Last day of bus

      If its drama you want, look no further.  I am keenly aware that we are coming across the lasts of things here.  Today marked the last day of putting kids on buses to school.  Can I tell you something?? Its horrible!!!  Every morning, like it or not since Jimmy was in kindergarten we have made our way down the corner of the street and played catch with a tennis ball.  All of the kids joined in on it through the years and it was just something that i took for granted.  It was just part of my day.  ohhh its hitting me that its over!!  I suppose its just time for new things and guess what Jackie asked me today??  He said-Can we still play catch every morning next year before I go to middle school??  Well, of course we can Jackie!!  I just have to go to sleep earlier....New traditions!!!  okay, now i feel better!!

Annual bike ride to school day...

      Ahhh, is this really the last annual bike ride to school day.  He talks about it all year long.  It is a fun thing to do, just different.  We get to ride on the main street and see the bus ride by us. 

Laura's semi-formal...

     Laura was all set to go to this semi with her friends and no date.  Most people dont have a date for it.  But then......word got leaked that she was going with Will.  Such a wondrous change of events.  I'm told they are just going as friends but he is such a good boy.  When we were taking pictures he actually gave me a hug.  What a great kid.  We've known Will for quite some time and he and I used to share a secret handshake.  Laura looked so beautiful too.  Just look at her, always happy and smiling.  Umple came by and shared in our excitement of sending her off.  I think Laura got sick of taking pictures.  

Oh my little hippie angel.  She was so beautiful.

Oh look at them...!!!

undefeated champions

     The Hurricanes went through the year undefeated!!!  They have such a fun group of kids and Laura and Cat played really well all year.  Coach Mark is such a great guy and has alot of patience with the kiddo's.  They have fun and thats what matters!!

Field Day

I was lucky enough to be chosen to chaperone twice in one week.  This time i was with the Big Bertha game.  There was a big ball and the kids were given soccer ball size balls and they were to keep the ball from going in their square only by throwing balls at the bigger ball.  I was there to chase down the stray balls that get thrown and miss Big Bertha.  I was exhausted by the end of the field day.  Jacks friends were all funny because now they have seen me in school a number of times and we are like old buddies.  This game is another where the students can go under the multicolored fabric and when they all stand up the softall sized balls on top go flying.  I did that one before too.  How sad that this will be the last field day i'll be able to chaperone in grade school....

D

Field Trip with Jackies fourth grade class

Jackie came to me last week all excited and told me that I had been chosen to be a chaperone to the Mills in Lowell.  I had done that trip in years past but i didnt exactly remember signing up.  Thats okay, I just got 'chosen' to participate in field day next Tuesday and I swear I didnt sign up for that one either.  Believe me, its awesome that he still wants me to go and I only joke about it because i love it......But he is a riot.

Jackie in between all the big machines.

     I remember this exercise from the other kids where they had to pretend to be engineers and build a way to hoist baskets up a ramp.  They get forty five minutes to figure it all out.  They did a great job working their way through it.

     There was a very good crew of kids.  They were all well behaved and I  didnt lose any kids in my group.  Thats always a plus..

They were all showing me their best photo bombs

Memorial Day Weekend 2017...The sumnmer begins

Erin can cook....and she loves doing it.  Here she has a breakfast waffle with a whole can of whipped cream and strawberries on it.

  Erin in the Kayake and Cat and Laura on the boards.  They went around the lake like pro's.

Jimmy caught on with a volleyball game with the big boys.  He was making the old dawgs tired.  

It was a great weekend, the weather was great and there was plenty of food and fun for all.  I think Erin is putting in papers to be adopted so she came with us...She really loves it up North.

   Jackie was kept busy with some games of newcomb and was fetching the ball for the big kids game.

     Eileen and Jack, Kyle and Kaylee and Trevor came to the beach on Sunday.  Eileen played Uno with the kids and Lyn and Jack and I kept watch of the lake...its still there!!  Trevor was so good playing with Jack..there was some game that is all the rage now and of course we have it too...but it looked like Jackie held his own with it.

Erin  and Cat on the boards

     We also had a nice fire at night on Friday and the kids made some great s'mores.  I love the burned ones.
  On sunday we also had a serious game of cornhole that I think Jimmy and Catherine beat Jackie and I in the finals.  These kids don't like losing!!!  It was fun !!

boy, can i light a fire !!!

Tickets on the stone...

A local police department left tickets for tonights game on a gravestone honoring police memorial week.  After working till four in the morning, i wasnt too keen about staying up to go to the Red Sox game but I figured I would drive by on my way home and if the tickets were still there, I'd deal with it then....well, of course the tickets were still there and it was Jack's turn...sooooo off we went

We had a really good time and my buddy was all ready to go.  He knows so much about the game and the players.  Its so fun just to sit and listen to him and watch him get ready for whats important....like the ice cream inning.  He sits down and talks serious about all the things Red Sock.  We had a really good game and according to Jack the Red Sox are 16 and Oh in the games that he attends.

Sixth inning tradition lives on

and he's still there...been here forever!!

How can a Yankee inspire me and make me feel good??

