Big Trip 5... Wow. I can't believe this is my fifth time touring the country with 3 kids in a minivan!
Day 1 - Monday - June 21, 2010
Woke up around 0645 after staying up entirely too late last night. That does not bode well for the driving today! I was able to upload my client's digi book (phew) without any technical difficulties this morning. Then time to get the kids' wardrobe for the next month set then get those kids off to school for their last day. A quick stop at Parkwood to get Mrs. K's email address and say good-bye to a couple other teachers. Back home to finish the packing and start loading the car (Ron loaded the camping gear yesterday after he put the roof-box on).
Noon and I think I'm pretty much ready. Remembered that I needed to register the brownie troop for next year (oops - forgot that one on my to-do list!). Attempted to do it real quick before I went to school to pick up the kids. No can do. Technical difficulties galore. Oh well. So much for early-bird registration. Guess we'll do regular registration sometime later in the summer.
Drop off teacher gifts and pick up the kids. Back home to dump the school stuff and pick up our fun trip bags. Last minute items into the car (almost forgot my cell phone charger!) and a photo with Vacation Mouse. Finally, it is time to hit the road.
1:53 p.m. Loaded and ready to go. Temperature, a sunny, steamy 87 degrees. Beginning mileage on the car = 70,049 (aren't you impressed that I actually remembered to write that down?!)
1:57 p.m. Jo (a.k.a. Joette, a.k.a. GPS Lady) is mad at me already. Recalculating... Little did we know that this was just the beginning of Jo's bad day...
2:10 p.m. Mom called to talk to the kids.
2:51 p.m. These kids are killing me with the snacks! I can smell slim jims and brownies and it's making me hungry!
3:13 p.m. West Virginia
3:17 p.m. Our first cow sighting of the trip. Yay!
3:23 p.m. We're off the road and Jo is lost! Guess they built a new highway here recently that's not on her map.
3:25 p.m. Crossing the Lost River. But we can't see it. That's because it's lost. Get it - the LOST river?!?
3:26 p.m. Felisa is taking pictures for me of all the nice scenery. Also, crazy pictures of Bella. Can't wait to see what comes out. Haha!
3:45 p.m. McD's in Moorefield, WV. Bathroom break and grab some food. We're all hungry! Check the map (since Jo doesn't want us to go this way I need to know which way I'm trying to go rather than relying on her instructions. Did I mention Jo is having a bad day? Recalculating...)
4:00 p.m. Leaving McD's. Stuck behind a big, slow truck.
4:20 p.m. Oh look - a nice park with a playground next to a river. Let's stop! This is the South Branch of the Potomac River. The kids run off to the playground first. I see Ryan sliding down the slide, standing up, sliding down backwards. Yikes! That looks dangerous! And I have no idea where the nearest hospital is. Tell the kids they can go down to the river. We take our shoes off and wade in the warm shallow water for a few minutes.
4:46 p.m. Leaving the park. A nice break but we'd better get going or we'll never make it to Ohio tonight!
5:12 p.m. Champe Rocks - cool looking.
5:18 p.m. Seneca Rocks. Another cool looking place. But no time to stop!
5:26 p.m. Pass a semi on a switchback. We're headed up and he's headed down. His brakes are smoking!
5:28 p.m. Made it to the top! Allegheny Mountain, 3295 feet, Eastern Continental Divide. The sign says there is a 9% grade going down the other side. No wonder that truck's brakes were smoking! We also see our first sheep grazing at the pass.
5:42 p.m. Middle Mountain, 3190 feet.
5:44 p.m. Cones in the road. I wonder why. Oh I see now - a broken down RV on the side of the road.
5:45 p.m. And now we're passing a tractor hauling two hay bales - one on the front and one on the back.
5:55 p.m. Cheat Mountain (missed the elevation on this one)
5:59 p.m. Elkins, WV We saw a cool old building and a statue of Henry Cassaway Davis.
6:41 p.m. See goats and more farmers loading hay. Must be hay-harvesting season.
6:45 p.m. Mom called again to talk to Felisa (the signal dropped during her earlier call) but Felisa is asleep in the back.
7:02 p.m. Clarksburg, WV. Gas, $2.74/gallon. A treat - stop at A&W for a snack. I'm happy to eat there since we hardly ever get to go to A&W but the girls opt out and just refill their water bottles. Ryan gets a hot dog with mustard and a root beer. I hope there's no caffeine in that root beer!
7:23 p.m. Finally getting back on the road from this stop.
Jo -"Continue 76 miles."
Me - "76 miles!?! We'll never make it."
Felisa - "That's not true. We'll make it."
8:11 p.m. Bella is teaching Felisa the cardinal directions chant. "N-E-S-W that's the way my body's going." This goes on for a surprising long time.
8:19 p.m. Well, I'm certainly tired of driving for today. And I think Ryan was feeling a bit carsick earlier from all the curvy mountain roads. But the advantage of taking this route is that there is hardly any traffic out here at all. And lots of great scenery.
8:31 p.m. First Sonic sign!
8:34 p.m. We're stuck in WV!!! The highway signs tell us to go one way. Jo tells us to go another way. We're driving off the map and in circles! Help us! We just want to cross the river into Ohio!!! The girls are in the back, cheering Jo on - "Here we go Jo-ette, here we go!" Ryan says that he is about to lose faith in Jo for today when we finally get headed in the right direction.
8:41 p.m. Ohio!!! But we're on Business Route 50, not regular Route 50. Why, Jo, why?!?
8:47 p.m. See a sign - Barns in stock, ready for delivery. Great! Maybe I'll order one. But how do they deliver a big ol' barn?
8:57 p.m. Must be sunset. Jo has switched to night mode.
9:01 p.m. Ryan is impressed that it is still light outside this late. It's the summer solstice and we are racing the sun to the hotel. Will we make it before dark?
9:04 p.m. See a tractor working in the field with headlights. I don't think I've ever seen a tractor with headlights. Maybe I just don't go out after dark.
9:10 p.m. So I'm driving at 60 mph. How fast is the sun moving away from me? How fast is the earth spinning? (A quick internet search comes up with 700 mph. Hmm. Guess the sun just might win this race!)
9:25 p.m. Made it to the hotel. The sun won. But barely!
Get checked in and changed for swimming. Head to the pool at 9:50. Our room key doesn't work at the pool. Finally get in around 10. Something tells me we're going to be up late tonight...
10:50 p.m. Finally headed back to the room. Showers and pj's for the kids. As I'm helping Bella with her swimsuit, she accidentally bumps me. Then she says, "Sorry but I don't have eyes in the back of my head like you do." How funny is that!
And now everyone is hungry so I head out to the car to grab some snacks from the snack box. I'm missing my nightly before-bed glass of milk tonight. It'll take a few days to get out of that routine so that I'm not missing it as much.
11:30 p.m. Change the channel to something boring (the local weather radar) and force the children to go to bed. After all, they need to get plenty of rest so they will be ready to ride in the car all day tomorrow! Haha!
Tomorrow... 500 miles to Grandma's house!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Rollercoasters!
Ryan on roller coasters...
Ryan - "Whenever there is an ascent, there is also a descent."
Me - "So you mean what goes up, must come down?"
Ryan - "Yeah. And..."
(and he continues to stick with the ascent/descent theme for a while, completely disregarding my perfectly good cliche.)
Bella rode the Wildcat with Ryan while I sat out with Felisa (she's not tall enough). That Aerosmith ride at Disney with Ron must have made her tough enough to ride more rollercoasters.
Felisa went on a rollercoaster that went upside down! The Super Dooper Looper. The name implies and upside-down loop. But I didn't think she was big enough to ride a rollercoaster that goes upside down. Apparently, I was wrong! The line was super short so we rode twice in a row. Whee!
Ryan - "Whenever there is an ascent, there is also a descent."
Me - "So you mean what goes up, must come down?"
Ryan - "Yeah. And..."
(and he continues to stick with the ascent/descent theme for a while, completely disregarding my perfectly good cliche.)
Bella rode the Wildcat with Ryan while I sat out with Felisa (she's not tall enough). That Aerosmith ride at Disney with Ron must have made her tough enough to ride more rollercoasters.
Felisa went on a rollercoaster that went upside down! The Super Dooper Looper. The name implies and upside-down loop. But I didn't think she was big enough to ride a rollercoaster that goes upside down. Apparently, I was wrong! The line was super short so we rode twice in a row. Whee!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Day at the Beach
Ron took Melissa and the kids to Ocean City today. I got to stay home and clean, clean, clean. I have to admit, I was glad to see them finally come home so that I could stop cleaning and not feel guilty for stopping!
They went through a mirror maze while on the boardwalk. Apparently there was a guy inside who told them that he is paid $5/hour to confuse the people in the maze. It worked, they said. Also, Bella and Felisa both said that's the job they want to have when they get older. Too funny!
It sounds like they had a good day. Spent four hours on the beach and came home with varying amounts of sunburn. I think that much time in the sun would have killed me. Very thankful to have been home.
I have challenged the kids to keep the house clean until they go back to school on Tuesday. Can we do it?
They went through a mirror maze while on the boardwalk. Apparently there was a guy inside who told them that he is paid $5/hour to confuse the people in the maze. It worked, they said. Also, Bella and Felisa both said that's the job they want to have when they get older. Too funny!
It sounds like they had a good day. Spent four hours on the beach and came home with varying amounts of sunburn. I think that much time in the sun would have killed me. Very thankful to have been home.
I have challenged the kids to keep the house clean until they go back to school on Tuesday. Can we do it?
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Bits and Pieces
*Miracle of all miracles - Ryan is voluntarily practicing his cello. It's the first time in months he's played it outside of school! I hate to break it up but it's almost time to go - to school!
*My new dryer is here! I was the lucky winner of the 7-9 a.m. delivery window and they were in and out before 8:15. It fits perfectly in the spot and doesn't look like it will be eating my clothes like the last one was! Since it's raining today, I might just have to give it a test drive with a few loads of laundry instead of hanging them to dry. Thanks Mom and Dad Racinez for the dryer! We love you!
*My hero, Ron, bought me a new laptop. It was a very rush-rush last minute affair. I found out on Saturday morning that the motherboard on my old laptop was the problem and it's not worth it to repair. So he had about 24 hours to find me a new one so that I can get busy on my client's project (the client asked me about it Friday afternoon and so I could delay no longer).
*I put out a donation for Purple Heart today. I really hope they come pick it up. I also really hope it stays dry in those black garbage bags since today is another rainy day.
*I'm going to pick up a new bread machine on Freecycle today. Yay! My old one bit the dust last week and I was the winner of the one offered over the weekend. This is good since all the bread machine money (and then some!) went to the new laptop.
And now we have to go or we'll be late for school!
*My new dryer is here! I was the lucky winner of the 7-9 a.m. delivery window and they were in and out before 8:15. It fits perfectly in the spot and doesn't look like it will be eating my clothes like the last one was! Since it's raining today, I might just have to give it a test drive with a few loads of laundry instead of hanging them to dry. Thanks Mom and Dad Racinez for the dryer! We love you!
*My hero, Ron, bought me a new laptop. It was a very rush-rush last minute affair. I found out on Saturday morning that the motherboard on my old laptop was the problem and it's not worth it to repair. So he had about 24 hours to find me a new one so that I can get busy on my client's project (the client asked me about it Friday afternoon and so I could delay no longer).
*I put out a donation for Purple Heart today. I really hope they come pick it up. I also really hope it stays dry in those black garbage bags since today is another rainy day.
*I'm going to pick up a new bread machine on Freecycle today. Yay! My old one bit the dust last week and I was the winner of the one offered over the weekend. This is good since all the bread machine money (and then some!) went to the new laptop.
And now we have to go or we'll be late for school!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Ryan and Felisa
Felisa to Ryan: You're going to be 11 soon. And pretty soon you are going to move out of this house. (she counts from 10 to 16 to demonstrate)
Ryan to Felisa: That's still a lot of years!
Ryan to Felisa: That's still a lot of years!
Bella
The part needed to fix my laptop screen has arrived. Yay! Now I just need to set a time to turn it in for repair. Then I will have my laptop back to use as a laptop again. Woo hoo! I can take it up to my room and lie in bed while I work. I'm so happy about that! I'm getting rather behind on all of my scrapping/blogging projects as you may have noticed by my lack of follow-up to my week in the life project (among other absences).
Bella's First Communion was this weekend. Ron's parents were here as was Dad. A nice visit all around.
I am cleaning out the kids' craft area this afternoon. I found this written on a paper. Since it is all about Bella and this weekend was all about Bella, it seemed like a great time to post it.
Eye color: Brown
Body color: Peach
Favorite Accessory: Care Bear
Likes: Frisbee
Dislikes: Fevers
Favorite Food: hot dog from Foster's Grille
Most likely to say: No
Other than the frisbee answer, it sums her up exactly in my opinion. And Frisbee may have been her "thing of the moment" when she wrote this.
Now I'm going to put this in her special stuff drawer in her room then get back to work downstairs.
Bella's First Communion was this weekend. Ron's parents were here as was Dad. A nice visit all around.
I am cleaning out the kids' craft area this afternoon. I found this written on a paper. Since it is all about Bella and this weekend was all about Bella, it seemed like a great time to post it.
Eye color: Brown
Body color: Peach
Favorite Accessory: Care Bear
Likes: Frisbee
Dislikes: Fevers
Favorite Food: hot dog from Foster's Grille
Most likely to say: No
Other than the frisbee answer, it sums her up exactly in my opinion. And Frisbee may have been her "thing of the moment" when she wrote this.
Now I'm going to put this in her special stuff drawer in her room then get back to work downstairs.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday
Up around 0545 or so...
0600 I'm dressed and ready to go work out. Grab my Luna Bar and water bottle to head out. Notice that Bella is no longer sleeping on the couch (she came down last night while Kim and I were talking) so I make sure she is back in her bed, not out wandering the streets somewhere.
0710 Home from working out. Get Darby up and out. Get a cup of coffee.
0715 Check email... chess club this week! Add it to the calendar.
0723 Empty the dishwasher.
0730 Put away the dry dishes that have been in the dish drainer for too long. Organize the empty jars and put them away. The dishwasher has water left in the bottom so I start the Drain Cycle.
0748 Wake up Ryan and Felisa (Bella is already up)
0750 Ron leaves for work.
0800 Kim tells me that the hair dryer from the kids' bathroom isn't working. Turns on and heats up but no air is blowing. Gets very hot very fast! Executive decision - that one is going in the trash right now!
0802 Time to make breakfast.
0808 Breakfast is served. Oatmeal and Corn Pops. Ryan asks me why I am taking so many pictures today. I tell him that it is Week In The Life week.
0815 Eleanor stops by to say good morning to the kids.
0819 Tell the kids to get dressed. Weather Report is long pants today.
0823 Zoe is here. Her dad dropped her off.
0831 Throw in a load of laundry before we head out.
0834 Leaving the house. Only a few minutes behind schedule!
0842 Drop Kim at the Metro Kiss and Ride. She is headed to DC for some meetings then flying back home to AL tonight.
0845 Drop the kids off at the school Kiss and Ride.
0849 Back home. Move the deer antler out of the driveway and back into the garden. Broke a couple tips off when I backed over it but it's still mostly intact (minus the squirrel tooth marks!).
0851 Feed Darby. He's glad I didn't forget him. I think he was probably nervous when we all left the house and he hadn't been fed yet!
0857 Dentist office called to remind me of my appointment tomorrow. Guess that means the card I found in my purse last week was a current one. I have been known to call the office about my appointment time/date because I wasn't sure if the card was from this year or some other past year. Patty was laughing at me when I told her I had done it again!
0900 - 0939 Paying bills.
0942 Laundry
0945 Grab my MP3 player and take Darby out for a walk.
1009 Back from the walk. Check emails.
1018 I'm too hungry to think. Grab a slice of bologna out of the frig.
1020 Need to make the menu plan for this week.
1023 Still too hungry to think. Warm up a slice of leftover pizza to eat.
1045 A menu plan is somewhat done. I have figured out that I do not need to go to the store today so now I can move on to other things.
1049 and then some... Email two potential clients to set up appointments for this week. Remember that I never activated the Presto Pay for the PTA's gift card orders. Oops! Get that done. Watch the online registration tutorial for the Girl Scouts. Update my calendar with my to do's for the week. Check in on the Simplify 101 message boards. Attempt to clean my desk. Right away I find Christmas cards that need addresses and were never sent. Shani calls so we talk for a bit, catching up on our weekend happenings.
12:35 p.m. School's almost out - better hit McD's for lunch before I pick them up.
1:00 p.m. At school. A bunch of Teacher Wish Lists for gift cards were there -yay!
1:30 p.m. Home again. Homework time. Look up latin roots for Ryan. Address the last two Christmas cards for 2009 now that I have received the updated addresses. I need to clean out/purge/organize the homework basket but that may have to wait until another day. Assorted laundry tasks, email, clutter control etc.
3:00 p.m. Take the girls to Grandma's house but no one is home. Maybe they went for a walk.
3:30 p.m. Picked weeds outside when I got back from Grandma's and Felisa watered the flowers. Now it's time to make dinner and take a shower before baseball.
3:45 p.m. Carlin from the school office called. Bella borrowed lunch money from the office last month but it was never paid back. Got it in an envelope to go back tomorrow.
4:15 p.m. Grandma D is here. Bella goes with her. Felisa stays because it is her turn to play with Ryan on the PS2.
4:35 p.m. Dinner is in the oven. Cheese and sausage are cut and packed to bring to the game for snack. Shower time!
5:15 Leave for baseball.
6:40 p.m. Ron arrives at the game on his way home from work. Gets a chili dog from the snack bar. Then he heads home to be there when the girls come back.
7:45 p.m. or so... the game is finally over. Ryan is upset because he was in the outfield all game except the inning he played catcher (which he doesn't like) and he struck out twice.
Talk to Ron about the game when I got home. Then Jacob stopped by to bring Ryan a snowcone from the snack bar to cheer him up. Such a nice friend!
Check emails. I can hear the kids playing together on the PS2. They are laughing and having a great time. I hate to disrupt the fun but it is getting to be bedtime.
My back is tired from my workout this morning plus my two hours spent sitting on the bleachers. I miss my laptop... I want to take my computer upstairs and lie down! Do the dishes again, give the kids their allergy meds, and fetch some clean pj pants from the basement for Ryan.
9:38 p.m. Put Darby out one last time. Get my snack of cheesy pretzels and milk. It is finally bedtime! Ron is watching 24. Apparently there are only 6 hours left. My thoughts are that a lot can go wrong in 6 hours. How many more times will Jack Bauer almost die? Ultimately the good guys will win, of course. After 24, the 10:00 news. I watch the weather and the latest on the volcano in Iceland and the ash cloud over Europe. Then I'm asleep. Such a long day today!
0600 I'm dressed and ready to go work out. Grab my Luna Bar and water bottle to head out. Notice that Bella is no longer sleeping on the couch (she came down last night while Kim and I were talking) so I make sure she is back in her bed, not out wandering the streets somewhere.
