Ten years ago today...

I know it sounds like a cliche, but on October 15, 2001, I was lucky enough to marry my best friend.  Ten years of marriage means a lot of "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health".  In our years together we have had triumph and tragedy, failure and success, laughter and tears.  But through it all we have had the most important thing:  each other.  Hubby has gifted me with unfailing love and support, no matter what.  He has opened his home to me, shared his family with me, and given me a life that I love to live. 

If you were an outsider looking in, you would see that we are definitely two halves that make a whole.  Have you heard the song "Honey Bee" by Blake Shelton?

If you'll be my soft and sweet, I'll be your strong and steady;

You be my glass of wine, I'll be your shot of whiskey;
You be my sunny day, I'll be your shade tree;

You be my honeysuckle, I'll be your honey bee.

Now I'm not too sure about the honey bee part, but the rest?  Yeah, that's us.  Hubby truly is the strong and steady that I need in my life.  In contrast, (I hope) I am the sunny day that he needs.  I am definitely the glass of wine type (actually strawberry daquiri, but that doesn't quite fit the song!), and whiskey is more his speed.  He is practical, down to earth, calm and quiet.  I am a dreamer, a hopeless romantic, sensitive and emotional.  Somehow when you put all of that together it works beautifully.

Hubby and I have been blessed many times over.  We have a warm house (or a cool house if he has his way with the thermostat), beautiful children, a wonderful friendship and unconditional love.  Life is rarely easy, but being part of a strong, happy marriage makes the ride sooooooooooooooooooo worth it.

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!  

Just WHEN do the teenage years start????

I don't think I'll survive them.  I have a surly, selfish, smart-mouthed nine-going-on-fifteen-year-old.  He's about to be listed as free to a good home.  And that's just my boy!  I can't imagine when my daughter is old enough to act like this.  All this, plus girl hormones, too? 

I hate, I mean really hate, being the screaming, bossy, unkind mom who always tells her children "no".  I hate it.  I love my children, I'm proud of my children, and I want them to be happy and secure in their family life.  However, when my child acts like an ungrateful, spoiled, bratty two-year-old, something's gotta give. 

Why does everything have to be an argument?
Why do you get mad at ME because you have to do homework?  I'm not your teacher.
Why do you tune everything out unless it's the exact thing you want to hear?
There is more to life than television, Legos and video games.  I promise.
Just because it's not important (or fun) to you doesn't mean it's not important.
The excuse "I forgot" doesn't fly anymore, especially when I just TOLD you two minutes ago.

Look at this cutie!  Where is my happy, smiling, fun-loving, funny, sweet boy?
I want him back.

Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker

It has been more than fifteen years since I was officially a resident of New York.  I lived in South Carolina for several years, and I have lived in Texas for more than a decade. Deep in my heart, though, I am still a New York girl at heart.  The tragedy that struck our nation ten years ago shocked, saddened and angered us all, but I don't think, unless you were directly affected, you can really understand the "hurt" that the people of New York really felt.  I am not, nor have I ever been, a resident of New York City, so I can't even imagine how the people that lived & worked there felt.  Having grown up a hundred miles from that great city, though, means New York owns a piece of my heart, and like everyone else, my heart has and will continue to heal, but it will never forget. 

There are certain events in American history that are forever branded on one's memory.  People talk about knowing where they were when President Kennedy was shot, or when the Challenger exploded.  I was seven months pregnant with my first child when the terrorist attacks happened.  My mom called and woke me up early that morning to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  I immediately turned on my television and watched the coverage of the horrific events on September 11, 2001.  I couldn't force myself to look away.  At first it was like the bottleneck at a roadside car crash.  Curiosity and a sort of morbid fascination kept me glued to my tv.  When information came trickling in about just how horrid it was, I felt my heart break.  A plane crashing into a skyscraper is a horrible accident, but a plane being crashed into a skyscraper is an act of hatred and terrorism that I cannot understand.

The terrorist attacks inspired many different emotions in me.  I was so incredibly sad that there are people and nations who hate our country enough to do something like this.  The loss of lives from that day is so unbelievable.  I think about the passengers on the planes, and wonder what they thought as they could do nothing but watch their aircraft slam into buildings.  The heroes of flight #93 who managed to overtake the hijackers and take their plane down before it could endanger anyone else have my everlasting admiration.  The rescue workers (not just the firemen and NYPD but also the "regular" people who helped out their fellow citizens) inspired a deep and heartfelt patriotism in me, and in our nation.  Watching the people of a city as large and diverse as New York dig deep, come together and stand strong in the face of such a tragedy is something I will never forget, and I will never cease to be proud of.

