Happy First Birthday Tyler!

I can't believe you are a year old already! We love you!


(The pictures aren't the greatest but our computer is misbehaving so they'll have to do)

Installment Numbero Uno of the Jeff-Radio Saga

Jeff came into our marriage with very few possessions. In fact, he was able to move in one trip, filling only a portion of the trunk of his Cavalier. As a side note, Jeff had, shall we say, a 'special' rug at the time of our nuptials. (Oh, how I love the word nuptials, makes me laugh) The rug was one of those things that 'might be worth something.' It hung on the wall above his bed. There were a multitude of things wrong with this rug, such as the color scheme (blue and gold, with black), its large size, and the scene the rug depicted. I mean, who doesn't want a humongous blue and gold rug depicting a lion eating a gazelle hanging on their wall. And as an added bonus? It had an elephant in the background, complete with a rider. Sweet. Anyway, as our one and only prenuptial agreement, it was decided that the rug would not be entering our marriage because Jeffrey plus Megan plus Ugly rug equals unhappy wife. And if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. But I digress. One thing that did make it in the final cut was a boom box, which we have had ever since. Considering we have been married almost 10 years, the boom box is getting on in years. I have put in many a complaint about the boom box. It has taken up the entire bottom bookshelf for the last 9.5 years. It is big, beastly and as of late, starting to fall apart. Its been a few years since the tape deck worked. The CD player has become temperamental in the last few months. It has come to my attention recently that not only is the boom box old, its really old. Jeff admitted that he may have had it since the 7th grade! Low and behold, after a little investigation, we found that it was manufactured in September of 1995. That makes him 14 years old at the time of purchase. After much, uh, encouragement to get rid of the thing, Jeff finally agreed it that it was OK to let go and move on. I was very relieved to find out that he had his eyes on a very small, compact sound system that was...did I mention? ...smaller! Oh, and actually worked. Bonus! But alas, the best laid plans don't always work out. Tune in tomorrow for the second installement of the Jeff-Radio Saga.

PS. James had his first day of Vacation Bible School and Swimming Lessons today. One went very well, and one went very badly. I'll post about that sometime this week. Oh, the suspense! Yeah, right!

The Covered Wagon

If you haven't noticed yet, James has quite an interest in farming, cowboys, horses, etc.. A few weeks ago, we found an awesome book at the library called Great Pioneer Projects You Can Build Yourself. The project that James found right away was a covered wagon. We used the directions from the book, fancied it up some, and came up with a pretty cool toy. James also put in a request for a yoke for his horses, Mike and Choya. (Thank God for pipe cleaners and Popsicle sticks!) The wagon has been played with a lot over the last few weeks. Lately James has also been playing a lot with Lincoln logs. He loves to build little towns, complete with stables and 'forests' and firewood piles.

Rain! Vegetables! Milestones! And other randomness....

• It is raining here. We haven't had rain all month. Its been very HOT and very DRY. So rain is nice. And, that's one day I don't have to water my garden.
• Speaking of garden, the Squash Monster has taken up residence in my garden. Every time I turn around there are new full-sized squash to pick. Right now I have 7 Patty Pan Squash, a Zucchini, two Cukes, among other things, stashed away in my fridge. And that is only because yesterday I used three big squash for a huge batch of Zucchini Yeast Rolls. Zucchini, its taking over the world.
  
• Part of my overabundance of zucchini came from our CSA share. I thought, for kicks, I'd post a picture of our weekly share. Crazy, huh?

(Please note Tyler's Blueberry Beard)

• My firstborn, who was just born last week, or so it seems, has dispensed with the training wheels on his bike and is catching on with amazing speed (if I do say so myself). Jeff took his training wheels off, held him a couple times and he was off. Now he can get going himself and can ride clear across the patio, or through the yard. He still has a ways to go, but I am amazed how quickly he is catching on!
• Tyler is turning a year old next week. How did this happen??? Jeff is lucky they don't sell babies at the grocery store, or I'd be coming home with another one every year or two.
  
• And apparently, I am not the only one who has had horrible experiences with the USPS as evidenced by the comments. Jeff even showed up to make a comment, and considering he never reads the blog, I am impressed.
  

