Sniffing it out

This one is just too funny not to share... On Monday when D. picked Katie up from school, Mrs. C. told her this story about Katie and told her to make sure that she shared it with us. Apparently, Katie came up to her teacher on Monday and told her that someone was stinky and had pooped in their pants. Mrs. C. tried to contain her composure and proceeded to tell Katie to go find out who it was and to let her know. So, Katie walked around the classroom 'sniffing' all the kids until she found the culprit. She then proceeded to to just look at Mrs. C giving her the eye that the 'stinkiness' had been found. Yes, that would be my Katie.

Vacation and a little education

We headed back to Amelia Island the third week of July for our annual trip. Chris and I are members of the Georgia Society of Health System Pharmacists(GSHP). They hold their annual summer meeting at Amelia Island and Chris and I have been attending since I was pregnant with Katie. The meeting is designed to be a family vacation and the programs are scheduled in such a way that it makes it very conducive to bring your families along. Because Chris and I are both pharmacists though we always bring my mom and Vicki along to care for the girls. The first few years we went were nice, but still rather challenging for mom and Vicki as the girls were little and we didn't know the plantation well enough to know exactly what we were getting into. This year turned out to be our best year ever. Chris and I both decided to do only the bare minimum education programs we had to and just to enjoy the rest of the time with the girls and mom and Vicki. We had a resort view villa which was a short walk down a board walk to the beach. There was also a very nice pool right at the villa. We were all able to relax and just have a wonderful time. The beach is always rather choppy so we don't generally spend a lot of time there. However, this year mom and Vicki brought kites and so we went down to fly kites for a while. Stephanie was insistent on 'jumping' the waves and so we tried to oblige her. You will see in the pictures though that the water was just way too rough. Keep in mind that they were only ankle to mid calf deep! One day mom and Vicki took the girls on a walk along the beach and decided to come and meet Chris and I at the Beach Club Grill. The walk should have taken then no more than 30 minutes, but as it turned out it was more like 2+ hours. They went the wrong way on the beach!!! Afterwards, anytime a mention about a walk on the beach was made the girls would quickly say 'nooooooo' Chris and I had a good laugh about while the 4 of them were just rather sore. We had a great trip and are already thinking about our next trip. This time though we remember where we stayed and we will be requesting it.

Omaha 2009

Well, I have been terrible at blogging lately, but we have been really busy. We were out of town for 3 weeks in July. The summer was terribly busy, bu in a good way. I'll try to play catch-up a little over the next few days. The firs part of July started out with our annual vacation with the Harrisons. This was our year to fly to Nebraska. The girls were at grandma' s the beginning of the week and so we picked them up in Columbia on our way to the Charlotte airport. We flew from Charlotte to Kansas City and the flight there was relatively uneventful. Our plane in Charlotte was late taking off, which just meant that we had a very short to no lay over. We arrived on time in Kansas City and the Harrisons were there to greet us. We stayed the night in Kansas City and enjoyed half of the next day there as well. On Friday afternoon we piled into the cars for our 2.5 hour drive to Omaha. The weather was rather cool while we were there with very cool evenings for the most part. We actually had to wear jackets on July 4th while we were outside shooting fireworks. Chris and J. were more excited about the firework shooting than the kids were, but that is not surprising. They are just kids in a grown up body anyway. We enjoyed our visit to the fullest as usual. J. and I enjoyed some shopping and eating time together and Chris and J. enjoyed lots of time in the basement playing XBox. One night they actually played thru the night. I had to get up to go to the bathroom and realized that Chris was not in the bed. When I went down to ask them if they realized what time it was they just looked at me dumb founded. There was no clock and of course they were in the basement so they had no concept of time. The visit was great and as always went by way too fast . There were lots of tears shed by all as we boarded the plane to come home again. Our friendships have only grown stronger over the years. The kids all get along very well and S. is very good with my girls. Katie and Talia have always bonded quickly and being the baby Katie clings to S. as well. This year Katie and Z. found time to play together and they bonded as well. We hated to leave as always, but look forward to our visit again next summer. %2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fblandman19%2Falbumid%2F5368048357633050657%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCPSnotjfsJyIBQ%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="288" height="192">

