Holy Cow

Greg says 'holy cow' every now and then. One day Justin told him "I don't say that, because it's a California word, and I'm from Texas". So, I ask him, why is it a California word? His response, "Cow, Cowafornia". I tried to explain the it's Cal, not cow, I even showed him the word, but he doesn't want to hear it. LOL

November 6th, My 35th Birthday

Shiloh National Military Park

Fall Color in the National Cemetery

The boys at Bloody Pond

The Boys at the Peach Orchard

The Corinth Grand Illumination

For my birthday this year, I packed up the boys and we traveled to Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. Greg was swamped with homework, so I knew that if I stayed home it would've been a very boring birthday. I haven't been to Shiloh in ten years, so it was great to get back. It's one of my favorite battlefields. We arrived late in the day on the 6th. We went into the visitors center and the book store, walked around the National cemetery, then just did a non-stop drive through of the park. It was getting dark, and we saw herds of deer everywhere. The fall colors were just about past their peak, but we did see a few nice splashes here and there. It was pitch black by the time we finished the drive through, so we headed to our hotel in Savannah. The next morning we were back to do the auto tour right. We stayed until late afternoon, then drove down to Corinth, Mississippi for the Historic Corinth Grand Illumination. They have a brand new Civil War Interpretive Center in Corinth and they remember the battle of Corinth by lighting 12,000 candles across the grounds and into downtown. It was a sight to see. Justin wants to be a volunteer to help light candles next year. They also had a civil war camp display as well as two camels in representation of Old Douglas, a camel that was actually at the Battle of Corinth. Matthew loved seeing the camels, and they were so friendly. Justin and Jacob were a little shy, but they both did pet them. Once we took in the lights we headed back to Savannah. Sunday morning we started back for home. It was a short trip, but it was so nice. The boys did really well, and I was so happy to get back to Tennessee. It's such a beautiful state. I have more pictures on Facebook as well as my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27822997@N02/

Halloween

Jacob's 4

Saturday was Jacob's 4th Birthday. We went to Chuck E Cheeses and came home and had cupcakes. The celebration was a little subdued as Matthew was quite ill and couldn't be involved and we couldn't have outside family over.

Jacob has been such a blessing to us. He was our if it happens it happens baby. I was due on October 10th, my Grandma's and my sister in law Julie's birthdays, but the doctor induced me on October 3rd. Because Justin had been so big (10 lbs 4 oz), she didn't want to run the risk of Jacob getting that big. He was born at 1:48 pm and was 9 lbs 4 oz, one pound less than Justin was. We hadn't found out ahead of time if he was a boy or girl, so it was a surprise in the the delivery room. He had a full head of the darkest brown hair which was also a surprise. He was the first baby I had an epidural with, which made labor nice, but made me sick as a dog afterward.

I remember being in the hospital and just wanting to go home, I didn't want to be there at all. I missed the other boys and just was homesick. Well, I finally got home, and boy o boy, we found out that Jacob was one grouchy baby. Greg and I were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. He screamed in the car, he screamed in the store, he screamed if you sat down. Luckily that only lasted about a month.

Now he's a fun loving little boy who makes us laugh all the time. We are so thankful for him.

Antietam

Today is my favorite Civil War Date. September 17th, 1862 was the Battle of Antietam. Don't ask me why, but something about this battle and this date stick with me. Antietam was the bloodiest single day battle in American History. 23,000 men where killed, hurt, or wounded.

The Burnside Bridge

We have been to Antietam twice now. Once in 1998 and again in 2008. It was so cool to be able to take my kids there. The battlefield is beautiful, but it doesn't seem any more special to me while I'm there than other battlefields, so I wonder about my mental draw to it. Still I feel as though there must be some connection to it for me.

