CHANGE

I woke up this morning to CHANGE.

What an amazing day this is. I can hardly believe what has just happened for our country. I have never been more PROUD to be an American than I am right this moment. This is the beginning of a new era for us.

Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States of America.

A man who happens to be 50% African won an election by crossing racial, ethnic and economic lines with a plan to bring us back into the light. We've been in the darkness of fear and anger for a long time now, but this is a new day.

He will not change everything overnight, maybe not even in four or eight years. He will lay the groundwork to fundamentally change our country. He already has! His election alone signifies a shift from exclusiveness to INclusiveness. He will fight for ALL of us. He will do great things.

YES we Can. YES we Will. YES WE DID!

I am so hopeful. I am so inspired. I am so full of happiness that I almost can't stand it! I don't think I'd choose to live in any other time, even with all the tragedy we've endured. We will witness something extraordinary. And it starts January 20, 2009.

I have more to say, but this for now says it all...

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. -- President-Elect, Barack Obama

Twilight

Gah! Go buy this book. I promise, you will become addicted. I believe that since last Friday, 9/12, I have read 1700+ pages. I can't remember the exact date I started Twilight (the first book of the series), but I finished on Thurday, 9/11, so Friday, 9/12, I ran to buy the other 3. Started New Moon Friday at noon.... finished Breaking Dawn at exactly midnight last nite! All together they are more than 2200 pages! But I felt like I breezed through them. Awesome reads!

The story is about Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. A Romeo and Juliet story, star-crossed lovers if you will. Only Edward is a vampire. I know! The books are written with teens in mind, but I really enjoyed them. Kaelyn is reading New Moon now -- she's hooked! A movie will be out this fall. We will be in line for the first showing, I'm sure...

Really, they are great books. Very entertaining. They will hook you and keep you til the very last page. Enjoy!

First day of school! First day of school!

So we are back in school! We started last week, August 20. And so far, we are all making straight As.... I hope that continues!

One thing I realized is that last Wednesday began the first day of TWELVE (yes, count them, 12) years as a High School mom. Geez, someone drew the short straw, didn't they??? Well, I suppose that by the time it is done I can write a book on how to get through 4 years of it successfully, and make the big bucks. After all, if I can do 12 years non-stop, anyone can do a measly four years, right?

Spencer started classes on his Senior year this week, and is back on campus getting into the swing of things after a good summer off. After he finished his summer class in June, he came here for a couple weeks, then went to Pensacola with his mom, then spent a week fishing in Stuart, FL with Sarah, then did a conference in Nashville and Memphis. He will do an internship beginning in January (and most likely in Memphis) in preparation for graduation. We plan to visit with him sometime soon! He will be coming to WV for Thanksgiving again, and we are very excited for that!

Also last week, Madelyn celebrated birthday #10. Yes, double digits. We had her friends Alexis, Sydney and Anna over and took them to the World's Championship Saddlebred Horse Show at the state fair last Friday (August 22, which is her actual birthday). They had a ball! We had make-your-own-pizzas and cupcakes before we left, but of course they had to have a funnel cake. And do you know that my sweet hubby had never before tasted this most awesome fair delicacy? I know, I couldn't believe it either! But it is true. He wishes he'd never had a bite, because as we all know, those funnel cakes are DE-lish, and once you start eating, it is hard to stop.

Most of my photos came out a bit blurry (OK, a lot blurry) but I hate using a flash at nite, and some of the lights and colors out there are so good! So I sacrifice for that.... I will get better over time I hope. For this shot, I told the girls to smile, and DON'T MOVE! Check out the Farris Wheel! Love it!

