.... One Republic.

My kids and I love the group, One Republic.  When I told them that they were going to be doing a post game concert at an upcoming Real Soccer game they got soooo excited!  Especially Haley.  She said, "Mom, I have been dying to go to a Real game, can we please go as a family?"

We went as a family. (And I didn't even have to buy the tickets ... thanks Frank.  You're a doll.)

We stopped at IN-N-OUT on the way for burgers and crammed into a little five seater car.  It was definitely a night of togetherness and we had a ball.

The game was awesome.  The Real team won.  The score was zero to one.

Professional sporting events are always so much fun.  The energy in the crowd was awesome.  

There are some serious Real fans ... we got a kick out this guys shirt.  We sat in section 26 too.  I am guessing he must be a season ticket holder!

After the game, they announced that you would be able to stand on the field for the concert if you wanted to.  Of course my kids wanted to.  McCall and I, not so much.  So Haley, Chloe, Elliott and Sophie waited with the rest of the crowd ready to run for a good spot in front of the stage.

When the announcer said it was time to let the crowd on to the field, my kids held hands and made a run for it (even though the announcer also said, Please do not run across the field.  Everyone ran anyway and there was NO way of stopping them!)  I thought it was absolutely adorable. Definitely something that made this mommy's heart smile.

There were so many people that McCall and I lost sight of where they went.  I told McCall to send a text message and have one of them jump up so we could tell where they were ....

Oh my gosh, when we saw Sophie we laughed so hard!  And then Chloe texted us back and said that she was going to jump up too.





I told them to have Haley do it so I could get a picture of her .... Oh, oops ... cotton candy man got in the way ... "Tell Haley she has to do it again."

THERE SHE IS!!!  We laughed again.  It was just so funny to see them.  

Shortly after the concert started, I told McCall that I had changed my mind and was going to go down on the field so I could get some pictures.  How could I not, right?

McCall sat all alone during the show, which she wasn't completely thrilled about.  Mom, I didn't know you would be gone the whole time.  (Sorry about that Bug.)

She did join us on the field for some jumping though.  (Gotta get those jumping pictures.)

Chloe was non stop ... I seriously do NOT know where she gets her energy.

The game was great.  The concert was fun. But the best part of the event for me was being with these five kids of mine.  They sure know how to have a good time.  And I am lucky that they don't mind the company of their mama.

(Pretty sure we closed out the place.)


And speaking of soccer ...

.... the beach.

It was later in the day and starting to get a little dark when we drove out to Sconset.  Of course I wanted to stop the car all along the way to get different pictures. (I really do love taking pictures.)  But my mom was so worried that we wouldn't get to all of our regular romps out that way if we didn't hurry it up!

My dad pulled the car over by the beach so we could "step foot on the sand" for Spring.

I suggested that we take some fun pictures of us jumping on the beach.  You know, the kind that my kids do all the time ....  OH.MY.WORD was that ever funny.  First of all,  each of us tried to jump, laughing our heads off in the process.  We barely lifted our feet off the sand in our attempts to jump and even that hurt. (I did take some pictures of the attempt but had to swear that I wouldn't post them publicly because of the humiliation they may cause - and not just to my sisters, but to our children as well.  They weren't pretty.)





Then our sweet daddy got out of the car so we could get a sister's pic .... this was take one.  OOPS.  Courtney ... Leslie ... watch the hair.





There we go ...





Here is one of the old tiny cottages that the NY actors would stay in ...





And right across the street from that one is one of the oldest cottages in Sconset ....





I don't know how it is still standing.  1676 ..... really.





This is one of our very favorite houses on the bluff ...





One of the things I would do at my house if money was no object, is to rip up my front and back yards and completely redo the landscaping.  (Big Dream!)  I would want it to look something like theirs - and then, of course, hire a gardener to maintain it this meticulously.





Down and around the corner in Madaket is the "Crooked House".  Guess who lived there?  Mr Rogers.  I wouldn't mind being his neighbor here.











By the time we drove over to the lighthouse at Sankaty, the wind was really ripping and it was SO dang cold.

After I had gotten out and taken several pictures, I climbed back into the car and my mom said, "I wonder if anyone realizes the lengths you go to to get pictures for your blog."  (I had to laugh.  I do love getting just the right picture, but not just for my blog ... okay ... maybe it is for my blog ...)





I get such a kick out of this sign.  It strikes me as so funny.

My parents have restored three homes on Nantucket.  They have all been such beautiful homes when they were done, but I think my favorite was the house they restored on Pleasant Street.  This is it ....








I have blogged about this house before, but just mentioned how incredibly perfect the address is ...

And speaking of ONE ....  

(Okay, admittedly, I am having to be a little creative tying this post and the next one together.)

.... Nantucket

One of my favorite things about my last trip to Nantucket, was taking my early morning walks.  I had been waking up before any of my sisters did, so I thought I would take advantage of that time to get a little exercise and take the camera out to get some of my favorite shots - or I should say, shots of my favorite spots. But as I walked around the island, while it was barely waking up, just about every where I looked was a favorite spot.

We stayed a little out of town this trip so I started my walks heading down the crushed shell driveway ...




Then past one of my favorite "beachy" looking houses ...





I passed a few boats at the end of driveways ...





And when I reached the row of mailboxes, I took a left ...





And then another left into town ...





And headed down Main Street ...

This was the first trip I was out early enough to see Main Street with hardly any cars parked along the curb.  Not one single car was in front of the "Three Bricks" ...





I absolutely love the porches and stairways ...





And I can't ever get enough of all of the flower boxes ...











We passed this house everyday too and just love it.  It's on the market.  Only $11 million.  My sisters and I were thinking about pooling our money ... girls can dream, right?







