{dust is settling}

Now that the dust has settled (literally) I thought I'd upload some pictures from our recent trek across New York State. Every moment was planned, so I apologize to our many friends in NY that we didn't get to see... Lynn, Laura, Steph, etc, etc....

This year we added a detour to the Poconos to meet up with Aldine and crew. They rent a house there for a week each summer and we spent two nights with them. We all had a great time swimming in the lake (not Aldine, though... too many fish....) and the pool and roasting marshmallows for s'mores. The house was great -- once the kids went to bed the grown-ups could hang out (if we had any energy left). Here are some of the highlights from the Poconos:

From the Poconos we headed up to Nani and Poppy's. Randy, Joann, Lauren and Jenny all came to see us, so that was a nice treat. Aunt Sada even came from Boston for a day. Morgan instantly felt comfortable with Nani and you could just see the love in her eyes. Here they are dancing:

From there we went to Grandma and Grandpa's new apartment. It's very cute and it looks just like their old house -- lots of bright colors -- only smaller and cozier. I think they're both enjoying it and I think Ma loves the fact that she doesn't have 4 bathrooms to clean!

By the time we got to Buffalo, though, I was so tired I barely remembered to take out my camera. Here are the few pictures I did take:

And to go back even farther, here are some pictures from before our vacation:

Gerard's last tee-ball game

Morgan's new kitchen (from Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday):

{what? what? what?}

Ever wonder what it sounds like inside a jet engine? You should've come to our house these past few days to find out. We had 7 industrial fans -- in our bedroom, living room and basement. You just couldn't escape the noise. Luckily it was nice outside, so we were able to go out. Unfortunately, our neighbors were cutting down trees and chipping them up yesterday, so there was LITERALLY no place to go for quiet. Luckily, the water removal people took all but one fan away yesterday. The living room and basement are dry. They'll be back this week to remove the rest of our bedroom ceiling and some of the walls. The contractors should be here on Monday to give us some estimates for the insurance company and some guess as to when we can have our bedroom back. I've been sleeping on an air mattress in the kitchen and Gerard was sleeping in the couch in the living room. Last night I slept on the futon in the basement, which was a nice treat.

My bed, put away in the dining room for the day

On a happier note, we went to the Fourth of July parade with Maddie and Abby and crew on Friday.

This is Maddie's grandpa holding Morgan:

And Gerard bought Gerard underoos. Remember those?

I'm off to make lunch.... I'll post pictures from our vacation (which seems like AGES ago now) later today or tomorrow.

{the perfect storm}

We were on vacation for a week and I have fun stories and photos to share, but before I do that I thought I'd show you what happened last night....

5:00 PM -- Our area was under a severe thunderstorm WATCH. The WARNINGS were far to our north.

6:00 -- I was grilling dinner when it got VERY dark outside. So dark in fact that I couldn't tell if the chicken was cooked or not.

6:05 -- I brought the chicken in and turned off the grill because I didn't want to be outside with all that lightning! Turns out the chicken wasn't fully cooked so I was going to pop it in the microwave for a minute so I wouldn't have to go outside again.

6:06 -- Power went out. So much for the chicken. Luckily the kids had just finished eating because they had been starving earlier and just couldn't wait.

6:07 -- Got the flashlights and candles. Ate corn on the cob for dinner by candlelight. We noticed some roof shingles on the lawn.

6:20ish -- The smoke detectors went off. Great. A fire??!?!? I went to the basement -- no fire there. Gerard went upstairs -- no fire there, either. BUT THE RAIN WAS POURING INTO OUR BEDROOM THROUGH THE CEILING FAN AND SMOKE DETECTOR onto our bed. We quick pulled off the mattress and placed buckets on the boxspring. It was too late. There was so much water in the attic that it was seeping into the walls, too. So, our bedroom was soaked, the wall was soaked, the living room ceiling below was getting wet, and the stairs leading to the basement were wet, too. And there was nothing we could do because it was still pouring outside and we had bare wood on our roof.

8:00 -- We put the kids to bed (their rooms were fine) and Gerard set up the air mattress in the living room.

10:00 -- Gerard assured me that the ceiling in the bedroom would be fine. Yes, the seams were wet. Yes, it was still dripping. But no, it wasn't going to collapse. We went to bed.

11:40 -- We heard a loud bang from upstairs. We ran up to find the ceiling ON OUR BED. Yup. The ceiling. On our bed. Insulation everywhere. Lovely. So much for Gerard's assurances.

12:40 -- Power came back on.

6:30am -- Morgan woke up and we began the lovely process of talking to the insurance, getting the roof fixed, finding a contractor to assess all the damage and fix everything. Fun.

The roof

Our bedroom

The living room ceiling

Our neighbor to the rear

{aunt debbie's visit}

Aunt Debbie came to visit this weekend while Gerard was out of town (yes, on Father's Day). She was a great help (I even napped once!) and the kids just love her. Gerard misses her already.

Although I didn't take any pictures of her with Morgan and Gerard, she did help me take some pictures of the kids. Enjoy!

In addition to all the outfits she bought for Morgan and the adorable dress and hats she knitted for her (pictures will be coming!), she also bought Gerard this cool Backyardigan's sprinkler thing. It was only warm enough to use it one day, but I'm sure we'll get lots of use out of it this summer!

{let there be peace}

Thanks to Patti and Ma for sending this my way....