Bad Hair Day

My beautiful, beautiful Penelope Jean. She is so pretty. Or should I say she was pretty? Before we left for vacation I had a bright idea: Get her hair cut to make it easier for Brian to take care of her. Her long hair needs constant attention. I wanted Brian to be able to take her on Sammy's trail walks with him each night. I also didn't want to ask Brian to spend an hour combing her out after every walk. So I took her to the groomer for a "puppy cut." The puppy cut is a cute alternative to a long coat. This is the best picture I could find online to show you what I was hoping for.

So ... I took her to the groomer, explained what I wanted, and this is what I got back at the end of the day:

Now I understand why some people cry after a hair cut. Yes, even though it is my dog, I almost cried. Her hair looks terrible! You can't see the long stringy chunks of hair hanging off her legs in these pictures. You can't see how choppy it is. I felt so bad that I called my mom in desperation and she talked me through finishing the job and chopping off the top. Then my mom offered to buy PJ a plane ticket to come home with us so that she could fix it. I considered her offer, but decided I would be too embarrassed for everyone in Florida and North Carolina to see my precious princess in this homely cut!

It's been almost a month since her tragic day at the groomer's and her hair is finally starting to grow in a little bit. We are going to wait about another month and then try to find a groomer that understands what a puppy cut is. I will be starting interviews soon. Or maybe I will just buy my mom a plane ticket to come down here and fix this for me!!

Saying Good-bye

Right before we left for our vacation we had a barbecue to say goodbye to our friends, the Starrs. Scott is on his way to Iraq and Jennifer decided to pack up and head back to Georgia for some nice, quiet, relaxing time with her family. We were also saying goodbye to the Ludwigsens as they were leaving for Fort Lewis, Washington the very next morning. As usual we couldn't keep shirts on any of the boys:

Here they are checking to see who has the most armpit hair. I think Owen won. Sorry Austin!

Even though we did not have weapons, ammunition, wild animals, or the usual A Co entertainment, Jennifer and I found time to sneak off to the gas station to buy some classy drinks to help us make it through the night.

We miss you guys already!

Catching Up

I wasn't very good about updating my blog while we were on vacation so I have a little bit of catching up to do. I guess traveling from Texas to Florida to North Carolina to New York to Florida to Texas while taking an online math class wasn't my very best idea yet. We got home on Thursday night and I finally feel settled in. I am almost caught up with my math class. I have all of the laundry done and the unpacking is 99% done. Winkflash is having a 6-cent per photo sale that ends today so I spent all of last night uploading over a year's worth of pictures so that I can order all of them. As I was going through the pictures I realized there were a couple of things I wanted to post that I didn't get around to. So ... I am going to start back in May and work my way through the things I didn't find the time to post. Messy, I know. Those of you with OCD feel free to avoid my blog for about a week. It'll be back to normal soon enough!

A Few Branches

The day we were driving to NY my mom sent me a text. She said they had had a wind storm and asked if the boys and I would help clean up the branches in the side yard. This is what we found when we got here:

Luckily for Lisa & I the city workers came by just as we were getting started. They helped us get the largest branches over the fence and then carted it all away. It took about an hour and filled an entire dump truck, but the job is done!

I hope my kids remember this when they are my age. I am going to leave all of the hard jobs for them to do when they come and visit. That's only fair, right?

Heading North

I know some of these posts are out of order, but bear with me ... I am on vacation, taking an online class, working with a computer that likes to shut down at strange times, and in a house with four kids, four adults, four dogs, and an empty bottle of tequila.

On the day we left NC my Aunt Kathy and cousin Emily drove from Florida to NC to pick us up. We usually try to plan our NY trips at the same time so that we can see each other. They started driving at 4:00 AM and picked us up around 2:00 PM. I had slept until after 10:00 that day so I had a ton of energy and just kept on driving. Everyone was ok with it through the rest of NC and most of VA, but by WV and MD I was getting some dirty looks from all of my passengers. Finally somewhere about 90 miles into PA I gave in and we stopped for a hotel. The only reason I stopped was that the traffic/construction was terrible in this area and the truckers seemed really aggressive. I guess they were just getting on the road for the night and they didn't like the little cars that were taking up their space. Everyone else was glad to stop (especially Kathy & Em who had been on the road for about 18 hours). The only thing that slowed us down on our second day was this guy who should not have been allowed to drive a tricycle, let alone a boat. He was all over the place. We stopped at a rest stop to try to get away from him, but then he stopped too! I bribed the kids with $1 each for the vending machines if they could pee & wash hands in under a minute. We must have looked very silly, but we finally managed to get away from the Padre Pio!

More Hair Pictures

After a couple of margaritas at the barbecue Rusty & Mandy threw I decided it was ok to let Cate and Lisa N. work on my hair. We didn't have enough hairspray to spike my hair so instead they simply "prettied it up" with a couple of hairbows. Lovely, isn't it?!?

