July 20, 2010

Beach Week 2010

Ahhh, the annual Kaufmann family vacation. This year, the East Coast was up; the community of Bay Side in Fenwick Island, Delaware was our destination.

Life's a Beach ... and Then You Build Sand Castles
The waves were pretty wild - but all the kids ended up loving them (big kid Bob best of all).









Round and Round & On The Playground!
Bay Side has a beautifully restored carousel that is free to all residents and vacationers. We rode several times - had to make sure we all got at least one turn on our favorite mounts ... "John Deere" for Owen and an eagle for Sam. The adjacent playground was lots of fun too.









Splash Pad
Bay Side also has a splash zone next to one of the pools. Freezing cold water but when did that ever deter the under 5 crowd?






Our Birthday Boy
Owen started out the day with a birthday donut, spent the day at the pool, then celebrated with a few gifts, a JD themed bash (thanks to all for wearing green and yellow!) and a homemade cake (thanks for the baking expertise Kris!).







Annual Grandkid Photo Shoot
Also known as the night we dress the grandkids in cute matching outfits and try to get them all seated and looking at the same camera at the same time. I think this year was our most successful shoot yet!



Stick Out Your Tongue!
Along with donuts every morning, Pop-pop supplied Ring Pop treats. Green tongues are great fun!



Family Fun
AKA the photos that didn't fit into the other categories but were too cute not to post! Love the kids playing together in the closet.




The Last Shot
On the way home ... recovering from vacation!

July 9, 2010

Please Take a Minute

With tears running down my face, I ask you all to please take a moment to click on the link and watch a short video of Mark, Maureen and their kids, including the beautiful, brave (and thankfully doing well) Belle. This is my brother-in-law Jeff's brother, and a family we hold tight in our thoughts and prayers.

So click, watch, know you are doing a small good thing, then go hug your kids extra tight and thank God for your blessings.


July 5, 2010

If Cearra is Turning 20, Bob Must Be Getting Old (and other weekend musings)

My plan for this post is to give you lots of pictures so that you don't notice the lack of witty commentary. Let me know how that works out.

Ah, birthday party weekend ... a week of planning, shopping, food prep, cleaning, decorating, and stressing capped off by a big ol' shindig where I rarely sit, don't talk to anyone for more than 5 minutes, and forget to take more than a few snapshots. Wouldn't change it for the world.

This year my mom came down a few days early to help (thanks Mom!), and I had two fantastic pastry chefs to bake the cupcakes:




Despite myself, I always have a good time and hope everyone else has a great time! I think it was a success, despite my mom's apparent boredom in this picture:


We did have Carvel ice cream cake which goes a long way to making a party a success!



And as always we had Nanny's incredible talent to add some creativity and artistic expression to the affair:





I know without a doubt that Cearra loved her gift from us - a classic link bracelet from Tiffany's to remind her of a trip to NYC in April that she adored. And as we've all spent the better part of the last two days outside with Owen as he drives his new John Deere tractor around the yard, I think it's safe to say his big birthday present was a big hit too!





We so appreciate all of our friends and family who joined us to celebrate Owen and Cearra's birthdays. It wouldn't be the same without you all (and Deb, next year, I sure hope you can be here again - not only did I miss you, Scott and Malia, I need your talented camera too!).

We were exhausted on Sunday, so it was nice that we could fire up the grill for dinner, then take in four big community firework shows (and some pretty decent neighborhood pyrotechnics), from the comfort of our deck.





Our friends next door invited us over for sparklers, which Owen surprised me by quickly loving and happily "writing" his name in the air (who didn't do that as a kid, right?!)




Well, even for this night owl it's getting late, and we have a big day coming up - Cearra's 20th birthday! - so that's all for now. Hope the pictures made you smile!


Happy 4th! God Bless America.