Fifteen!

I  can't believe how quickly time passes. Or how busy we are, but I feel like we weren't really doing anything interesting.

Anyway, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that my babies turned 15 last month. That's just crazy!! It seems like just yesterday that I was finally coming to terms with the fact that we had four babies at once. Now they're practically grown.

We celebrated their birthday in the morning before school. We had to do it that way because Kirsten had asked for concert tickets to see Hunter Hayes. The concert was in Dallas on Friday night, so right after school on Thursday I took her to meet her Poppy (he met us half way) to go back home with him. Her Aunt 'Manda took her to the concert and they had a fun 'girls' day out.

 

They had a good day for the most part. They were all upset that they had to go to school on their birthday because they've never had to before, but they survived it.

It's show time!

Kirsten is in show choir (think Glee) this year. They preformed at the Veteran's Day program on Monday and are scheduled to preform at the pep rally tomorrow morning. But, as luck would have it, Kirsten got sick last weekend. By Sunday night she had all but lost her voice. She still sounds terrible and doesn't have much voice at all. But the show must go on so she's just mouthing the words.

An interesting idea

I was contacted by someone from Kairos Life about their website. It's basically like a digital time capsule online. You store your digital images and memories with them and they deliver them to the designated person on the designated date. It sounds like a really interesting concept.

Anyway, they contacted me because they are going to be testing the process soon and are looking for people to sign up (at no charge) to help them beta test.

Here is what they have to say about their site:

 "KairosLife.com is a place for families to save digital memories and heirlooms for kids and loved ones. Then digitally deliver those keepsakes to them at a predetermined date in the future, kind of like a digital time capsule or gift.

Our founder recently lost a close friend who passed suddenly without warning and was again reminded of how quickly life can be taken away, at any age.

 

He woke up one night with the idea of this site.  He is a father of three and was thinking about the memories we want to keep forever - and how could they be stored, kept for the future, and delivered at just the right moment to have the greatest impact.

 

How does it work?

1. Upload photos, videos or letters from your PC or mobile device to a “KairosMoment” which is the album or capsule that will be delivered to your loved one on a future date.
2. Tag your loved ones to that KairosMoment and set a reveal date when it will be delivered.
3. As the reveal date approaches, if desired, other family members and friends can share their thoughts on that KairosMoment to add to the memories for that loved one.
4. Then on the reveal date, the loved one will get an email notifying them of a KairosMoment that has been unlocked.

We are still polishing up the site and are giving complimentary memberships to people who can help us. Just visit www.KairosLife.com and enter your email address.

 

 

 If you think it sounds interesting and you would like to help, click on over and give them your email address.

Annual trek

We made our annual trek to the Renaissance Festival over the weekend. We all look forward to it each year.

This is the group that we took. It takes two cars to make the trip since they bring friends along.

We really couldn't have asked for better weather while we were there either. I think everyone had a good time. I know the ride home was pretty quiet because the girls were all tired. Already looking forward to next year's trip!

Halloween

First of all, I took Addison back to see the doctor about her knee. We were hoping he would release her to go ahead and get back to soccer and out of rehab, but, sadly, that wasn't what he said at all. She's still doing physical therapy until things are better healed. So we wait.

In the meantime, Dax and the kids had fun carving pumpkins.

Wyatt's:

Kirsten's (It's the Hunter Hayes logo)

Dax's

 Abigail's (Her's is a Rottweiler)

 

Addison got frustrated with hers so just taped some pictures to it.

 

We weren't sure there would be any Halloween festivities at all. The night before we had heavy rains all night long (about 14 inches) which caused flooding and quite a bit of damage. Here's a part of the road out to our house that got washed off it's base and into the ditch.

 

But, the water around us receded pretty quickly. The kids got lucky and school was cancelled due to the flooding, so they had a day off.

Addison and her friend Alex volunteered in the haunted house at a local nursing home. Kirsten was the only one that went trick-or-treating. She was a flapper.

 

All in all it was good.

More of the Same

I think we're finally starting to get into the routine of school.

