Princess, a.k.a. Kilroy?

Grandma took the kids to the Grand Opening Weekend of a new yogurt place in town..they were taking pictures with the mascot...

Order of Importance

This summer, the kids are keeping a daily journal of what they do each day.
Gman had an eventful day today...especially by 5 y.o. standards.

• He went to day camp.
• They went to the pool.
• He got to pick Chick-fil-a for dinner.
• He fell on the Chick-fil-a playground and got a big black goose-egg right next to his eye.
• We took a little trip to the ER since his pupil didn't appear to be dilating (btw, he's fine).

His journal entry sums up his exciting day. He had to be reminded of the 2nd part.

Cat and Scratch Fever!!!

A few weeks ago, the kids received tickets to see a girls UK basketball game for perfect attendance in January at school. The girls play in Memorial Coloseum....where the boys team played before the city built Rupp Arena for them. So this is pretty hallowed ground, many of the historical noteworthy UK teams played in this building. Not that the kids grasp the significance of it all.

We walked in only 15 minutes before the game and were trying to figure out what to get for dinner. (Not the healthiest of ideas, but it was a school night, and there was homework to do first, etc etc, sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do!)
As we're standing there, one of the UK relations guys runs up to me, hands me 2 ticket-looking-things and says, "Here's my last 2 kids' pre-game passes, RUN!" and points towards a specific corner of the court. Not knowing what I've just volunteered my kids for, we ran!

They got to stand on the court sideline for the pre-game show. Both mascots (Scratch and the Wildcat) came over to 'high 5' the kids. And as the players were introduced, they'd run down a tunnel of cheerleaders & UK flags and hand a small auto-graphed ball to 1 of the kids!!!

This one is Scratch.








































This one is Wildcat...ignore the other random kids....they were trying to usher us all out...I had to hurry...this is the first time our kids would get within 50 feet of large costumed-beings!

Alligator Math

We went to The Newport Aquarium yesterday! "It's a Million gallons of Fun!"

Gman + Princess + Al = 14 foot Mighty Mike

I now have proof!

Herding my 3 kids is like wrestling a 14 foot alligator!!

Horse Mania 2010!

New art project in town in preparations for the World Equestrian Games. The little ones and I managed to get around to about a third of them in just a couple hours. (Al didn't want to go since he'd already been to half with his camp friends.) Great time and some beautiful horses!

PS--The foals were all decorated by schools in Fayette County. The American Flag foal was made by Princess's school. The red with yellow lightening bolts foal was made by Al's school.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Vacay, Day 3.....aka Parade-palooza

Day 2 was just driving the rest of the way to Orlando. Made it to the condo in time to stock the kitchen, then head to the pool for a luau complete with Hawaiian dancers!
Day 3-- Went to Disney World...Where all your Dreams Come True (c)
Of course, we had to take a pic with The Castle! (all these pics can be clicked on to see them enlarged)

Disney does not do anything by half!! Including parades!
The afternoon parade at Magic Kingdom had ALL the characters owned by Disney...here's just a few:




It's not disney if you don't get a few pics with characters! Gman R-E-F-U-S-E-D to get in a picture without Daddy to protect him from imminent danger posed by giant creatures, no matter how beloved.


They also have a night-time parade--supposedly for this summer. Story has it these were from a parade many years ago and they are going to throw it out after getting one more season's usage.
I personally thought it was the coolest thing all day!!! We went back and watched it another day (I'll most more pics then)

Vacation 2010

Last year, we didn't do a real "vacation vacation" because we were saving up for Vacay 2010....boy it's a good thing!

Day 1--Driving & visiting:
Taken while still in the garage I think (they're still smiling because at this point, they didn't realize that it would be 2 days in the van):


We stopped off in Atlanta for a visit with the Fun Family at the World Of Coke. The girls were like best friends all over again! And nothing like good ol' American Coke to clear away the after taste from the Beverly.



After driving a little bit past that, we stopped in Macon, GA for dinner and a visit with some other friends--MamaBrande & her crew. After many attempts to get a smiling pic of all the little kids, I gave up and opted for silly faces:

Memory Lane Monday #21

I took a road trip this Memorial Day weekend--literally and figuratively! My carmates (or should I say new-van-mates? I traded in the Uplander last week): Princess, Gman, and my mom & dad made the looong drive to Enterprise, in southern Alabama on Saturday--I lived there for 9th-12th grade. It's the one place we lived in all my military-brat days that I truly did not want to leave and consider to be "home".

