The Fountain of Youth

Let's face it...at our respective ages, we're tired.  We can't party like we used to, stay up until all hours, eat whatever we want and not gain an ounce or not get out of bed without some twinge of pain.  Joey's father used to call doing that, "making my father's noise."

 

But that all changes when kids are in the house.  This past weekend, we had Tony, Marie, Coleton and Anthony stay over.  The kids were a blast.  We found energy we didn't know we had and played like kids in pre-school.  Hugging them was like jumping into the fountain of youth.

 

Unfortunately, I worked a lot while they were here, but Tuesday, I had the day off and was able to sleep in...sort of!

 

As I was laying in bed, in that nether world of sleep and distant awareness, I heard Coleton, who was two feet away from me, yelling to Marie who was in the kitchen, "Maw-Mee, Momo is still sleeping."  Um, at that point--no I wasn't!

 

So, I rolled out of bed and Coleton immediately handed me three pictures of airplanes that he and Tony worked on.  Tony did the design and Coleton did the coloring.  I wonder how NASA and the Department of Defense would feel about blue, yellow and pink war machines!

 

But, I did think they were beautiful--and so before my first cup of coffee and with only one eye open, we hung them on the refrigerator.  They look wonderful and it was certainly worth getting out of bed to hang them.

 

And then there was Anthony--or Mr. Smiley, as we call him.  He is getting to be so big.  And, he has found his voice.   He can say, "NO" and "NOT NOW," really well.  When you take his picture, he squeezes his eyes shut so he doesn't see the flash...so here you have this cute little man saying,"cheeeeeese," with a nice smile on his face and eyes scrunched tight and closed. 

 

They went to our pool and to the beach with Mommy and Daddy and they all went by the battleship, "The North Carolina," which, Coleton informed me, does not move anymore but used to have airplanes on it. 

 

All of the Swegle men even spent time in the kitchen (I would say, "where they belong," but I'm afraid Tony would stop cooking for me and I would starve!)

The days went quickly by and soon they were in the backseat of their car, yelling, "Bye, Papa, Bye Momo, we love you."

What a nice visit. 

We are off tomorrow to Tampa to see David and Brenda and get some wedding updates.  I'm so excited to see them. 

I'm off work until September 15!  YIPPEE!

My beautiful fridge--A Purdum Calendar and artwork by Coleton

A Pink Airplane...well, why not?

Yellow, maybe it makes the plane invisible!

 

The blue Enterprise

One of my birthday presents from Coleton

Anthony and Coleton--Coleton decided to get into the closing your eyes for photos game

Anthony and his pretty Mama

Anthony and Anthony

Momo, Papa and Anthony

 

Making cheese pizza

A job well done

 

Dinner's Ready!!

 

At the beach

 

New Stuff

David and Brenda's wedding draws closer and closer and we are getting so excited...OK, I'm getting excited, Tony is happy in a reserved, guy,  kind of way.  I love Brenda's dress and shoes and I know the venue is going to be great.    We will be going to Florida next week for a "meet the parents" moment.  The movie keeps running through my mind.   I keep wondering if we are the Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman or Blythe Danner and Robert DeNiro characters.  If you recall from the "Meet the Parents" movie, Barbra and Dustin were the groom's parents...free spirits, enjoying life (and sex) and really cool people.  Geez, I hope that's Tony and me!!!  We have seen pictures of Brenda's parents and they look like really nice people.  I know one thing for sure, they have raised a wonderful daughter that we are thrilled to be adding to our family. 

 

I have been working a lot again.  We are still in need of people because of maternity leave, vacations or long term disability.  I worked part of the day today and then went to a doctor's appointment.  I was hoping for another cortisone shot, but had to settle to a topical skin cream and a prescription for my knee, which is arthritic. 

 

Tonight, it's pizza and rain.  The pizza is a Friday night staple, but the rain, holy cow....this is remnants of the hurricane and it is massive.  I was at work by 6:30 a.m. today and didn't register a patient until 9:15 a.m.   It was that bad.  No one wanted to venture out in the rain and high winds.  What we did get, for once,  were true emergencies. 

 

Offices all over were closing early and it looks like the same for tomorrow.  I work 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. tomorrow and I'm guessing we won't be busy--unless of course, we get a ton of car accidents. 

 

Tony, Marie and the kids were planning to come up this weekend, but now, with the weather, I'm not sure what is going on.  Tyson, Tony's boxer, is as old as Ben.  I have a picture of Jenna holding Tyson and Tony Jr. holding Ben when they were both so, so little.  It's cute.  I hope Tyson is around for a long time.  He is a good dog and very loyal to his family--especially the kids!

 

We took pictures of the rain and a video....I know I can upload the pictures, but I never have much luck with the video.  If I fail again, just look at the still photos and make rain and storm noises...you'll get the drift!!

 

 

Puddles around the front yard....

Water getting higher near the lanai

Rain, Rain, Rain

 

Rain water gushing from the down spout....

 

 

I hope Dixie can cross her legs and hold on....this storm is going to be around for awhile and she hates going out in the rain!