0710 Home from working out. Get Darby up and out. Get a cup of coffee.
0715 Check email... chess club this week! Add it to the calendar.
0723 Empty the dishwasher.
0730 Put away the dry dishes that have been in the dish drainer for too long. Organize the empty jars and put them away. The dishwasher has water left in the bottom so I start the Drain Cycle.
0748 Wake up Ryan and Felisa (Bella is already up)
0750 Ron leaves for work.
0800 Kim tells me that the hair dryer from the kids' bathroom isn't working. Turns on and heats up but no air is blowing. Gets very hot very fast! Executive decision - that one is going in the trash right now!
0802 Time to make breakfast.
0808 Breakfast is served. Oatmeal and Corn Pops. Ryan asks me why I am taking so many pictures today. I tell him that it is Week In The Life week.
0815 Eleanor stops by to say good morning to the kids.
0819 Tell the kids to get dressed. Weather Report is long pants today.
0823 Zoe is here. Her dad dropped her off.
0831 Throw in a load of laundry before we head out.
0834 Leaving the house. Only a few minutes behind schedule!
0842 Drop Kim at the Metro Kiss and Ride. She is headed to DC for some meetings then flying back home to AL tonight.
0845 Drop the kids off at the school Kiss and Ride.
0849 Back home. Move the deer antler out of the driveway and back into the garden. Broke a couple tips off when I backed over it but it's still mostly intact (minus the squirrel tooth marks!).
0851 Feed Darby. He's glad I didn't forget him. I think he was probably nervous when we all left the house and he hadn't been fed yet!
0857 Dentist office called to remind me of my appointment tomorrow. Guess that means the card I found in my purse last week was a current one. I have been known to call the office about my appointment time/date because I wasn't sure if the card was from this year or some other past year. Patty was laughing at me when I told her I had done it again!
0900 - 0939 Paying bills.
0942 Laundry
0945 Grab my MP3 player and take Darby out for a walk.
1009 Back from the walk. Check emails.
1018 I'm too hungry to think. Grab a slice of bologna out of the frig.
1020 Need to make the menu plan for this week.
1023 Still too hungry to think. Warm up a slice of leftover pizza to eat.
1045 A menu plan is somewhat done. I have figured out that I do not need to go to the store today so now I can move on to other things.
1049 and then some... Email two potential clients to set up appointments for this week. Remember that I never activated the Presto Pay for the PTA's gift card orders. Oops! Get that done. Watch the online registration tutorial for the Girl Scouts. Update my calendar with my to do's for the week. Check in on the Simplify 101 message boards. Attempt to clean my desk. Right away I find Christmas cards that need addresses and were never sent. Shani calls so we talk for a bit, catching up on our weekend happenings.
12:35 p.m. School's almost out - better hit McD's for lunch before I pick them up.
1:00 p.m. At school. A bunch of Teacher Wish Lists for gift cards were there -yay!
1:30 p.m. Home again. Homework time. Look up latin roots for Ryan. Address the last two Christmas cards for 2009 now that I have received the updated addresses. I need to clean out/purge/organize the homework basket but that may have to wait until another day. Assorted laundry tasks, email, clutter control etc.
3:00 p.m. Take the girls to Grandma's house but no one is home. Maybe they went for a walk.
3:30 p.m. Picked weeds outside when I got back from Grandma's and Felisa watered the flowers. Now it's time to make dinner and take a shower before baseball.
3:45 p.m. Carlin from the school office called. Bella borrowed lunch money from the office last month but it was never paid back. Got it in an envelope to go back tomorrow.
4:15 p.m. Grandma D is here. Bella goes with her. Felisa stays because it is her turn to play with Ryan on the PS2.
4:35 p.m. Dinner is in the oven. Cheese and sausage are cut and packed to bring to the game for snack. Shower time!
5:15 Leave for baseball.
6:40 p.m. Ron arrives at the game on his way home from work. Gets a chili dog from the snack bar. Then he heads home to be there when the girls come back.
7:45 p.m. or so... the game is finally over. Ryan is upset because he was in the outfield all game except the inning he played catcher (which he doesn't like) and he struck out twice.
Talk to Ron about the game when I got home. Then Jacob stopped by to bring Ryan a snowcone from the snack bar to cheer him up. Such a nice friend!
Check emails. I can hear the kids playing together on the PS2. They are laughing and having a great time. I hate to disrupt the fun but it is getting to be bedtime.
My back is tired from my workout this morning plus my two hours spent sitting on the bleachers. I miss my laptop... I want to take my computer upstairs and lie down! Do the dishes again, give the kids their allergy meds, and fetch some clean pj pants from the basement for Ryan.
9:38 p.m. Put Darby out one last time. Get my snack of cheesy pretzels and milk. It is finally bedtime! Ron is watching 24. Apparently there are only 6 hours left. My thoughts are that a lot can go wrong in 6 hours. How many more times will Jack Bauer almost die? Ultimately the good guys will win, of course. After 24, the 10:00 news. I watch the weather and the latest on the volcano in Iceland and the ash cloud over Europe. Then I'm asleep. Such a long day today!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Julie, Julia, and Sheila
I finally got to watch Julie and Julia today. And of course I had to multi-task. To just sit and (only) watch a movie just doesn't happen. Appropriately (I think), I chose to cook while watching. I made a Haitian cake (mini cupcakes actually) for Thinking Day tonight. And peeled apples for a batch of applesauce. I picked up my farm food today and included in this month's share - 15 pounds of apples!!! We won't talk about how I hadn't touched the peck of apples from last month. But now I have 5 left from last month and a batch of applesauce simmering away.
I enjoyed the movie. Even though I enjoy cooking, I don't think I could stand up to a year of intense cooking like that!
In other news:
*It looks like we dodged the snow bullet this time. I have to admit though that a tiny bit of me is sorry we didn't get another big storm. I must be crazy to want more snow drama.
*The kids have become my boot police. Each of them on separate occasions have said to me, "Aren't you supposed to be wearing your boot?" My standard reply... "I'll put it on later after I take my shower and get dressed." I like to think of it as ankle exercise to walk around bootless in my pj's in the mornings. I go back next Tuesday for a checkup. Hope it's good news! And in case you're wondering, I'm not wearing my boot right now either. I went out to the compost bin in the back and though most of the mud is frozen, I still needed to give my boot a bath when I came back inside. I promise I'll put it on before I go to school to get the kids!
I enjoyed the movie. Even though I enjoy cooking, I don't think I could stand up to a year of intense cooking like that!
In other news:
*It looks like we dodged the snow bullet this time. I have to admit though that a tiny bit of me is sorry we didn't get another big storm. I must be crazy to want more snow drama.
*The kids have become my boot police. Each of them on separate occasions have said to me, "Aren't you supposed to be wearing your boot?" My standard reply... "I'll put it on later after I take my shower and get dressed." I like to think of it as ankle exercise to walk around bootless in my pj's in the mornings. I go back next Tuesday for a checkup. Hope it's good news! And in case you're wondering, I'm not wearing my boot right now either. I went out to the compost bin in the back and though most of the mud is frozen, I still needed to give my boot a bath when I came back inside. I promise I'll put it on before I go to school to get the kids!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sorry!
So there in my email inbox is a note from the National Weather Service... Winter Storm Watch. 5 inches or more. Huh. I think the jury is still out - lots of weather reports are showing the snow as being farther north again this time.
Fast forward a little... I went downstairs to hang the latest load of laundry to dry. I had washed all the towels that had been on the floor catching snowy boots, mittens, etc. I didn't need them anymore so decided to wash them and put them away. Oh so efficient. And then it hit me... It's going to snow. No doubt about it. This is just like when I wash the kids' sheets and then that very night, someone has an accident. Wash the snow towels - a snowstorm comes riding in.
Also, the dentist called yesterday. The kids have an appointment Thursday afternoon. It always snows or rains when we go to the dentist. So that pretty much seals the deal, I think.
So I'd like to apologize in advance to all my snow-weary friends out there... Sorry!
Fast forward a little... I went downstairs to hang the latest load of laundry to dry. I had washed all the towels that had been on the floor catching snowy boots, mittens, etc. I didn't need them anymore so decided to wash them and put them away. Oh so efficient. And then it hit me... It's going to snow. No doubt about it. This is just like when I wash the kids' sheets and then that very night, someone has an accident. Wash the snow towels - a snowstorm comes riding in.
Also, the dentist called yesterday. The kids have an appointment Thursday afternoon. It always snows or rains when we go to the dentist. So that pretty much seals the deal, I think.
So I'd like to apologize in advance to all my snow-weary friends out there... Sorry!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
It's history: Winter 2009-2010 snowiest on record - Capital Weather Gang
It's history: Winter 2009-2010 snowiest on record - Capital Weather Gang: "...PRELIMINARY ALL-TIME SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORDS SET AT THE THREE MAJOR CLIMATE SITES IN THE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON AREA...
AS OF 2 PM TODAY...WITH THE 9.8 INCH TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL MEASURED AT RONALD REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT...THE SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL IN WASHINGTON DC STANDS AT 54.9 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD FOR WASHINGTON DC OF 54.4 INCHES SET IN THE WINTER OF 1898-99. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR WASHINGTON DC DATE BACK 126 YEARS TO 1884.
AS OF 1 PM TODAY...WITH THE 11.9 INCH TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL MEASURED AT BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT...THE SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL IN BALTIMORE STANDS AT 72.3 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD FOR BALTIMORE OF 62.5 INCHES SET IN THE WINTER OF 1995-96. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR BALTIMORE DATE BACK 118 YEARS TO 1893.
FINALLY...AS OF YESTERDAY...THIS YEARS SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL AT DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT STOOD AT 63.5 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE PREVIOUS SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD OF 61.9 INCHES SET IN 1995-96. AS OF 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON...THE TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL AT DULLES IS 8.5 INCHES...WHICH WOULD MAKE THIS YEARS SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL 72.0 INCHES. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR DULLES DATE BACK 48 YEARS TO 1962.
THESE PRELIMINARY STORM TOTALS ARE AS OF THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 10 FEB 2010...AND WILL BE UPDATED AFTER THE CURRENT SNOW HAS ENDED."
AS OF 2 PM TODAY...WITH THE 9.8 INCH TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL MEASURED AT RONALD REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT...THE SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL IN WASHINGTON DC STANDS AT 54.9 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD FOR WASHINGTON DC OF 54.4 INCHES SET IN THE WINTER OF 1898-99. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR WASHINGTON DC DATE BACK 126 YEARS TO 1884.
AS OF 1 PM TODAY...WITH THE 11.9 INCH TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL MEASURED AT BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT...THE SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL IN BALTIMORE STANDS AT 72.3 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD FOR BALTIMORE OF 62.5 INCHES SET IN THE WINTER OF 1995-96. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR BALTIMORE DATE BACK 118 YEARS TO 1893.
FINALLY...AS OF YESTERDAY...THIS YEARS SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL AT DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT STOOD AT 63.5 INCHES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE PREVIOUS SEASONAL SNOWFALL RECORD OF 61.9 INCHES SET IN 1995-96. AS OF 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON...THE TWO-DAY SNOWFALL TOTAL AT DULLES IS 8.5 INCHES...WHICH WOULD MAKE THIS YEARS SEASONAL SNOWFALL TOTAL 72.0 INCHES. OFFICIAL SNOWFALL RECORDS FOR DULLES DATE BACK 48 YEARS TO 1962.
THESE PRELIMINARY STORM TOTALS ARE AS OF THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON 10 FEB 2010...AND WILL BE UPDATED AFTER THE CURRENT SNOW HAS ENDED."
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
I got the boot!
{background theme song playing... "I fought the stairs and the stairs won"}
So late Saturday afternoon, after a few hours of shoveling insane amounts of snow and continuously commenting in amazement about the insane amounts of snow, I went inside to defrost and rest. Then I made dinner and did the dishes. Next on the list of things to do... take a shower and get ready to go schlepping through the snow to scrap with my buddy. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a clutz by nature so when I decided to go close the curtain on the back door, instead I missed the step, twisted my ankle as I fell and screamed bloody murder (and lots of obscenities) while I lie writhing in pain on the floor trying to catch my breath. The curtain remained open. After a few minutes I gathered myself together and crawled back up the steps (there are only two steps there - a very dangerous two steps down which many people have fallen over the years though all with less pain and injury), through the kitchen to the living room. Pulled myself up onto the couch, put my leg up on the back of the couch and watched Ron outside clearing off the car. (The kids had all gone up the street to Grandma D's house so only Darby was a witness to my fall.) Debated whether or not to knock on the window and ask for help. Decided I might need the car to get to the emergency room so left him alone to work. Then my scrap buddy called me back to see if all was okay (okay, so maybe there was one other witness to at least the verbal portion of my fall!). I gave her the bad news that I would NOT in fact be going to her house that night. Then I crawled back to the kitchen (did I mention that I heard a snap when I fell? I could bear weight but didn't want to make anything worse than it already was), pulled myself up, turned off the stove, covered the soup, made myself and ice pack and then hopped/crawled my way upstairs to my room. Propped it up with ice and waited for Ron to discover my predicament.
Dr. Google said it might be broken, might be a sprain. Recommended RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) of which I was already doing 3 of the 4. Had Ron wrap my foot/ankle with an ace bandage. Popped a few Motrin. Decided to sleep on it and decide whether or not I wanted to go to the ER on Sunday. (Remember the 2+ feet of snow and barely-plowed roads?)
Sunday I talked to some friends and emailed Dr. Julie (sometimes it pays to have a college friend who becomes a pediatric orthopedic surgeon!) who was nice enough to humor me and give me an email consultation. She recommended staying OFF the foot because if it was broken, it could be made worse by walking on it, potentially even bad enough to need surgery. I had seen that exact same thing happen to someone else a year or so ago so I was already paranoid about that and definitely staying off my foot. Ron brought the crutches up from the basement so I could crutch around more and hop less. I decided to just wait until Monday to see the doctor because if it was broken, the ER wouldn't cast me and would just send me to the ortho anyway. Saving time and money and stress by staying in bed another day seemed like a perfectly good option to me.
Monday morning... there is still way too much snow outside. All the schools and even the federal government are closed. And so are the first 3 doctor's offices I call. Finally I call the doctor that mom had used. He was doing surgeries on Monday but had an opening Tuesday morning. I took it! And then spent another entire day in bed. The good news though is that I got the last few monthes worth of digital pictures backed up onto the external hard drive and I am almost completely done with the digital album of our trip to Disney last January.
And now... I have been to see the doctor. My ankle is not broken just sprained. I have a walking boot and go back in 3 weeks for a follow-up. And my "vacation" is over. Oh and that trip down the long icy driveway this morning was a bit nerve-wracking. If my ankle wasn't already broken, I thought for sure it might be by the time I got to the doctor's office! Also, my ankle actually hurts more now that I'm walking on it with my boot. So I must remember to take frequent breaks and rest my foot - not get too drunk on this re-found freedom! All the fun of my housework is just too much to resist sometimes. ha ha.
This experience has allowed me to recognize a few blessings in my life.
*My children took excellent care of me - brought me breakfast in bed twice. And when they remembered to, came up to check on me periodically. Also, if they could hear my yelling, they would come running to help me with whatever I needed (usually a glass of water).
*Ron got the crutches out for me. Did pretty much all of the shoveling. And generally held the fort down while I was out of commission. I know being snowed in for days is not his favorite thing and having a broken wife on top of it is even worse, but he handled it all very well.
*I have lots of friends who care about me and who will keep me company over the phone while I convalesce. They also offered to cook or chauffeur or whatever I need. I love my village!
*While I am not in fabulous shape, I am thankful for how fit I *am*. Getting around on crutches is hard and I'm sore. I can't even imagine how impossible it would have been to crutch and to jump up stairs and to balance on one leg if I hadn't been going to my exercise class (fairly) regularly over the past 4 years.
*I can walk!
So late Saturday afternoon, after a few hours of shoveling insane amounts of snow and continuously commenting in amazement about the insane amounts of snow, I went inside to defrost and rest. Then I made dinner and did the dishes. Next on the list of things to do... take a shower and get ready to go schlepping through the snow to scrap with my buddy. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a clutz by nature so when I decided to go close the curtain on the back door, instead I missed the step, twisted my ankle as I fell and screamed bloody murder (and lots of obscenities) while I lie writhing in pain on the floor trying to catch my breath. The curtain remained open. After a few minutes I gathered myself together and crawled back up the steps (there are only two steps there - a very dangerous two steps down which many people have fallen over the years though all with less pain and injury), through the kitchen to the living room. Pulled myself up onto the couch, put my leg up on the back of the couch and watched Ron outside clearing off the car. (The kids had all gone up the street to Grandma D's house so only Darby was a witness to my fall.) Debated whether or not to knock on the window and ask for help. Decided I might need the car to get to the emergency room so left him alone to work. Then my scrap buddy called me back to see if all was okay (okay, so maybe there was one other witness to at least the verbal portion of my fall!). I gave her the bad news that I would NOT in fact be going to her house that night. Then I crawled back to the kitchen (did I mention that I heard a snap when I fell? I could bear weight but didn't want to make anything worse than it already was), pulled myself up, turned off the stove, covered the soup, made myself and ice pack and then hopped/crawled my way upstairs to my room. Propped it up with ice and waited for Ron to discover my predicament.
Dr. Google said it might be broken, might be a sprain. Recommended RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) of which I was already doing 3 of the 4. Had Ron wrap my foot/ankle with an ace bandage. Popped a few Motrin. Decided to sleep on it and decide whether or not I wanted to go to the ER on Sunday. (Remember the 2+ feet of snow and barely-plowed roads?)
Sunday I talked to some friends and emailed Dr. Julie (sometimes it pays to have a college friend who becomes a pediatric orthopedic surgeon!) who was nice enough to humor me and give me an email consultation. She recommended staying OFF the foot because if it was broken, it could be made worse by walking on it, potentially even bad enough to need surgery. I had seen that exact same thing happen to someone else a year or so ago so I was already paranoid about that and definitely staying off my foot. Ron brought the crutches up from the basement so I could crutch around more and hop less. I decided to just wait until Monday to see the doctor because if it was broken, the ER wouldn't cast me and would just send me to the ortho anyway. Saving time and money and stress by staying in bed another day seemed like a perfectly good option to me.
Monday morning... there is still way too much snow outside. All the schools and even the federal government are closed. And so are the first 3 doctor's offices I call. Finally I call the doctor that mom had used. He was doing surgeries on Monday but had an opening Tuesday morning. I took it! And then spent another entire day in bed. The good news though is that I got the last few monthes worth of digital pictures backed up onto the external hard drive and I am almost completely done with the digital album of our trip to Disney last January.
And now... I have been to see the doctor. My ankle is not broken just sprained. I have a walking boot and go back in 3 weeks for a follow-up. And my "vacation" is over. Oh and that trip down the long icy driveway this morning was a bit nerve-wracking. If my ankle wasn't already broken, I thought for sure it might be by the time I got to the doctor's office! Also, my ankle actually hurts more now that I'm walking on it with my boot. So I must remember to take frequent breaks and rest my foot - not get too drunk on this re-found freedom! All the fun of my housework is just too much to resist sometimes. ha ha.
