National Lampoon's Vacation, Furman Style

Maria and I left on Thursday morning with our 5 kids and drove to Louisville, KY on our way to Chicago for Diana's wedding. We drove through some beautiful scenery in WV. The mountains are spectacular in WV. I recall in my sleepy state that the first mountain I saw, looked like a giant boob. Alas, since I was driving, I could not take a photo of it and made my witty observation too late for Maria to take one, either.

We get almost all the way to Louisville when Dinah decided to toss her cookies all over herself and her car seat, so we're off on the shoulder on 64 west, Maria trying to get her cleaned up and the seat as best as she could. We had plans to eat dinner at our cousin Terry's house. She's the niece of our great aunt Ann. That was a lovely time and to eat a homecooked meal while on route was wonderful. Then.....we get back to the hotel that night and just parked the car when Dale decided she wanted to get in the action of cookie tossing, so we didn't even have a chance of getting her unbuckled. Bleaaaach!!! Dinah took one look at her and bleaaaach! Nothing says love like the camraderie of sympathetic puking. The backseat was an unbelievable mess. I made my kids go inside with the room key and Maria & I were out in the parking lot at 10 pm, she's trying to get the girls cleaned off and get the seats out of the car.

The next morning was spent with me watching all the kids while Maria took the car over to Walmart to buy new car seats and some cleaning supplies to get the back seat area the best she could. The pukey seats had sat outside behind the hotel overnight and we discovered that the maintenance staff had thrown them away. Maria got this really kind maintenance guy to go into the dumpster to get them back. Now, we had to pack the car and find room for the pukey seats, which we'd bagged up in trash bags. There was no room to see out the back of the car and we left about 3 hours later than we wanted to, not trying to see Aunt Ann and get her sick accidentally.

I'll save the port o potty story for the next post. We are in Chicago and Diana is getting married in about 6 hours from now. It's gonna be fun! Photos for my posts will be added when I get home.

Another rite of passage to make me feel old

I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon one of my least favorite settings, the mall, looking for something appropriate for Matthew to wear this weekend to Diana's wedding. Matthew came with me and I have now just made my first purchase of pants for that boy in the men's department. Yup, you read that correctly. My boy is out of the boys dept, which means I buy pants for him by waist size, not pants size. I'm happy to say I was able to feed my bargain mindset, finding pants, dress shirt and some ties on clearance. The only thing I have left to do for him is find an inexpensive pair of shoes. I say inexpensive because I know he won't wear them after the wedding. He lives in sneakers and flip flips or sandals. That was frustrating because I could not find any that worked for my price range. They were either clunky looking, which a kid who wears a mens 11 sneaker doesn't need, or the wrong color, or just plain uncomfortable looking.

We will miss you , Tyrone

Maria had to make the excruciating decision to have Tyrone go to sleep today. I don't know how she found the courage to take him to the vet. I kept the girls while she did so. I took some pictures of Tyrone before he had to go. Here is a really nice one of him with Matthew.

RIP Tyrone, you sweet pug. You will not be forgotten, buddy.

Time to get another Wheaties box

Well, my friend Lenny and I are happy to note that after a drought as long as we've been out of high school, the Boston Celtics get to hang another championship banner in the rafters! They put on a clinic, blasting the Lakers by 39 points last night! I read that the Celts had to board 3 planes before they could return from LA Sunday night due to mechanical issues, but I have to wonder, did the Lakers stay home? They did not even show up for the game! When I tuned in, Boston was up by 3 points, then went on a 24-6 run that just took on a life of its own.

The good news is also that I won't feel compelled to stay up until midnight watching sports until football season later this year. So I can catch up on sleep!

The random and bizarre world we live in

I took Alice earlier today to spend the last of her birthday money and we ended up at a video game place near our house. She wanted to get the same game as one Matthew had so they could play in tandem or something, so she picked out a used sims 2 pets, as well as another used game to play.

When Alice took it out to play it, she asked me if Matthew had put his initials on her game. I told her no, why would he since he had his own? Then she looked at the game file names when it booted up. Often there will be a pre-existing file when you buy the game used. 2 of the slots had games in them and they were exactly like the ones Matthew had in his.

We have concluded that Matthew must have somehow left his game behind in the temp apartment, even though we checked everything several times before turning in the keys, and the next people in there found it and sold it to the game store. Matthew did tell me that he hadn't seen his game in a while, and it is very likely he didn't store it in the case like he should have.

But how random is that?! Of all the used games, we grab the one on the shelf that once belonged to Matthew in the first place! What are the odds of that happening?! It is, of course, Alice's game now, fair and square. Matthew thought it was really weird and funny, and Alice has told him that she'd share the game with him when he wanted to play it once in a while. I guess the up side is that since Matthew used to own this game, there are game manuals in the house for it! When you buy used, you don't normally get the manual, unless the person selling the game includes it.

