we survived

After being cooped up all day (thanks to the hurricane), we woke up to sunny blue skies, perfect
temperatures, and the most perfect breeze. The boys played in the grass all day, and were a big
help cleaning up all of the loose tree branches and leaves... and chewing them into even smaller
pieces. I guess you can say they "mulched" them!






and most importantly...

this boy was able to swing again

participating with sweet shot tuesday

hello, irene

While Hurricane Irene does her thing outside, we are tuned in watching the coverage and
keeping watch for any falling trees. We have been hunkered down all day in anticipation, and
it has been raining and windy since 10:00 am. As I type this (10:31 pm), we are in the time
window for the worst part of it. Will is sleeping soundly just feet away from us. I have been
editing photos to keep my sanity. Once this storm passes, and the sun comes out, I am looking
forward to some more of this...






It's been fun Irene, but keep on trucking!

our week

hello, new cowmooflage britax carseat! we welcomed the cows
home. and, yes, it fits in the mustang!


televisions everywhere with sports on, even bottle drinking little guys are in heaven!


a refreshing target strawberry smoothie



date night with the baby - hibachi japanese and fro-yo! have you ever seen such a cute
third-wheel who loves chop sticks?



family time on the porch - relieved to be home, safe and sound, after the earthquake


peach milkshake, my hosta, and storms brewing

participating with a good life.

really, Mother Nature?

As if an Earthquake wasn't enough...

We felt a magnitude 4.5 aftershock which startled me out of my sleep at 1:08 am. I thought I was
going crazy because I was the only one who felt it. Matt was asleep like a rock, the dogs didn't
stir, and Will only rolled over. Our house shook and it sounded like an Amtrak training whizzing
by. My feeling was confirmed this morning when I saw about the aftershock on the news.

Then leaving work today, we had a torrential storm that kept us inside for 20 minutes because we
couldn't even see a foot out the front door of our office building. We finally had to make a break
for it and were literally soaked from head to toe after raining full force to the car. Heavy rain, flash
flooding and debris made our drive home very, very slow.

And now, Hurricane Irene is on it's way toward us threatening our weekend plans!

I am wishing we lived in the Midwest or on the Pacific Coast right about now, and I never
thought those words would ever leave the tips of these fingers!

the quake

The earth shook today, and we were rattled, both literally and figuratively. My initial
instinct was "terrorist attack", then I thought "a tornado with sunny skies??", but it didn't
even cross my mind that it was an earthquake. We live 32 miles from the epicenter of
the 5.8 magnitude earthquake. There hasn't been an earthquake like it in this area since
1897. We were evacuated from our work buildings, cell phone service was non-existent,
and we had some cleaning up to do once we got home. Most schools and some downtown
areas are closed tomorrow for safety inspections. Sadly, the Washington Monument is also
closed indefinitely due to found damage. The most important thing is that everyone we
know is safe and sound. Thank you to everyone who checked up on us!

scavenger hunt

geometry is all around us


imagine the brushstrokes it would take to capture this


these poor leaves are hanging by a thread from our still dying tree


our beach day in a collage


swinging on the dotted line of rope

participating in scavenger hunt sunday