Posts (page 2)
Well, we moved into our new house on June 7, Sat and continued until the next Mon, with a quick trip on Tues when I realized we had forgot to get everything out of one closet. We've had our vacation scheduled for months. We had paid for most of it already. It started on that Tuesday, after we got done moving and getting a little organized. We left at 3:30 pm. We stopped at a rest area for supper. I'd made tuna salad for sandwiches and put it into our cooler. We traveled through the night, Jeremy and I switching our driving and resting. At 3:00 am, we were both really tired, so we pulled into a rest area and slept for a bit, but I didn't sleep long. I was okay after an hour and continued on our way. We only had a little more time on the interstate before getting off and using the rural highways to get to Lake George, NY. We were using directions from Google maps, but I missed a turn somewhere. We were going in the right direction, so I didn't mind. After a while, we came to the highway our motel was on, so we just turned on it. I love those rural highways. The scenery is so spectacular. We stopped in Corinth, NY for a breakfast of some donuts I'd brought along. Here is the view:
We ended up in Lake George around 9:30 am. Check-in time wasn't until 3 pm, so we drove around just a little and then stopped at a drug store for the sunscreen and camera batteries that I had forgotten to buy beforehand. (Sorry, but there are no pictures from Lake George as I took them with my film camera so I could get better pics. I'll share them when I get them developed.) It was still only 11 am and we were all worn out, so we headed over to the motel to see if we could check in early. Yay! It's the off season and they only had a few rooms being used, so they had our room ready for us. We brought in our stuff and then we all took naps. After 2 hours, we (except Jeremy) all woke up and had peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch. The kids changed into their swimsuits and we went down to the motel's beach. Amie, James, and Christine had a lot of fun wading and swimming around in the water. It doesn't get deep very fast, so they were able to go out fairly far and still able to stand with it only halfway up their chests. AnnaBeth got in up to her waist and Noelle only got her feet wet. I sat on the boat dock that went around the swimming area and dangled my feet in the water. It was too cold for me. We just rested there by the lake for the rest of the day. Jeremy woke up about an hour after us and joined us out there. He went up to the local grocery store and got us some stuff to grill for dinner. At dinner time, Amie was itching the back of her head and pulled her hand out and there was a little blood on her finger. My first thought was that she had a tick, so I asked her to let me see. She had spots all down her back! Then I checked James and Christine. They had them as well. Since I don't bathe, clothe, or do Amie's hair any more, I had no idea how long she'd had them. I could tell that hers was the earliest as she had many more. We thought it was chicken pox at first, but after a bit I decided it didn't really look like those. We had to decide what we were going to do after we checked out on Friday. We had planned on going to a family reunion in New Hampshire, but there was a little baby there with health problems, so we couldn't do that now. The spots didn't seem to be affecting the kids too much except for a little less appetite, so we decided to stay at the motel until Friday as planned, than my Grandpa offered to let us stay at his house in Massachusetts during the time of the family reunion even though he'd be up in NH with the family. On Thursday, we had some biscuits for breakfast and then we took a walk. AnnaBeth started not feeling well then and running a small fever, so Jeremy took her back to the motel. The other kids and I went down to the park and boardwalk, then after playing and taking pictures, we headed back. Afterwards, the kids wanted to swim in the pool, so Jeremy got his swimsuit on and we all headed over to the pool. Noelle and AnnaBeth just played on the stairs. I sat on the edge with my feet on the top step, playing with them a bit. Then they decided later to play on the playset, so I watched them while Jeremy stayed at the pool with the three older kids. We didn't really want to have to make that extra long trip back so quickly as well as ruin Christine's summer plans (explained later) so we went to Grandpa's house on Friday. We went on rural highways and roads through Vermont using directions from Google. It was so great. I loved seeing some of those old New England houses and churches. The directions took us the "scenic route" on a long dirt road for the last 7 miles before we hit the interstate close to the Vermont/Mass border. Here's some pictures from that drive:
On Sunday, Grandpa, my aunt Becca, Mom, Jill (my sister), and my nieces came down from the reunion. My kids were so happy to see their cousins. My mom and sister couldn't stay for long, only for lunch and to pack up Christine's stuff. My mom was taking her on down to NC with her. (Amie went two years ago and James went last year.) Christine's been talking about her turn for a year. My dad's work goes to Hilton Head every year for a conference and spouses, children, and grandchildren are invited to come enjoy themselves, so Christine is so excited to get to go this year. My other two enjoyed their special time and I know Christine will as well. Anyway, back to Sunday. After lunch, we tried to get a picture of all 7 cousins, but it was hard. Here is the best that I got:
After 12 days without internet... first moving, and then on vacation, I am back. I'll talk to you all later as I'm busy getting caught up with e-mail, blogs, twitter, and facebook.
What's on your "To-Do" list today? What are you most looking forward to and what are you most dreading?
Laundry, lots of laundry. Almost done with all the clothes (did 7 loads yesterday) and doing a load of swimsuits and towels from the kids playtime in the little pool yesterday, then I need to start on bedding.
