Tuckered Out

Why we like to take the dogs to Grandpa and Grandma's house...

Peace & Quiet

Ahhhhh. (until morning, at least.)

RYAN - fyi - there is 1 picture of you skiing on the blog. get over yourself.

Actually though, the pictures are on the desktop of my laptop, which dad has. SO, i can't get to them right now, but you can. I think they are under the "pictures" or "pics" folder. And when I get my laptop back, I will crop them and make them all special and pretty for you. Sorry for the inconvenience. But seriously? The whining? It's got to stop. immediately now.

Zoom Zoom! 7.20.08

Dreams and Determination

stock cars. speed. adrenaline. power. noise. 2-miles.

For the Ed/Deb Masselink immediate family, this past weekend is now and will forever be dubbed "Race Weekend '08". It will go down in history as a weekend beginning with weepy weather and crazy-psycho-crack-addict mosquitoes, but with a fairy-tale ending.

In the beginning, ... wait. That's the Bible. Let's try this again...

Once upon a time, there was a large, blended family headed by a very genorous and adrenaline-driven father/in-law/stepfather. For Christmas, this head honcho presented the manly men of the family with a matchbox car. "Doh!" thought the men. "We're too old to play with Matchbox cars!". But soon they discovered an envelope accompanying the small, inactive play cars. And inside of the envelope came goodies. Good goodies. Great goodies! They read the fine print and found that in the upcoming summer they would be Nascar Drivers for a Day, attending the "Track Time" school at Michigan International Speedway. And they were happy. And life was good.

(January 5, 2008)

So this past weekend was the time appointed to cash in on the Track Time Tix. We joined up at Hayes State Park on Friday night, stayed Saturday and through Sunday morning. Late Sunday morning we caravaned over to MIS where the boys attended school, then showed off their SkiLLz.

Here's how the camping went:

We ate.

And it rained.

And rained.

And rained.

But...The cousins still played.

The nasty-mean weather didn't bother them!

And Saturday Afternoon it did stop raining long enough to visit the beach.

...But did I mention the bugs?

Holy Mosquito. Wow. When I get to Heaven, I do want to ask God what the purpose of Mosquitoes are. Maybe Laura knows (Miss Smarto-Bug-Person). Really though, they make me miserable (which, anyone who is there is probably thinking is an understatement considering I was walking around bundled up like an Eskimo with the very least amount of skin showing possible). Anyway.

Sunday morn we packed up the dripping wet camp and traveled to the track.

And 10:17am, we arrived:

It's like they knew we were coming. Smart people.

The grounds are impressively large when empty. Parking extends for miles, paving the way to the track. Overhead walkways connect parking lots to the main entrace of the track. It's hard to imagine the grass, concrete, and metal crawling with people on race day. We had it to ourselves.

Through the tunnel, into the infield...

Right where we belong. Ahhhh. It's like coming home.

Happy Race Day boys!

And off to school they went....so we perfected 'chillin'

Hi Grandma Deb, Elaina, and Nik!

What's up, Griff?

Hola Miss Chica.

Thanks for helping, Caleb!

*

Oh, they're back!

What's that Travis?

Huh? I'm not quite getting it...

Whatev. go suit up.

Much better. Now you look the part.

You've got the look. Drive fast, Eddie.

And Scott.

There's the finger again. No, not that one. The #1. That's right, honey. Bring home the Gold! Not the gold? Fine. Go help your dad.

Ed's up first!

At this point all of the guys turned into look alikes. So insert your favorite racer here:

(if you want individual pictures, email me. i have them. just didn't want to post them here. because really, i can't tell the difference. except the occasional car change.)

Show me the goods, baby.

Looks like they were made for this. Naturals, I tell ya.

Don't they?

Who's your daddy? Yea...you know it! You're the best, babes.

See? This proves it.

I could totally be a racer's wife. I've mastered the lingo and I know the secret: the ego boost.

Gatorade: I'm giving you props. What you got for me?!?

Thanks Ed and Deb, for a wonderful-fantastic-thrilling weekend. We had a great time and it will go down in the memory bank for sure. We love you!

Dedication. 7.13.08.

...So my computer is sick. I'm bringing it to the hospital today (aka dad) to see if it may be fixed. (please!). I tried for close to an hour last night just to get my pictures from this weekend to my computer...open adobe...and then transfer 5 pictures over. It was so painful for me to watch that I turned off my computer and said "That's It! You Are Going To The Doctor.". It cried, said it will try harder next time, but I was firm. "It's for your own good.". (and my mental health).

Anyway, so I have a bunch of pictures/blog-a-loos to upload, and we'll see how far it gets. (yes Masselinks, I know you are looking for pictures of this weekend. They will come!)

*

First though, before the other pictures, I want to mention Adalynn's Dedication on July 13, 2008. We were very blessed to have many of our family and friends join in on this day to dedicate Adalynn's life and future to God. We are so very...well, BLESSED (I know, I'm overusing that word, but it's true!) to have Adalynn in our lives, and we hope and pray that she will be a blessing to others and live her life for God.

The whole service was focused on dedicating our children. We joined the stage with 4 other couples and their daughters (yes, it was an all girl event!) who were a year and under. I think Adalynn was the oldest, being born in November, while the youngest was 10days old. Adalynn made her presence known, either chewing on my necklace or loudly adding to Pastor Dan's introduction of each child.

The church presented us with a beautiful quilt made by an anonymous church member and dedication certificate. Pastor Dan spoke briefly about raising children and what he would do differently now: Romance his wife more and Chill out. (I think that's good advice!)

After the service we gathered at our house for a delicious dinner consisting of flaky croissant sandwiches, a variety of fabulous salads, and numerous chocolate, vanilla, and carrot cake cupcakes decorated in white.

A big "THANK YOU" to everyone who partook in this wonderful day and joined with us in supporting Adalynn's growth in God's will. We can't (and won't!) raise Adalynn in isolation and protect her from everything, so we are SO thankful that we have family and friends who will support her as well.

Too Busy 2 Blog.

Seriously, since when was summer supposed to be this busy? No time to talk - this weekend is Adalynn's dedication and we're headed to TC for the Cherry Fest for part of this week. So, in prep Travis is expanding the deck (pics to come), we're mowing the lawn, painting deck chairs and the table (ewww, rust!), cleaning the house, making cupcakes, moving Trav and Ed into their new building....ahhh...a neverending list!

So, I have some random pictures...because I'm sure you don't care about the busyness. I sure don't. Here's some of what's been important in our lives lately. (taken with my new lens. sweetness. it's major.) (fyi - please disregard the uneditness of these pictures.)

At the "Big Ticket" Christian Music Fest in Gaylord

The same weekend - Adalynn's first time on the beach. Got some funny ones of her eating sand...evidently, by the look on her face, it doesn't taste too good. A 'lil gritty perhaps?

*

At one of Daddy's Softball Games

*

Adalynn's first boat ride in Grandpa's boat, watching Ryan rock 'da' waves.

*

More update on Adalynn -

She sprouted teeth! Well...a tooth. The front lower right tooth is the lucky winner.

She has forward motion. Army crawling excites her these days. And terrifies us.

She's eating shredded food. Most days, she wants to do it ALL herself. It's lovely. And a sloooow, painstaking process.

"mommamommamom"...."MOM!" is all we hear when she's tired, hungry, or angry. It's major. (i'm trying tiff....is it working?!?)

*

K. really gotta run. ttyl peeps. Tiff and Kate - I'll comment back on ya soon. :)