Happy 4th of July!

On the 4th Tyler FINALLY slept in, thanks to Zak installing some blinds they had sitting in their basement. After a leisurely morning we head to a nearby town to visit Marisa's parents' "camp".

The house is right on the lake, which is absolutely beautiful, and we were able to enjoy a nice barbeque. Jocelyn caught a quick nap.

Meanwhile Marisa's dad helped Tyler feed the fish in the lake.

After lunch we went out on their boat. Tyler was not incredibly thrilled about the lifevest, but was semi-amused by the boat ride. He could have done without the wind. He kept asking if we coudl roll up the windows (which there weren't). LOL.

Jocelyn seemed to enjoy herself. Isn't she just too cute for words?

After some more food we enjoyed some marshmallow toasting and smores making. Yum!

Catching up

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, been abducted, nor been hospitalized. Shockingly enough, I just haven't been on the computer!

Tyler and I flew to Providence, RI late on Wednesday night. Despite being very late, Tyler didn't feel the need to sleep (he's never slept on a plane). Instead he got a second wind and was practicing his "forward rolls" IN the airport terminal. My friend Marisa, along with her husband Zak and daughter Jocelyn came to pick us up and Tyler never fell asleep until the car ride home around 2:30am. Yep, that's right.

Marisa and Zak live out in the country, or at least compared to where I live. They have no need for blinds/curtains, because no one can see their house anyway. So, lo and behold, Tyler was up shortly after the sun rose around 7:30am. So, he got all of 5 hours of broken sleep. We spent the morning leisurely enjoying breakfast and then went for a swim in their pool and ate lunch out outside. Tyler discovered chives planted in a small planter near their pool, which he affectionately referred to as a "lovely poolside snack". I bet they never thought of their chives in that way.

Thankfully Tyler took a short nap before we head out to the local town 4th of July (held on the 3rd of July) "event". By the time we got there it was downpouring so we went to dinner first and then back to the festivities. It was still sprinkling a bit, but we walked around and enjoyed the sites. I bought Tyler some cotton candy, which, by the way, is NOT a brilliant idea when it's semi rainy out. I've never seen a larger cotton candy, which then turned into the messiest cotton candy ever. This only reinforces my idea that I will carry baby wipes with me until the day I die.

Jocelyn had fun too. Isn't she so beautiful?

Afterwards we drove to a nearby town for some music and fireworks. We had to walk a ton before we could get there, and by that time we missed the music but arrived just in time for the fireworks.

Tyler is iffy about fireworks in general. He liked them as a young toddler, but then became petrified of them, but it coming back around again. This is a photo of him reportedly enjoying the fireworks, all along announcing "I think I like them. I really do". I don't buy it. LOL!

And here is Joceyln at her first fireworks display. She did really well, with NO tears!

And here is Tyler perking back up again after the fireworks display was over.

Seriously, I have to wonder

Have YOU ever been tempted to try a new store/product because you saw a PERSON out holding a sign advertising for it at the side of the road?

I don't know why, but I'm so bothered by those darn people that hold signs advertising everything from new homes, pizza, going out of business sales, etc. Maybe it's just me, but I'm LESS likely to be intrigued by a store when I see sweaty people outside holding the sign. In MY opinion (for what it's worth) I'd rather see a sign staked nicely into the ground. Or better yet, NOTHING. I, for one, would do some research on new home builders before going out to buy a home...not tempted to buy one because some moron with a crazy sombrero is outside waving around a sign like a lunatic.

Clearly there must be some research behind this approach to support it's usefulness. I can't imagine that companies pay people money to stand outside for no reason??????

So, again, have YOU ever stopped somewhere after seeing a person by the side of the road holding a sign? Maybe if companies see my comments they'll be tempted to switch their ways. LOL!

Going to the chapel...

My friend Tracy called and she's getting married! Yipee. I love Alex, her fiance, and they are such a cute couple. So, they'll be getting married sometime between June and November of 2009, most likely in the summer. Since I'll be a bridesmaid, I guess I'll have some good motivation to lose some of that baby weight! Oh, and I guess I'll have some motivation to finally get that passport since the wedding is in MEXICO (Alex is from there)!