I realize that there was the plane crash in the fields of rural Pennsylvania, and also at the Pentagon.  Many, many innocent lives were lost, and my heart bled for them and their families.  The falling of the twin towers in New York City, though, hit me so incredibly hard.  I remember standing on the observation deck of one of the towers while on a field trip in elementary school.  The elevator ride up to the 104th floor was a huge thrill for a kid.  You could stand on the roof and look at the other tower and actually SEE the building sway.  The view of the harbor and the Statue of Liberty and the rest of Manhattan is incomparable, and I still remember it vividly, thirty years later.  As a kid, when I thought of NYC, three things came to mind:  The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the World Trade Center.  That one of those is gone is just wrong.

This past summer we took the ferry out to Liberty Island and I took this photo of the lower Manhattan skyline.  At a glance, it's a big city, a pretty city, and maybe to most people the glaring hole of what's missing isn't so obvious.  It saddens me to this day, though, to look at that and NOT see those two everlasting (or so we thought) symbols of strength and power that epitomized the heart of New York City.



While watching the coverage of that terrible day, it was crazy enough, in my mind, that actual airplanes, BIG airplanes, just disappeared into those buildings in a billow of smoke and fire.  I thought about the people on the planes dying on impact, the people sitting idly at their desks in the buildings caught totally unaware and trapped or killed immediately.  Never in a million years did I ever expect that both of those skyscrapers would completely collapse.  How does something like that happen?  They are there, and two hours later they are gone?  As I watched, live on tv, each tower fall, I felt like a part of my soul disappeared with them.

I have visited New York City several times since that day, but I have yet to venture anywhere near Ground Zero.  We saw, from a distance, the building that will be called One World Trade Center (personally I liked the initial name "Freedom Tower" better) in the process of being built.  It will eventually be the tallest building in America, and maybe once it is finished, New York City will be, while not "fixed", a little more complete.  Someday I would love to see the 9/11 memorial.  I am glad that nothing was built on the actual site aside from the twin pools where the bases of the towers stood - very symbolic.   New York City, and our nation, were forever scarred that day.  Lives were lost, landscapes were changed, and a large part of our innocence was lost.  I hope and pray that the people directly affected have been able to heal, and I hope our country continues to grow stronger.

America truly is the home of the brave and the land of the free.  I'm proud to be an American.

I wrote this blog entry last night on the eve of September 11, 2011.  Today, on the tenth anniversary of that sad day, something just moved me beyond belief.  I was watching NBC's television coverage from the 9/11 memorial and they were about to sing the national anthem when I realized the flag they were unfolding was the torn & tattered flag that had hung over Ground Zero during the aftermath of the attacks.  What a profound moment.

Are you ready for some football?

It's that time of year again (thank God).  Time for falling leaves, meals in the crockpot, cooler temperatures and weekend after weekend of football.  Oh wait - we're in the desert formerly known as Texas.  There are no trees still living that have leaves to fall, between school, gymnastics and football I have no time to cook, and our temperatures are nowhere near cool (jeans and long sleeves are still way far on the horizon).  Thankfully there is one facet of autumn that remains the same.  FOOTBALL! 

Tonight is the start of the NFL season.  I don't really care about the Saints vs. Packers, other than the fact that Aaron Rodgers is on my team in a fantasy football league, and that I picked the Packers on a football board.  However, football is football and in this house, that word is golden.  We've been known to watch reruns of old Cowboys games during the off-season in order to get our football "fix".   With having to pick a winner in each of the sixteen games every week, playing in two different fantasy football leagues and watching as many games as we can every weekend, football is pretty much a full-time job around here!

In addition to professional football, we also try to catch UT games on tv (that's University of Texas, not Utah!), as well as University of Houston because their star quarterback went to Wylie where our kids go and we watched him lead our team to state championship!  Speaking of high school, we also have those Wylie Bulldogs to cheer on.  We missed the first game this year because it was a 4+ hour road trip and J had a scrimmage that day, but normally on any given Friday night you will find us in whatever football stadium the purple & gold are playing in.  

Wylie does this neat thing called "Adopt a Bulldog" where kids in grades kindergarten through sixth can "adopt" a varsity player.  They spend time with each other, exchange little gifts each week and are able to hang out on the field after their games.  We have been extremely lucky with our players the last few years.  We've been blessed to form relationships with incredible young men who it has been a pleasure to get to know.  Both Caleb (who we adopted two years in a row) and Derek were good guys both on and off the field.  They made a point to see J every week, were very thoughtful and friendly and we enjoyed spending time with them.  We've only seen Austin (this year's player) a few times so far this year, but he seems to be a terrific guy.  He's pleasant and unassuming and seems to really appreciate J and the gifts we give him.  Since my fourth grader obviously isn't going to have the time, inclination or money to present Austin with something each week, that task falls to me.  Unfortunately I'm not as clever as I wish I was and I'm constantly hounding friends and family for ideas!

