Bad blogger - and first day of school!

 What in the heck happened to summer? Sometimes it feels like we just got back from vacation, but other times have felt insanely long because of missing Mike and watching the countdown clock tick away the days that seemed to go by so slowly. Today.... first day of school.

Trevor was probably the one with the least amount of anxiety over the past week. If he had any, he was good at hiding it. He was the only one who really didn't have any huge school milestone. I still understand any sort of anxiety on the first day of school though. I know he was excited, but also cautiously excited. He is still in middle school, so a lot was very familiar to him. 7th grade. Dang.

Matthew...first day of middle school. 5th grade. I still like to think along the lines of Arizona grade levels in which he'd be in elementary still. It was hard watching my baby walking into a new school. It was nice to have them all basically in the same campus, with one drop off time and me being able to take them instead of sending Matthew on a bus.

 We were in such a hurry this morning to make sure we wouldn't forget anything...so pictures are somewhat blurry and the sun was just coming up. Megan came out really quick so I could try to get a picture of all three, but then she went right back inside to finish breakfast and find her jacket.

Megan...freshman year in high school. She was pretty nervous all week. Man, I remember my first day of high school. Crazy to think that she's reached that. 

I love the look on Matthew's face, as they were trying to get Trevor to be excited about first day photos. I think he gets that from me. Sorry mom, I always dreaded those photo sessions. lol.

All in all, a good day. I will update tomorrow (yes, I promise Kim! - Who says that I haven't updated in awhile and was looking at the same deer picture for a long time now.) with how the day went.

Sunday

You know....not too long ago I was watching TV and realized that I was ruined by old X Files shows, and some Mel Gibson movie about aliens....that bad things happen in and near corn fields. I swore I would never live near one. Then I realized....wow, I live with one in my backyard! A huge field. Only divided by a patch of woods (which should be scary too right?) and a wire fence.

Because of the hill, I tend to forget the corn is there until it gets very tall or occasionally I see somebody on a big tractor. No aliens.

Deer like to come out of the field occasionally. Today I was cleaning the kitchen and noticed one in the back yard. There is a wild apple tree that she was eating the ones that had fallen on the ground. It was funny watching her since she'd get all slobbery munching on them.

There are two that seem to hang around my house pretty often. There is a young buck who will stand in our driveway occasionally. We do have a pretty busy yard when it comes to wildlife. There is also a groundhog that lives up in our woods, lots of squirrels and robins (Who will stare at you when you are outside. They make me feel a bit self conscience. They are always in pairs too....weird.) Plus a cardinal that lives in our tree by our front window. There is a lot to watch.

Vacation continued - Mt. Dora, Florida

Brandon's family lives near this town called Mt. Dora. We had a day to spend with them, and his wife Ulgonda was thinking of places we could go to spend some time. I was thrilled by this place, and so happy that she suggested it. It was a Sunday, and unfortunately  many of the places were closed. We still had a great time spending time together, and letting the kids walk around.

There were neat shops and places to eat. It's probably a good thing that the stores were closed, since there were so many cute things I kept seeing that I probably would have felt like I needed to bring home with me. Especially these turtles - they were about the size of an apple. There was a shadowbox full of them in different colors and patterns.

Below: There was another store that had neat French themed things. I thought this display was beautiful. I think I have a thing for glass domes.

 Below: I also have a thing for boxes of any sort....and postal stuff. I couldn't pass this small area between some shops that had a long stairway up to another store on the second level. 

 After an attempt to go to another place for lunch....we did end up going to a Mexican place that Brandon and Ulgona said was really good. I think honestly, this was my favorite meal of the trip. We had a big table that was set up in a square so we all could talk, including the kids, and not feel like anybody was not part of the meal. Everything about this lunch was amazing. Definitely one of my favorite memories of this trip.

