A much needed vacation!

After Mommy's surgery and the big move, we headed off for a much needed vacation. Every year, at the end of summer, we spend a week at the beach in Door County Wisconsin. We were very lucky to have Mommy's friend Laura join us this year to help since Mommy couldn't drag her casted leg down to the beach!

We just had to make our annual pilgrimage to The Farm--a children's petting zoo. It's pretty much the same every year. Joey stalks tween girls in hopes of snatching a kitty that escapes from the girls' smothering arms. Someone inevitably hands a baby chick to Sammy (must be the big blue eyes) which he PROMPTLY strangles with his chubby little hands. This year, Lily and Laura made their first visits to The Farm.

At first, Lily was intrigued by the baby goats.

She was thrilled when she discovered you could feed them!

But she was quickly turned off by the goats' aggressive feeding habits and needed a bit of help from Daddy.

Bye bye Door County! See you next year!

Moving On...

After 10 years at our current address, it is time to move on. The commute to school, the need for more space, the desire to be closer to the kids' friends prompted us to "try" putting our house on the market in this slow, buyers' market. Much to our surprise, our little home sold in 30 days.

So, we say goodbye to our first home--the house to which we brought babies Joey, Sammy and Lily home. We say goodbye to the creaky wood stairs down which the kids would creep on Christmas morning to see what Santa had left.


We say goodbye to our front porch on which we would sit, greeting neighbors across the street, waiting for the kids to come out to play.


We say goodbye to our bright kitchen/dining room--if a room could smile, this room had a bright one!The kids have been troopers, helping to prepare for the move:




Goodbye Drake house! We will miss you terribly!