Warning: Not Deep or Creative

The two...or maybe 4 people who read this blog may have noticed a bit of a blogging break. D's folks are renting a lake house for a month about 15 minutes from our house, and we've been here since July 3rd.

Not surprisingly, the first two weeks have flown by. They are captured, at least to some extent, in the pictures below. I promise a more in depth post soon ... including our master bathroom renovation that is happening while we're staying here. In the meantime, a sneak preview of our time here...

Packed up and ready to go. Yes, we're only 15 minutes from home. Yes, we packed the Pacifica to the gills. You're not really surprised, are you?
We have blown bubbles at the lake....

And watched the neighbors set off fireworks....

We have played with friends.....

And perfected our gang signs.

We have celebrated Mary...

And we have enjoyed the suitcase full of gifts from Nonno and Grandma (Stay tuned for a full post on Nonno.)

We have been swimming and floating and swimming some more.

We have gone bowling....

Mary using bowling as a teachable moment.

We have played games...

....Created by our little dictator

Manicures at Mandy's House of Nails....

Movie star...

We have danced with pneumonia....

....and taken a spin through Floating Hospital

We have fed the ducks and the fish....

And enjoyed some quiet moments just embracing this gift.

The Post in Which There is No Rhyme or Reason

Yet another busy week around these parts. We are on the horizon of a major bathroom renovation so have spent the week cleaning the house in preparation for strangers in workboots to take over while we're at the lake. We also met with the folks who are handling the remodel again to pick out tiles and faucet design and lighting etc. I suggested we do my initials in a gold inlay in the floor. It adds flare, don't you think? And probably significant value to the house.

We'll document the renovation, of course...the afters better look a whole lot better than the befores.

A few pictures of the kid...

As usual, she loves to help in the kitchen. Here she is making Mama's lunch. I'm relatively certain she used about a pound of meat, but she was so proud. And I'm not gonna lie, I'll happily let her take over this job when she wants.


We had dinner on our front porch a few nights ago. It had such an impact on Arden that she took it upon herself to decide we were eating out there last night. She even set the table on her own. I found it terribly cute, so I took a picture.

Which leaads me to this picture. She looked at the above photo and told me it was too dark. Her solution? See below. She found her flashlight to add light. I took this picture...her response? "See? Much better." I'm pretty certain she will be a chef/photographer when she grows up. Good thing that Bravo offers reality shows for both.

Tickled to have milk in a goblet.

She's a walking advertisement for my hospital's Harbor Walk & Run.