Enjoyed a BBQ and pool party that evening at my folk's friends' house--John & Debbie Railsback. Their sons Travis & Shawn are my age--Shawn and I were friends in Germany first, then our dads were both sent to Ft. Rucker, Alabama at the same time! Few military brats get to go to school for 7 years on 2 different continents with the same person!

On Sunday morning I had brunch with my girlfriends from high school....although honestly, we couldn't tell that 21 years had past! We had sooo much fun traveling down Memory Lane together!!!! Unfortunately it was too short and incomplete with Alison not being there (she was very ill). But we'll definitely be planning a REAL get together soon!!!

May 1989, l-r: Alison, Cynthia, Cathy, Marissa, me
May 2010, clockwise from top: Marissa, Cynthia, Cathy, me



After brunch, the folks, kids & I packed back in the van and drove to central Alabama for a surprise 50th Anniversary celebration for some dear family friends my parents have had since I was 5. It was wonderful to see them again!

Long trip, short time, but oh so very worth it!

Al goes to Washington

Al and I went to see my grandfather in Washington. Had a great visit with him! He lives on the coast. I've taken a few trips there, but this was Al's first time in Washington.


We drove out to the shore on the one day that it wasn't raining there, but the wind still made it pretty cold. The tree in the background is actually GINORMOUS! It washed up on shore in a storm about 2 years ago.


Of course, with this being Al's first trip to Washington, it wouldn't be complete without spending a little time in Seattle seeing what it's most famous for (other than rain....which we saw P-L-E-N-T-Y of while at Grandpa's. We just happened to go site-seeing on the beautiful weather day.)

Pike's Place Public market. This is where a scene from Sleepless in Seattle was filmed.


The guys who are famous for throwing the fish.


The "first" Starbucks is at the Public Market. Although technically this one is not the first. The very first one was a few stores down, they had to move it because the building it was in was being torn down. So this one is really kind of the 4th Starbucks that's treated as if it were the first.
































And what's Seattle if you don't go to the Space Needle?

The Minor League for the Minor Leagues

Lexington now has a new minor-minor basketball league team--The Bluegrass Stallions. Coached by Kyle Macy (a former UK starter on awesome UK championship team in the 70's). Many of the players on the Stallions team are former UK players and one former EKU player--my alma mater! Craig, the little ones and I went to the game last night (Al was with his dad). As we were heading to the ticket window, some random stranger walking near us gave us his 4 extra tix! Thank you random stranger! Some funny rules--they have 4 and 5 point shots.








They had one of the big bouncers for kids.

Conversation:
Mom: You look cute in that turtleneck!
Gman: I don't have a turtle neck!!!







The intermission time-filler was the game where 2 random people were chosen to shoot and make a lay-up, a free-throw, a 3-pointer, and a 1/2 court shot in a minute or less. They gave the girl (who appeared to be about 10yo) a break, she didn't have to do the 1/2 court shot. The prize: "Chick-fil-A for a year." The guy couldn't get the 1/2 court shot. But the crowd went WILD when the 10yo girl completed her round!!!! Afterward, the announcer interviewed her. She plays organized basketball but had never made a 3-pt shot before that one!



How many Chick-fil-A cows does it take to make a herd?

It's a Christmas Miracle!

We went to the Ky. Horse Park this weekend for the Southern Lights display and the miniature train display, crafts sale, and petting zoo. We were shocked that Princess, the kid that is generally scared of dogs that are taller than her knee, BEGGED to go on a camel ride! Al on the other hand, had to be bribed to go with her. The entire time we were in line, the camels were delightfully compliant. And then once our children were on one, it decided he was done, was quite resistant to doing anything the animal handler wanted and actually tried to bite the handler. I stood there in speechless horror thinking the 11 o'clock news was going to feature an angry mom attacking a camel.

For the very first time, we have a picture of the kids with Santa where the kids are all smiling, unafraid, and actually WITH Santa (as opposed to Santa being 25 feet BEHIND the children).

