Just a Few More Vacay Pics

If you look *really* close you can see the dolphin fins. Maybe squint a little...

Chloe, Halle and Landon in the "hot bathtub" overlooking the lake at Uncle Dan and Aunt Vicky's. Funny story- as we were leaving that night I asked Halle if she had to go potty and she said "no, I went in the hot baftub". I just dropped it and hoped that nobody heard her say it.
The "party patio" at the same place, oh, and um, Amanda too. There were no less than 50 people there that day. I aspire to someday have a place like that to have a party.

Milk and Eggs Should be Easy

I've debated on this post for a while. Should I write about how incredibly emotional I am and near a breakdown? Will I regret having that in print? Can I actually get through the typing process without breaking down into sobs and scrapping it all together? I'm not sure. But if you end up reading this post you'll know what I decided.

After my divorce at the ripe old age of 19 (it was final 3 days before my 20th birthday) I decided to take the tough approach to everything. A pick yourself up by your bootstraps sort of thing. I would not be weak, I would not give in, I would do the hard thing, make the difficult decisions, be daring, take risks, grab life by the tail and make it work. And I did. I also became incredibly tough. I really had no sympathy for people that couldn't make things work. I had no use for quitters or people that were weak. Of course, people didn't see me have near breakdowns then either.

This isn't really about that though. I just think that as a result I *always* look for the hard thing to do. I mean, really, if I have two choices I seem to be inexplicably drawn to the one that's hardest. That's probably not completely true. A lot of the hard decisions I made were "God decisions". I knew I was supposed to go to Southeastern. Working my way (with a lot of help from student loans) through was just necessary. Moving away to PC was a calling- with horrifying results- but was part of the "sanding process". Moving to Hendersonville, Birmingham, Hendersonville, Franklin, staying home with the girls when I really "need" to work, all of that were things we felt were the right things to do. Oh, and buying a "fixer" that's two sizes too small for our very first house when we'd never done more than install a ceiling fan into an apartment, yeah that seemed like the right thing too...but in hindsight...maybe. And I don't want to whine, really. I used to whine- a lot- and God put some very patient people in my life to listen to me whine. I wouldn't have been as patient with me and I most certainly would have told me to shut up. But thankfully they didn't. And now I'm tired. Very, very tired. I see a purpose in all of it; I really do. But it feels like I'm nearly purposed into a breakdown. I don't think I should be on the verge of tears all the time.

I know the right answers, Christ is our strength, all things work together for good, be happy when you face trials because the testing of your faith works patience and proves your faith, He will lift us up on wings as eagles, we'll run and not grow weary walk and not faint- when you wait...etc. And I'm not making light of any of that. If I didn't have those promises I would take things into my own hands, get a job, shove the kids in daycare and whip my life into shape. It's what I do. Or did. I don't have permission to do that anymore. It's very difficult for a take charge person to sit back, let everything go and say "OK, God I'm trusting you to do this. I'm not going to try to fix it and you can do whatever you want to". Well, actually I had no trouble telling God that He could do whatever He wanted to because I *assumed* that whatever He did would be instantly wonderful. Then I learned that God isn't in a hurry. And it's been a *long* time. And it's much more difficult at times to say to God "I'm OK with what you're doing right now".

