Bath Tub Fun--or Not?!

Grayson has always loved his baths and I love to just sit outside the door and listen to him play adn come up with some really creative stuff. This particular day was no different. I need to start using the video clips from my video to capture these moments because pictures just don't do the fun justice!

Huh?

Maawwmmmmmyy!!! I'm not ready. No picture yet!

Okay-now Mommy! Chheeeessee!!!

Full Days of Fun

This is Grayson's new Thomas puzzle that we found at the consignment sale. It's a huge floor size! Grayson even took this picture himself after we completed it!

Marching around the wet Bradley. He was trying to shake the chills and this spot was nice and warm. This was our 2nd of 3 sit outs at the pool. By the 3rd one, we packed it up and went home! Here's to hoping our next trip is poop and vomit free!!
Alexander, Grayson, and Bradley-sitting still for only 1 photo. Click fast mommy!!

Grayson and Trevor play soccer while we are all outside waiting for our supper on the grill. Mommy and Daddy play catch also-Grayson didn't take such a good picture this time!

For My Families: Life is a Highway

Sue took time to put all of our pics from our boating day to music. If you would like to view it, click here http://www.photodex.com/ (go to Sharing across the top and click, on next screen scroll down to Browse Member and type dandsratz, then click GO, click on the green screen with the title 'Crazy Water', if you want to see it full screen you'll need to right click)

Thank you Sue! What a day (I already said that didn't I!)

Tuesday Night Small Group

We have had the Summer off, and now it's time to get back to small groups! We had a wonderful evening getting back in touch with each other and having a few new friends join us! We missed you Mann's and Carlton's and look forward to having everyone together next Tuesday night! It was a great night of the Baptist F's: food, fellowship, and fun. The girls even got in a 2-on-2 badminton tourney! Sue and Terri: Heidi and I will take you all on again, with an even court and more light!! We played until it was too dark to see which child's turn it was to hit that ball, the birdie was no longer visible until it was flying right past you (or maybe it was just my 'old eyes' Sue!), and we couldn't tell what the small ones were putting into their mouths. We're excited about getting into the Word and seeing what God has for us as we venture into the Fall semester in Small Groups! Thanks to Dave and Sue for opening their home again and letting us invade every Tuesday night.

More Summer Fun

I know, I know. You're wondering if all we do these days is go to Y and swim. The answer is YES! Grayson is loving the water more and more and I want to keep "exposing" him as friend Heidi suggested. (Oh yes, we did get to witness first hand Bradley's swimming feat the other day that allowed him to go down the banana slide!!) Grayson is going to be swimming by next I'm convinced! And with the indoor pool to keep us in the water all winter too, it just might happen. Today was just Grayson and I and very few others at the pool. Another great day though! We missed you Alexander and Bradley (and moms too)!

Reminiscing

It's Sunday: quiet morning, great day at Church, good food for lunch, hot day but with a slight breeze. What to do, what to do? Say "Yes absolutely, we'd love to join you for an afternoon on the boat skiing! We'll be there" We have some dear friends who have a boat and they invited us to go skiing. For the majority of us on the boat this afternoon, we all grew up on the lake in the summer, and that of course meant waterskiing! For me the times in the summer on Lake Papineau in Canada were awesome!! What is there better to do for family vacation than go to the cottage on the lake with the sandy beach, visit with grandparents and family, swim, play badminton, grill out, porridge breakfasts, devotions and music with grandpa each morning, games at night, waterskiing, "surfing", fishing, and of course, GEORGE! (For those of you reading and not family, George was in the infamously named outhouse that we had to use because there was no bathroom inside!)We had a great time reminiscing about our summer's with family and just the other memories that came flooding back as we went thoughout the afternoon.
















Trevor made me out to be a huge Jr. Champion skier. But when it came to my turn--on 2 skis--not only did I bail on my first attempt (although it was graceful), I was a chicken to go over the wake. It definitely took me back to the last time I went skiing, which was more than 10 years ago! I always hated the wake, going over is never the problem, it's getting back. So by the time I got up my nerve and went over, I stayed to the left of the boat for as long as I could before attempting to get back behind and inevitably bail hard. Great times though. I'll leave some of the other stories and great water feats for the other bloggers to tell. But can I just say-wakeboarding under, and OVER the rope of a fellow waterskier?! And cheers to the moms, of which I was definitely the least Pro.

Me in Sept. 1985 at the Cottage

The afternoon was a huge success! We pulled the boat up on shore in Pungo and got out to swim. Dad, the water and shore and sandy bottom reminded me of Grandma Sargeant and how she would always go out and rake the bottom of the lake so that it was nice and soft for us to walk on. We had a wonderful afternoon, lots of new memories: building relationships, waterskiing, snacking, sleeping or maybe just dozing, tubing, etc. Thanks Ratz's and Boyers for a great lazy Sunday afternoon!

Greyson or Grayson?!

Grayson was very excited to get a birthday invitation in the mail because it was a fire truck invitation. The party was for Greyson, another little boy in our small group from church. Well, Grayson, Hoare that is, I think still has a hard with the fact that there are other people in the world that share the same name. He thought the gift shopping and the party we were going to were somehow for him. As we rode to pick up the gift, he said "Oh good, because I want to get a camera so I can take my own pictures". Just the day before we had been discussing the digital camera (as I am using it all the time now!!), and I said that maybe for his next birhtday we would buy him own so he could take pictures. Well, we were going to Greyson's party, so he figured it was his own lucky day!

Anyways, we had a great time at YOUR birthday, Greyson. Thanks for inviting us. Grayson can't wait to see what the Nemo fish he painted will turn out like, although it ended up looking more like Rainbow fish than Nemo, especially seeing as it had to be Grayson's favorite color of yellow. Greyson is still playing with his fire truck goodie box, and we colored the picture together today! Happy 6th Birthday Greyson!

Grayson never could catch Mr. Craig's hand!