The headline is kind of misleading.  I was reading an article about Derek Jeter last night and he was asked if he had any regrets over his long career.  He said that the only regret he had is that he hadnt kept a journal because its so easy to forget the things he experiences during his career.  For whatever reason, I've been heading back to my dear blog lately and looking back to the earlier days with All My Children and have been reflective of their earlier years.  That's the purpose of this blog and its the one thing that has been the opposite of regret that I have done.  I'm glad that I don't have the regret because i've done it!!
     Just this morning I had a couple of laughs with the kids that would leave my mind easily.  Catherine was telling me about how it hurts her to walk (she's had a belly ache) and she was telling me this in her sad and pathetic voice that would melt a biker.  I pretended not to hear her correctly and said that she shouldnt be boxing to begin with. (get it, boxing sounds like walking)...eeeeh, a little anyway.  I then took up a boxing stance.  Of course I wouldn't let it die there and pretended to box with her, giving her the old one-two.  She smiled and laughed...She wasnt going to go to school but she decided that she would give it a chance.  She also told me that i need to drive her into school today because she had to go inside for some meeting.  Fenway came with us so it was fun.
     Jackie was going all out this morning and ready and raring to go for the school bus.  This is the last year of the school bus so we make the best of it and he prepares the tennis ball the night before to make sure we have all our equipment ready for the morning toss.  The first throw always go way up in the air and he went through a stretch where he dropped the initial sky high throw.  Maybe like three in a row....scandalous i say.  So he makes sure the first throw is sky high and sometimes, like this morning, he drops it on purpose for old times sake.  So this morning he would sit on his bum facing me and had me rolling it to him and he would throw it to me like that.  Sometimes it would go over my head i must say.  He made sure to tell me that i have to tell him if there are any cars coming from behind him or I might be losing my youngest son.  oooooh boy what a kid!!!
   

Catherine's turn at the Red Sox....

      Its the sweetest girl in the world's turn to go with Daddy.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the Celtics for her birthday gala but this one she got lucky because we got some Red Sox Tickets and it just happened to be her turn.  Dont ya just love that dentist of Ant Jo's!!!  The tickets were awesome and we were on the first base side in the loge section.  We are very lucky to have the opportunity to go to so many games.
     Once again I asked Cat if she would rather just drive to the park or take the trolley.  This time i was kind of hoping she'd say drive straight in but they really love that whole experience of the trolley.  I dont blame her because I do too.  Its fun, it completes the experience.  There is something about trains and trolleys with these little buggahs that just softens me.  Its a very comforting thing, even just to sit around a trolley boneyard, like the picture above.

After the trolley and before the game we went and grabbed a bit to eat in Kenmore Square.  Cat told me that she wasnt that hungry but her belly wouldnt object to food.  She had some Spaghetti and meatballs and i had a bruchetta pizza....the company was outstanding.  She told me about her day, Also about her gymnastics moves and who she sits with at lunch.  Maybe its the same question I ask often but its still fun to hear her tell me the goings on of this sixth grader while she's growing up.

 Once we get to the game she reminds me about twenty times how she had to save up enough space in her belly for our sixth inning tradition.  Oh yes, the sixth inning tradition is a helmet lof ice cream...vanilla with oreo crumbs and me a mix with m&m's.  It's a wonderful tradition started by Jimmy and now all of them have jumped in.  She's mentioned it every day since we found out we were going.
Catherine was also mentioning how she needed someone to hit a home run for her and luckily Hanley hit two.  We even got to see a triple play!!!  The bad guys were the benefactors but its still exciting to see.

 Here we are with a screen shot from the game.  Maura sent me a text to let us know we were on TV when the camera looks at lefthanders, there we were.  Of course, being the professional that I am, I kept picking my nose every time a lefty came up and tried to get Catherine in on it too.  I even tried to pick her nose too...She would have none of it.  I recorded the game so i'm hoping to see me picking a jewel!!!
Oh yeah, they won.....The ace of the Staff, Chris Sale finally got some run support.  Really though, it didnt matter who won.
By the way, did I mention we made it on the JumboTron again!!!  Picture it, seventh inning, Sweet Caroline playing in the stands and there we were singing along.  The camera pans and comes right to us singing along....Sweeeeeeet Caroooooline, bump bump bump, good times never seem so good...INDEED!!

Catherines Annual Birthday trip with uncle Patrick

     Every year around her birthday Catherine gets a trip with her Godfather, Uncle Patrick.  He brings her out to eat and then they go shopping where she has a budget of how much money uncle Patrick givers her of what she can spend.  According to Catherine they always go over by quite a bit.  Catherine loves making slime so she got all the fixings for making the disgusting stuff....among other things that he spoils her on.  She looks forward to this every year and its part of her birthday celebration.
Patrick had asked me if she thinks she is getting too old for this special day between the two of them.  He wants her to not worry about it if she thinks shes getting too old for it.  The thought didnt even cross my mind but i asked Catherine about it.  Her face dropped when i asked her if she was getting too old for this day with Uncle Patrick.....Noooooo, she says.  He spoils her and if someone wants to celebrate her birthday she's all for it.  She is actually very sweet but she is not ready to quit this tradition any time soon.  She loves her uncle Patrick and loves their special day together.

Laura at the School committee meeting last night

I have watched this video many times...She's so grown up.  She wrote this content herself and memorized it.  Its very intimidating for a person to speak in front of a crowd like that, never mind a child.  I think she did exceptionally well.  I was very proud of her.

Another driver on the road...Jimmy gets his permit

     Our celebratory meal after the permit test.  Pizza Hut...good stuff....after we left James drove on the street for the first time.  He did pretty good too!!