So since I can't change anything, can I at least simplify something? Anything? Please? Well, actually yes, I can. For the last year or more I've been part of a co-op that buys farm fresh milk, eggs, cream and butter. Once a week we all meet at someones house to pick the stuff up and it takes about an hour out of my day. We all take turns driving into the middle of nowhere and pick it up for everyone else and that takes me about 5 hours and a half tank of gas. Why would I do that? Well, because it's all fresh, organic, healthy stuff and I swear I've turned into a hippie. I even make my own kefir. But as I was boohooing to God this past Monday, I found myself saying, "God, I just need some things to be easy". Yes, this from the girl that makes everything difficult. Tthe next day I got an article in the mail (from my M-I-L) about the FDA cracking down on raw milk, with a bunch of unsubstantiated propaganda from the FDA and dairy council (but this isn't a post on debating raw vs pasteurized milk) and while I wasn't instantly converted to the pasteurized side of the fence, it did make me think about how much trouble I'm going through to get raw milk and cage free organic eggs. And I decided to drop it. I'm OK, with it. I hate quitting but I think my stubbornness could kill me. I feel a little less stressed. But I've decided some other things too, it's like a snowball of easyness rolling over me. The cottage cheese ceilings? They're staying and getting a coat of paint. The termite damage? It's getting a coat of drywall mud, then I'll sand and paint. Am I tearing out the wall between the kitchen and living room? It's not likely, unless I have themoney to hire somebody. Will we take out all of the trees and bushes growing in random spots with a hand saw? Nope, we're buying a chainsaw- a cheap chainsaw, but since we'll never need to take out a giant redwood I figure we'll be OK.

If I'd had my way when we first moved in, I'd have torn out everything down to the studs and started over. So I think in a big way it has been a good thing that we haven't had money to renovate right away. If Travis had never worked at Home Depot we would have spent *way* too much money on things we didn't need to(of course it's also meant that we've lived in a house that- to put it nicely is really gross). It hasn't helped my stress level but we've learned a lot of things. And I'd like to be noble and conservative and jump on the "less is more" bandwagon but 1025 sq. ft. is too small for 5 people. I don't really care if they did it in the old days or that families used to live in one room or that they do it in NY city. There's a reason that houses are the size of McMansions now. People were tired of being crammed into a small space with stuff falling on their heads, tripping over the stuff that they didn't have room to put away, and catching their shoulders on doorways when they walk through (I'm always doing that and it makes me really mad). That's also why there are open floor plans- and I'm a big fan of those. But first comes the completion of renovating. We have a few years of renovating ahead of us, unless God has another plan. And it's not nearly as much fun as they make it look on HGTV.

So, I've simplified what I can and I trust that God will accomplish whatever his plans are for us. I could talk about our lack of accomplishing anything significant or not realizing our dreams for ministry but that's another thing that I will most likely not rant about. I shouldn't be frustrated. I think if I could go to a batting cage and knock the heck out of some softballs I would feel much, much better. Milk and eggs should be easy.

Vacation- The Finale

After we left the resort, we had 6 whole hours of just family time. It would turn out to be the only time of exclusive Button time we had for the whole trip- not including drive time, but that doesn't count, does it? We decided that we'd have lunch at The Olive Garden since we don't have one in Cool Springs, which I've always thought was weird. We seemingly have every other restaurant known to mankind tucked into every corner and crevice here- but no Olive Garden. So let me hop off my bunny trail here and back to Kissimmee. We decided earlier that morning that it just wasn't possible to go to Disney World. So instead we decided to spend some time and $$$ at the outdoor mall that was close by. It was hot. We were hungry. The mall was huge. We bought some cute stuff. We left. We had lunch.

We finally arrived in Riverview later that night and unloaded the car for the 3rd, and thankfully final, time. There were trips to see grandparents and a trip to beautiful Anna Maria Island. When I was a kid we spent all of our beach time at Siesta Key. My parents had a boat and we practically lived there in the summer. When I was a teenager we went to Cocoa Beach because my brother started surfing. When I started college I went to Clearwater Beach. But in my later years in college I started going to Anna Maria Island. So it was really nice to be able to visit there again. At the main public beach they have a little beach restaurant which is usually just a hamburger and hot dog stand. At this one you could get a chicken Caesar salad, fish and chips, crab cakes, etc. and the food was pretty good too. So we had lunch and hung out with most of the Johnson clan. Then later as the sun was setting we took the *free* trolley to an ice cream shop that was across the street from their historic pier. Travis and I walked on the pier for a bit and even though it was dark, you could see that the water was very, very clear.

