Lifetime Fitness

This week I couldn't take the heat any longer, and we joined a gym. I had been trying to run in the morning and at night, but it was getting pretty old and not to mention hot. So we joined Lifetime Fitness. I am truly spoiled at this place. They have an obscene number of cardio machines, tons of weights, and classes. It has an indoor AND outdoor lap pool AND zero depth pools for the kids. Don't forget the salon/spa and cafe with wifi. It's the gym equivalent of the mega- program church.

The child center is big too. It has an infant room, toddler room (large screen TV included), computer room, play structure, and a junior basketball court.

And it has a eucalyptus steam room. 

I usually don't splurge on things, especially for myself. But, working out is something that I need to do about three times a week in order to keep everything running smoothly in the rest of my life. When we moved to Winston-Salem, we joined the YMCA because there wasn't much else around. And the Y was great, but Ian wasn't too happy in the child room. He had outgrown the little baby room (as I called it) and was bored when he went there.

But, when I picked Ian up after his first visit to the child center, I asked him, 'How was it, Ian?'

He said, Tony the tiger style, 'It was GRrreat! Mama, it was GREAT!'

The Move - Part IV - Texas Here We Come

We were still up early the next morning. We left out of W. Memphis by 5:30 am. This was our first sunrise where we actually could see the sun peak out on the horizon. I had forgotten how beautiful this could be.

This day was scheduled to be a 7 and a half hour day to get to Plano. We stopped at the Texas Visitor Center on the way in at Texarkana. We couldn't resist taking a picture next to the sign. I gathered a couple of TX maps and lots of brochures for local things to do. And we got a couple of 'Don't Mess with Texas' bumper stickers. God, it's good to be back in Tx. It just feels different. And if you've ever visited or live here, you understand what I mean.

For lunch we had some good ole Tx BBQ and made it to our new home by 2:30 pm! There was nothing in the house except for what we had brought in the cars, but the kids had such a great time running around the empty house.

I don't know what all they were doing, but we didn't have to entertain them.

Oma was at the house when we arrived. My parents arrived the next day. It's great to have family close enough to drive up to help :)

The Move - Part III - Road trip through Tennessee

Gizmo was pretty restless all night, so Scott and I didn't sleep too well. Gizmo was meowing, scratching and moving around most of the night, so by 4 am when both of us were awake, we decided to hit the road. Opa was a good sport about this :)

I thought for sure the kids would go back to sleep, but they caught wind of the excitement of being on the road and doing something so out of the ordinary that they couldn't go back to dreamland. But they were great. We got about two hours down the road and out of the Smokey mountains before we stopped for breakfast. That was probably the prettiest part of the trip and it was still dark for most of it. We were up in the clouds sometimes and down in some mist others, but it was still pretty.

Our end destination for our first full day of driving was West Memphis. Google maps said that it would take 8 hours. We made pretty good time. There was only one stretch where we only went 6 miles in an hour due to road construction. This was the worst part of the trip, but the kids did great. Of course, the little DVD player helped immensely!

We stayed at an EconoLodge in West Memphis, AR. There's really not a whole lot to say about the motel except that at least it was clean. We got there early enough to find a WalMart to buy more kitty litter, eat a nice meal at an Applebee's and then find a playground for the kids to run off some energy.

I got to walk :)

Opa got to play too.

We all slept better the second night on the road. Gizmo found a chair in the motel was asleep before we were all ready for bed and I don't think he moved till morning.

When Daddy's away, we will play

While driving around one afternoon, we came across a public pool - Jack Carter pool. It looked like it would be a good place to take Payton and Ian.

Well, yesterday, Daddy was working and Mommy felt the need to go to a pool.

The kids LOVED it. The water playground area had two slides, a straight on and a covered curly one. It wasn't too deep. The kids splashed and played and had a grand ole time.

It must have worn them out because they both took a nap that afternoon.

The Move – Part II – Loading Day

Friday was the day all our belongings were loaded up on an enormous 18 wheeler. The kids waited around until the truck came, and then Opa and Daddy took them away from all the chaos. Again, I got to stay with the movers to help out.

Opa and Daddy took the kids to Bounce U – a large bounce house funland. Then they went to the mall. And finally, couldn't stay away any longer and had to come back to see the mostly empty house at about 3 pm.

Our movers were all business. There were three. One organizing and stacking things in the truck. One taking stuff out to the truck. And the driver, who was taking inventory of every single possession we own. Up and down the stairs they went. This is the only way to move - supervise some one else doing the work.

The movers were really great. They were efficient, personable and I appreciated the job they did.

When Payton came back, she helped me vaccuum and clean after all the boxes were out of the rooms. A couple of the movers were talking to each other and after they left Payton said, 'Mommy, were they speaking English?' 

The movers were African-Americans and had a type of slang or almost an accent that was a little difficult to get used to. Payton had never heard this before and initially I had a hard time understanding the guys as well. I had to explain all this to Payton, but I'm not sure she really understood.

After all had been taken away and the final floor swept. We headed out to Ashville, NC for the night. We stayed at a Days Inn on the west side of Asheville. It was too late to play in the pool, but we were all tired from the day and just wanted to get to bed. The kids thought that having Opa next door to us in the hotel was neat. Gizmo was pretty restless all night, so Scott and I didn't sleep too well.

The Move - Part I - Packing and Dentist Day

Now most of the relatives reading this have heard most of what I'm about to write, but I need to write it for the record. So maybe, one day, the kids will read this and think fondly of our packing up the house and trekking across country - maybe.....

Let's start with moving week. We, by the grace of  Scott's new work, had the priviledge of having someone else pack our belongings.

