Post Irene Clean Up

Here are photos of the aftermath.....not much to report!

Thankfully!!

 Hardly any down branches

 The trees survived

 Only minor debris in the pool (which occurred the last few hours of the storm when the winds changed direction....before that it was almost clear!) Our trusty pool cleaner machine sucked up all the leaves in about 5 bag fulls!

The unannounced visitor from Irene.......a pesky black widow that apparently took refuge in our mailbox......he is now on a permanent vacation!!! :)

Fun with Friends

We had our friends Addison & Casey over yesterday (it was my week to watch the girls; my girlfriend and I have been trading off a day each week all summer, where we drop the girls off and get time to ourselves for the morning......soon to end :(

Caught some cute photos yesterday of them playing outside. So I played with the color editing software and had some fun with the new camera!

Quick Storm Update

We are 100%!!!! We survived our first hurricane, which ended up being much weaker than they anticipated, or we just got lucky, who knows. We woke up to bright blue and sunny skies this morning.
The worst of the wind came last night, late. Before that there weren't even any leaves in the pool. But now there are MANY!! So some cleanup will ensue.
Anyhow, so we never lost power, and so far no down trees and no visible roof damage. Just some yard debris, which is much more minimal than we had expected. Post storm photos to come later!

All is well! Thank you to all who inquired as to our well being while the storm passed!
Now we are just hopeful that our rental house in the Outer Banks will still be available in two weeks for our vacation......we shall see!

Indoor Fun....

With the storm keeping us indoors, the kids are in crafty heaven today!

Lots of fun stuff to do.....starting with Play-Dough!!!! 

Painting and cutting are up next after naps! And as long as the power holds up, movies galore!!

Pre-Hurricane Preparations

IRENE is coming!!! So Mike prepared the yard by moving everything into the garage to be safe from the high winds and rain. This empty yard looks like we are moving out....but no.....just housebound due to the oncoming hurricane. The pool fence is down, and the kids toys are in the garage and hiding on the side of the house! Abby had a funny look on her face yesterday after naps when she saw her yard empty.

 Mike successfully squeeze both cars in the garage (to avoid having them hit by flying objects), along with......the pool fence, BBQ, 2 patio sets,, kids toys, bikes, 2 trash cans, 2 umbrellas.....and more! 

I will update photos tomorrow morning after the worst of the storm has passed. Hoping for NO down trees.......and the pool not filling over the side....Mike's already gone out once and drained it quite a bit, but the level is up again 3hrs later. Might be an endless battle.....

So far it started raining overnight, and a big wind/rain storm ensued at 5am but only lasted 15 minutes. Its been minimal wind/rain since we've been up this morning.

My girls!

After two weeks of fun company, we had a nice lazy weekend.

Abby got a special treat and got to accompany me to my hair salon for our hair cuts on Saturday.

It was the first time having her hair professionally washed, cut and blown out! She loved it.

But was very serious in this photo....

 Maddy is just my cutie patootie....and I had her all bathed and blow dried her hair for the first time ever Saturday night, because we went and had professional family photos taken on Sunday. So her hair actually looked tame! Mike suggested I blow it dry more often......amidst the crying.....no thank you! Special days only!! But she is cute nonetheless!!

And FYI.....yes we incurred our first East coast earthquake today....but we are all 100%

It was very minor, but startling nonetheless. People out here just aren't used to them, so they took it as a big deal. No damage in our area at all. Just preparing now for the real threat....Hurricane Irene, which is supposed to hit on Sunday as of now. We shall see how that pans out! 

Grandpa Ron's Visit

My dad came to visit this week!! 

The girls had a lot of fun playing with Grandpa, and taking him to their favorite places.

Of course no summer visit is complete without swimming!

We swam every day!! Here Abby climbed on his shoulders.

 Last night before he left, he, Mike and Abby played 'Candyland'...and Grandpa won!

 Of course on day 3.....Maddy gets comfy and wants to snuggle with Grandpa

 Maddy showed Grandpa the goats at the zoo

 Getting a nice push around the zoo

 I caught a great shot of the lion perched on his rock

This zoo girl wanted to wear Grandpa's hat

 The tiger was taking a nap right on the other side of the glass

 What a ride!!! Maddy loved the attention, as usual

 Both girls got to paint one day, for Maddy this was a first

 THE BEACH!!!!! (Grandpa rescued Abby's doll she brought to the beach)

 Maddy, all ready to dig (with new buckets and shovels I got for them)

 Abby let Grandpa take her in the waves

 Woohoo!!! Mommy made it into a beach photo....thats a first. All these beach trips with company, I've been acquiring quite the tan!!

 Grandpa and his grandaughters!

We had a WONDERFUL visit, and it could have been longer. The girls just got used to having him around, and Abby woke up this morning and asked if Grandpa was still sleeping upstairs:) But then I told her he had to ride on an airplane home, and she remembered I told her the night before that he had to go home to feed his dog! Thanks for a great week dad!!

Fujimoto Visit- Part 2 @ The Beach

Family Fun Beach Day

They had to experience the East coast beaches, and we all had a great time.

The weather was perfect, about 85, partly cloudy which saved us from the direct sun.

 I love this profile picture of Abby, just wish I hadn't cut her head off (one of my learning curves)

 A little washed out, but cute. She and Brenda did a lot of digging

 All three girls playing in the sand

 Brenda & Craig

 Our little beach setup. Just perfect!

 Caught Sheila doing some sand cartwheels! Multi-talented!!

 Abby being hoisted above the crashing waves! She loved all the attention!!

 Maddy on the move! This was her first trip to the beach where she did more playing than crying!

Its a start......because our beach vacation is in 4 weeks, she'd better get used to it!

 Two versions of this photo:

Top- Brenda & Maddy are in focus

Bottom- Waves are in focus

 Last but not least, what would a day at the beach be without burying someone's feet??!!!

Abby had them packed nice and tight!