A couple of days later we went to Trav's Uncle Dan and Aunt Vicky's house for a cookout. They live on a lake and have built a beautiful home in stages over a few decades. The latest addition was a screened in porch that rivals any type of outdoor space I've seen before. We always have so much fun when we go there. Travis always plays some sort of game with his brothers and Pop. This time it was extreme Frisbee. And the little kids made a swimming pool of their hot tub. The long drive to see them aside, it was a very relaxing day.

Then came our very last day and a trip to John's pass (the thing I've been waiting to blog about). Admittedly the area is touristy and there is more than one shop selling faces made of coconuts or Christmas ornaments made from starfish (which I personally think is a travesty) but they've added a whole new floor with a pretty cool rock-n-roll themed art gallery and a sunken pirate ship themed shop from which we bought a lighthouse Christmas ornament. Mostly because the guy was very nice and seemed a bit desperate to sell something. The main reason that I wanted to go there though is because my M-I-L told me that every time they go there they see dolphins. And my sweet Chloe wanted nothing more than to see dolphins. So after a bit of browsing and ice cream eating we walked the boardwalk while Travis and Chloe were feeding the parking meter. And of course that's the exact time that Joyce saw a fin break the surface of the water. We frantically called Travis to get back quickly but by the time they go there the dolphins moved farther out and every time they broke the surface Chloe couldn't see it- mostly because she didn't know what she was looking for. I started praying quietly that she would be able to see dolphins and I didn't know it but Travis and Joyce were too. I had to leave to take Halle to the potty and looked back and saw Chloe looking longingly and very disappointed toward the water. And I prayed some more. As Halle and I were coming back from the little girls room on the new 3rd floor, Travis and Chloe came running toward me excitedly yelling that they'd seen dolphins. A "bunch" of them! I was very happy for them but I wanted to see them again and closer up than I had. So I hurried to the rail overlooking the water and I saw them. Big beautiful dolphins that were so close I could see their faces when they broke the surface. There were 5 or 6 at a time and they seemed to enjoy the attention- as dolphins usually do. So we got what we went for. (I just tried to upload pics of that but there was an error and I don't have time to try again (a guy is supposed to come give me an estimate of how much it will cost to repair the driveway- I'm really nervous) so I will probably post those later).

The next morning we said our tearful goodbyes (especially Chloe, the poor thing was sobbing) and headed home. It was a beautiful yet thoroughly exhausting time that we probably won't replicate for a while.

Eureka! I Found It!

This is going to sound silly but I'm going to write about it anyway. And this post would be much better with a picture that I don't have but I'm going to write it anyway. I should say though that Kris and Mary have lent us (until it breaks then we can just throw it away) a beautiful little camera that takes really good pictures so it's not for lack of camera that I don't have a picture- it's for lack of a cable to upload them. So you can use your imagination.

Shortly after Travis and I moved here, 1 year 8 months and 2 days ago, I started reading the Williamson county part of the Tennessean that they deliver, for free, on Wednesdays. I don't know why they do this but they do and it's a nice little perk. In this paper they have columns from different communities of Williamson County- and one neighborhood. I though it odd that a neighborhood should have a column but later I found out that there are 2,100-ish houses in said neighborhood. Which almost makes it a city. Actually I'm pretty sure that there are cities smaller than that. One day in that column the writer mentioned some hoodlum activity in "the tunnel" of the neighborhood. A tunnel you say? Yes, a tunnel. From what I gathered it connects the neighborhood to shopping across the street. So I searched. Not a lot really, only if I thought about it- which wasn't often and was usually if I was at Publix. But no dice. So tonight we took the girls to the park to enjoy the incredibly mild temperatures and afterwards I told them that I had a surprise. It just so happens that if you take Spencer Creek Road (by Battle Ground Academy) at just the perfect time it is a light show of fireflies. After I wowed the family with the fireflies we stopped in at Publix. Travis mentioned the tunnel and referred to it as "snipe hunting" so of course I was even more determined to find it. And this time I went *completely* around the parking lot and still no tunnel. So I decided to check out Walgreens across the street. Where I finally found the tunnel. I probably would have found it sooner if I'd though that someone would build a tunnel to Walgreens. It was 9 o'clock by this time and the tunnel was dark (it runs under Hillsboro road) but it's not that long so we decided to walk through it anyway. In hindsight, even though this is Franklin, it probably wasn't the best idea to take an unlighted tunnel at night. And there's actually another one that goes under Fieldstone Pkwy to where the houses are but we didn't take that one. I'm only taking one creepy dark tunnel a night, thank you. Apparently it used to have lights but according to the article they've never been able to find a light that vandals couldn't break within hours after it was installed. And yes, I had that in the back of my mind as we were walking through.

