Good Bye September

I can't believe that it is the end of September. Where did the month go? September was a very busy month for us. We had so much fun and got to spend time with a lot of our favorite people. We also got to go to our favorite vacation spot.

So sit on back and grab a snack and something hot to drink and see what we've been up to. It's gonna be a long one since I didn't blog at all this month. I told you I was super busy.

The beginning of the month bought us much time to play. Which was nice since I knew that the next couple of weeks was going to be CRAZY!!!

Labor day weekend we celebrated the holiday by staying in town and enjoying our Saturday summer traditions of going to The Farmer's Market, Mollies for breakfast, running errands. We also went to StroudFest which is a town wide festival that gets bigger and bigger every year!!
We took a boat ride in my father's new-old boat that he worked on all summer. Tommy, Speed Racer, and my father took the boat out for a little spin while Ballerina and I painted some ceramics. I asked Ballerins if she would like to go on Pop's boat and she said "no thank you." So I went out with my father and Speed Racer. I sat there and watched two of my three favorite men interact. Speed Racer and my father have a very funny relationship. One that I think s very funny. Some days Speed Racer thinks that my father is the greatest thing and other days they fight. All this time I thought Ballerina would be the ball buster in this family but I am starting to think that Speed Racer is going to be the ball buster. (It makes sense Girl, boy, girl, boy aka Nana, Pop, me, and Speed Racer. Anyway, I watched Speed Racer bark out orders to my father and I watched my dad not listen, but then I sat there and watched my little boy feed animal crackers to my father. It was such a great moment for me to watch them. I have a feeling that Speed Racer and my dad are going to be the best of friends. They are very much alike!!!

Labor day weekend went by in a flash which was ok by me because I just wanted Thursday to be here. Earlier this year Tommy, our cousin (will call her Becca) and myself that it was time to re-start a Nieman family tradition of going to LBI for a fun family weekend of fun!! What a blast we had!! The house was great, the food was good, and the company was the best part!! Plus so many people to inter-act with the kiddies.

The week of the trip I was packing and food shopping for everything we needed. Thursday came we dropped off Bing at the kennel and headed for the shore but first we needed to make a little stop to see one of our favorite little girls.


My little niece Baby O. Is she just not the cute? We actually had some girl bonding!! I was excited that she reached up to me!! It made my day!!!

Uncle Tommy was the one who suggested the stop so he could see his little niece. he hadn't seen her since 4th of July. Another little girl I have to compete with!! LOL!!!

It looks like they are all playing together but their not!!! I can't wait for that day!!

We stayed for about an hour and then hit the road for exit 63!! Tommy and I decided that we would go down a day early and stay at a little motel on the bay!!

Once we got down there we stopped for lunch at Plantation House and then went to the light house.

It was very windy!! We couldn't stay here very long.

Tommy and Ballerina walking on the rocks!!

Speed Racer and Tommy thinking they might get to fish!!

Ballerina showing us how windy it is at the light house.

Too much wind for us so we decided that we would just head to the motel and enjoy the bay!! (Ok Tommy and I really needed a drink!!!)

1. The sun setting over the bay.

2. Tommy once again thought he was going to fish. Ballerina had other ideas for her Daddy.

3. Ballerina wanted a picture of doing funny faces.

4. The bench over looking the bay.

5. Sun setting.

It was a very exhausting day for us. We couldn't wait for our family to come and play!!

The Nieman family arrived to the house at different times. Some of us were lucky to have a few hours down at the beach before we had to head back to the house for appetizers and cocktails. For dinner we had Paella. It was so yummy!! Even Ballerina ate it and she is not a big dinner eater. After dinner and the kiddies were put to bed we all retired to the porch catching up on stories and our lives. It was a lot of fun just being together.

Saturday was an absolute beach day, so we all hit the beach. It was great!! My brother in law was prepared!! He brought a huge canopy, spackel buckets and adult size shovels. What a boy scout... he was PREPARED!!!

1. Ballerina striking a pose for the camera.

2. Tommy, Speed Racer, and Uncle Mike looking for the perfect wave.

3. Speed Racer had a wipe out but he got back up and continued "surfing."

4. Ballerina playing on cousin Pat's turtle.

5. The dude's planning their course of attack.

6. Surfer dude!! He was loving the water!!

7. Speed Racer and his new "surf board"

8. Ballerina still on the turtle.

9. Ballerina thought she would give surfing a try.

Ballerina and Baby G playing so nicely.

