Thursday August 6, 2009
The kids are back from their summer with their father. Our first outing on their first day back was to get their phones upgraded. They both picked out a Samsung Impression, which has both a touch screen and a full qwerty screen.
Friday August 7, 2009
The kids and I finally made it down to Florida to my parents’ place on Pine Island, just outside Ft. Myers. Kyle had a doctor’s appointment to check out his knee. Good news—the difference between his legs has evened out to less than one centimeter difference, where it was around 1.8 cm difference at his April appointment. It was around 5:30pm by the time we hit the road. After a late night with only an hour and a half sleep, I was tired so we stopped between Atlanta and Macon, Georgia. After a quick breakfast we hit the road and made it to our destination by dinnertime. I was bummed out that I never found a Dunkin’ Donuts along the I-475 corridor, but eventually we did find one. Then, as we were driving onto the island, my hubby called and said the bank had phoned about a problem with my bank card. Ugh! Turns out my card had been part of a “mass compromise,” which means on a Friday evening on my first day of holiday my bank card is cancelled and I have to find a local branch to pick up a temporary card. Not the best beginning! A swim in the pool under the night sky helped get me back into the vacation mood.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
This morning, after another swim in the pool, the kids and I found a Bank of America to get my temporary card. After an hour there, we headed back towards Pine Island and spent some time wandering around Matlacha. We started off with some very tasty homemade ice cream in an art gallery. Ray and I bought some very pretty shell earrings at one shop. We finished up just after 1:00pm and the day was hitting top heat, so we stopped at Winn-Dixie to buy some groceries and then hung out at the house for the rest of the day. My parents were gone for the weekend, so I barbecued some burgers for dinner. It was nice to just chill out with the tv, laptops, swimming pool and pool table.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
This morning the kids and I headed out early to visit a local Unitarian Universalist church. I managed to sneak in a visit to Dunkin’ Donuts for yummy coffee on the drive there. The sanctuary and campus of the Ft. Myers UU Church are beautiful. The visiting minister gave a wonderful sermon entitled “Three Things.” Kyle wanted to meet her afterwards and it turns out the minister at her home church is the same minister who was at FUUN when we joined, the same minister who performed our wedding. It truly is a small world! After church, we drove up to Pt. Charlotte to visit my cousin Cyndi and her family. We had a great afternoon. Kyle and I had been down for my grandmother’s memorial in the spring, but Ryann had not seen the family in several years. My cousin’s daughter Kama and her girlfriend Alex are attending Savannah College of Art & Design this fall, which is where Ryann plans to transfer to in two years. They should still be there, so have offered to rent Ryann a room when she goes and also for us to stay when we visit. I was exhausted when we got back to the house, but the kids stayed up until my parents got home from their weekend up north with their former neighbors at Redington Shores. Before fading into sleep, I listened to Dad and Kyle goofing off in the pool.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday we had made arrangements with my cousin and her family to meet up early in the morning to drive over to Ft. Myers Beach. We arrived around 10am and found a place near the pier where we could put down blankets in the sun and the shade. Cyndi and I walked down the beach with Ryann and Cyndi’s 8yo daughter trailing behind, picking up shells. The girls found some great shells. We also saw part of a jelly fish, which we kept at a distance, especially when a wave rolled in and moved it. Then Cyndi and I left the young’uns on their own for a little bit while we had a couple of drinks at a nearby bar, sitting under an umbrella on the beach, just talking and watching the people. It was great to catch up with Cyndi and just relax for a while. When we got back to the blanket, we passed out the sandwiches bought earlier at a Publix and ate lunch. Then it was getting so hot we packed up and drove back to Pine Island to chill out in the pool. I made a mistake getting a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream at the beach, which triggered a headache, so I took a sh
ort nap. My dad had headed back up to Alabama, where his job is, but my step-mom was there and she fixed us a great dinner of spaghetti with meatballs, salad and garlic bread. Then I showed the movie I made for Ryann’s graduation party, which always makes me sentimental. It was sad to say good-bye to my cousin and her family, but hopefully we’ll be seeing each other again soon with both our kids heading towards Savannah. My plan was to get up early and head back to Tennessee on Tuesday, a day early since the kids wanted to go to the church dinner on Wednesday, so I told the kids to pack up before they went to bed and I headed to sleep early, not looking forward to the long drive in the morning.Tuesday, August 11, 2009
I have got to figure out what is going on with my Blackberry’s alarm. Third day in a row the audible alarm did not go off. The phone will vibrate, but it won’t sound out. Wtf? Oh, well, we got off to a late start, about an hour and a half later than I wanted, but early enough that we arrived home by 7pm Central time. The drive back was very uneventful, which is always a good thing. The traffic in Atlanta cooperated and we only had a couple of slow-downs and only one complete stop, maybe a record. We hit some heavy rain on the last hour of the drive, very similar to the hard rain we hit on the way to Pine Island on Friday afternoon. It was very nice to be home, relax in our den and watch the Design Star DVR, then sleep in my own bed with my hubby! Ellie Mae, my black lab, was very happy and cuddled up against me all evening, not wanting to move when I finally headed to bed. Dorothy had it right… there is no place like home!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Today I just couldn’t get moving. I slept in and then lounged in my pj’s all day, finally hitting the shower around 3pm. Clark had to drive to Crossville, so he left out around 9am. Kyle impressed me by doing his three essays which are due the first day of school. Once I was dressed and presentable, we headed out to Publix, where Ryann applied for a job, then we went to church for dinner. Kyle was happy to be back with his buddies at church, then when we came home one of his classmates came over and they went out into the neighborhood. It really is nice to live in a community that is safe enough for the kids to wander from house to house with their friends. Ryann and I worked for a little bit on a DnD campaign that we had all been discussing on our recent drive. Kyle had this great idea for a pirate campaign which would take the party from level one to epic level 20. We’re hoping to get it completely written out and ready for testing in the next couple of months. Wouldn’t it be great to get this published by Wizards and then made available at GenCon next summer?
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Well, it is time to get back into the routine this morning. Got up and got dressed this morning (still having issues with the Blackberry alarm), and Clark brought Dunkin' Donuts coffee home (bless him!!). It feels good to get back onto Twitter and Facebook, then updating this blog. Tomorrow Kyle starts school, but today he and two friends are sleeping late. I have no idea when they went to bed, but am happy they were quiet last night and didn't wake me up. Of course, I was so fast asleep I didn't wake up when Clark came to bed! Ah, well! It is nice to be back with my family and fairly rested as we dive back into school, soccer and the frenzy of the upcoming fall!
¡Hasta pronto, mis amigos!
~N
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