As if our high school, college and professional football obsessions weren't enough, we also have another Wylie Bulldogs team to cheer for.  After two miserable (losing) seasons on the youth football Panthers, J switched leagues this year and now plays for the miniature purple & gold (or should I say white since his team is the Bulldogs white).  He has practice three times a week for two hours each, and then games on Saturdays.  His first game this past Saturday was a resounding success as they won 34-6.  I was proud of our guys and thrilled with the win, but as a soft-hearted mom of a child who played on a losing football team in the past, I was secretly cheering for the other team when they scored their lone touchdown.  It's never any fun when you're the team with a big goose egg on the scoreboard.

Aside from taking K to gymnastics on Tuesdays and actually cooking a meal for the family on Wednesday nights, our lives will pretty much revolve around numerous football schedules from now until it snows.  Or, given the weather this summer, at least until we can start wearing pants.  Maybe.

Warning:  I try to keep my blog posts upbeat and cheerful and fun, or at least meaningful.  This one will not be.  I need to bitch and moan so if you don't want to hear it, stop reading.

I will be the first to admit that I love my children more than anything.  Just about everything I do revolves around hubby, J & K.  My "job" as a stay-at-home-mom is to take care of them, and I do it gladly.  I do my best to fulfill their needs and I think I do a good job.  Sometimes the lines blur between 'needs' and 'wants', though, and I get blamed for that. 

My eldest is fun, playful, imaginative and so, so smart.  He's also selfish, lazy, demanding and impatient.  If it's not all about him, he either wants to make it so or he wants nothing to do with it.  If he could just let it go & walk away gracefully, life would be so much easier.  But I often end up paying the price for his self-centered behavior and frankly today, I've had enough.

Last week J came up with an idea for something he wanted to do.  It's harmless, free, and keeps him busy for a long time so I'm all for it.  It involves using my digital camera and I explained exactly what he'd need to do in order for me to put the finishing touches on it (on my pc).  Apparently in this, like with everything else, he tuned me out and just went about his business, confident that he knew what to do on his own.  Normally I am all for self-confidence and figuring something out on your own.  But when it's something he hasn't done before and *I* knew how to do it, I think his best option would have been to actually listen to me and follow my instructions.  Instead, my words went in one ear & out the other, so when he brought me the finished product and wanted me to "do my thing" with it, I had to explain that it wouldn't work.  He didn't do if the way I told him and I am not sure I can make it work the way he DID do it.  What happens?  His eyes tear up & he loses his temper, at ME, because it won't turn out the way he wants. 

To backtrack a little, in addition to my job as the matriarch of this house, I also have a small online job that takes me thirty minutes to an hour each day.  That's it.  That's all I ask for... 1/24th of the day to get my work done so I can get paid on the fifteenth of every month.  So when J walks out with the camera and asks (demands) me to make his video, I told him I would as soon as I finished my work.  He looked at my computer screen and said, "What are you doing?"   I said I was working.  He pointed to my screen (which had switched to my screensaver) and said, "Then why is it THAT screen?"  First of all, I've already said that I'm doing my work.  I said I will help when I am finished.  End of story.  Second of all, since when do I have to explain myself to my nine-year-old child? 

He starts crying, he yells at K for looking at him, and then I yell at him. 

All of this unpleasantness could have been avoided if he had actually paid attention in the first place, and instead of blaming me for the fact that he didn't, maybe he could show a little respect for his mother and her time and simply WAIT for me to help him when I can!  See the afore-mentioned line between 'want' and 'need'???????

Where's the camera?

Yesterday, J reminded me that he's not always an obnoxious, mouthy 9-year-old teenager wannabe.  I was sitting out on the front porch waiting for the bus to bring my children home after school.  When it pulled up, immediately out popped J.  I waited to see what he'd do, because he has strict instructions to look after his baby sister on the bus & make sure she gets off at our house.  Not only did he make sure she got off, but he HELPED her off the bus!  He literally turned around and lifted her down off the bottom step.  Nothing has touched my heart quite like that in a long, long time.

When they got to the front door I hugged them & asked about their day, then I pulled him aside to tell him how much it meant to me that he did that.  He said, "Yeah, after the first time, I looked back at the step, then at her legs and knew it was too high for her." 

It's the little moments like this that make me hopeful that I'm raising a gentleman a mom can be proud of - and moments like this make me wish I had my camera at the ready!!!

