BEACH
After the Beach
Back at the hotel, before bath and movie...
End of a great day!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Pictures from our mama-son getaway-Wednesday.
The Hotel- we stayed in a Hilton Homewood Suites, and it was WONDERFUL! I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Clean, spacious, and worth the extra money when your a germaphobe and want to cook your own food in effort to 1.eat healthy, and 2. not spend tons of money eating out.
The kitchen and eating area
Living area-my retreat after the boys fell asleep.
Bedroom, two queens.
Wednesday evening, I'd just told the boys we were going to the beach in the morning. They were happy eh?
Laughing all night long at the Chipmunks sequel.
Out! This shot cracks me up. Look at the position they're both in, it is almost completely identical. Arms bent, other arm over their head, head's at an angle, mouths open... Their daddy's boys for sure! ;)
Our mini getaway
Well, last week the boys and I took off for a mini 2.5 day vacation to Charleston. It was absolutely wonderful! We left Wednesday. The plan was to leave straight from church as I had my monthly Women's Bible Study that morning, but as usual things didn't go how I planned and we had to come home to finish packing first. We ended up leaving Columbia around 3-330pm and arriving in Charleston around 5pm. Although I drug the boys around to do some shopping and then took them to Moe's for dinner before heading to the hotel. I was dreading checking in, but it really was very simple, only complaint would be that the guy talked FOREVER telling me all about the services and ammenities, blah blah blah, as I'm watching Asher get more and more wound up and wondering how badly he'd hurt himself if he were to fall from the fireplace he just climbed up....
Anyhow, front desk man finally finished jabbering and gave me the key cards to the room, then began the adventure of carrying in the luggage for the 3 of us. Once that was all done, I got the boys in their PJ's and we made one last trip downstairs for hot chocolate and coffee. YUMMY! Back in our room, we sorted through the overpriced pay perview movies and Aidan picked out The Chipmunks Squeakuel, he and Asher got in bed together and enjoyed the entertainment. Asher LOVED the movie (I also thought it was very cute) and had to get up and dance everytime the chipmunks or chipettes sang-it was precious, and made a lasting memory for sure. Once the movie was over Asher had a meltdown-I think he realized we weren't at home, and he wasn't in his bed-that was a very unfun 30 minutes but eventually he cried himself to sleep and then I spent some time quietly surfing the internet and sipping my coffee.
Thursday morning we slept way too late to enjoy the free breakfast, but I had brought some snack and things to eat and pulled them out of the fridge. Yogurt, Applesauce and Strawberries and milk, what more could a kid want? Then we headed to Walmart for a few things to take in our bag for lunch and we were on our way to the beach. I made it there without getting lost! YAY! Parked and checked the meter for instrusctions. Okay, $1.00 an hour, so I paid $10.00 not knowing how long we'd be there and stuck the ticket in the corner of the windshield as directed per parking booth kiosk. I am sure we looked like a rather interesting group carrying our LOAD of stuff from the lot to the beach, but we did eventually make it there and in only one trip. It was a bit chillier then I had expected so I didn't get to tan, and kept my jacket on the whole time-the boys also kept their shirts on, except for the times they convinced me to take them to play in the ocean-which was just a bit too chilly. But the boys had fun nonetheless, playing in the ocean, making sandcastles, collecting seashells, chasing the super annoying seagulls, frisbee, picnic lunch... and they lasted 4.5 hours!!! I was VERY impressed! We headed back to the car and to my great irritation were greeted by a parking ticket. Whatever, I'll pay the $15.00 because it's not worth contesting, but I'm not going to do it happily. The plan was to go back to the hotel and clean up before going out, but Asher fell asleep in the car, and I knew it'd be better to wake him up to food then to bathe, so we went to Fatz for dinner, soup and salad for me, along with their sinfully delicious rolls and butter, and chicken tenders for the boys. Then we headed to the outlets to walk around, got the boys and myself super expensive cookies from the Great American Cookie Company, then got the boys both haircuts since they were in dire need of them. Then it was back to the hotel where the boys spent some time coloring and then headed to the bath. After bath and pajama's it was time for another over priced movie. There weren't that many choices I felt comfortable with, so after a few minutes we decided we liked teh chipmunks so much we'd watch it again. The boys laughed just as much teh 2nd time through and fell asleep much quicker. I again enjoyed some quiet time before falling asleep myself.
