Cute clip from yesterday

Hannah has been recently starting to have her toys 'talk' to each other - Faith did this too when she was Hannah's age, and it's the beginning of imaginary play. We love it. Here's a clip of Hannah in the car making the Loveys talk to each other, then giving them a kiss. Also check out Robby clapping. A very cute clip. The best of the car ride yesterday. Enjoy.

Another day, another ulcer

Not really. But expectedly, today was a little rougher.

Relatively insane but uneventful morning. Lunch at the Varsity was great - some stinking good onion rings and oh man, that fried Peach Pie was decadent. Melt some ice cream over that baby and I wouldn't want to leave.

Had a few bad road trip cliches today - the unnecessary bathroom stop, for example. But all in all a pretty decent trip considering how long and dull the drive is. Did break out the DVD as expected today, but only one, and we were able to transition back out of having a movie on with no fuss. So, Cincinnati to Jacksonville with just one movie. I'd call that a good trip.

The girls were wonderful at Grandma and Grandpa's place. A little wild and wound up but that's to be expected. But polite and had a good attitude about trying new things at dinner. Was very proud of them.

It's 10:18 and the lights are out - Mari and Faith are still awake trying to be quiet and Robby is still rolling around in his Peapod grunting to himself. Hopefully all will be quiet soon.

Left the camera at Grandma and Grandpa's, I think...had hoped to post a video or two from the drive today, but Steph is waiting for the computer, so I'll wait till tomorrow.

Hopefully tomorrow is saner.

More then, bye,

Matt

PICS!!! - Scroll down for news of the day!

Pretty much the day in microcosm:

Lake Winnepesaukah from the Ferris Wheel. This place is great.

Faith got to ride the parachutes this year. I think she looks very content.

After a blood sugar readjustment.

PICS!!! - Scroll down for news of the day!

Do you realize how hard it is to get good pics of the Frog Hopper?

Hannah on the Carousel - a rare un-sad moment.

Robby on the Carousel

I almost never make it into pics - so here. The Wacky Worm.

PICS!!! - Scroll down for news of the day!

Great pics from the swings:




Twins waiting for Steph and the big girls on the flume.

Road Rules

What a day!

Whatever inflection or meaning you choose to draw from those three words, you're probably right - we've had it ALL today.

Got up at 5:30 - should have gotten up at 5:00. Should mention that Steph was up packing till 2am. Anyway. Got stuff crammed into every available inch of space in the Suburban and rolled out of the place only about 10 minutes late.

Turned on the camcorder to do some 'the journey begins' filming only to find that the camcorder video screen is on the fritz. Everything looks fine, the whole display just slowly creeps down and then cycles back to the top. It's like the 'vertical hold' on an old TV is JUST off.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that the video camera is just about the most important thing in my world. When it's not working, I'm not working. So it started me off with a rotten feeling. Steph tinkered with it and then found that when you push the button for 'easy mode' it clicks into place. Sigh of relief. Couple of jokes about how the "Easy Button" actually had worked like the commercials.

Had to stop to get milk at UDF on the way out. Gave Faith and Mari some new plastic juice box type drink containers and Mari immediately said she couldn't get hers to work. So, before we even got on the highway, had to pull over across from Coney Island to fix her cup...which she just hadn't opened enough.

Soon after, Steph told me that now pushing the easy button didn't work either. Return of sick feeling in my gut.

Understand - I think it's still on the coverage plan at Best Buy - but taking it there would mean not getting it back before the start of the big trip. Would also mean that we wouldn't have one right now. And I tend to think that it's working fine, but just the display is messed up...which would mean we could learn how to somehow shoot it and get OKAY video (keep in mind the hard drive cameras don't have an eyepiece for some reason), or maybe it's all messed up and the video we get will float down the screen too. Won't know until we save it to the computer and view it.

Point is, I'm a mess about it - my mind is racing. Go to Chattanooga Best Buy, buy a new one, that is compatible with my old battery, since the batteries they give you always need to charge for a few hours.

Meanwhile, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Now, you realize you've been reading all this and we still are only 10 mintues out of Cincinnati yet.

Anyway, by accident I discover that we can get it to lock into place just by jiggling the screen a little bit. So it works. Sort of. We hope.

Now, Faith starts saying that she thinks she's going to throw up. Which she pretty much never says unless she's really sick. So after the requisite speech about telling the truth, we pull over, get all the stuff out of the car that needs to get out for Faith to get out (including Mari) and of course she is fine. Here's the funny part - she was just hungry. That kid has such food issues she doesn't even recognize the sensation of hunger. Probably never been actually hungry before. Just bored.

Get back in, and finally things start to smooth out. Made it all the way to Tennessee with no stops. Only scare was us thinking that Robby's Lovey had fallen out when we stopped, but we finally found it. Serious clockwork from the twins (for those not in the know, clockwork refers to their uncanny ability to take turns being sad).

