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

June 12 - 17, 2007

LAKE OCONEE

NORTH SHORE RESORT

JUNE 12 - 17, 2007

WOW - what a great time we had on this camping trip. Who would have thought that camping would have been so much fun. Of course it helps when you have a wonderful camper with bathroom facilities including a shower - HAHAHA!!!! Who would have thought that I would have been doing this 20 years ago.

We got to the resort on Tuesday and set everything up. Rusty had to finish a job over there but by the time we got the camper set-up, went to the store, it was already after 2pm so he decided to just finish it the next day. Tuesday night was a little bit rocky. A big (huge in my opinion) thunderstorm came through and boy was I a little scared. At one point while it was lightning I could see the huge pine trees swaying so much they looked like they were going to break in two. There was one point during the storm that I thought it was hailing because it sounded like it was hitting the top of the camper but Rusty figured it was just pine cones. He was right but it sure didn't sound very good. Kati if your reading this - weathering a storm in a camper is so much better than weathering a storm in a tent. I will never forget that camping trip to Lake Knotley (not quite sure if I have the spelling right on that one).

Here is a picture of the camper once we got it set-up.

Here is Princess. She wasn't real happy being on a leash but she soon got use to it.

Rusty went to the job Wednesday morning and I took the kids to the pool. The resort had 2 pools and on this day one of them were closed due to chemical treating. This pool was really nice. We actually had it all to ourselves while we were there.

Carrigan was doing so well swimming. She would actually take off her life jacket while she was in the part that she could stand up in. She has really improved since last summer.

Alan didn't mind the water as long as we let him do his own thing. If you tried to hold him and take him in - he would throw a fit so I basically just let him do whatever he wanted. He was getting kinda brave going off the side of the pool. He never actually got all the way in though.

Thursday morning Rusty woke up real early and went fishing. If I remember correctly he caught something but I was not there to take a picture of it. He said that he enjoyed just being out there. When he was finished we headed out to find a Wal-Mart. We headed the wrong direction on 20 and ended up going 40+ miles out of our way. We at least found one somewhere in a town called Thomson I think. We later found out that if we had headed the other way on 20 - we would have found one in Madison. We know now for the next time. Later that afternoon we took the kids down to the dock and let them try fishing. We stopped by a store earlier in the day and bought some crickets and that seemed to do the trick for Carrigan. Alan was acting up so we (me and him) went back to the camper so we missed Carrigan catching her fish :-( We had another storm that night but not as bad as the night before.

Friday - Rusty took Carrigan fishing that morning. Carrigan had a ball. Of course - she and Rusty caught something. I think this time it was a small catfish. Again - I wasn't down there to see. Instead me and Alan stayed at the camper and we watched TV. Yeap - we had TV down there. It was even digital TV. Alan was just as happy watching TV then he would have been down by the lake.

Kristi and Hunter came!!! A BIG HUGE THANK YOU goes out to Jan and Larry (Kristi's in-law's) for letting Kristi and Hunter go to your lake house and for allowing us to see it and enjoy it. What a beautiful home. It is absolutely amazing - the house, the decorating, the view of the lake, etc.... Thank you, thank you!!!! All Carrigan has talked about since we have been back is how much fun she had at Grandma Jan's house with Hunter.

Here is a picture of Princess with Jan and Larry's next door neighbor's Great Dane - Stella. Princess was so small compared to Stella but Stella was such a good dog around her. they played well together until Stella would pounce on her trying to play. That's when Princess would start whimpering. She never got hurt. I think it was good for her since Dixie was back at home and Princess missed her. Thank you Grace for watching Dixie for us!!!! Dixie appreciated it!

Who would have thought that Carrigan would be jumping off of docks. At Lake Lanier she would not jump off of Josh's boat but she had no problem jumping off of the dock. She and Hunter even swam under it. Not me - I would have been chicken. No dark places for me in the water!

Here is a picture of Rusty fishing in Jan and Larry's back yard. I love this picture! They have a beautiful view and nobody will ever build behind them across the lake. WOW!

Alan was having fun trying to fish. I would cast it out and he would sit and reel it in. At one point I cast it and his SpongeBob bobber feel off. Kristi and I kept trying to hook it and bring it in. Finally Kristi was able to get it close enough to the dock and Rusty grabbed it. Alan was very excited to get his SpongeBob back.

"When the sun goes down...."

Here is a picture of the 3 of them. Trying to get Alan to sit still was a little tough but I got a picture. It was pretty neat - you can see the steps in this picture that go down into the lake.

It took me forever to get this action shot of Hunter. It's a little blurry but it shows how much fun he was having.

Carrigan being just like her cousin. Now if we could only get her to stop holding her nose. She would start way back in the yard holding her nose and run to the end of the dock and jump. She had a ball!

Kristi and I were sitting on the dock and all of a sudden Alan decided he was going to be like his sister and cousin. He went running to the end of the dock. We thought for sure he was going to go in but....

he decided to go to the end and stop, turn around and kick his feet in the water. He would them get up and start all over. Rusty at this time took his watch off, his wallet out of his pocket and got ready for the one time Alan would slip and Rusty would have to go in after him. It didn't happen but Alan came pretty close one time. Instead of him turning around when he got to the end - he decided to go straight and poor little thing was holding on for dear life. He was barely hanging on. We couldn't help but laugh.

Carrigan and Hunter were swimming at night. Here's a picture of Carrigan floating. She can't stop talking about it.

Saturday - Tim and Barb came to visit us. Thanks for coming!!!! The resort had a cookout with hamburgers and hot dogs so we got lunch and then headed to the pool.

Here's a picture of Carrigan and one of the little girls that she met at the park hanging on Rusty's legs. Carrigan had alot of fun playing with her. Come to find out that Carrigan was only a couple of weeks older than her.

Again we had to let Alan do his own thing. Here he is braving it in the deep end. He never went further than the first step.

That afternoon Carrigan and I took Barb over to Jan and Larry's to let her see the house and let Carrigan swim a little more with Hunter.

Another action shot of Hunter jumping in!!

Carrigan did so much better on Saturday. She was alot more confident and ran alot faster. Kristi even joined them in the lake but I promised her I would not take a picture. Kristi was just like one of the kids. She jumped just as far as they did. Plus - she helped Carrigan get up on the dock so she wouldn't have to swim around. Thanks!

After they swam - we (me, Barb and Carrigan) went to the store to get dinner. Kristi and Hunter met us back at the resort for dinner. Rusty cooked an awesome dinner (he always does) and then Tim and Barb left and went back home.

After dinner Kristi and I took the kids to the pool while Rusty cleaned up. Hunter is one hilarious kid. He told Kristi and I to pretend like we did not know him because there were girls there. He gave Kristi the name of Victoria and he gave me the name of Lilly. Hunter was Tom and Carrigan was Jerri. It was so funny. That kid can come of with some of the funniest things!

Here is Carrigan and Hunter swimming on the last night. Alan was actually there also but he didn't care too much about going in. At one point he actually fell into the water (he had a life jacket on) and then he didn't want much more to do with the water.

We had an awesome time and can't wait to go back. Thank you Tim and Barb for coming to visit while we were there. A big thank you to Kristi and Hunter for coming and a big thank you to Jan and Larry for letting us enjoy your home.

I just want to say thank you to everyone that emails me and comments about my BLOG. It takes me a long time to do this and it is my way of keeping in touch with so many of you. Thanks again !!

Kim