Where, oh where...

have I been? Haven't blogged in an eternity. We have been B.U.S.Y. I tell, ya!! July has just been a whirlwind. We've actually done several Take Off Tuesdays and other adventures that I haven't posted. I am having major camera issues.

July 4th weekend--Family Reunion in Tennessee. Had a fabulous time! Great to see everyone again!

July 7th--Take Off Tuesday was to the Cincinnati Zoo (one last trip before annual pass expired) to see the exhibits we missed on Mother's Day and revisit the favorite exhibits. Then on to vacation: Great Wolf Lodge.What a needlessly expensive odyssey that turned out to be. But the kids did have a great time on the water slides--they didn't want to stay as long as we figured, and they didn't like the special wolf-den/bunkbed room! Also, snuck in a visit to the Aquarium before that pass expired and did a fun Duck Boat ride on the Ohio River.

July 14th--Take Off Tuesday was to the Old Kentucky Chocolates factory here in town. I won't bore you with more pics since Andrea posted her's from when she came to visit us.

July 16th-- Alexander became a teen-ager. He asked, in lieu of a party, to take him and 3 friends to Six Flags (thanks to my Mom for coming and keeping my sanity in check!) I figured it would be a nightmare, but the day went EXCEPTIONALLY well! THe boys had a great time and were overall, very well behaved; turned the neighbor's son into a roller coaster junkie.

July 21st--Take Off Tuesday was to the Valley View Ferry again, but 4x better since 4/5ths of the Funaholics went too!

Had an amazing visit with the Funaholics on July 22 Part A and Part B, as well as July 23rd!

July 24th--Left on a jet plane for Vegas, Baby!!! Had lunch with 2 of my great-aunts. Craig & I met up with Laura & Ash for a joint celebration: Our 7th anniversary and Ash's birthday. Blue Man Group was my favorite activity, but I am DIEING for my Ferrari delivery!!! The gear shift fits PERFECTLY in my hand!

July 27th--Al, Craig and I got to see the International Space Station fly by at 9:50pm!

Havin' Fun!

Guess who's at my house? And they're livin' up to their nicknames! And if I was smart, I would've taken a camera with me to the ferry yesterday.

Take Off Tuesday--KY Edition #3

OK, OK, since we had to postpone Take-Off Tuesday due to sickness this week, we'll call this one "Fieldtrip Friday". I have NEVER seen one of the kids that sick---that didn't require hospitalization anyways. But Gman is pretty much back to normal. He couldn't speak above a whisper for over 3 days, & his voice is still a little squeeky.

Tonight, we went to Kids Night at Long John's/A&W. Al didn't don a pirate hat---cramped his style. Princess hooked her arm and said "AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" What a difference 7.8 years makes, eh? (FYI--I worked for LJS/A&W when they first started combining them into one restaurant. I was the Construction Coordinator. The one in the International mall in San Diego? Yeah, that was my project! Did a bunch in TX, too.)











After dinner, we went to the Free Friday Flicks at the park, the show was Madagascar 2. They had a moon bounce for the kids (I love when I catch them holding hands!) And facepainting...Gman's is supposed to be Wal-E, like on his shirt. We got home at 11pm, both fell asleep in the car....we'll see just how permanent that ink is on pillowcases tomorrow.






















Al did not want his picture taken, so I had to be slick. Kind of like I had to be this morning........when I caught him watching TV................wearing a spandex book-cover on his head. But as he said, "I look tiiiiiiiight! Don't you think I look tight?"











Yes, Al, I do.

In lieu of Take-Off Tues

The route to my mother-in-law's house is about 3 hrs long and has really had nothing noteworthy other than the "The bizarre billboard baby," UNTIL a couple weeks ago. We just happened to be driving by during a giant Grand Opening last month.










A new Harley dealership in London, KY! Because of my new Honorary Biker Chick status bestowed upon me by Ann, I felt it required of me to stop and take some pics (the kids are not in the pics because they really didn't seem to care for some reason, and I WAS NOT about to loose my Honorary Biker Chick status if one of them tried to self-entertain by testing the domino effect on expensive motorcycles.)















































And for Kim & Laura's new collection, the ladies' room door sign: