afternoon! 

IT IS ALL JANE'S FAULT

I have been having a lot of trouble with my feet lately. I have plantar fasciitis which leads to spurs. Heel spurs are caused when the plantar fascia (the band in the arch of your foot) pulls away from the bones in your heels and then your bone forms a little spur to fill the space that was left. The spurs are not a problem, it is the pain that is caused by them poking into the tendons, tissue and nerves when you walk on them. Once that area gets inflamed, it is a long process to get rid of it. It is almost a never ending cycle.  Let me just say that they are so painful and so maddening. Most mornings I feel like I have a nails in my heels when I first get out of the bed. My left foot has been hurting the most. After I sit for a while or wake up, I can barely walk. It takes a long to get going and get things stretched out.  I feel so old, although this is not an old age issue, but is an overuse and abuse issue from my high school days and my old aerobic days back in my twenties.  

Back then,

I used to be an aerobic machine.

 I loved it.

 I loved my Reeboks, they were the shoe to have and wear to aerobics class. 

They looked great with leg warmers.

There was not a lot support in them though,
at least not enough for all of that boppin' and hoppin' around.

They looked great with the entire aerobics ensemble.

I also loved my high cut leotards and tights. 

I preferred the shimmer tights with stirrups.

Jane liked to shimmer too!

She was the aerobic queen.

I had some of her workout tapes.

Some days I would come home from work and do two of them.
Sometimes I didn't even wear my Reeboks, the ones with no support,
and I went barefoot.
(The thought of that now brings tears to my eyes.)

I was so in the zone.
I thought the burning sensation in my feet was a good thing.
No pain.
No gain.

That was then.....

this is now....

and

I went to my orthopedists the other day almost afraid I was going to hear the "S" word.....surgery...... but I did not. He took x-rays of both of my feet. My left heel has been so sore lately I knew something was wrong with it. 

I left with this wonderful looking thing.

Just call me Iron Man. 

This is definitely going to look great with all of my summer skirts!

I have a stress fracture in my heel and the only thing 

I can do for it is rest it for four weeks. 

The doctor told me to stay off of my feet and prop up my foot.

 I told him there was noway I was sitting inside my house for that long

and not going shopping.

So this is the solution.

I'm blaming Jane for this.

She was a bad influence on me.

TOP TEN REASONS WHY I HAVEN'T BEEN BLOGGING

Dear Friends,

I am still here!!

I have taken a little computer break (from everything).

I needed to do some catching up on other things.
My list runneth over.


Thank you to all of you that have sent me emails and looked for me.
My heart runneth over!

I have a gazillion reasons why I haven't been on the computer in weeks,
but have tried to compile a list of the top ten.

So here they are....

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Haven't Been Blogging

10. There are two dogs living in the house that needed to learn what is a chew toy and what is not. I have the Lilly shoes to prove it! :(

 9.  I have been prepping and planning for our annual soccer party that is at our house every year. It was on Sunday. Sixteen families were here and every inch of our yard was used as well as the garage and the downstairs of our house.

 8.  The cedar closet HAD to be purged. It was a week long project. I removed everything and went through every storage bin. I took eight lawn size bags to Goodwill when I was finished and said a painful good-bye to some of my favorite school projects the girls have done over the years. Venus the Godess of Love is now the Queen of the Landfill.

  7.  Yard work. Planted all of my summer flowers, scrubbed my front porch furniture, weeded, mulched       and made many trips to my favorite nursery. ( Had a deadline.... the soccer party.)

  6.  Needed to introduce myself to the gym....again. I am still not sure we are going to get along. The weight I have gained since my mom died makes me feel ugly and sluggish. (Key word there is SLUG)

  5.  I had a few unusual and questionable comments left on my blog and I wasn't sure exactly what to do about them and so I fled and did nothing. 

  4. If my dog was going to drink out of the toilets, I guess they needed to be clean.

  3. Two college girls showed up at my house with  bags, suitcases, bins, boxes and carloads of their     things on the same day. We are still sorting through things and organizing. 

  2. Two of favorite college girls showed up at my house ! :)

  1. May is the new December!!

I am chugging right along and am trying to get back on track. I hope you are all well and happy. I am so thankful you haven't given up on me. Life sometimes gets in the way of the things we love. 

So,

 how are you doing

and 

what have you been up to?

xoxo,

Lisa

NAPA TWO

More on our trip.....

We took a group tour while we were in  Napa one day

 and the next day we went on a private tour. 

Our last day we went out on our own.

Both of tours were with the same company and

the itineraries were not set on either tour until the drivers talked with us and everyone

to find out what we wanted and where we wanted to go. 

We both thought the group tour was a lot of fun because we were able to meet people 

and our driver Kevin was great.

Probably the best part is that they do not cater or contract with the larger/touristy wineries,

but had great connections with the smaller family owned ones. 

This is Oakville Grocery,

a little general store where you can get great gourmet picnics and snacks. 

Some pictures of the different wineries we went to:

dipping a bottle in gold wax

This winery was releasing a special bottle of wine the next day and let our group help them dip the bottles.

down in a cave at a barrel tasting

They hung artificial grapes up for camera happy people like me! 

In reality, this is what the vines looked like.

They call this time of year "Bud Season".

I would love to go back in the fall and see all of the grapes hanging on the vines!

This is a little more elaborate winery.

There was italian opera playing, chandeliers and candles everywhere down in this cave.

The man that owns this winery imported every stone of this castle from Italy.

This was a little touristy and we didn't want to pay to go in, we just walked around the grounds

and enjoyed the views. 

 Cheers!