These girls

They may as well be sisters not cousins! If I didn't know for ABSOLUTELY sure where they came from, I would swear they came from the same womb. Eliza and Janey will definitely grow old together and be bickery old ladies. They are perfecting the act now. They love each other, they hate each other. They are best friends, and worst enemies. They are also an ENDLESS source of amusement for my sister and I!!!

All's Fair....

Took the kids to the fair last week. The State Fair always fall during back to school and football practice (prison camp), so the Howard County Fair was the first time the boys had been in ages.

It was good to see them have FUN. They went on rides, won goldfish and a lizard at the ping pong ball game ( I LOVED this game when I was little!!).

Petted (tormented) the animals. Tucker was attacked by a chicken, and Teddy was furious I wouldn't buy him a pigeon, but all in all we had a good time.

Even with the fact that it was ten thousand million degrees. All too soon it was back to the real world. Football practice, field hockey practice, grocery shopping, orthodontist, and, of course school supply shopping. On one of these outings I noticed the car smelled really bad. As the days passed it went from "really bad" to "holy crap, I am going to barf" to "I have got to get rid of this car". Finally we went to the gas station, vacuumed it out and looked everywhere for the offending stink bomb. Under seats, in the trunk, in the beach buckets (that, yes, are still in my car full of sand, and shells 3 weeks after vacation). Couldn't find the damn source anywhere. I finally gave up, put the vacuum away and put all the seats back in the right position. And that's when I saw IT. A fish from the fair. Still in the bag. Still in my car. Folded down in a seat. In the MIDDLE OF SUMMER. Holy.Shit. Imagine it. Well...it was WORSE than that. Ugh. This is what I get for trying to be a "fun" Mom. I am going back to laying on the couch all day reading a book!

The Joys of Childhood

OxyMORONs

As described by Websters as: a figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms. Kind of like relaxing vacation. Because, really...it's not. Although, like childbirth, the sheer work of it all will fade with time, and the reality will begin to resemble the snapshots. Smooth sailing from the get-go. No traffic.

No "Why aren't we there yet?" No peeing on the side of the road.

The beach will come with no sunburn.

No having to POOP.

No sand in the butt or starvation.

The fishing trips will NOT be scratch and sniff.

No one will be screaming "WHY can't we just go home?!?"

You will never have to jump in the water with your kids to pull the boat off of a sandbar.

The view from the townhouse was spectacular on all three decks.

Never mind the summer kids across the water doing bong hits and drinking 24/7.

(Ha ha, kids...I DARE YOU to EVER ask me to let you live at the beach for the summer. I. DARE. YOU.)

The boardwalk was nostalgic of years past.

No one whined, asked to buy stupid crap, or FLIPPED out because we couldn't watch BEE MOVIE at midnight.

On Assateague we saw the most beautiful horses, and moonrise.

The scars from the 8000 million mosquito bites will fade. Malaria may take a little longer, but it too shall pass.

The smell of the whale carcass in AUGUST in a HEATWAVE won't be nearly as putrid as we remember. Actually, that is crap. NOTHING will EVER smell that bad. Ever. EVER.

I think this is why photos are so important to me. Because all you need is a little time for the annoying stuff to sift through like sand, and you'll end up with the good stuff.

Except the whale smell.