14 years

on June 3rd, that's how long Darren and I have been married. We typically celebrate by going out to a fancy restaurant. We don't buy each other gifts, just a nice dinner.
This year, Darren threw all that out the window when this little gift arrived from the FedEx guy early Wednesday morning.
What a wonderful surprise.
I have needed and wanted a new computer for a couple of years now and we had decided that we would eventually get a Mac. I have been keeping a little mental Mac fund in my mind. Every time I passed on Starbucks or skipped a trip to Target, I would add that to my little mental fund. I have mentioned this fund to Darren, but there wasn't much in the fund so far. I was hoping for Christmas, if I was lucky. So imagine my surprise when the box arrived. I shed a little tear.
He scored major bonus points in the gift giving realm this year.
Look at the tiny keyboard. I love everything about it!
Darren, you're a rock star!!!
BTW, we still went out to dinner, but nothing fancy.

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It is snowing in June

Anyone recognize this ?It is everywhere these days, especially in my pool.
Cottonwoods like the adjacent neighborhood and the cotton is a flyin'.

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My best worker Bea

Bea is an awesome cleaner and will do anything she is asked.

 

I just felt the world should know this.

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Bea's Obsession

 

Bea is like her dad. She loves this game on my iphone. She is quite pleased to remove my name from the high score board.

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Memorial Day Party

We didn't get the pool completely clear, but we still had lots of fun with friends and good food.

 

The kids think the trampoline and the pool go together. The tramp is a great place to warm up and dry off before jumping back in the pool.

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Shared Birthdays

Two of my most favorite people share a birthday. Not too much of a surprise, if you know them both, they are Geminis. If you know anything about astrology enough said.

Surprise, surprise, Granma Daniels showed up for the party.

We celebrated by having Japanese food, which is Annabel's favorite, and Noah stayed home(he doesn't eat Japanese food) and made a yummy chocolate mint cake.

Many, many happy returns to you both.

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A year of Annabel

As Annabel's year of being 10 comes to a close, I wanted to share some of my favorite photographs of her from this year.

 

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Planter weather

May 15th has passed and it is safe to plant the annuals. This year we got 98% of our annuals at the public market for 1/3 the price that we normally do. Hopefully they will do just as well. The key I think is to get to the market before Labor Day.

We chose pink, orange and yellow flowers for the planters. Darren was gracious and let me choose the colors. I like 'em hot.

When the pots are full, I'll post some pictures.

Darren gets full credit for the yard.

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The pond

We opened our pool a week earlier than we usually do so it could be ready for birthdays. In years past we could swim in the pool the same day we opened it. Not this year. Looks like our pool guy didn't do his job very well. He obviously didn't put in enough chemicals last year when closing and we ended up doing all the work ourselves this year.

 

Notice the dead earthworms floating on the water. Millions upon millions of these did I remove from all three filters.

 

Two weeks later we let the kids swim, but we still can't see through the water. Very cloudy.

 

To be continued.

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The best birthday weekend ever!

So said Noah.
Bea decorated his gifts with special messages and cartoons.

 

I kept telling him that he was getting socks and that I couldn't find the Halo Wars game that he wanted. He didn't believe me.

 

Socks.
But under the socks was the game. I did find it and he was very happy.

 

It is great that his friend, Cyrus, lives 3 houses down the street. They spent the day hanging out, playing Halo Wars and putting together his new marble track.

 

Good times.

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Noah at 12

Here are some of the highlights of Noah's year as a 12 yr old.

 

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Noah's last day

to be 12.

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Niagara District Championships

were today. Bea competed in the 9&under novice 3M and 1M events.

I was working at the recording table so I wasn't able to get many pictures.

That doesn't matter, as I was able to get this picture of Bea receiving the 2nd place medal for the 3M,

and receiving the 1st place trophy for the 1M event.

We are very proud of her hard work and effort and she is quite pleased as well. Talk about great motivation, a little medal and trophy go a long way in getting her past a few mental hurdles.
Congratulations to our friend Abigail on her 3rd and 4th place finishes at her first meet.

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Civil War Day

at Annabel's school today. She has been eagerly looking forward to this day. We bought the skirt and blouse off of ebay.

The slip we borrowed from friends.

This is her friend from next door.

I love those freckles on her face.

Don't ask me which side she is from. She has a whole story made up about her background. Something like her family's heritage is French, but she was born in England. The family moved to America and her father and brothers are fighting in the war. She moved to Boston with her mother (a nurse) and her sister to work in the hospital caring for the wounded soldiers. The school has a whole day of Civil War activities planned for the kids. I don't think any shooting is involved, but probably a little spying will occur.

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Clean Up Brighton

Today we cleaned up along the Erie Canal. It was a lovely leisurely walk, but it ended up be much longer than we anticipated. We cleaned about 5 miles of path and barely made it back in time for what was left of lunch. Thanks to Sarah for saving us some food.

 

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