I'm going back, maybe tomorrow...I'm such a kid.

OK, So I Missed....

The day that Amanda was interviewed on the public radio station here. I didn't know until after the fact and even if she'd told me I'm not sure I could have found a radio in time- maybe in the car. But I almost missed this yesterday too. Isn't she beautiful? Does anybody happen to have a paper copy of the Tennessean from the 12th?

More Vacation Days

I went outside a little while ago to plant some sunflower seeds and wouldn't you know it, that was the *exact* time that the rain decided it would *finally* like to make an appearance? We've been waiting on rain forever now and it has even been cloudy but the clouds haven't managed to squeak out more than a few measly drops and now it's a deluge. I will refrain from complaining though because I never complain about rain in the summer after the drought we had last year.

So this gives me time to sip a smoothie and talk about our vacation some more. So where was I? Oh, yes, we were leaving Lakeland and heading to the land of ubiquitous mouse ears. We got a later start than we wanted to but it has to be in the genes because we actually passed Shane and Angie on I-4 and Trav's parents, brother, sister and his brother's girlfriend were only 15 minutes behind. So we followed Shane and Angie to the Old Key West Resort and while the guys were checking in (don't you love it that "the guys" do that stuff? I really do and it's one reason I got married) the little girls decided a potty break was in order and I'm glad they did because we got to explore everything a bit. And in true Disney fashion the attention to detail was incredible. I'm pretty sure that the resort was built in the 90's though and I felt like that was pretty evident in the pickled oak cabinetry and the abundant use of peaches and greens in the room but I was probably being overly picky. As we searched around the check in area we quickly found out that they offer a complimentary boat service to Downtown Disney- so very cool! The girls and I decided that we'd be taking the boat that evening.

By the time we checked in the rest of the Johnson's had caught up with us and we all headed over to our room. It was funny but the two bedroom villa was 370 sq. ft. bigger than our house- with one less bedroom. But as you would expect, it was really nice. It wasn't incredibly luxurious but it was very comfortable and functional. And thankfully, it was roomy too. Because there were 15 of us packed into the living room. And, as per usual, it was *loud*. We don't see Trav's family often enough so when we are all together there's lots of talking and laughing and louder talking, trying to be heard over the other loud talking. I don't think we'd have it any other way. So we ordered pizza, scarfed it down and headed to the boat that would take us to Downtown Disney. Which didn't happen all that quickly because any time you have 4 small kids and a newborn baby in tow, nothing moves fast. But we made it to the boat and took the 20-ish minute boat ride to the shops. And if you liked you could take a boat from there to Pleasure Island (which I've always thought it was strange that they would name a place that. In Pinnocchio all the little rebellious boys went to Pleasure Island to drink and smoke and they turned into jack-asses- I'm just sayin') or to Disney's West Side. It would have been nice if we'd been able to go to the latter since they've got some great restaurants (Wolfgang Puck & Bongo's), Cirque du Soleil and a very large Virgin records but it just wasn't possible in the time we had and again, 15 people. So, everybody headed off and somehow we found the really large fountains that shoot up out of the ground for the girls to play in. While they were doing that, Amanda and I decided to head to the Bath store for a bath fizzie that I'd been dying to have and to get an ice cream cone for her. While we were in line at the Ghirardelli's I got a phone call from Travis who was trying to find us and then I heard "hold on, hold on!" and the line went dead. Criminy! So we set off to find Trav and the girls and to see what injury had just occured. And sadly that's the last time I saw my cellphone. I remember holding somebody that was crying, Chloe with a really big lump on her noggin and nothing else about my phone. Of course, I was so distracted that I didn't notice until we left the resort two days later that it was gone- serious bummer. My phone was in pristine condition and now I have to use Amanda's old phone that has been dropped 80+ times-sigh. We headed back to the boat just in time to make it's last run and headed back to the resort.