I Apologize In Advance (USPS Rant Ahead)

As if I didn't despise the USPS enough! Yesterday I received two boxes from my sister-in-law in the mail. As I was opening the first one, I was cursing her for how much tape she used. I planned on calling her and asking if she intended for me to chop my arm off opening the boxes. Then, I realized that the package had been opened. Scratch that. The package had been reconstructed all together. It appeared that the original box had been destroyed, so they cut the top of the box off and taped it onto a new box. They wrapped the whole darn thing in layers of that fibrous packing tape with a sweet little label reading 'We're sorry. You're package was damaged in transit. We hope it doesn't cause you any inconvenience. Bla, bla, bla.' When I finally get the box open, I am greeted with a strong, musty, moldy smell. I picked up the first item, and it was damp. And moldy. And stinky. The box contained mostly clothes, for the kids (birthdays, etc.) All of the clothes smelled pretty nasty, and one dress is most like ruined because it has dark gray mold stains all over it. From what I can tell, the original box must have been soaked, and they repacked the (wet!!!) contents into a new box, sealed it up, and took 14 days delivering it. (It was sent Priority Mail!!!) The other box she sent also had that the same label. I opened that one up to find 19 cans of Squirt. One was leaking. They looked like they had taken a tumble down the conveyor belt as they were very scratched up. Now the Squirt, I can understand. It is a can of liquid, and apparently more of the burst and that was the reason they had to repack that box. They removed the exploded cans and repacked it. I can handle that. But what happened to the clothes?! They aren't sticky, or smelling of Squirt, so I can deduce that they were damaged in another incident all together and not from sitting near the Squirt box. Fabulous service, yet again, by the USPS. I can only hope the box I just mailed to my friend Erin will get there intact, and heck, maybe even within a month or two since I sent it Parcel Post. I should have sent it Pony Express.

PS. On a happy note, we are now the proud owners of 18 cans of Squirt, and 6 cans of Green Chile Sauce....Colorado Contraband!!!

I LOVE This Boy!

Last But Not Least....

We had our trusty friends Eric and Candi over on Monday to hang out for a while. We have been friends since they were engaged. Now, here we are with six kids between us and a lot of good memories together! Thanks guys for being a part of our lives. What would we do without you? :)

Weekend Fiestas! (Part Two)

On Sunday we went up to our friends' house for a get-together. They live up in the 'boonies' of our county and it is always nice to get away from it all for a while. Jeff took the kids fishing on the pond on their property. James caught two fish! He wouldn't hold them. Katie wanted Jeff to catch her one so she could hold it. Fishing in that pond is like fishing in a fishbowl, and with a few casts Jeff caught one for her. He let her reel it in and she held it until it jumped from her hands into the grass. That upset her so bad she screamed and cried and freaked out. Jeff and I were laughing so hard it was difficult to catch our breath. She said something along the lines of 'that tinkin' fish jumped outta my hands in da dwass!' And 'I'm never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever......dunna hold a fish a-din!' I wish we had it on tape, it was that good.

Who says slip-and-slides for just for kids? Well, it was so hot I decided to go a few times. You do hit a little harder as an adult then as a 35 pound kid! But it was still fun.

Tyler had fun splashing in a little water

Weekend Fiestas! (Part One)

Jeff's Birthday Celebration

(I love this picture!!!)

Sunday Stills: Frame It

".....take a photo that is “framed” by something. For example you might use some tree branches to frame the moon or a window to frame a child."

This was the first thing I thought of doing when I saw the 'frame it' theme.

Part of the Castillo we toured in Florida (taken last month)

Hollyhocks planted from seeds from the farm my Mom grew up on, taken this morning. (This one is more loosely framed/edged by the stalk of the plant)

Spending some quality time with Chappy this afternoon.

Wherein The Photos Have Nothing To Do With The Post

We went to the Amish market this morning. It is one of the kids' favorite places to go. We have our rituals, including sharing a sample of the carmel corn, James dragging me past the 'popper' (a machine that spits out giant rice cakes with a loud bang), the kids picking out a few pieces of candy out of the bulk bin, and going to look at the fancy singing/dancing clocks. Its always fun to take them and watch their faces. This morning we went with Mom and Aunt Sally and had a nice surprise! There was an Amish man their with his horse and wagon. We went to see the horse and low and behold they were giving out rides. We got to go about a half mile down the trail and back, all while being pulled by Chevy the horse. Sadly, it seems Chevy is more reliable then our own Chevy, all though his emissions are somewhat dubious.


***News Flash***We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to give a shout-out to Jeff, whose birthday is today! Happy Birthday, Jeff! You make my life a lot more special, even if you think your toenails are for climbing trees. Did I mention that you make us laugh on a regular basis? Yes, I like that too. Happy Birthday! I'm off to slave away over a hot stove for your birthday dinner ;)

Jeff's Fun Water Project

Jeff made this for the kids. We saw it in a magazine. Nothing is glued so that James can rearrange the configuration like great big Tinker Toys. Now that we know it works (and its fun!) we can get more parts and keep adding to it.