I have no idea what it was called, but they both recommended this house specialty. It is some sort of fajita type thing that is cooked in a lava stone bowl. It had chicken, steak, peppers, onions, potatoes and cheese with a bit of sauce on it, served with tortillas. OMG it was amazing. The best Mexican food I have had in four years. This was something that I still crave and I know I will probably spend a very long time looking for something to replicate it. It was gooooood. Even the chips and salsa brought out in the beginning were good. Good chips, and spicy salsa....unlike Kentucky salsa. I like mine with a lot of HOT. This was a good sign....lunch was going to be good.

After lunch we walked around. We ended up at a frozen custard shop. We looked in windows of more stores. The weather was perfect.

We ended up back at their house, spent some time there looking at photos and the kids played in the pool. (And their lab Bella.) We left in the evening, and started the drive home. I forget where we stayed, but it was in Florida. We still wanted to meander back home and enjoy the road trip. It was nice not being in a hurry.

Turtle mom, more summer stuff

 "Deep in the back woods of Kentucky....."
"There's a lot of back woods people in Kentucky, but none as back woods as the turtle man."

(We love Call of the Wildman on Animal Planet.) At first I saw it and thought, "Oh please, can we not have something that perpetuates the hick Kentucky stereotype?" People here are normal. Trust me. Well, most....I still laugh about the time my sister was out here and Kroger had a bluegrass band up at the checkout lanes. What? Every store doesn't' have live bluegrass? - The more I watched this show (mainly because of a shared love of turtles with my T, the more I love it.) So when all of the kids were sitting out and drying off from going swimming today, I was moving around the pool with my head above the water. Megan said I looked like turtle man. Live action! Yeeyeeyeeeee! That picture above is me looking like I'm in the pond, looking for the tell tale sign of bubbles from a moving snapping turtle! I did find two tortoises....at home....and made them a salad. I love our turtles.

It is HOT. Awful hot. Today was 102 and the last I heard this heat wave is supposed to last a couple more days. Thankfully again, good neighbors, who asked if we'd like to use their pool while they went to church tonight.

Backing up here....

to the days when the weather was still nice a little over a week ago. Megan's friend has horses. They recently bought this new thoroughbred, he was trained for racing but due to a respiratory health issue he never was in an official race. He is now a super loved and spoiled show jumper. His name is Cowboy, he is four years old, and he has got to be the biggest horse I have ever seen that wasn't a draft horse. He is gorgeous!

Megan's friend was down in Louisville, but her mom asked me if we'd like to come over and ride since the horses needed some exercise. I loved it. The boys even rode for a bit but ended up having more fun chasing barn cats, playing with the bunnies (background, second picture below) and playing with the dog. They also have a pond with a noisy croaking frog. We all had a great night over there, playing with animals and hanging out in the barn.

 Below: Megan's first batch of homemade loaves of bread. She has been very domestic this summer. She has checked out cookbooks from the library, and looks for recipes online. She has really enjoyed learning how to cook. - We have enjoyed it as well. She has made some really tasty things from chicken dishes, pesto from our basil plants, to baked desserts.

 Goofy face on the 4th of July.

I'm still promising to catch up on those vacation pictures!

Some funky weather

 My posts are going to be out of order, since I know my plan was to finish posting vacation pictures before anything else, but I took some pictures today that I wanted to post....

It has been HOT. Hot hot. We've had the most strange weather the past couple of weeks. First we had an entire week of perfect weather....the highs were in the upper 70s. Absolutely beautiful. There were times I really had forgotten what month it was.

Friday night, I was at work and left around 5:30. As I was leaving, Megan had called customer service (weird as I was standing right there talking to a friend right before leaving) and I could hear somebody asking for Kerry. She was calling to tell me to be careful coming home. I had been busy in the back of the store for so long I hadn't seen outside for hours. I knew we were supposed to get some severe thunderstorms that night, but this literally came from nowhere. As soon as I saw the windows at the front I walked as fast as I could to my car. It was so windy. I later found out on the news that they were hurricane force winds, in a line of storms that had crossed much of this area of the states. In comparison to other states, we didn't get it as bad. I'd hate to see 'bad' since this was very strange to me. There were trees knocked down, and a lot of people lost power. I got home fine, and it passed. In turn, the temperature dropped at least 30 degrees and Megan and I headed out for a really nice walk when the sun was going down. It's hard to believe that the temperature can change that quickly.

