An extra day added on already

 We were very fortunate to not have any damage during Hurricane Irene.  We did have a terrible night's sleep because of all the wind and a leak in our bedroom window but other than that we fared well.  In fact, most of our neighbors lost their power early Sunday morning but we had no interruption of service. 

Sunday was a beautiful day.  The kids played outside most of the day with their friends.  And all of our outdoor furniture had to be put back in place.  The husband ensured everything was tied down.

The email came around dinner time.  School was not going to open on Monday as planned because there were still too many power outages.  Many schools did not have power. 

I was very happy to get the email on Monday that said our school would open on Tuesday.  The boys were ready and I definitely was ready. 

This morning we started our normal school mornings routine.  I asked the boys to get ready and Tee immediately got his shoes on and was ready to walk the boys to the bus. 

The typical first day of school photo.

The boys getting on the bus. 

We did a headcount at the bus this morning.  Last year there were 42 plus kids getting on at our bus stop.  This year we are down to 36.    The bus stop was jammed pack with parents and siblings.

Tee and I went to a neighbor's house for a Mom's breakfast.  Once we returned home it started.  Tee was non-stop, Mom what do you want to play, do you want to do a puzzle, Mom can we go outside and on and on.

Tee has one week until he starts preschool.  We will go meet his teachers on Thursday. 

The fun has started.  We are back to homework and sports.

Ride a bike or take a walk

I am old fashioned and conservative in many of my views.  Not too much I can do about it.  I have caved in many times and gone against my beliefs. 

Several years ago, we opted to purchase the boys a DS system.  They loved them, but I always thought my kids would never have a gaming system like that.  Like most new things, they played with them a lot for a while but it had been cyclical for the most part. 

When we moved to Md. I again gave in and purchased the kids a Wii system.  I did almost feel like I was pressured into it.  The boys would have friends over and the first question was, "do you have a wii or xbox?"  My justification was that it is so cold here and we unfortunately have to spend a lot of time indoors.  And like the DS system, playing is cyclical, sometime they play a lot and other times they have no interest.  Our kids like to read and play outside so I don't worry as much about them playing video games.

I am sure there are other things where I will be swayed in my beliefs.   

What I do know is that I will never purchase a motorized scooter for any of my children.  I will stick with the old fashioned bicycle.  You know where you have to pedal to expend some energy.  And when and why did those become so popular?  I absolutely can not stand to see kids riding those in our neighborhood.

Now let's take that one step further, what about a golf cart.  Yep, there is a family who owns a golf cart in our non-golf community.  Just for clarification, my kids will not have one of those either. 

So the daughter in this family, who is about 13 years old, rides the golf cart up and down the street.  In a matter of a few hours, I probably see her ride past one way and then the other 6 or so times.  Sometimes it is her and a friend and other times she has girls piled in.  It bothers me every time I see her.  Forget that it is not safe I think she needs to be walking or riding a bike. 

A neighbor just happened to be home yesterday and witnessed what I have seen just about all summer.  He started a thread regarding how dangerous it is.  The father of said girl commented back that he would only have his daughter ride on the sidewalk and make sure there are no more than 4 people in the golf cart.  He was actually a little ticked off and couldn't believe that this is a concern in the neighborhood.

Many neighbors have chimed in with what they have witnessed.  And many neighbors have said that riding a golf cart on the sidewalk was not appropriate.  Thank goodness they said it because I was thinking I would have to chime in also.  My kids walk and ride their bikes on the sidewalks.  Tee gets freaked out if someone is walking towards him, I can't imagine what he would do if he saw a huge golf cart coming towards him.

After all of these threads were posted, the father got really mad.  He thinks we need to stop worrying about an innocent situation and start worrying about important things like vandalism and other community issues.  This father is clueless.  Luckily, our new HOA president, who just happens to be an officer of the law, posted a thread on the laws of our county.  Guess what, it is against the law to ride a golf cart in a neighborhood such as ours.  Shocker.

So rest assured no motorized scooter or golf carts will reside in our garage.  Now on to more important things.

We interrupt this show.......

We had an earthquake today.  I have only been in Md for almost 4 years and we have had 2 earthquakes.  It is 2 too many for me.
The first one was a long while ago, it was early in the morning like 5:30, mild and quick.  It basically was over before we figured out it was an earthquake.  The kids were asleep and didn't feel a thing.

Today, E had an orthodontist appointment (this was before all the boys' dental appointment which is all in the same place).  E is sitting in the chair.  We feel a little tremble and the hygenist looked at me and asked me if I felt the movement.  Then we looked at each other and said that was an earthquake.  We all went outside.  The kids were really shaken up.  E said his knees were shaking. 

We waited outside for a little while and then went back inside to carry on with our appointments.