There Are No Words

Yesterday started out just fine. We went to the farm, picked our green beans, flowers and snow peas. We visited the pigs and the kids climbed all over their favorite felled walnut tree. We got the rest of our share and came home. However, by the time we got home I had a raging heat headache. I always got them when I was a kid, and I forgot how bad they were until yesterday. I actually took a nap! When I woke up I realized it was not going away and broke down and took something for it. That helped in short order, leaving me wondering why I didn't take anything earlier. The rest of the afternoon proceeded nicely, except for this blasted heat we've been having. When it was time to make dinner things started heading south. The microwave started making some crazy sounds and sparking and smoking. I wasn't too surprised as its been on its last legs for a while now. I put the microwave out of my mind and went to making some muffins. A piece of butter got caught just right in the paddle of my Kitchen@id mixer and while I turned it off as quick as I could, it rendered my mixer useless. My precious mixer! I was so upset. I couldn't believe I managed to break both the microwave and the mixer within five minutes of each other. Talk about depressing. I was/am mostly concerned about my mixer. In all the chaos I also mixed up some steps in my second attempt at making yogurt and thought I ruined the whole thing. This morning, though, the yogurt looks like its doing what its supposed to do (thanks, Merry Jo, for the instructions!). After giving Jeff a little talk about 'letting go,' (ha, ha!) we declared the time of death for the microwave. We stayed up til 11:30 taking apart the mixer, all while I was praying that Jeff wouldn't do to the mixer what he did to my Serger, may she rest in peace. Between taking things apart and running back and forth googling for directions, we extracted the failed part, a plastic gear. So, as long as all goes well finding the part and reassembling that bad boy, I think I'll be back in business. But for now, I am kind of afraid to tough any of our appliances.

All Boy

Tyler is obsessed with the lawnmowers. (Yes, lawnmowers...Jeff has a collection) If the door between the kitchen and the garage is left open, he makes a beeline as fast as he can. If we are in the backyard, he will crawl all the way across the yard and into the garage, straight for the lawnmowers. As you can see, he climbs right up and inspects them. The other night I went out for a walk after the other two gremlins were in bed. I came back to find Jeff and Tyler out in the yard. Jeff had pulled out the lawnmower so that Tyler could play with it while they were waiting for me. I am sure Jeff is already plotting how he can install some sort of lower handlebar so that Tyler can take over mowing at at age three. :)

In The Garden

Its really hot here. Really hot and sticky and gross. But I did find this cute little thing out in the rhubarb patch:

Ain't she the cutest little thing you ever saw?! :)

Sunday Stills: History (Something 60+Years Old)

This hat belonged to my Great Grandmother (I think). I love old hats. When I was in high school I had old hats hanging all around my bedroom. Now I have them hanging in Katie's room.

You Are Now Entering A Designated Scistor-Free Zone

No more scissors around here. After James decided to cut his hair, Katie must have felt the need to do a little rouge scissor-work herself. She was sitting at the table, cutting paper into little tiny bits. (She loves doing this) I was making dinner. All of a sudden she came to me with the strawberry bag I just made her, saying 'You need to fix this!' She apparently decided that when paper is not enough, you should cut off the drawstrings of your brand new bag. At least that'll be an easy fix. No more scissors for a while!

