My Florida Dress

On our trip to Florida, Grandma, Aunt Phylis and I took the kids on a trip to the JoAnn fabrics in their area. I had heard it was big and I really wanted to see it. And I must confess: it was quite nice. I picked out some fabric which was really not something I would normally pick. However, I thought it was really pretty, it had a border of seashells at the bottom (how fitting!) and I loved the color. The problem was, the line was a mile long. After waiting for a while, I was ready to give up. Grandma and Aunt Phylis pushed me back in line and told me that they would wait. To make a long story just a little bit shorter, I waited in line, got my fabric and checked out. It ends up the fabric was on some crazy clearance and I got more than 4 yards for $7!! I love a good bargain. Turns out I had enough for my dress and one for Katie (in progress). So there you have it, a dress made for a few bucks with fabric procured in Florida. And excuse the random pictures, please. I have resigned myself to the fact that a combination of my lack of photogenic-ness, and Jeff's propensity for taking goofy pictures is not going to add up to anything fabulous. Oh, well. You get the point.

Geckos

One thing we saw a lot of in Florida was geckos. They are everywhere. On the windows, the walls, the sidewalks, everywhere. Apparently they also like to run into the house as you open the door. The whole week we were there we made sure to scope out the area for geckos before entering. If there's anything Grandma doesn't like (besides mice and snakes), its a gecko in the house. And here is what cracks me up. When she gets a gecko in the house, she waits til she sees it and vacuums it up. Then she takes the vacuum hose and plugs it up for a few days til she is plenty sure the gecko is dead. :)

Did I Mention...

Our trip ended very differently than we had anticipated. As in, I flew back ALONE with THREE KIDS. Fun times! The (semi)short story is that my grandpa had quite the tool collection. When Grandma and Grandpa moved from CO to FL, he wanted to keep them even though he didn't really need them. He wanted to have them around, and pass them on eventually. When we were in Florida, Grandma asked if Jeff would look through the storage unit to see if there was anything worth keeping. Jeff determined that indeed, Grandpa had enough tools to outfit a small brigade of Norm Abram's. Grandma had said that whoever came and got them could have them, since she didn't want to the storage unit forever. Jeff had initially thought about coming down sometime this summer. I casually threw out the idea of him renting a car and driving back. Well, that's the way it worked out. He found a van (an act of God, seriously!) and we loaded them up and he headed off to drive 15 hours straight to Dad's garage, from FL to PA, only stopping two or three times for gas. (No sleeping or meals...good thing we sent him snacks!) He only had the van for 24 hours thus the rush. And me, well, I took three kids on the airplane by myself. I got a lot of sympathetic stares. Aunt Phylis and Grandma took us to the airport where Aunt Phylis commandeered a wheelchair to push the carseats in! I somehow managed to survive the flight, found a shuttle ride to the parking place, and drove my kids safely home. While it went pretty well, I hope I never have to do that again!!!

The Beach Was Glorious

We went to Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. The beach was beautiful, with soft white sand. The wind was blowing really hard but somehow not enough to make it unpleasant. We raced Cool Whip tubs across the sand, letting the wind whiz them across the surface of the beach. We lost one, as the wind was going faster than we could run. The kids were pretty upset but we distracted them with sea shells and racing the waves. The sign said 'High Danger of Rip Currents' and 'Dangerous Sea Life Warning,' so we didn't venture in in earnest. We weren't about to become shark bait, so we only dipped our toes in. James loved racing the waves as they came in. Katie, on the other hand, fell while she was running and got pretty wet, and she got pretty scared. After that, she away from the water. Tyler contented himself with eating mouthfuls of sand every time I looked away for a second. It was Katie and Tyler's first time at the beach so it was fun to see them experience that.

While We Were Away....

...I turned the big 3-0, and so far its not that bad. :) I would like to take a moment to thank my parents for not listening to the nurses, who suggested I be named Dusty or Helen. A piece of useless trivia for you: I was born in Vancouver, WA on the day Mt. St. Helens erupted. My dad had to drive me home with his head out the window of his Volkswagen bug because of all the ash.

**Tomorrow I'll post our beach pictures and then I promise to blather on about something other than Florida, maybe.***

Florida: Part Two

We had a great time on our trip. The nice thing about it was that we didn't spend it running around like crazy people. We just relaxed and enjoyed visiting with Grandma. Each night, the kids begged her to play them songs on the organ. She would play Jesus Loves Me and Amazing Grace while they all sang together. It was very sweet. (Except when they tried to 'help' her play) If Katie doesn't remember the words, she just sings her own...and loud too. :)

One of the things we did was to visit the cemetery. The kids put flowers and a flag on Grandpa's grave, and also on the graves of Grandma's brothers Bob and Melvin (the kids' great-great uncles).