Two weddings in late 2009. How exciting! For those that don't know, my brother is also getting married, supposedly in October (date hasn't been set for sure...they better get cracking on that one)!

Yep, more water!

So we discovered that our lovely AC unit is leaking into the garage. I guess there is an overflow pipe (or some other technical jargon) that leads right to the floor of our garage. I suppose there is a reason for this, but this seems like a less-than-brilliant design that would allow you to totally flood your garage (especially considering they could have run that pipe right into our utility sink that is located 6 inches away).

I first noticed a tiny bit of water a couple of weeks ago when Al was away. It seemed innocent enough so I (stupidly) left it alone. It ruined a few boxes when the next day I noticed it had leaked some more. My neighbor (who was currently having the same problem) cut the pipe so that we could at least fit a bucket underneath it to collect the water. It only filled a bit of water a day for a while there, but in the past few days it's been filling a 5-gallon bucket in less than 24hours! Well, yesterday (while I had been researching heating/air companies) the neighbor's landlord was out flushing out his unit and showed Al how to do the same. A whole bunch of debris came out of the pipe outside, and lo and behold, there has not been a drop of water in the garage bucket for 24 hours! Yipee! So keep your fingers crossed that this was the issue. Heck, the AC unit still seems to be working, so for now I'm a happy camper. In the meantime I suppose we should probably have someone "professional" take a look at it though.

So, after the flushing pipe incident Tyler took a brief siesta and then it was off to Lithia Springs for the late afternoon/evening. We stopped at Subway and picked up some dinner and were able to enjoy a nice little "picnic" at the beach. It was packed, but we still had a good time. Tyler had a ball catching minnows with Al (meaning that Al caught minnows and put them in containers for Tyler).

More water!

So a few days ago I posted about the daily rain. The rain has stopped, so we've engaged in new ways to get wet!

On Friday my friend Andrea hosted a wonderful play date at her house. We had a nice BBQ and were able to go into their gorgeous pool! Check out her blog as well for some additional really nice pictures of the event.

That evening, since Al got home at a decent hour, we did some more BBQing and then we head to the community pool, which was very nice indeed.

Yesterday we had a party to go for an ex-neighbor of ours. Their son was turning one, and they rented one of those inflatable water slides for all the kids to play on. Tyler chose to stick with the kids pool, but Al sure had fun on it. Truth be told, we think the grownups might have had more fun than the kids! LOL.
From there it was off to another neighbor's house. Tyler's little friend Dionna, who lived next door, has now moved with her family across the development. Tyler is not happy about this one bit, but they invited us over to the new house last night. We brought some pizza and drinks, and Tyler and the kids happily played in the un-heated hot tub/jacuzzi.

So, that was our water-filled weekend thus far! I hope everyone is enjoying their pre-holiday weekend!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I'm so glad we did Disney on Tuesday, because we've had horrible weather ever since!

Yesterday we did get a chance (my mom and I) to take Tyler to the movie theater for the first time. I figured I really couldn't go wrong with $1 movie tickets (which the proceeds go to charity). He had actually seen the movie before, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, at the drive-in so figured it would be a good way to ease into the movie theater scene. I knew he liked the movie, so it took away that bit of anxiety for him (he doesn't think he likes movies, he thinks they are scary). Anyway, we met Melodie there (thanks again for the tickets) and her girls (and a friend) and went in. Tyler was pretty darn happy with his kids pack (small drink, popcorn, and fruit snacks) and didn't seem to even hesitate about the dark. Of course we had to wait a long time for them to start the movie (if they say 10:00, then maybe they should think about NOT keeping a theater full of CHILDREN waiting until 10:20). Tyler did fairly well, and he had a great time. I'm anxious to go again!
So yesterday we had a total downpour and frightening winds. So frightening that I turned on the news to find out if we should go seek shelter or something.
Anyway, after it died down (thankfully) we had to take my mom to the airport. Tyler was NOT happy to see her go. In fact he tried telling her that she could get a job in Florida in the mornings and then play with him in the afternoons. Smart boy, huh? Anyway, he asked me to take a picture of he and his mom-mom so that he could look at it on the computer whenever he wanted. Awwwwww.
Today brought MORE rain. Ugh. When will it ever go away????