More odd weather...

We were treated yesterday to a smoky haze in the air, which I later found out was smoke that carried from way east due to a wildfire in eastern NC, started by a lightning bolt. So we are in a red zone air warning, asked to stay inside until winds here can blow the smoke out of the area. I can't really see it or smell it today, but the paper said to play it safe and hang out indoors at least through today.

The Boston Celtics managed to come back from being ridiculously behind last night to beat the Lakers and only need one more win to add another championship banner to the rafters of the Boston Garden. I haven't seen that since high school when Larry Legend was playing!

Today is the first day of summer vacation for the kids.

All I have to say about that is only 75 days until the first day of school. God help me.

Another day of changes

Today brought us yet another record breaking hot day today, reaching 102 outside. Thank God for A/C. It is truly a blessing down here. Matthew also told me today that the 8th graders were told that any of them who come to school tomorrow will be put to work to help straighten and clean up in the classrooms, so if they didn't want to do that, they should stay home on the last day of school. All I can say is "What the--?" I never heard of that when I was in school! After confirming this with a teacher who told me most of the 8th graders are staying home, (I am suspicious by nature, now that I'm a parent), I am allowing him to stay home tomorrow. As Matthew is our resident Tom Sawyer, I don't see a happy ending for anyone involved if I make him go.

This means that I am now officially old enough to have a child in high school. How'd that happen? When the girls get home tomorrow, it will be officially summer in my house. God help me.

Weekend fun with the fam

Yesterday afternoon was spent hanging out with Sara, Andrew, Ella and Sasha, who came to see us from VA. Maria and crew came over late afternoon and we ate lots of fresh fruit, veggies and grilled chicken. Yum! Here is a picture of Alice with Ella. This other one is Sasha taking a snooze and using Elmo for a pillow. Elmo seems to be calling out for help, too!

Things they don't tell you at motor vehicles

I feel sorry for those young drivers just learning to get behind the wheel because the dmv simply does not give out realistic information in the manual. Here are some examples:

1. Maintain a safe following distance between you and the car in front of you.
----this would be possible if it were not for all the drivers from other lanes who see that space as an engraved invitation to let you kiss their tailights and cut right in front of you.

2. Try to anticipate your next driving move and plan accordingly.
----drivers here prefer to zoom up in the lane next to you and cut in your lane at the last possible second, as close to missing the turn as they can...instead of getting over early. Maximize the irritation quotient by getting out of the lane you want, to zoom up and cut back in to get ahead by just a few more cars.

3. Use your turn signal to inform the drivers around you of your intention to change lanes or make a turn.
----the functioning turn signal has become as obsolete as the Edsel. In fact, in higher end cars like beamers, caddies and hummers, they are not even considered standard equipment anymore. Nothing says old school driving like using turn signals.

4. Observe all posted speed limits when on the road.
----this really means, if you're the car in front of mine, go about 10 mph below the speed limit on highway and when you get to the lower speed limits in town, zoom through at 10 mph above. Bonus points if done on roads where I cannot safely pass you, such as twisty, curvy country roads, or done on my exact route to home so I cannot get away from you.

Here is our backyard friend from a few days ago. I had a lot of fun taking pictures so I could get a really good shot. He was one cool customer. Just sat there and moved nothing but his head from time to time. I got this shot when he looked right at me.

I am grateful that life hasn't made me so cranky that I can't appreciate Mother Nature's finer offerings.

Pondering 6 months in NC

It seems hard to believe it's been 6 months already since we escaped from Indiana. In that time, we've endured 3 months in a cramped apartment, found some really crappy customer service (not surprisingly at a car dealership), found some really good customer service (our little Cary Midas), found a cool house with friendly neighbors and now we're getting acquainted with the Carolina heat. I am not used to 100 degree days but I guess I'm not a real witch after all, because I have not yet melted. I have spent almost my entire time indoors with the AC and ceiling fans, but when I've been outside, I haven't minded the heat.

So, here are some of the things I love about NC:

1. Maria, Robert, Dale & Dinah live near me (35 minutes away)

2. Sara, Andrew, Ella & Sasha are only 4.5 hours away.

3. Trianglemommies.com

4. Locopops

5. Milkshakes at the Cookout

6. Warm weather!

7. Having a yard with tall trees and wildlife

8. Durham Bulls

9. It's not Indiana

My sister is so computer savvy!

Sara is here visiting us over the weekend with Andrew, Sasha and Ella. She has inspired me to take a stab at blogging. So here I am, setting this up while she dispenses techie advice. This ought to thrill Chris, like I don't already spend too much time at our computer!