We have arrived....

We are in North Carolina and it is gorgeous. We are in the mountains and the town home we are staying in is beautiful. It is a tri-level unit with wood floors and dark wood furnishings. It has a REAL fireplace. The girl's couldn't wait to get firewood and smore ingredients. We are way more rural then I imagined. It is the first time ever that we checked in like 4 miles away from where we are actually staying. It was also very hard to find, but as ever Dave found it. He is so good that way. The drive up went very well and seem to go very quickly. Dave did the first 5 hours and I planned on doing the next five hours but about 4 hours in we started heading up the mountain and that was the end of that. It was freaking me out with all the winding roads and over looks that were hundreds of feet in the air. Not to mention all the locals behind me getting pretty upset I was driving so slow. So needless to say I had to hand over the wheel to Dave. We also later found out that we are in a dry county. We are going to have to drive about 45 minutes to buy beer. LOL Looks like it is going to be a "dry holiday" for Dave. LOL We had dinner at the restaurant on the resort property and since it is off season we were the only people there on a Saturday night if you can believe that. That was a first for us. We are all pretty exhausted so we are heading to bed...

Holiday Makers R Us....

We are heading off on "holiday" as my husband would say. So that makes us officially "holidaymakers" (another English phrase) We are so ready and very excited. We are heading to the mountains of North Carolina. We are looking forward to some cooler weather. (we have had such a mild winter)

Looking forward to some lazy days enjoying my family. Not looking forward to not having Sydnee with us again. Alas, this is what happens when your children grow up. I guess I better get used to it.

I'm going t try to post everyday to kind of keep a diary. Wish me luck with that I will need it. LOL

Family Picnic in Englewood....

Sunday we had our annual family picnic down at Englewood Beach. Every March my Aunt and Uncle come down for three weeks and stay at this cute little beach front hotel. It's not real fancy but it is quiet and very peaceful. It's a private beach so it's never crowded. We always have a fantastic day when we go and this year was no exception. We missed Sydnee of course because she was at college and didn't come home this last weekend. But it was a beautiful day!!!!



McKenlee flying the kite. The beach is always the best place to fly a kite don't ya think. The sea breeze makes it so easy and as a bonus there are no trees.




Lounging and looking in the sand for little mole crabs for bait.




We went snorkling (the water was crystal clear) and found some ocean hermit crabs. We kept them in the bucket for a little while to watch them then I had the girl's put them back in the ocean, Lord knows we have enough pets. LOL




Here is Natalie holding a mole crab. They are so cute sometimes it's hard to use them as bait. None of us will bait the hook, Dave has to do it. LOL




Natalie digging for shells and mole crabs...

What a wonderful day!!!

March Madness

Hello Internet remember me? Yup, I'm the one that really was going to blog more this year. umm, well you know how that goes. As I've always been one to make lots of attempts before I get it right I'm going to try to be better at this. You know I'm a big fan of bullet points when I haven't posted for awhile so here we go.

• Sydnee has been home this week for her spring break. Like always it has been great having her home.

• Natalie and I joined the local gym right up the road. She had been bugging Dave and I for awhile to get her a gym membership and since she needed an adult to be on the membership with her I signed up too. It's been something we do together and wait for it I have really liked doing this with her. I needed to do something anyway because I committed to Sydnee that I would do the Disney princess 1/2 marathon with her next February. So it has begun. I was a little troubled last week when I was bragging to Dave how quickly I have gone from a 2.5 on the treadmill to a 3.2. I have figured out that I have to get to a 3.8 pace on the treadmill to maintain the 16 minute mile rule that Disney has for their marathons (or they throw you off the course embarrassing ) so I was expressing that I was moving up pretty quickly since at the time I had only been going to the gym about two weeks. Of course he comes back with "well you know that you will have to maintain that for 3 hours and 28 minutes." WHAT, REALLY? You're kidding right? No, he wasn't so that was kind of a reality check. But you know what? Oh well, I'm doing it. I'm up to 45 minutes now so you know, only 165 more to go. Good thing I have got a year!!!

• I'm watching what I eat again too and it's amazing how much better you feel when you are eating right. Who knew??? LOL

• Little League softball has started back up for McKenlee (Natalie decided not to play this year much to my disappointment) so between travel ball and rec ball we are spending the weekends and many week nights at the ball fields.