The next day was filled with swimming and enjoying the big waterslide that looked like a sandcastle. We all went down, including Halle who needed a little kick start (yes, I shoved her down the slide into the waiting arms of her daddy) and then I think we just chilled. I really needed to rest because we'd been moving fast forward for days but that's really hard with a room full of little ones. But we visited another resort that evening. Shane and Angie wanted to see if trading their points for a stay at Disney's Animal KingdomLodge would be worthwhile. It was pretty cool with all sorts of African wildlife roaming about a big plain but the resort itself wasn't really my style. All of the Buttons (especially very vocal Chloe) decided that it was just too dark for us. We like things lighter and brighter.

And that's all for today. This is starting to feel like it's taking as long as my actual vacation did.

A Fun Little Diversion

OK, I don't really feel like posting a long thing about vacation today. I meant to post yesterday but my internet went out and was down for hours so I couldn't. But a few days ago I was reading How About Orange and found this super-cool paint personality quiz. I did it a couple of times and somehow keep coming up Desert Spice. It seems to have a southwest feel to it and I don't really like it that much. Thankfully my other choices were Water Beads and Al Fresco both of which I like very much. Of course, I like warm colors- just not the ones they picked out for me. Travis even tried it out and I liked his color palette much more than mine. Happy quizzing!

Summer Vacation Days 2 & 3

I'm really antsy to write about the last day of our vacation because it's the one I remember the best but as I'm looking back we did a ton of fun stuff that I should mention.

After the 15 hour drive, cat drop off and trip to Lakeland we visited with my brother and his family for about an hour before collapsing into bed. I think we were both expecting to be able to just take it easy but as soon as we got up we found out that we were going to go to Orlando. Apparently our daughter that slept for 12 out of the 15 hours that we were traveling decided that we were going sightseeing. And since it was her graduation present we (mostly) happily obliged her.

Amanda's happiest memories are from her childhood in central FL and she's even considering moving back there. I really can't imagine her leaving us without a really good reason- college mabye- but she's still considering it; or Los Angeles. I bet you all can't wait until your kids grow up and think about moving other places. But back to the story. For most of the first 9 years of Amanda's life I was single and I took her *lots* of places but the place I took her most often was Downtown Disney. My parents took my brother and I there a lot as kids. I remember getting enormous lollipops that we'd try to eat and give up and stick it in the fridge where it would get all gooey until Mom threw them out. We always got one though- it was a Cezar thing. It was a quaint little village surrounding a lake. We called it Lake Buena Vista in the 70's and 80's. It became Disney Village after that and then Downtown Disney; it feels a whole lot more commercial now but it has fond memories for Amanda and me. And Amanda is very much wrapped up in nostalgia and happy memories so Downtown Disney it would be. Along with her *new* favorite place the Mall at Millennia.