When James Was Born

Last night I was up with Tyler. As I always do, I listened for James' steady breathing. I love that sound. Last night, all the memories of his stay in the NICU came flooding back. I remember waiting, and waiting, and waiting for them to bring him back to me after his 'bath.' (We are talking HOURS!) I remember how the nurse told me in a very snippy tone, after she finally realized that I was about ready to go all Mama-Bear on her, that 'your son is having trouble breathing. He's gagging and turning purple.' I remember asking her if he was OK, if he was going to be alright. She wouldn't answer, just said I'd have to wait to talk to the doctor. I remember being alone when she told me this. When everyone came back in I was a crying terrified mess. I tried to tell them what was going on but I didn't know much. Jeff had seen an x-ray machine going through the hall. It was for James. We all sat there lost in our own fears. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I didn't know how I could ever cope with losing my baby. My friend Candi sat with me and held my hand, and helped me though the whole ordeal. She even smuggled in Quiznos so I didn't have to eat the hospital food. James was born at 1:13 pm, he went to the nursery for his bath about an hour later, they told me at 5:00 that he was having trouble, and the doctor did not come in til 9:00 pm. It was awful, to say the least. When he finally came, all he could say is that they didn't know what was wrong. It could be one of three things: pneumonia, an infection, or Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). They were going to watch him and see. It took them til Monday (from Saturday) to decide he had RDS. Basically, he was lacking surfactant in his lungs, which allows the lungs to expand freely. For him, it was like he was trying to breath through a coffee straw. Of course, they had to give him oxygen, through CPap, which is oxygen plus pressure. No one could say whether he was going to be OK. They kept saying 'it depends on if his lungs mature.' Not the answer we wanted to hear. With each breath, his chest would cave in so deep it looked as if he had no rib cage. He would stop breathing for seconds at a time. We would watch the monitor, his chest, the monitor, waiting for him to breath again. It was scary. He didn't open his eyes, he didn't cry. It wasn't until he was several days old that Jeff saw his eyes for the very first time. We couldn't hold him for five long days. They couldn't feed him, because he needed to focus all his energy on breathing, and not digesting food. However, after 5 or 6 days of that he was, quite literally, starving. (I wish the doctor had not told me that.) So, after that he got tube feeds. He had to have a PICC(??) line that was always being moved around, from an artery in his leg to his arm to his scalp. He would try to pull at that, and his CPAP machine, so they had to tie his arms down. While other babies came and went, James stayed. He was there for two very long weeks. At one point, he got a punctured lung from the pressure of the CPAP machine. They took him off of it, and onto a nasal canula, to give him a rest but then he started doing really bad and he had to go back on CPAP. It was a lot of ups and downs. A lot of scary moments. Each night, we would stay as long as we could. It was heartbreaking to leave him. We would cry. Jeff would stop in each day on his way to work, scrub up, and go in and see James. I would go as often during the day as I could. I never wanted to leave him there. When they finally let us take him home when he was two weeks old, it was a mixture of great joy and also fear. He came home on an apnea monitor that would alarm if he stopped breathing (which only happened twice, and were short bouts) and mostly went off for accidental reasons. It was so good to have him home with us, and not have to leave him at night. I realize that all of this is a little bit out of the blue, but sometimes when I see James it all comes back so clear. All the fears and the what-ifs. Needless to say, I am very grateful that he is here and healthy and strong. I have this verse in James' baby book:

James 5:13, 15a Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.

Inevitable?

So I guess this was inevitable. One of my kids got the wild idea to cut their own hair. Last night I was sitting across from James, and I kept thinking his hair looked funny. There was a patch of scalp showing but at first I thought maybe his hair was just sitting a certain way. The more I looked at it though, the more I realized that something was not right. I went over and felt the patch. Sure enough, he had cut off a patch the size of a dime. Now he has a spot of white scalp that stares at you when you talk to him. I am just glad he didn't get the bright idea to give Katie her first hair cut! That is what worries me, since her hair would take a lot longer to grow back. We made sure he knows that he is not to cut his own hair again. When I told him it looked ridiculous, he said 'Am I going to look ridiculous at church too?' Yes, James, yes you will.

Farm Fun and Craftiness

This summer we joined a CSA farm. Basically, you buy a 'share' of what is grown. Of course, given the nature of farming you are not guaranteed a definite amount of stuff. However, the farm is very diverse so if one thing doesn't grow well there are lots of other stuff that will. Each week you get to pick up your share, and there are also 'pick-your-own' crops that you can pick a specified amount of. For example, last week was snow peas/shelling peas/snap peas. We were able to pick 3 pounds of them. Also, there are always fresh herbs. Everything is organic which is a nice plus. So far, I am very pleased. The cost of the CSA works out to $20/week, and I go home with more produce than we can eat (which is a lot). I have been freezing stuff like kale, spinach and peas. I have canned several batches of strawberry jam in addition to the copious amounts of strawberries we have eaten fresh. I can't decide what I like more about the whole set-up: all the food, or enjoying the farm experience with the kids. They love helping me pick stuff, and playing around the farm shop. There is a huge walnut tree that fell and the kids think that that tree trunk is the best playground. There are also pigs there so they like to visit them. The last few weeks I have realized that I need more bags to carry our stuff home in. Last week alone, we got 3 pounds of snow peas, cilantro, dill, lemon basil, purple basil, two huge heads of lettuce, three big zuchinni, a bunch of beets, a bunch of salad turnips, a large bag of spinach and kale, a bunch of green onions, and a head of chinese cabbage. (I feel like I am forgetting something) So, even though I have several bags, they are inadequate. When I saw a tutorial for these, I just had to make them for the kids. This one is the first one, and Katie claimed it. James has requested a blueberry bag, so that's next up.

I'm Still Processing....

(Tyler 'helping' Jeff install trim; he is very, very interested in 'guy' things already)

Tyler took his first steps yesterday. Two of them at once! And if that wasn't enough to send me into some existential meltdown, he did that two more times. I mean, part of me is excited about it but part of me is shouting 'Hello! You're my baby!!! Please, please, slow down!' But alas, he is not cooperating with my plans. So, pretty soon I'll have another kid running around the house.

