Grandma Ely's 84th Birthday Party

We had a lovely picnic for Grandma Ely's 84th Birthday.  Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Ely, Uncle Greg, Michael, Jacky, Cindy and Arianna came.  I have lots of the same pictures on here because it seemed like I could only get one kid to smile in each picture.

Trying out Grandma's "Walking on Water" experiment.

Dinner with Grandma Ely

Grandma Ely joined us for dinner last week.

What about Bob?

Meet Bob, our new sparring partner, courtesy of Bob Gaitens.  We clothed him in Shawn's old karate uniform.  After a week, I've finally stopped getting scared by him every time I walk into the room.
Joy asked if he used to be alive.  She thought he was like the stuffed (taxidermy) animals at Cabellas.  Creepy, but I guess it was a reasonable question.

First Zucchini

I picked my first 5 baby zucchini this week.  We had zucchini pasta for a late breakfast.  Ok, so the kids ate a little zucchini pasta followed by big bowls of Apple Jacks.  I was excited nonetheless!

Saturday of Two Bulger Birthday Parties

What a coincidence we Pax Gaiten's and Tony Bongiorni's birthday parties at the same time the same day in Bulger.  We went swimming at Gibb's parent's first.

Pax, the birthday boy.

Then we left Shawn at Gibbs and headed over to the Bongiorni's.  Paul loved the big trampoline.  We may have to get one.

Joy was afraid to go in the big trampoline but enjoyed the bouncy house.

A tight rope, how cool!

I'm so glad we made it in time for the snow cone truck, what could be better for two kids who love snow cones!!

Then, we made it back to Pax's party in time for cake.  What an awesome dinosaur cake!  I was taking pictures for Ginnie, so I have tons of pictures.

It looks like Avett knows some karate moves!

Digging in to the cake.

Avett and his grandpa.

 Dino bone jello

With Gibb's mom and her mom.  I got to talk to Gibb's grandmother quite a bit; she is a lovely woman.

There were giant chocolate rocks on the cake.

Avett on the diving board

I really love this picture of Shawn and Joy

Joy had a blast riding their roller coaster down the hill.  Shawn got his exercise catching her at the bottom each time.  She rode it over and over and over again.

Presents!  We got him food Legos.

The kids had fun hitting the dinosaur piniata.  What a fun, action packed weekend!

New Pool

Oops, this post is out of order.  I bought this blow up pool at Walmart on Friday.  The kids loved it!  They played in it nicely together for 3 hours while I got stuff done!!

Yellow Belt Karate Test

Our first karate test!  We were all so excited and also nervous.  Paul did great and I think we did okay too.

Paul looked a little sad because the director of the test had to correct his hands and feet a time or two.

But, he snapped out of it and did an awesome job at sparring!  

Shawn and I were a little thrown off by a couple new things the director of the test threw at us, but overall I think we did just fine.  I was surprisingly calm.  All of us even did okay with our free sparring, I think.

Test completed!

The Wood family, our karate friends.

We had a barbecue at the Wood's apartment after the test.  We all had a fabulous dinner and a fabulous time playing.