This, That, and WDB #43

Wow, I've been away almost a month! I suppose technically I've had time to blog, but I find it very difficult to write when my brain is otherwise occupied. And oh, how we have we been occupied.

A week after arriving in PA, the boys left to spend a week with the in-laws so that our youngest could attend Phillies baseball camp (which he LOVED). While they were having a blast with their grandparents and cousins, DH and I got quite a bit done around the house and were able to have an evening out to sample one of the local restaurants. DH had what he proclaimed the best crabcake ever - which means very little was added to the patty other than crabmeat.

That crabcake was a nice appetizer for the seafood feast we had in store later. After picking up the boys from the in-laws and spending a couple of days with them, we headed straight to the Outer Banks for a week-long vacation with my parents, a friend, and my brother. While there, we treated everyone to a crab feast - something we did not get to do very often while living in Indiana. Although I'm often squeamish when it comes to meats and seafood, I have to admit I do enjoy the primal pleasure of rip-tearing into those steamed crustaceans.

Ahhh, there is nothing more relaxing than going to the beach - no overwhelming need to go sightseeing or to do anything in particular. I think it's the only type of vacation where I actually come home well-rested, not needing a vacation from my vacation. We had great weather overall but would you believe that the ocean was ice cold for several days and even the air temps were pretty chilly! NC in July and chilly???? But it felt great.

J venturing out into the ocean.

After getting last Sunday, it was a week of playing catch-up and running errands. I think I ran the poor boys ragged. They will probably be happy when school starts just so that they can get out of errands!

My SIL and BIL came yesterday for an overnighter with their 4 girls and dog. It was fun, but chaotic. Our new house is not nearly as well-suited for guests and lots of kids like the house we just left in Indiana, but the finished room the basement was/is our saviour - at least one place we can kick the kids when things start to get out of hand.

Speaking of chaos, it was a whole different level of chaos with two young dogs running around! Their dog, Sparky, is a 10-month-old yellow lab and full of energy. Whereas Bailey tends to run my parents' dogs ragged (they are older and smaller), this dog gave Bailely a run for his money. The pair got along famously from the get-go, with Bailey playfully attacking Sparky the second he mosied in the door. I don't think Sparky knew quite what to make of that, but pretty soon he was all over the play action and I think I caught Bailey trying to make a run for it a few times. Payback for all the grief he gives my parents' dogs, I say!

Which brings us to WDB #43. I have two pictures. One of Bailey and Sparky in WWF mode and one of Bailey being a doggie angel while being mountain-climbed by our youngest niece who just turned 1-year-old this month.

Don't let the show of teeth fool you, we were quite convinced that they were in competition
to see who could be the Beta dog! Two submissive, non-Alpha males make for great playmates!

Bailey's far too sweet to complain, but I'm not sure what he thought about the rugrat.

Don't forget to take a look at the roundup over at Sweetnicks later tonight. Boy, go away for a little while and miss a lot. Sweetnicks has another new look - second new look this year - and it's fabulous. I thought the last look was very nice, but this one is fantastic - very professional.

I hope to be back regularly this week, but I'm not sure what will be going on in the kitchen. While I have been cooking, it hasn't been anything terribly exciting. It's also hotter than heck outside which is not exactly motivation to get cooking in the kitchen.