Mini Van Mom

I know it seems like forever since I have blogged, but there has been a lot going on.  Working, running the kids & trying to find a vehicle have about drove me crazy.  My car blew up on my birthday....Happy Birthday to me *insert sarcasm*.   Anyway my grandparents had let me borrow one of their vehicles.  Since then I hadn't really looked for a vehicle because I was trying to work & save up some money for a down payment.  But it was time to start looking, because I couldn't save any money for putting gas in the truck...I spent enough in gas to make a car payment....seriously.  So Monday, my WONDERFUL land lord started the search for a vehicle.  I really had NO idea what I was interested in or what I wanted....just as long as it was cheap, dependable & easy on gas.  That was the criteria I gave him when he started looking.  When it comes to a vehicle I am "stupid"...I know how to put gas in them, put water in them (thanks to doing it for two years with my car), check the oil & drive them....that's about it.  So I sent him on a mission to find me a vehicle.  He searched for two days while I was working.  He found me a few cars & a few vans.  On Wednesday we test drove a few.  The first time I drove a van I fell in LOVE....I love the way they drive & I LOVE that I can separate the kids.  The ones we drove Wednesday all had some minor things wrong with them, so we kept looking.  Wednesday night I got on Craigslist (which I rarely do) and found a van that seemed to good to be true...so we called about and planned to go look at it Thursday.  After talking to them about the van, I decided if it was all they said it was & in as good of shape as the pictures showed....I wanted it.  This would mean getting a loan.....which made me very nervous.  Wednesday night was a very stressful time for me because this is a MAJOR step in my life.  This would be the first purchase I have ever made since I have been single.....yes I have a great job & everything is going great....but buying a vehicle stressed me out just a little.  On Thursday we made a trip to E-town to look at it.  We drove it, checked it out, negotiated the price and drove it home.  So now I am a "Mini Van Mom".  I LOVE everything about it.  It seats eight, has a DVD/CD/ player, I-pod hook up, front/rear air, new tires & low miles.  I was scared with it being priced so cheap that there might be something wrong with it, but I had it put on the computer & NO codes showed up :)  The kids love it too....they think they are in heaven.  Friday I spent all day getting it transferred, taking care of things at the bank & cleaning it up.  I spent four hours vacuuming, shampooing and washing it.  It looks like a NEW vehicle now.  Now that I have all the business stuff took care of on it....I AM EXCITED!  New beginnings, new opportunities....NEW, NEW, NEW....and I AM LOVING IT!  Life is good and only hope it gets better from here.

Sneak Peak of the Van....more pictures to come

Flashback Friday--Vacation 2004

Since we just returned from vacation...Flashback Friday (on Saturday) will be about our last vacation.  This was going to be my Flashback Friday the week before we left, but with work & procrastination it didn't get done.

Our last vacation was November 2004, which was a beach vacation also.  The kids were small...Morgan was 3 and Spencer had just turned 2.  We went to St. George Island in Florida and spent a week with my aunt & uncle, my grandmother, my dad, Cathy, Eric, Blake, the kids & me. 

Our house for the week

Spencer

Morgan & Spencer

Morgan playing in the sand

Spencer playing in the sand

Spencer in the ocean

Morgan in the ocean

Grandaddy digging the kids a hole

Spencer fell in the hole & he wasn't happy

The kids in the hole

Grandaddy, Morgan & Spencer

I have more pictures somewhere that haven't been scanned to the computer.  Now I am on a mission to find them...maybe I will share them at a later date. 

Back to Reality

Well after a great week of vacation I had to come back to reality.  The whole time I was gone I said I would need another vacation to recuperate from a week full of fun, excitement & activities.  Here is a recap of the week since I have been to tired to blog this week.

Monday

I went and picked up Peanut from boarding.  It was hard to leave him when we left because he had never been away from home or around any other animals.  He was a nervous wreck when I left him at the vet.  We were all worried about how he was adapting & adjusting while we were away.  I was ready to pick him up Monday morning.  When I went to pick him up he was getting his bath so I ran to Walmart & got a few things for the house.  When I finally got back to get him he was overly excited to see me.  I think he thought I had left him and wasn't coming back to get him.  Needless to say he was glad to be home.  He ended up in my room on my bed all day sleeping (which is a treat for him).  Also laundry had to be caught up, suitcases had to be unpacked & I had to get ready for four days of work.

Tuesday

I had class all day at work.  Getting up at 5:30 to go to work was not what I wanted to do.  The whole drive to work I was wishing I was back at the beach walking along the ocean listening to the waves crash against the shore.  It was so relaxing I just wanted to go back.  Anyways...back to work.  I had to sit in class for 7 hours and learn about arrhythmia's.  The temperature back in KY was almost unbearable compared to what we were used to on the beach.  The humidity was CRAZY. 

