Days with the Dorans

I love summer!! I also love the fireworks at the lake! Again we were able to have some friends over and the kids had some people too! My friend Nan came and took some AMAZING pictures (her pics have her name in the corner). I was so glad to be able to see her. It's been too long.  Joe had a few friends over too. He actually wanted them to come over at noon but we talked him into pushing it back to four! I get it though- the lake is a fun place to be! Sadly (for us) Kurt and Eric bought a lake house up north so we haven't seen them at all this summer (boo). The Gordons were up north too. We did get to hang with the Gearys and Cosmans~ so it was almost complete.  The Gerkens came for a bit but with the Littles, they didn't stay too long. Papa hung in the lake and had fun with Carson. We go over to the lake a lot and Papa and I sit in these chairs while the kids swim. One will ask, "Who has it better than us?" to which the other will reply, "No...

Can you tell which is mine and which is Jeff's? I think I (maybe) am finally at a place where exercise to me is more about getting strong and feeling healthy than it is about how you look. I have LOVED this summer because I have time to really run a distance that is comfortable for me and do it OUTSIDE! I have run nearly every day (even with Sean's recovery- it was the one time of the day I left him). My new routine is to run 5 miles, come home, walk Marty a mile, do abs, arms and yoga and shower. Then my day starts. Although I don't run for time and there have been days where my legs feel slow and heavy I have gotten faster and am consistently sitting at around 9 minute miles- sometimes less. It's been glorious- the feeling of logging miles. I'm not going to lie- it's also been incredibly hot and I learned the earlier you go, the better you feel. One day I waited a wee bit too long and came home with a full on sweaty mustache and I couldn't st...

I do miss Tiger's games but they aren't doing so well and I do not miss the stress of missing games and trying to sell season tickets. It was again WMU night in the D so Jeffy, Danny and I were on our way to score these cool hats, have a beer and maybe watch a little ball. We got there a little later than we wanted which meant we didn't eat prior to the game. We needed to get our hats (funny story- the WMU kid who took our picture- the first I posted) was a current student. I told him I graduated in '98 and he laughed and told me "That's when I was born!" We DID get carded when we grabbed some grub. It was raining so we hit a place in the stadium to eat. It was SUPER expensive but since we no longer have season tix, we figured it was really a bargain. I enjoyed my WMU Bell's Oberon (of course) with my favorite Bronco guys! After we were done eating,  we walked around the stadium a bit. Our seats were very close to where our season tickets w...

Sean has been a snorer for as long as I can remember. I figured it was because he wasn't a good nose-blower but it's more than that. There are times he sounds like he's gasping for air as he sleeps which can be scary. I felt like the pediatrician wasn't as concerned as I and he said, "Why don't you watch him for a month and write down how much he snores? An ENT will just take out his tonsils and adenoids and that's not a fun procedure if he's just snoring now and then." Well, I did just that and he literally snored every single night. I made an appointment with an ENT that came recommended and they scheduled the surgery to remove Sean's adenoids and tonsils. He also has a deviated septum but the doc seemed to think that the tonsils and adenoids could take care of the problem. Since it was a two week recovery time, we waited until school got out. Sean wasn't too scared about the surgery (despite this picture) and we didn't...

We decided to go to the Mudhen's game again for Father's Day. We went last year and although we were exhausted, we ended up having a lot of fun. I was excited that we got to go again~ though some of us were still exhausted (Ali was pooped from a busy weekend of dance and emotions). It was HOT!! The car read that it was 99 degrees!! We met up with all the Drapals at Fricker's for some grub and thankfully the service was super slow which we didn't mind one bit. No one was in a big hurry to get out to the game. The restaurant backs up to right field to so we could see the game. We had two booths next to each other. The boys were on one side and the girls (plus Jeffy) were on the other side.  Sean thought that this was hilarious and kept whispering messages for me to give to his dad about having to sit with all those girls! It was hilarious! The food was good and the beer was cold! It wasn't as bad as I thought~ sitting in the heat. I switched to water...

 Ok. So if you read that title~ it kind of sums things up... Ali had kind of a tough year in dance this year. Not physically~ she shined on stage and did well but... She really struggled with one of the teachers (not necessarily how she treated Ali but people in general) and being moved up to dance with new dancers for the second year was nice but she wasn't really included in the group. Feeling invisible can be tough. There were times and events in the season that cemented Ali's choice that "this was it"~ She had (has) countdowns on her mirror with dance and she started to think of all the things that she COULD do if she didn't compete in dance... soccer, the musical, after school activities, Jr Honor Society (which she was made! Yay Ali!). That~ paired with some negative experiences~ had her mind all made up that this was IT! She was done as soon as Nationals was over. This also meant that I was done... and that made me a bit sad because I've come to...