The kids had a lot of fun with Grandma. What's not to love about a Great-Grandma who takes you on golf cart rides, hunting for geckos, and gives you ice cream after every meal? :

Florida Pictures: The First Installment

The Castillo De San Marcos, a 330 year old fortress in St. Augustine (the oldest city in the US). It has quite an interesting history and we got to take a quick walk-around before the kids go too tired (we had just gone to the beach). Well, maybe they were already too tired but we really wanted to take a look around while we were in the area.

We had a lovely morning at Green Cove Springs (the day of my 30th birthday I might add). The weather was perfect and the company was too. Grandma sat in the shade with Tyler while he slept and we took the other two out to explore. There was a spring coming out of the ground, which was directed into a swimming pool and back into the 'run' as they called it (a creek) and out into the Saint John's River.

Long Time No Bloggy

There is a limited amount of nap time around here, folks! Until I find a way to get more of it, or to keep my kids from graffiti-ing on bananas while I am not looking, I have to make the most of my nap times. This week, I have been back on a sewing kick and it feels so good! I am nearly finished with a shirt for myself (!!) and am working on a backpack for Katie. We are going to Florida at the end of next month and we are going for NOVELTY to keep them entertained and happy. So, hopefully the 'owl' backpack will be just big enough for her sippy cup, a few small toys and some snacks. I bought a mini-magnadoodle thingy and some fun toys this morning, and stashed them away for the trip too. Now, back to my long list o' projects. I'll try to post pictures soon of a few of the things I have been finishing up!

Sasquatch Sighting and Bigfoot Too!

While on vacation we took a day trip to Ouray with our friends, Mike and Erin, and Jeff's bro Clayton. Ouray is a beautiful little town nestled in the San Juan mountains. It's where we went on our honeymoon. There is a natural hot springs pool there, fed by...you guessed it...a natural hot springs. The water is warm and smells like sulphur. It is said to have healing properties. It sure does soothe aching muscles. Anyway, we went there, and we also hike up to Cascade Falls just on the edge of town. We had lots of fun. Erin and I took off our shoes and waded in. The water, since it is snow melt, was icy cold!

I decided to use my mountain-goat-like abilities to climb a ways up. Barefoot.

Then I decided, 'what the heck, why not climb all the way up to the cave.' Barefoot. Clayton also has mountain-goat-like qualities and climbed up with me. He also prevented my from falling all the way down. He's a nice guy.


Then, we spotted Sasquatch! And Mrs. Sasquatch! Two hippies out for a hike with none other than a bottle of wine, nearly depleted. They scrambled up the rocks to the cave and polished off the wine. Disturbingly, Mrs. Sasquatch kept rolling her shorts up, shorter and shorter. After finishing off the wine, they scrambled back down and made their way off into the bushes for whatever reason. Hmmm...won't go there. Anyway, we later spotted them at the top of a steep incline. Personally, I find that climbing steep rocky inclines immediately after consuming an entire bottle of wine is always a way to ensure safety and sound judgement. OSHA would approve, for sure.


Apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Sasquatch did not meet their untimely demise, as they showed up at the pool later that afternoon. While they appeared to be 'an item' while cavorting in the mountains, I determined through some covert snooping that I think they were just friends. Weird friends. Allow me to quote what may indeed by the most profound statement you'll ever here, made my Mr. Sasquatch himself, after the Mrs. was telling him about a guy she felt 'so connected to.' He said, and I quote, "I don't even feel connected to the people I'm connected to." Ever heard of therapy, Sasquatch? As an interesting side note, Jeff sustained an injury hopping over a few boulders in a brazen attempt to capture pictures of the illusive, and a little bit tipsy Sasquatch and his not-so-significant other. What he won't do for a good picture. When Sasquatch-watch was over, we commenced wading in the stream again, when Erin took this picture of James and I. Despite the fact that it makes me look like Big Foot, I love it. Its a nice perspective. I can always count on Erin to take the most awesome pictures!

Guess What We Saw: Strange Sights

Scandalized Over Chimichangas

While in Colorado, we had to go out for some real Mexican food. After all, T@co Bell does not count as Mexican food and that's all we have here. Jeff and I are 3/4 Mexican, so we must consume our native food sometime or other. OK, so maybe we aren't Mexican, but we could be. We have eaten enough refried beans in our lifetime to feed a small nation. This is the reason we had to get the goods. We went out with our trusty friends Mike and Erin, who also appreciate good Mexican food. The food was great.

James consumed an entire plate of beans and rice in about ten minutes.

Mike and Erin enjoyed their food.

So did we, as you can see!

Until...I noticed the...uh...anatomically correct decor. Hilarious! Nothing like seeing some testicles to make you want another bowl of rice and beans. Wow. I just said that word. Is that OK? I guess its my blog, so I can say it if I want. I am just pointing out the facts. Click on the picture if you want to verify.

I had the dubious honor of posing with this fellow. Isn't this the most hilarious restaurant decoration ever?!

Colorado National Monument

Watching Paint Dry VS. High School Reunion

It's a toss up. Both are boring to the point of painful. While in GJ we decided to go to the family picnic part of Jeff's high school reunion. It sort of felt a little like mine too, since I went to school with many of the kids up until the middle of sixth grade. We opted out of the first get-together at the bar, since, well, meeting up with drunk people we used to go to school with just didn't seem all that interesting. We chose instead the family event. Word on the street was that the bar scene went well and was fairly entertaining. Apparently, not everyone shared that opinion, as they didn't show up the next day for the picnic. Either the bar wasn't that fun, or everyone was hung over. When we arrived at 2:00 (when the picnic started) we couldn't even find it. When we did, we realized that the few people who were organizing the show were just showing up. The charcoal didn't show up till 2:30. There were no introductions or name tags, no games or activities. Everyone just sat around, staring and scrutinizing from behind our respective sunglasses. Who's that, we wondered. Wow, check out so-and-so, he actually looks respectable. Several sets of extremely large fake boobs walked in. Some people gained weight, one person even grew a ZZ T0p beard situation. As it turns out, not only was this event poorly organized, but some people, namely the organizers, never grew out of the high school scene. The organizers only invited select few people: the COOL people. Our invitation was passed on from someone we knew, who had it forwarded to her. Apparently, we didn't make the cool list. One of the people there we actually knew asked one of the organizers why he didn't get invited till a few days before the event. The organizer said, 'Oh, we didn't get to the O's yet.' (The guy's last name started with an O) He said, 'Well that's funny, because Ashely P. got an invitation and P comes before O.' This particular girl happened to be the most popular girl in school. It reminded me of why I have absolutely no desire to attend my reunion and why I never liked high school to begin with. Besides, if only the cool people were invited then I will not be getting an invite. And I don't really care.

The Lake

Where we are from, we have but one lake nearby. It is the sole provider of water recreation in the immediate vicinity. It offers a small swimming area, boating, fishing and jet-skiing. This lake is about the size of a large mud puddle, but hey, its all we've got. Jeff's sister and her husband went out and bought a boat so that they could take their family out for fun. They took us out, and we all took turns riding on the tube. It was lots of fun, and involved Jeff taking a major hit when the tube flipped over with him still holding on. I am proud to say that I didn't fly off, even once. So what if I had the equivalent of the granny ride. It wasn't actually that tame, but John didn't try to flip me over either. It was lots of fun, until the next day when it felt like someone had tried to rip my arms right off of me. Jeff and his Redneck Uncle Dwayne (check out the swimming attire and you'll know why I say this) rode together and it was a sight to see. I told Dwayne it was an awful shame to ruin such a nice farmer's tan, but he didn't listen.


Note the cut-off Wr@nglers and the sweet farmer's tan. Hey, at least he has a tan, which is more than Jeff can say!

This is what Katie did at the lake

James and his 'dousin Dylan Pickle'

Jeff, James, Dylan and I (in my non-amish bathing suit)

Jeff and Dwayne on the ride of their life


My niece and I: check out the sweet air we were getting. It's inconceivable!

Country Kid for a Day

One of the down sides of living out here, in my opinion, is that my kids will never have the experiences of a kid living in the country. These experiences include, but are not limited to, playing in large dirt piles, being around livestock, throwing cow pie frisbees, and swimming in cow tanks. Sometimes I become afraid that my kids will lack that certain character that comes from getting snagged on barbed wire or blowing up something with a homemade bomb. Hopefully they will turn out all right, despite the lack of manure. Anyway, we got to spend an afternoon out at the home of my childhood friend, Meg. She and her husband and kids recently bought and fixed up a cute place outside of town. When they purchased it, the owner threw in about 10 tons of sheep sh...tuff, FREE. Apparently, instead of shoveling out the barn, when the manure became so high the sheep could mosey out the window, they merely nailed boards across the window. When the fence became obscured with scat, they reinstalled the fence on top of the pile. Thanks to the previous owners, Meg and Ryan are now the proud owners of a large pile of crap. While we were there, James got to experience riding a horse. He was excited first, then scared, but he warmed up. Ryan rode with James first to get him used to it, then led him around the round pen by himself. What fun! Even more fun for the boys was the blowing up of their satellite dish. Ryan had some sort of explosives which require a shot by a high-powered rifle to ignite. In the next few days I'll put up a video of that. It was pretty entertaining. It was such fun just to hang out and let James pretend he was a country kid, if only for a day.

