Georgia

November brought more road trips than we are used to....two.  The first to visit my brother and his family in Georgia.  They rented a cute cabin in the mountains from a former teacher of ours (long story).  David was unable to make it, but the kids did fantastically on the road and got along great with the cousins.

Unlike our normal adventures to the Colorado mountains where we go nowhere (not that I am dissing it, there is certainly a time and place for that and we enjoy that time very much), we were quite active with Burt's family.  We panned for gold, road horses, went on a beautiful sunset walk, went to church, played in the leaves and other fun stuff.

I am embarrassed to say, but, for the first time, our kids experienced boiled peanuts.  Spencer attacked the whole thing and ate the shell.  He didn't care for them much after that.  Poor Kylie has inherited my car sickness and the winding mountains did not help one bit.  Ashlyn was so sweet with Burt's younger boys and babied them.

Wow! I am really far behind...

I was scrolling through all the pictures we have taken since my last post (and even before that)...wow!  I guess we have been busy.  So, here goes another attempt.  By the way, remember my post about keeping a journal of my kids' sayings?  Well, I still am doing that, so I have not neglected my journaling of event completely.

David and I were able to go on a kid-less cruise back in October.  It was so relaxing - no thought of cleaning, where to eat, where to drive to, leaving a tip, waiting for a waiter or drive-thru, nothing.  It also helped that we had great company and babysitters (thanks, Mom, Pam and Monica!).  To get an idea of how great it was...David's only vacation that he actually looks forward to is going to Colorado to his parents' house and doing nothing, going nowhere.  Sure, we've done theme parks, road trips, beach trips, etc, but it was still too stressful for him us.  But, since we have returned from the cruise, he has continued to look for deals and times when we can go again.  He seriously cannot wait until our next cruise.  I am pretty sure he talks about it at least 4xs a week.

Getting ready to rock climb.

 HUGE accomplishment for me.  I've got the strength and the willpower, but I am TERRIFIED of heights!

As we approached the Bahamas, what to our surprise, but a US Coast Guard helicopter pulling over a, most likely, illegal boat.  It was fun to watch.  They literally hovered over them until they stopped and a coast guard boat caught up to them, then 2 coast guards jumped off their boat onto the other.  I wish we could have found out what the real deal was.

The Bahamas thrive on tourism.  It's quite the show getting off the boat then trying to decide the best (and cheapest) way to get over the bridge to the main island.  There are a ton of taxi/van drivers in your face trying to lure you in.  We ended up with some friends (plus 15 other 'new' friends) crammed in a 9 passenger van.  A fun adventure we lived to tell about.

 Till we meet again, cruise line!

Better than the Comics

Spencer watching David saw wood - "Dad, watch out for the crumbs!"


Kylie asks, "Mom, can I use your most beautiful wrapping paper?"  "Why do you need it?"  "We are doing a project in school and my teacher says that it needs to look really nice."



Their FAVORITE movie is 'Bolt'.  While Kylie is away at school Spencer and Ashlyn act it out.  I found Ashlyn pinned to the ground with Spencer on top saying, "We're not going to have any more problems, are we cat?"  He totally says it EXACTLY how they do.  David was snuggling Spencer and said, "I love you, Bud."  Spencer replied  "No, Bolt, you're wrong.  Penny doesn't love you.".   It's like the kid thinks in movie quotes.  Hilarious!

Only if things happen as Ashlyn envisions is she happy.  She wanted to lay down on my bed, so I, of course, let her.  Moments after she disappeared, she came running down the hall in tears and snot everywhere.  'What is the matter?'  "You said I could lay down on  your bed, but there are clothes everywhere!"

I asked Kylie to be quiet because it was quiet time.  She replied, "It's always quiet time.  When are we going to have loud time?"

Fall in North Carolina

I stole this photo from a friend, so it looks a little grainy.  The leaves are changing and falling off the trees.  Every day we wake up to high-30s/low 40s.  It doesn't get warmer than 68.  We are loving fall!

Washington D.C.

After my surgery in August, I wasn't able to teach my gym classes for at least a week (doesn't sound horrible, but that's torture to me especially since I was feeling fine by day 3), so our kind friends, the Kaneyukis, agreed to let us visit.  They are seriously the most wonderful host family!  Super laid back, willing to do what we want to do, are patient with the whining, offers to let me go out alone, super fun and lets me raid their refrigerator.

It was just me and the kids making the trip.  Kylie's requests were to see the White House and swim.  They did awesome in the car; well, except one incident when Spencer had to pee super bad on the way home and there was literally NOWHERE to stop - not even the side of the road because there were railings on either side.  Which left us to stop at some random place where Spencer announced, as soon as we walked in, "THIS PLACE STINKS!", and sticky floors, a mirage of people that didn't look anything like us and no bathrooms (thank goodness).  We high-tailed out of there and found something a bit more clean down the road.  I digress...


We got to see the White House (but never swam), Ashlyn made her mark by peeing on the Smithsonian carpet and I even ran into someone I knew at the National Mall.  My children were introduced to edible seaweed and LOVED it, we rode the metro, I ran in our Nation's capital (shhhh, don't tell my doctor, but I couldn't resist) and we experienced seeing lightning from the 10th floor.

We are hoping that they still like us, so next time we can eat at fun places and take a tour of the White House - with David.  Thank you, Kaneyukis!

Excuse all the tired faces, we walked a lot.

Time to be more consistent

I don't really have an idea of how many people even care that I keep up on my posts, but I know David, at least, checks it regularly.  It's enough motivation when he says, "You haven't updated in awhile",  "Can you post more pictures",  "I like reading what you write", (no one ever says that to me), etc.

Even though we are very blessed, I tend to look more at what's going wrong or not happening.  Keeping up on this blog, as well as writing in my journal, helps me remember the good.  For example, I need to keep reminding me that the kid below actually makes me laugh more than he drives me crazy.

I made it!

All the way through September without a post, but you didn't even notice did you?  It is amazing how time can slip away from you so quickly!  Between working out issues with Kylie and her teacher (I cannot believe how much energy that in itself zapped from me) from saying good-bye to really great neighbor and friends to follow-up appointments from my surgery in August along with all the day to day stuff that goes on, time ticks by so fast.

I have to ask myself: 

• How much time was wasted with unimportant things?  

• Through the months experiences, what did I learn and how is it going to make me a better person?  

• Are my priorities in the right place?  

Then, as the month ended, I realized that I don't remember answering those questions after August or July or June or May....you get my drift.  Therefore, I took to journaling again and, once again, am amazed at what comes out from writing thoughts down from the day or week.  My thoughts turned to setting small goals and reviewing them each day or week.  I feel like this has helped me not get so overwhelmed with stuff that I waste my time doing other 'stuff'.  Some of the goals should be stuff I do everyday.  For example, hug/kiss my family at least 3 times a day.  Don't laugh.  I seriously have to make a conscientious effort to do that or else I am only cleaning rooms, making lunches and getting everyone where they need to be and completing what has to be completed.  I shocked myself in realizing some of the goals I made were simple, but I rarely did them even though I thought I was doing them.  Does that make sense?

I am beginning to understand better that this is how the Lord wants us to grow...not getting every thing done in one day, but perfecting the small and very important tasks each day.