After that stop, straight through Tennessee to Lake Winnie. No problems. Feeling good. Minimal travel cliches - couple of "are we there"s but not too many. Lots of dropped toys and books. Oh well. Didn't have to bust out the DVDs at all - and they only asked 2 or 3 times. Even got Faith to like a new "mommy and daddy song" - she now likes "Stand" by R.E.M. -- Good girl.

As for Lake Winnie, thrilled to say we pulled the surprise off. Faith saw one billboard on the way, but didn't ask if we were going. When we pulled into the parking lot, Faith was looking down and didn't see the huge sign. But then she looked around and started getting suspicious because it really didn't look like a hotel. She figured it out and got excited.

Then something weird happened with Mari - apparently we hadn't heard and she had just said something to Faithy about not going to the hotel...or something. We don't know exactly. But she got really upset and started saying "No, daddy, I was just teasing" and started to cry. And then I think she didn't believe us. But eventually she got excited too. Honestly, I think it was just too much for her. She can barely understand simple concepts like "if the babies are sleeping, no you can't go say hi to them" so to completely throw off her fragile understanding of what was already a weird day must have really rocked her world.

It was hot, but honestly, we didn't really start to bake until 5 or so - when the breeze was blowing it was not bad at all. Had a great day. Faith and Mari were great. Robby was pretty good, and even clapped his hands in excitement on the carousel and train. Hannah...well, she was hot and sad most of the time. Screamed her face off on the train ride and wasn't too happy about the carousel. But we weathered it.

I cannot say enough good things about Lake Winnepesaukah. I'm a HUGE fan of the 'family' or 'old-time' amusement parks and this has got to be one of the best. Perfect size, good value, good variety, reasonably priced food, great layout, well-maintained...for you Cincinnati folks, it's everything Coney Island should be. We love Coney but it falls short in a lot of ways. Won't go into that here, but if you're interested, ask me next time you see me. Ought to post a rant sometime about how much I love this kind of place - Wonderland in Amarillo, Centreville in Toronto, Coney Island back in Cincinnati, even with its flaws. I mean, King's Island is great and all but...enough is enough, right? There is something to be said for moderation (said the guy with the ridiculously long blog post).

Sitting in the dark in the Super 8 Fort Oglethorpe. It's...well, it's a hotel. Mari is I'm sure still awake thinking of excuses to stay up. That kid has sleep deprivation. Guess she'll succeed at college pretty well.

Anyway, that's all for now - except for some pics. Enjoy!

Matt

Almost done!

Car is about 80% packed. Trouble is about 90% of the space is gone. No problem. The inside of our car come vacation time follows different rules of space and distance. A little warping of spacetime in the back seat never hurt anyone.

The kids have had a pretty big TV day, but we've been good about limiting it the last few days so we don't feel too bad about it.

It's somehow appropriate that this day full of packing, taking care of the kids, and running last minute errands...is our Anniversary. Like our life, it aint glamorous, but it's what we've chosen and what we love. We love our family, we love our trips, we love our lives. 9 years of marriage. I suppose a lot of people have come and gone in that time, but we're just getting started, people.

Steph, I love you. With us lately it's been more about wild twists and turns and less about ups and downs - just the way I like my roller coasters. I wouldn't trade our life - or any part of it - for anything. I have been blessed to share the last 9 years of marriage with you and am looking forward to about 90 more.

Next year is 10 years and somebody better throw us a freaking awesome party and babysit the kids for a whole week.

We'll check in from some hotel somewhere sometime soon. Wish us luck!

Matt

Packing for six

Oh man, this is nuts.

Preparations continue for our departure early Thursday morning. Tomorrow we somehow have to find the time and the space to pack everything the whole family needs for a week and a half into the Suburban (thanks mom for letting us borrow it).

The plan is this: We're going to keep the girls up really late tomorrow night. Then we hope to drag them out of bed, slap some clothes on them and hit the road. Breakfast in the car. Lunch in the car. Stopping as little as possible. Hopefully the early start combined with the late night will be conducive to them doing a little napping on the way.

What they don't know is that we're planning to go to Lake Winnepesaukah for the afternoon - hopefully we make good time and arrive in Chattanooga by about 3 or so, which will give them a good 5 hours to work off steam. Like Winnie also has a special discount for kids on Thursdays so it makes sense. Steph and I can't wait to see their reaction - because they loved it last summer, but we've been saying since then that we probably would never be able to go back there again. It's gonna blow their minds. Gonna be a little dicey with the weather - usual pop-up storms predicted and a high of 94 that day. Ouch. But, we'll keep 'em hydrated.