James riding with Ryan

James digging in the dirt (note the manure in the background)

James running with glee

'All by my own self!'

The hole in the satellite dish made by an explosive (How do you like the view?)

The Missing Link

One of the reasons we went to Colorado when we did was so that we would be there when Jeff's 16-year-old brother, Clayton, was there. This was not your ordinary family get-together, though. I have never met Clayton and Jeff has only seen him once or twice. Jeff and Clayton share the same dad, who left when Jeff was only two. The word Deadbeat doesn't begin to describe him. We have had very limited contact with Clayton. In fact, we were married before I ever found out about him. I found a picture of Jeff with some little kid and asked him who that was. He said, 'Oh, that's my brother.' What!? That's how I found out I had another bro-in-law. Strange, but that's what I have come to expect with this family. Several years ago we lost touch all together and hadn't heard from them since. Recently, Jeff's sister got in contact with him and he seemed very happy about that. Clayton ended up deciding to spend nearly a month with Marinda this summer. I think he's about the bravest kid around. Basically, he flew out to stay with a stranger and her large family, who happen to be your sister and her family, for an entire month. Not only that, but he met Jeff and I, and the kids, plus the odd assortment of relatives and quasi-relatives that came through the door. That takes a lot of guts if you ask me. Turns out, he is a pretty cool guy, or as Clayton would say, 'hella cool.' He seems to share the same mechanical aptitude as Jeff. He has fixed up an El C@mino that he plans of driving when he gets his license. He likes to hunt, listen to AC DC (maybe that is genetic after all), and be outdoors. Since we don't know their Dad's side of the family at all, he really filled us in on what they were like. He told Jeff that he has the same sense of humor as Grandpa Groves. He and Jeff both say 'What?' after telling a joke, especially a lame one. I told Clayton he was like the missing link to the family we don't know. It was really fun getting to know him, and it will be great to keep in touch with him from now on. Even if he does eat squirrels. We'll just have to look past that one redneck tendency of his. :)

Go Ahead, Have Kids, Its Fun....I Promise!

For part of our vacation, we stayed with our friends Mike and Erin. They are as of yet, and now maybe never, childless. They do have a fantastic dog named Maxwell, or if you are James, Mass-wheel. They kindly offered to allow us to stay at their home for a while. They are probably wondering now what ever got into them. During the stay, there were a few, shall we say, minor mishaps involving poop, pee and puke. I really can't describe it any better than Erin, so please read here for the full story. It's hilarious! Thanks, guys, for letting us stay at your house! It was so much fun, and relaxing, and inspiring. Thanks to Erin, I know want to every vegetable and fruit in sight!

We're Back!

We're back from our trip to Colorado. I'll fill y'all in tomorrow or the next day, as the jet lag is setting in and laundry is piled higher than the Rocky Mountains in my living room. Here are a few pictures for now:

Much more to come!

Hello...is anybody out there?

We're still here on vacation, winding down our trip. We spent today in Ouray hiking, swimming in the hot springs pool and enjoying the scenery. We stopped at the Russel St0ver Chocolate factory and bought way too much chocolate. The kids are doing alright, but getting tired of all the inconsistency. James has been asking to go back to the 'new house.' There will be lots to update on when we return, including lots of pictures. The stories will include horses, swimming, toads and explosives, among other things. We'll be back soon!

From the land of fresh DRY air...

Ahhh...though the weather is in the upper 90's here, it is glorious! The air is dry so it doesn't feel so hot. We have been very busy so far, seeing family, swimming, Fourth of July festivities, going boating/tubing, etc. Really, too much to write about now...but we are taking lots of pictures including ones to go with my Franch stories! I'll have plenty to blog about when we get back. Until then, I'll leave you with this. My little nephew Johnathan, who is 5, is really smart. He is a thinker, that one. We took him, Tyler and Clayton on the Monument yesterday. Every hole in the rock was a 'mountain lion hole.' I'm telling you, if that were true, there would be an awful lot of mountain lions roaming around. Every 2.33 seconds he would yell 'There's another mountain lion hole!!' When Jeff and Clayton got out to look around, Johnathan said 'What if they see a mountain lion? They need to back away slowly and get back in the car. That's what the sign says.' Tyler said 'No, he needs to stop, drop and roll.' Johnathan said 'Why would you need to stop, drop and roll if he's going to EAT YOU?'