Thankful & Thrifty: Hello Again (an update in photos!)

Where to begin? My goodness, it's been such a long time. I have really missed writing. Putting my thoughts down on paper helps me sort things out and "see" things more objectively. So I am back. I have contemplated how to bring you up to date on the Cliff household and have decided the best way to do so is in pictures. Here are our highlights:

We planted and are now harvesting from our little garden; here's a shot taken several weeks ago. We have been eating beets, cukes, lettuce and green beans and summer squash. Nothing better than fresh from the soil and into the pot. Mmmmmmm.

The boys finished school and a great season in track...undefeated conference champs! They've already started training for cross country in the fall:

Here's Will in the pole vault! (The doctor finally cleared him after having the broken back...)

Abby graduated as Valedictorian of her class. She rocked the night with her speech (no bias, of course), and you can see from the picture that she got some good laughs! We had a wonderful open house for her and she is so glad to be done. We have decided to postpone any major surgery on her face/mouth this summer as the general consensus is that it is going to be a very complicated and drawn out process (as long as 2 years), so we are opting to just get her wisdom teeth out and have one of the lower implants done at this point. She'll keep her upper "dentures",or flipper, for now! She is excited to go to Grove City College this fall and study her passion: literature & writing. Wonder where that gene came from?

Will turned 16 on his Dad's 48th birthday, May 30th. He has his permit, Abby has her license, Aaron is taking driver ed next week and I have a higher insurance payment! Yikes!

We were given a wonderful old boat by my dear cousins, Carl and Marge Monroe. It's a beauty, a wooden classic built by his own hands in the early 60s. We look forward to hauling it to Maine and dumping it in Duck Lake this summer. Here are the kids checking it out, Carl is in the background. At 90, he still goes in to work everyday. How's that for work ethic?? He also gave us the little sailboat in the foreground:

We sent Young Meen back to South Korea after spending 2.5 years with us. It sure is going to be strange without her! I miss her already.

We had a huge yard sale after I saw an ad in the paper that my neighbor was going to have one...free advertising! My skeptic husband was impressed that we only had a few boxes to take to the Salvation Army, and I am very happy that my house is decluttered and we had a sweet $260.00 to spend in FLORIDA!! Yes, my deal for the 6 free airline tickets worked (see post with the photo of Alec Baldwin) and I also scored Discovery Cove tickets that are normally $169 (for a non-dolphin swim) for $69! I'll share my secrets in a later post. We went on an airboat cuise on Lake Toho and the kids held baby gators...and we topped it all with a trip to Universal (Mike and I did the old person thing and went to Epcot...advantage of older kids!):