We Found the Mall at Millennia last July when we stayed with my family in a rented house in Kissimmee. I wasn't all that excited about trudging all the way to a *mall* of all places after we'd driven all that way but when we pulled into the parking lot what did I see? Why, an Ikea of all things! Now, I don't know if you all know this about me but I'm a shopper, I like-no- I love to shop, if I have money. Anyway, so I was excited. *AND* they have a Crate and Barrel which I have loved for years but I've never been in an actual store. And their stuff was just as fabulous as I thought it would be. And they had a Pottery Barn bed and bath store. My poor husband was a really good sport about being dragged to those stores though. Ikea wasn't as exciting for me as it was completely overwhelming. Of course, anything that involves 14 people is usually overwhelming. They had some great deals on things I would have liked to have but I wasn't transporting anything home and I also wasn't spending vacation money on house stuff. It really was so big that I felt like I was wandering through a labrynth with a squirmy, cranky 3 year old and a husband that was becoming less of a good sport. Until we got to the kitchens....super awesome kitchens. Well, we only actually saw one because everybody was ready to go by then but it was still really cool. *Then* we headed to Disney village and took a lot of pictures. And the pictures of the sea serpent and t-rex are made out of Lego's. They have a huge Lego store there which isn't a big deal to me but Amanda loves it.

We didn't stay there for a real long time because we'd already been out and about forever so my brother's family + Chloe headed home and The Buttons and my parents and nephew Ashton headed out to find dinner. Which we did at Quiznos. A Quizno's you say? Yes. But it wasn't just *any* Quizno's- OK, yes it was- but it had an outdoor eating area with a beautiful fountain in front of it. So we sat outside in the late afternoon with an amazing breeze, palm trees, and the sound of a beautiful fountain and had a *great* time.

The next day was Memorial Day and my brother was up at 6am (all of the Cezar's except for me are early risers) to start smoking meat for a big cookout that day. I saw some friends that I knew as a kid that I hadn't seen in a really long time. The food was incredible and it was nice to see old friends. Then we got ready for the next day and our stay at Disney's Old Key West Resort....it was really nice.

A Berry Good Night

Ah, yes, there's more to post about vacation but that is in the past and life keeps going so I'd like to post about the more recent past...and berries, I love berries.

Yesterday I went to Costco to restock the Button pantry and saw berries, lovely berries in the walk-in cooler section (which felt really, really good because it was really, really hot outside). So I picked up some strawberries and blueberries and a Grand Parisian salad mix. If you haven't tried one you should. It's a salad with a white balsamic dressing, candied nuts, craisins and feta-yum. My initial thought for dinner was to make burritos since it has actually been months since I've made them but we got home fairly late and I didn't think I had time. My brain had actually been clicking all day with a hankering for berry tea and I wanted to ask Tisra if I could take some lemon mint or mint lemon or whatever the heck she has growing in her garden but I left my cell phone at home and couldn't (but I plan to ask for some in the near future :) . Anyway, since the salad is kind of sweet anyway I thought that I'd add blueberries and strawberries to the mix and make berry tea and have a berry centric dinner-mmmm. So Travis took the girls outside to play on the slip-n-slide while I made the salad and some pan seared chicken breast and the berry tea. I'll spare you the details on all of the making but if you decide to boil berries and then need to puree them you should definitely *not* put them into the handy dandy new food processor your husband bought you for mother's day. If you do you will end up wearing nearly boiling hot berry juice and so will your kitchen. Use the blender instead.

So having finished preparing dinner, I made myself a plate, poured the berry tea into a turquoise goblet and went outside to have dinner. The weather was perfect, the sun had just set, the tiki torches were lit, there were two beautiful little girls running around in bathing suits on the slip-n-slide, there was a warm and humid breeze, the moon looked like a little sliver in the sky and the fireflies started putting on their show. I closed my eyes embraced by the breeze, breathed deeply and knew that it would be a great summer.

