Deep Summer

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." ~Sam Keen

(To really appreciate this pic you must click on it and enlarge!)

Worn Out...Energy in Sight

Well I have to say you have not seen or heard much from us because frankly we have been flat out LAZY!!! The end of the school year rush and our crazy baseball season just wore us all out. We have pretty much done nadda, nothin for the last couple of weeks. The kids have all been sleeping in making it hard to even have breakfast and our beds made by 9:00am. We have decided it is ok for these little guys to experience a little bit of the long, lazy, summer days while they can. Before we know it they will be thick into their busy little lives running around with friends and wanting to do summer sports and camps and stuff. So for now we are experiencing the sweet life of sleeping in, eating all day, and playing in the back yard pool and hose.

With that said, most of you know that Brant and I can't JUST sit around all summer, and I have to admit that I am starting to feel a little flitter of energy oozing out more and more everyday. The kids really feed off us and then times our energy by 1000 and there you have it...STIR CRAZY! Before that happens we will be getting out more and more channeling all this energy into some sort of productivity for you all to enjoy out here in the blog world! Sorry for the lack of blogging, you will be seeing more of us...put on your helmets and goggles and hang on...we're back!

Benji's 2!

Can you believe it? We certainly can't! Our littlest person is officially two, and thinks he is as old as Tage. I never really felt any sadness about planning to be done having more children, or about never being pregnant again, but I have to admit I might actually miss having a little baby around. There is something sweet and warm and innocent about those little ones discovering their first touch of grass, their first trip down the slide, their first bite of something really flavor-full...like a lemon, that I will truly miss. We are about to take Mr. Ben out of his crib, and then the final step to truly being baby free will be potty training, my least favorite parenting duty. I guess I will have to focus some of my infant caring desires to serving those less-fortunate babies here and around the world....I do have some plans in the works :)!

As for Benji, he has a love for independence, baseball and cookies! For his birthday we made home-made ice cream sandwiches (because cookies are his favorite!) and met some of our closest friends and family at the park for a little play and presents! The evening turned about to be beautiful and the kids had a great time playing tag and toddler baseball with Ben and his little buddy Titus.

Ben and his ice cream sandwich!
Ben got about 10 new balls, all different varieties.
Mr. Independent
Such a happy little guy Still likes to have a little swing time with dad

Polka Dots

"I can't finish my lunch because it has polka dots on it." Violet Sterling Madson

Beach Pictures...Hmmm...There are LOTS!

Here is the first set of pictures from our trip. I will post some beach and accommodation shots in the next post. Enjoy!

Water Color Art The Kids Did One Afternoon
T,S, and B Playing In The Clam Holes...Looks Cold But Was Actually Warm
Vi Collecting "She Shells"
T and I At SeaBrooke...A New Beach Community
B, Just Trucken Along
Si With Beach Treasure
Tage With A Bucket Of Dead Crab...YUCK!
Beautiful Vi!
Me and Hubby!

We're Back Madson Style!

We actually have been home since Monday, but dove right into life "Madson Style"... so I have not really been able to sit and blog. We ended up leaving our vacation a little early so we could get home to Tage's championship baseball game. Tage's team ended up winning the second round of the tournament while we were gone so the BIG final game was Monday evening at 5:30. I might add here that our guys beat the undefeated team something like 24 to 6! Go Black Team! Anyhow, I got up at the crack of dawn to get us packed and loaded in the POURING down rain, and we made it home with 45 min to spare! GO MADSONS~ It was a good thing too, because our little guys won 16 to 4! They really improved over the season, but really we had no idea they would end up winning the whole thing! Tage was given 4 AppleSox tickets by his coach for this past Wed evening. We got a sitter for the two littles and took the two bigs out for a night of minor league baseball. It was a blast, Tage was even chosen to play a game with the mascot between the 2nd and 3rd inning out on the field. It was great fun! I will start with posting pics of Tage's final game and then will follow up with a post about our trip to the beach! Cheers and it's great to be back!

Tage with his trophy

Tage with the Apple Sox Mascot "Coyote"

Off To The Beach!

We're off! Yesterday was the last day of school, baseball (sort of, I'll write more later) and the moms group I have been attending all year. There was lots of celebrating and excitement both for summer and for our LONG awaited vacation! We ended the school year with a bang and are ready for long walks on the beach, books, games, coloring and really good beach food, which we have been preparing all week! The Sindpiper has no phones, no TVs, and no computer access...Thank God...a true vacation. Join us in celebrating a fantastic school year for the kids and the start to a long, relaxing, lazy summer! Cheers and we'll be back in a week or so.

By the way...I highly recommend the Sandpiper as a vacation spot, click here to view it's accommodations!

Summer Afternoon...Amen!

"Summer afternoon-
Summer afternoon...
the two most beautiful
words in the English language."
Henry James

Sunday With The Haven Family!

What a blast it was to hang out and "play" (I mean all of us) with the Haven family! Russ, Carissa, Dillon and Taylor graciously opened up their home to us..thanks soo much! The kiddos played HARD (Simon is still recovering) in the water while the grown-ups played hard at this new (to us) really cool game called Mexican Train...I love it..and want to play again! The Havens have a beautiful home and yard and we ALL can not wait to go back!

Our Favoriate Kind Of Sabbath Dinner

Sometimes Sabbath meals need to be easy, fun and relaxing...especially after a very long and busy week. Here is how we kicked off our Sabbath day of rest.

We had cherry tomatoes, good bread, cheese, salami, grapes and apples..Ahh summer days!
Benji happy about his food
Lots of hungry kiddos after playing in the water~!
Lounging and still eating~
More lounging