So after the big shindig, the little girls went to dad's for the night, while Ben and I had Kaelyn, and we all went to her BFF's parents' 25th anniversary party. We had a nice time, but didn't know too many folks, so Ben and I left about 9:30. We should have stayed, as it turned into quite the event! Molly (the better half of the couple celebrating) broke her foot! Gah! Can you imagine!? Must have been a WHOLE LOTTA fun! :)

We are now into week two of school, and auction meetings are in full swing, and Shelley and I are planning Girl Scouts again. Hard to believe we are in our 5th year of leading these girls. We expect to have about 10 back again, as one moved to TX this summer. We may pick up a few, but it's hard to say. Middle School is when girls move on to other things and drop GS, so we will just have to see. We have big plans too, possibly earning the Bronze Award (highest honor at this level you can earn). But we are not totally sure that is what we will take on at this point, but still in the discussion stages. It should be a very fun year, regardless of what awards/badges we decide to earn!

September is shaping up to be a big busy month for us. But Ben and I do have one very fun and exciting weekend planned. We begin on September 18 with tickets to see Rascal Flatts! When we first started dating, we made a list of things we'd like to do together, and a Rascal Flatts concert was one of those things we put down. So we are really looking forward to that, even this 2 years later! Then Saturday, September 20, we go up to Indy for a fun night, and Sunday we will take in the Colts game! We are so excited about this, as Ben is a huge Colts fan, and I love watching them as well. I hope that Manning will be playing (I believe he is supposed to).... What a fun time!

Otherwise, we will be at many cross country meets (Madelyn is running for the MS this year), intramurals (Kaelyn), dance classes (Peyton and Madelyn) and various other school related functions like Open Houses and Trivia Night.

So it is back to busy-as-ever and trying-to-catch-our-breath. I am sad summer is coming to an end, and that soon the pool will be close, it will be dark at 5:30pm, and the cold will be here. I will do all I can to enjoy these waning days of SUMMER!

PS.... can you spot a pseudo-celebrity in any of the above photos??? It is Carson Kressly from QEFSG handing out the ribbon to the horse winner. He has on a light blue jacket... You can barely make him out. But he comes every year for the show - he's big into the Saddlebreds.

Busy, busy

As usual, it's been life hectic around here. I wish I could get to this more often, so as not to feel like I have to write a novella in order to catch up! Oh well, it is what it is. I figure some updating is better than no updating, right? Right??

So where was I? Florida trip! So after we finally got to bed Wednesday nite, we both slept like rocks. I was beat, and I know Peyton was too. But we had SO MUCH FUN! Totally worth it!

My aunt works for Discovery Cove, which is a part of the Sea World, Aquatica Busch Family parks in FL. She was able to bring Peyton and I to see DC, and to meet one of the dolphins. Who coincidentally just had a baby about two months prior! Now that was something, to see the little fin.... really cool! We were able to go back with a trainer and do some hand and body signals with the mamma, Morayah, which Peyton loved, and we each gave her a kiss! I've never been that close to a dolphin, so I was totally thrilled! We weren't allowed to take cameras there, so no cool photos, but I did get some of the dolphins that were in the water that day with others.

So we got to also go in the bird aviary at DC. Peyton absolutely loved this place! You can feed all kinds of birds, and several got pretty cozy with her. In all, being able to spend a couple hours there was worth the time because of the neat things we got to do (for free!). DC works a bit differently than other parks. You pay one price and get a 30 minute dolphin swim experience. Then you have access all day long to the heated pool, lazy river, bird aviary and snorkling area. Snorkling equipment is included, as are meals, drinks, and beer! (It is after all owned by Anheiser Busch.)

