Tag Archives: vacation

Update

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CJ and MJ are out having a father and son date. My sister and her children just left. My girls are down for naps. For the first time in a very long time I am “alone” in the house. So what am I going to do? Well, I already started a load of laundry, so I figured an update was well past due.

So much has been going on lately. There have been strides toward improvement in therapy. The kids are registered for school and uniforms are ordered. (Still can’t believe two will be in school.) CJ and my cousin are almost done with the construction on our second floor. MJ is almost done with speech for the summer. He will also be going on his first vacation soon.

Letting him go on this vacation was huge for me. He will be gone to OBX for one week with my in-laws. I’m already nervous about it, but I told CJ I should get extra mommy bonus points for agreeing despite how I feel. I trust them implicitly, but he’s five. And it’s for a week. Ah!

As my schedule settles over the rest of this week, I am going to work on a more defined plan for posting here and finishing my current draft of Becca’s War so I can move on toward publication. I hope everyone is as excited as I am.  🙂

Cumberland Falls

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I never thought I would ever reach the point in my life where I started admitting that I was too old for things, but alas, that time has come. On vacation, I spent a week sleeping on a pull-out couch with CJ and paid for it. I am officially too old to sleep in a cruddy bed.

My parents wanted to revisit the place they went to for their honeymoon and decided to take the whole family. There was 12 of us in all. It was crazy and chaotic and fun. My babies don’t see their grandparents very often, so they absolutely loved spending time with them.

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EM and my dad on a train ride

One of the days, my parents took the six grandkids so my sister, her husband, CJ, and I could go whitewater rafting. I was terrified. I’m not so good in water as I’m not the strongest swimmer. They had arranged for us to go on  guided tour of the Cumberland River with the Sheltowee Trace Adventure Resort. The guide was able to put me at ease when she tackled me out of our boat at the first swimming hole. I know that some people might think that sounds awful or crazy, but thanks to her, I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the tour. Well, relax as much as I could while praying I didn’t get tipped out of the boat into any rapids. It was unbelievably fun and also led me to facing a fear. One of the stops along the trip was at a cliff to climb and jump off of. I wasn’t sure if I would really do it, even when standing at the top as I don’t like heights at all. CJ had already jumped and was supposed to wait at the bottom for me, but he was so jazzed about jumping, he was already out of the water and climbing up to go again when I jumped. I earned lots of hugs from CJ and my sister because they honestly didn’t think I would do it. But I did 🙂

Last but not least, the day before we left we decided to go for a hike. We didn’t realize that the signs posted at the beginning of the path gave the difficulty of the trail. We really should have read it before we started. Turns out the trail was labeled “strenuous” and we had all six kids with us. It was exhausting and terrifying. The trail ended at a waterfall with a swimming hole which was gorgeous, but would have been more fun if you didn’t have to think about the walk back.

img_3012Overall, it was a nice vacation and I just wish I had taken more pictures.

Update

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These past two weeks have been intense. And it’s not over yet.

We went on a really nice family vacation and I can’t wait to share pictures and stories about it. But as soon as I returned to work, a co-worker went out for surgery and I’ve been picking up full-time shifts to cover the holes in staffing. It’s been exhausting and I haven’t had time to upload all my pictures.

Besides being tired from all the extra shifts, I have felt really bad for the kids. They are definitely not used to me working so many hours. Even my least snuggly one has been all about the cuddles and the baby cries when I leave.

There’s one more week of this, starting tomorrow. Next week we can finally return to our normal. There will be time for babies and writing and sleep. Can’t wait.

YCN #7

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When my sister and I were younger, my parents took us on some long road trips. We drove to Walt Disney World. We drove to the Grand Canyon. You get the idea. My sister and I had some epic fights over the cooler that separated us in the back seat, but we also took some awesome pictures.

One summer, my mother decided we were going to drive to Roswell, New Mexico. We had been watching “Roswell” ever since it premiered on television and thought it would be cool to check out where it was all taking place.

There were museums about UFOs and space and we even got to eat at the Crash Down Cafe which is one of the locations where the show takes place. As we were walking back to the car, we came upon a little out-of-the-way place that looked intriguing and had only a $2.00 entry fee. We went in and it was amazing. The proprietor had scenes set up were you could take photos with “aliens.”

At the time, we were really excited. We took lots of silly pictures and thought that they were great when we got them back. Now that I am an adult, I look back on these photos and I am really embarrassed. I cannot believe I at any point thought what I was doing was cool. In one picture in particular, I look a little drunk and I really wish that I had been, because at least that would explain why I allowed my picture to be taken in such a way. Thanks, Mom and Dad. You had to realize we were not cool.

These awkward photos will forever be proof that I was a “weirdo” and there is no denying it. At least my sister was equally guilty.