New Address and Updated Information...About Time, huh?

9 months later, here I am updating the blog. not too bad for a procrastinating family. our last update was january '08...hey, at least we are still in '08...much has happened since then so i will post monthly blogs, creating the 'illusion' of being on top of blogging. my goal is to update the blog once a month and set it as a reminder on the kitchen whiteboard calendar. so check back after the first week of each month for updates, photos, secret family recipes (thats funny) and general household chaos. Check out our last blog by simply clicking this link http://fourboysandamom.blogspot.com/

here come the 'illusion blogs'...

• February 2008: amy took best brittmonger pal, launa, to NYC to celebrate her 40th birthday. we have been friends for 35 years and could write a best seller. amy's cousin amanda joined us for the festivities as well and for a 22 year old she fits right in with us old broads. mainly due to the fact that we are all created from the same 1970's copper jello mold. another dear friend, mary jane, also joined in the fun and as an original member of charlies angels, she too rounded out the fun equation. we stayed in times square, tried to get into the letterman show to no avail, shopped in soho, saw the sights, had a beer with geraldo riveira, bought contraband purses and jewelry from the underground lairs and had a blast.
• March 2008: still rebounding from our girls trip to NYC.
• April 2008: jamaica mon! gregg, keegan and i traveled to jamaica with friends, bags and missy, mike and ann robb and their two children, lucy and alex. this was keegan's first trip to negril along with alex and lucy's and we all had a blast! we spent time with our friends, charlton, conroy and kingsley who are jamaican born and raised and the main reason for returning to their island so many times. we are able to experience jamaica as a 'jamericans' instead of a tourist. we snorkeled the reef and the island almost every day and our kids were able to dive to the bottom and retrieve starfish, sea cucumbers, sand dollars and watch as our friends speared fish. we celebrated our friend conroy's birthday at his home in redground, which was one of the highlights of keegan's trip. one of my favorite memories was watching keegan sing bob marley's, three little birds, on top of a table with a crowd of jamaicans around him singing and cheering. we had such a great time that keegan and i extended our trip for an additional four days, sending gregg home to get griffin who was on his own vacation with his cousins josh and ally at aunti jojo's and grandma carol's houses. we plan to go back again this year. we love it there.
• June-August 2008: we spent many days at cascade bay, the waterpark a mile from home, and griffin became quite the swimmer this year. he refers to himself as michael phelps...perhaps he will follow in his moms 'flippers'. we also spent a lot of time at the cabin on lake vermilion...another one of our favorite places to be. had a blast over the fourth of july at our friends, the robb's, cabin...it was like disneyland on water. took a trip to denver, co with friends to celebrate another friends wedding. hosted the annual class of 87 booze cruise on lake vermilion...always a blast! went camping, did a lot of fishing, tubing, waterskiing and wakeboarding. nearing the end of august we found ourselves traveling to IA to pick up the newest member of our family and the reason for changing our blog address from 4 boys and a mom to 5 boys and a mom. welcome, kingsley! no, not our friend kingsley from jamaica but kingsley the cockapoo. yep, you read that right. a cockapoo. and, yes, keegan named him after our friend, kingsley, in jamaica. i have to admit he is pretty entertaining and scrappy. he and cooper have become best buds playing all day and the kids adore him.
• September 2008: another school year has begun! keegan is a second grader at pinewood elementary and griffin is a pre-schooler at becks montessori. keegan takes the bus or rides his bike to school and enjoys the social aspects of school. griffin rides to school on either the mom or dad bus and does not enjoy going to school. he would rather stay home and mow the lawn or drive his tractor all day. he's obsessed with heavy machinery and anything mechanical. a mechanical engineer in the making if he doesnt turn out to be an inmate at stillwater state prison. griffin can be quite naughty...yet very lovable. mom surprised keegan with tickets to the DAUGHTRY acoustic concert...keegan's favorite band. not only did we have 2nd row tickets, but we were able to hang out with the band after the concert, take pictures and get chris daughtry's autograph. i definitely won coolest mom of the year award that evening. and now i have created another 'groupie' in the family. we also celebrated best pal, missy 'elrisha' giorgi's 50th birthday! she is by far the hottest 50 year old mama i know from duluth to jamaica. as conroy would say, fe real, mon. next update: october. i promise. :)