Friday morning we had a lazy and slow morning, again missing the free breakfast at the hotel, so we went to starbucks before heading to a friends house for the morning. After breakfast we headed out to see our friends, but Asher decided it would be a good time to get carsick and lost his entire breakfast all over himself and his carseat. Now, taking into consideration it was 80 degrees outside, the day had only begun, I could not get the seat completely cleaned off, and knowing Aidan and I are both very sensitive to smells..... we had to make a detour by Kmart where I purchased a new outfit for Asher and a new carseat. We ditched the old one in the Kmart parking lot next to the dumpster. Then we continued on our way. We spent the better half of the morning with our good friends we had come to know during our last year in Charleston. What a blessing to have that time, finally about 1pm we thought we should probably feed the kids so we headed to Chic-fil-a and had lunch. Jenny and I got a little extra time to visit one on one while the boys all played in the play area. Then it was time to head to see another friend. So I packed the boys back in the van and headed to West Ashley where we had a great time visiting with my friend (and former trainer) Shannon and her girls. We left about 530 and drove straight back home. Our getaway over and back to reality WAY too quickly.
Darren got home around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning and it's been utter chaos since trying to tie up loose ends with our remaining adoption paperwork and getting it sent on it's way. But that's all done, and this is Darren's last week of night shift so hopefully things will settle down here in the next week or two...
Pictures to follow in a separate post. And spell check isn't working so hush...
Anyhow, front desk man finally finished jabbering and gave me the key cards to the room, then began the adventure of carrying in the luggage for the 3 of us. Once that was all done, I got the boys in their PJ's and we made one last trip downstairs for hot chocolate and coffee. YUMMY! Back in our room, we sorted through the overpriced pay perview movies and Aidan picked out The Chipmunks Squeakuel, he and Asher got in bed together and enjoyed the entertainment. Asher LOVED the movie (I also thought it was very cute) and had to get up and dance everytime the chipmunks or chipettes sang-it was precious, and made a lasting memory for sure. Once the movie was over Asher had a meltdown-I think he realized we weren't at home, and he wasn't in his bed-that was a very unfun 30 minutes but eventually he cried himself to sleep and then I spent some time quietly surfing the internet and sipping my coffee.
Thursday morning we slept way too late to enjoy the free breakfast, but I had brought some snack and things to eat and pulled them out of the fridge. Yogurt, Applesauce and Strawberries and milk, what more could a kid want? Then we headed to Walmart for a few things to take in our bag for lunch and we were on our way to the beach. I made it there without getting lost! YAY! Parked and checked the meter for instrusctions. Okay, $1.00 an hour, so I paid $10.00 not knowing how long we'd be there and stuck the ticket in the corner of the windshield as directed per parking booth kiosk. I am sure we looked like a rather interesting group carrying our LOAD of stuff from the lot to the beach, but we did eventually make it there and in only one trip. It was a bit chillier then I had expected so I didn't get to tan, and kept my jacket on the whole time-the boys also kept their shirts on, except for the times they convinced me to take them to play in the ocean-which was just a bit too chilly. But the boys had fun nonetheless, playing in the ocean, making sandcastles, collecting seashells, chasing the super annoying seagulls, frisbee, picnic lunch... and they lasted 4.5 hours!!! I was VERY impressed! We headed back to the car and to my great irritation were greeted by a parking ticket. Whatever, I'll pay the $15.00 because it's not worth contesting, but I'm not going to do it happily. The plan was to go back to the hotel and clean up before going out, but Asher fell asleep in the car, and I knew it'd be better to wake him up to food then to bathe, so we went to Fatz for dinner, soup and salad for me, along with their sinfully delicious rolls and butter, and chicken tenders for the boys. Then we headed to the outlets to walk around, got the boys and myself super expensive cookies from the Great American Cookie Company, then got the boys both haircuts since they were in dire need of them. Then it was back to the hotel where the boys spent some time coloring and then headed to the bath. After bath and pajama's it was time for another over priced movie. There weren't that many choices I felt comfortable with, so after a few minutes we decided we liked teh chipmunks so much we'd watch it again. The boys laughed just as much teh 2nd time through and fell asleep much quicker. I again enjoyed some quiet time before falling asleep myself.
Friday morning we had a lazy and slow morning, again missing the free breakfast at the hotel, so we went to starbucks before heading to a friends house for the morning. After breakfast we headed out to see our friends, but Asher decided it would be a good time to get carsick and lost his entire breakfast all over himself and his carseat. Now, taking into consideration it was 80 degrees outside, the day had only begun, I could not get the seat completely cleaned off, and knowing Aidan and I are both very sensitive to smells..... we had to make a detour by Kmart where I purchased a new outfit for Asher and a new carseat. We ditched the old one in the Kmart parking lot next to the dumpster. Then we continued on our way. We spent the better half of the morning with our good friends we had come to know during our last year in Charleston. What a blessing to have that time, finally about 1pm we thought we should probably feed the kids so we headed to Chic-fil-a and had lunch. Jenny and I got a little extra time to visit one on one while the boys all played in the play area. Then it was time to head to see another friend. So I packed the boys back in the van and headed to West Ashley where we had a great time visiting with my friend (and former trainer) Shannon and her girls. We left about 530 and drove straight back home. Our getaway over and back to reality WAY too quickly.