After DC, we headed across the street to Sea World. After a quick lunch and an attempt to feed stingrays, which I must say was a truly strange and disconcerting experience, and Peyton wouldn't even try after witnessing me do it once, we waited some 30 minutes to feed the dolphins! Try as I might to talk her out of this one, she was determined, and it was after all, her trip. Then we went to a cool show with dolphins, whales and acrobats, when of course it started to rain. Only it didn't just shower quickly, it poured! We were fortunate enough to have seats under cover, but still, we got wet anyway. It finally let up enough for us to cruise to a gift shop, or so we thought, but all of a sudden there was some big CRACKS! and huge thunderboomers, and we were right in the middle of a HUGE storm! They made an announcement to seek shelter! Hello! Where exactly?? We happened to be pretty close to the indoor penguin exhibit, so we buzzed in there. It was fine, but you can only watch these fellas (and there were a bloomin' zillion of them) for so long.... The rain didn't really stop, but it did ease up, so we headed to the Seamore and Clyde show... which was funny and cute and perfect for Peyton! We thought the rain had finally stopped, only to have it start again and in sheets too! So we finally made a decision to call it quits. We headed for the exit, and in the meantime, got completely soaked. The rain ponchos only went so far....

That last gem of a photo is right outside the penguin exhibit, just after being poured on my Mother Nature. Nice, eh?

So once in the car, I realized much to my chagrin that I had no clue how to get back to my aunt's house! I tried to call and text her to no avail, then resorted to calling my dad, who would have access to a computer to get me directions, if not tell me himself, only I couldn't reach him either! I was stuck for 45 minutes waiting for someone to call me back! My aunt finally did and asked me to have dinner with her and her hubby while she was on break. Now with the storms, apparently there was a terrible accident on the highway, and traffic was so badly backed up, it took us about an hour to go 1.2 miles up the road! It was nuts! But we did have a good dinner, a calzone, yum!, while Peyton slept. She fell asleep the second we got in the car! Then I was able to follow my uncle home, where I promptly crashed myself!

It was a fun day though, and while I'm sorry we didn't get to see more of Sea World (we didn't see the big whale... what's it called? Shamu! And I had wanted Peyton to get one of the oysters and get a pearl... no such luck...), we did have fun despite the weather.

The Friday of our vacation we ended up hanging out at home. Now, I kid you not, that was the nicest day of the week. I was totally bummed that I didn't go to Epcot, but I did go out to see my grandmother, which was nice. I'm glad I did that. We got up Saturday morning and hit the road to the airport, and that evening Spencer arrived for his 2+ week visit! I'll post some photos of that...

These were taken practically the last nite of his visit! We didn't take many photos, but we sure had a wonderful time hanging out together. We played tennis, went to the pool, Spencer played golf, and we did a big yard project together. I know he wanted to kill me for that, but he was a good sport and I could not have done it without him, and I let him know how very grateful I was for his assistance!

And last but most certainly not least, a photo of me and hubs.... ah! Sweet...

SURPRISE!!!

Ok, it's been a while... but since our honeymoon trip, we've traveled so much, I wasn't sure for a while whether I was coming or going! We've been to KS, CO, FL (me, twice) for various trips, and Ben has been gone 3 out of the last 4 weeks for work. May saw the end of school, and June saw Girl Scout camp and a trip to Turkish/Greek Isles for the two big girls. Which brings me to this post....

So the big girls go on a BIG wonderful trip somewhere fabulous with my parents just about every year. It begins when they are about 8 years old, so Madelyn has been invited the last couple of summers. Peyton however is still "under age"... and she doesn't get invited on the ski trips either... or any of the other trips or even dinners out with Grammy and Grampy. We DID take a girls trip with her cousin Tabi to Chicago for the American Girl Place shopping extravaganza right after school got out. They had too much fun, let me tell you! A sample of photos:

Peyton chose Kit and is very excited about the upcoming movie! The girls had a ball choosing various accessories for their dolls, watching the show, eating in grown-up restaurants (they were both very well behaved, I might add), and shopping in the Big City! It was a grand trip...

Just before we left for Chicago, I started toying with the idea of taking Peyton on a surprise trip just for her... So I did a little research, and booked plane tickets to a secret destination. I told the two big girls about my plan, and they were great secret-keepers. I managed to pack and get Peyton to the airport without her knowing a single detail that she was going anywhere - she only knew that she was getting a "surprise" day with mom. She wasn't quite sure what to think when we pulled up to the airport! A photo of her with her sisters, who would be gone by the time we got home...