This experience has allowed me to recognize a few blessings in my life.
*My children took excellent care of me - brought me breakfast in bed twice. And when they remembered to, came up to check on me periodically. Also, if they could hear my yelling, they would come running to help me with whatever I needed (usually a glass of water).
*Ron got the crutches out for me. Did pretty much all of the shoveling. And generally held the fort down while I was out of commission. I know being snowed in for days is not his favorite thing and having a broken wife on top of it is even worse, but he handled it all very well.
*I have lots of friends who care about me and who will keep me company over the phone while I convalesce. They also offered to cook or chauffeur or whatever I need. I love my village!
*While I am not in fabulous shape, I am thankful for how fit I *am*. Getting around on crutches is hard and I'm sore. I can't even imagine how impossible it would have been to crutch and to jump up stairs and to balance on one leg if I hadn't been going to my exercise class (fairly) regularly over the past 4 years.
*I can walk!
Saturday, February 06, 2010
32 inches
The snow total at Dulles... 32 inches. That's A LOT of snow! Especially for this area.
edited to include this list of nicknames (thanks, Mapi)...
Snowapalooza
Snowmageddon
Snowpocalypse
The Snowtorious BIG
and of course the much less exciting name, the one used by all the newscasters, Blizzard of 2010.
I think we ended up with the #4 biggest snowfall of all (recorded) time. Not sure how we're stacking up on the total winter snowfall tally.
edited to include this list of nicknames (thanks, Mapi)...
Snowapalooza
Snowmageddon
Snowpocalypse
The Snowtorious BIG
and of course the much less exciting name, the one used by all the newscasters, Blizzard of 2010.
I think we ended up with the #4 biggest snowfall of all (recorded) time. Not sure how we're stacking up on the total winter snowfall tally.
Friday, February 05, 2010
#501
Just now, when I signed in to Blogger, I noticed that I have made 500 posts. That's a lot. Who knew I had so much to say?!
And now here is post #501, full of randomness...
*Who stole my measuring spoons? I have two sets. One is missing. I recently reorganized my silverware drawer so they shouldn't be lost. They should be even easier to find! So if anyone sees my spoons out wandering the streets, please send them home! I need them to properly prepare nourishment for my family during the Blizzard of 2010.
*I set the mouse trap today. Not sure if the evidence I saw is old or new. Guess time will tell...
*I love sharp pencils. While working at the preschool yesterday, one of my jobs was the sharpen the colored pencils that the kids were using. That was one awesome electric pencil sharpener! Normally I'm a fan of the old fashioned ones that were screwed to the walls in elementary school. But this one was pretty nice. I wonder what the lifespan is of that particular model. Because that's one of my complaints about electric sharpeners - they never seem to last more than a year, even with minimal use. On a related note... pencils are more environmentally friendly than plastic inkpens that are thrown away rather than refilled.
*I am currently loving the red white and bleu potato salad from Safeway and the Mediterranean Feta salsa from Whole Foods.
*Latest snow forecast... 20-30 inches! Yikes! That's a lot of snow! Potentially rivaling the historic Knickerbocker storm in 1922.
And now here is post #501, full of randomness...
*Who stole my measuring spoons? I have two sets. One is missing. I recently reorganized my silverware drawer so they shouldn't be lost. They should be even easier to find! So if anyone sees my spoons out wandering the streets, please send them home! I need them to properly prepare nourishment for my family during the Blizzard of 2010.
*I set the mouse trap today. Not sure if the evidence I saw is old or new. Guess time will tell...
*I love sharp pencils. While working at the preschool yesterday, one of my jobs was the sharpen the colored pencils that the kids were using. That was one awesome electric pencil sharpener! Normally I'm a fan of the old fashioned ones that were screwed to the walls in elementary school. But this one was pretty nice. I wonder what the lifespan is of that particular model. Because that's one of my complaints about electric sharpeners - they never seem to last more than a year, even with minimal use. On a related note... pencils are more environmentally friendly than plastic inkpens that are thrown away rather than refilled.
*I am currently loving the red white and bleu potato salad from Safeway and the Mediterranean Feta salsa from Whole Foods.
*Latest snow forecast... 20-30 inches! Yikes! That's a lot of snow! Potentially rivaling the historic Knickerbocker storm in 1922.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Recycling!
I love those "how it's made" shows. For some reason I am fascinated by how things are made. No idea why. I just am.
So "Factory Made" was on tonight when I turned the TV on. Did you know that railroad ties can be made out of recycled plastic and recycled tires? How cool is that!
So "Factory Made" was on tonight when I turned the TV on. Did you know that railroad ties can be made out of recycled plastic and recycled tires? How cool is that!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday, January 08, 2010
My Vacuum Threw Up!
So last night while I was at Brownies and Cub Scouts, Felisa threw up on the bed. Just a coughing fit gone bad... Ron changed the sheets and washed the dirty one.
Fast forward to today... Darby just got home from his walk with Grandma D. He promptly threw up on the rug in the entryway. So I had to pick up the rug to be washed, revealing all the dirt underneath. Which means I had to vacuum it all up. No big deal - the vacuum is already out and plugged in from earlier when I was cleaning up after the Christmas tree. Then I decided that I should probably empty the canister, as it was getting quite full.
I should mention that this is a new vacuum that Grandma R bought for us in November. Ron had emptied the canister the first few times so this was my first opportunity to do so.
First... I pushed the button that said "Push". So far, so good. Then I lifted the lever that said "Lift to empty".
Then... the vacuum threw up all over my clean living room floor.
I was expecting to pull the lever, and lift something up and out that I could then dump into the trash can.
Instead, the bottom dropped out and so did a giant pile of dust, dirt, and dog hair! Ack!
Note to self... next time, hold the cannister over a trash can BEFORE pulling the lever!!!
(also, I hope this is the end of the throw up for awhile...)
Fast forward to today... Darby just got home from his walk with Grandma D. He promptly threw up on the rug in the entryway. So I had to pick up the rug to be washed, revealing all the dirt underneath. Which means I had to vacuum it all up. No big deal - the vacuum is already out and plugged in from earlier when I was cleaning up after the Christmas tree. Then I decided that I should probably empty the canister, as it was getting quite full.
I should mention that this is a new vacuum that Grandma R bought for us in November. Ron had emptied the canister the first few times so this was my first opportunity to do so.
First... I pushed the button that said "Push". So far, so good. Then I lifted the lever that said "Lift to empty".
Then... the vacuum threw up all over my clean living room floor.
I was expecting to pull the lever, and lift something up and out that I could then dump into the trash can.
Instead, the bottom dropped out and so did a giant pile of dust, dirt, and dog hair! Ack!
Note to self... next time, hold the cannister over a trash can BEFORE pulling the lever!!!
(also, I hope this is the end of the throw up for awhile...)
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
A small act of kindness
After school today Felisa noticed her friend had forgotten to take her backpack and lunchbox home. She very much wanted to go back to the classroom to get them for her friend. I didn't think it was that big a deal but decided to let her do it anyway. We waited a few minutes for Bella to come down from her class, then walked together back to the Kindergarten rooms. While there Felisa also found another child's forgotten lunchbox. Back through the halls to the lobby then outside to the Kiss-n-Ride shack. Felisa's friend was thrilled to see her backpack and had in fact been crying because she had forgotten it. So a small, thoughtful, helpful gesture turns out to be a ray of sunshine for another girl, an act much larger than I imagined. It warmed my heart. Unfortunately the second child was not in the shack so we had to return his lunchbox to the classroom but that is a small sacrifice compared to the joy of Felisa's friend. I'm not sure Felisa even realized what a terrific thing she had done.
In other news...
After dinner, Felisa and Bella enjoyed a nice game of dreidel. I'm pretty sure I never played dreidel as a kid.
Ryan is doing a report on Powhatan Indians and Jamestown. While helping him research the Indian children's clothing, I learned that Powhatan children under the age of 12 generally did not wear any clothes at all, except in very cold weather.
Reportedly, Ryan and his classmates are not allowed to bring their math notebooks home. So all the notes about how to do the homework problems are at school, not at home. Makes no sense to me. So instead, I must google whatever the question of the day is so that I can figure out how to do the problem then explain it to him. Today we learned about vertical, opposite, and adjacent angles.
Ron... Ron... Ron...
(he thinks I'm blogging about him so I couldn't very well leave him out now could I?)
*****
In other news...
After dinner, Felisa and Bella enjoyed a nice game of dreidel. I'm pretty sure I never played dreidel as a kid.
Ryan is doing a report on Powhatan Indians and Jamestown. While helping him research the Indian children's clothing, I learned that Powhatan children under the age of 12 generally did not wear any clothes at all, except in very cold weather.
Reportedly, Ryan and his classmates are not allowed to bring their math notebooks home. So all the notes about how to do the homework problems are at school, not at home. Makes no sense to me. So instead, I must google whatever the question of the day is so that I can figure out how to do the problem then explain it to him. Today we learned about vertical, opposite, and adjacent angles.
Ron... Ron... Ron...
(he thinks I'm blogging about him so I couldn't very well leave him out now could I?)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Once in a blue moon
I like that expression. Not sure why. May be connected to our Full Moon adventures.
So apparently tonight is a blue moon. Felisa and I noticed the moon Monday night and talked about how it was almost full. I noticed it again last night when I put Darby out - nice and bright though I couldn't actually see the moon since it was behind the trees.
According to the internet, a New Year's Eve Blue Moon only comes once every couple decades.
So... Happy New (Blue) Year everyone!
So apparently tonight is a blue moon. Felisa and I noticed the moon Monday night and talked about how it was almost full. I noticed it again last night when I put Darby out - nice and bright though I couldn't actually see the moon since it was behind the trees.
According to the internet, a New Year's Eve Blue Moon only comes once every couple decades.
So... Happy New (Blue) Year everyone!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas!
The rain is coming down now, melting all the snow. But at least it didn't start raining until late afternoon so it was a White Christmas for most of the day!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Is it because I'm selfish?
So Mom's not coming tonight. Or tomorrow. I'm sure it's because I decided that it would be better if we had a quiet Christmas morning, just the 5 of us, before she and other people came over for the afternoon and Christmas dinner and after we are all together tonight for dinner and church.
I thought it was because that would make Ron happy. But now I'm wondering if it's really because then I don't have to stress about whether or not Ron is grumpy and whether or not Mom is feeling slighted because my husband is being anti-social. Which means it's really about me. It's quite possible neither Ron nor Mom feel that way. I'm making assumptions and I'm making decisions designed to make my life easier without completely considering others. Which on a regular day is okay but when it comes to family things and holidays, well, that's selfish behavior.
So, I guess I'd better go apologize to Mom.
I thought it was because that would make Ron happy. But now I'm wondering if it's really because then I don't have to stress about whether or not Ron is grumpy and whether or not Mom is feeling slighted because my husband is being anti-social. Which means it's really about me. It's quite possible neither Ron nor Mom feel that way. I'm making assumptions and I'm making decisions designed to make my life easier without completely considering others. Which on a regular day is okay but when it comes to family things and holidays, well, that's selfish behavior.
So, I guess I'd better go apologize to Mom.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Opposites
So here I sit, in bed, drinking coffee, surfing the net, and dreading the endless list of tasks to complete in the next two days before Christmas. Beside me sits Felisa. Except she's not actually sitting, per se. It's more of a bounce, kind of like Tigger. She's so happy, so excited about Christmas coming, so full of energy. She's counting the days until Christmas. She said that she wishes she was born on a holiday. She has even started planning her birthday party, telling me who to invite and what to write on the invitation. "Come to my party and bring your favorite webkinz. Webkinz, yea!"
The complete opposite of me! yawn... Guess I'd better get up and get the show on the road!
The complete opposite of me! yawn... Guess I'd better get up and get the show on the road!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Serious Snow!
Wow - now that's some serious snow!
The Blizzard of 2009 is underway. We're at about a foot of snow already and it continues to snow and blow. Ron bundled up the kids, packed a bag of emergency supplies, and took the kids and a sled and headed up the street for a snow adventure. I'm sure they'll be having a great time. While they're gone, I need to keep working on household chores and Christmas projects. It'll be hot chocolate time when they get back!
In other news...
Wednesday night was pie-throwing night at the Pack meeting. I had two whipped cream pies thrown at me by my cubs. Ryan and Owen each got me with one. Very sticky! The first one ended up down my shirt and the second one was smeared in my hair! Unfortunately, I was so distracted by the sticky mess when I got home that I forgot to take my cell phone out of my pocket. It went through the wash Thursday afternoon. It's alive. Sort of. But barely. Hope Santa brings me a new one in my stocking because it doesn't look good for the long-term recovery.
Last night was Ryan's Friday Funday. Owen, Jacob, Winslow, Claire, and Zoe came over to hang out, eat pizza, ice cream cake, and watch a movie (Night at the Museum,
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A Decade
I have been a Mother now for a decade. 10 years! I still have no idea what I'm doing - I just make it up as I go along. It has been a wild ride at times but enjoyable all the same.
Happy 10th Birthday, Ryan!
*******
In other news...
The poor tooth fairy just can't catch a break in this house. She forgets to stop here sometimes. She has been set up (Ryan decided to test her once). And most recently, her generous tooth offering was blown away and given to the wrong child. She left $2 (I'm sure it was to help Bella overcome the suffering of having to go to the dentist and have the tooth pulled). But it was paper money and it must have blown off the tooth dish when the door was opened. Ryan found it on the radio. Asked Bella about it. Bella said it must be Felisa's because Felisa usually forgets to put her money in the piggy bank. So Ryan gave it to Felisa. Then Bella complained to Grandma Duffield that the tooth fairy didn't come. Seriously! What does a tooth fairy have to do?!?
Happy 10th Birthday, Ryan!
*******
In other news...
The poor tooth fairy just can't catch a break in this house. She forgets to stop here sometimes. She has been set up (Ryan decided to test her once). And most recently, her generous tooth offering was blown away and given to the wrong child. She left $2 (I'm sure it was to help Bella overcome the suffering of having to go to the dentist and have the tooth pulled). But it was paper money and it must have blown off the tooth dish when the door was opened. Ryan found it on the radio. Asked Bella about it. Bella said it must be Felisa's because Felisa usually forgets to put her money in the piggy bank. So Ryan gave it to Felisa. Then Bella complained to Grandma Duffield that the tooth fairy didn't come. Seriously! What does a tooth fairy have to do?!?
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Over the river and through the woods
to grandmother's house we go...
Time for a mini Thanksgiving road trip!
0856 Drop kids at school
0910 Arrive at the bank to get signature cards for the Brownie bank account
0950 Arrive at another bank to deposit my checks
1010 Home to pack
1106 I've got most of our stuff gathered. Now it's time to load the car.
12:12 p.m. Half of the pile of stuff is loaded. The mail has arrived and I have spoken to the dental insurance company about the big bill that just arrived. Dishes are done. GPS Lady has been programmed. Making good progress.
12:13 p.m. We are officially out of paper towels. There are none in the car and none on the shelf. I have to leave the roll in the kitchen for Mom to use while we're gone. Looks like I have to make a quick stop at the store before we leave.
12:21 p.m. Broke a nail already. Happens every time. Good thing I packed the nail clippers!
12:41 p.m. Ready! Off I go...
12:43 p.m. Drop off a house key with Christy.
12:54 p.m. A traffic jam already! So much for a quick trip to the store!
1:10 p.m. Done at Safeway. Got my iced latte and paper towels.
1:30 p.m. Kids are loaded. Leaving school and officially on the road. Pretty much on schedule so that's good. Now I hope there's not too much traffic headed out of town.
1:43 p.m. Ugh. Traffic ahead in Tyson's corner.
1:56 p.m. Maryland!
2:34 p.m. Our first mountain... Braddock Mountain, 985 ft.
2:37 p.m. Listening to the news on the radio. An airline kept people on the tarmac for 6 hours overnight because the airport wouldn't open after they were redirected due to weather. Yikes - that's a long time to be trapped on a plane. Also, a man who was thought to be in a coma for 15 years was actually coherent the whole time but unable to move or communicate. Double yikes!
2:40 p.m. Passed by the Medina Sherriff. With Ohio plates. And a prisoner in the back. So is it really a prisoner being extradited? Or his he mad at his family and making them ride in the back behind bars?
2:46 p.m Cows! It's officially a road trip now - we've seen our first cows.
2:50 p.m. Sheep too
3:18 p.m. Signs for Western MD Rail Trail. Sounds interesting. Like it might be a place to bring scouts to hike.
3:21 p.m. See a Herbie look-alike being towed behind an RV. It looks just like him but without the number 53
3:50 p.m. Cumberland, MD - stop at Taco Bell. This place reminds me of Trinidad, CO. It's a town in the mountains, below the highway, and with lots of old brick buildings. Cool.
And now I have to wake up the kids so we can get on the road for Day 2... looks like you'll have to wait until we get back to read the rest of the story!
Time for a mini Thanksgiving road trip!
0856 Drop kids at school
0910 Arrive at the bank to get signature cards for the Brownie bank account
0950 Arrive at another bank to deposit my checks
1010 Home to pack
1106 I've got most of our stuff gathered. Now it's time to load the car.
12:12 p.m. Half of the pile of stuff is loaded. The mail has arrived and I have spoken to the dental insurance company about the big bill that just arrived. Dishes are done. GPS Lady has been programmed. Making good progress.
12:13 p.m. We are officially out of paper towels. There are none in the car and none on the shelf. I have to leave the roll in the kitchen for Mom to use while we're gone. Looks like I have to make a quick stop at the store before we leave.
12:21 p.m. Broke a nail already. Happens every time. Good thing I packed the nail clippers!
12:41 p.m. Ready! Off I go...
12:43 p.m. Drop off a house key with Christy.
12:54 p.m. A traffic jam already! So much for a quick trip to the store!
1:10 p.m. Done at Safeway. Got my iced latte and paper towels.
1:30 p.m. Kids are loaded. Leaving school and officially on the road. Pretty much on schedule so that's good. Now I hope there's not too much traffic headed out of town.
1:43 p.m. Ugh. Traffic ahead in Tyson's corner.
1:56 p.m. Maryland!
2:34 p.m. Our first mountain... Braddock Mountain, 985 ft.
2:37 p.m. Listening to the news on the radio. An airline kept people on the tarmac for 6 hours overnight because the airport wouldn't open after they were redirected due to weather. Yikes - that's a long time to be trapped on a plane. Also, a man who was thought to be in a coma for 15 years was actually coherent the whole time but unable to move or communicate. Double yikes!
2:40 p.m. Passed by the Medina Sherriff. With Ohio plates. And a prisoner in the back. So is it really a prisoner being extradited? Or his he mad at his family and making them ride in the back behind bars?
2:46 p.m Cows! It's officially a road trip now - we've seen our first cows.
2:50 p.m. Sheep too
3:18 p.m. Signs for Western MD Rail Trail. Sounds interesting. Like it might be a place to bring scouts to hike.
3:21 p.m. See a Herbie look-alike being towed behind an RV. It looks just like him but without the number 53
3:50 p.m. Cumberland, MD - stop at Taco Bell. This place reminds me of Trinidad, CO. It's a town in the mountains, below the highway, and with lots of old brick buildings. Cool.