Darren got home around midnight Friday night/Saturday morning and it's been utter chaos since trying to tie up loose ends with our remaining adoption paperwork and getting it sent on it's way. But that's all done, and this is Darren's last week of night shift so hopefully things will settle down here in the next week or two...
Pictures to follow in a separate post. And spell check isn't working so hush...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
And?
And then my vacuum cleaner went kapooey!
The week before last was spent running around like crazy people preparing for Darren's "deployment". We gathered all adoption documents, made all necessary arrangements to pick them up, etc.. so that I could put them in the mail last week. Cleaned the house, had everything put together for a week of school, got V's package ready to ship, packed Darren's bags, made travel arrangements for the boys and myself for our mini-vacation to the beach, finished up some landscaping and planting projects.... Whew! But we got it all done so that I could relax and not have to worry about anything while Darren was gone. Or so we thought...
And don't feel bad for me, I can't help but laugh out loud as I type this, it's so ridiculous it HAS to be real...
Well, first the mail carriers we've used to send packages to the orphanage in the past no longer deliver to the city V is in... because of the economy they have cut back on remote deliveries. Great, fine, we'll send to our facilitator who has agreed to send it onto the orphanage for us. Next, Aidan used to much toilet paper and I was dealing with not one, but two clogged toilets. Yes two, see he started in one, and then went to the other to "finish". Awesome. Then I got word that a US mother sent her 7 year old adopted child back to Russia on a plane all alone making claims that he was dangerous and a threat to her safety, thus jeopardizing the future of any further US-Russian adoptions. Then the refrigerator started making a loud whiring noise and leaking. Then both downstairs toilets, tubs and showers backed up, I paid $350 for the plumber to say "good gracious, looks like the city's main backed up in here" only for him to come back 20 minutes later (after running a camera through all of our pipes) to say that he couldn't find a single problem. Thus I spent 8 hours cleaning 6 inches of, uh... "sludge" out of our baths and showers, and scrubbing down the toilets and floors. I used so much bleach it ate the skin off my left heel... Aidan's blood sugar is acting up, I can't reach his endocrinologist, I've left several messages. Aidan is now a week behind in school. I have been unable to pick up our adoption documents for one reason or another, all equally as "comical" as what I've already described. Our account that holds money for V's expenses decided to close without telling us, so the checks I wrote to pay for such said documents bounced. Asher has a double ear infection, his 6th in 8 months and they finally agreed to refer us to an ENT yesterday. I have an upper respiratory thing going on, my throat is on fire and this morning... my vacuum went kaplooey!
BUT-my coffee pot is working, and that is a GOOD thing! ;)
The week before last was spent running around like crazy people preparing for Darren's "deployment". We gathered all adoption documents, made all necessary arrangements to pick them up, etc.. so that I could put them in the mail last week. Cleaned the house, had everything put together for a week of school, got V's package ready to ship, packed Darren's bags, made travel arrangements for the boys and myself for our mini-vacation to the beach, finished up some landscaping and planting projects.... Whew! But we got it all done so that I could relax and not have to worry about anything while Darren was gone. Or so we thought...
And don't feel bad for me, I can't help but laugh out loud as I type this, it's so ridiculous it HAS to be real...
Well, first the mail carriers we've used to send packages to the orphanage in the past no longer deliver to the city V is in... because of the economy they have cut back on remote deliveries. Great, fine, we'll send to our facilitator who has agreed to send it onto the orphanage for us. Next, Aidan used to much toilet paper and I was dealing with not one, but two clogged toilets. Yes two, see he started in one, and then went to the other to "finish". Awesome. Then I got word that a US mother sent her 7 year old adopted child back to Russia on a plane all alone making claims that he was dangerous and a threat to her safety, thus jeopardizing the future of any further US-Russian adoptions. Then the refrigerator started making a loud whiring noise and leaking. Then both downstairs toilets, tubs and showers backed up, I paid $350 for the plumber to say "good gracious, looks like the city's main backed up in here" only for him to come back 20 minutes later (after running a camera through all of our pipes) to say that he couldn't find a single problem. Thus I spent 8 hours cleaning 6 inches of, uh... "sludge" out of our baths and showers, and scrubbing down the toilets and floors. I used so much bleach it ate the skin off my left heel... Aidan's blood sugar is acting up, I can't reach his endocrinologist, I've left several messages. Aidan is now a week behind in school. I have been unable to pick up our adoption documents for one reason or another, all equally as "comical" as what I've already described. Our account that holds money for V's expenses decided to close without telling us, so the checks I wrote to pay for such said documents bounced. Asher has a double ear infection, his 6th in 8 months and they finally agreed to refer us to an ENT yesterday. I have an upper respiratory thing going on, my throat is on fire and this morning... my vacuum went kaplooey!
BUT-my coffee pot is working, and that is a GOOD thing! ;)
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