Last Blog For A Bit...

Unless I'm nearby a computer in the next several weeks, we're on our way to visit my family in Michigan. I'll miss my hubby over the next 14 days, seriously, my heart hurts thinking about not seeing him for that amount of time. Donnie will miss all of us, I can't imagine what it will be like for him to have no cuddle with Brookey time, or playing football with Zak. *SIGH* However, the time will fly because we're happy to be seeing much missed relatives including aunts, uncles, friends, grandparents and great grandparents. :-) My hope is that for Donnie it goes by fast too, afterall, he's the one who'll be alone.

Yesterday we just chilled out here at the house, Zak and Grandpa sat on the front porch watching the city workers dig a huge whole for the well-water pump. There are many yellow machines in our neighborhood right now, dad said that a front-end loader almost clipped our car! Donnie came home for lunch and after he went back to work we headed for the beach.
The wind was blowing, the waves were hulking, and all kinds of nature surrounded us at the beach on the Gulf of Mexico. Seagulls dove for shrimp, two catfish swam back and forth, and a Blue Heron were all in a tidepool. Sandpipers lined the beach running towards the outgoing waves and then quickly running away when they came near the coastline...Brooke took the opportunity to pretend to be a sandpiper and quickly ran back and forth with them. Zak delighted in the physics provided by the oceans waves, so what if we don't know the technicalities, he was observing and wondering throughout...what a scientist ;-). I cannot count how many times that he caught waves for body surfing, many were so mammoth that they literally tossed the kids to the shore...LOL My dad and I inadvertantly got soaked to the bone, thankfully there was a nice strong breeze that dried us...slightly. My dad and Brooke walked the shoreline a bit in pursuit of seashells while Zak and I stood near our towels in the water and picked some up from there.

Later that day we had a pleasant roast beef dinner, sat on the back deck and chatted, played a couple computer games, and finally the guys settled down for a movie. Brooke and I were exhausted and instead opted for sleep.

I have some piddling to do this beautiful day, in order to ready myself and the kids for our excursion tomorrow. I awoke to a storm early this a.m. and when dawn came and the sun shone it's lovely light, I was surprised to see that it looks as though a hurricane hit. The orange barrels used by the city in the road were knocked down as was our trash can, a huge one of several pipes that holds a fence for the pump in the road was down, branches all over the place, our chairs were blown off the deck, etc. Needless to say, I won't have time for much yardwork today so DH will be left with the brunt of that.
See you all in about 20 days...until then...Later. :-)

DH Gives Me Heartfailure!

I think that these pictures speak for themselves as to why I had 'heart failure'. Of course hubby and the kiddos had a ball! There is more than meets the eyes to these pictures...Donnie had a running start from the beginning of the diving board, I am nervous when anyone runs the length of the diving board let alone with like this was done. :-)




Thankfully, all survived and no bones were broken.

Finale' Pool Time

After a long day between the Crawfish Festival, the museum, eating Church's Chicken for dinner and watching the latest release of King Kong it was pool time in the evening. These photos are of "GrandpaShark", a new species...





Zak, Brooke and Grandpa were having so much fun that later Donnie and I decided to join in on the fun.

Well, our day finally settled down. The kids were pooped out and went to bed around 10pm. Donnie, my Dad and I stayed up to watch a movie until about midnight. I think that today we'll take it easy. :-)

May 6, Part 1

My Dad, how I love this guy. :-) We spent this morning poolside, drinking coffee, doing puzzles, making paper airplanes, attempting a complex tanagram, and just general chit-chat.


Hmmmm...I dare say that Zak is thinking about how many crawfish that he'll consume at the Crawfish Festival today. Or, perhaps he's thinking about the future, or going to his Grandma Glorias next weekend?




Brookey and Grandpa share something in common other than happy faces; they loathe crawfish! However, they had a great time listening to some Louisiana style music at the table...


while Donnie and Zak....



Chowed down on two plates of spicy crawfish made by a Louisiana chef. Zak really enjoyed those little 'seabugs' and even I braved a taste and actually enjoyed it, well except that his lips stung for quite awhile from the spices. After a bit, my Dad, myself and Brooke walked down to the water and left Zak and Donnie to their pound of crawfish. Sometimes the best pictures are the ones unexpected.

