July Vacation

St. Augustine & Daytona Beach

July 25 - 29, 2007


We are back!! We had a great time. Rusty was able to finish his fence jobs early so we were able to go down a day ahead of schedule.

Our first stop was St. Augustine Wednesday afternoon. If you've never been there before - I highly recommend it. Lots of fun things to do and lots and lots of history. I wish that we could have spent several days there. The only problem we had in St. Augustine was me not remembering to get Alan milk before we got to the hotel. Alan loves to have milk before he goes to sleep and the poor child cried for a couple of hours wanting milk. He even told me to go to Krogers to get him some milk when I told him we didn't have any. It was really funny. He finally fell asleep. It was pretty sad.

This is the hotel where we stayed.



This is the kids at the restaurant - Santa Maria.
This was a great place to eat and the kids loved feeding the catfish.
Thanks Jen T. for the recommendations.



The catfish!



Thursday morning we got up and went to the Lighthouse. We walked around the grounds and read up as much stuff about it as we could without the kids getting too bored. Carrigan and Rusty climbed to the top. I would have gone but Alan was not tall enough so instead we walked around and then had fun looking up at the top of the lighthouse for Rusty and Carrigan.



Thursday afternoon we headed to Daytona Beach. Carrigan could not wait to get there. She remembered the resort from last year. All she talked about was the giant slide that she could not wait to go down. We headed to the pool not long after we checked in. What a fun day.

Here are views from our balcony. This year we were on the 7th floor in the North Tower.




This is the kiddie pool. Here is a picture of the lazy river and one of the 2 pools.

Friday morning George and his daughter Katie came to see us at the resort. It was great seeing them. For those of you that don't know who George is...he was one of my bosses when I worked for Turner Broadcasting. I left Turner not long after he did and went to work for the same company he did. He was awesome. After they left we headed down to the pool and the beach. Carrigan and Rusty both had their own boogie boards and had a great time out in the ocean. I tried to take pictures of Carrigan doing it so hopefully some of them will turn out (I took those pictures with my 35mm not my digital). If so - I'll post them later when I get my film back. Alan really enjoyed playing in the sand. We bought him some new sand toys and he had a ball. As long as I let him do what he wanted - he was fine and would go down to the water. If I suggested him going to the water he told me no - he wanted to stay where he was.


George and Katie!

Pictures of the kids enjoying the pools and the beach!











Saturday was another fun day. I went downstairs and got a pedicure :-) It was so nice. For those who know me - I let very few people look at my foot, touch my foot, etc. After all the surgeries I've had on it - I don't want it touched. Well - let me tell you - this girl was awesome. I was a little nervous but she was great. Maybe I will try to get another one soon somewhere close to home :-) While I was getting my pedicure Rusty took the kids down to the pool with the big slide. Rusty said that Alan really didn't want to go to the kid pool so they went to the big pool instead. Carrigan spent all of her time going down the slide. Alan was really big on just hanging out at the steps. Occasionally he would go and sit on the side as long as we didn't push him. I've got some funny kids.

Saturday night we went out to eat at Shell's with George, Sandy and Katie. We had a great time and the food was wonderful. Sandy was so nice and brought us a box of goodies (danish's, muffins, etc....) They were so yummy! Thanks for meeting us for dinner. It was great seeing everyone!

We came home yesterday! We stopped by the outlet mall (near St. Augustine) on the way back. I was looking for some school things for Carrigan but only came home with a pair of sneakers. I must not have been in the mood to shop. We didn't buy anything else!


Bye bye Daytona - maybe we will see you again next year!

Kim, Rusty, Carrigan and Alan

July 20, 2007

WANT TO SEE ALAN'S LATEST ARTWORK.....

First let me explain what you are looking at and how this happened.

BEWARE OF THE MEDICINE SYRINGE, MILK
AND 2 YEAR OLD LEFT ALONE FOR 5 MINUTES!!!!!

Thursday night I was on the telephone with Rusty in the computer room and the house was kinda quiet. I told Rusty that I needed to check on the kids. They were either watching TV or they were doing something they weren't suppose to be doing. Well - Carrigan was watching TV but I caught Alan in action. I walked out of my bedroom (the computer room is the sitting area off of our bedroom) and Alan was standing behind the rocking love seat and squirting the walls.

Here's how he did it...He would take a sip of milk, hold it in his mouth, let the syringe out until it sucked all of the milk out of his mouth and then he would aim.

Let's just say that Alan spent the rest of his evening in his room and was not allowed to come out. He eventually fell asleep from crying so hard.

Here's the damage!

If you've ever been to my house - these are the arch's going into my dining room.










Milk forms a shiny coat on flat paint! Flat Plantation Beige paint and milk do not go well. If I try to scrub it off - the paint will come off of the wall and the sheet rock will show!

Anyone want to come and help me paint? HAHA!!! The next house we build will not have flat paint - we will pay extra for the better paint! Lesson learned when you have small kids!

Just had to share! I guess it's a good thing that I already have the paint color picked out, Now I'll just have to do this room sooner than later.