The Dunker Church

Yesterday, Justin asked me if I remembered going to the underground ice cream parlor in the "little town of Washington DC". I thought for a moment, then I figured out he must mean Harpers Ferry. I asked him a question about it, then he said yes, that was the place. We had gotten ice cream at a house built onto a hillside, and you had to go down steps to get into the shop, so it was kind of underground. Well, we had gone to Antietam the day after Harpers Ferry, so I told him the anniversary of Antietam was the next day. He immediately wanted to go. He said if we left right away we could get there. Well, I guess if we drove straight through, since it's a 20 hour drive from our house. What I wouldn't give to be there for the anniversary, so I was quite excited that Justin had the same thought. Then I told Justin how in December Antietam has a battlefield Illumination, they light a candle for every casualty, and place them all over the battlefield, so imagine 23,000 candles. He was all over that, he loves candles, so, now he wants to go to that. Definitely someday!

Walmart

I'm so disgusted with Walmart. Tell me, isn't there one on virtually every corner? I know here in Texas that is the case. So, why do they have to build a new one a quarter mile from the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia? And why did Orange County, Virginia give them the go ahead? As a member of both the Civil War Preservation Trust and the National Trust for Historic Preservation I have written letters to Walmart in conjunction with both organizations. Well, it's not built yet, but this is a severe blow. This area of Virginia is always under severe threat, it is mid way between Washington D.C. and Richmond, so urban sprawl is a constant factor. I wish all historic land could just be put under National protection. I don't want to take my kids there and have to say, well, try to imagine there isn't a big Walmart right there....

8 Years Ago

On this day eight years ago, Matthew (just about 10 months old) took his first solo steps. The next morning we woke up to September 11th.

Jacob's First Day of Speech

Jacob started speech today. So, this is basically his first day of school. He goes from 10 to 11:45 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. We went to buy him a back pack, just his size, last week. He has the same teacher Justin had, Ms. Kristine, but he's at a brand new school just for pre-schoolers. I was a little choked up when the teacher was getting ready to take them in, but I didn't want to upset him, so I tried to control myself. I told him I would be right there waiting when he came out. But, as I drove away, I let the tears fall. I guess I should be used to it, since this is the third kid, but it was still sad for me. I picked him up and he had done just fine. He told me he had two girlfriends, and four other friends. ha ha

Jacob's first day

FISD Early Childhood School

What Else has been going on

*Justin lost his first tooth on August 17th.

*Greg started back to school on August 20th. It's going to be an intense semester, he's taking three classes as well as a lab this semester.

*Matthew and Justin Started school on August 24th. Matthew's teacher is Ms. Pingle and Justin has Ms. Reynolds. Matthew also had Ms. Reynolds for first grade.

*We finally got the construction repairs completed, now we just need the carpet padding replaced, which is scheduled for this week. I can't wait to get Jacob's room back in order.

Trip Video

Here's a little bit of footage from the Myrtles and crossing the Mississippi on the Ferry. I'm really disappointed with our camcorder, the color is abysmal.

