A Slap In The Face.....

That would be the gift Reality gave to me this morning. To think that in less than two weeks we will be diving back into our school schedule.......the boys and I are leaving tread marks in our attempt to sloooooowwwww summer down.

California was a ton of fun....crazy, but fun. My Grandmother loved having her son, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren surrounding her to celebrate 90 wonderful years of life! This is a woman who still put on her bathing suit and went swimming with all of us - she even wore her goggles! Up until about 3 years ago she still went skinny dipping on a regular basis and believes that being 90 is absolutely no reason at all for not going down the water slide (that activity includes her bathing suit in case you were wondering). She has, and continues to lead a fascinating life that includes being a championship diver. She is witty, edgy, and has a wicked sense of humor.

So Scot and I went from having endless amounts of time together to only spending ONE of the last six weeks together! I was happy to have him there with me......but very sad to see him go home early.

I completely soak in every minute I get with my siblings all together. This is Lisa, Dave (the gentle giant), and Cyndi who is home from Jerusalem, living with us, until December! Yeah!!

I love this shot of N. He was super excited to wear his pink button down shirt with his mohawk......that look on his face says it all!

G and his cousin who is now old enough to think that having older cousins absolutely rocks the world! It was all about fire trucks and racing cars and my boys were only too happy to oblige!

My sweet nephew and his parents below. All 3 of us girls absolutely adore our sister-in-law. She is one very cool chick!

The boys and I spent our last night in Venice Beach with my brother and sister-in-law. The next morning we went for breakfast at a place that was way cooler than I am. N was pitching a fit because outside of porridge or Ricotta pancakes, there was nothing on the menu that remotely resembled IHOP. I decided that as the oldest, I should treat......let's just say that I haven't had steak dinners that have cost as much!

We did, however, get to see Marisa Tomei dining right across from us. No entourage, no drama.......in order to keep it that way, I channeled my inner Californian and tried to blend even though I really wanted to run up to her and tell her how much I LOVED My Cousin Vinny, quote a few lines, and then whip out about 3 cameras to take pictures with her.

I think my brothers would have disowned me on the spot.

I have so much so share with those few of you that still pop over to visit the blog! Alas, alone time is right around the corner and I look forward to spending more time sharing with each of you! Between now and then, I challenge each of you to find some way to use the word "alas" on a daily basis........a very underutilized word in my opinion! Go ahead, try it!