But it's half as much as it was before

There is something to be said about just being responsible for yourself.  I just escaped for two days, just me and the old man, no kids, no work, just us and island time.  And bicycles.

Did I mention Island time?

Kelley's Island.  It was wonderful for two days.  We biked the whole island more than once.  Made us wish that we could bike our neighborhood to get places.  Made us real sad that our neighborhood is not bike friendly for living.

Things we did:  had no kids.  So...anything we wanted, pretty much. Which consisted mostly of riding bikes around the island and eating food.  No complaints.  And feel like real people.

I love my kids, but it is just nice to love my husband and love myself every now and again.  It didn't even matter that it was overcast, cold and sometimes rainy.  It was wonderful.  This may be a 'duh' statement but my element is water.  Obviously, I hear you snicker, of course it is, we all knew that.  But, I truly feel so much calmer when I'm surrounded by water.  It's a good fun fact to know.

I had more I wanted to write.  But...I just got off of the water conference circuit, and back from a major mental reset.  I'm pretty blank. And I have one more day of vacation left, part of the back home stay-cation. I'll leave you with a half-ass written blog and some pretty pictures.

Asher's 3rd Birthday Pics, finally!

Playground Casualty.  She was really mad at Ry for taking the photo.  He told her she should tell everyone that you shoulda seen the other guy.  She was not amused.  

Asher's face at the size of his amazing dinosaur cake.  

Asher's friend Addy chowing down on some cake.  The insides are appropriately colored for internal anatomy as well. 

Their future's so bright, they have to wear shades.  Cool cop shades, too, if you're my brother. 

I needed directions for carving this cake.  It was challenging.  And delicious.  You can't even tell I'm 9 months pregnant here, either.  Nice. 

Happy Birthday!

One of our favorite toys was from Patpat, the grabber claw. 

Sampling the goods before diving in...

There was a definite spiderman theme for this birthday.  I wonder if someone likes spiderman? 

Nothing to see here, just inspecting the rocks. 

That's one happy birthday boy.  

He rights the outlaw wrongs on mars

I'm currently in love with a new (new to me) podcast I found on Nerdist the other day, Thrilling Adventure Hour.  It's a live taped radio drama.  My favorite episodes on the show are the Nevada Sparks Martial on Mars series.  Hilarious.  I highly recommend you check them out.  It makes me laugh so hard.

Had a small mostly family birthday party for Asher over the weekend. At least, I wish family birthday parties were small.  This one wasn't very small but it was fun and hot.  We had it at my mom's house, outside.  And it was hot.  But other than hot the weather was really nice. I'm waiting for Ry to put up the pics on his g+ account so I can steal them and post them on here, so please be patient.  I'm so tired, though, from the party.  Friends made the cake and it was super duper awesome, once again be patient for the pics.

My only complaint about the party was that my dad didn't come.  Or my step brother and his four kids.  I can only assume it was because it was at my mom's house.  It really kind of hurt my feelings. I'm glad Asher didn't notice he wasn't there, he can be pretty perceptive about that kind of stuff.  Asher's new friend Addison was there, though, so that made his day.  I really am glad of how well those two hit it off, and right away at that.  Asher needs more friends close to his own age.  Katya's really getting to be a horrible influence on him.

Anyway, I'm glad that's done and over with.  Now I'm just waiting on this kid to decide when she wants to come out.  I've got my fingers crossed for earlier more than later (but you know how kids are so uncooperative when they don't want to do something...).  I've already gained 31 lbs...I was doing so well keeping it off, too.  I was hoping to be at this amount of weight at delivery, not right now.  I gained 41 lbs with Asher so I was hoping to stay skinnier this time, I really really don't want to do beach body insanity again.  But...I'll probably have to do something. It makes me a little sad, though.  It's all the sweets this girl makes me feel the need to eat.  Ry had to start running again because he put on so much pregnancy weight with me this time.  Poor ry.

That's all for now.  Pics soon I hope.  

I'm on the pursuit of happiness

This coming Friday starts month 9 of my pregnancy.  I'm feeling pretty good considering.  I'm super tired and kind of achy all the time but it's not too bad.  The heat is difficult, though.  It really takes it out of me.  Like yesterday, I worked and of course yahoos had to be out waiting for me to get there to yell at them.  And confiscate their tents.  In 92 degree humid heat.  It was super awesome.  Then I got harassed by my dad last night for not coming over to hang out with him while they were drinking in the heat.  No thank you, I was super hot and tired (and I really don't like being around my dad when he drinks...).  I went home and conked out on the couch for a while then made dinner and just chilled out with my family. 

Strawberries are ready to be picked.  I need it to cool off just a tad so I don't kill myself, I'd like to go and pick soon though! I was thinking about 10-15 lbs of berries.  I'm ready to make some pies.  I have plans to make about 10 pies this year, give out about five of them fresh and freeze about five of them for later use/distribution.  How much would you pay for a strawberry rhubarb pie made by yours truly?  I'd like to make jelly, too.  Maybe this weekend.

I had a super awesome low key birthday party this weekend.  It was really nice. Asher was also pretty good this weekend so that was a nice birthday present from him.  He made a new friend, Tom's girlfriend Ashley's daughter Addison.  It was so cute, we were trying to get them to fall asleep in front of the TV well past their bedtimes and they instead were building a fort/castle out of blankets on the floor.  While they were doing this, Asher crawled up to Addison, kissed her on the lips and then ran away.  It was super cute.  We told him that he had to ask a girl before he could do that and so he said, "Oh, I'm sorry.  Can I come in your castle?"  So cute. 

Anyway, back to work.  Lots to do.  

Summer Nerf Wars....Finally. Betcha thought I forgot!

Asher says "Let's get ready....to RUMBLE!!!!!"

Say hello to my little gun...

Do you think he has enough guns?

Tom watches the skirmish with longing.

Choose your weapon, but choose wisely...

Practicing his war cry.

He can't decide if his beer or sword would be more effective.  It's nice they gave him the time to choose, instead of cutting him down where he stood.

A battle to the death between two fierce warrior women.

Action Shot!