The kids all have a lot of homework everyday. We've already gotten projects for science finished and turned in and books picked out for the papers due in December. We've even been geocaching for extra credit points.

We did get good news on Addison. She did not tear her meniscus. The doctor says that she sprained her LCL and has tendinitis. She's on a single crutch for now, doing a lot of rehab type exercises at school, and keeping it iced down as needed. She still has a lot of pain, but it is a wait-for-it-to-heal kind of injury.

Last Saturday she and I were supposed to work the merchandise stand during the football game (it was the soccer teams night to work) but it was raining and we were supposed to be selling shirts and such and they didn't have any awning to cover us so our services weren't needed. Instead, we sat in the rain and watched the first half of the game.

Addison got sick the first week of school and it has spread through the house and now all the kids have had it. Wyatt and Abigail are holding onto it longer than the other two did. Can't seem to shake those coughs yet. But, hopefully, this means we've taken care of sickness for the year. Hopefully.

Last weekend, Addison had to go to a mall in San Antonio as one of her duties as pageant queen to help out at a Disney Radio event. They were working with young (2-5 years old) kids showing them how to be royalty. It was cute. But because of her knee, the pageant director wouldn't let her do anything but sit at a table and take the raffle tickets that people turned in.

In other breaking news, Kirsten has signed up for show choir at school (think Glee) and is really excited about it. I don't know if they will just perform or if there will actually be competitions. I guess we'll wait and see.

It's been really busy and I'm kind of hoping for a quiet weekend. Since the science projects have been turned in, there shouldn't be a lot of extra kids at my house this weekend so maybe it will happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Maybe back to school isn't so great......

As parents we usually love back to school time. I know I'm guilty of it. But we're only a couple weeks into the school year and I'm already shaking my head.

Last week during her athletic period, Addison twisted her knee running up the bleachers. She iced it down, wore a brace, and took it easy over the weekend. Well, yesterday the Athletic Trainer took a look at it and it appears that she has torn her meniscus (the cartilage in her knee). We'll see the doctor on Saturday morning to find out for sure and to find out what we do from there. In the meantime, the coach is giving her some exercises to do so that she can strengthen it without doing more harm.

What's the deal with my kids and their knees?

Over the weekend, I took Kirsten and a classmate to do some geocache searches as part of a project for World Geography. They're learning to use longitude and latitude coordinates. It now appears that we got into chiggers so we are both scratching fools. The other three will still have to do this work and Kirsten and her friend still have five more searches to do. Hopefully we won't keep finding the chiggers with each search day.

Over the summer Addison did quite a bit of volunteering at the nursing home in town. She absolutely loved it! Now that she's back in school, she misses it. She even got up early on Labor Day to go volunteer again so that she could see the residents. But, I guess that gives her something to look forward to on days when she doesn't have school.

Abigail has decided that she would like to be a veterinarian. We have a couple of clients that are vets and they have been kind enough to invite Abigail to go to their offices and shadow them for the day. She had the chance to do it one day during the week before school started. This vet was even nice enough to make sure he had some surgeries scheduled for that day so that she could be part of the 'fun stuff.' She had a great time so now we'll have to see if we can work around school days to keep her going back.

We are so very fortunate to have people in our lives that are so willing to expose our children to these great opportunities. We are also fortunate to have children that are willing to take part when the opportunity is presented.

But, as for school, things are going nicely. The kids have a lot of homework, but so far they are staying on top of it. And they seem to be enjoying their classes, which is a big plus!!

Back to the Real World

We've been pretty busy since we got back from vacation. I guess that's sort of obvious since it took me over a month to get the vacation posted about.


Since we've gotten home, the kids did go and spend a couple of weeks in Houston with their grandparents, which is always a lot of fun for them.

We've done some geocache searches, there has been some golf and tennis played, and we've had a few trips for ice cream or sno-cones.

(Wyatt is looking more and more like his dad.)

Addison was in another pageant and won her age division. For this one she will compete in a State Pageant next year in May or June.