Weekend Getaway to Louisiana and Mississippi

On August 14th, we packed up and drove to Louisiana. Greg doesn't have vacation time as an intern, so we left when he got home from work Friday. Our plan was to drive as far as we could that night and get to St. Francisville, LA Saturday, then spend part of Sunday in Natchez, MS and drive home later in the day. So, to get to St. Francisville, we actually crossed the Mississippi River from Louisiana into Natchez, Mississippi, turned south, then drove back into Louisiana. St. Francisville is home to several antebellum plantation homes, including the Myrtles, which is a famous haunted home and our first stop. It is now a bed and breakfast, and they give tours of the house. Justin was just sure he would see a ghost while we were there. I've seen it on TV so many times, it was really cool to finally be there in person. We took the tour of the house, the boys were full of questions for our guide, and in fact they were the only ones who did ask questions. Then we walked around the grounds. Justin had to be satisfied with feeling a cold spot on a very hot and humid day instead of actually seeing a ghost. We then took the St. Francisville Ferry across the Mississippi just to say we took the ferry across the Mississippi. We drove into New Roads, LA and parked by the river. We walked down a boat ramp, and the boys were messing around, and first Matthew slipped, then Justin, so we had very wet boys, but the luggage was in the car, so it wasn't to troubling. By this point Greg was daydreaming of living on the river. We took the ferry back to St. Francisville, and it had been raining here and there, off and on, so we saw a rainbow while we were waiting in line. We were supposed to go to Greenwood Plantation, but we had spent so time at the river, that it closed before we got back. Oh, well, something to go back for. We drove back up to Natchez, and found a hotel for the night. Before the Civil War, Natchez was the wealthiest city per capita in all of North America and is now know for it's numerous antebellum mansions. We started Sunday at Melrose Plantation. It is now part of the National Park system. We toured the house, and the boys took part in the Jr. Ranger Program, for which they received badges. We then got some lunch, and we were supposed to think about going home, but I wanted to see the Natchez City Cemetery, which is humongous, and has quite a few graves with unique stories. So, Greg took me. OK, I can't help it, I love cemeteries, it's probably in my blood. Justin told me this past week that I need to move to a big old house with a Civil War ghost and a cemetery in the back yard. I guess that boys has me pegged. By this point I had Greg hooked on the town, so we drove around sight seeing and we stopped into a little trading post where we bought a book about Natchez and Matthew got a real alligator head. It's small, but real. It's now in his bedroom. Well, once again, we needed to think about starting for home, but Greg was itching to get on the Natchez Trace Pkwy, I had driven on it in March when I took the boys, but Greg never had. It starts there in Natchez and ends in Nashville, TN. We got on, with the intention of taking the first exit like 15 miles up. On the way we stopped at the Emerald Mound, a ceremonial Indian mound built around 1400. So, after that we got to the exit, and Greg took it, only to make a u-turn and get right back on the Trace. He absolutely fell in love with that road. It goes through forest, and there is no traffic. He declared it one of the most beautiful drives he's ever been on, and we've been all over this country. He's dreaming of doing a motorcycle trip some day. So, we stayed on it for about 50 miles and came out south of Vicksburg. By this point it was 5 pm, and we still had a six hour drive home. But, it's a straight shot from Vicksburg, so it wasn't too bad. It was a nice trip (but too short) and we got to see new areas which is always fun for us. Matthew still won't eat much of anything, which makes things hard, but he's going to have to learn we're always going to travel.

The boys on the porch of the Myrtles

Greg and I

The Myrtles

Matthew watching the water as we cross on the Ferry

Justin right before he plunged into the Mississippi

Walking up to Melrose in Natchez

Melrose

The Turning Angel, Natchez City Cemetery

Jacob and the Mississippi in Natchez

Emerald Mound (Justin and Jacob climbing to the top)

Emerald Mound

The Natchez Trace Pkwy

Star Trek

Greg has become a complete Star Trek nut since the new movie came out this past spring. He doesn't believe he is a "Trekkie", but I'm not so sure. He has seen the movie three times in the theater. We all went when it came out, then he had a chance to go with some friends, and this past weekend we all went to see it again down at the local $1 theater. This movie sparked his interest in the old movies and tv shows as well. We bought him the boxed movie set (the first 10 movies) for Fathers Day. In all truth, I'm sick of the whole Star Trek business. ha ha. However, what I really wanted to say in this post concerns Jacob. Greg bought the boys a bunch of Star Trek action figures. Jacob really likes Spock. Well, with his speech impediment, we can't always quite figure out what he is saying. Two times now he has asked us "where's my Spock", and both times we didn't know what he was saying. He finally grabs his ears and pulls them up, and says Spock. It's very cute and smart.

Ripley's Believe or Not

Yesterday I took the boys to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. We started in the wax museum. Jacob was immediately freaked out. He made it through about half of the wax museum before I ended up carrying him the rest of the time. My shoulder is hurting today, let me tell you. I suppose he's at least 40 pounds now. Anyway, I didn't get any pictures after I started carrying him, but you can see Justin was enjoying posing. After the wax museum we went to the actual Ripley's exhibits. Matthew enjoyed that. His current career goal is to be a cryptozoologist, and study legends and such. The have a Texas Tornado room, where it's all dark and fans are blowing at you, Justin was excited for that. That kid is terrified of storms though, so it was kind of ironic. After you go through the "windy" room, there is a mock setup of a house that has gone through a tornado, and they show exhibits of actual things that have been found after a tornado, such as a baby in a tree, and a rooster that was sucked into a jar. Anyway, the place really wasn't very big, so we were only there for about an hour and a half. Justin claimed he didn't like it that much, but then couldn't stop telling Greg about it when he got home, so I think he must have liked it more than he let on.