And now I have to wake up the kids so we can get on the road for Day 2... looks like you'll have to wait until we get back to read the rest of the story!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
*I just read someone's post on Freecycle for a Spanish/English dictionary. Which reminded me that I wanted to get a dictionary. Just a small one to keep somewhere so that I can look up words... Wait - was that a dream? I think it was just a dream about needing a dictionary. I also dreamed about a vacation to Disney World. But then I remembered that we had already banked our points for the year and couldn't actually go until next year. Which was okay because I had no money anyway. Hmm... maybe I should put "restful sleep without crazy dreams" on my Christmas list this year!
*I don't like defending my parenting decisions. I'm sure no one does. But I did feel a tiny bit of satisfaction when Bella woke up with her temperature down to 99 this morning. See - no trip to the doctor necessary. Tylenol every 4-6 hours, not necessary. Just a bit of vitamins, immune system boosting, and lots of rest. One dose of Tylenol before bed each night to get her started on some restful sleep without totally cancelling the fever that is fighting the germs. So far she's still hanging in the 99 range. Hope she stays there.
*Ryan is half sick. It hurts to cough and one side of his body has a fever. The other side is just fine, thank you very much. Funny, huh! So far he is not as sick as Bella was and hopefully will stay that way and get better fast.
*We leave in one week for our drive to Illinois. Thanksgiving at Grandma's this year. I'll miss my friends here but I've missed the Thanksgiving that I had almost every year growing up. This year is the year. So all you germs hanging around my house better be gone by then!
*Darby peed on Bella's bed. Again. Second day in a row. Seriously - what is it with that dog?!?! Yesterday I was wondering whether I would rather have the known dog problems that we have now or the unknown problems our next dog will bring. Then again, we could always just not have a dog... Felisa would never stand for it though. Of course, I'd be willing to trade a dog for a horse or two... Maybe I should put that on my Christmas list too!
*I don't like defending my parenting decisions. I'm sure no one does. But I did feel a tiny bit of satisfaction when Bella woke up with her temperature down to 99 this morning. See - no trip to the doctor necessary. Tylenol every 4-6 hours, not necessary. Just a bit of vitamins, immune system boosting, and lots of rest. One dose of Tylenol before bed each night to get her started on some restful sleep without totally cancelling the fever that is fighting the germs. So far she's still hanging in the 99 range. Hope she stays there.
*Ryan is half sick. It hurts to cough and one side of his body has a fever. The other side is just fine, thank you very much. Funny, huh! So far he is not as sick as Bella was and hopefully will stay that way and get better fast.
*We leave in one week for our drive to Illinois. Thanksgiving at Grandma's this year. I'll miss my friends here but I've missed the Thanksgiving that I had almost every year growing up. This year is the year. So all you germs hanging around my house better be gone by then!
*Darby peed on Bella's bed. Again. Second day in a row. Seriously - what is it with that dog?!?! Yesterday I was wondering whether I would rather have the known dog problems that we have now or the unknown problems our next dog will bring. Then again, we could always just not have a dog... Felisa would never stand for it though. Of course, I'd be willing to trade a dog for a horse or two... Maybe I should put that on my Christmas list too!
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
And then I freaked out...
So here we are in a new month... any chances things will be any calmer this month? More organized? Less busy and stressful?
Hahahahahahaha! Ha! Ha. ha....
Okay, maybe not. But ever the optimist, I will hold out hope regardless.
So, I've been fighting a cold this week. Of course, because this was the long weekend that the kids went away to the beach. What could be more disruptive to my hopes of great productivity in my endless hours of childfree time than microbes. Ugh. Nothing major - just a slight scratchy throat and the sniffles. That is, until about 2:30 this afternoon. That's when I ran head-on into the brick wall of microbes. Perhaps I have been less than careful the last two days about resting and not going crazy. Oops! So I promptly took a shower (can it be considered promptly if this shower was in fact about 8 hours after my morning workout?!?) and curled up in bed with The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Too bad I had to uncurl back out of bed 15 minutes later to pick up the kids because I was so ready to just close my eyes and nap..... and nap..... and nap.... Oh well. Off to school I go. Home again, home again, jiggety jig. Felisa's hungry. Ryan is hungry. Bella wants to go to Grandma D's house. I don't know what to cook for dinner. The laundry needs to come in off the line (the laundry that I just hung out there before my shower) because giant black clouds appeared almost out of nowhere.
Fast forward to now... I have pulled in the laundry, delivered the girls, and started spaghetti for dinner. I decided to go online and check the credit card balance, fingers crossed that today was the beginning of the next billing period. Sigh of relief... it is. But then I freaked out because OMG that's a big balance! Combination of factors. Last month was good. Next month hopefully won't be too bad. But in the meantime - Ack!
Alrighty then, time to log on and pay the mortgage. Today is payday - woo hoo! So I logged on. And then I FREAKED OUT!!! because the pending payment was no longer pending. And the deposit was not in the account. Ron's paycheck disappeared into thin air! Double Ack! Deep breath... call the bank... everything is okay. The money is in the process of posting to the account and will be visible again at midnight. Whew!
Dinner should be ready enough in about 5 minutes that I can retreat back to my bed where I will be dutifully resting until about 6:45 when I crawl back out to go to the Brownie Leaders' Meeting. The plus side of this is that since I have a brownie meeting, Ron has to take the girls to cheer practice. Which means he will be subjected to the ear-splitting screeching of 20 kindergarten and first-grade girls, and not me. I wouldn't wish that horrible noise on anyone. I am, however, happy that I won't have to listen this week.
Oh except that it's 5:30 now. Which means Mom will be stopping by in a few minutes. Waaaahhh.... I want a nap!
Hahahahahahaha! Ha! Ha. ha....
Okay, maybe not. But ever the optimist, I will hold out hope regardless.
So, I've been fighting a cold this week. Of course, because this was the long weekend that the kids went away to the beach. What could be more disruptive to my hopes of great productivity in my endless hours of childfree time than microbes. Ugh. Nothing major - just a slight scratchy throat and the sniffles. That is, until about 2:30 this afternoon. That's when I ran head-on into the brick wall of microbes. Perhaps I have been less than careful the last two days about resting and not going crazy. Oops! So I promptly took a shower (can it be considered promptly if this shower was in fact about 8 hours after my morning workout?!?) and curled up in bed with The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Too bad I had to uncurl back out of bed 15 minutes later to pick up the kids because I was so ready to just close my eyes and nap..... and nap..... and nap.... Oh well. Off to school I go. Home again, home again, jiggety jig. Felisa's hungry. Ryan is hungry. Bella wants to go to Grandma D's house. I don't know what to cook for dinner. The laundry needs to come in off the line (the laundry that I just hung out there before my shower) because giant black clouds appeared almost out of nowhere.
Fast forward to now... I have pulled in the laundry, delivered the girls, and started spaghetti for dinner. I decided to go online and check the credit card balance, fingers crossed that today was the beginning of the next billing period. Sigh of relief... it is. But then I freaked out because OMG that's a big balance! Combination of factors. Last month was good. Next month hopefully won't be too bad. But in the meantime - Ack!
Alrighty then, time to log on and pay the mortgage. Today is payday - woo hoo! So I logged on. And then I FREAKED OUT!!! because the pending payment was no longer pending. And the deposit was not in the account. Ron's paycheck disappeared into thin air! Double Ack! Deep breath... call the bank... everything is okay. The money is in the process of posting to the account and will be visible again at midnight. Whew!
Dinner should be ready enough in about 5 minutes that I can retreat back to my bed where I will be dutifully resting until about 6:45 when I crawl back out to go to the Brownie Leaders' Meeting. The plus side of this is that since I have a brownie meeting, Ron has to take the girls to cheer practice. Which means he will be subjected to the ear-splitting screeching of 20 kindergarten and first-grade girls, and not me. I wouldn't wish that horrible noise on anyone. I am, however, happy that I won't have to listen this week.
Oh except that it's 5:30 now. Which means Mom will be stopping by in a few minutes. Waaaahhh.... I want a nap!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I'm busy. The end.
Someone pointed out to me that I hadn't updated my blog in over a month. How was he supposed to know what's going on in my life? That someone was Ron. And I suggested an actual conversation as I was sitting right next to him!
As you can probably guess by my abscence, I am busy. Too busy. I've got to admit that my new volunteer responsibilities (scouts) are taking more time than I thought they would. Two sports for Ryan and cheerleading for the girls and Brownies, Cub Scouts, and Daisies... totally wreaking havoc on my calendar. I have something to do each and every day and am often double or triple booked. The baseball season is almost over. Soccer is almost over. Cheerleading is almost over. Thank goodness! I don't know what activities we'll have this winter but I know none of them start before January. Phew. A small break.
Tonight was the Halloween Parade. It is the 10th one since we moved here. Ryan was just a baby and all the neighbors we met told us to be sure and check out the parade. We've been to at least half of them since that first one. And tonight for the first time we waked in the parade. The Cub Scouts were walking and collecting canned food for the food pantry. Bella and Felisa were able to walk along, in costume (an angel and Scooby Doo). I'm surprised that I didn't hear more whining from them about having to walk but a few friends were there so I think that distracted them. Bella was SOOO hungry she said but didn't say she was tired. Ryan's arms were sore from carrying the banner. And Felisa got to ride in the wagon that a friend's dad was pulling. The hardest part, other than my lack of enthusiasm for the activity, was walking home after the parade. The minivan needs new wheel bearings and since we had to walk anyway, I decided that tonight would be the best time to drop it off at the shop (Ron is out of town and unavailable to help). Which meant we had no ride home after. Which also meant we had to wait longer before we got back to the bathroom. My little Scooby made it almost all the way home (about 3 blocks shy) when she just couldn't hold it anymore. So she had to pee in someone's front yard, along the curb. I felt bad but couldn't think of an alternative other than peeing in her clothes and having to walk home all wet (oh, the tears there would have been!). It was dark. No one saw us. (A car came right afterwards - phew, that was close!) And I was saying that it was no different than if we were walking our dog and the dog peed at the edge of the grass. Then I laughed - it was a dog! Scooby! Ha ha ha! I feel bad, I really do. But it was an emergency!
I've been doing some filing this week for Christy's office. Working ALL day while the kids are at school is hard. I wake up - get the kids to school - go to the office - leave the office - pick up the kids - do homework - go to various activities - come home and collapse in bed. How do working moms do it? Too hard for me. I'll try to keep my temp working status for as long as possible.
Ron's parents are coming - yay! Taking the kids to the beach - yay!
And now I will stop the random rambles and get to sleep.
The summary - I'm busy. The end.
See you next month - maybe sooner next time but don't hold your breath. And maybe next time I'll take the time to put my thoughts together into a coherent story rather than the insanity that is my life which I have presented here.
As you can probably guess by my abscence, I am busy. Too busy. I've got to admit that my new volunteer responsibilities (scouts) are taking more time than I thought they would. Two sports for Ryan and cheerleading for the girls and Brownies, Cub Scouts, and Daisies... totally wreaking havoc on my calendar. I have something to do each and every day and am often double or triple booked. The baseball season is almost over. Soccer is almost over. Cheerleading is almost over. Thank goodness! I don't know what activities we'll have this winter but I know none of them start before January. Phew. A small break.
Tonight was the Halloween Parade. It is the 10th one since we moved here. Ryan was just a baby and all the neighbors we met told us to be sure and check out the parade. We've been to at least half of them since that first one. And tonight for the first time we waked in the parade. The Cub Scouts were walking and collecting canned food for the food pantry. Bella and Felisa were able to walk along, in costume (an angel and Scooby Doo). I'm surprised that I didn't hear more whining from them about having to walk but a few friends were there so I think that distracted them. Bella was SOOO hungry she said but didn't say she was tired. Ryan's arms were sore from carrying the banner. And Felisa got to ride in the wagon that a friend's dad was pulling. The hardest part, other than my lack of enthusiasm for the activity, was walking home after the parade. The minivan needs new wheel bearings and since we had to walk anyway, I decided that tonight would be the best time to drop it off at the shop (Ron is out of town and unavailable to help). Which meant we had no ride home after. Which also meant we had to wait longer before we got back to the bathroom. My little Scooby made it almost all the way home (about 3 blocks shy) when she just couldn't hold it anymore. So she had to pee in someone's front yard, along the curb. I felt bad but couldn't think of an alternative other than peeing in her clothes and having to walk home all wet (oh, the tears there would have been!). It was dark. No one saw us. (A car came right afterwards - phew, that was close!) And I was saying that it was no different than if we were walking our dog and the dog peed at the edge of the grass. Then I laughed - it was a dog! Scooby! Ha ha ha! I feel bad, I really do. But it was an emergency!
I've been doing some filing this week for Christy's office. Working ALL day while the kids are at school is hard. I wake up - get the kids to school - go to the office - leave the office - pick up the kids - do homework - go to various activities - come home and collapse in bed. How do working moms do it? Too hard for me. I'll try to keep my temp working status for as long as possible.
Ron's parents are coming - yay! Taking the kids to the beach - yay!
And now I will stop the random rambles and get to sleep.
The summary - I'm busy. The end.
See you next month - maybe sooner next time but don't hold your breath. And maybe next time I'll take the time to put my thoughts together into a coherent story rather than the insanity that is my life which I have presented here.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wake Me Up When September Ends
That's the song that was playing on the radio this evening as I headed home from the baseball game. I'm not sure that things will be any calmer by then so maybe you just shouldn't wake me up.
Tidbits:
*Bella's birthday is Thursday. We have Cub Scouts that night. Her party isn't until Oct. 5 so not sure what we'll do family-wise before that.
*Our block had another yard sale this weekend. Made $150. The house however is a disaster-strewn mess, leftover from our last minute grab and dash to get more junk outside. Therefore, it is very difficult to tell that anything is missing. My Scrapbooking Pit of Despair is particularly discouraging and lacking hope. No light at the end of that tunnel!
*Ron cleaned up the living room/entry way. So at least it looks clean when you walk in the door. Just don't come any farther into the house than about 10 feet!
*Subbed at Parkwood today. Going again tomorrow. Then errands then picking up the kids then soccer then... so on and so forth until another day has passed with very little to show for it.
*What do mosquitos eat? I mean, besides me. They LOVE me. I'll be glad when they are gone for the season. Scratch, scratch, scratch.
*Cut my finger Saturday on a VERY SHARP knife. Monitoring it twice daily to decide whether or not we'll have to amputate or at least go to the doctor for stitches and/or better bandages. So far, it seems to be doing okay. Knock on wood.
*Boys are home from baseball (We do these forever and a day two hour long games in shifts this season!) so it's time to go. Dishes and laundry and a mile-long to do list await me.
Until September Ends...
Tidbits:
*Bella's birthday is Thursday. We have Cub Scouts that night. Her party isn't until Oct. 5 so not sure what we'll do family-wise before that.
*Our block had another yard sale this weekend. Made $150. The house however is a disaster-strewn mess, leftover from our last minute grab and dash to get more junk outside. Therefore, it is very difficult to tell that anything is missing. My Scrapbooking Pit of Despair is particularly discouraging and lacking hope. No light at the end of that tunnel!
*Ron cleaned up the living room/entry way. So at least it looks clean when you walk in the door. Just don't come any farther into the house than about 10 feet!
*Subbed at Parkwood today. Going again tomorrow. Then errands then picking up the kids then soccer then... so on and so forth until another day has passed with very little to show for it.
*What do mosquitos eat? I mean, besides me. They LOVE me. I'll be glad when they are gone for the season. Scratch, scratch, scratch.
*Cut my finger Saturday on a VERY SHARP knife. Monitoring it twice daily to decide whether or not we'll have to amputate or at least go to the doctor for stitches and/or better bandages. So far, it seems to be doing okay. Knock on wood.
*Boys are home from baseball (We do these forever and a day two hour long games in shifts this season!) so it's time to go. Dishes and laundry and a mile-long to do list await me.
Until September Ends...
Friday, August 28, 2009
My Feet HURT!
We went downtown today - had a fabulous time. Wandered about the Air and Space Museum (oh how I love free museums!) and ate lunch there as well. Missed the rain shower while we were inside the museum and walked home (well actually, back to the train station and then to the car) without getting wet.
Only one little problem... my shoes. Oh my! You would not believe the blisters I have now as a result. I would have been better off wearing my flip-flops which I specifically didn't wear because I don't find them practical for traipsing about town, on and off trains, and walking several blocks at a time. Instead I wore my very cute - but oh so impractical as it turns out! - Skechers. I have 4 pairs of Skechers. Two of them I've had for over a year and love. The other two pairs I bought this spring/summer, thinking that they would be the perfect summer version of my winter ones that are so comfy. Nope. Both new pairs have given me immediate blisters.
My feet hurt so bad today that I wanted to cry. And take off my shoes. Which is not a good idea when walking the streets of a major city. So I didn't. Cry or take off my shoes. Well, okay - maybe I was crying a little on the inside. But I put on a brave face for my kids and they had no idea.
I put a bandaid on my heel this evening, in hopes that it will help me sleep. The neosporin stung. It's not supposed to. Even now, it still hurts just sitting here. And my poor little baby toes... oh, it's awful! Those blisters haven't broken yet and I'm still undecided as to whether or not I'll pop them. First Aid Class always told us not to pop them because it makes them more susceptible to infection. We'll see...
And in the meantime, I will be wearing only flip flops for the next week while I heal.
***
Ron came back. Apparently when I heard him saying that he was going to check messages in the evening when he got back to the hotel, what he actually said was that he was on his way to the far corner of the earth and that I would not get a peep out of him again until he showed up on the doorstep, whenever that might happen to be. Maybe Friday. Maybe not. [edited to add that he called me as soon as he got my messages Friday morning.]
So - my apologies for not listening. He has been instructed though, that next time he must tell me to my face before he leaves so that a bad cell phone connection won't muddle the message. Of course that won't help my distracted brain even in person but it's worth a shot!
***
Ryan lost another tooth at lunch today. The couple sitting next to us at the food court thought it was funny. Marta was a bit shocked initially until she realized that he had lost a tooth, not found something weird in his food.
We have unpacked the tooth that fell out somewhere along the way while on vacation this summer. It was safely stowed in a ziploc baggie in my purse. Now it is in a dish with the newest lost tooth, awaiting the tooth fairy's arrival. I hope she doesn't miss our stop!
***
I went to Safeway tonight. I needed to exchange our $3 winning lottery ticket to buy a (winning) $333 million dollar ticket. I also needed to stop next door at Baja Fresh to buy Ron some taquitos for a snack. So as long as I was at Safeway anyway, I figured I might as well go ahead and do my grocery shopping for the next week. I got everything I could remember from the list (I left the list at home since I wasn't planning to shop when I left!). I got into a very long line (only two cashiers working on Friday night), and waited patiently. Once my order was tallied and my payment submitted, the computer froze up. There's no way to know if my payment went through or not so I end up waiting for several minutes while the machine rebooted. The cashier moved the other customers to the next lane and I waited for the manager to come back and finish the transaction. So far it looks like the payment has posted only once but I have the manager's name written on my receipt in case I'm due for a refund caused by a double payment.