And then we were off! We were on our way to... ORLANDO!!! Yes, home of Mickey and Minnie and the gang, only Peyton didn't quite associate the two. So I got her to Orlando and to my aunt's house without her suspecting our BIG SURPRISE destination.... you got it! The MAGIC KINGDOM!

I tried very hard to get a picture of her face when we entered Disney property, but it wasn't to be... We arrived first thing in the morning, and didn't have any traffic or trouble getting in the parking lot. We rode the ferry across to the MK and started our day heading for Cinderella's Royal Castle to see about eating there and meeting the princesses. What LUCK, because we got right in for breakfast! It was truly priceless, as you get to meet Cinderella, plus get photos with her, then go upstairs and Jasmine, Snow White, Belle, and Aurora all walk around and meet and greet everyone. We had our autograph book and camera ready! They do a little wishing ceremony that was wonderful, the food was good, and the whole experience was worth the (hefty) price tag.

Did I mention that the Fairy Godmother was right outside the castle and we were the last admitted to meet her before she had to go read the mice a story?? That's about how our day went -- pretty perfectly!

After breakfast we headed to Fantasyland. We rode the "It's a Small World" ride, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, the carousel and met Ariel. She was fantastic! She spent about 10 minutes chatting with Peyton about various things like dolphins and swimming. Honestly, you'd think they'd be rushing people through, but it isn't like that, they really take time with the kids.

Then we were off to ToonTown and Minnie's House. After a tour, we headed to Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster, and while in line, it looked like one barnstormer of a thunderstorm was headed directly for us! We were so lucky that we were able to ride the coaster and get over to the big tent to meet some of Mickey's friends before the skies literally opened up! It was quite a thunderstorm, but we were inside, so all was well. We met Donald Duck and Goofy, but poor Pluto got summoned away by Mickey, so we didn't get to meet him.

After we met Donald and Goofy, we were stuck in the gift shop for a bit while the rain passed. It was a little dicey, but we did a bit of shopping, and got a little snack, and soon enough the rain let up to a drizzle, so we went to see Mickey's house and then meet Mickey and Minnie themselves!

Then we headed to the Haunted Mansion! That was the first time I'd ridden that one, and it was so funny! We loved when you go past the mirrors and it looks like a ghost is riding in the car with you! And luckily the ghost was on my side, as I'm not 100% sure how well that would have gone over with Peyton. We rode the Pirates of the Carribbean, Jungle Safari, (during which the rain began again and we were forced to don our ponchos), the Magic Carpets, and went into the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

After a quick snack, we went to Tomorrowland. I wasn't sure there'd be much of interest to Peyton in this section, but boy was I wrong! We didn't take many pictures, due to the rain, but she loved the Transit ride (the people mover), the Carousel of Progress, and especially Buzz Lightyear's ride where you get to shoot things with your laser gun for points! Her only complaint was next time she will drive, because I didn't do a great job! At this point, it was about 8pm, so we went to find somewhere to eat dinner. We got right into Tony's for a great spaghetti dinner! We were both starving, so it didn't take long for us to devour the meatballs! We finished just in time to catch the SpectroMagic parade down Main Street. It is truly wonderful to see! The lights changed from color to white, and many characters are represented!

After the parade, we did our big shopping, where we purchased a pin trading kit, and a couple other pins she liked, and Cinderella pajamas! She traded two of her pins with Disney cast members, then we headed down towards the castle for the big fireworks show. I didn't have my good camera, so no fireworks pictures... :( ... But the show was fabulous! We saw Tinkerbell fly, and Peyton was on my back during the show, all the while wishing "I want to be a Princess ... I want to be a Princess ... " as shooting star fireworks went off and Mickey and friends told everyone that wishes do come true if you believe. THAT made the whole trip worthwhile! I leave you with the last couple of photos we took ... The whole day makes me want to go back very soon with the whole family!!! Priceless precious memories!