Our packers were very nice. I stayed at home on packing day to be there for the packers in case they had any questions. Scott and Leo took the kids to the Dentist. Poor children. Both of them had multiple cavities. Payton had three (between her teeth) and Ian had two way in the back molers. Evidently Ian's back teeth are cavernous, so the Dentist recommended also sealing 3 of his teeth. Well, all this dental work was not going to get done at one time unless' happy juice' was involved.  Anyway, it all ended up that if we wanted to get this work done on their teeth before we moved it was to happen to both of them on Thursday - our packing day. Our packing up the entire house day. Our packing up entire house to move 'cross country day.

Thank God that Opa came out to help us with the move, otherwise, we would not have been able to get packing and dental work done on the same day.

The kids went through their 'happy juice' procedures fine. The anesthetic wiped Ian out and he napped for about and hour and a half afterwards. Payton came bounding out of her procedure happy as a lark. (She did eventually crash out, but was no worse for the wear.)

I got to meet three interesting people that made up our packing crew. The head guy had a soft spot for saving dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs he saved were pit bulls that had been practicing their Houdini acts and getting him in trouble. Evidently, the day before, his neighbor (an elderly lady pulled a gun on him and his dogs because the pit bulls had escaped their pen and gotten into her yard).

Of course, I sided with the two other people in his crew that he needed to get rid of the his two pit bull charity cases before there is REAL trouble.

Ah, well. The house was packed in about 6 hours. There was quite a bit of chatting done in that time. One of the first comments from the packers was, 'How many kids  DO you have?' And another one was,' if someone saw this inventory, they would think you own a toy store'. Yes, we need to get rid of toys, but every time I try to, Payton insists that she still plays with that particular toy. And truth be told, she usually still does. Anyway, we were told crazy stories about packers like, 'watch out, they'll pack your trash.' But these guys were laid back. They did a good job, and were very entertaining :)

That evening we went over to the Pruitt's house for supper. Jill graciously cooked us a fabulous homemade meal. The kids, as always, enjoyed their friends - as did the adults. We tried not to mention or think about that this was our last get together for a long while.

Payton's and Ian's first wedding

Last weekend, we went to Lauren and Jonathon's wedding in Seguin, Tx. It was a rather large shindig that felt a lot like a family reunion. The actual wedding took place in Jackson Auditorium, on TLU's campus. Pastor Greg officiated which was cool because he married Scott and I. It was a little weird being back on campus, but fun to see some of our old haunts. The kids had been looking forward to the wedding all week. They were especially looking forward to seeing Kiera and Kaylee (and Kevin Jr.) AND dancing with them.

There were lots of questions about the ceremony. Who the bride's girls were? Who the grooms boys were? Will there be cake? Can we dance?

Oh yeah, we can dance.

Ian's favorite part was the Grand March. For those that don't know what it is - it's a dance that lasts about 15 minutes, involves everyone at the wedding, and as Payton said, 'we're not dancing, we're just walking around.'

Payton's favorite part was dancing with Kiera.

The new critters

Why is it that when you move to a new a place, one of the first things you notice is the critters that live there?

We have at least two rabbits that like to come visit our backyard daily. We have a couple of pear trees and some other type of fruit tree (I think it's a persimmon) in the back and the rabbits, bird and I'm sure other critters I don't know about yet, like to eat the fallen fruit. Plus we have a little lily pond that provides water for the critters and is a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

We haven't been out in the backyard too much because 1) it's been raining quite a bit, 2) when it's not raining, it's hot and humid, and 3) every time we go out for a bit, we come back in with multiple bites - including what  I believe are chigger bites.

We finally got some bug spray for the backyard. So yesterday, we finally spent a little time in the back in our blow-up pool. No bites :) me happy.

But, towards evening, I saw something scurry from the pond area to the side of the house. It was a black rat. Too big for a mouse, but too small for a opossum (I think). Then this evening I was taking some pics of the backyard for the blog and I saw something smaller scurry along the fence. I'm pretty sure it was a mouse because it was much smaller and faster than the critter I saw yesterday.

Maybe we should let Gizmo out.....

Fourth of July Parade

Scott was working over the Fourth of July weekend. The kids and I had big plans on Saturday. We were going to the library for the first time :)

I knew there was a parade close by, but it was misty/rainy and I didn't want to sit out in it, so I didn't tell the kids about it. Well, we took off for the library and got there too early. It didn't open till 10 and it was 9:15am. The mist had subsided, so I drove 5 minutes to where I knew we would be able to see the Plano's Fourth of July Parade.

The kids, of course, thought we had just happened upon it. They were super-excited. We hadn't sat down on the street curb for 5 minutes and here came the police car leading the parade. We were handed little American flags which the kids waved the entire time. Then there were people handing out candy! The kids were on cloud nine.

Of course, there were local organizations,  politicians, the bug exterminator float, and the Star Wars people.....

Yup, I said Star Wars people!

After the parade, we did make it to the library. 

These 'windmills' were turning slowly - pretty cool.

In the library, the kids sat next to their new friend.

Oh, yeah.

I'm back online!!!! We have been without internet since we moved out of the house in Winston-Salem - June 25th! Can you believe it? It's been forever since I've posted and I have quite a few stories to tell: about the move, the new house, the move, the new yard, the move, etc.

But it's a bit of a daunting task and right now. And I'm going through 'The Bachelorette' withdraw. So tonight, since Scott is working and the kids are almost asleep, I'm going to see how Ali's journey is coming along.

Hopefully, I'll get to some stories tomorrow night :)

It's so nice to be able to check weather.com again!