Cast Your Votes

We took the kids to get their pictures made today. If you want to see them, go to www.photosnmotion.com and enter sitting session #7473a. Help Lisa & I decide which pose is the best. Mandy & Jennifer -- I am counting on you two more than anyone so use your OCD-type personalities to help a girl out!

North Carolina

After we left Florida, the second part of our trip was our stop in North Carolina. The boys and I stayed with my friend Mandy and her family. This is a picture of the boys with some of their friends. Left to right: Carson, Kenny, Alex, Cate, Tyler, and Chase. I told them to "say cheese" ... hence the cheese. Get it? Yeah, they are really funny like that!

Mandy and Rusty hosted a fun barbecue for everyone when we got there. This is Lisa, Cate, me and Mandy.

These are Lisa's boys, Jake and Jack:

These are Rusty's friends "The triplets". They are Scott, Michael, and Cam. Don't ask me which one is which. I can tell when I am with them because they all have different personalities. Looking at this picture two weeks after it was taken I have no idea which is which. And by the way ladies, they are all single.



Here's Mandy's husband Rusty. He was absolutely great the entire time we were there. We took over his home adding chaos and noise every step of the way. When he wasn't at work he was busy entertaining kids or going to the liquor store for us. Three cheers for Rusty, the perfect host!

Another friend I wanted to see was Erica. She was a friend of my sister in law Lisa before I met her, but we share her now. She's got enough love for both of us. She has two little boys -- Austin and Andrew, but Andrew wasn't with her that day.

After lunch Austin really wanted me to take a picture of his picture. I promised him it would make it to the great big world of the internet. So here it is!

Another stop during our time in NC was to Stephanie & Jeff's house. We went swimming at the pool then out to the lake to drag the kids around in a tube. If you have never seen your kid flopping around in a tube with his legs flying around like spaghetti noodles, I highly recommend it. It was very entertaining!

Apparently this is what happens when the tube falls off from the rope and adults say to kids, "Don't jump in, we can get it."

Last but definitely not least ... a stop by Fort Bragg to visit with my friend Cindy and her son Andrew. Andrew and Chase went to school, played soccer, and participated in Cub Scouts together when we lived in North Carolina. Andrew and Cindy are great at keeping in touch -- we miss you guys already!

Our visit in North Carolina was fun, but exhausting! I thought I was going to get a break in New York, but just wait until you see the job my mom had waiting for us when we got there. I think we'll need a vacation after this vacation is over.

We'll see you all in Texas next summer :)

There's No Place Like Home

This posting is for all of my friends from Oswego. Please, please, please take a moment to read this news story and pass it along to every single person you know from Oswego.

Community Rallies Around former Oswegonian in Need

Lisa and I took the kids to the farmers' market tonight and I saw a booth that was a benefit for Bob Griffin. Remember him? We graduated together and he is absolutely one of the nicest guys we went to school with. His family was in a tragic car accident in January and his friends & family here are hosting a benefit for him throughout the weekend. I bought a ton of raffle tickets today and Lisa & I are going to Old City Hall on Saturday night to participate in the benefit. I haven't been to Old City Hall since ... oh my goodness, who knows when?!? I am really looking forward to it. Joanna & Sammy -- want to drive up to join us? We could get some wine coolers and fruity blue drinks, sit by the river, and pee in the snow? Oh yeah, there isn't any snow right now. And we don't really drink wine coolers or fruity blue drinks anymore. Hm, well, we could still go out and have a great time.

On a more serious note, please think of Bob and his family. If you want to donate just let me know and I can do it for you and you can pay me back. Thanks for taking the time to pass the news article along to anyone from Oswego that might know Bob.

Distracted

I promise I am trying to get online to post pictures from our entire trip, but I am a little distracted by someone who absolutely consumes me! :)

Coming Soon

I have several things I want to blog about, but my mom's computer is a little messed up so it is difficult to stay on here for more than the absolute necessities. Hopefully Lisa and I will be able to call Microsoft and get some tech support sometime in the next couple of days. Once we do that I will get my NC and NY pictures on here to share with you all ... my three faithful readers :)

Deal or No Deal

We went minigolfing the other day. It was really, really hot and humid. After we were done golfing we decided to go inside and play at the arcade for a while. They had a Deal or No Deal game that you could play for tickets. It was addicting!!

It worked just like the TV show. You had to choose a case first.

Kenny chose case #5. I am sure it is because he thought she was the prettiest case girl. That's how Kenny & Brian choose their cases while we are watching the show at home.

Then you eliminate cases, just like on the show. Each case had tickets in it. You know how you play arcade games for hours and hours just to win enough tickets to buy dollar store junk? The cases were worth 1-200 tickets each.

We played the game so many times Kenny & Emily left with several of the "good" prizes. You know, the WalMart kinda prizes. Even better than dollar store kinda prizes. What fun!

Lake Parker

This is where we went strolling with the kids last night.

Fortunately everyone came home with all of their fingers, toes, arms, and legs.

Monkey See, Monkey Do