Now we're back to the heat. Summer is hot....but this is that yucky, drippy hot. We are in the middle of a heat wave for a few more days.

Our neighbors up the hill are simply the best. I love them. There are times I am ready for a bigger house, a newer house, or a change...and these are the types of neighbors that make you think, "I am lucky.....they are awesome....and not crazy." They used to own all of the property that our neighborhood is built in, so they have this great ranch style home with mature trees and landscaping, and a lot of time and love put into everything around it. The back deck that I see from our house looks like it is up in a treehouse. I would want to spend every minute I could out there.

So, yesterday I had a message that we were invited to use the pool at their house. They were going to be away for part of the day to a graduation picnic. The photo below....that is my house and deck in the background. We walked up the hill, and I talked with the wife in the pool for a bit. Then she left and we had the pool for as long as we wanted. It was wonderful. I especially loved being able to be done swimming and walk right down the hill through the back yard so we could make a late lunch. No driving, no wet suits in the car....it was nice. - Made me wish I didn't have to go into work tonight.

Summer vacation, last two days.

 Above: For my sister..... I have actually heard that this is a pretty cool museum that has some artifacts from the ship. It also has a room with stars with air and water that is set to the temperature of what it was like the night the ship sank. I think that would be pretty neat to feel that perspective a bit if you are a huge historic/Titanic lover like Matthew is. (Until you come out and instead of being in a vast ocean, you are surrounded by trees....and realizing that you are in Tennessee, surrounded by trees.) The building alone is pretty cool though. I think I would like that as a fountain my back yard the way the water looks like the ship is cutting through the ocean. That mini van doesn't show the size of this building very well either, it is set back from the road a bit, so perspective is lost, but it is pretty big! The fountain is taller than me but looks so small in this photo.

(I am having to post our vacation backwards so that when I am all done, it will be one constant story.)

Our last couple of days, on our way home....

We drove through the Smokey Mountains. It was so pretty and much like the Grand Canyon, you just cannot photograph it to get perspective of how big it really is, or feel what it is like to be there. Just in one word: beautiful. We enjoyed a drizzle through part of it, and loved passing over the creeks, then coming around a corner and seeing how high you were on the mountain. It was misty in some areas, sunny in others. I would love to go back and spend some more time there. I have heard a lot of people rent cabins, which is probably what we would like to do.

Our purpose of coming back this way was not only to take it slow on the way home and enjoy the trip, but also to see a little bit of Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. I've heard a lot about it, and what to expect. If you go expecting it to be fancy, it certainly is not. It is kitschy, it is touristy and caters to family friendly stuff. It reminded me of Las Vegas but more family oriented. It is crowded and fast paced. There are silly museums, Hillbilly Golf, glow in the dark mini golf, a ton of multi level go cart tracks, arcades, an abundance of pancake houses (they are everywhere! They must love pancakes here.) plus a lot of other restaurants. We ended up eating at Fuddruckers, because we were so happy to see one after not having one since moving to Kentucky. There is a building in Florence that was a Fuddruckers, and we feel like it mocks us. Like it is saying, "You wish we were still here. You want some hamburger patty with that gallon of hot cheese don't you?" The kids even said as we were leaving, "That is the best burger I've ever had."

Gatlinburg is actually separate from Pigeon Forge. Gatlinburg is much more concentrated, and reminds me of the beach areas in California, where so much entertainment is packed into a small area and the best way to get around is to walk. Traffic was really bad driving down the main street. The kids seemed excited, as we kept hearing "OH! OH! Look at THAT!" from the back of the van as we rolled slowly down the street. You could smell food everywhere.

I've talked to several people who have grown up as this place being a part of their childhood. To a kid, it probably seems really cool. I've also heard them say that the old hotels probably haven't been changed at all in that time either. A lot of them did look like they were barely hanging in there. Kind of stuck in time along this road. We stayed a night over in Pigeon Forge.