Helen, GA

We went to Helen this weekend because Chris had to speak at a GSHP(pharmacy) conference. We left on Friday night around 8:45 and arrived around midnight. We took the girls on a frog pond nature walk on Saturday. The walk was a little muddy because of all the rain, but not too bad. The girls enjoyed riding on daddy's shoulders. Saturday afternoon we ventured over to BabyLand USA. This is the home of the original cabbage patch kids. We got to view the 'birth' a cabbage patch and hear the 'story' of the cabbage patch kids. The girls enjoyed it, but were disapointed that we didn't buy them a baby doll. To the tune of $175 for a bottom of the line original baby, I think not! They had the 'knock offs' but we already have one of those. The girls both fell asleep in the car on the way home and so Chris and I thought we might venture into Helen to see what there was to do. Unfortunately we turned the corner out of the state park and were immediately met by a line of traffic. Oktoberfest is going on right now so the traffic was tremendous. We decided that this was not the time to try that. We'll have to go back again some time. We had a nice dinner at the lodge, provided by GSHP, on Saturday night. Chris stayed and watch part of a football game and I ventured back to try to get the girls to sleep. The hope was that they would be asleep by the time he came back...no such luck. So the two of us sat in the corner with the bathroom light on until they fell asleep. The things we'll do to get kids to go to sleep! Chris did his talk on Sunday and did a great job(so I hear) Someone stopped on the way out and said that he had the most questions of any speaker and did a great job. I'll take their word for it as I am sure he did. We headed out after the talk and ate at an awesome bbq place in Helen for lunch and then headed home for AWANA. It was a quick trip, but good to get away. Enjoy the pictures!!!

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Amelia Island Day 2 or so

Today was a good day. We went to several CE meetings and then we both had the opportunity to sit on a panel discussion for pharmacy students. I gave Chris a hard time because he signed us up for this(with my reluctant permission, of course) because it was cutting into my beach time. The conference was actually over at 1:15 today and so I would have been headed straight to the beach, but instead I sat on this panel until 3:15. Anyway, I sat in this room surrounded by all these full time pharmacists, most of who worked in a hospital setting, and I felt rather out of place. As we went around the room and described our work situation and how we got there, I listened to lots of people say that they did a residency, they started here and moved to this job, blah blah blah... When it came to my part, I began to tell them about my job... no nights, no weekends(unless I choose), no holidays, no insurance, no money exchange, 9:30-6, two days a week... I thought about all this and while no one had any questions for me(other than the moderator who was quite impressed with my great job flexibility) I realized that I really am quite happy. I love my job, but I really love being at home with my kids more. I guess that I have the best of both worlds. We ran into that same moderator at dinner tonight and he said something that really made me think...He was asking more questions about my specific job and he was saying how much he appreciated me sharing this aspect of pharmacy during the forum and then came the statement that I won't forget . He said that while my job was so very different, he said that I obviously appeared to be the happiest of all of them. Boy is that an understatement. I'm not saying that all these other people aren't happy, but what I do is so rewarding. I still struggle with the challenges of being both a stay at home mom and a professional, but I do know that this is where God has called me and there is not a bone in my body that would give it up. We did finally make it to the beach today and had some time to relax. Chris read a book about MRSA(methicillin resistant staph aureus-in case you were wondering)--surprise, surprise he's reading a book on bugs, and I took a nap on the beach(yeah--I never get a nap). We both enjoyed the relaxation and then ended the night with a walk on the beach before going to dinner. It has been a great time of relaxation, but we are ready to head home tomorrow and get our girls back.

Amelia Island

Chris and I are at Amelia Island right now for a conference. We left the kids with my mom and headed down here on Thursday. We have had a really good time, but haven't made it to the beach yet. We were in meetings all day on Friday and then went out for dinner last night. We ate at the Plae, a restaraunt here at the resort. It was excellent and we didn't have to pay(we went out with drug reps). Actually, we haven't paid for anything as of yet because we went out with another drug rep on Thursday when we got here.

We are planning to go to the beach this afternoon, but the weather looks really bad right night, very overcast etc. Hopefully it will clear up.

Our hotel room has a private balcony overlooking the beach and the view is just gorgeous. We have been here several times before, but have always stayed in a villa further away. We have decided that the way to go is to stay at the inn!

World of Coke

Our last day together was a dual trip to the World of Coke and the Atlanta aquarium. We started out at the World of Coke. Our first adventure took us into a room where we learned all about the history of coke. This was quite interesting and I enjoyed seeing how things had changed over the years. Next we were led into the open room where the Coca Cola polar bear was ready to take pictures with us.