I'm not sure how lucky I am tonight, given what happened but... I bought a ticket anyway. I'll let you know if we win. :)
When I got back to the car, there was a stuffed bunny sitting on my roof. It must have fallen from a car parked there before me. So I'll post a lost and found note on Craigs' List on the off chance someone is looking for it. I couldn't just throw it back down on the ground and leave it in the parking lot and I didn't know what else to do so I brought it home with me.
***
I thought there was more but it's getting late and I'm tired so I guess I'll leave it at that for today.
Only one little problem... my shoes. Oh my! You would not believe the blisters I have now as a result. I would have been better off wearing my flip-flops which I specifically didn't wear because I don't find them practical for traipsing about town, on and off trains, and walking several blocks at a time. Instead I wore my very cute - but oh so impractical as it turns out! - Skechers. I have 4 pairs of Skechers. Two of them I've had for over a year and love. The other two pairs I bought this spring/summer, thinking that they would be the perfect summer version of my winter ones that are so comfy. Nope. Both new pairs have given me immediate blisters.
My feet hurt so bad today that I wanted to cry. And take off my shoes. Which is not a good idea when walking the streets of a major city. So I didn't. Cry or take off my shoes. Well, okay - maybe I was crying a little on the inside. But I put on a brave face for my kids and they had no idea.
I put a bandaid on my heel this evening, in hopes that it will help me sleep. The neosporin stung. It's not supposed to. Even now, it still hurts just sitting here. And my poor little baby toes... oh, it's awful! Those blisters haven't broken yet and I'm still undecided as to whether or not I'll pop them. First Aid Class always told us not to pop them because it makes them more susceptible to infection. We'll see...
And in the meantime, I will be wearing only flip flops for the next week while I heal.
***
Ron came back. Apparently when I heard him saying that he was going to check messages in the evening when he got back to the hotel, what he actually said was that he was on his way to the far corner of the earth and that I would not get a peep out of him again until he showed up on the doorstep, whenever that might happen to be. Maybe Friday. Maybe not. [edited to add that he called me as soon as he got my messages Friday morning.]
So - my apologies for not listening. He has been instructed though, that next time he must tell me to my face before he leaves so that a bad cell phone connection won't muddle the message. Of course that won't help my distracted brain even in person but it's worth a shot!
***
Ryan lost another tooth at lunch today. The couple sitting next to us at the food court thought it was funny. Marta was a bit shocked initially until she realized that he had lost a tooth, not found something weird in his food.
We have unpacked the tooth that fell out somewhere along the way while on vacation this summer. It was safely stowed in a ziploc baggie in my purse. Now it is in a dish with the newest lost tooth, awaiting the tooth fairy's arrival. I hope she doesn't miss our stop!
***
I went to Safeway tonight. I needed to exchange our $3 winning lottery ticket to buy a (winning) $333 million dollar ticket. I also needed to stop next door at Baja Fresh to buy Ron some taquitos for a snack. So as long as I was at Safeway anyway, I figured I might as well go ahead and do my grocery shopping for the next week. I got everything I could remember from the list (I left the list at home since I wasn't planning to shop when I left!). I got into a very long line (only two cashiers working on Friday night), and waited patiently. Once my order was tallied and my payment submitted, the computer froze up. There's no way to know if my payment went through or not so I end up waiting for several minutes while the machine rebooted. The cashier moved the other customers to the next lane and I waited for the manager to come back and finish the transaction. So far it looks like the payment has posted only once but I have the manager's name written on my receipt in case I'm due for a refund caused by a double payment.
I'm not sure how lucky I am tonight, given what happened but... I bought a ticket anyway. I'll let you know if we win. :)
When I got back to the car, there was a stuffed bunny sitting on my roof. It must have fallen from a car parked there before me. So I'll post a lost and found note on Craigs' List on the off chance someone is looking for it. I couldn't just throw it back down on the ground and leave it in the parking lot and I didn't know what else to do so I brought it home with me.
***
I thought there was more but it's getting late and I'm tired so I guess I'll leave it at that for today.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Peanuts
Ryan has a Peanuts daily calendar. He brings me the used pages to read when he's done. My favorite from the last batch was Snoopy's Sleepy Foot.
"My stupid foot's asleep... Feet shouldn't fall asleep... Feet should stay awake in case you have to go someplace in a hurry!"
I love Snoopy... He makes me smile.
***
In other news...
Ron is away on business and incommunicado. He warned me that he wouldn't have his phone with him during the day and would check messages when he got back to his room. Haven't heard a peep from him since then. Which was 36 hours ago. And in the past 36 hours I have had an unofficial job offer from Parkwood which turned out to be a mute point since I was offline while visiting Aunt Lana in SC and the job was offered to someone else (and accepted by the someone else). And I have to go downtown DC tomorrow to meet Marta and her kids and I'm not sure when would be the optimal time to leave so I need his rush hour traffic advice. As usual - when I can't talk to him I have lots to say. When he's right here next to me - nothing important to talk about. Murphy's Law I believe it's called...
"My stupid foot's asleep... Feet shouldn't fall asleep... Feet should stay awake in case you have to go someplace in a hurry!"
I love Snoopy... He makes me smile.
***
In other news...
Ron is away on business and incommunicado. He warned me that he wouldn't have his phone with him during the day and would check messages when he got back to his room. Haven't heard a peep from him since then. Which was 36 hours ago. And in the past 36 hours I have had an unofficial job offer from Parkwood which turned out to be a mute point since I was offline while visiting Aunt Lana in SC and the job was offered to someone else (and accepted by the someone else). And I have to go downtown DC tomorrow to meet Marta and her kids and I'm not sure when would be the optimal time to leave so I need his rush hour traffic advice. As usual - when I can't talk to him I have lots to say. When he's right here next to me - nothing important to talk about. Murphy's Law I believe it's called...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Quote
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
~ H. Jackson Brown
Well then... guess I'd better stop whining and get to work!
~ H. Jackson Brown
Well then... guess I'd better stop whining and get to work!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Conflicted
I am feeling overwhelmed and conflicted today.
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of junk in my house that needs to be sorted-purged-put away.
Conflicted about where to start.
Though the where-to-start problem was partially solved yesterday when Ron convinced me to move the desk from the pantry room (where it was buried under and behind a lot of junk) into the space by the kitchen. We then put the bar from that space into the pantry room. Now the pantry room is cleaner. And there is junk piled all over the TV room. And I have a nice desk near the kitchen.
I did the easiest cleaning up of this new junk pile yesterday. I also sorted the kids' artwork but ran out of pages for my kidzworxx albums and didn't get it all put away. But at least some progress was made. I ordered refill pages and think they should arrive by Wednesday.
Another item (or rather pile of items!) unearthed in this move was my completed scrapbooks. December 1999-October 2002. I had them on the coffee table yesterday but moved them to my desk last night when my friends were here for dinner. Today as I looked at the large stack of books I was feeling conflicted about the books. Why are they so big and heavy? Why do I have them? I'm going to have lots more before it's all said and done. What will I do with them all? Maybe I should stop scrapping.
Today I cleared off the shelf where I have been wanting to keep the scrapbooks so that the kids can look at them more often. I looked through the books as I put them on the shelf. I enjoyed looking at the pictures of the family. I enjoyed looking at my various layouts and styles. I'm glad I have them.
See -conflicted.
And now I am back to conflicted about what to do next. Every single little bit of this all-consuming junk is overwhelming me. It's the time involved. When I look at it, all I see is the vast amounts of time it will take to deal with it. And I feel discouraged and quite certain that I'll never finish. Not only that but that I will most certainly spend many hours and have not much to show for it.
Not enough time.
Just not enough time.
But I really want to have it done. I can envision the freedom and peacefulness I will feel when I'm done. Even though I know I'll never really be Done because clutter control is an on-going task, I am at the moment about 10 years behind in the process and not feeling peaceful at all.
I don't know what Ron sees when he looks around.
I see time. Or a lack thereof.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So now I'm going to go back downstairs and try to take another nibble from the elephant.
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of junk in my house that needs to be sorted-purged-put away.
Conflicted about where to start.
Though the where-to-start problem was partially solved yesterday when Ron convinced me to move the desk from the pantry room (where it was buried under and behind a lot of junk) into the space by the kitchen. We then put the bar from that space into the pantry room. Now the pantry room is cleaner. And there is junk piled all over the TV room. And I have a nice desk near the kitchen.
I did the easiest cleaning up of this new junk pile yesterday. I also sorted the kids' artwork but ran out of pages for my kidzworxx albums and didn't get it all put away. But at least some progress was made. I ordered refill pages and think they should arrive by Wednesday.
Another item (or rather pile of items!) unearthed in this move was my completed scrapbooks. December 1999-October 2002. I had them on the coffee table yesterday but moved them to my desk last night when my friends were here for dinner. Today as I looked at the large stack of books I was feeling conflicted about the books. Why are they so big and heavy? Why do I have them? I'm going to have lots more before it's all said and done. What will I do with them all? Maybe I should stop scrapping.
Today I cleared off the shelf where I have been wanting to keep the scrapbooks so that the kids can look at them more often. I looked through the books as I put them on the shelf. I enjoyed looking at the pictures of the family. I enjoyed looking at my various layouts and styles. I'm glad I have them.
See -conflicted.
And now I am back to conflicted about what to do next. Every single little bit of this all-consuming junk is overwhelming me. It's the time involved. When I look at it, all I see is the vast amounts of time it will take to deal with it. And I feel discouraged and quite certain that I'll never finish. Not only that but that I will most certainly spend many hours and have not much to show for it.
Not enough time.
Just not enough time.
But I really want to have it done. I can envision the freedom and peacefulness I will feel when I'm done. Even though I know I'll never really be Done because clutter control is an on-going task, I am at the moment about 10 years behind in the process and not feeling peaceful at all.
I don't know what Ron sees when he looks around.
I see time. Or a lack thereof.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So now I'm going to go back downstairs and try to take another nibble from the elephant.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Day 22
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
?? o'clock - wake up
0230 - wake up. Felisa is scratching her bug bites.
0530 - alarm goes off.
0547 - time to get up
0555 - wake up Ron and go down to the lobby to get coffee
0610 - wake up the kids - time to get dressed and go
0621 - leaving the hotel
0632 - sunrise - the GPS switches to daytime colors
0640 - Ohio
0659 - crossing a cool triangle bridge
0725 - see a trailer labelled as belonging to Tony Suit. No idea who that is. (Looked him up - apparently he is a sky diver and was on a road trip!)
0735 - Stop for gas. $2.52/gallon. Tony Suit is there too! Felisa wakes up to say "The sun is up."
0752 - Back on the road with some coffee and food. The kids all turned down a trip to the bathroom. Hope we don't regret that later. This service plaza was not crowded at all.
0855 - On the south side of Cleveland. The girls are asleep and Ryan is in his "road trance". Do you think maybe he's just sleeping with his eyes open? We have made it through Ohio almost without stopping. Keep on moving - Virginia here we come!
0930 - See trucks with triple trailers. Yikes!
0950 - Toll booth
0953 - Pennsylvania
0954 - Another toll booth. Glad we have EZPass!
1010 - Emergency pull off on the side of the road. Felisa has to go to the bathroom. What did I say about not regretting the lack of a bathroom stop earlier?
1025 - At McD's for breakfast
1120 - It is misty out here.
1122 - See a flock of wild turkeys.
1147 - Lots of dead trees along the highway.
1159 - Stop for gas. $2.60/gallon. This service plaza is much busier than the one in Ohio. Maybe because it's lunch time!
12:03 p.m. Eleanor called. Darby has a tummyache.
12:14 p.m. Allegheny Mountain Tunnel
12:58 p.m. Breezewood Interchange
1:21 p.m. Maryland
2:40 p.m. Virginia. And we're back in too-much-traffic land.
2:51 p.m. Highway 123 - getting close!
3:05 p.m. We're home!!! Our starting mileage was approximately 52,100. Our ending mileage was 58,822. Okay, math whizzes - how many miles did we drive? 6,722
?? o'clock - wake up
0230 - wake up. Felisa is scratching her bug bites.
0530 - alarm goes off.
0547 - time to get up
0555 - wake up Ron and go down to the lobby to get coffee
0610 - wake up the kids - time to get dressed and go
0621 - leaving the hotel
0632 - sunrise - the GPS switches to daytime colors
0640 - Ohio
0659 - crossing a cool triangle bridge
0725 - see a trailer labelled as belonging to Tony Suit. No idea who that is. (Looked him up - apparently he is a sky diver and was on a road trip!)
0735 - Stop for gas. $2.52/gallon. Tony Suit is there too! Felisa wakes up to say "The sun is up."
0752 - Back on the road with some coffee and food. The kids all turned down a trip to the bathroom. Hope we don't regret that later. This service plaza was not crowded at all.
0855 - On the south side of Cleveland. The girls are asleep and Ryan is in his "road trance". Do you think maybe he's just sleeping with his eyes open? We have made it through Ohio almost without stopping. Keep on moving - Virginia here we come!
0930 - See trucks with triple trailers. Yikes!
0950 - Toll booth
0953 - Pennsylvania
0954 - Another toll booth. Glad we have EZPass!
1010 - Emergency pull off on the side of the road. Felisa has to go to the bathroom. What did I say about not regretting the lack of a bathroom stop earlier?
1025 - At McD's for breakfast
1120 - It is misty out here.
1122 - See a flock of wild turkeys.
1147 - Lots of dead trees along the highway.
1159 - Stop for gas. $2.60/gallon. This service plaza is much busier than the one in Ohio. Maybe because it's lunch time!
12:03 p.m. Eleanor called. Darby has a tummyache.
12:14 p.m. Allegheny Mountain Tunnel
12:58 p.m. Breezewood Interchange
1:21 p.m. Maryland
2:40 p.m. Virginia. And we're back in too-much-traffic land.
2:51 p.m. Highway 123 - getting close!
3:05 p.m. We're home!!! Our starting mileage was approximately 52,100. Our ending mileage was 58,822. Okay, math whizzes - how many miles did we drive? 6,722
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Day 21
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Wake up. Eat breakfast at the hotel. This hotel is very busy - lots of people! After breakfast we drove over to the ferry dock to catch the ferry for Mackinac Island.
0930 - Star Line Hydro-Jet Ferry. We sat on the top deck and ended up getting very wet from the spray!
1000 Arrive at the dock. Walk through downtown to the Butterfly House.
After the Butterfly House we climbed the stairs higher up the island then proceeded to follow Ron wherever he took us. We climbed stairs to Pt. Lookout and Fort Holmes. Then we headed down some stairs, past Skull Cave, and on to Fort Mackinac. While there we watched the Drilling and Rifle Firing demonstrations. By this time we were all quite hungry so we ate lunch on the balcony of the Fort, overlooking the town and the harbor.
Our final activities of the day - Ron and Ryan rented bikes and rode around the island. The girls and I took the horse-drawn carriage tour. Oh and a last-minute dash to buy some fudge.
5:05 p.m. On the ferry back to the mainland.
Stop for gas, $2.59/gallon.
On the road, headed for home. If we drive straight through we'll be home before noon tomorrow.
6:38 p.m. Pine trees on stilts.
8:20 p.m. Stop for dinner at Burger King. Much discussion about whether or not we are going to drive through the night or stop somewhere. I prefer to drive in the daylight but am not opposed to driving straight through. Ultimately we decide to stop somewhere.
10:00 p.m. In Ann Arbor, MI. We stop at the Hampton Inn but there are no vacancies. GPS Lady says there is an Embassy Suites in town so we head for that. Apparently we misunderstood her because when we arrive, it is the Embassy Hotel and it looks awful! Dodging construction zones as we continue across town, we did a drive-by of University of Michigan.
10:34 p.m. Finally... a hotel... Sleep Inn in Milan, MI.
Wake up. Eat breakfast at the hotel. This hotel is very busy - lots of people! After breakfast we drove over to the ferry dock to catch the ferry for Mackinac Island.
0930 - Star Line Hydro-Jet Ferry. We sat on the top deck and ended up getting very wet from the spray!
1000 Arrive at the dock. Walk through downtown to the Butterfly House.
After the Butterfly House we climbed the stairs higher up the island then proceeded to follow Ron wherever he took us. We climbed stairs to Pt. Lookout and Fort Holmes. Then we headed down some stairs, past Skull Cave, and on to Fort Mackinac. While there we watched the Drilling and Rifle Firing demonstrations. By this time we were all quite hungry so we ate lunch on the balcony of the Fort, overlooking the town and the harbor.
Our final activities of the day - Ron and Ryan rented bikes and rode around the island. The girls and I took the horse-drawn carriage tour. Oh and a last-minute dash to buy some fudge.
5:05 p.m. On the ferry back to the mainland.
Stop for gas, $2.59/gallon.
On the road, headed for home. If we drive straight through we'll be home before noon tomorrow.
6:38 p.m. Pine trees on stilts.
8:20 p.m. Stop for dinner at Burger King. Much discussion about whether or not we are going to drive through the night or stop somewhere. I prefer to drive in the daylight but am not opposed to driving straight through. Ultimately we decide to stop somewhere.
10:00 p.m. In Ann Arbor, MI. We stop at the Hampton Inn but there are no vacancies. GPS Lady says there is an Embassy Suites in town so we head for that. Apparently we misunderstood her because when we arrive, it is the Embassy Hotel and it looks awful! Dodging construction zones as we continue across town, we did a drive-by of University of Michigan.
10:34 p.m. Finally... a hotel... Sleep Inn in Milan, MI.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Day 20
Monday, August 3, 2009
0730 Wake up. Get coffee. Wake up the kids, grab a quick breakfast.
0910 Leaving hotel.
0915 Stop at the shipwrecks tour gift shop so Ron can buy a souvenir hat and t-shirt.
0924 Stop at the Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore again. The sign says it should be open but no one is there.
As we leave town, there is a brief discussion about where we are going exactly. We were not thinking of the same place so good thing we checked before we got too far down the road! Next stop, Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
1100 Lower Falls at Tahquamenon State Park. Entrance fee is $8 and it's raining. So we decide to skip it.
1112 Welcome to Paradise! Paradise, Michigan that is.
1120 Oh that is funny! We passed a set of mailboxes. One was a regular box. The other was about 6 feet higher and had a sign on it that said Winter Delivery. Do you think they might get a lot of snow here in the winter?!?
1122 Lots of places for sale here. Maybe they are empty lots.
1123 Whitefish Point - the cranberry capital of Michigan apparently.
1126 Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Much more crowded than I expected it to be. Perhaps the rainy weather is driving all the tourists here since they can't do anything else? To add to the atmosphere, the foghorn is blowing. Fog, wind, rain - perfect weather for a shipwreck museum!