• Natalie has a boyfriend. (She's going to kill me for that one) but I can't help it my shy girl has a boyfriend. His name is Thor and he seems like a great kid. Any kid who plays and talks to my little guys always score's brownie points with me. My little Elijah thinks he is awesome.

• We are heading to the mountains of North Carolina at the end of this month for spring break. We can't wait, we are very excited. I never thought I would say this but we are hoping it will be cold. (not freezing mind you, we are after all from Florida) But we would like some cooler weather so we can wear some cozy sweaters and boots and hike those gorgeous mountains without sweating our booties off. We have had such a warm winter (my air has been on and off almost all winter) that we would love a little climate change.

• I guess that kind of sums everything up. Have a wonderful weekend.......

Reflection on me...

I don't know if you have been following the story of the two Gainesville teenagers who went on a racist rant on You Tube but I caught the story this morning. It was really hard to watch. What I found most difficult was the fact that they carried on and carried on and really felt that everything they were saying was legitimate and true. These young girls were even quoting statistics as if they had looked them up and could back everything they were saying. Now they are paying dearly for their ignorance and I am sure have learned a very hard life lesson. This is one of those events that will be life changing and unfortunately forever haunt them. But as time does with most things I am hopeful that it will take care of this and these young girl's will go on to live happy, healthy, productive lives.


As I watched the You Tube video my mind kept going back to the parents of these girl's and how horrified they must of been when they discovered what their girl's had done. How embarrassed and while I am sure they were furious with their daughter's, they were also probably filled with sorrow at the thought of how hard it would be for these girl's to get past this and all the outrage they had caused. Now it seems that their lives are being threatened and their parents fear for their safety. How horrible as a parent to go through something like this.

I thought of my own daughters. I thought about how I continually stress to them that everything they do is a reflection on their father and I. As unfair as this may be it is true. Whenever something like this happens the first thought people have is "Where are their parents?" or "What kind of parents are raising these kids?"

I will share this story with my girls, I will stress again how important it is that we all live with empathy, respect, and tolerance. I will remind them that everything they email, tweet, text, or You Tube is forever and you can't take it back. I will tell them again that EVERYTHING they do is a reflection on me so please remember to THINK before you act......ALWAYS......

The life of a dog.....

Originally when I took this picture it was because I wanted to send it to my baby girl's (the one that I babysit) Mom because I thought it was darling that she was Internet shopping with my Natalie. But when I saw Jesse in the background I had to post. We have the laziest most spoiled dog in the whole world. This picture symbolizes the majority of her life. Must be nice huh??

Happy Valentines Day.......

So I haven't blogged for awhile. It's been on my mind just not really feeling it. Of course I still BLOG READ avidly and I found this on another blog I read and thought well it at least gives me something to write about right????

1. Did you have a nickname as a child? What was it?

I have always been called "Suzie Q" by my Aunt Sharon, when I was young I was "Balouchi" to my Grandmother and I was known as "Malibu" to my cousins for awhile.

2. What movie can you quote best? Without a hesitation that would be "Finding Nemo" my most favorite "find a happy place, find a happy place."

3. What was your favorite pastime in middle school? Roller skating at what used to be called "Southland Rollar Palace" what's neat about still living in the small town you grew up in is that my youngest daughter is now a big fan of roller skating at the same rink but now it is called "Astro Skate."

4. What did the high-school you want to be when you grew up? I can't really remember but I remember as a child wanting to be a veterinarian, a teacher, or an actress.

5. Are you afraid of heights? I never was until I turned 30 and now I am petrified.


6. What was the highlight of your week? Friday nights out to dinner with my love.


7. What is your favorite city? I haven't made it there yet but I am sure it would be Seattle, Wa or Portland, Oregon. I really think I was suppose to be a Pacific West Coast girl...

8. What's the best concert you've ever been to? I haven't been to that many concerts and I am not a big fan of crowds but I went to see "Wicked" and loved it. I keep telling myself I need to do the theatre more often but can't seem to fit it in.

9. If I gave you the day "off" -- from your job or kids or whatever your usual responsibilities -- what would you do? Go shopping, catch a movie, and have dinner with a good friend or my husband if I could talk him into the movie and shopping part.

10. In your opinion, what is the best song to roller skate to? "Funky Town"

11. What are you doing after this? Taking my little guys to the McDonald's play area to get out of the house for a little while.