What's Up?

So, I haven't posted anything since the 4th of July. Well, on the 15th of July, our water heated blew out. Since our builder found it to be a great idea, our water heater is in the attic. This caused a lot of water damage throughout the house. Thankfully, we discovered what happened before it got any worse. Greg had just went to bed, he goes to bed early since he gets up early, and Matthew looked up at our living room ceiling and said "what's that?", I said OH NO, and got Greg out of bed. He went up into the attic, confirmed the problem, then started draining the heater. The next morning we called our homeowners insurance, and they sent out a service to dry the walls and ceilings. They had to tear out a bunch of carpet padding and base board. Jacob's room has some drywall and paint damage, and our living room ceiling has some big water spots. Jacob's room is the worse, and it basically can't be used for now. Now, exactly four weeks later, our house is still in a shambles. The insurance and contractor can't come to an agreement. I have been very patient with them, but my patience is running thin. I just want my house put back together. We can't even get the carpet padding replaced until the other work is done.

We did get some good news last week when Greg was asked to remain in his internship for the fall. We had several tense weeks waiting to hear one way or the other. He also finished up summer semester this past week. He gets one whole week off school! Too bad he gets no time off his job. Well, we'll use what we have, we are planning on going out of town this upcoming weekend. We are looking at visiting some Louisiana plantations along the Mississippi River.

The 4h of July

This is the first year Greg has been home to spend the Fourth of July with us since I can't remember. We decided to go to Addison Kaboom Town. Addison is a town about 10 miles from us. They have a municipal airport that happens to have a flight museum. The schedule called for warbird flights followed by fireworks. We staked out a spot along the runway and settled in for the show. First they had biplanes up doing stunts. There was even a guy who parachuted off one of the planes waving the American flag. Then a group of various army and navy planes went up, but I was waiting for the WWII planes, because those are the planes I love. I was beginning to think that they weren't going to fly them for this occasion. Then we saw a new line of planes coming down the runway, and yippy, they were the ones I was waiting for. This group included a Wildcat, a Corsair, and a Mustang. But the best was still to come. Greg saw another group of aircraft, this one included a Vietnam army plan, but behind that was the B 24! We were so excited. It stopped right in front of us to wait for take off. We were screaming and waving at them, and they waved back, and we even got to watch them rev up all the engines. It was twilight by this point, so all my pictures are basically back lit, but it was so cool. One more group went up, these were T 6's and did some formation flights. After the show, we went down to Braum's, bought ice cream and watched fireworks from there. It was a really fun night.