Dax and I got invited to attend an event for retired Texas Rangers law officers. We had a nice time. It was on a beautiful ranch along the river, with good food and good company.

 This was my date for the evening. Isn't he handsome?

 

 Then, the very next week, we attended an awards luncheon where Dax received an award for all the volunteer work that he does in connection with the Hays County Sheriff's Department. He had received a regional award earlier, but this one was a state level award. We are all so proud of him and all that he does.

I took the girls to do some back to school shopping. Even though their grandparents had taken them already.

 

A little touch of glamour on her eyes.....

But, I guess the biggest (and most traumatic for me) thing that has happened is that school started. And I have high schoolers!!!

(Addison, Abigail, Wyatt, & Kirsten)

 

I am just not ready for them to be this grown up. I had to fight back the tears when they got out of the car on the first day of school. They all have pretty tough schedules this year because their mean parents made them take the harder classes, but they're off to a good start.

Vacation Day 16

Sunday, June 30, 2013

We got up a little early this morning. We had scheduled horseback riding today and needed to make it to Hot Springs, AR (or there abouts) for our appointment. We had a great time and the kids were thrilled since they had been looking forward to it for the whole trip.

 

We really liked the fact that the paths wound through the woods and through a couple of creeks. There were fallen trees that we had to go around and branches to duck under and lots of hills. It made the ride so much more interesting.

After our ride we drove on to Texarkana where we met friends for dinner. It was so good to see them. I know our kids don't remember but they used to all play together.....almost every day!

We had intended to head on to Dallas for the night, but when we got back in the car we all decided that we were tired and it was just too late to drive anymore so we stayed found a place to stay for the night.

We got up the next morning and headed home. When we stopped to grab some lunch, though, it occurred to us that we were going to hit Austin right around 5:00 and traffic would be terrible. We couldn't decided what to do but finally decided to stop and see a movie to kill some time. I know, who does that on their way home from vacation?

We finally made it home and are so glad to be here!!

Vacation Day 15

Saturday  June 29, 2013

Our big goal today was to get to Lynchburg, TN. There we were touring the Jack Daniels Distillery.

Here's a free Jack on the Rocks...........

(sorry, their joke....not mine)

Anyway, the distillery tour is great! We really liked it and it's quite fascinating how it's developed and how they do it.

Afterwards, we walked into town and did a little shopping.

Wyatt stopped to play checkers. It's a hard game to win since the pieces don't move.

We also stopped in at the Moon Pie shop and bought a whole box, plus several individual flavors. I had no idea they had so many flavor options these days.

After we were done shopping, we got back on the road and headed for Memphis where we spent the night in a nice Hilton hotel. Dax and I sat down in the lobby bar for a little while and just watched people. It was both relaxing and entertaining.

Vacation Day 14

Friday   June 28, 2013


This morning our first order of business was a tour of Old Kentucky Chocolates. Time spent in a chocolate kitchen is a great start to the day. It was neat to see the machines and processes that they use, and to learn that they still do a whole lot of their work by hand. Then we shopped in the store and of course made a few purchases.

Once we were done there we headed on to Louisville, Kentucky. There we visited the Louisville Slugger Museum. It's a really nice place. There is a movie to be seen, a Lego room with some really impressive Lego art, and the factory. The factory tour was informative and a lot of fun. You get to see the whole process for bats they make and the different ways that they are made.

Just around the corner from the museum we saw this impressive car. If you can't tell, the whole thing is covered with red glass beads.

Before we left town we decided to walk down the to eat at Joe's Crab Shack which is on the water's edge. It makes for a lovely view and we had a great lunch.

We really didn't have anything else planned for the day so we decided to just get in the car and keep driving. I had planned to spend the night in Nashville, TN, but had trouble finding a hotel. We finally decided to stop in a small town on the state line. And since it was still early enough in the evening, the kids had plenty of time to enjoy the pool for awhile.

Oh, and I almost forgot our stop in Bowling Green, KY, at the Corvette Museum. The girls and I decided to wait in the car, but the boys went in to drool over the cars for a bit. They didn't have time to tour the museum, but there had been a big event going on that day so they got to sit in the newest model Corvette. They were in heaven!!

