Wild Weather

I am a weather nut! No seriously, I love weather. I love weather so much that I minored in Meteorology in college. I would have majored in it if I didn't need to have almost as many semesters of math as a math major... after taking Calculus twice, I decided, I needed a different major! Anyway, I digress!! LOL

On Friday there was a cold front heading our way and with it was a huge line of thunderstorms. I was looking forward to them as I just love to watch the lightening and see all the tall cloud formations.

Finally around 5pm the sky started to get dark and the rain began. It got pretty wild out there and was raining in wind blown sheets!

I went to check the back yard and my view was obscured! Seems a large branch fell from our only large tree....

Thankfully no one was hurt and nothing was damaged but our poor tree!

Update on Colin

I heard from Colin again last night and he is doing great!

He seemed really happy and tired too! He's been enjoying going to KidVenture everyday and making new projects and hanging out with his friends. He stays there until noon and then goes for lunch before finding some exhibit or museum to look at until it is time for the afteroon airshow.

He told me he had won a contest for a drawing he had made and was all excited about his accomplishments.

The others seem to be doing ok... Braden still asks each day "when is Colin coming home." So sweet that he misses his brother so much.

Blow-up and Blow-outs

Have you ever had a day where you suffer a whole days worth of frustrations in about 10 minutes time??

That pretty much sums up today.

It was a normal summer morning of trying to keep the kids focused on getting ready to go to camp. All was going according to schedule for the most part and we were nearly ready to go.

I went outside to get the bikes out of the shed and find my new outfitted bike as well. Only the evening before I had had Bill install my new iBert on the front of my bike so now my bike was a totally tricked out, baby carrying machine!! With the iBert up front and the standard bike seat in back, I would finally be ready to ride the kids to camp with the twins. Bill checked my bike over and blew up the tires. It was in the garage all ready for this morning.

Well, with some struggle, and help from Braden & Haley I got Payton & Sydney in their bike helmets and on my bike. The kids took to their bikes and we were finally ready to ride!

After posing for a quick picture to document this momentous occasion, we were off to camp! At least for a few feet until I felt a distinctive thump, thump. Seems that I blew-out the 20+ year old tires on my bike!!

"Ok kids! Back to the house!". I needed to get the girls in the stroller quickly if we were going to get to camp on time.

I quickly pulled out the double stroller and got the girls out of the bike seats. As I was putting them in, I smelled something... You all know the smell I'm talking about. Yup.. someone had poop!

I did a quick assessment and discovered that Payton was the offending baby. I yanked her out and ran inside quickly leaving 3 kids at the top of the drive way anxiously waiting to get going!

As I ran to the bedroom to grab a diaper I noticed thing were a bit sticky on my arm. Yup, just when you need to really get going, a huge blow-out! Payton had pooped everywhere including my arm! Yuck!

So after getting her changed and back in the stroller, we started off walking... and made it there just a bit late. So much for my plans and the wonderful new bike seat!!

1 week!!

I've made it one week!! Colin has officially been gone a whole week. And yes, it has gone pretty fast- most of the time.

Last night was another night that the phone did not ring... no call from Oshkosh, no update on what wonders the day had revealed to Colin's curious eyes. I know he is having a wonderful time and I had told my Mom & Dad that if he doesn't feel the need to call everyday, that is ok. I want him to enjoy and not feel pressured to check in but it does sting a bit to go to bed at night and not have heard that sweet voice. I still find myself checking his bed every night when I make my before bed rounds to cover and kiss each sleeping angel. I am always saddened to find no little curled up dreamer in his top bunk.

It still seems funny to walk to camp and only be watching 2 kids pedal their bikes ahead of me. I keep trying to count to 5 when we are out and keep coming up short. The van is quieter without him and not in a good way. He and Braden are always wrapped up in some kind of game or story in the way back, and now, Braden is sitting up front with Haley so as not to be alone. Even the girls are missing him because he is the one that helps me to carry them in and out of the van and also being that they are rear-facing, he entertains them as we drive. Sydney in particular loves Colin and I think she has been looking for him.

Braden tells me at least once a day that he wishes Colin was here. It is hard to see him feel sad and alone without his big brother. I know Braden really relies on his brother to be there for him. They happily go to camp and school holding hands most of the time. I think that for Braden, Colin is a safety net of comfort and security. The first night Colin was gone, Braden even slept in his brother's bed.

I guess I never realized how much stability having Colin adds to the family. He really has a great calming presence on the house - despite his occasional out bursts! He is so engaging and creative that the other two have been a bit lost without Colin to tell them what to do and play.

I was encouraged to see Braden and Haley get completely involved in a pretending game yesterday in the back yard. They were pretending to be Padmae and Anakin (of Star Wars fame) as they cared for twins Luke and Leaha. There was something so sweet about listening to them as they carried their imaginary twins to the ship or went out to buy them diapers and baby food! These two don't get a chance to play together that much and it was so nice that they have used this time without Colin to bond and reconnect.