Kim

Potty Training

July 18, 2007

Okay - so here's the deal. Alan is in the process of the potty training thing. Several months ago he would do his little business in the potty but didn't wanted to go tee tee. Well now he is doing both but ... only when he wants to do it. If I push him - he wants no part in it. So...I kinda let him do his own thing and he does what he needs to do when he wants to do it. He is so proud of himself. Once he goes he runs down the hall and calls me to come into the bathroom and sure enough - he has done what is needed. He will even sometimes call Carrigan in the bathroom because he is so excited. It won't be long and he will totally be potty trained.

I took these pictures of him yesterday. He has been wearing big boy undies for almost 9 months now on and off but he will not wear them right. Scroll down to see.....

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HAHAHA! If I tell him that he needs to turn them around his answer is "No - want Diego here" and he points to his front. It does not matter what kind of undies Alan is wearing - Thomas, Spiderman, Diego, etc..... he wants to see the characters. When he stands up it almost looks like he is wearing a thong! He is constantly pulling them out in the back if you know what I mean. It is so funny. My child has a mind of his own.

I just had to share!

I hope that everyone is having a great summer. We are off to Daytona and St. Augustine next Wednesday or Thursday (we haven't decided if we want to go a day early and spend an extra day in St. Augustine). I'll post more when we get back.

If your wondering who will take care of the animals - Princess will be boarded and she is getting fixed while she is there, The bird and fish will be fine while we are gone and Dixie will have plenty of food and plenty water to last her a lifetime! Dixie loves her backyard so she will be just fine with her dog house, the shed and the camper for plenty of shady places.

Kim

Pool Fun!

JULY 12, 2007

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to add some pictures on my BLOG of the kids playing in our pool. These pictures were taken today. Carrigan is really doing a great job swimming around and Alan is really getting use to the water. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Several of you (mostly my mom and Robin) have asked about Dixie. Here is a picture of her also taken today. Princess wasn't outside today. She went to the vet this morning (yearly appointment) and got 3 shots so she stayed inside most of the day and slept. She had a great bill of health and the doctor told me that she is done growing. She weighs a total of 7 lbs 9 oz. Dixie on the other hand probably needs to go on a diet. She's a little on the chunky size as you can see by the pictures - but she's a happy girl!!!!

Have a great weekend!

Kim

P.S. Be sure to check out www.myspace.com/Kimela7 This is my newest thing. It's so addicting.

Fireworks!

JULY 4, 2007

What a fun day we had. We started our morning off by going to IHOP. For Rusty and I this has been our annual thing to do for as long as I can remember. We would get there just before noon just to see the runners from the Peachtree Road Race and their T-shirts come in. It has always been alot of fun for us up until this year. In the past we have always gone to the IHOP in Fayetteville but this year we decided to go to the one in Griffin since it was on the way to Tim and Barb's and we weren't going all the way back home to head back out. We'll - I don't think anyone in Griffin ran the race since we didn't see one shirt!!! URGH!!!!!! Next year we will head back to Fayetteville. No offense to Griffin but.....I wanted to see a shirt!!!!!!

We spent the day at Tim and Barb's and had a great time. Kati, Kevin, Ty and Brooke were there so that made it lots of fun too. Plus the food was wonderful - ribs, corn, cole slaw and I made a patriotic trifle for dessert. YUMMY!!!

While we were at Barb's - she watched the kids for us while we ran to Verizon and got new cell phones. Many of you know that my phone totally gave out. You could call me - I could hear you but you could not hear me. Not to mention the phone never had service and constantly dropped calls. I took my phone to Nextel and they told me it was due to corrosion and that I would have to buy a new phone and sign a new contract. No way - Nextel didn't even work half the time and it definitely did not work out here where we live so....off to Verizon we went. Guess what - I now have service at my house and I don't even have to move to a special spot and hold my mouth just right - YEAH!!!!! Rusty is very pleased with it also since now we can both be on AOL at the same time. He bought some special package and it seems to work jsut fine!

Late yesterday afternoon we headed to Nash Battlefield to see the activities and watch the fireworks. Thanks to Aunt Kati and Uncle Kevin for helping out with Carrigan and for Tim and Barb for getting us in and the extra dollars for the tickets for Carrigan. No - we are not broke - we just don't carry cash with us anymore and when we need it there is never an ATM around. Carrigan's face is still painted and it is now 8:55pm. She loves it! Thanks!

The fireworks were great but Alan was not too thrilled with them. Rusty held him and Alan kept his little fingers over his ears the whole time. At one point Rusty used his hands and covered them up for him. After a while - Alan finally fell asleep. The show was over around 10:00pm and we did not get out of there until around 11:15ish if I remember correctly. Lots and lots of people!

Carrigan just hanging around!

Brooke - "Please hurry and take my picture".

Alan - "Mom do I have too"?




COUSINS
Carrigan, Ty and Brooke

It was a great day and a fun night! Thanks everyone!!!

Kim