The circle of life

You know the old saying, "The Lord giveth, and He taketh away"?  That was never more obvious to me than this past weekend.  Saturday morning my BFF passed word that her sister had a massive heart attack and they weren't sure she was going to make it.  She's only 42 and her cardiologist said her heart is the worst he's ever seen.  She surprised doctors by improving some over the weekend, but then took a turn for the worse when she went into cardiac arrest last night while in the process of being transported to another hospital.  She needs surgery in order to save her life and buy her more time to wait for a heart transplant.  Unfortunately the hospital she's at doesn't perform that surgery.

BFF has been my dearest friend for more than twenty-five years and her family is like my family.  I know them and grew up with them and love them and hate, hate, hate the fact that they are going through this.

On the flip side, Saturday evening our family attended a fiftieth anniversary/vow renewal ceremony for hubby's uncle and aunt.  Fifty years.  Wow.  It was such a joyful, humorous, touching occasion.  This couple is near & dear to our hearts (he is brother to hubby's mom who passed away last year).  They are sweet and loving and fun to be around, and even though we spent seven hours in the car for a three hour celebration, it meant a lot to us to be included. 

It really struck me on the way home, though, how life really is full of ups & downs.  On one hand we had a couple who have been together, raised a family and stayed in love for more than half a century, and on the other hand someone who hasn't even been alive that long is fighting for her life.

At the risk of sounding cliche, live every day to the fullest.  We all hope to be the ones celebrating more than fifty years of anything, but we could all very easily be the ones trying not to die too soon.

Shhhh.... do you hear that sound? What is it???

SILENCE!!!!  For the first time in months and months, I have the house all to myself.  For HOURS!  {happy dance}

Ok, maybe not so much a happy dance as a "let's try and enjoy this" dance, at least for today.

This morning I took my youngest child to kindergarten.  You'd think it would be easier, after all, I've been down this road before.  Right?  I am proud to say that there have been no tears.  She was all smiles all morning, asking when we would leave for school.  Hubby and I walked K to her classroom where she gave us each a hug and then took off inside without a backwards glance.   Considering this is the child who cried when I dropped her off at preschool almost every time, for FOUR YEARS, this is a big deal.  Huge.  I'm not entirely sure if hubby went along for my sake or for K... or maybe even for his?  I'm grateful for his thoughtfulness!

J was happy as a clam when I woke him up for school.  He is more than ready to be back in a routine where he's kept busy and gets to see his friends.  He is in fourth grade and all three of his teachers seem like they will be terrific.  I gave him strict instructions to make sure his sister gets off the bus!!!  He has taken the bus to school the last two years and rode it home last year, but it didn't even cross my mind to let him ride in kindergarten.  K really wanted to, though, especially since J does, and I'm praying it all goes ok since she has big brother to watch out for her.  If he remembers that she's actually ON the bus!

I hope it's not a bad omen that we saw his bus on the side of the road with the flashers on this morning when we drove K to school.  It eventually got going & we actually saw it pull up at the elementary school when we were walking in, so I'm not sure what it all was about.  I'm sure J will have a story to tell!

I managed to kill a couple of hours grocery shopping and putting things away, but now the next four hours loom ahead of me.  I know I will eventually fill up all of this "free" time and wonder how I ever got things done with kids around, but for today I'm really just counting down the minutes until that bus pulls up and I know my kids are happy and home safely.

Kindergarten!

Today marks the first day of the last week of summer vacation for me and my kiddos.  I am filled with conflicting emotions about this.  We have had a long, busy, FUN summer.  There were road trips and even longer road trips.  Swimming, golf, beaches, lakes, more golf and more swimming.  We saw family and friends we haven't seen in a long time.  Despite all of the incredibly fun times we've had, I think my kids are getting sick of each other and, more importantly, sick of me.  I have turned into the (sometimes) screaming-always-saying-no kind of mom that I don't want to be.  After spending all day, every day, all summer long, with my children, including 4 weeks and 3 days of single-parenting, I am ready for a break. 

Now that we are down to the bitter end of summer, though, I am starting to feel sad.  I'm happy for J, because I think he thrives in school.  He is smart, and friendly, and loves to be with other kids.  Unfortunately the only kid he's been around all summer, for the most part, is his baby sister!  I'm glad that he's getting "boy time" with his football teammates, and that he'll get to see old (and meet new) friends when he starts fourth grade.  He will be in the same school as last year so there is no real apprehension (on his or my part!) this year.

