A little fishing trip

Once a year my husband loads us all in the car and takes us fishing.

The kids claim to love it, I don't love it so much.

I think it's boring!  Extremely boring!

When I'm sitting there, waiting for fish who, I swear, are never going to bite; I keep thinking of all the things I could be doing if I wasn't sitting by a lake.

We always plan in advance to go one day when my husband takes his 2 week vacation in July.  The kids are always so excited.

Can't you just feel their excitement.

Every year we go to Stone Mountain Park. 

We always go down by the covered bridge.  I must say, it is very quiet and peaceful there.

I spend most of my time taking pictures.

I thought this tree was so cool.  My guess is it fell during a storm and just started growing out over the water sideways.



We saw lots of other animals; like turtles.  Check out this little guy.

We saw lots of ducks and some geese.

Maybe they would like our worms.

I don't remember ever catching any fish in this lake.  Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think their are any fish here.  Either that or they are very smart and know not to eat the worms.

This is the only thing Victoria caught.

Zachary's was a little scary... had to throw his back.

Well if the fish aren't going to eat our worms, then she will.

Disclaimer: She didn't actually eat the worm.  It was just for effect.



Every year I bring a little bit of the beach back home with me

My absolute favorite place in the world is the beach.

I love the sand between my toes, the sun on my face and the sound of the waves washing ashore.

For the past 4 years we have been lucky enough to spend some time at St. Simons Island.  It's just off the coast of Georgia about 1 hour south of Savannah.

We just love it there.

Not only do we get a great beach to hang out at, they also have some great shops in what is known as the village.

The village is right next to the pier so we throw in some sightseeing.

I just love the idea of shopping with the ocean only a hundred yards from me.  Because we have been fortunate enough to return year after year, we have gotten familiar with several of the shops and the restaurants.  We know what we like, where we don't really want to go back again and the best stores to go to that will carry whatever we are looking for.

A couple of the stores carry Christmas ornaments and I have made it a tradition to get 1 ornament every year when we go.

I thought Beach Bum fit perfectly this year.

This sign fits me to a T!

Too bad reality is so darn far away.

I just love this bird.  I think he screams beach.

I had the frame in the basement and had hubby paint it for me.

It looks great on the mantle.

I found these glass starfish while I was looking for a spoon rest.

We found all the shells and the sand dollars while we were there.

This is my very small version of a shell lamp.  Until I can get a real one, that is.

Last year I got a photo album to put some of our favorite photos from our trip in.  I didn't see them this year until our last day.  They were hiding from me.

I just love this one and it's a little bigger, I can hold 4x6 photos in it.

The photos are held in with the string and each page has this thin paper keeping the photos safe.

In keeping with the beach theme throughtout the house, I added these shells to the kitchen table.  We didn't find them on the beach, I actually got them from WalMart (shhh... don't tell)

I think all of these things will help me stay in beach mode.  That is until it's time to decorate for fall.  I know it's approaching way too fast.



My favorite place to shop!

i love to spend time in our local antique mall

lucky for me, this place is less than a mile from my house

today while hubby and youngest son were watching the women's world cup, victoria and i made a trip to "see what we could find"

you just never know

my daughter immediately spotted this

a giant stuffed Nemo.... she insisted that she had to have it

really, really, really had to have it.

i told her once she got her allowance this weekend then she would have enough money to come back and buy it.  i'm sure it will still be there

she didn't seem to want to do that.

oh, so you would rather spend my $12 on a giant stuffed Nemo but you don't want to spend your $12 on one. 

i see how you work!

then she spotted this... she only wishes

this girl cannot wait to get a car

a fast car

oh man; i'm dreading it already

i spotted this

a table full of pfaltzgraf

but not just any pfaltzgraf.... my pattern!!

if i didn't already have 2 cupboards full; i might have picked up some

i don't have fish plates though

heehee.... i do now

served dinner on these cuties tonight

how about some ruby red slippers?

i told her i would buy those for her

she wan't goin for that at all

(still fixated on the Nemo pillow)

i just love this memo board

it's magnetized and will go great in my basement

the original price tag was still on it... someone paid 50 big ones for this thing....i got it for only 16

score!!!

i liked this sun but also in a way felt bad for it

it looks so scared and sad at the same time

we decided he needed to stay there

then victoria spotted this "oh my gosh, i just have to have it" item

nice concept, but really? how much time do you really think you will spend playing that?

and, quite honestly, that will be broken in a matter of minutes

we left it there for some other kid who "just has to have it"

a doll head

for real?

i mean, where's the body?

how many people are going to just buy the head?

do people just have bodies laying around waiting for a head?

way too creepy for us.

when i saw this, i almost cried.

i've been looking for a table exactly like this to put on my patio

i just love the colors and the design

it's so beachy

here is what the seat looks like

love, love, love

we left it there... for now

i'm putting this on my birthday wish list

i can just see myself chillin' on my deck with friends and serving drinks out of these

they were a pretty stiff ticket at 50 dollars, but maybe for a gift?

hint, hint

hubby... are you reading this???

i am totally coveting this lamp

maybe while hubby is there picking up the above glasses, he can also pick up this lamp.

you think?

after i told victoria for the 50th time that i was not buying the nemo pillow, she decided she wasn't leaving the store

oh well

(just kidding; she quickly changed her mind when i walked away)

she could have just stayed and hung out with this guy.... or girl, rather

we had a fun time and when we got home, the soccer game was over

yeah for us!!

do you still take your kids shopping?

do they drive you crazy wanting everything until you tell them they can buy it with their own money and then change their minds?

i guess they really do think money grows on trees.