Vacation Part 1

Our graduate graduated as the valedictorian of her class on the Friday night before we left for vacation. I had forgotten but I did a very similar thing to her last year in July. She'd been at Gov. School for 5 weeks and my parents and I picked her up from the dorm, whisked her off to B'ham and then to Fl the next day. I had forgotten how stressful it was then which is why I did it again. Actually it was more out of convenience to my parents both times as they were going to be in town for Amanda's final production for Gov. school and for her graduation and they went with us to FL both times. But now I've written it down and will (hopefully) remember to not schedule a big trip after a life changing event. But the graduation itself went beautifully. She gave her speech and Trav and I got teary eyed. Tisra was so sweet to photographically document her every move before and after the ceremony. And Eric filmed the whole event which was a total lifesaver since we rushed out of the house without the video camera. And the day itself I was really kicking myself for planning things the way I did. I would have loved to have had coffee and a bagel with her the morning of the ceremony and just chit chat instead of cleaning like mad and ordering everybody around. The upside to all of the cleaning and remodeling was that we came home from an incredibly long trip to a nice clean house. That's always the goal but it really never happens. And if you read this far and stopped you'll realize that I just hit enter twice on accident and published this, argh. Anyway, the party we had afterwards was so nice. Our Nashville family was here along with my parents and *all* of our kids. I remember when Amanda and Grant were the only kids we had and now there are 9! And hopefully this year we'll get to meet #10 (Eric and Tisra, in case you don't know, are adopting from Taiwan.) There was lots of fun, lots of laughing and lots of food. It makes me miss the good 'ol days when we spent every weekend together during the summer.

The party went kind of late and we were scheduled to leave at 4am. There were many an expression of doubt from party attenders, including my parents who were leaving with us, but most people don't know that I get very stressed before we leave on a trip and typically can't sleep. And true to form, I didn't sleep a wink. OK, actually we decided to try to sleep about 1:30 and I dozed off for a minute before Amanda started banging around her bedroom. I got up to tell her to be quiet and that was it, no more sleeping for me. So I finally got up at 2:30 and showered. I can't take a long trip without a shower- yuck! Travis got up a little after three and we were checking the weather when my Dad got up about 3:30. He looked pretty surprised to see us up. So fast forwarding through the actual drive (yawn), we arrived in Riverview at 8 PM. Yep, 15 hours (FL in Eastern time so they're an hour ahead). We stayed there for about an hour, had some dinner with Trav's parents, left our cat with them and headed to my brother's house. Then we passed out. I'd had about two hours of sleep in two days and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Which, as I found out later, was a total blessing since we were sleeping on a futon and the bars stuck into my back. It was really nice to see everybody though. And now since I've already published this and it's gotten freakishly long I'll post more later.

Just Some Random Photos...

Have you ever thought that you had everything planned perfectly and then found out in the middle of it that you didn't take into account that you're human and might need some sleep? So yeah, our lives have been a hurricane of activity for the last 4 weeks and I'm kind of tired. We visited my grandmother in B'ham, did an insane amount of work on the house, our graduate graduated, and we spent 12 days on vacation. I intended for this to be a rest/laundry day but I didn't account for Chloe's birthday and the need for food so I'm putting resting off until tomorrow. I won't bother narrating the photos, I'll get to it tomorrow too. Needless to say, we had a great time.

I'm on I-75

We're on the Macon bypass. On the way to FL we left at 4:45 am. I'm pretty sure that there were bets on wether we'd actually leave by 4 and we didn't make it but not because we overslept but because we had to pack the car that morning. We didn't try to leave that early this morning because we're pretty beat after an incredibly full-but fun-trip. We're making way better time this trip though, probably because I was driving for a few hours. Travis was able to borrow some sort of wireless doohicky so that we could be on the computer in the car. Trav and Chloe are playing some sort of rhyming game but Halle sounds like she's had enough of it. Halle's crying that she needs love. Poor kids. They've been stuck in the car quite a bit on the way from here and there. So handing off the computer to distract them for a while will probably help. Tomorrow will be a regrouping, laundry and rest day...I'm really looking forward to it.