Saturday was my 39th birthday. My sister (left) and her family came to visit for a few days and we spent the day at a local lake. The guys took the canoe out, some of the kids went for a ride, we swam at the lake and enjoyed a not-as-hot-as-the-surface-of-the-sun kind of day.

Here are the 39 things we learned.

1. Some families have additional children so the older siblings can care for the younger ones. It isn't uncommon to see a 2 year old chasing after her 1 year old sister.

2. If you want to look like a freakin' ghost apply 110 SPF sunscreen for 20 minutes. Holy white! Ever hear about the benefits of vitamin D?

3. Bathing suits are not required at the lake. You can just go swimming in your underwear. Ugh.

4. Middle G has a butt knuckle and my sister knows how to crack it.

5. My son has no stranger danger. He asked a stranger to look after his raft and if he'd seen his cousin.

6. Wasp stings, especially on the bottom of you foot, hurt and thinking of puppies and sunshine doesn't really help.

7. Even though the park was overflowing with hammocks, they were not provided by the lake. In fact they are from El Salvador and no one there will speak enough English to understand you want to buy one.

8. The items people will cook on the park provided grills are seriously questionable.

9. It can be difficult to ascertain the gender of certain people.

10. Paddling the canoe is a lot of work, especially when you have two talkative tweens with you.

11. The park ranger may be more talkative than the tweens.

12. Always carry toliet paper in the van. You never know when you may need it.

13. When rushing to the aide of your son, make sure your swim suit is securely fastened or you will flash the canoes as they rush by.

14. If you have an exceptionally overweight child, make sure they have food in both of their hands at all times.

15. Spending time at the lake improves your singing.

16. People will assume you stole their raft before looking for the one they brought.

17. Strangers will try to get you to pull them on the raft.

18. Rocks will entertain kids for hours.

19. Speaking another language would be beneficial.

20. It's your birthday and you can do whatever you want is not a legal defense.

21. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you just can't work your crazy eye.

22. Fish do not like chocolate covered pretzels.

23. All purchases, from getting a soda to buying a hammock, should be discussed at great length.

24. It is impossible to take a decent picture of all five of our children.

25. My sister doesn't know how to count to 39.

26. An entire bag of doritos can disappear in less than 15 minutes.

27. Odd numbers of kids don't play even.

28. Love is in the air! Is what I was singing after every fight.

29. If people can't tell if you are with your son or your lover, you have a HUGE problem!

30. How can it be humanly possible for your brain to process information that slowly.

31. Nothing will ever happen the first time you say it.

32. My almost 8 year old son can still wear a 3T swimsuit and thinks "show me your muscles" means show me your rib cage. This picture should be on a feed the children commercial. Please note: there is food in his hand and he is fed regularly.

33. If you are dehydrated you will likely cry and not know why.

34. Xanax is highly recommended.

35. Some people are not spontaneous.

36. All kids think they know everything.

37. Throwing dead fish at your cousins or sisters is really funny, but mostly only to you.

38. Popping up out of the lake, pretending to be a lake monster, will make your Aunt scream.

39. One day at the lake is very educational.

Thanks for looking.  I really appreciate your comments.

Wow!  My weekend was a blur--a fast whirlwind adventure that I'm so glad my kids and I decided to undertake.

We had safe travel to and from North Carolina.  We arrived at my  mother's (in Virginia) around 6:30 p.m. on Friday.  We had super and tried to get the kids to bed at a reasonable time, but you know how that goes when you are sleeping away from home.

At 7:30 a.m. we were on the road again!  I'm happy to say that we made it to my sister's by 1 p.m. and that included a nice sit down brunch at Denny's.

On Saturday evening we went to a very informative and impressively well planned JDRF event that included a meal and some speakers and lots and lots of kids activities.


Here she is smilin' like a girly girl getting ready to blow out her candles.  The party had a cooking theme and each child got to make their own apron and pizza and icing their own cupcake.  It was a lot of fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

After the party, the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Baltimore Ravens in arousing game of football.  Some of my British friends asked me what I was talking about in my previous post so here is my pathetic attempt at an explaination.  As I'm sure you know, our version of football and your version of football vary slightly.  This weekend there were only four teams left.  The winners of those two games move on to the SUPERBOWL...which is the biggest game of all!

In the area of Pennsylvania where I grew up, the only team worth cheering for was the Steelers.  I yell at the TV when they are playing like a crazied woman, often to my children's amusement.  Now I live closer to Baltimore and in this area there are quite a few Baltimore Ravens fans.  The torture of losing to them would have been....well let's not think about it because....