T 6s and the army plane

Ole 927, The B 24

Stunt Plane with a wing walker

stunt plane

Justin

B 24

P 51 Mustang

Jacob and Greg

Matthew being goofy

Seven Years

We moved into our house seven years ago today. Texas had never even been on my radar for a potential place to live. I remember in California hating Texas drivers when you would encounter them. Sure enough, our first few weeks here were quite scary getting used to the way people drove. Now, we're probably just as scary. But, as some of you know, we had just bought our house in CA, when the news came that Greg's company was shutting down the CA location. Greg was one of the few lucky ones who was offered a transfer. He actually interviewed in Phoenix first, but I always had the feeling it would be Texas, and sure enough that is where we ended up. We flew out here in May 2002 for a weekend house hunting trip. We looked all day Friday, and felt very discouraged. Saturday our realtor brought us to a new construction house in Plano, and we decided it was our best bet. We were able to pick our tile, carpet, back splash for the kitchen, and the wall paper borders for the kitchen and master bath. Our California house sold in less than a week, so we were set (we got to live in that house exactly one year). Greg's company moved us, what a blessing, and we packed up our two cats, our Chihuahua, and our 18 month old Matthew, and drove to Texas in June. What a trip. Greg and I thought we would die if we had to listen to Sesame St. one more time. Our house wasn't ready, so we actually lived in corporate housing for about two weeks. Then it was move in time. We closed on the 21st, and moved in on the 22nd. I'll never forget unpacking and finding Matthew's little white wagon, and he was so happy to see it. It was probably reassuring to him to see something he actually knew. I always feel like it hurt him moving to Texas, I know he was very young, but we left behind everyone he ever knew. He had always spent one day a week with my parents, and he always saw my sister, and suddenly we were in a strange place and knew no one. That first summer was so hard. We were homesick and I got pregnant with Justin right after we moved, and I was so sick with him. It was such a struggle to try and take care of Matthew and I had no one to help me. But here we are seven years later. We are in a very good neighborhood, and we couldn't have a better school district, but we still haven't found places to replace those in San Diego, such as the museums, Balboa Park, Sea Port Village, the Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Everything here seems so old and run down. The Dallas Zoo could fit in the front entrance of the San Diego Zoo. Of course the worst part is Greg's company just went through another shut down, so here we go again, but this time there are no transfers, they took everything over seas. He, of course, is hard at work on making a career change into computer programming industry, but it is very nerve racking for us with the economy the way it is. I feel the strain wearing us down, and it makes me sad. Maybe year seven is our lucky year though.

Our 13th Wedding Anniversary

Thirteen years ago today, Greg and I flew to the island of Kauai and got married. It wasn't without a few problems. First we were delayed getting out of LAX, because the flight was overbooked, and no one would give up their seat. So, then we had to run to catch our flight to Kauai out of Honolulu. We made it, but our luggage didn't. We had our wedding clothes, but I didn't have my make up or shoes. Oh boy. Luckily, they had hourly flights, so the luggage came in on the next flight. While waiting for the luggage we called the wedding license office, and they had a message from the lady performing our ceremony that the hairstylist who was supposed to do my hair wasn't going to make it. Well, we headed over to the office, got our license, and they were nice enough to direct us to a hair salon. We showed up, and the hairstylist was so nice, he fit me in, and even turned away other customers to take care of me. Okay, that taken care of, we headed to the far north shore to where we were getting married on a private estate in the shadow of Bali Hai. It started to rain on the drive, but at that point we didn't realized it rained everyday in Hawaii, and it lasted all of 5 minutes. We found the estate, and we dressed in a little cottage by a brook. We had our ceremony, then took our pictures. When we arrived at our hotel, there was a big party in the outside bar for couples celebrating there 50th + wedding anniversaries. We were still in our wedding clothes, so they we're so excited for us. It was really special. We said we would go back for out 5th anniversary, but of course, we had 7 month old at that point. And for our 10th, we had an 8 month old. So, maybe for our 15th!

Galveston Slide Show

This past Friday we decided to drive down to Galveston. Because Greg is working a co-op position, he does not have vacation days. Also because he is in summer school, we had to wait until a weekend where he wasn't swamped with homework. I packed up the car, and then the boys and I met Greg at his company when he finished work, and we left from there. We arrived in Galveston around 8:30 pm. We stayed in a Condo on Seawall BLVD. It was nice to have a kitchen because, unfortunately, Matthew will not eat at restaurants at all (travel is becoming increasingly hard for us because of this) so I was able to cook for him. We could see the gulf from our balcony as well. I love Galveston, it's by far my favorite place in Texas, if it wasn't for hurricanes, I would consider living there. (Those are big words for a girl who wants to move to the east coast.) You have Seawall Blvd, then you have the Mansions mixed in with rundown row houses. And they have so much history for such a little island, which I think is really the draw for me. Anyway, we spent Saturday morning playing at the beach. Only Greg got stung by a jellyfish this time. Poor guy, I think he gets stung every time we go to the gulf. And of course, since having kids, I can't go on a trip without having to find a store to buy something we forgot to pack. That afternoon we went over to see the tall ship Elissa. You can see signs of Hurricane Ike pretty much everywhere, it's sad to see some of the pretty houses still boarded up. Some of the hotels are still closed down. One store in the historic district had a line across the wall showing how high the water rose. That evening, we rented a surry, a four wheel bicycle cart type thing, and rode down Seawall Blvd. That was a lot of fun. The boys thought it was great. Too bad, I didn't have the camera with me. Sunday, we packed up and headed for home. Sadly, it really was too short, there were a lot of things I would have liked to do, but we worked with what we had. I shot a picture of the giant Sam Houston statue along I 45 in Huntsville, and we also found a cool abandoned house when we stopped in Fairfield, TX. I love buildings like that.