We had such a great trip!!

Speed Racer loved surfing in the water, taking long walks with his Great Uncle Glenn, and having long talks with his Great Aunt Laurette!!

Ballerina loved being with her Aunt Jo, playing with her adult cousins, playing hide and seek, and talking to anyone that would listen!!

Tommy and I loved being with our family. We feel so blessed that so many wonderful people played and amused our kids!! Our kids are very lucky to have so many wonderful people in their lives that really care about them!!!

I hope that this becomes our tradition once again!!

After a great weekend we had to head home and say good-bye to Tommy who would be gone for the whole week. I had unpacking and loads of laundry to catch up on. I also had a little project I wanted to do by the end of the summer. I wanted to re-do our powder room yet again!! I forgot to take before pictures. If you forgot it was a very pale blue!!

The sink area.

The art work is original art work done by my mother in law and Tommy. I have such talented artists in my family!!

Tommy's art work.

The whole bathroom!! I have a couple projects I want to do in here!! You'll have to wait and see!!

I was never so happy for Friday to come. Tommy would finally be home after traveling all over the east coast. I kept joking by calling him Jeffrey and I would call myself Ina. (Barefoot Contessa) You have to watch her show to understand!!

That Saturday Ballerina started her second year of dance class!!

The twins saying good-bye. Speed Racer told her to have fun!!

Ballerina ready to go!!!!

What a difference a year makes. Last year she made me sit in the dance room with her and this year she ran right into the room. She was so happy to see her friend!!

After dance class we headed for our annual apple picking.

We go to the same farm every year. It's not too big!! It's just right for the four of us. We love apple picking and then we had a wonderful lunch together.

Another busy week!! My mom and I decided to throw my sister in law a baby shower. She is due in December. When I throw a party I like to work with a theme. The baby shower theme was apple of my eye. All things apples!!!

I did all the cooking and decorating. You know me I love to throw a party. I even did all the flowers. I thought that they turned out pretty good!! Everyone said they had a great time and everything was yummy!!!

I have you pretty caught up. Hopefully will be able to tell you next week all the fun things we did this week and what we did this weekend. Big Weekend for this Nieman Family!!

Gone Camping...

Ok, well we went for half a day of camping. I thought it woud be fun to take the kids to my parent's camper for a few hours today. We had a great time camping.

When we got to the camper it was snack time. I thought that Smores would be a perfect snack. However, I have to admit I don't know how to start a camp fire plus it was very hot. So I decided to do the next best thing...

Goldfish Smores. They are so tasty as the kids say. I thought that Ballerina needed a little Tinkerbell bling.

After snack I thought that we would hike around the campground. We headed down to the river to see the water. We had to stop for some photo opps. I have to tell you how I love that the kids are suddenly posing.

I love these pictures. I think I will get some of them framed!!

As we hiked I thought that I would snap some great pictures of the kids and things that I saw along the way.

We stopped at the two beaches that the camp ground has. One beach is sandy and the other is rocky. The kids enjoyed the rocky one more because they were able to throw the rocks into the water. I can't believe that the leaves are already changing colors.

As we continued our hike I thought that it would be nice to hop into some air conditioning. So I introduced the kids to something they did not know the campground had until now....

A Game Room. The kids had a BLAST playing air hockey. It was so great to watch them play. Speed Racer is so naturally good and Ballerina is going be a competive little girl. I think I know what I should get the family for Hanukkah!! LOL

After our hike and fun in the game room we headed back to the camper to eat our lunch and

and went to the pool for a swim and to cool off. Sorry no pictures of the pool, I had to watch the kiddies swim.

It was a great day!!! Sometimes I think that it would be great to have a little place to get away to during the week. It would of course need to be on the water.

Something like this would be fun. Like a home base that we could go to for meals and to get changed. I think it would be fun to find something like this really cheap and make it really fun for us to go to!!! I know you probably think I lost my mind. Everyone needs a place to escape!!

Well I must go wake up the happy campers.