I think Haley is the only one that isn't outwardly missing Colin.. when asked if she misses him she just says "no" will all the girly attitude of a 4 year old who is going on 24. Hey, I guess 5 out of 6 isn't bad! :)

So here's to hoping that he calls in tonight and makes his Mommy's night.

My New Toy

I've joined the present... I am a modern human.. I am the proud owner of my own personal netbook!! (Notice the accent on the word personal... not much around here is personal to anyone!)

I have been wanting to get a laptop for quite a while but have had a hard time justifying the purchase when there are so many other things here that could be bought with that money. I have total laptop envy of Bill and the IBM that he faithfully totes from work to home each day. Being the wonderful man that he is, he has been offering to buy me one for this or that holiday and I have gone along with it for a while and then change my mind and told him to not be so extravagant. "Let's use that money to buy clothes for the kids", etc.

Well, I took a small job a few weeks back helping a family to organize some old paperwork, files, and tax returns. I decided that I would save the money I made, and use it on a netbook. It wasn't enough but with some $$ from selling some baby items on craigslist, I figured eventually I would come up with the money. Then, something wonderful happened.. Woot had a Woot-off. Woot is one of these one deal a day websites but when they have a woot-off, they put up multiple deals until each one is gone. They offered an Asus Eee PC refurb for only $159 with a flat $5 shipping. I couldn't pass up the deal and I had already saved that much $. A win-win for me. So now I am writing this post from my new net book... or maptop (that's a mini-laptop in Bradenese).

So a whole new world of computer bliss has been opened up to me.. I love the idea of connecting on the go and being able to search the vast Internet at a moments notice. I also anticipate being able to blog more frequently, which should make my 'readers' happy! ;)

Day Six...

Well, Oshkosh - more exactly - EAA AirVenture - kicked off yesterday with some really neat fly ins. An aircraft called the WhiteKnightTwo arrived. It is the launch vehicle for the first civilian space flight system. Colin called to tell us all about what he saw, I had a hard time understanding what this "double airplane" he saw was and thought we was just talking about an old fashioned bi-plane. It seems the WK2 is a pretty impressive aircraft and it will be on display for the whole festival.

Colin was also excited to tell us about the fire bombing demo he saw done by a plane called Elvis.

The helicopter's tank holds 2,650 gallons of water or retardant and, according to a U.S. Forest Service study, is the most economical firefighting platform on a price-per-gallon basis. I think Colin just liked to see the big 'splash'!

Colin also got to attend KidVenture and play around in a green DC-3 that is one display just for the kids. He said he has made some friends and is looking forward to going and seeing them and the Dc-3 again today.

He said he was taking a whole lot of pictures and is really enjoying his time. I was so happy to hear his voice after 2 days of not hearing it... he sounded so big and absolutely ecstatic about his adventure. He couldn't wait to see what today would hold for him and what fun things he would see and learn about. You could really hear the excitement in his voice.

Oh the home front, we are holding up ok. It sure isn't the same without him. Braden seems to really miss his brother and bunk-mate a whole ton. I do too!

Sunday Mornings with "Mr. Stu"

There is nothing I like to do better than praise God with my kids on Sunday morning!

So on Sunday morning we attend worship services at the First Presbyterian Church of Manasquan. During the 'school' year this means Sunday School for the kids and Marriage & Family Class for me (where we study scripture, or learn how to be a better parent, or spouse, the topics vary through out the year) at 9:30am. At 11am we begin our regular Sunday worship service with our children. During the summer, Sunday school is not in session so we just attend the 11am service as a family. It is a contemporary service with a great praise band called Soul Force. The service has gotten to be more contemporary over the years and now we fondly call it "Rock N Roll" church. LOL. It is an energizing service of music, scripture, sermon, and prayer. The kids are dismissed after about 20minutes to attend their kids time called RADhouse.

Anyway, the leader of the praise band is named Stu... well, Mr. Stu to the kids. Braden has taken a real liking to "Mr. Stu" and considers himself to be Mr. Stu's biggest fan. On our way out of church a few weeks ago, he shook Mr. Stu's hand and told him, that he was "the best!" And then asked me, on the way to the car, to put Mr. Stu's music on his iPod. (He was a bit disappointed to learn that Mr. Stu doesn't have a cd!) This week it was "Dress as your favorite Rock Star" day at camp. Braden told me that if he couldn't dress like Mr. Stu, he wasn't going to dress up at all! I thought that was so cute so when Sunday rolled around again and it was time to attend worship, I knew Braden would be happy to go. Well, don't you know, that after service, Braden took a piece of paper and asked Mr. Stu for his autograph!! He was beaming all the way home holding that little piece of paper... so so sweet!!