12:41 p.m. Leaving the museum. On our way out we picked up a quick lunch. Basically snack bar/vending machine food but it's the only food around so we'll take it! Our favorite parts of the museum/lighthouse:
Felisa - the beach graveyard of ships
Ron - brass ship nameplates
Ryan - museum
Bella - the girl's room in the lighthouse keeper's house
Sheila - the museum and all the stories (including the story of the ghost of 3-Finger Kirby)
1:06 p.m. Movie time. Now showing - Open Season 2. It's ironic that now they are bugging me to watch it because they hadn't chosen this movie sooner to watch. It was one of the new (used) ones we picked up before we left on the trip but they hadn't watched it so I finally told them they had to watch it next. I said that before we got to Grandma's house in Illinois and they have been bugging me now to watch it. Be careful what you ask for, right?
2:02 p.m. Soo Locks in Sault Saint Marie. It is still raining so our visit is short. Fortunately we were able to catch the tail end of a ship passing down through the locks. I was expecting more of a series of locks as opposed to just one. Even still, it was interesting. We also saw the bridge to Canada and could just make out a bit of the Canadian shore through the mist.
3:30 p.m. Crossing the Straits of Mackinac. Lake Michigan on one side and Lake Huron on the other. We have now seen all 5 of the Great Lakes this summer!
3:40 p.m. Hotel
After we check in, we went for an early dinner at Dixie Saloon. Then we toured the Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw which is now a museum.
Back at the hotel we checked the beach. Looks good but cold. The kids all voted to go to the beach rather than the pool so after a short rest, we went out. It was cold but that didn't stop them from swimming in Lake Huron! After 40 minutes, we pulled them shivering and blue out of the water and went back to the room for showers. Ron and Ryan went to see the Laser Light Show but it doesn't start until 10 so they came back. I tried to do some laundry but the dryers are out of order. I certainly don't need a bunch of wet clothes so we'll just make do for a bit longer.
Tomorrow we are headed to Mackinac Island and then start our drive towards home. 3 weeks is shorter than our other trips but it still seems just as long!
0730 Wake up. Get coffee. Wake up the kids, grab a quick breakfast.
0910 Leaving hotel.
0915 Stop at the shipwrecks tour gift shop so Ron can buy a souvenir hat and t-shirt.
0924 Stop at the Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore again. The sign says it should be open but no one is there.
As we leave town, there is a brief discussion about where we are going exactly. We were not thinking of the same place so good thing we checked before we got too far down the road! Next stop, Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
1100 Lower Falls at Tahquamenon State Park. Entrance fee is $8 and it's raining. So we decide to skip it.
1112 Welcome to Paradise! Paradise, Michigan that is.
1120 Oh that is funny! We passed a set of mailboxes. One was a regular box. The other was about 6 feet higher and had a sign on it that said Winter Delivery. Do you think they might get a lot of snow here in the winter?!?
1122 Lots of places for sale here. Maybe they are empty lots.
1123 Whitefish Point - the cranberry capital of Michigan apparently.
1126 Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Much more crowded than I expected it to be. Perhaps the rainy weather is driving all the tourists here since they can't do anything else? To add to the atmosphere, the foghorn is blowing. Fog, wind, rain - perfect weather for a shipwreck museum!
12:41 p.m. Leaving the museum. On our way out we picked up a quick lunch. Basically snack bar/vending machine food but it's the only food around so we'll take it! Our favorite parts of the museum/lighthouse:
Felisa - the beach graveyard of ships
Ron - brass ship nameplates
Ryan - museum
Bella - the girl's room in the lighthouse keeper's house
Sheila - the museum and all the stories (including the story of the ghost of 3-Finger Kirby)
1:06 p.m. Movie time. Now showing - Open Season 2. It's ironic that now they are bugging me to watch it because they hadn't chosen this movie sooner to watch. It was one of the new (used) ones we picked up before we left on the trip but they hadn't watched it so I finally told them they had to watch it next. I said that before we got to Grandma's house in Illinois and they have been bugging me now to watch it. Be careful what you ask for, right?
2:02 p.m. Soo Locks in Sault Saint Marie. It is still raining so our visit is short. Fortunately we were able to catch the tail end of a ship passing down through the locks. I was expecting more of a series of locks as opposed to just one. Even still, it was interesting. We also saw the bridge to Canada and could just make out a bit of the Canadian shore through the mist.
3:30 p.m. Crossing the Straits of Mackinac. Lake Michigan on one side and Lake Huron on the other. We have now seen all 5 of the Great Lakes this summer!
3:40 p.m. Hotel
After we check in, we went for an early dinner at Dixie Saloon. Then we toured the Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw which is now a museum.
Back at the hotel we checked the beach. Looks good but cold. The kids all voted to go to the beach rather than the pool so after a short rest, we went out. It was cold but that didn't stop them from swimming in Lake Huron! After 40 minutes, we pulled them shivering and blue out of the water and went back to the room for showers. Ron and Ryan went to see the Laser Light Show but it doesn't start until 10 so they came back. I tried to do some laundry but the dryers are out of order. I certainly don't need a bunch of wet clothes so we'll just make do for a bit longer.
Tomorrow we are headed to Mackinac Island and then start our drive towards home. 3 weeks is shorter than our other trips but it still seems just as long!
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Day 19
Sunday, August 2, 2009
0800 Wake up. Get coffee. The breakfast room is crowded.
0945 Leaving the hotel for the day. Brr! It's chilly out here this morning!
0952 Stop to by shipwreck tour tickets for later.
1015 Miners Castle Overlook. And then we decide to hike the mile trail down to the beach. Apparently when Ron sees a trail, he wants to hike it. We made it all the way to the beach, played in the sand, and almost stayed dry. Then we walked all the way back up to the top. We stopped at the gift shop and the ranger there recognized Vacation Mouse. Said she remembered reading "When you give a mouse a cookie" when she was a kid.
1155 Back at the car. Our favorite parts:
Bella - the beach
Felisa - finding the frog
Ryan - hiking
Ron - taking pictures on the beach
Sheila - the scenery
Ryan was looking for a notebook in the gift shop. Apparently he forgot to pack one and needs one to write down all of his ideas. That kid thinks a lot!
12:10 p.m. Back at the hotel. Leftover pizza and PB & J biscuit sandwiches made out of breakfast food we grabbed this morning.
12:38 p.m. On our way to the Glass Bottom Boat Shipwrecks Boat Tour. I have a sunburn already from the morning outside, even though most of it was spent in the shade. Sheesh.
What lies at the bottom of Lake Superior and quivers?
A nervous wreck!
Ha ha! We saw three shipwrecks on our tour as well as a lighthouse, some of the colored sandstone similar to that found in the Pictured Rocks, and some bald eagles.
Our favorite parts of the tour:
Ron - scenic views
Ryan - being outside on the boat deck
Felisa - watching the waves and the wake of the boat
Bella - the water
Sheila - the shipwrecks
3:20 p.m. Stop at Muldoon's Pasty for a taste of a local favorite food.
Then back to the hotel for a quick contact lens rescue then to the bookstore/coffee shop. Once fortified, we head back over to Munising Falls to try again. An easy short walk but with more stairs. Nice waterfall. There is a sign there for a trail to Miners Castle (where we were this morning) - 7 miles! No thanks.
5:15 p.m. Sand Point. Hmm... looks sunny here. This is the beach we saw from the boat, voted in the top 10 by The Weather Channel. The sand is nice, not rocky. The water is cold but very clear. And I really think this water is warmer than the ocean water at the big beach in New Jersey. We walked along the sand and even found our own shipwreck! Then Ron and I sat on a log and watched the kids play in the water. Amazingly enough, they kept their clothes dry!
Our favorite parts of the beach:
Bella - being a Water Spirit
Felisa - walking on the beach
Ryan - the shipwreck
Ron - sitting on the beach
Sheila - the shipwreck and the clear water
6:00 p.m. Leaving the beach. It's too early now but I think this beach would be an excellent place to see the sunset.
6:10 p.m. Arrive at the Dogpatch for dinner. The kids are joking about what sort of dog dishes they might serve here- Chubby Cheeseburgers, Furry Heart French Fries, Skies Salad, Corny Casserole... (those are all names of Felisa's stuffed dog crew). Once again the service is questionable. The food is decent but nothing to write home about. Ron ate the fresh fish buffet but freshwater fish is too fishy more me.
8:15 p.m. Swim time again. The pool was the same but thankfully this time the hot tub was HOT!
After swimming, Ghostbusters in on. We watched it at the beginning of our trip while staying in Kentucky.
Bed time!
0800 Wake up. Get coffee. The breakfast room is crowded.
0945 Leaving the hotel for the day. Brr! It's chilly out here this morning!
0952 Stop to by shipwreck tour tickets for later.
1015 Miners Castle Overlook. And then we decide to hike the mile trail down to the beach. Apparently when Ron sees a trail, he wants to hike it. We made it all the way to the beach, played in the sand, and almost stayed dry. Then we walked all the way back up to the top. We stopped at the gift shop and the ranger there recognized Vacation Mouse. Said she remembered reading "When you give a mouse a cookie" when she was a kid.
1155 Back at the car. Our favorite parts:
Bella - the beach
Felisa - finding the frog
Ryan - hiking
Ron - taking pictures on the beach
Sheila - the scenery
Ryan was looking for a notebook in the gift shop. Apparently he forgot to pack one and needs one to write down all of his ideas. That kid thinks a lot!
12:10 p.m. Back at the hotel. Leftover pizza and PB & J biscuit sandwiches made out of breakfast food we grabbed this morning.
12:38 p.m. On our way to the Glass Bottom Boat Shipwrecks Boat Tour. I have a sunburn already from the morning outside, even though most of it was spent in the shade. Sheesh.
What lies at the bottom of Lake Superior and quivers?
A nervous wreck!
Ha ha! We saw three shipwrecks on our tour as well as a lighthouse, some of the colored sandstone similar to that found in the Pictured Rocks, and some bald eagles.
Our favorite parts of the tour:
Ron - scenic views
Ryan - being outside on the boat deck
Felisa - watching the waves and the wake of the boat
Bella - the water
Sheila - the shipwrecks
3:20 p.m. Stop at Muldoon's Pasty for a taste of a local favorite food.
Then back to the hotel for a quick contact lens rescue then to the bookstore/coffee shop. Once fortified, we head back over to Munising Falls to try again. An easy short walk but with more stairs. Nice waterfall. There is a sign there for a trail to Miners Castle (where we were this morning) - 7 miles! No thanks.
5:15 p.m. Sand Point. Hmm... looks sunny here. This is the beach we saw from the boat, voted in the top 10 by The Weather Channel. The sand is nice, not rocky. The water is cold but very clear. And I really think this water is warmer than the ocean water at the big beach in New Jersey. We walked along the sand and even found our own shipwreck! Then Ron and I sat on a log and watched the kids play in the water. Amazingly enough, they kept their clothes dry!
Our favorite parts of the beach:
Bella - being a Water Spirit
Felisa - walking on the beach
Ryan - the shipwreck
Ron - sitting on the beach
Sheila - the shipwreck and the clear water
6:00 p.m. Leaving the beach. It's too early now but I think this beach would be an excellent place to see the sunset.
6:10 p.m. Arrive at the Dogpatch for dinner. The kids are joking about what sort of dog dishes they might serve here- Chubby Cheeseburgers, Furry Heart French Fries, Skies Salad, Corny Casserole... (those are all names of Felisa's stuffed dog crew). Once again the service is questionable. The food is decent but nothing to write home about. Ron ate the fresh fish buffet but freshwater fish is too fishy more me.
8:15 p.m. Swim time again. The pool was the same but thankfully this time the hot tub was HOT!
After swimming, Ghostbusters in on. We watched it at the beginning of our trip while staying in Kentucky.
Bed time!
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Day 18
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Breakfast a la hotel.
We decide to swim before we leave so the kids can enjoy the slide. Aren't we nice?
1015 Leave the hotel. What did I learn this morning? I prefer to be the one rushing people out the door, not the one being rushed out the door.
1025 Ryan is reading the list of holidays in his Boys book again. Mike the Headless Chicken came up again. (Oh look - he even has a festival!)
1116 Lake Michigan - Green Bay, Wisconsin
1158 A sign for Livin' Large Limo Service - right next to a fleet of school busses. And not a single limo in sight!
12:10 p.m. Stop at Culvers for lunch. More yummy custard!
1:02 p.m. Michigan
1:05 p.m. Technical difficulties - please stand by. Your movie will be starting momentarily (I hope).
1:07 p.m. Fixed! Now showing... Open Season
1:41 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. Huh. That was a surprise! Hadn't really thought about it but wasn't expecting it already.
2:58 p.m. Gas, $2.58/gallon
3:57 p.m. Camp Hiawatha. Didn't know that was a real place.
4:07 p.m. Munising, MI and Lake Superior.
4:12 p.m. Arrive at our hotel.
6:15 p.m. Stop at the scenic overlook on our way to dinner. We can see our hotel and the lake but most of the view is overgrown.
6:30 p.m. Dinner at Main Street Pizza. The service was ridiculously non-existent but the pizza was delicious!
After dinner, we drove over to Munising Falls for a hike. By the time we get there it is starting to rain so we skip it. Back to the hotel...
8:40 p.m. Swim time. The pool is a usual hotel pool cool - not the coldest but could stand to be a bit warmer. The hot tub was a big disappointment - barely warm. :(
After swimming, hot showers then bed time.
Breakfast a la hotel.
We decide to swim before we leave so the kids can enjoy the slide. Aren't we nice?
1015 Leave the hotel. What did I learn this morning? I prefer to be the one rushing people out the door, not the one being rushed out the door.
1025 Ryan is reading the list of holidays in his Boys book again. Mike the Headless Chicken came up again. (Oh look - he even has a festival!)
1116 Lake Michigan - Green Bay, Wisconsin
1158 A sign for Livin' Large Limo Service - right next to a fleet of school busses. And not a single limo in sight!
12:10 p.m. Stop at Culvers for lunch. More yummy custard!
1:02 p.m. Michigan
1:05 p.m. Technical difficulties - please stand by. Your movie will be starting momentarily (I hope).
1:07 p.m. Fixed! Now showing... Open Season
1:41 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. Huh. That was a surprise! Hadn't really thought about it but wasn't expecting it already.
2:58 p.m. Gas, $2.58/gallon
3:57 p.m. Camp Hiawatha. Didn't know that was a real place.
4:07 p.m. Munising, MI and Lake Superior.
4:12 p.m. Arrive at our hotel.
6:15 p.m. Stop at the scenic overlook on our way to dinner. We can see our hotel and the lake but most of the view is overgrown.
6:30 p.m. Dinner at Main Street Pizza. The service was ridiculously non-existent but the pizza was delicious!
After dinner, we drove over to Munising Falls for a hike. By the time we get there it is starting to rain so we skip it. Back to the hotel...
8:40 p.m. Swim time. The pool is a usual hotel pool cool - not the coldest but could stand to be a bit warmer. The hot tub was a big disappointment - barely warm. :(
After swimming, hot showers then bed time.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Day 17
Friday, July 31, 2009
0700 Up and shower
0730 Wake up the kids
0855 Car is loaded. Ready to go - just need to take pictures first.
0910 Leaving Grandma's house
0922 Stop at McD's for iced coffee
0950 Carthage, IL - my birthplace. Felisa wants to know which house I lived in but of course I have no idea. I told her she would have to ask Grandpa or Grandma F that question.
1017 Back on track... I wasn't listening to GPS lady and was following the wrong highway. Oops! Only ended up about 4 miles too far north.
1025 Nauvoo. Stop at the Visitors Center, gunsmith's house and shop, 1840's school house, and brick yard. Picked up another brick to add to our collection.
1215 leaving Nauvoo
1235 Take a two block detour to drive along the Mississippi River in Dallas City. Felisa found a tire in the river.
1:25 p.m. Burger King in Monmouth for lunch. We are only about 30 minutes from Grandma's house - not making much progress, are we?
1:45 p.m. Gas, $2.49/gallon
2:05 p.m. No Starbucks! GPS Lady lied to me! Grr!
2:26 p.m. Ron called - he's on his way home from work then heading to the airport.
3:12 p.m. Ron called again. His flight has been delayed and won't be arriving until 8:15 in Milwaukee.
3:27 p.m. Culvers in Rock Falls, IL - the kids ate more yummy frozen custard and I got a burger and an iced coffee. I turned it into an iced coffee float with a couple spoonfuls of Bella's custard. Yum.
3:58 p.m. Called the cheese-making history center in Wisconsin. They are closing in a few minutes. Guess we won't be stopping there. No one is interested in Ronald Reagan's birthplace either (about 14 miles from here). So I guess we'll just keep driving.
4:03 p.m. Felisa killed the fly that was hitchhiking with us.
4:05 p.m. Uh oh - another fly is still buzzing around.
4:06 p.m. The toll road accepts EZPass. Woo hoo!
4:29 p.m. Corn truck (that's what Felisa told me to write in my scrapbook - it's a big semi full of corn on the cob!)
4:44 p.m. We have picked up a lot of traffic volume since we got on I39 north.
4:54 p.m. Stuck in a traffic jam outside Rockford, IL
5:15 p.m. Felisa needs to go to the bathroom. Of course. Because we just passed the last exit before toll and there is nothing ahead of us but lots and lots of traffic on an overpass. So instead I bail out onto the toll road going the other direction. Don't know how far the exit is going that way either but at least we would be moving rather than all jammed up. We end up driving 8 miles going the other way.
5:25 p.m. Walmart bathroom in Belvidere, IL. We passed the Chrysler Belvidere Assembly Plant along the highway.
5:42 p.m. Back in the car and back on the road. For some reason I am becoming insanely grumpy this afternoon. Maybe it's because we are traveling with a deadline today. I prefer to drive without deadlines.
6:03 p.m. Wisconsin - finally!
6:10 p.m. Gas, $2.45/gallon
6:19 p.m. More (*$#*^#( construction. I am sick of orange cones. They haven't caused significant delays, fortunately, but still. Ugh.
7:00 p.m. Stop at Fazoli's for dinner. Ryan finds it hilarious that the italian place has a drive-thru.
7:43 p.m. We have finished our dinner and through the magic of GPS lady, found a playground. Weatherstone Park in New Berlin, WI.
7:48 p.m. ABORT!!! This park has way too many mosquitos, is too sandy, and the swings are too high for the kids to use. How come GPS Lady didn't warn us?!?
7:52 p.m. Grandma D called and talked to the girls.
8:15 p.m. At the Milwaukee airport. The signage for the cell phone parking lot could use some serious improvement. I drove around the terminal loop like 3 or 4 times trying to figure it out. Also, if we park for longer than 30 minutes here we have to pay. Not cool.
8:34 p.m. Pick up Ron! While we were waiting, we saw his plane land. Fun!
9:34 p.m. Arrive at our hotel in Sheboygan. The pool has a water slide but it is closed to kids after 9 p.m. Bummer. Once we settled in, Ron took the kids on a field trip to the gas station to pick up some snacks.
Another long day on the road.
0700 Up and shower
0730 Wake up the kids
0855 Car is loaded. Ready to go - just need to take pictures first.
0910 Leaving Grandma's house
0922 Stop at McD's for iced coffee
0950 Carthage, IL - my birthplace. Felisa wants to know which house I lived in but of course I have no idea. I told her she would have to ask Grandpa or Grandma F that question.
1017 Back on track... I wasn't listening to GPS lady and was following the wrong highway. Oops! Only ended up about 4 miles too far north.