As we continue to make our way through the exhibits, we come across the story of how coke was discovered. It was actually discovered by a pharmacist, something I had been told in the past but had forgotten.

Our final destination was the room full of all the different types of Coke products. I was amazed. There are more kinds of Coke that I ever imagined, and the products are different from country to country and even from state to state. Here we were able to sample all the products as much as we liked. Beginning to be a little

ill from all the sampling!

Our family! Finally we were led into the gift shop(of course), but not until we received our souvenir bottle of coke. We enjoyed ourselves, but I must say that this was definitely a little too much for the younger ones. They enjoyed the coke tasting, but as for the rest of it I am sure they could have done without.

Six Flags

Our last hoorah for our visit was to take a trip to Atlanta. We piled into our CRV and the rental van and headed for Six Flags on Thursday. We did really good and got all 9 of us out of the house by 8:30. The kids were very excited, but I think that Chris and Joe were equally excited. There were lots of roller coasters so we started the day out with the first one we saw. Chris, Joe, myself and Sydney were rocked and beaten up on this wooden roller coaster. After that, I wasn't much interested in anymore roller coasters. I guess I am just too old for this. Josette isn't much of a roller coaster rider so I was perfectly fine to stay with her and the little ones.

We finally found the area of the park that had the rides for the littlest kids. They road several times on each ride. Sydney was determined that she wanted to ride the train, but she wanted to ride in the train, not on top. So, Josette told her to come on and she would ride with her. As you can see, Josette had way more fun with this than Sydney and my understanding is that there was a wasp nest somewhere inside this train as well. Josette posed while Sydney had to crouch down just to get in!!! Josette had a great time with this one! We finally ventured over to the water raft ride in the hopes that Katie would be able to get on too. They measured her twice and were really skeptical about letting her on, but in the end they did. We had a blast and got soaked. However, the waterfall landed in Josette's lap so she ended up with the wettest clothes. Stephanie very excited to be wet! Not so excited! The day was wonderfully hot, but we really couldn't complain. There were no lines and everyone had a blast. Katie had plenty to do and was well entertained and then she finally crashed. The day finally came to an end. We were all exhausted, but not wanting the day to come to a close because our time was together was quickly dwindling away. We had just one more day before the dreaded goodbye again.

Vacation and Relaxation

It seems like we have been vacationing since the summer began...maybe because we have. The Harrisons came to visit the end of May thru the beginning of June. Katie and her vacation attire! We spent the first two days just being lazy. We finally ventured out to the pool on Saturday. Jump Talia! The water was very, very cold, but this didn't stop the adventurous divers. We even got the 3 little ones on the diving board(with a few hands being held, of course). Katie & Sydney Katie loved Sydney and Sydney was so good with her. She stayed in the COLD water with her the whole time! On Monday we ventured out to Monkey Joes with the hopes of entertaining the kids at the indoor jump place for hours(it actually was a successful attempt!!). It would have been great conversation time for the adults, but the music was just way too loud for that. Before leaving the house, Talia helped me convince Steffie and Katie that pig tail braids were the thing to do. I have such a hard time getting Steffie to let me do anything with her help and so Talia's influence was great.

Sydney having way

too much fun with Katie!! Here we come!

Sydney & Stephanie The kids were all well entertained for a couple of hours at Monkey Joes. They would have stayed longer if we had let them. It was great fun for the young and the old. Intelligent conversation?? I wasn't ashamed to have fun either. I got to jump for free since Katie was only 2 so I did my share of jumping and sliding too. Mommy enjoying the jump castle with Katie! Josette & her little man Despite the fact that we were all together for such a long period of time, the kids did remarkably well. We had very little arguing and everyone was good spirited for the most part.

Disney Day 2

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 12pm this day(Mother's Day). I had already enjoyed hugs and kisses, cards, and a gift from my children and husband. Chris bought me a dress from Anne Taylor Loft(my new, and his, favorite store). I loved the dress, but it just didn't fit right so I had to exchange, but I was delighted with the effort. He used to have a store in college that he would buy clothes from, but it went out of business, so we are both excited to have a new favorite(maybe I'm a little more excited than he is!).

Happy Mother's Day!

