Fourth of July 2007 - Ocean City, NJ

We visited the Ahrens' fam this fourth of July in Ocean City, NJ as we did two years ago. The fourth is the favorite time to get together and everyone was there this time - Aunt Nancy and Uncle Fred's crowd - Mark, Joyce, and their kids, Emma and Rebecca & Greg and Allison; Aunt Judy and Uncle Gary's crowd - Michael and Rachel & Greg and Taryn; Mom and Dad A's crowd - Jeff and I & Debbie and Chris with kids, Kaitlyn and Matthew. We even had a drive-by from Aunt BJ and Bill one night too! It was great seeing everyone b/c it had been 2005 since we'd seen a lot of them. We did a bunch of old fashioned relaxing - some bike rides, lots of walks with Matthew's red car, visits to the Boardwalk, ice cream at Kessel's Korner, dinner at 4:30 pm (we're all getting up there in age apparantly!), some video solitare sessions on the couch, dominoes, a Fourth of July feast, and a beach day when it even warmed up enough for us wimpy Floridians. Great times! Notice we found the taffy and peanut representatives for Ocean City, as well as the transfiguration into flip flops for us kids. One thing that was great was the fact that Matthew would actually let Jeff and I play with him - last time we saw him when Debbie and Chris came down to our house with the kids in March, Matthew was Mr. Wiggly - don't hold me or play with me. It was also great fun playing in the sand with Emma and Rebecca and making Emma into a mermaid complete with a seaweed bikini! Next time we are bringing the puppies with us so they can join in the fun - right, Mom and Dad? Riiiight.....

Tree Removal Update

We finally got the stump removed from the large olive tree that we took down a few weeks ago in the front yard. The machine that does it is the coolest - it's this remote controlled grinder called the Beaver, so I had to take a picture of it. It literally grinds the whole thing down in like 20 minutes. Awesome.

One thing I forgot to share when we took the tree down is that there was this huge staghorn fern that was growing off the trunk and losing the tree meant losing that fern, which was gorgeous. Well - we tore off pieces of it and wired it to a tree in the backyard and it is actually taking and has some new growth on it - hooray! Also, when we took the fern out, we discovered several bromeliads that were growing in the tree too. So we just stuck them in the ground to see if they would survive and when we got back from NJ yesterday, I discovered a beautiful flower growing from them - so they are also living. Hooray for transplant survivals!

Who Knows If This is REAL?!

This came across an email - supposedly it's from National Geographic or something, but it looks a little too photoshop style to me - if you know the story about this forward, let me know.

Family Trickery

For those of you that know the Ahrens' crowd, trickery is their middle name. They definitely like to joke around a bit and we saw a little of this on our trip to the Jersey shore area this past week. I just received an update in my inbox. It all started with Aunt Nancy's birthday surprise - Mom and Dad A decided to plant a pretty little flamingo in her garden one day. The next week, that same flamingo appeared in Mom and Dad's yard decorated for the Fourth of July and then right before Jeff and I went to visit, Mom and Dad put the decorated flamingo on Nancy and Fred's roof - blaring for Ocean City to see on the chimney top! Jeff then helped Dad craft a letter from the Ocean City mayor to Nancy and Fred, complaining of the Flamingo gawdy-ness and visual pollution. Well - Looks like Nancy and Fred got Mom and Dad back today while they were at church - by hanging large underpants (or PANT-IES, as Allision would say) on their front porch! This must have killed Dad b/c he definitely likes Sand Central Station in perfect condition. Nice pink ones Mom and Dad! hahahaha....looks like the Depends really take up some room. hehe.

Jared Came for a Visit!

One of Jeff's friends from high school, Jared, came down to visit us the other weekend! It was so fun catching up and relaxing with him! And yes - I made them shamefully cheese it up for the camera since we haven't been taking that many pictures lately. Mom - doesn't the beach look awesome!?

Remembering Mali

I found these pictures of our dear friends Andre and Victoria from Mali on my computer today and realized that I never posted them. A fellow RPCV (return Peace Corps volunteer) went for a visit and stopped by their house and sent me these photos. Andre and Victoria were our neighbors in Mali and here they are with their son, Daouda, who was just a baby when we left, and Cecil, their new daughter. They are also the proud owners of Aku, our parrot, that we left behind. I'm happy to see that the kids on the street didn't fry her up. No, I'm not kidding - they always wanted to eat her. Actually - in the first picture's background you can see our old home! The door with the straw overhang was where I first lived in Sikasso - later we moved down the street to have some more privacy and room. Ah - memories.

Welcome to Hurricane Season

Yesterday marked the beginning of Hurricane Season, and ironically, a tropical depression in the gulf brought tons and tons of rain yesterday and today. We are SO happy about the rain to help with the drought (and revitalize the plants in the yard), but hope it doesn't mean a lot of actual hurricanes this year. Accordingly, Jeff and I decided to kill the big tree in our front yard that was threatening our roof last weekend. Check out the before and after shot. I get emotionally attached to trees, so I was pretty depressed about this decision, but if this tree would have fallen on our house, it would have been worse. It was a pretty big tree as you can see. So, we had to make a grown-up decision to take it down. So - the next step is to plan the new tropical island for our front yard after we get the stump removed.

Will and Laura's Wedding

My teammate, Will, from Peace Corps got married to his longtime girlfriend, Laura, and Jeff and I went to check out the celebration and see some other pals from Peace Corps. The wedding was absolutely incredible, beautiful, and super fun. We saw our friends, Molly, Adam, and Andy and Dee Dee and had a great time catching up in a gorgeous setting. Check out the garden and overlook behind Laura's family's house. So pretty!

The afternoon before the wedding, Jeff, Adam, and Andy, and I all took a drive around L.A. to see some of the sights as well. Drove on Mahulland Drive, saw the Hollywood Bowl, and the Chinese Theater - all in record time! It was a whirlwind weekend.

I have to say that we definitely clean up nice from our "nogolen" days in Mali. Ala ka mariagi ja!

Finally! The Green Wall.

I've been wanting to paint walls since we moved in at the end of 2005, but all my color ideas get vetoed repetitively by the man. Honestly, too many white walls make me anxious. BUT - to my surprise, Jeff woke up the other Sunday and said, "I want to paint. Let's do this. I'm feeling green." Of course giving him all the credit for the idea just to get the dang wall painted, we settled on frog pad green and knocked it out in three hours. I am so happy to have a green wall!! Yessss! This is so great b/c things are not so green outside right now due to the crazy drought and water restrictions. If it can't be green outside, may it be green inside! Hooray!

Aaron and Shelley's Run of the Roses

Every year, our friends, Aaron and Shelley, have a Kentucky Derby Party and here's some good ones from the party. The food, flowers, hats, and the betting was super fun! Unfortunately, my horse didn't win, but I did win the hat competition with a compilation of flowers from the yard. Wayne, Danielle, and Jasmine had some great hats though - very descriptive. Notice Dave Hagar's spirit with his horse head-shaped rice krispie treat and vintage derby hat! He's always taking it to the next level...

The Black Cloud of Fishermen

Jeff went fishing a while ago with some of the guys from his work and here's some fun shots. Nope - he didn't catch anything, but it looks like it was a beautiful day nonetheless.