Our trip to Discovery Cove and Sea World the next day coming soon!

In a word... Perfect!

Yes, in one word, our honeymoon trip to the Bahamas was simply… perfect. One more reason to add to the “Why we are so LUCKY!” list.

Our alarm went off at 3:30 am on Saturday morning…we had a 6am flight out of Louisville! However, it is easy to do when you are on way to an exotic location for a whole week with your hubby. We arrived Saturday afternoon in good order, and only spent 45 minutes going through customs…. We were on the beach by 3:30 pm – a mere 12 hours after waking up that morning. Not a bad deal at all.




The resort was gorgeous. Everything we expected, with cozy nooks everywhere. We stayed in a villa a bit back from the main pools, which was nice because we didn’t hear the late-night revels, and yet we were not far away from everything either. A short walk took us to the pool, dinner, wherever we needed to go.

The most difficult decision for us was whether to lay by the pool or by the beach. We slept in, or at least as much as possible with a herd of elephants above us (the walls were a bit thin in our villa). Our butler brought pool towels and the newspaper every morning. Yes, we had a butler. Three of them, actually. They were there to cater to our every whim! LOL! They brought us snacks all day, helped me set up the dinner on the beach, did turn-down service, and generally were available to help us with anything else we might need.

We spent one day at the private island off the coast of our resort. It was really beautiful there! We truly felt like we were away from everything.



The one thing about an all-inclusive is that you can sometimes have not-so-good food. Lots of buffets, and the same thing over and over again can get tiresome. I can tell you, the Sandals Resorts have totally solved that problem! There were 9 different places to eat, and while breakfast was a buffet (although there was a restaurant that had a lovely breakfast that was not a buffet, and we ate there one morning. I could get used to mimosas and fruit every morning!), you could get whatever you wanted cooked to order. Each night the food just got better and better. The tables were set for two, and there were no set times for seatings. We had preferred seating, as we were in the butler suites – no waiting for us! The staff was wonderful, very friendly and the service was simply outstanding! If you are looking for an adult get-away, you cannot go wrong with a Sandals resort!



The most special night of all was the night we had a private dinner on the beach. I had set this up before we left. It was a surprise for Ben, who was truly speechless. We had a GORGEOUS sunset that evening. I told him we were going to the beach to have some photos taken, and when we walked over, he saw the table, and started to figure out what was going on… and they did have a photographer there who did in fact take some beautiful photos!



We had lobster, and chocolate covered strawberries. It was so delicious! The next night we had dinner on the pier restaurant, which was equally delicious. By the end of the week, we’d had Japanese teppanyaki, Italian, lamb chops and prime rib! The food was all wonderful, and the best part? When you are done, you just leave! NO CHECK!

We did venture off-site one day to visit the Atlantis – spectacular and totally over the top! – and the straw market. The cab rides were really fun and interesting, as we had some great conversation with the drivers.

We had an unexpected visitor as well.... While I was trying to take pictures of this gigantic lizard running around on our porch, this little guy snuck into our room for a little R&R... Um, Ben, get that thing outta here (but first take a picture)... Yeah, I was on the bed hopping up and down like a fool!



Most of all, we just enjoyed each other’s company! We had leisurely lunches, catnaps in the chaise lounges, worked out a little, sang karaoke, soaked in the hot tubs which were just about everywhere, watched the basketball finals (of course… anyone who knows me knows I couldn’t miss that!), and truly treasured our time together. Oh, and did I mention the couples massage we had on Sunday, our first full day on the island?? Yes, that was HEAVENLY!


And while we spent a week in Paradise, we were ready to come home and see the girls and talk to Spencer. We really missed them all so much!

I am so very lucky to have this man as my husband. I couldn’t have imagined so enjoying someone as much as I enjoy Ben. He is truly the love of my life, and I am so grateful he loves me. I also know how grateful he is to have us in his life! We are truly LUCKY!