1025 Nauvoo. Stop at the Visitors Center, gunsmith's house and shop, 1840's school house, and brick yard. Picked up another brick to add to our collection.
1215 leaving Nauvoo
1235 Take a two block detour to drive along the Mississippi River in Dallas City. Felisa found a tire in the river.
1:25 p.m. Burger King in Monmouth for lunch. We are only about 30 minutes from Grandma's house - not making much progress, are we?
1:45 p.m. Gas, $2.49/gallon
2:05 p.m. No Starbucks! GPS Lady lied to me! Grr!
2:26 p.m. Ron called - he's on his way home from work then heading to the airport.
3:12 p.m. Ron called again. His flight has been delayed and won't be arriving until 8:15 in Milwaukee.
3:27 p.m. Culvers in Rock Falls, IL - the kids ate more yummy frozen custard and I got a burger and an iced coffee. I turned it into an iced coffee float with a couple spoonfuls of Bella's custard. Yum.
3:58 p.m. Called the cheese-making history center in Wisconsin. They are closing in a few minutes. Guess we won't be stopping there. No one is interested in Ronald Reagan's birthplace either (about 14 miles from here). So I guess we'll just keep driving.
4:03 p.m. Felisa killed the fly that was hitchhiking with us.
4:05 p.m. Uh oh - another fly is still buzzing around.
4:06 p.m. The toll road accepts EZPass. Woo hoo!
4:29 p.m. Corn truck (that's what Felisa told me to write in my scrapbook - it's a big semi full of corn on the cob!)
4:44 p.m. We have picked up a lot of traffic volume since we got on I39 north.
4:54 p.m. Stuck in a traffic jam outside Rockford, IL
5:15 p.m. Felisa needs to go to the bathroom. Of course. Because we just passed the last exit before toll and there is nothing ahead of us but lots and lots of traffic on an overpass. So instead I bail out onto the toll road going the other direction. Don't know how far the exit is going that way either but at least we would be moving rather than all jammed up. We end up driving 8 miles going the other way.
5:25 p.m. Walmart bathroom in Belvidere, IL. We passed the Chrysler Belvidere Assembly Plant along the highway.
5:42 p.m. Back in the car and back on the road. For some reason I am becoming insanely grumpy this afternoon. Maybe it's because we are traveling with a deadline today. I prefer to drive without deadlines.
6:03 p.m. Wisconsin - finally!
6:10 p.m. Gas, $2.45/gallon
6:19 p.m. More (*$#*^#( construction. I am sick of orange cones. They haven't caused significant delays, fortunately, but still. Ugh.
7:00 p.m. Stop at Fazoli's for dinner. Ryan finds it hilarious that the italian place has a drive-thru.
7:43 p.m. We have finished our dinner and through the magic of GPS lady, found a playground. Weatherstone Park in New Berlin, WI.
7:48 p.m. ABORT!!! This park has way too many mosquitos, is too sandy, and the swings are too high for the kids to use. How come GPS Lady didn't warn us?!?
7:52 p.m. Grandma D called and talked to the girls.
8:15 p.m. At the Milwaukee airport. The signage for the cell phone parking lot could use some serious improvement. I drove around the terminal loop like 3 or 4 times trying to figure it out. Also, if we park for longer than 30 minutes here we have to pay. Not cool.
8:34 p.m. Pick up Ron! While we were waiting, we saw his plane land. Fun!
9:34 p.m. Arrive at our hotel in Sheboygan. The pool has a water slide but it is closed to kids after 9 p.m. Bummer. Once we settled in, Ron took the kids on a field trip to the gas station to pick up some snacks.
Another long day on the road.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Day 16
Thursday, July 30, 2009
0800 Wake up. Bella is already awake. Wonder how long she has been awake and what she has been doing. She wouldn’t go upstairs on her own.
Breakfast and coffee.
Get everyone dressed so we can go to town to get the oil changed. After our oil change we went to Walmart to buy potato chips. We also found a pair of white tennis shoes for Bella’s cheer uniform but they didn’t have Felisa’s size. That would have been just too easy! I also bought two pairs of black leggings to wear under their uniforms on cold game days. After Walmart we hit the McD’s drive thru so I could get an iced coffee. Then back to Grandma’s for lunch. Grandma had almost finished our laundry by the time we got back.
After lunch I packed up the green beans Grandma gave me – yum – and loaded them in the car then cleaned out a bit of trash in preparation to drive again tomorrow.
Then it was time to go to Tegan’s house to play. The kids stopped at the park on the way so they could play on the see-saw again.
We went out to dinner tonight to Ponderosa buffet. The kids had been asking to go to a Ryan’s Restaurant buffet so this satisfied them.
After dinner we watched Wheel of Fortune then went back to play with Tegan one last time before we left town. When we got home, we all took foot baths in the kitchen sink - even me! I sure don't fit like I used to, that's for sure! But the good news is we all went to sleep with clean feet. No more black soles!
Downstairs before bed Bella said that she hoped to find Care Bear before we left tomorrow. She's lost? Yes. I told the kids to look around the bed, under the covers, etc. They found her, though I'm not sure how. The bed has a shelf headboard so there is several inches of dead space under the shelves, between the mattress and the walls. Care Bear was in there. Got lucky on that one.
Another relaxing day in Good Hope…
0800 Wake up. Bella is already awake. Wonder how long she has been awake and what she has been doing. She wouldn’t go upstairs on her own.
Breakfast and coffee.
Get everyone dressed so we can go to town to get the oil changed. After our oil change we went to Walmart to buy potato chips. We also found a pair of white tennis shoes for Bella’s cheer uniform but they didn’t have Felisa’s size. That would have been just too easy! I also bought two pairs of black leggings to wear under their uniforms on cold game days. After Walmart we hit the McD’s drive thru so I could get an iced coffee. Then back to Grandma’s for lunch. Grandma had almost finished our laundry by the time we got back.
After lunch I packed up the green beans Grandma gave me – yum – and loaded them in the car then cleaned out a bit of trash in preparation to drive again tomorrow.
Then it was time to go to Tegan’s house to play. The kids stopped at the park on the way so they could play on the see-saw again.
We went out to dinner tonight to Ponderosa buffet. The kids had been asking to go to a Ryan’s Restaurant buffet so this satisfied them.
After dinner we watched Wheel of Fortune then went back to play with Tegan one last time before we left town. When we got home, we all took foot baths in the kitchen sink - even me! I sure don't fit like I used to, that's for sure! But the good news is we all went to sleep with clean feet. No more black soles!
Downstairs before bed Bella said that she hoped to find Care Bear before we left tomorrow. She's lost? Yes. I told the kids to look around the bed, under the covers, etc. They found her, though I'm not sure how. The bed has a shelf headboard so there is several inches of dead space under the shelves, between the mattress and the walls. Care Bear was in there. Got lucky on that one.
Another relaxing day in Good Hope…
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Day 15
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I slept in! We all slept in, in fact. The girls and I woke up at about 0830 and Ryan came
up about a half hour later. Coffee and breakfast. The kids played all morning while I relaxed, read the paper, and watched TV. After lunch (mmmm – ham salad!) the kids wanted to go to the park again. I had to move my car so that Grandma could drive to pick up fresh corn on the cob for dinner. Since I was moving the car anyway, we drove over to the school playground for a change of pace. On the way back, we drove past the other park and Uncle Ron’s house. We saw Tegan out playing so we decided to stop for a bit. Then back home to Grandma’s. Ron came over to work on the yard and brought Tegan to play for a bit. Then it was dinnertime. After dinner, we walked back up to the park and to play with Tegan. Uncle Randy was home so we were able to say hi to him and meet his new puppy, Dakota. Then it was time to get ready for bed so we all came back to the house.
A nice relaxing day in Good Hope…
I slept in! We all slept in, in fact. The girls and I woke up at about 0830 and Ryan came
up about a half hour later. Coffee and breakfast. The kids played all morning while I relaxed, read the paper, and watched TV. After lunch (mmmm – ham salad!) the kids wanted to go to the park again. I had to move my car so that Grandma could drive to pick up fresh corn on the cob for dinner. Since I was moving the car anyway, we drove over to the school playground for a change of pace. On the way back, we drove past the other park and Uncle Ron’s house. We saw Tegan out playing so we decided to stop for a bit. Then back home to Grandma’s. Ron came over to work on the yard and brought Tegan to play for a bit. Then it was dinnertime. After dinner, we walked back up to the park and to play with Tegan. Uncle Randy was home so we were able to say hi to him and meet his new puppy, Dakota. Then it was time to get ready for bed so we all came back to the house.
A nice relaxing day in Good Hope…
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Day 14
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
0615 Wake up.
0635 Wake the kids up. They are very sleepy and don’t want to get up. I remind them that they can sleep in the car. Unfortunately, I cannot.
0650 All our bags have been loaded into the car. We go back inside for a quick breakfast.
0710 Leave the hotel. It is very foggy this morning.
0715 Stop for gas. $2.25/gallon. Find the post office on the GPS.
0735 We are on the turnpike now. We couldn’t find the post office or the historic marker for Route 66 in town. Oh well. Now there is a sign that says “Do not drive into smoke.” Okay… does that apply to fog also because it is very foggy out here today!
0740 We can see our hotel. Guess we just went in a big circle!
0741 Speed limit 75?!? Alrighty then – let’s get going!
0743 There is a commercial on the radio for dental services. $35 for a tooth extraction. $350 for dentures. $1,800 for an implant. Those prices sound low to me. I wonder what Grandma Duffield would think.
0752 We just passed the third sign telling us not to drive into smoke. Which makes me wonder… smoke must be common out here or else there wouldn’t be posted signs warning us. What would be the cause? Forest fires? Or maybe ranchers burning the fields.
0756 I’m really hung up on this smoke thing. What am I supposed to do if there is smoke? Stop on the highway and wait for it to clear? Drive in reverse to the last exit? Will there be police or firefighters out directing traffic?
0759 The signs advertising the attactions of each town are listed in a bullet list format. I just realized that each item is marked with a small outline of Oklahoma. And Oklahoma looks like a hand with a pointing finger. I wonder if that is intentional.
0802 Are those spiderwebs? Or some sort of grass? There is some sort of plant all along the roadway and it looks like the top of the grass has a dew-covered spiderweb on it. On all of the grasses. There are so many that I’m thinking they couldn’t possibly be spiderwebs. Could they? They really look like webs. Hmm.
0813 Missouri
0906 Call Grandma with our ETA. She has already started dinner preps.
0913 Wow those cows are really close to the highway. I don’t see a fence. Oh wait – those aren’t cows. Those are round bales of hay. Oops! Maybe I should get more sleep before driving – I’m seeing things!
0922 Traffic jam. Just two miles before my exit. Why couldn’t the traffic jam up after my exit instead? Once we get through, I still have no idea what caused it.
0940 Small Town USA vs. big cities - Are the people outside of the major cities more American than those living in cities? They certainly seem to have a greater sense of community. This is a big question and I don’t know the answer.
1034 I have been listening to the local news on the radio for the last half hour. And now it’s the Trading Post show. It’s like Craig’s List meets the Classified Ads over the phone broadcast on the radio. People call in with what they have to sell or what they want to buy and give their phone number. One after another.
1039 – Screech! Hold on kids! There’s a post office so we can mail our postcards!
1040 – Sonic for lunch.
1102 – Checking the map. Leaving Sonic.
1118 – Crossing the Lake of the Ozarks again. It’s a big lake and it seems to have lots of inlets with lots of water/beach access. It reminds me of going to the beach and Long Beach Island. Definitely a vacation getaway spot. And the main drag is very busy for a Tuesday morning. I can’t imagine what it would be like on the weekends.
12:02 p.m. Jefferson City, MO. Crossing the Missouri River and we can see the top of the Capitol Building. I don’t think I would have been able to remember Jefferson City as the capital of Missouri if you had asked me before.
12:10 p.m. Current stock prices are on the radio. I’m not sure if I understand it correctly but I think they are saying that a cow is approximately $100 and a pig is $25.
12:43 p.m. Stop in Mexico, MO for gas. $2.35/gallon.
1:03 p.m. Passing Darby’s Gym.
1:07 p.m. We are now on a two-lane highway with cornfields on each side. We are in the Midwest now!
1:44 p.m. See a park with a playground so decide to pull over and let the kids play for a few minutes. We are in Center, MO.
2:31 p.m. Crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois.
2:59 p.m. Fairgrounds with a carnival. I think we saw the same fairgrounds with a carnival last year too.
3:44 p.m. Am I lost? Or is the GPS lost? I’m on a new-looking 4 lane divided highway and didn’t see any signs telling me to turn. The GPS shows me driving off-road. So I’m going to just keep going and see what happens.
3:48 p.m. Ah, there we are. Back on the road. Guess that means the GPS was lost!
4:03 p.m. Arrive at Grandma’s house.
We enjoyed a delicious beef and noodle dinner then the kids wanted to go to the park to play on the see-saw. And finally, bed time. I’m tired and hopefully can sleep in tomorrow.
0615 Wake up.
0635 Wake the kids up. They are very sleepy and don’t want to get up. I remind them that they can sleep in the car. Unfortunately, I cannot.
0650 All our bags have been loaded into the car. We go back inside for a quick breakfast.
0710 Leave the hotel. It is very foggy this morning.
0715 Stop for gas. $2.25/gallon. Find the post office on the GPS.
0735 We are on the turnpike now. We couldn’t find the post office or the historic marker for Route 66 in town. Oh well. Now there is a sign that says “Do not drive into smoke.” Okay… does that apply to fog also because it is very foggy out here today!
0740 We can see our hotel. Guess we just went in a big circle!
0741 Speed limit 75?!? Alrighty then – let’s get going!
0743 There is a commercial on the radio for dental services. $35 for a tooth extraction. $350 for dentures. $1,800 for an implant. Those prices sound low to me. I wonder what Grandma Duffield would think.
0752 We just passed the third sign telling us not to drive into smoke. Which makes me wonder… smoke must be common out here or else there wouldn’t be posted signs warning us. What would be the cause? Forest fires? Or maybe ranchers burning the fields.
0756 I’m really hung up on this smoke thing. What am I supposed to do if there is smoke? Stop on the highway and wait for it to clear? Drive in reverse to the last exit? Will there be police or firefighters out directing traffic?
0759 The signs advertising the attactions of each town are listed in a bullet list format. I just realized that each item is marked with a small outline of Oklahoma. And Oklahoma looks like a hand with a pointing finger. I wonder if that is intentional.
0802 Are those spiderwebs? Or some sort of grass? There is some sort of plant all along the roadway and it looks like the top of the grass has a dew-covered spiderweb on it. On all of the grasses. There are so many that I’m thinking they couldn’t possibly be spiderwebs. Could they? They really look like webs. Hmm.
0813 Missouri
0906 Call Grandma with our ETA. She has already started dinner preps.
0913 Wow those cows are really close to the highway. I don’t see a fence. Oh wait – those aren’t cows. Those are round bales of hay. Oops! Maybe I should get more sleep before driving – I’m seeing things!
0922 Traffic jam. Just two miles before my exit. Why couldn’t the traffic jam up after my exit instead? Once we get through, I still have no idea what caused it.
0940 Small Town USA vs. big cities - Are the people outside of the major cities more American than those living in cities? They certainly seem to have a greater sense of community. This is a big question and I don’t know the answer.
1034 I have been listening to the local news on the radio for the last half hour. And now it’s the Trading Post show. It’s like Craig’s List meets the Classified Ads over the phone broadcast on the radio. People call in with what they have to sell or what they want to buy and give their phone number. One after another.
1039 – Screech! Hold on kids! There’s a post office so we can mail our postcards!
1040 – Sonic for lunch.
1102 – Checking the map. Leaving Sonic.
1118 – Crossing the Lake of the Ozarks again. It’s a big lake and it seems to have lots of inlets with lots of water/beach access. It reminds me of going to the beach and Long Beach Island. Definitely a vacation getaway spot. And the main drag is very busy for a Tuesday morning. I can’t imagine what it would be like on the weekends.
12:02 p.m. Jefferson City, MO. Crossing the Missouri River and we can see the top of the Capitol Building. I don’t think I would have been able to remember Jefferson City as the capital of Missouri if you had asked me before.
12:10 p.m. Current stock prices are on the radio. I’m not sure if I understand it correctly but I think they are saying that a cow is approximately $100 and a pig is $25.
12:43 p.m. Stop in Mexico, MO for gas. $2.35/gallon.
1:03 p.m. Passing Darby’s Gym.
1:07 p.m. We are now on a two-lane highway with cornfields on each side. We are in the Midwest now!
1:44 p.m. See a park with a playground so decide to pull over and let the kids play for a few minutes. We are in Center, MO.
2:31 p.m. Crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois.
2:59 p.m. Fairgrounds with a carnival. I think we saw the same fairgrounds with a carnival last year too.
3:44 p.m. Am I lost? Or is the GPS lost? I’m on a new-looking 4 lane divided highway and didn’t see any signs telling me to turn. The GPS shows me driving off-road. So I’m going to just keep going and see what happens.
3:48 p.m. Ah, there we are. Back on the road. Guess that means the GPS was lost!
4:03 p.m. Arrive at Grandma’s house.
We enjoyed a delicious beef and noodle dinner then the kids wanted to go to the park to play on the see-saw. And finally, bed time. I’m tired and hopefully can sleep in tomorrow.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Day 13
Monday, July 27, 2009
0605 - Up. Yawn! Shower. Get kids up. Load. Go to the house to drink some coffee.
0715 - Time for our good-bye pictures with Vacation Mouse and Betty Lou.
0722 - Leaving. There is lots of traffic on the ranch this morning. I met two cars on the road!
0752 - Fredericksburg. Gas, $2.34/gallon. Two men in a repair truck at the next pump notice my VA license plate and tell me they each have a son living in Virginia also.
0843 - Listening to the radio. The station advertises itself as "a mixed tape like you once gave a boyfriend or girlfriend but less cheesy". Hmm. Sounds interesting. I do love me a good love song.
0852 - Marble Falls, TX. Betty Lou called to tell me that there is free coffee today at McDonalds and there is severe weather forecasted for Dallas area and Oklahoma.
0935 - McDonalds in Lampasas. The drive-thru line is so backed up that people are waiting in the street and I can't even get into the parking lot. The kids are hungry (and so am I!) so I decide to change my route in hopes of finding another McD's sooner than if I stay on the back roads.
0955 - McD's in Copperas Cove. When I opted to wait and eat on the road I certainly didn't think I'd come so close to missing breakfast hours!
1025 - Done at McD's. Check the map to make sure I know where I'm going next.
1038 - Killeen, TX home of Ft Hood army base. I'm listening to the song about the Big Green Tractor and I just don't get it. Guess I'm city girl after all.
1101 - Temple, TX. Giant taco sauce packet on the Taco Bell billboard. Too bad Ryan didn't see it. We're back on I-35 and I had forgotton how busy this road is.
1130 -Okay it took us 4 hours to get back to Waco. I think that's about how long it took us to get down to the ranch from here last week.
