Lookin' good on her first day of 2nd grade!

Andrew is never too old to do "rabbit ears" to Madison. How mature of my 7th grader!!

Locating your best friend on the first day of school is a huge relief.

Mrs. Jeffries is so sweet, she made a snack goody bag for each child.

Unpacking her backpack and getting organized...

Meanwhile... Andrew gets settled into his 7th grade class.

"Bye Bye mom and dad, it's been real, you two crazy kids go off and have some fun now"  

Future CPA or CFO???!!!!

Wooohoooo -- video of Madison and Brendon on the Tube

Andrew Caught A Big One!

Fishing on the Sportsman Fishing Charter with his friend Wes... here's what they caught! Disclosure: the really big fish in this picture weight in at 10 lbs and was caught by the other passenger on the boat, a guy visiting from L.A. who had NEVER fished before! He really got lucky today. Andrew caught the next-biggest fish though. Needless to say, we'll be BBQ'ing fish again tonight... :)

Having an Unemployed Husband never felt so GOOD!

Of course it can be stressful if you don't know where your next meal is coming from, but since that's not the case here, I am having the dandiest (is that a word) time having an unemployed husband. OK, so he is not technically unemployed... he is starting his next professional venture (adventure?) in 2 weeks. But for the past week and a half, he has been officially "between jobs". This is a first for us! In 10 years of marriage, Gary has typically worked no less than 50 hours a week and during busy times it could exceed 70 hours a week. Sure we had our weekends and vacations to enjoy but he his Treo was always glued to his hip and the office was merely a phone call away... and call they did! So it is such a breath of fresh air to have a husband who has nothing else to focus on but ME, LOL. Well, and the kids too of course, they are also enjoying dad's downtime. Having this time to reconnect is wonderful and I'll always remember it. Just being able to get up in the morning and "fly by the seat of our pants" is the best thing ever!! I just realized that I am having a glimpse into the life of most retired folks... something I now look forward to because I know I'll enjoy having my husband here 24/7. We are acting like goofy teenagers (well with the exception of the two kids-- most teenagers don't have kids to deal with!) just waking up each day and deciding to take a bike ride, a boat ride, or do absolutely NOTHING for an entire day (something my usually hyper husband is starting to master). Of course, some house projects are going on right now so our lives are not totally stress free. And, in two weeks Gary will be going back to the rat-race and I'll once again have a busy bee for a husband. Work will definitely start to dictate our lives once again but for now we are footloose and fancy free and I'm lovin' it.

Andrew's favorite place to fish...

... on the bow of the boat :)

Emerald Bay is so beautiful before sunset!

Fabulous Picture of Andrew...

Here is one reason they call it "Tahoe Blue"... check out the sky.

Madison and my neighbor's grandson Brenden

They are so cute, and they look so much alike they could be twins!

Doing Nothing is Highly Underrated

Ahhh, there's nothing like being sick to put your life in perspective. After an extremely busy few weeks that included the coordinating of major home improvement projects on both our homes, a hectic but very fun trip to Florida, and upon return from Florida an immediate drive up to Tahoe, both Gary and I find ourselves here at Tahoe sick with the stomach flu. Thankfully, the kids don't have it (yet). We're used to going at 100mph all the time but not today... instead racing around in the boat or driving to Carson City for some shopping (there's nothing at Tahoe, you have to drive to get to all the good stores) we have done NOTHING, nada, zip, all day long. And I have to say it's a welcome change. It's a beautiful day and all we have done so far (it's already 3pm) is sit on the deck and watch the kids play with the neighborhood kids. Gary has been sleeping off his illness for the past two hours and I feel just as lethargic as he does, but I don't want to miss out on this nice downtime. I'm having way too much fun staring out at the water, admiring our view of the mountains, and basically just being lazy in my pajamas... it's too bad it takes being sick to appreciate it all!

A few Pictures from Our Trip to Tampa...

Now I really am a Soccer Mom!

Fabulous Picture of Madison Taken by Pop-Pop

Pictures from Pop-Pops visit...