On the other hand, my baby girl is starting kindergarten.  This one is hitting me hard.  Harder than it did when J started kindergarten.  This surprises me, because he was my first baby, and the first one I sent off to school.  Maybe it was easier (for lack of a better word) because I still had a baby at home.  K was barely a year old and she definitely kept me busy, and kept my mind occupied.  Now that baby will be joining the ranks of new students at Wylie Elementary.  I think she is ready.  I hope she is ready.  She is so, so smart.  She loves to learn.  She tells everyone that she is going to kindergarten to learn to read.  She is beautiful and thoughtful and imaginative and sensitive.  It's the sensitive part that worries me.  She laughs with her whole heart and she also cries with her whole heart.  I hope and pray that she is blessed with a teacher who will nurture and love and support her in the ways that she needs, and that her classmates are kind and friendly to her so she will feel confident and bask in newfound friendships.  She started preschool when she was a year old and even (still!) this past year would cry when I left her.  So if you're a parent or teacher at Wylie, don't be surprised to see me, in tears, leaving my daughter, in tears, the first day (or week or month!).  I hope she surprises me and adapts well, because I had enough tearful goodbyes over the past four years with her!

It's hard for me to believe, but this beautiful baby girl...

 

is turning into a beautiful little lady who will be a full-time student in seven short days!

Good luck, K!  I love you.  I'm proud of you.  I will miss you!!!

The 25th hour...

In this age where technological advances rule the world, don't you think someone, somewhere, would have figured out how to get more hours in the day?  It seems like having more "help" in our lives only allows us to put MORE into our lives, not just give us more time for what's actually there.

I'm feeling very overwhelmed with life lately.  I think part of that is the almost-end-of-summer-will-my-kids-ever-go-back-to-school blues.  I was basically a single parent for over four weeks this summer while my kids and I were in New York.  That's not (totally) a complaint.  I love my vacation, I love seeing my family, and I definitely loved escaping this awful Texas heat this year.  However, being the go-to parent 24/7 for weeks on end is so exhausting.  My kids are sick of me and I am definitely sick of my kids.  K is going to kindergarten this year so I'm reluctant to wish the end of her summer away, but I'm running out of energy, patience and ideas on how to deal with my kids all day every day!

Being gone for 31 days meant no real chores or housework for a month.  Fabulous.  Until I come home. Thankfully hubby kept the house up pretty well... but hubby's version of clean and "Michelle clean" are two totally different things.  I have layers of dust upon layers of dust.  I can barely see through the globes on my ceiling fan lights.  I don't know when the sheets were washed last and my kitchen floor is sticky.  Somehow in between running errands and arranging playdates and swimming the heat away every afternoon, I'm supposed to find time to "fix" everything in my house that is getting on my nerves.  I'm very, very tempted to pay someone to come in and really clean, because while it's bugging me (a lot), I can't seem to muster up the time or inclination to actually get it all done.  If I can put up with the dust and fingerprints for three more weeks, the kids will be in school and I can maybe have a minute or sixty to breathe by myself!

I have rejoined the land of the working people.  A few months ago a friend of mine who owns an online business hired me to do search engine optimization for her.  It's easy work and only takes me thirty minutes to an hour a day.  But when I'm already feeling stretched VERY thin, even finding that thirty minutes is next to impossible.  I end up doing my work at night after the kids are in bed (which is later and later as the summer progresses!), which bugs hubby because then he's going to bed alone. 

So to whoever invents these nifty gadgets that save time, make money, entertain us and keep us connected, could you please invent something to make more hours in the day as well as find a way to allow us moms/wives to keep everyone happy?

My vacation top 10 list...er... lists

Top Ten Things I Will Miss About Being on vacation:

1. My mom
2. My dad
3. My brother
4. The beach
5. Playing a lot of golf
6. New York pizza
7. Not having to clean my house
8. Jolly Cow ice cream
9. Hanging out with my BFF and her kids
10. Brushing my teeth with COLD water!

Top Ten Things I Missed While On Vacation:

1. My hubby
2. My swimming pool
3. My hubby
4. My own bed (sleeping on the floor is more fun when you are a kid!)
5. My hubby
6. Chips & salsa
7. My hubby
8. My cats
9. My hubby
10. My friends

We have had a very eventful summer.  I drove 5040 miles over four weeks and three days.  We saw sunshine and drenching rain.  Dolphins and fireworks.  Old friends and even older friends.  I learned you can never have too much New York pizza, and I did my best to prove that!  My  71-year-old dad is the least "crotchety old man" I know.  He laughs, he preaches at his church, he takes his grandkids fishing and he still kicks butt at golf (although I can claim victory rights ONCE this summer).  My mom drives 40 miles back & forth to work each day, makes time for her friends and even more time for her family.  She makes her home our home and my kids and I were so comfortable there.  My daughter absolutely loved her Grammie's yard.  She would be outside from morning to night:  blowing bubbles, looking for worms, calling out for the neighbor's dog.  My son, as we were driving around one day, said, "Paradise!"  I asked him what, and he said, "This town."  He has good taste, as Saugerties was named one of the top ten coolest small towns in America. 