1132 - Pass the Texas Ranger museum. Looks nice. Maybe we'll go there someday.
1151 - I have been listening to this weather forecast all morning and it's driving me crazy. "Highs today in the mid 90s. Lows tonight in the low 70s." That's it. Nothing else. No percentage of rain chances. No mention of cloudy vs. sunny. And what about the weather tomorrow? That is just not a weather report to me.
12:21 p.m. Hit the rest stop south of Waxahachie before we get into Dallas traffic. The kids get a snack from the snack box. It is cloudy now and the temperature has dropped from 93 to 84.
12:43 p.m. Starting to sprinkle and there are dark clouds ahead.
12:47 p.m. Raining. Because it's Dallas. And it always rains when we drive through Dallas. The rain missed us last week when we drove through so it's making up for it today. We usually don't backtrack on our trip. We pass along parts of the same route from year to year but don't retrace our steps on the same trip. So, a change of pace this year with a re-run of I-35.
1:20 p.m. See a sign for 75 North. Which makes me feel better. I knew that was the road I was looking for but was starting to doubt whether I knew which way to go through the Dallas highways to get there.
1:19 p.m. There are fancy new overpasses here. Cool-looking.
1:33 p.m. It is still raining and now the temperature is down to 72. And on the radio is a song singing, "let the rain come down".
1:35 p.m. Construction traffic jam. A pickup truck tried to cut across the grass to the service road to avoid the traffic and now it's stuck. Oops.
1:38 p.m. I see flashing lights up ahead.
1:52 p.m. Take advantage of the barely moving traffic to call Ron and ask him to reserve us a hotel.
2:01 p.m. Finally make it past the accident. So I guess it wasn't a construction jam but rather an accident jam that just happened to be in a construction zone.
2:08 p.m. Melissa, TX
2:13 p.m. Anna, TX. So do you think they were sisters? Did they have a rich dad to give them each their own town?
2:50 p.m. Stop for gas, $2.34/gallon, Sonic, and Arbys in Denison, TX. We're almost to the state line! Unfortunately it is starting to rain again. The kids start a movie. Ice Age, the Meltdown is playing.
3:26 p.m. Oklahoma!
4:44 p.m. McAlester, OK. Pass the Union Stockyards. So what is a stockyard, exactly? Apparently it is a place to hold animals temporarily while they are being sold. Which is kind of what I thought but now I know for sure.
5:o5 p.m. Lake Eufala. This lake is huge! We've been following and crossing several times.
5:33 p.m. Bathroom break. This should be our last stop before we make it to the hotel. Thought maybe I should get it done now before we get into Muscogee where there may be more traffic.
5:41 p.m. 3rd dead armadillo today. Poor things!
5:59 p.m. See sign for Muscogee castle. Hmm. Wonder what that is. Ahhh... the renaissance festival. And other activities. Oh and I see from their website that we can rent the castle too. That would be fun. Expensive. But fun.
6:08 p.m. Finally - dry road!
7:01 p.m. We're on Route 66!
7:03 p.m. There is an old closed Sonic for sale. Do you think it would fit into my suitcase?
7:07 p.m. Finally made it to the hotel. We are all happy to be out of the car.
In the room, the kids are watching Chicken Little until they get hungry. Ordered pizza from Pizza Hut down the street and we all went to pick it up. I ordered a small and cheesesticks so that we wouldn't have leftovers. Wow- that is a SMALL pizza! Hardly larger than a personal pan pizza and cut into 4 slices. I'm pretty sure there won't be any leftovers from that and I might not even get any!
Swimming then showers and postcard writing. Then time for bed. And blog updating. Because when we leave tomorrow, I will be without internet access until next Friday night.
So until then...
Some interesting tidbits about Vinita, OK where we are staying tonight:
Vinita is the second oldest town in Oklahoma and was founded in 1871 when the railroad came through. It was originally named Downingville but the name was changed to honor Vinnie Ream, the sculptress of the life-sized statue of Lincoln at the United States Capitol.
0605 - Up. Yawn! Shower. Get kids up. Load. Go to the house to drink some coffee.
0715 - Time for our good-bye pictures with Vacation Mouse and Betty Lou.
0722 - Leaving. There is lots of traffic on the ranch this morning. I met two cars on the road!
0752 - Fredericksburg. Gas, $2.34/gallon. Two men in a repair truck at the next pump notice my VA license plate and tell me they each have a son living in Virginia also.
0843 - Listening to the radio. The station advertises itself as "a mixed tape like you once gave a boyfriend or girlfriend but less cheesy". Hmm. Sounds interesting. I do love me a good love song.
0852 - Marble Falls, TX. Betty Lou called to tell me that there is free coffee today at McDonalds and there is severe weather forecasted for Dallas area and Oklahoma.
0935 - McDonalds in Lampasas. The drive-thru line is so backed up that people are waiting in the street and I can't even get into the parking lot. The kids are hungry (and so am I!) so I decide to change my route in hopes of finding another McD's sooner than if I stay on the back roads.
0955 - McD's in Copperas Cove. When I opted to wait and eat on the road I certainly didn't think I'd come so close to missing breakfast hours!
1025 - Done at McD's. Check the map to make sure I know where I'm going next.
1038 - Killeen, TX home of Ft Hood army base. I'm listening to the song about the Big Green Tractor and I just don't get it. Guess I'm city girl after all.
1101 - Temple, TX. Giant taco sauce packet on the Taco Bell billboard. Too bad Ryan didn't see it. We're back on I-35 and I had forgotton how busy this road is.
1130 -Okay it took us 4 hours to get back to Waco. I think that's about how long it took us to get down to the ranch from here last week.
1132 - Pass the Texas Ranger museum. Looks nice. Maybe we'll go there someday.
1151 - I have been listening to this weather forecast all morning and it's driving me crazy. "Highs today in the mid 90s. Lows tonight in the low 70s." That's it. Nothing else. No percentage of rain chances. No mention of cloudy vs. sunny. And what about the weather tomorrow? That is just not a weather report to me.
12:21 p.m. Hit the rest stop south of Waxahachie before we get into Dallas traffic. The kids get a snack from the snack box. It is cloudy now and the temperature has dropped from 93 to 84.
12:43 p.m. Starting to sprinkle and there are dark clouds ahead.
12:47 p.m. Raining. Because it's Dallas. And it always rains when we drive through Dallas. The rain missed us last week when we drove through so it's making up for it today. We usually don't backtrack on our trip. We pass along parts of the same route from year to year but don't retrace our steps on the same trip. So, a change of pace this year with a re-run of I-35.
1:20 p.m. See a sign for 75 North. Which makes me feel better. I knew that was the road I was looking for but was starting to doubt whether I knew which way to go through the Dallas highways to get there.
1:19 p.m. There are fancy new overpasses here. Cool-looking.
1:33 p.m. It is still raining and now the temperature is down to 72. And on the radio is a song singing, "let the rain come down".
1:35 p.m. Construction traffic jam. A pickup truck tried to cut across the grass to the service road to avoid the traffic and now it's stuck. Oops.
1:38 p.m. I see flashing lights up ahead.
1:52 p.m. Take advantage of the barely moving traffic to call Ron and ask him to reserve us a hotel.
2:01 p.m. Finally make it past the accident. So I guess it wasn't a construction jam but rather an accident jam that just happened to be in a construction zone.
2:08 p.m. Melissa, TX
2:13 p.m. Anna, TX. So do you think they were sisters? Did they have a rich dad to give them each their own town?
2:50 p.m. Stop for gas, $2.34/gallon, Sonic, and Arbys in Denison, TX. We're almost to the state line! Unfortunately it is starting to rain again. The kids start a movie. Ice Age, the Meltdown is playing.
3:26 p.m. Oklahoma!
4:44 p.m. McAlester, OK. Pass the Union Stockyards. So what is a stockyard, exactly? Apparently it is a place to hold animals temporarily while they are being sold. Which is kind of what I thought but now I know for sure.
5:o5 p.m. Lake Eufala. This lake is huge! We've been following and crossing several times.
5:33 p.m. Bathroom break. This should be our last stop before we make it to the hotel. Thought maybe I should get it done now before we get into Muscogee where there may be more traffic.
5:41 p.m. 3rd dead armadillo today. Poor things!
5:59 p.m. See sign for Muscogee castle. Hmm. Wonder what that is. Ahhh... the renaissance festival. And other activities. Oh and I see from their website that we can rent the castle too. That would be fun. Expensive. But fun.
6:08 p.m. Finally - dry road!
7:01 p.m. We're on Route 66!
7:03 p.m. There is an old closed Sonic for sale. Do you think it would fit into my suitcase?
7:07 p.m. Finally made it to the hotel. We are all happy to be out of the car.
In the room, the kids are watching Chicken Little until they get hungry. Ordered pizza from Pizza Hut down the street and we all went to pick it up. I ordered a small and cheesesticks so that we wouldn't have leftovers. Wow- that is a SMALL pizza! Hardly larger than a personal pan pizza and cut into 4 slices. I'm pretty sure there won't be any leftovers from that and I might not even get any!
Swimming then showers and postcard writing. Then time for bed. And blog updating. Because when we leave tomorrow, I will be without internet access until next Friday night.
So until then...
Some interesting tidbits about Vinita, OK where we are staying tonight:
Vinita is the second oldest town in Oklahoma and was founded in 1871 when the railroad came through. It was originally named Downingville but the name was changed to honor Vinnie Ream, the sculptress of the life-sized statue of Lincoln at the United States Capitol.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Day 12
Sunday, July 26, 2009
0630 - alarm goes off - I'm still tired!
I'm not sure what sort of crazy dreams the girls were having last night but they are both sleeping upside down on the beds, with their heads at the foot of the beds. I go to the office to start uploading Felisa's Mutton Bustin' video. It certainly isn't the best video out there (Ron says he can't even see her!) but it's better than nothing.
0700 - time to wake the kids up
After breakfast, we drive across the ranch to meet the Hicksons (our rock hunting teacher) at the creek bed. He helps us find fossils and once we get started, he identifies what we find on our own. There are a bunch of shells down here. The girls give up on the fossils after a while but have fun playing in the creek. After some searching in the creek, we drive over to the gravel pit to look for more shells and artifacts. There are a lot of interesting-looking flint nodules over here and soon we have a sizeable (and heavy!) collection of rocks to bring home with us. By 1000 we are getting hot and thirsty so we load up to head back to the house. Mr. Hickson was very nice to help us and even gave each of the kids a bag of polished stones to bring home.
Once back at the house, I have to box up the rocks/fossils and load them in the car. Clean out the trash and get the bottom layer packed. I went to the barn for a few minutes and when I got back to the car, Sunny was sitting in the back seat looking at me. I tried to take a picture but she jumped out to quickly.
Ryan is working out on the elliptical trainer in the barn. Too much excess energy? When he's done, he comes to the house to report his result. 207 calories burned in 20 minutes. At least it's a constructive way to use his energy, right? Maybe it just seems strange because I prefer to be a couch potato myself. I'm certainly not going to discourage it. Exercise is healthy!
After lunch Betty helps us get the toys put back away properly then we play Mexican Train dominoes. It was a lot of fun. The girls stuck it out for 4 rounds then went to play and came back for the final (12th) round. Ryan won the game. I was second and Betty Lou was third with only one point more than me. Between the two girls, Felisa won.
When we finally finish playing dominoes, dinner is late. Oops! Fajitas for dinner then brownies for dessert. At dinner we ended up talking about our names and how they were chosen. Fun and interesting.
After dinner I choose a route for tomorrow and download pictures. Betty Lou takes the girls for another ride around the ranch on the mule before it gets dark. I finish loading most of the stuff into the car and the kids play in the dark with Ryan's night vision goggles and their glow-stick bracelets.
Ron called and talked to the kids for a bit before bed.
Finally, it is bedtime. I am so tired today. Not really in the mood to drive all day tomorrow but oh well. Hopefully I will sleep well until the alarm goes off bright and early tomorrow morning!
0630 - alarm goes off - I'm still tired!
I'm not sure what sort of crazy dreams the girls were having last night but they are both sleeping upside down on the beds, with their heads at the foot of the beds. I go to the office to start uploading Felisa's Mutton Bustin' video. It certainly isn't the best video out there (Ron says he can't even see her!) but it's better than nothing.
0700 - time to wake the kids up
After breakfast, we drive across the ranch to meet the Hicksons (our rock hunting teacher) at the creek bed. He helps us find fossils and once we get started, he identifies what we find on our own. There are a bunch of shells down here. The girls give up on the fossils after a while but have fun playing in the creek. After some searching in the creek, we drive over to the gravel pit to look for more shells and artifacts. There are a lot of interesting-looking flint nodules over here and soon we have a sizeable (and heavy!) collection of rocks to bring home with us. By 1000 we are getting hot and thirsty so we load up to head back to the house. Mr. Hickson was very nice to help us and even gave each of the kids a bag of polished stones to bring home.
Once back at the house, I have to box up the rocks/fossils and load them in the car. Clean out the trash and get the bottom layer packed. I went to the barn for a few minutes and when I got back to the car, Sunny was sitting in the back seat looking at me. I tried to take a picture but she jumped out to quickly.
Ryan is working out on the elliptical trainer in the barn. Too much excess energy? When he's done, he comes to the house to report his result. 207 calories burned in 20 minutes. At least it's a constructive way to use his energy, right? Maybe it just seems strange because I prefer to be a couch potato myself. I'm certainly not going to discourage it. Exercise is healthy!
After lunch Betty helps us get the toys put back away properly then we play Mexican Train dominoes. It was a lot of fun. The girls stuck it out for 4 rounds then went to play and came back for the final (12th) round. Ryan won the game. I was second and Betty Lou was third with only one point more than me. Between the two girls, Felisa won.
When we finally finish playing dominoes, dinner is late. Oops! Fajitas for dinner then brownies for dessert. At dinner we ended up talking about our names and how they were chosen. Fun and interesting.
After dinner I choose a route for tomorrow and download pictures. Betty Lou takes the girls for another ride around the ranch on the mule before it gets dark. I finish loading most of the stuff into the car and the kids play in the dark with Ryan's night vision goggles and their glow-stick bracelets.
Ron called and talked to the kids for a bit before bed.
Finally, it is bedtime. I am so tired today. Not really in the mood to drive all day tomorrow but oh well. Hopefully I will sleep well until the alarm goes off bright and early tomorrow morning!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Day 11
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Up early today for our trail ride. Everyone is tired with our TV hangovers, me included. We head inside for breakfast. After breakfast, the girls stay home with James while the rest of us go to the stables for our ride. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze and my ancient knees didn’t ache as much this year as they did last year which made it even better!
After the ride, I shower and spend some time uploading photos to Facebook and Smugmug. Double loading takes more time but again, I try to keep our fans happy.
Lunchtime.
After lunch, Betty Lou and I make the monkey bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then we all enjoy some quiet time, resting before the rodeo tonight. The kids probably would have enjoyed less quiet time but oh well. Too bad for them.
Finally, time to get ready for the rodeo. Long pants for the kids so they can enjoy the kids’ activities at the rodeo. Long pants for me so it’s fair – we’re all equally hot. We drove into Kerrville and had dinner at Culvers. Good food and even better frozen custard for dessert. Then on to Hunt where Crider’s Rodeo is.
At the rodeo, we signed the kids up for the kids’ participation events. Felisa was entered into Mutton Bustin’ and Ryan and Bella were in Calf Chasing. Then we spent some time looking at all the cows and bulls waiting in the pens.
The Mutton Bustin’ was pretty wild. Felisa ended up with what was probably the toughest sheep. As the gate opened, the sheep tripped and she started to fall off. Then the cowboys put her back on and the sheep took off. She fell fairly quickly. Her official time: 5.27 seconds. She was dusty and crying but eventually recovered. And now we can joke about whether or not she wants to ride another sheep!
The rodeo was an amateur rodeo. Which means that a lot of ropers missed the calf and none of the bull riders made it to 8 seconds. But it was a nice evening, a good atmosphere, and lots of fun. Any time I get to hang around horses and cowboys, I’m a happy girl!
Our favorite parts of the rodeo:
F – Not the sheep. Definitely not the sheep. No way. Not the sheep. NOT the sheep. (gee, do you think maybe she was still in shock when we did this poll?) Her favorite part – sitting on a horse.
B – making new friends
R – Finding a boot (during the calf chase, a kid lost his red boot. Ryan thought it looked like a money-winning ribbon so he picked it up)
S – cowboys and seeing the animals in the holding pen
On our drive home we saw a LIVE armadillo (well, actually, I was the only one who saw it, running into the brush on the side of the road), a raccoon, and back at the barn, a frog. I really enjoy being able to see so many animals all around out here.
And finally – bed. A late night. Tomorrow we have to get up early for more rock and fossil hunting.
Up early today for our trail ride. Everyone is tired with our TV hangovers, me included. We head inside for breakfast. After breakfast, the girls stay home with James while the rest of us go to the stables for our ride. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze and my ancient knees didn’t ache as much this year as they did last year which made it even better!
After the ride, I shower and spend some time uploading photos to Facebook and Smugmug. Double loading takes more time but again, I try to keep our fans happy.
Lunchtime.
After lunch, Betty Lou and I make the monkey bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then we all enjoy some quiet time, resting before the rodeo tonight. The kids probably would have enjoyed less quiet time but oh well. Too bad for them.
Finally, time to get ready for the rodeo. Long pants for the kids so they can enjoy the kids’ activities at the rodeo. Long pants for me so it’s fair – we’re all equally hot. We drove into Kerrville and had dinner at Culvers. Good food and even better frozen custard for dessert. Then on to Hunt where Crider’s Rodeo is.
At the rodeo, we signed the kids up for the kids’ participation events. Felisa was entered into Mutton Bustin’ and Ryan and Bella were in Calf Chasing. Then we spent some time looking at all the cows and bulls waiting in the pens.
The Mutton Bustin’ was pretty wild. Felisa ended up with what was probably the toughest sheep. As the gate opened, the sheep tripped and she started to fall off. Then the cowboys put her back on and the sheep took off. She fell fairly quickly. Her official time: 5.27 seconds. She was dusty and crying but eventually recovered. And now we can joke about whether or not she wants to ride another sheep!
The rodeo was an amateur rodeo. Which means that a lot of ropers missed the calf and none of the bull riders made it to 8 seconds. But it was a nice evening, a good atmosphere, and lots of fun. Any time I get to hang around horses and cowboys, I’m a happy girl!
Our favorite parts of the rodeo:
F – Not the sheep. Definitely not the sheep. No way. Not the sheep. NOT the sheep. (gee, do you think maybe she was still in shock when we did this poll?) Her favorite part – sitting on a horse.
B – making new friends
R – Finding a boot (during the calf chase, a kid lost his red boot. Ryan thought it looked like a money-winning ribbon so he picked it up)
S – cowboys and seeing the animals in the holding pen
On our drive home we saw a LIVE armadillo (well, actually, I was the only one who saw it, running into the brush on the side of the road), a raccoon, and back at the barn, a frog. I really enjoy being able to see so many animals all around out here.
And finally – bed. A late night. Tomorrow we have to get up early for more rock and fossil hunting.
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