Pigeon Forge is a short drive, but everything is spread apart. Much like Las Vegas and how there  is the strip and downtown....that's probably the best way to describe it.

So we drove on over to Pigeon Forge. Dollywood is also here, and it is supposedly one of the best amusement parks in the US. Having just spent a week in Orlando, we weren't interested in that part of it....but I would like to go there at some point.

Megan and I spotted a Tanger outlet mall. We knew that was one thing we wanted to do, and we had cruddy luck at the one down in Florida. I was determined to bring a new purse home from this trip. I spotted a Coach outlet and Megan and I went to do some shopping while the boys walked across the street and went to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum/arcade place. (I think these two places alone will be our destination next time. We all had a great time, and the boys were happy as could be after finding pinball machines. They love old school pinball!)

Megan and I walked around for hours. I found my purse. I'd say it pretty much found me the second I walked in the door. I realize the outlets have different bags than the normal Coach stores, but this has everything that I was looking for. Perfect size, perfect pockets, and it's the perfect shade of pink. It is ideal for summer. Megan fell in love with a pretty leather Fossil wallet that we both could not stop smelling. Among other things....so we will definitely be coming back here, hopefully in the fall. I would like to stay in the National Park area and spend one of the days shopping.

It was a good ending to a perfect trip, but at this point we were ready to be home. On our way back we stopped at the last Xaxby's in Lexington. (SO GOOD.) - and then drove home. It was nice to start recognizing the areas and counties we were going through. I can say, after a long road trip and seeing several states, Kentucky is beautiful.

Summer 2012

Above: Boys playing Legos on the deck. It is such a beautiful day today.

So......A few weeks ago marked the last day of school, and the beginning of summer vacation. I will have to post about all of it backwards I guess, but thinking of posting all of the photos from vacation seems kind of daunting. This is my "getting my toes wet" first post back. It's coming though..... an update on all we've been up to. I hate having big gaps in my blog because when I go back and look years later I wonder what in the heck I missed.

In short - Mike back. Busy with work, house projects. Testing weeks at school, ceremonies for wrapping up elementary school, ceremonies for wrapping up middle school, high school scheduling, middle school open houses, vacation to Florida and Disney World. No matter what, it has all been a blur. What was a countdown on a widget has expired. Another one started.....Africa.

Back to our other routine. Slower summer days. Still some house projects going on. A week off of work.

 

I am a proud tomato mommy. For awhile I have been babying this plant - my first tomato plant. We have a bit of a garden on our deck with tomatoes, green peppers, cilantro and basil. If all goes well I may do more  next year. I also have some potted flowers that are all doing well. I'm pretty proud. I have been checking my tomato plant daily since bringing it home in it's little seedling pot. I literally squealed for joy when I looked yesterday and saw TWO little baby green tomatoes. It's so cute, and little. I talk to it, I love it....and then someday I'm going to EAT IT.

We have been spending a lot of time on the deck. Mike worked really hard removing the old fence that was falling down in the backyard. We have a great view and it has just been nice to utilize the outdoor space. My favorite thing to do the past couple of days is watch this mommy Robin and one of her babies. The nest is on the light fixture on my neighbor's house. I would see the mom fly back and forth for a long time, and would hear the babies chirping when she'd bring food. The babies must all be out of the nest now, but I see a mom and a scruffy looking thing behind her in the yard all the time. She'll take a few bounces forward, then the baby does. Usually five bounces and then she stops. (Yes, I've counted.) Then the baby bounces five bounces forward, but still behind her. It's so cute. Then occasionally she'll pull out a worm and the baby flaps and goes crazy until she feeds it. Then they start bouncing again.

Today I watched them again. Except she flew down the slope of the hill back towards the house. The baby stood there. Then flew. Except it overshot and did some weird loopy thing against the house near the nest. Then back to mom. Then back to the bouncing. The baby bird seemed fine. So far this is my summer entertainment.