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

Wordless Wednesday -- Then and Now

A Fresh Graduate and a Bad Influence

The boys and I are in Florida on vacation. We got here on Sunday and my cousin Abigail graduated from high school on Monday. It was a fun and exciting evening for all of us. Before the ceremony we went to Hollis Gardens to take a few pictures of Abby. Unfortunately when we got there the garden gates were locked! Aunt Kathy said that she has never seen the gates locked and I could tell they were both disappointed. So I used my good girl influence and just jumped the gate before they could even argue.

From my side of the gate I convinced them to hop on over really fast before someone saw me and arrested me.





Once we were on the forbidden side of the gate we took as many pictures as we could as fast as we could. Then we got outta there ... Fast!



The best part of breaking into Hollis Gardens was that we had the entire place to ourselves. Usually it is a very busy picture taking spot during big events (proms, graduations, weddings, etc)

The whole evening was fun for everyone. I am sure Abigail isn't forever scarred by my bad influence. That's what I keep telling myself anyway.