My daughter has had quite a few firsts lately.  She caught her first firefly, taught herself to swim underwater, found her first seashell and dug up some sand crabs.  She also lost her first tooth and got stung by a bee for the first time ever.  Five years old is turning out to be a busy age for her!

As much fun as we had (and we had a LOT), it is so very good to be back home.  I missed my hubby and my kids missed their daddy.  I know he missed us a lot, and I am so grateful and thankful that he allows me this trip every summer.  My kids and I enjoy it so much, and I know my parents cherish the time with us.

Free-speaking Friday

I know it has been nearly two weeks since I've written in my blog, and I realize it is Thursday, but I'm on vacation so I'm entitled to bend the rules a bit!

*I wish I could play golf for a living.  I have played five times over the last seven days (72 holes total) and have loved every minute of it.  I'd be ready to hit the links again tomorrow!

*I'm not a fan of 100 degrees.  It's no fun in west Texas and it's no fun in upstate New York. 

*I love seeing how much my children love my parents (and vice versa). 

*My big brother is one of my best friends (and if you were a girl who went through the teenage years with a big brother, you know how rare that is).  He's a good guy and a great uncle!

*Four weeks is a long, long time to be away from home (and more importantly, my hubby!)! 

*Online banking, credit cards and texting makes being away from home for four weeks a little easier.

*My son is a natural at kayaking.  Who knew?

*If you grew up in New York but no longer live in New York, you can never get enough New York pizza when you come back!

*I'm very thankful that my children are having a slumber party tonight (J is bunking in the living room with Uncle D and K is bunking with Grammie).  My 38-year-old bones will appreciate not sleeping on the floor!

*I find it amusing that I'll be going back to Texas with a better tan than I left with!

*No matter how long my visit is, it's never long enough to see everyone and do everything!

Happy-almost-last-Friday-in-New-York!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my husband's birthday.  Birthdays are always a celebratory day, aren't they?  Everyone loves a party (and everyone certainly loves cake...or at least the frosting, if you are my children).  Everyone loves to get presents.  Everyone secretly loves to have a fuss made over them.  For us, though, thanks to our annual New York trip, hubby's birthday is a bittersweet day.  It's sweet because a) he's a sweet man and b) it's his birthday, but it's bitter because we are almost never with him on his special day.

Since we knew we would be gone for his birthday, we had a special celebration before we left.  Thankfully hubby is pretty laid-back about things like that and doesn't mind celebrating weeks ahead of time.  In fact, he probably wouldn't mind not celebrating at all, but we can't let him get away with that!

So today I am thinking about Hubby, wishing he could be with us, wishing we weren't apart for his birthday.  Forty-nine years ago today, a baby was born who would turn into the strong, caring, funny man I am lucky enough to call my best friend and husband. 

Happy Birthday Hubby!  I love you more every day.

Are you ever too old for fireworks?

Even though I moved away fifteen years ago, I still try to make it "home" every year for July 4th.  If you grew up in a town that didn't have a special celebration you probably wouldn't understand.  But everyone from Saugerties, New York (one of the top ten "coolest small towns in America" knows that nobody does "the fourth" like Saugerties. 

If you think of your typical small-town America patriotic holiday, what do you think of?  Parades and cookouts and fireworks.  Saugerties has the biggest and best parade around (especially if you have a particular fondness for firetrucks).  There are trucks and tractors and horses and bagpipes, and of course, the kids especially love the floats where the people are tossing out candy!  Along the parade route there is a house that has pretty much become "party central" for the parade.  The biggest crowd gathers there, there is loud music, freely-flowing drinks and they even have a P.A. system (which they mostly use to heckle the parade marchers).  They play the Star Spangled Banner when they see the start of the parade heading their way, and in the lulls between floats, they play the music for the Chicken Dance and everyone gathers in the street to dance.  They also have a "theme" every year.  Two years ago when I was here, much to Jared's delight, the theme was Star Wars.  They had Darth Vader and Storm Troopers.  You never know who might show up.  This year the theme was Christmas in July, so there was Christmas music and Santa hats.  Watching the parade from any other street just wouldn't be the same!

For a small town (20,000 people), Saugerties puts on an incredible fireworks display.  The crowd gathers for HOURS, there are booths selling lemonade and fried dough (no lousy funnel cakes here!) and the kids run around with patriotic-colored glow sticks.  The fireworks last night began right on time (hallelujah!) at 9:45 and lasted for more than 30 minutes, with a grand finale that had the crowd cheering and clapping.

