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.