Wednesday

A LONG 12 hour day of working....that's about all that happened today.  I came home and crashed....I have been so tired and exhausted since we returned.

Thursday

Another LONG 12 hour day....

Friday

I had surgery rotation this morning.  I am NOT a fan of the OR, but today wasn't too bad.  I didn't have to watch any nasty stuff.  I got to see three surgeries today, one including a c-section (which was my favorite).  After watching surgeries I met up with my cousin, Lorri, and Marisa & we had lunch together.  Then I headed home & crashed.  I slept for a couple of hours & I think I am more tired now then I was before.  There will be a lot of resting this next 40 hours until I have to head back to work. 

Flashback Friday this week will come on Saturday...I know I have been really bad the last few weeks...but between packing, vacation & trying to get back in the swing of things I just haven't blogged as much as I would have liked to.  Watch for Flashback Friday tomorrow...which I still need to decide what it will be about.

Well I am off until Sunday then I have to work for three days.  Next week will be my last week on days & then I will go to nights.  I hope my body & schedule adjust easily to nights.  That's it for now...until tomorrow.

Morgan's List of things to see on vacation

Morgan made a list of things to see/do while we were on vacation.  It was really cute so I wanted to document it for future reference.  I couldn't get a good picture of it, but I will write what it says too. (everything on the list has a picture she drew next to it.)  Here is Morgan's vacation list & I am going to put some pictures I took next to each.

Too see when we go to the beach

1. Sandcastle

(Sorry I didn't get a picture of our sand fort)

2.  Sandhole

(We dug a sand hole 2 different days, but I didn't get a picture of either of them...my camera liked to play tricks on me when we went to the ocean)

3.  Spencer & Redman horse Plaing

(There could have been 1000 pictures taken of these two horse playing...it was an hourly thing for them...here are a few of them that I captured)

4.  A cute boy (circled with a happy face)

(Morgan got embarrassed when I was taking pictures of her "cute boy" she met)

5.  The boy's plaing at least 3 games when we go

(Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the boys playing games on the way.  They did play battleship, the letter game, the license plate game on the trip down)

6.  Leave at 3:00am

     git there at 2:30 p.m.

(Picture of Morgan sleeping on the way down & a picture right after we arrived...we left at 3 am & arrived around 1:15pm)

One last walk on the beach...(Sunday 7-17-11)

Morgan & I got up bright and early to walk the beach one last time.  We got to see the sunrise over the ocean for the first time since we have been here and we also saw several jelly fish on the shore.

Our last look at the ocean before heading home :(

A look at our home away from home for the week.  I forgot to take pictures when we got there....but at least I remembered before we left. 

And the van is all loaded down...inside and out.

We stopped at I-Hop on the way home to eat breakfast.  They have the best pancakes.  Spencer got hyped up on coffee & sugar.

Everytime we go through Nashville Morgan throws a fit over the "Batman" building...she absolutely fell in love with it when we went to see the Predators in December. 

Miniature Golf, Crabs & Shannon's Birthday (Saturday 7-16-11)

We slept in this morning.  When we got up we walked to Dunkin' Donuts to eat breakfast. 

Then we walked to play miniature golf.  The kids had been dying to play golf all week & since we got lost last night we decided to walk three blocks to play this morning while Shannon was playing "real" golf.  The kids had a blast, even though it was HOT.  We played 18 holes and then headed back toward the room.

On the way back we stopped at a little beach store because Morgan was wanting a shark tooth necklace.  I was looking around at the t-shirts and the next thing I knew the kids had mom at the hermit crab cage & they were all picking out crabs.  Just what we need another animal in the house.  The kids all ended up leaving with two crabs a piece and a small container to put them in.

When we got back to the room we waited for Shannon to get back from playing golf & the kids played with their crabs.  Then we headed back to Margaritaville for Shannon's birthday lunch/supper.  They announced his birthday to everyone in the restaurant and he had to sing/act out "I'm a Little Teapot".

While we were there Morgan met a little boy from KY.  She had made a list of things she want to see while she was at the beach and a cute boy was on the list.  (see whole post HERE).

After eating the kids found an arcade and played a few games before heading back to the room.

Mom & Shannon went out for the night for his birthday & the kids and I stayed in the room to chill.  The kids watched TV and played with their crabs some more while I sat on the balcony and watched the ocean.

We leave in the morning to head home. I am ready to get back into a routine, but I am going to miss the ocean.