Jacob On Two Wheels!

Last week Justin encouraged Jacob (who is 3 1/2) to try riding his bike without training wheels. I thought Greg could push him up and down the sidewalk, and that would be it. Well, Jacob took off! We thought Justin started on two wheels early at 4 1/2. So, this is some video from that very first night. He was so excited, just grinning from ear to ear. I think it's funny how Jacob yells at Greg to let go when he gets near the camera. And the crazy Native American chanting you hear is Matthew.

Meet the Ostrich

Fossil Ridge Wildlife Center

Yesterday the boys and I picked up my sister Julie and headed out to Fossil Ridge Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, TX.  It's a drive through wildlife preserve.  They give you one bag of food and you have to use it wisely, or you will run out.  Ha ha.  We headed in, and soon had an ostrich head in our car.  We proceeded on and found Blackbuck, Addax, Axis Deer, Gemstock, Thompson's Gazelle.  I think it reminded Julie and I strongly of the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, and seeing all those animals on the plain when you ride the Monorail.  We climbed a ridge and when we came down the other side, we found the valley with the giraffes and zebras. We were so excited to feed the giraffes, but none would come to the car.  Then after we drove past we saw one walk over to the next car.  We were bummed.  However we proceeded on. Soon we were climbing another ridge and found Aoudads, which are kind of like African big horned sheep.  The boys were loving feeding all the animals and thought it was hilarious when they would stick their heads in the car.  We drove past the cheetahs, which were caged, as were the rhinos.  We found a herd of wildebeest, but they didn't come up to the car.  The drive probably took a couple hours.  We came to the exit gate, and there was a little side road that took you back to the start of the tour.  I looked at my sister, and she looked at me, and we said, let's go again!  So, off we went for a second tour, and this time we saw Emus and Bongos, which we hadn't seen the first time around.  When we got back to the giraffes, we were excited to see one was up by the cars taking food from everybody, then all of sudden two cars in front of us, it stopped.  Well, the two cars drove on, and there we were, and I held out some food anyway, and it came over and ate it!  We were so excited.  Everyone was shoving their hands out my window. We finally drove on and ended up in a pack of zebras.  I was watching one outside the passenger window when I turned and found a zebra sticking it's head in my window!  It caught me off guard.  Ha ha.  Then it had a good time looking in my mirror.  We finished the tour for a second time with our final visitor being an ostrich, just like our very first visitor.  This time I did take the exit.  We drove back to my sister's and hit a horrible storm.  The rain was so bad you could hardly see and lightening was striking everywhere.  I'm so glad that didn't hit while we were at the park.  We all got home safely and we all had a great time.  What an awesome place.

The Gardens of The American Rose Center

On Saturday April 25th, Justin, Jacob and Myself drove over to Shreveport, LA to visit The Gardens of The American Rose Center.  It's a little over three hours to get to Shreveport.  It a gorgeous drive.  About fifty miles out of Dallas as you get into East Texas the terrain changes to rolling hills thickly forested in pine.  It's been six years since I've been to the gardens. Justin was a six week old baby the last time we went. The gardens cover 42 acres. They are set into different little gardens with a path that intersects them all. All this is set amongst the towering pines. It's quite lovely. The boys enjoyed the little play ground we found. It had a real see saw, something you just don't see anymore. We all had a lot of fun playing on that. It was pretty warm and the humidity is definitely higher in Louisiana, but we had a great time.