And here is a random picture of fun and cuteness from last week. We went to a local park so James could ride his bike on the nice, flat sidewalks there. He is getting really good at riding his bike. Now we need to get him a bike that is more his size, and I think pretty soon he'll be ready to try without training wheels. How is it that my first baby is going to be five in September???

t

Overload

I just posted a whole heap o' craftiness over on the crafty blog, so if you want to see why I have no more blogging energy, click here. Meanwhile, enjoy the fringe. Jeff wants an outfit just like it :)

Ugh

Tyler fell down the stairs this morning. He managed to wiggle the gate out from between the banister and the stairs, and push it forward enough to squeeze through and down the stairs. And all in no time flat. What a horrible sound that is. Fortunately he is alright, just a few bumps and bruises. James was kind enough to tell me that I 'should've run faster to catch Tyler.' And if that weren't enough, he told me that 'if Daddy were here, he would have run fast and caught Tyler, because Daddy is really fast.' Well, thank you for making me feel worse.

We're Buying Stock in Bananas

Its official. All three of our kids are banana-holics. Tyler ate an entire banana this morning and was clamoring for more. He wasn't falling for the 'here, eat this instead' trick. He was waving his chubby little hands and feet, staring at the bananas. I gave him another half which he promptly inhaled. James and Katie have gone through this phase too on multiple occasions. James still eats at least one a day. Katie is on an 'I don't wike bee-ban-ahs' kick. When I buy three or four bunches of bananas at the store people ask me what on earth I am going to do with all of them. Eat them, thank you very much.

Oh, and on a sort of random side note, Tyler weighed in last week at 17 lbs, 14 oz....having gained 10 ounces in 3 weeks. To give you a little perspective, Katie (who was small herself) weighed 19 lbs. at 13 months. James, at a year, was 22+ pounds. So, it has been concluded that he is just small, and will grow at his own pace, albeit a slow one. I am totally fine with that and very happy to have a doctor who is too.

The Garden!!

Things are coming along swimmingly in the garden. We had already had spinach, beets, radishes, lettuce and rosemary. Each year I learn a little more and this year is no different. I have staggered my planting so that I will get things in batches, instead of all at once. Of course I already have ideas for next year. The rhubarb is huge and it is a shame not to be able to pick any the first year but I want it to become well established. Pardon my gnarly foot but I had to show you how huge the leaves are on one of the plants. This morning we picked beets and James ate two of them. I guess he likes beets!

**Scrumptious Sleeping Baby Alert**

Fun With Grammy

All In One Day

Saturday we went to Lancaster with some friends of ours. We toured a reproduction of the Tabernacle and the kids even lasted through the whole thing! After that we went out to lunch at our favorite place out there. And I would like to note that if you heard angels singing on Saturday, it was because they were rejoicing with me over the fact that they still had Rhubarb Pie!!! After lunch we walked out to the petting zoo-type thing next door so the kids check out the animals. It was really fun to go on a trip with friends, who also have (adorable) kids the same ages as ours. Thanks for coming with us, Jenni and Danny!


But the day was not over. We headed over to Aunt Sally's new abode and played there till about 5:00 and then headed home. Needless to say we were tired by the end of the day.


Here are a few pictures of the Amish things we saw. We stopped at a farm supply store to look for a cowboy hat. It was Amish-run and even the street lamps outdoors where not electric (see photo). They installed skylights inside for lighting. The picture of all the horses hitched up to the post was also at the farm store. The bike is an Amish bike. The reason they don't have peddles is because the Amish believe that they should be as self-sufficient as possible and rely little on the outside world. By having a bike/scooter without peddles, that is that many less parts that could break or go wrong. This modified bike is easier to maintain. The pictures of the mule team were the best I could get. I couldn't tell what he was doing, but whatever implement he was pulling had some sort of small generator on it to run whatever it was. (How's that for specific?!) Modern farming is hard enough. I can't imagine farming the 'old-fashioned' way.

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. :)

Sunday Stills: Black and White

The door hinges on the Penney Farms Memorial Church

Katie at Anastasia State Park Beach

Green Cove Springs Park (I liked seeing the Spanish moss everywhere)

These palm fronds started out as finger sized coils, and over the course of the week became full-fledged palm fronds. As Grandma Heppner would say, 'Very interested!'

A light pole at Green Cove Springs

Fresh From the Backyard!

This year I planted some early crops, and it is nice to be able to pick stuff already. So far we have radishes and spinach. I think the next up will be lettuce mix and cabbage. I love gardening. :)

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.***