 

Vacation Day 13

Thursday  June 27, 2013


This morning we got up and got out of hotel Hell as quickly as possible. We went down the road and had breakfast then headed over to do a coal mine tour. I don't like closed in places like that so I waited while Dax and the kids did the tour. They seemed to have liked it alright.

As we were heading out of town, Dax found a place where we could pan for gems so we stopped and did that. It was really hard to find because you drive down what looks like someone's driveway. Then you get to a metal building where business is going on. You kind of drive through their parking lot and around the building and find another driveway from there. Then you finally get to a gate that you have to open and close (horses on the property) and the panning place is in an old shed in front of this guy's house. Of course there were no signs up anywhere to let us know we were on the right track. It's a wonder we actually ever found it.

Anyway, it was fun but we didn't find any gems......just some pretty rocks, I guess.

After we left there we were back on the road to Lexington, KY, where we're spending the night. What a difference a day makes!! Tonight we're staying in the Crowne Plaza which is a far cry from what we stayed in last night. Our room tonight is about three times the size of the one we were in last night and it's far, far cleaner.

Vacation Day 12

Wednesday   June 26, 2013

We got up this morning and headed for West Virginia. There were some things that I had thought we would do, but after looking more closely Dax and I decided that it probably wasn't what I had originally thought it was. So that kind of left us with a day of just driving.

On the way into Gettysburg we had seen a sign for Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium so we headed there first. I had been able to get some coupons for free fudge online as well so we hit the jackpot! It was a quirky little place but the people were nice. I even got some free day lily plants while I was there because they were thinning the beds.

Here's a couple of the nuts I saw:

After we all bought some candy and fudge we got back on the road and out of the blue, Dax decided that we should go see the battle field in Antietam. So we did.

We watched a short film about the area and the battle and then did the car tour of the battle grounds. Well, during the film they mentioned Harper's Ferry and the battle there so guess where we headed next?

We had a little trouble finding the area because the visitor's center is quite a ways from it. And it has a parking area separate from the tour destination and the visitor's center. You park and get on a bus that takes you to the Harper's Ferry Historic District and drops you off.

It looked like a really neat little area, but we only got to see a little bit of it because they closed everything down at 5:00. So we walked down to the river to look around and then headed back to wait for the bus to make it's next round to the parking lot.

Since it was already late in the day and we still had a very long drive ahead of us we decided it was time to get serious and hit the road.

We spent the night in Beckley, WV, in what it probably the nastiest motel I have ever been in. It was surface clean (the parking lot was clean and at first glance the room looked clean) but deep down it was dirty and nasty. The only plus was that the towels did smell of bleach when I went to take a shower. We probably would have gone somewhere else for the night except it was already very late and we didn't see anything else that looked any better. Ugh!! But, it builds character, right?

Vacation Day 11

Tuesday June 25, 2013

We had a little bit of a hectic start to the morning. When I got up I called to arrange for a tour in Gettysburg but had to leave a message. The man doing the tours called back while the kids and I were still down at breakfast. As it turned out they only had room left on the morning tour and that was it for the whole day. We were not packed yet and were still a ways away so we had to put it into high gear. I called again when we were getting close to let them know that we were on our way and they were gracious enough to wait for us. We did a tour with the Historic Tour Company that is more geared towards kids so it tells the battle stories in a different way.

It was really interesting tour and pretty much hit on each battleground and gave us the backgrounds for what was going on as we drove all over the area. There some very pretty country in the area.

After the tour we decided to go ahead and spend the night in Gettysburg that night so that we could do some looking around town instead of having to get back on the road right away. It took some work but I finally found a hotel so we went to have lunch and do some shopping around town until the room was ready.

When we got back to the hotel I took the girls to the pool while Dax and Wyatt went to get tickets for a ghost tour that night. Then we all just relaxed a little.