The second day, a more relaxed morning in the hotel, and then we're hoping to stop for lunch at a road-food icon, The Varsity in Atlanta. That day will be a longer day of driving to get down to Jacksonville to visit the family there.

It may be a subject I've covered before, but it bears repeating - my stance on the in-car DVD player. I'm a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. I will not allow my kids to watch videos the whole way on a car trip like this. I love travel, I love the road. I am what they call a road geek, endlessly entertained by something as boring as highway signs and mile markers. And while I don't expect my kids to share the same dorky fascination, I do expect them to develop a basic appreciation for the landscapes and sights in this country. So, the kids have had it repeated endlessly that they do not get to watch movies the whole time. I'm sorry, but as we enter Tennessee and head up Jellico mountain, they need to look around. As we drive through a major city like Atlanta, the TV will definitely go off so they can look at the skyline. AND, there will be "no-tv" times at other times as well, because we sometimes need to have quiet time, and sometimes we need to listen to music. I have prepared my iPod with playlists of "Mommy and Daddy music" that I think Faith and Mari might enjoy - could be a disaster, but we're gonna try.

And yes, even though Faith has learned that saying "boring" will get her in trouble, there are some stretches of this drive that are so topographically challenged (I'm looking at you, Georgia) that even *I* will allow the girls to zone out to a mindless video. I'm old-fashioned, but not cruel.

May not get to post tomorrow - if not, look for updates on the trip in a few days. Thanks for stopping by - and everyone check out the comments we got on the VBS post below. COOL!!!

Matt

P.S. - almost forgot - cracked the 200 pound mark at last - down to 199.6. Never thought I would get there by vacation. Time to gain it all back now! =)

VBS....check.

Done.

Well, there's the little program tonight still to do, but all the hard work is done. Went well. Thank goodness AM was there to take the lead with the older kids - he knew them a lot better.

Kudos to Augsburg Fortress - the songs this year were much better than last year's stuff...although why they think the CD has to have a faux-hip-hop vibe I will never understand. So glad I didn't listen to the CDs until after the fact.

Faith has been positively obSESSED with the songs - she can't stop singing them. Which is a good thing. Glad she's interested and cares. It's been a wonderful experience for everyone involved.

So that means that the final hurdle has been jumped. Vacation is right in front of me. A long drive (which is something I love even without a destination), a trip to the family in Jacksonville, and then the beach awaits. 3 years it's been. That fact keeps blowing me away. 3 years, and it seems like so much longer.

We put together a spreadsheet to help us keep ahead of prep tasks for the trips, and we're sticking to it quite well. The house is in decent shape, and with any luck the last couple of days of packing won't be frantic.

Haven't mentioned the weight for a while - I was stuck at around 207 for a few weeks, and was perfectly happy to do so. Started getting a little lax around dinner time, but as long as I wasn't GAINING, I had no guilt. Well, I have been a little better the last few days and the bottom dropped out - just now I was 201.4, which is probably a little bit lower than accurate, but it does give me a little extra motivation to see if I can hit 200 by the time we leave. Gonna be tough...lots of 'hard to eat well' type events coming up. BUT, nice to say that I've finally passed the 50 pound mark.

Everything is well. Keep checking in!

Matt

Endings and Beginnings

It's been a pretty long time since I've posted! It's been a pretty tumultuous 4-5 months for me, though, as I've been trying to decide what path to take with my career. While I absolutely love almost all aspects of the school I've been teaching part-time in for 5 years, I was aware of the fact that the schedule was going to be changing in such a way that it would make me be home even less with my young, but growing WAY too quickly, kids.

The point of my going to a part-time job in the first place was to be able to be home more with the kids. So I started exploring my options. To make a very long story short, I have taken a position as a Spanish teacher with a small company that contracts to preschools to teach Spanish. I am SO excited about this new venture! I will pretty much be able to make my own schedule, within certain parameters. Better yet, I will be able to put my weekly hours in to 3 or so days a week as opposed to having to spread them out amongst 5. So I'll have 2 to 2 1/2 whole days off per week with the kids.

This coming school year is Faith's last when she'll be home for even part of the day (half-day kindergarten). It might be the last year that the twins are home all day. Our preschool has a 2 year old class (we're not sure if we'll send them at 2 yrs old or wait until they're 3). I am painfully aware of just how fast "it" really does go and want to enjoy this while I can.

My amazing colleagues at my, now former, school who took time off from their careers to stay home while their children were young have all told me that I will not regret it. All I know is that I am so sad to be leaving my friends but that I didn't feel one single ounce of regret as I was telling everyone yesterday.

I truly feel very much at peace with my decision. The new job is a pay cut for sure (at I was only working 35% of full time at my old school in the first place) but Matt and I feel we are aware of all of the repercusions of this and have a solid plan.

For now, though, it's on to VBS and on to preparing for our great trips!
Steph