The husband works in Baltimore and definitely felt it in his building.  They all evacuated.  Very scary.

When I got home the boys came into the house first.  They came running to the door and told me we had some things fall.  I had a mirror just sitting on the mantle above the fireplace.  It slid off, hit the floor and shattered.  I cleaned up all the glass and have vacuumed.  Glass was everywhere.  Every once in a while I look and see a glimmer on the floor. 

I am glad that is over.  Now if we can just get a miss this weekend of the winds and rain we could get.

First Stop

The alarm went off really early on Wednesday morning.  We got up and were on our way a after 5 am.  The boys did really well in the car.  Tee kept us laughing in the car.  It was only a short time before he was asking if we were almost there. 

We decided that instead of trying to make it all the way to Florida we would stop in Savannah.  We would stay the night and tool around a little.  I really like Savannah, it is such an old town with lots of history.  I have been there a few times a very long time ago.

On the 9 hour journey, a thought popped into my head.  I really love the Food Network channel.  How fun would it be if we could eat at Paula Dean's restaurant, Lady and Sons.  With my handy dandy droid I started researching.  I looked over the menu  and then saw that reservations are made each morning at 9:30.  So you wait in line at 9:30 and then are given a reservation time.  They do have a buffet available for people who don't have reservations.

After we checked into our hotel, we took a bus down to the River area and walked around a bit.  It definitely is the party area as there are many bars along the river. 

We then made our way to find Paula's restaurant.  We finally found it and saw the hostess to see if by chance we could make it in.  She looked at us and said she couldn't seat 5 together.  We could split up and both my husband and I were thinking, sounds good the kids can sit on their own.  But that didn't fly with the hostess.  I was TOTALLY BUMMED.  Maybe I need to plan ahead and send Paula a note prior to our next vacation down south.  

On Thursday, we took the boys to the Savannah Railroad Museum, which lucky for us was right behind our hotel.  Yes, sure it is vacation but who says you can't learn a little on vacation.  We took a self guided tour but we also had a guided tour of the Executive cars.  Usually the President of the Railroad was the one who would ride in this car.  They have restored them.  We learned some interesting facts:  ice was put in the bottom of the train and that is how the car was cooled 

The boys also were able to work the hand car (we are unsure what the name is).  Tee and I got to ride along but I could tell that it was much harder than I thought it would be.  The guide had to help the boys.  The men who worked these back in the day sometimes had to go 50 miles a day. 

After the nice morning, we tredge on in our road trip of 2011.

Minnesota visitors

We were so happy when the husband's sister said that they wanted to visit us.  The boys have developed a relationship with all of their cousins but they have one that they communicate with often.  They text each other on their itouches and occasionally they will skype.  It is nice because we are so far away and we don't get to see them often.

They had close to a 17 hour drive done over two days.  The boys were texting the entire trip so we knew where they were until they arrived at our house.

The first day they were here we all spent the day hanging out at the pool.  It was a HOT day so it was nice to be able to stay cool. 

It was nice the husband was able to take a few days off to spend with us. We decided it would be nice to take a trip to Annapolis. We decided to take a sailing trip on the Chesapeake. It was a nice afternoon.



A nice passerby took a picture of all of us in Annapolis!



The husband and E.



Tee and Mom chilling.

Jay and Ry

Nath and my boys.

Cooling off with drinks.

Quite the crew.

the family

He finally got brave enough to move from the safe area.

Future sailor!

 The next day we decided to visit the Aquarium.  Baltimore does have a nice Aquarium.  And we even got snuck into a dolphins show.  We only caught the end but it was good.

Yes, more pictures.

 And the kids spent a lot of time outside in the pool.  My sister in law got a lot of neat pictures of the kids but I only got a few.

The boys (except Tee) all went to a minor league baseball game.  They all had a really good time.  A few of the boys got game balls and one got a soft ball that was thrown into the stands. 

We were so glad they were able to visit.  The boys were so sad when they left.  Jay was finding all reasons why they should come back or why we should meet up with them somewhere.  We hope to be able to see them again sometime soon.

Home again, Home again, jiggity jig

It is hard to believe that there is only one week left before school starts.  The summer has been fun and August flew by.  The boys have said that summer has gone by so quickly.  I guess that is a good thing right.  They are not ready for school to start yet. 

We were so happy to have the husband's sister and her family visit the beginning of the month for a week.  The boys LOVED playing with their cousins.  They so looked forward to their visit and it did not disappoint.  We had some fun outings but mostly hung out and played in the pool.

Once they left, I switched gears to get ready for our vacation.  We visited 3 states, which included lots of driving, visiting a good friend, a wedding, beach time, some cool sight seeing, more beach time and much more.    We were gone 10 days and we had a blast. 

I have lots of pictures that I have to go through with lots of stories.  More postings soon.