Happy Birthday America!
(and well done, Saugerties, well done)

Things we learned about croquet

We don't really know the correct way to set up the "course".

Playing at 7pm invites WAY too many insects to the game.

Golfers make better croquet players (as evidenced by the fact that I won and J came in second!).

K is much happier "smashing mushrooms" and wandering around than actually participating in the game.

The mallets are not very effective when used to hammer the stakes into the ground.

A backyard full of roots does not make for a smooth croquet playing area!

A nine-year-old would rather aim for someone else's ball than the gate you're supposed to hit the ball through!

Life is a highway

but I don't want to drive it all night long!!!

Give me 10 hours of driving in the rain on Interstate 40 across Tennessee over 2 hours of stop & go bumper-to-bumper traffic on Rte 17 in northern New Jersey.  Can I just say THAT SUCKED!?!?!?!?

We have safely arrived at Grammie's house and are unpacked and settled in for the next couple of weeks.  Woohoo!!!  We sooooooooooooooooooo enjoyed the beach and hated to leave, but at least we still have this part of our vacation to look forward to.

p.s. My kids earned back their best traveler awards today!

Only two things could make this week better...

having my hubby along, and having our backyard swimming pool!  I could live at the ocean.  Seriously.  This is the best.  Listening to the sound of the waves from our condo, watching the beach from our balcony, walking to Dunkin Donuts every morning for breakfast, hearing the joyful sound of my children as they play in the surf....

Today was a perfect beach day.  The weather couldn't have been better:  mid-80's, sunny and just a slight breeze.  I sat in my beach chair this morning and watched J & K build sand castles while Grammie and Godmother S went for a walk.  When they came back, it was my turn and I have to admit my solitary walk was bliss!  I haven't had any time away from my children since I left Texas and it was nice to be able to hear myself think!

We drove down to see the Fenwick Island lighthouse, which is in a very odd location.  It is about five blocks INLAND from the beach - right smack in the middle of town!  It is a pretty lighthouse, but unfortunately it is only open on Saturdays & Sundays so we couldn't go inside. 

Tonight we had a wonderful dinner at a bayside marina restaurant called Harpoon Hanna's (where they serve the BEST bread:  muffins to die for, homemade rye and pumpernickel, etc), then we all played a round of putt putt at Old Pro Pirate Ship golf.  I think we are all quite pleasantly tired and will be ready to do it all over again tomorrow after a good night's sleep!

421

Ahhhh.... the relief of finally making it to your destination, and leaving the shortest travel day for last!  Sometimes I'm so smart I amaze myself.   421 miles was a piece of cake after the previous two days. 

We were back on the road yesterday morning at 7am, headed from Advance, NC to Ocean City, MD.  There really is no direct route from point a to point b, so we ended up going down winding, hilly country roads throughout Virginia.  Dealing with 55mph speed limits and traffic lights after almost 1300 miles of interstate driving was annoying.  It was worth it, though, when we reached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  That is an amazing drive!  J was enthralled - the bridge, the tunnels, the water, the boats, etc.  So neat.

We arrived in Ocean City about 30 minutes after Grammie & Godmother S did, and thankfully they had already checked in and acquired the keys to our place.  And WHAT A PLACE!!!  The condo is so perfect it's ridiculous.  You know how you see pictures online or in an advertisement for a place, and you just know the pictures make it look nicer than it really is?  This place is BETTER than the pictures!  Everything is in great shape (except the washer/dryer combo, but that's a whole other post), there is plenty of space, great parking, elevator (we did NOT want to lug all that stuff up 4 flights of stairs!), and best of all, OCEANFRONT!  We have a huge balcony that overlooks the sand dune and beach.  Perfection.  The beach is gorgeous, and since we're way on the north side of Ocean City, it's not even crowded.  We couldn't ask for anything better.

My children LOVE the beach.  The last time we went to the ocean, J was 5, K was 1 and we went to New Hampshire where it was cold, foggy and rainy all weekend.  J didn't care, he was out there in the waves regarless, but K was not a happy beach baby.  She basically sat in the sand and cried.  Fast forward four years and it's a whole different ball game.  My children are bursting with excitement.  They are squealing and running and screaming and laughing, sitting in the sand, trying to ride the waves, digging for clams, etc.  The epitome of joy.  Unfortunately the surf is a bit on the rough side and J took a tumble in the waves with his boogie board.  A few scrapes and a sore back, but he got right back in the water later today.  If I could figure out  a way to keep my kids' skin from getting sand/salt rash, we'd be much happier campers!