But I could easily be content to live in this little one  ...






Or this one ....





I tend to obsess over the doors here too.  I want mine to look like this ...

And you know me and my license plate obsession .... how fun are these?

This one is my mom and dad's ... I love it!

When our children were younger, the beach was always part of the trip.  Now that we are older, and come without our children - not so much.  We don't get in bathing suits these days.  :)


But we do like to drive to the other side of the island anyway.  Out into Siasconset (aka: Sconset).  Now as the story goes, Sconset used to be the part of the island away from town, where actors from New York would come to get away from it all, and away from the tourists.  My mom said that the people out in Sconset at one point wanted their own zip code too - thus distinguishing themselves from the regular folks.  (My mom knows as much about the history of this island, the people and the houses as any native there.  She is a fabulous tour guide with a wealth of information.)

Spring said, "I can not be on this island and not step foot on the beach."  Out to Sconset we went.

And speaking of beaches ...

Another birthday.

Wow, right?!?!  I haven't blogged in weeks.  I have had four different people recently ask me what is up with that?  My friend, Shelley said, "I keep up on what is going on in your life through your blog and you aren't blogging.  I need to know what is going on with you lately!"

My sister, Spring said, "Come on Peeps!  Every time I check your blog, I see Libby turning two.  We know she is two.  I have seen those pictures enough already.  Update your blog!"

So, today I am updating my blog.  But this is still Libby turning two.  Because I just had a birthday as well ... and this was the cute card that McCall made me.  (She is a really great card giver, I loved this one.  Haley's was pretty fun too.  On the outside of the card that Haley gave me, it said "Happy Birthday, You've Still Got it."  And then on the inside, it said, "You put the HOT in hot flashes."  It made me laugh out loud.)

There have been nights where I will lay in bed and think about all of the things that I have wanted to blog about and just didn't do it because I have been letting the busy-ness of my days prevent me from taking the time to blog and I miss it.  I didn't even finish my posts about Nantucket because I got distracted by my posts about Extreme Home Makeover in Salt Lake (which I heard was on last night and I forgot to watch it.  I am just hoping that someone remembered to set the DVR to record or I will not be happy about it.  In fact, I am not even letting myself think about it right now.)

What I decided to do (because I thought it would be kind of fun) is tie all of these upcoming posts together (the posts that should have already been done but have not) this way:

And speaking of ... 

For example:  this post.  I could have ended the previous post by saying:  And speaking of birthdays ...

Or I could have said:  And speaking of Libby ...

Get it?  (Okay, it really won't matter a bit to anyone else but me.  It is just something I have been thinking about and want to try to do.  I guess it is like my friend who likes to do Sudoku puzzles.  I don't, but she gets a kick out of them and it makes her happy.  This is me getting a kick out of tying my blog posts together - or attempting to - and it will make me happy, so here we go.)

And speaking of Nantucket ...


(Because I mentioned it in this post - get it?)

Birthday LOVE.

Libby turned 2 last week so we had a little celebration at my house.  She is currently in love with the Disney movie Tangled so her daddy got her a Tangled themed cake and Libby just loved it.  She loved the candles too and surprised us all when she knew to blow them out after we sang the happy birthday song to her.  (Although it did take a few tries and some help from her mama.)

And speaking of Disney and her mama ... Does anyone remember that Libby's mom and I signed up to run a half marathon at Disneyland right about now?  We had such high hopes and the best intentions when we signed up last February. We were scheduled to run on September 4th.  

Yeah ... that didn't happen though. The race happened ... it just happened with two less participants.  

When I finally decided to actually "train" (and I do use that word very loosely), my body wasn't really cooperating.  My 50 year old knee was giving me grief  ....  (this is where I was going to write about my really painful sciatica problem and seeing the chiropractor everyday and speaking with a back surgeon who told me that now was not the best time in my life to take up the sport of running, but I don't really need any excuses  besides I am old and it just didn't happen ... do I?)

Since McCall is newly pregnant and hasn't been feeling very well herself for the last couple of months, she decided that running the marathon probably wasn't the best idea for her either. (Half the reason we signed up was because we thought the Disney medals they give at the end of the race are so awesome. Disney really knows how to do things right. But, darn it, guess we missed out on those.)  

McCall and her little family still went down to southern Cali though.  And McCall thought the least she would do is get her marathon t-shirt - which she did, and then said it totally wasn't worth the wait in line.  

But at least she gets to be with this little ray of sunshine at 

The Happiest Place on Earth,

enjoying all of the Disney Princesses at Disneyland ... right this very moment .

Ahhhhhhh .......

Hello Kitty.

I have always LOVED Hello Kitty.  Always. When I was younger, I would walk into a store that carried anything Hello Kitty and wished that I had the money to buy all of it.  And then when there was an entire Hello Kitty store?  Forget about it.

When McCall finds something she really, really loves online, she will send me an email with the link and with the caption:

WHAT?

And if it is really cute:  

WHAAAAAAT?????

Kay, sorry about it, but this Hello Kitty snack tray?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!?!

Are you kidding me?!?!?!  That is food.  That is a little rice sandwich and a cracker with cheese on it.  That is a bunny made out of a slice of bread, all resting on a bed of lettuce!  And all for a little three year old's birthday party.  I was dying when I saw it.  It is so stinking ADORABLE!  Come on ...  A Hello Kitty snack tray?  How precious is that?

I saw it over on Amy Atlas' blog ... it wasn't her party ... but she featured it ... you can see it here.  (The rest of the party doesn't really hold a candle to the cuteness of the snack tray though.)

Sigh ... love.