A day off

Wes had Sunday off. It was his last day off, pretty much all summer, since they will be leaving soon for 7 weeks. And we had had the kids and his dad here for more than a week. So guess what we did Sunday? If you guessed that we ran around naked and had hot, dirty, nasty sex in every room of our house you would be. . . . wrong. Not that we didn't want to do that. Trust me, we really, really wanted to do that. But, we're parents. So instead, we spent 3 hours in the car to watch Allison's dance recital for three hours and then we drove 3 more hours home. And, her dance, 3 minutes long. We drove 6 hours and watched 3 hours of bad dancing for a 3 minute dance. A 3 minute dance mostly spent skipping (out of step) around the stage. But as Wes said when I pointed this out to him after her dance, "It was worth it."

Sleep deprivation

If the government doesn't want to be accused of torture, it should just give the alleged terrorists five or six kids that they must take care of all by themselves. They will give everything up in a matter of days. I mean everything. And they will cry. Like babies.
The kids left yesterday. I believe they gain their energy by sucking sleep away from everyone around them. The more sleep they steal, the more energy they have.

But the visit went well. I can tell I'm not depressed anymore because I handled the kids much better. I was more patient with them and was able to focus on the good things rather than the bad. We played a toooooooon of board games. I love board games. They make me laugh and smile and they're a great way to bond with the kids. Some of my best memories as a kid are playing board games with the family and I'm happy to pass those memories along to the next generation.

And we went to the local fair. Where the kids rode the same ride over and over again. At least we got our monies worth of rides. Overall, it was a great visit. I will leave you with these pictures of fun (notice I'm not in any of them).

Deep breath in

The kids got here a day early. No big deal. It's all good. The x forgot to send enough of Victor's ADHD medication. That's not good and it's a huge deal. She's mailing it tomorrow. We've been hanging out and playing lots of games. We also went to the botanical gardens to wear the kids out. Guess who got worn out? And then, Friday night, we played the looooooooooooongest game of UUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO in the entire world. I think the Uno gods were jealous because we had been ignoring it for games like Monopoly Jr., Risk (which is supposed to be long) and Hands Down. Well, the final laugh is at the Uno gods because now I am never playing that game again. Ever. Right now everyone is golfing, except for me, because I wanted to remember what it was like to be alone. It is wonderful! I love it! I should do it more often!

Birds, birds, birds!!!

Wes goes back to work tomorrow. He has had two weeks off and we had our little "vacation". We went to Jamestown, Yorktown, the Botanical Gardens and camping in North Carolina. Mostly though, we were bird watching. We both love being outside and hiking and stuff and I've always loved birds, just didn't know much. We bought a birding software and it is so cool. And useful. It has videos and the sounds of birds, pictures from various positions and male/female/juveniles. Yesterday we identified six (SIX) new birds in only two hours at the Botanical Gardens. It was cooler and kind of cloudy. Before we went I was complaining that I hadn't seen a woodpecker or identified a hawk yet. Yes, I've seen plenty of hawks, but usually I'm the one driving and I don't think the highway patrol would be pleased with me if I pulled over and got out my bird book. Anyway, guess what we saw at the Gardens? Yes, a beautiful Downy Woodpecker (black wings with white spots. Absolutely gorgeous). We also saw a Northern Harrier (a type of hawk). It flew very low, right over us and then perched in a nearby tree for about 10 minutes. It was awesome and very large. (Next on our list of purchases will be a high-powered digital camera so I can take pictures where the birds are identifiable.) We saw two types of blue birds (not bluebirds): the Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak. American Goldfinches flew in huge groups over the prairie area of the gardens. They're tiny, loud and stunning. We also identified a Tufted Titmouse and a Brown-Headed Nuthatch. It was a wonderful day and I love this new hobby. Birds are so spectacular and fun. And I love being outside all the time.

Later this week we will get the munchkins and Wes's dad will visit. Things will be busy. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

more pics

This little guy is the reason we saw the deer in the last blog. He saw us and freaked out, pulling his head in and closing his little trap door. We all know how much I love the turtles, so even though I am not the most patient of people (major understatement), we stood perfectly still for more than 15 minutes waiting for him to come out to play. While standing perfectly still, the deer showed up. Once she realized we were watching her, she began watching us. But as long as we didn't get too close, she didn't care that we were there.

I have been working on a pretty regular basis. One of the high schools started requesting me every time they had a position available. I told the person in charge of the subs that I would love to work full time next year and loved their school. I think they like me because I'm willing to sub for any topic. But school ends next week. I hope they remember me next year.

Second try, sorta successful

Wes and I went to Jamestown on Thursday. We saw neat historical stuff. And we saw a lot of wildlife. This is one of the many pictures I wanted to post, but I guess you will have to get the pictures day by day.

Also, never camp in your husband's old (more than 20 years) tent if it is supposed to rain. It doesn't matter if your stepson is advancing in Cub Scouts. Go to the ceremony and leave before you wake up at 3:00am soaking wet with everything in the tent floating. Especially if you live 4 hours a way and forgot useful things, like umbrellas, ponchos, giant plastic bags. Not much fun. Not much fun at all.

This blog should be retitled

I'm having problems uploading pictures which makes what I want to say pointless. Will resume when Blogger fixes the problem.