May 6 Part 2

Donnie having a good time.


Dad still has his imagination after 62 years. Here he is as a pilot.


Kids enjoying shooting down enemy aircraft.


Men admiring engines.


We had a nice time at the air museum. Donnie, the kids and my dad also took the opportunity to experience a flight simulator.

Some Catching Up To Do...

Wow, the past week sure flew by and I realized that I haven't posted.

Caverns - Last Saturday we went to the Florida Caverns in Merriam, they were gorgeous. The kids had an awesome time despite the fact that Mom and Dad argued almost the whole way there and back. Our petty arguments took a backseat when we actually got to the site. :-) My husband and I have a great relationship, we love one another BUT...because we do not argue much we have what I'd like to call a volcanic build-up. Its as if it is needed to give another good several weeks to month and a half of virtually argue free living. Sadly though, the volcanic build-ups are the worst because you don't hold your thoughts and generally spout off horrible things to your spouse that you'd not say had you not felt so compelled to blow up.

I'm so glad that we went though, after the cavern tour we explored the nature outside...awestruck, I was absolutely, awestruck. Zak loves climbing so it was perfect for him and lots of logs and plenty of nooks and crannies. Brooke enjoyed it too until something bit her ankle, then she wasn't in the mood to try exploring off the path.

Sunday through Wednesday were basically uneventful and spent at home swimming, reading, watching tv, playing video games, games, etc. Monday, I offered the children 25% profit off of books sold on EBAY if they helped me sort through them all...they gladly helped! We don't have allowances so this is special for them and they deserved it. The process was so long in fact that Zachary cooked dinner that night because he said that I worked hard and shouldn't have to make dinner. What a SWEETIE! He made a delicious spaghetti dinner.

Wednesday the city put in a well water pump in the street not more than 100ft. from our bedroom window. The noise was atrocious and it shook the whole house. You could barely hear the TV up full volume, no exaggeration it was loud. The kids and Donnie had no problem falling asleep but I lay awake literally all night. I made the mistake of misreading Donnie earlier in the evening and tired and drained wrote a 'let me educate you' type of email that I sent causing him to send me a not so sweet reply later that day. NEVER EMAIL ABOUT A MISUNDERSTANDING WHEN YOU ARE OVER-TIRED...lol I apologized as soon as he walked in the door. The next morning I called the ECUA to ask if there wasn't a way that they could quite the pump...they did but it is still loud, however, I can sleep through it because the fan is in sync with the vibrations.

Thursday, after not sleeping at all we had to take the Mitsubishi to the dealer for a recall and tire repair. Zak, Brooke and I received a short history of the Mitsubishi lesson from the head of repairs. Did you know that the three diamonds stand for a father and his two sons? Or that Mitsubishi made parts for kamikaze pilots in WWII? The made parts for MANY things. We chowed on some doughnuts and drank some water while waiting and weren't there but only 40 minutes.

After our car was finished we headed over to Lavender's for a long visit. The kids swam, played baseball, played video games, etc. and Lavender and I had nice conversation. Her home is so warm and inviting, she makes me laugh, cry, you name it. Her household is the kind where not only kids long to go to but adults as well. I'm glad we spent time there as we probably won't see them until June.

I was so drained from no sleep that Donnie ended up taking Brooke to gymnastics. Zak talked to my mother for 2 hours that evening, they can just go on and on and on, laughing and talking about anything on their minds.

Friday There had been over a month of anticipation for today, a day that we would pick up a very special visitor...my father, Grandpa John! We cleaned and the kids swam, they couldn't hardly stand waiting. They looked at the clock all day long, tried to pass time in other ways, (oh, who am I kidding, I was anxious too!)and then finally, it was 5:05 pm and time to go to the airport. We stood at the exit for 10-15 minutes smiling from ear to ear and finally we saw my Dad and the smiles got bigger, we greeted and everyone got a huge hug. After we got him to our home we mostly sat on the deck and visited, what a terrific day.

And that brings us to today, Saturday, May 6, 2006. I'm up early and until now everyone else is sleeping but now Zak is up. We're heading off to the Crawfish Festival later (PTOOEY!) because Donnie and Zak love crawfish. I'm looking forward to another day with my dad. :-)