We played at an awesome indoor putt putt place today, enjoyed some ice cream, shopped for t-shirts (and new flip flops for me since mine BROKE while I was walking around the store), then had a great dinner with a friend of mine and her daughter who drove down from Dover.  We attempted to fly a kite tonight, and saw a boy catch a skate (sting-ray type fish) while fishing on the beach!
So far we couldn't ask for a better time at the beach.  It's supposed to storm tonight, but by tomorrow morning clear skies and smooth sailing until we leave on Friday.

Life's a beach.

613

miles driven today.  99.9% of which were on Interstate 40!  Driving across Tennessee is beautiful, but staying on one road the entire time is Boring with a capital B, and of course it RAINED.  Thank goodness we seemed to miss the severe weather that blanketed the area today, but I can not drive through that state without getting caught in rain (about 5 or 6 times today).  It did make K happy, though, because she was able to use her new Hello Kitty umbrella when we stopped for lunch. 

I drove on a part of Interstate 40 I have never been on before (southeast of Knoxville, TN toward Asheville, NC through the Smokey Mountains) and I have to say it is THE most fun road I've ever driven on.  It really made me wish I still had my little red MR2.  To give you an idea of what this road was like, the posted speed limit for trucks was 35mph.  On the interstate!!!!!  There were twists and turns and hills and valleys galore, and even a couple of tunnels.  I wondered why I saw a sign that said, "Take off sunglasses".  Ha!

Unfortunately I was a little too proud of my children yesterday.  Considering we have spent 22 hours in the car and driven almost 1300 miles in two days, it's understandable, but they were not nearly the super travelers today that they were yesterday.  J took two naps and K took one long one, which did help (especially since we were on the road before 7am today), but I can't tell you how many meltdowns my little girl had.  Even J, toward the end of the day, got very antsy and started acting up and they asked me EVERY FIFTEEN MINUTES all day long "When will we get to our hotel??"   I'm trying to be Super Mommy and not lose patience because I know this is a crazy schedule for them, but there's only so much I can take after driving that much and doing it solo!

On the fun stretch of I-40 I was surrounded by huge NASCAR semis who showed no disregard for the speed limit or the fact that trucks were restricted to the right lane.  I don't know if the NASCAR drivers were driving the trucks themselves or what, but it was insane!

We are now at our super cool hotel which has a nice pool, hot tub, AND two tubular water slides that go outside the building and end up inside the pool area.  J is going up & down over and over again, but unfortunately K isn't tall enough (or brave enough).

Tomorrow is another long day of traveling, but thankfully not as long as the previous two.  We should reach our destination by 3pm.  Ocean City, MD, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

658

That's how many miles I drove today to start off our annual summer trip.  My kids and I left Abilene, TX this morning at 7am (which was a miracle in itself since that was my scheduled take-off time!).  We drove down Interstate 20, Interstate 30, and arrived at our hotel off Interstate 40 in Memphis Tennessee just before 6pm.   Luckily the skies were clear, the roads were even relatively clear and we had a great day of travel.

Here are a few observations:

My kids are the best travelers ever.  Period.  We were in the car for eleven hours.  We stopped once for lunch at 11:30, where we hung out for an hour at a cool McDonalds featuring touch-screen video games in some of the booths!  We stopped again at a rest area around 4pm to stretch and make a bathroom pit stop.  That's it.  No whining, no fighting, only a few thousand "how many minutes till we get to our hotel?" from K.  They were unbelievable! 

O'Charley's (a place we haven't been to before) has awesome food!  We walked down the street from our hotel to the restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful meal (how I got away with a non-fast food meal on our trip is a mystery!).

My son calls white people "peach".  (The majority of the people in Memphis are black, and while he and K were swimming, he announced "We are the only peach people in here!")

Porsche makes an SUV.  I saw one today.  If you can afford a Porsche, why would you get an SUV? 

My husband is as good (if not better) at packing the car as I am at loading the dishwasher!  My car is loaded down with two golf bags, two suitcases, a tote bag full of shoes, a sleeping bag, two beach chairs, three pillows, a tote bag with swim stuff & beach towels, and our toiletries bags.  And I can still see out my back window!!!  (Don't laugh, but I took a picture of the packed trunk with my cell phone so I can re-pack everything the way it was)

I'm impressed with my SUV's highway gas mileage.  Around town at home I'm lucky to get 19-20mpg.  Today I averaged 27.0, and that's with a loaded-down car!

SiriusXM radio is fantastic.  99% of the time I listen to country music, so I don't need the variety of 250 channels, but the ability to listen to WSIX out of Nashville my entire trip without searching for a good country station is awesome!

I can't wait to see the ocean.

I miss my husband already.