Just some random stuff

Well, I know I haven't posted in, oh, maybe a few years...So here's a bit of what's going on in the life of Sam.

Two weeks ago I was in Kentucky with the church chior, as part of our annual summer tour. We had so much fun, part of it being the creation or recollection of many inside jokes. One was "Thou shall not steal PUSH!" PUSH is actually Pray Until Something Happens, but one of our leaders, whom will remain nameless, didn't know that, so he tried matching the letters to the ten commandments. Didn't quite work. Another inside joke is now sort of my nickname. I'll tell you, jst so it makes sense. I tend to fall out of hotel beds... So when we stayed at the hotel, I slept peacefully in a chair the first night, and was comfortable. The next night, I had been told that I had to sleep in the bed. So, I took a short nap while most were swimming or having makeovers. And I fell out the bed, landing in a suitcase, not able to get up, for my head was stuck between the bed and the bedside table. My friend Katie was laughing to hard, so my other friend, Brianna, helped me up. That would be embarrassing enough, right? Well, apparently, i wasn't for me. That night, after our devotion, as we were getting into bed, my roomies, Katie, Brianna, and Meghan, and I were talking. Meghan, Katie and I were sitting on one bed, while Brianna was already tucked into the other bed. I scooted back, and slide off the bed to land with a thump on the suitcase. So now my nickname is Thumper.

The other major thing going on in my life this summer so far is...(drum roll please?) FIELD HOCKEY!!!! Okay, so I haven't tried out for the team yet, that's the third, fourth, and fifth of August, but I've been working with the team during conditioning. I've been having so much fun, though I admit I have been really sore.

Oh, a little secret...Mom and Dad's 19th anniverary was yesterday!! I know it's a little late, and most already knew that...but it makes me smile. Oh, and an update. We have Tye, the kitten, Bob, the blob, Weeble and Picasso, the annoying birds...and TESSA, the miniture schnaeuze-gator!

Well, that's all of the top of my head, so I'm gonna go get ready for conditioning.

Oh, and I turn 15 in less than a month.

Sam >^.^<
(it's a kitty face :P)

Another long break between posts.

This blogging thing is a bit of a challenge. I could easily make an entry more often, but it would be short and purely about my activities, which isn't the purpose of this blog.

On the family side of things we're incredibly busy, but it tends to be somewhat routine. The kids are busy with school and related activities, as well as church and related activities. Many of the remaining blanks are filled in with Legion activities. Our weeks tend to be pretty full.

Rather than try to go back over the last 3 months, I'll just cover the last few days. We toned Christmas down this year. The kids are getting older, our schedules are packed, and the house is in a state of reconstruction.

Let's start with the latter. I started in November to re-grout the kid's bathroom, and found that behind the tile was soggy, moldy drywall. After tearing everything out we decided to put in a new tub with surround rather than another steel tub and tile. This eventually become an entire remodel job, and at this point there's drywall going back up, no tub, and no mirror. Fun, eh?

Our friends Lou and Charlotte have kids that live out of the area, and we weren't going to let them spend Christmas alone. This gets complicated because our house is usually open to friends and family, and our house has a bathroom torn apart. So we asked Lou if he would host, and decided to take our normal Christmas chowder and chili and ham on the road. In the meantime, we got a call from one of their daughters, Michelle. She was flying in to surprise her parents on Christmas day. It all worked out fine, but Terri and I felt like we were imposing. I think everyone enjoyed it though. Jim cooked up some prime rib and sweet potatoes which were fantastic, and we enjoyed the day.

Moving forward and back at the same time, Terri sent me, Jason, and Sam to Florida for a few days as her gift to us. We left at 0500 on December 26, Orlando bound.

She had booked us a room at the EconoLodge on International Drive, and it was the nicest Econo-anything I think I've experienced. Big place, well kept, and in the middle of a bunch of hotels and restaurants. We arrived late on Friday and checked in. Seemed like half of the east coast was in town, but we discovered that there was a bowl game in town, so the whole area was packed with college students and fans. We had Don Pablo's right across the street, ate, and hit the sack.

We got up early on Saturday and headed out to Disney for Jason to be able to finally redeem his Petty ride-along voucher. We were there plenty early since it's a "first come, first served" deal on that. The track was wet so there were some delays getting started, but it was worth the wait. Jason had a blast, and Sam and I enjoyed it as well. We got out of there about lunch time and headed back to the hotel. We walked over to Uno's for lunch then went to play miniature golf at The Pirate's Cove, which was a lot of fun. Then we stopped at a grocery store and went back to the hotel. I took some needed down time while the kids went to the pool, we ate in, and went to bed early.

Sunday had us up early again for a trip out to the coast. Terri had booked us for a kayak tour, and we really had no real idea where we were going. We found the general area and hunted around for a while before finding the launch point, where we were joined by a good 25 or more people for the trip. Our guides were a family, and they did a good job of running through basics. Sam and I were the only fools in jeans. We went out and through this canal, saw some manatees and bird life, and generally had a good time. There were "squirrels" including one young blond who kept running into everyone, and some Japanese tourists who were doing the same.

After the kayak trip we headed up to St. Augustine to visit with Bill and Lea, Legion friends from the Netherlands. They have an RV and are staying here for a few months. Before meeting up with them we took a helicopter ride over St. Augustine, which was very cool. Then we met Bill and Lea and were treated to turkey burgers cooked on the grill. Then another long drive back to Orlando.

Yesterday we took our time leaving Orlando, and I booked a room just north of Fayetteville, NC before leaving. That's where I am now, while Jason is slipping on his jeans. Time to wake Sam up and get us down for our free continental breakfast before heading back to Manassas.

There's lots of pictures on the Picasa site, linked on your left under "Latest Photos" and even some video from the trip.

Until next time!

First Week of School Down

Well, the kids both made it through their first week of school. Of course the first week isn't reality, and they are always happy to be back at this point.

Jason has learned something about his big junior year writing project. It's only a 4 page end product, but I guess they are pretty strict on both it's content and the mechanics of it. He hasn't chosen his topic yet. He's been named the class clown in his chemistry class and he likes the teacher I think. Should be a good year for him. He's also wearing braces, with an expected 12-15 month wear time.

Sam is digging high school, but is feeling a little intimidated by being among very few freshmen in a couple of her classes due to the advanced level of some of the classes she took in middle school. She really looks forward to her choir class with Ms. Boley.

On unrelated matters, Terri rode her motorcycle in to work a couple of times last week, with me escorting. The route is actually pretty good when you start evaluating it for risk. A lot of it goes through the Battlefield National Park, which means there are virtually no intersections. Between here and there things can get a little hairy with the I-66 interchange, but we're in the let lane before we get there and most everyone else is already in the 2 right lanes to get onto 66. Up 29 has zero residential entrances, and Pleasant Valley Road has just a few on a 40 MPH road. Braddock has one before turning off of it onto Old Lee, no intersections at all on Old Lee, and she turns off into where her building is right after turning off of Old Lee.

Really, there are very few opportunities for other drivers to cause a problem. There are deer in the Battlefields which pose a risk, but they generally get hit at times that aren't peak traffic. It's really a pretty safe route.

Other than that, it's becoming fall around here and time is flying by.