Later Dax, Wyatt, and Abigail left to go do the ghost tour (They said the tour guide never mentioned ghosts, spirits, or anything of the sort. Very disappointing.) and I stayed with Addison and Kirsten. The girls decided to go ahead and get their showers out of the way while the others were gone. Kirsten went first. Then, when Addison got out of the shower she asked Kirsten if she thought the soap made her face feel slimy when she washed it. Kirsten told her that she had used her body wash and that the soap had been in the shower when she got in.......the maid must have missed it when she had cleaned the room last. Addison FLIPPED OUT! She was going on about how she had washed her face with a stranger's used soap. It was hysterical!! When the others got back and she told them about it Wyatt told her that some man had probably used it to wash his butt. You gotta' love brothers.

Dax and I decided to go to a pub in town before we stopped to get dinner, but when we walked out of the hotel the wind was blowing like crazy and alarms were going off in town. It was crazy! We went back to our room and waited for about 30 minutes and all the activity had passed so we started over again. The pub had closed already (it was only like 9:00) so we stopped at another place in town, had a drink together, then grabbed some dinner and headed back in for the night.

It was another busy day and we were once again a tired bunch.

Vacation Day 10

Monday  June 24, 2013

What a day it was!! We started the day by going to Hershey Chocolate World. Heaven!!!

They have several different things to do there. We took their Chocolate World tour which was very cute. And at the end of it, they give you a chocolate bar. What? Let's do that again!! (Which we did, but not right away.)

They also have a 4D movie that we watched. It was cute.

But the very best part was the chocolate making experience where you get to create your own chocolate bar. You choose the base, any add ins, and sprinkles on top. Then while the bar cools you get to design the wrapper for it and it all gets put together and placed in a silver tin. It was a lot of fun!!

 

After we finished at Chocolate World, we headed into Lancaster County to do a little bit of shopping and had lunch at Good & Plenty. It had been recommended to us by a client.

Once it was getting into the late afternoon/early evening we headed back over to Hershey and went to Hershey Park. It was perfect!! I guess since it was a Monday night there weren't many people there. We didn't have to wait in long lines to get on rides or anything. As a matter of fact, I think we only had to wait at all maybe once or twice. Mostly we just were able to walk right up and get on the ride. Dax and Wyatt rode every roller coaster in the park except for one. And they didn't ride it because it broke down while they were in line.

We stayed until the park closed and they kicked us out. We had a great day but boy were we all tuckered out by the end of it.

Vacation Day 9

Sunday June 23, 2013

This morning we got up and into the city to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Both are free to see, but you have to get a ticket and appointed time at Independence Hall. We got our tickets and had some time before the tour, so we decided to see the Liberty Bell first.

The line was rather long, but moved quickly. The building it's housed in has a lot of other items and information about the Liberty Bell also.

By the time we were done there, it was time to walk over for our tour of Independence Hall.

The tour was informative, but, unfortunately, they don't let you see much of the building. Really, just two rooms downstairs. That was a little disappointing.

One thing we found ironic is that we were there to see the birthplace and symbol of American freedom, but you have to go through security (where they search your bags and everything) to get into both places.

By the time we were done there we were all hungry and decided that since we were in Philadelphia we should probably have a Philly Cheese Steak. So, we walked a few blocks and bought sandwiches. Let me tell you, they are very proud of these sandwiches in Philly. Four sandwiches, a couple of fries, and drinks. $51.00!!! Holy Cow! The sandwiches were good, but they weren't $51.00 good.

After the sandwiches, we stopped next door and got some frozen yogurt before walking back to the car and getting back on the road.

But, once we were on the road and ready to head out of town, we remembered the Philadelphia Art Museum. We didn't go inside, but we couldn't resist a chance to 'go all Rocky'.

Trust me, we're all so tired that there was no running up those steps.

After this, we did make our way back to the car and headed to Harrisburg where we're spending the night. It's good to just take it easy a little.

Vacation Day 8

Saturday      June 22, 2013


Today we got up early, got the car loaded, and headed to Jamestown Settlement. I found Jamestown to be more interesting than Colonial Williamsburg. I guess it was really more of what I was expecting Colonial Williamsburg to be.