Today we embarked on lots of rides. The first character we ran into was the Fairy God Mother and Katie was ready today. We ventured over to see the princesses as well and both girls were excited. We saw Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty.

Katie asked to hugThe Fairy Godmother! Katie's Favorite--Sleeping Beauty We also discovered that Stephanie was just tall enough(at exactly 40") to ride on almost all the rides. We took her and Katie on a kiddie roller coaster to begin with which was thrilling in itself. Then off for the biggies. We took her on Thunder Mountain Railroad first. Daddy rode while the girls and I finished up lunch and then we discovered that Steffie was tall enough so she rode with me. She exclaimed she loved it and was ready to do it again. So, we headed for Splash Mountain. Steffie and Chris were the first to go and Steffie was full of excitement and ready to go again. Her only complaint was that she wanted to change out of her wet clothes, which I finally convinced her would be dry quickly and she should appreciate the coolness! Afterwards this was of course her favorite ride, but I don't think it was so much the ride as it was the excitement of seeing all the characters from Brrr Rabbit etc which she has watched many times with Vicki!

Waiting on daddy & Steffie to

come down Splash Mountain All in all we had a wonderful time, but we must say that we packed it in!!! We accomplished the rides, but as for the shows and other fun things there was no time for this. The girls were excellent and even Katie did well when she had to wait while Steffie and mommy and daddy would ride the rides. This was a wonderful vacation!!!

Disney World Day 1

After leaving Denise's we headed to Disney World. Yes, Disney. Denise lives about an hour from Orlando and so Chris had dropped us off at her house on Wednesday and we stayed there until Saturday while he went to a work conference. This was nice since we were able to offset some of our costs because it was work related.

We're Here

Our Disney excursion began on Saturday about 2pm. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and were first greeted by Chip and Dale(whom I mistaken for the Chipmunks--I need to work on my Disney knowledge). Stephanie was all ready to hug and shake hands with all of the characters, but Katie was certainly not sure about this.

Our first adventure was to watch a Disney parade. The girls were able to get just a taste of 'things to come' as they saw familar characters ride by. Next we took our grand walk up to and eventually thru Cinderalla's castle. I think that Steffie was a little dissappointed that it wasn't quite as spectactular as she thought, but she certainly didn't say so. Chris promised Steffie a long time ago that he would take her to Cinderella's castle so it was a pretty special moment regardless. Our first ride of the day was Dumbo. We only had to wait for about 30 minutes for this. Not to bad! The girls snacked in line and were really pretty good. Next we headed over to Mickey's house and then to the infamous line to wait to see Mickey and Minnie.

Mommy & Katie on Dumbo

Katie still wasn't ready for

the character thing!

For supper we ate at the Crystal Palace and were priviledged to eat with the Winnie the Pooh and friends. Steffie still in love with the characters and Katie still quite afraid. Katie's favorite part was the child size buffet that she could reach!

We're making progress!

The end of the day ended with a ride on Space Mountain for mom and dad(separately of course) and a daddy daughter event of Stitches Great Adventure which Steffie exclaimed she didn't like because it was a little scary. All the while, Katie was fast asleep in the stroller where she had been since 9:30. (It was 11pm when we left the park!) What a day!!!

The end of the 1st Day!

Let's go to the Springs

While we were at Denise's we decided to take the girls to the springs. The first day we went to Blue Springs. In case you are unaware, the springs are 72 degrees year round(brrrrrr). Stephanie & Katie were so excited and couldn't wait to get in there swimsuits. They had no idea what to expect!

This is cold, but I like it! Katie wasn't about to venture further!

In the winter time you can usually see a manatee at these springs. Denise had told us that we wouldn't see one, but guess what...we saw two!!!

These baby manatees were released

from Sea World earlier in the year.

On Friday, we decided to go to another spring. This time in the hope that the girls would get in better. Blue Springs was rocky and not a real good place to get in the water without an adult...and Denise and mommy weren't about to get in that cold water!!

So, we picked Shellie, Denise's daughter, up from school and took her with us. Shellie isn't fond of cold water either so she didn't plan to get in much either so she wore a white t-shirt and shorts. Well, the girls had waited for two days to spend time with Shellie and they weren't about to settle for her just to put her feet in!

We had such a wonderful time and were sad to leave. We are looking forward to a visit this summer with them at our house. Thanks for a great time Denise!!! We love you.