We're not getting the key until tomorrow. The guy wasn't able to meet us at the house tonight, but we'll be meeting him tomorrow. In the meantime, the living room here is becoming more and more full of bags and boxes... mostly bags, full of clothes and bedding.
Show us your favorite YouTube video.
Here is Charlie the Unicorn. I was introduced by my cousin, Rachel. She and her friends were so into it that they could go through the whole movie and I had to see what it was for myself.
How many houses have you lived in? How is where you live now different from where you grew up?
Interesting that you ask this now. We are moving into another house on Friday. We think it will be our home for a while. It's a quick move, but necessary. We were going to lose this house (not because of anything we did, the landlady is losing it.) Before we even knew we were going to need to move, we saw a rent-to-own flyer at our church and followed up on it. That house was kind of small for us, but we filled out the application for the guy anyway. We didn't expect him to call us up again. Then we learned about the situation with this house and hoped that we would get it even though it was small. It was still bigger than this one and we would be okay there. On Friday, the guy called us up. He said that he had approved us, but that he had another house that was being moved out of that day that would be better for us. We checked it out on Sunday and it is beautiful.
Okay, so including the house we'll be moving into... I have/will have lived in 16 places by next week.
I lived from the time I was born until I was almost 16 down in eastern TN. Some of the time was in a rural area. I didn't have to worry about playing in the road, only about 3 families lived on it (4 in summer.) We would walk down to the lake and go fishing (where I caught my mom once and never any fish.) We could fly kites in our yard without worry about powerlines, but we did have to make sure we didn't get too close to the trees. My dad built us a big playset in the yard, with swings, a slide, a seesaw, and a net to climb. It was so much fun. A kid would bring over his ponies and taught me to ride. I got ambitious once and tried to gallop before I'd been taught and got tossed in a small harvested corn field. Corn stalks are NOT a soft landing, even with a heavy coat on. We had woods near our house and we would go running through them. In the winter, if there was enough snow, we could go sledding down the hill in the cow field across the road. The cows were only out at that part in the summer and my mom would go over there sometimes to get manure for fertilizer for her flower garden. We went hiking and camping at the Smokey Mtns.
Now, we live in an urban area a little south of Chicago. The new house is still in the same area, but in a better neighborhood. The kids have to stay mostly in the yard to play and it isn't very big. If the other kids are out and playing, they sometimes go and play with them. As long as they are within hearing range when I call them, I am okay with it. In the new place, they'll probably rollerblade, skate, bike, or whatever in the alley behind the house. Kite flying is almost extinct as I don't know anywhere here that has enough space without powerlines or trees. We'll be bringing up their playset when we move. It didn't fit in this yard, but will in the new one. No ponies are around here to ride except for maybe some fair and then you are tethered and have to ride in a circle at a slow walk. There are no hills for sledding around here, that I know of anyway. We've walked a few trails at the Nature Center, but it is flat, short, and easy and not nearly as interesting as the hikes I went on when I was young. My kids have never been camping, except for maybe once they slept out in a tent with Jeremy set up in our backyard. We did do a KOA Kamping Kabin once when James was a baby and I was pregnant with Christine down in Branson, MO. That was a lot of fun.
The difference from where I lived when I was my kids' age to where we live now. It's a big difference. Different climate (more snow and rain here and a bit cooler up here than down there), different terrain, and just all around different.
What are the goofy nicknames you have for your pet? Bonus points for sharing a picture of him/her.
Submitted by Papi Chulo.
I don't really have any real nicknames for my cats. I call them baby boy (Charlie) or baby girl (Mittens) sometimes, but mostly when I don't use their whole name it is just Char and Mitt. I do Charlie the Unicorn, both 1 and 2, references with Charlie. It's not uncommon to hear me say, "Let's go to candy mountain, Charlie" or "Charlie, You're the Banana King!".
Oh, I love my Charlie cat. We just celebrated his 1st birthday on May 15th. He's a sweetie! He's laying at my feet right now. Mittens is actually Amie's cat and she's not as cuddly though she does like to sleep at someone's feet. Mine, if the girls' door is closed. Amie's feet if the door is opened.
What event changed your life for the better?
Submitted by Kasey.
It was when I made a choice that will later result in what I call my "Truly Ultimate Makeover".
The link is to the post I wrote 3 years ago.
What's your favorite midnight snack?
Submitted by Raina.
Favorite: peanut butter M&Ms and a Dr. Pepper
Smart one (and most often): A piece of watermelon Extra gum and a bottle of water
What's your favorite type of cheese? Or, if you don't like cheese, why not?
Submitted by Draegon Scribe.
I love mozzarella the best. I love getting string cheese every once in a while. I got a hunk of this from Fair Oaks Farm when I took Amie last year and ate it a little at a time as snack food. It was really good stuff, better than what I'm used to in the grocery stores. Jeremy made some of his homemade alfredo sauce with a big bag of it and a small bag of 5 cheese italian blend and I thought it was the best ever. He, on the other hand, said he didn't think it was as good as his normal which is made with all bags of the blend. Oh well... maybe we can compromise the next time.
Show us something striped.
Here is James doing his school work on the computer.