Anyway, in Jamestown Settlement it is set up with a port, and Indian village, and a fort where the settlers would live.

They have demonstrations of the cannons on the dock and it was almost time for the next one when we arrived so we headed to the ships first.

It's really amazing how small the ships actually are inside and how many people sailed on them each trip in order to come to this new world.

Once the demonstration was over, we made our way to the fort.

From the fort we headed into the Indian village. It's really amazing all of the stuff that was out and available for us to touch and look at. They had several of these skins hanging and tools beside them to try your hand at removing the hair. I guess they don't worry about people taking the tools because it's a deer hoof still attached to the leg bone and who wants that?

 

 

 

Once we finished up at Jamestown we made the drive over to York Victory Center. They also have it set up like it might have been at the time.  Although it's set up as the soldiers would have been during the battle. We stopped and watched a talk by the 'doctor' which would likely have little experience and limited medical equipment. It was quite interesting. And we hung around for another canon exhibition.

 

 

After we were finished with our tours, we got back in the car for the long drive to Philadelphia where we spent the night. We got in late and rather than drive around trying to find somewhere to eat we just had pizza delivered to the hotel. So, we ate dinner and called it a night.

Busy Weekend

We interrupt this vacation blogging to recap the weekend.

Dax and Wyatt played in a charity golf tournament on Saturday. They played golf, got fed lunch, and won a trophy. What more could you ask for, right?

Except, this is the trophy they won.....

.........because they came in 'dead ass last'. But they did have fun and it's the first tournament outside of school that Wyatt has played in. I think that's good practice for him.

Meanwhile, miles and miles away, Addison was in a Watermelon Festival Parade in McDade. It's a very small town but there were lots of entries into the parade. The parade route was only three blocks long and I know there were over 70 entries in the parade.

And honey was it hot out there!!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon inside trying to escape the heat and then we all went for snow cones after dinner.  It was a kind of long day but it was a fun one.

Sunday we met up with their grandparents for lunch and then the kids went home with them for the week (or more, who knows). They always love to go spend time with them. I would say that it gives Dax and I a break but not so much because now we have their dogs to take care of. lol

Vacation Day 7

Friday    June 21, 2013

Today we spent the day in Colonial Williamsburg. It's a really big place with much to see. There's so much to see and so much information being shared with you that it all starts to mush together and it's hard to keep it straight after awhile.

I found it interesting that in the Governor's house weapons were kept on grand display to prove his power. The walls were covered with swords and firearms.

There were lots of houses, public buildings, and businesses to look around and they had people in them that wore period clothing and told you about what went on in that place and how it related to life in the colony in general. Like I said, a lot of information.

When I was in the gun maker's shop I notice this poor little girl peaking in the window....

(Addison)

 

There was so much to see and learn in Colonial Williamsburg that we didn't do anything else today.

 

Once we left there we just went and ate and called it a day early. Hit the pool when we got back to the hotel and hopefully just relax a little.

 

Vacation Day 6

Thursday  June 20, 2013


We slept in a little this morning since we're all exhausted and sore. I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing!

I had planned some battleground tours east of Roanoke today but we decided that since we were this close, we would drive up to Charlottesville and tour Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello.

It's an impressive house and the grounds are equally as beautiful. The tour of the house was very interesting and we learned a lot.

They had several things set up for the kids (or adults) to do like writing using a quill pen and and ink well and a few games that they might have used from the period that Jefferson lived.

We spent quite a bit of time at Monticello so when we left it was time to make the drive to Williamsburg, VA. There was a lot of driving today.

When we got all settled in at the hotel the kids headed to the pool and I used the guest laundry to wash some clothes. I washed two loads of clothes only to find that neither one of the dryers was working. I found out where the nearest laundry mat was and Dax and I raced over there. We had barely enough time to get the clothes dry before they were closing. Seriously, the woman locked the doors behind us.

Tomorrow we'll get up and see what Colonial Williamsburg is like.