Yeah, Yeah.....I know.......

Making some big changes on the old homeschool front around here, so I've been up to my eyeballs in schedules and curricula. Race is gone, so all the baseball stuff has still got me on the run as well.

It's busy, man........REAL busy.

SO busy, in fact that today at 2:15.........our scheduled departure time......found me opening up the running dishwasher to retrieve the washing, crock- pot innards. With my purse slung over my arm and my big sunglasses aready on my face, I was ripping the skin off of the chicken thighs like some sort of deranged Food Network wannabe. It was really disturbing. And gross.

But, on the bright side, within 4 minutes I had de-skinned a pack of chicken thighs, dumped them into the crockpot and then dumped in tomatoes, jalapenos, black beans,mushrooms, onions , salt, pepper and red wine. I even remembered to turn it on!! Back in the door at 6:00 and wa-lah! I added brown rice, steamed broccoli, and baked multi-grain rolls. So.......ya know....all craziness aside............Yay Me. Super mom slammin the good food on the table.

Now......onto stranger things.

O.K.- On this message board that I frequent, there were some posts about modest swimwear. Now, typically this is a pretty well balanced board. The topic of modesty ran on for awhile and several people thought that they.....the mothers as well as their daughters.....should wear modest swimwear so as not to cause the male population to falter. Here are the swim suits in question:

First of all....I say.......... NO WORRIES. Mission Accomplished.


Secondly, Someone please keep a life preserver within reach in case either of these gals accidently falls off that diving board. Seriously.........HOW could you SWIM in that????

HOW??? You'd sink like a rock. Or be tangled like some poor dolphin in a fishermans net.

Save your $$ and swim in your clothes. You'll attract less attention and it'd be cheaper.

Hey, how about this one?



What the hell is that??? What's that you see out there Sylvia?


I think I'm gonna go with something from Athleta. Different strokes, I guess.

And at almost 39, if I can make men think of anything other than gouging their eyes out......... Well then, good on me.

Cheers!

Well...that was quick!

Crabtree Falls Virginia

I can't believe that it's Sunday already!!

Well, we had a super busy week, but the weekend made it all worth-while. We went camping again. We had such an amazing time! We went to a spot that Race and I have been going to since we first began dating in college. And it is still just as great as it was back then!

It always amazes me how the term "camping" means so many different things to so many different people. I thought that I would show you how we camp. We've been camping this way since before Austin was born and the only thing that's really changed is the quality of our gear and how much food we bring with us!!

This is a really special place for us up at Crabtree Falls. Isn't it beautiful? And the river is teeming with trout!

This is how we camp:

The first thing that we do is choose a place to camp. This is always scary. We don't do campgrounds much, so we do the off-road camping thing. Race always picks out the spot and then eases my precious-life-sustaining suburban down steep ravines and over gigantic river rocks that make me constantly spew helpful comments like, "Are you sure that we can get back in here?" and "Do you think that we can get back outta here?" and the even lesser appreciated, "Oh CRAP! what are you doing? You're going to kill us all!!"

But after this little excercise, we arrive safely to our campsite. Time to unload and set up. Now, one of the best things that Race ever did was to buy each of the kids their own, private, one-man tents and show them how to put them up, take them down, and care for them. It makes camp set up a snap!

Here, you can see Jack heading to the river with his net to scoop up bountiful treasures. He is walking past Austin and Savannah's tents already set up...off to themselves, mind you...so that they can blast the ipod over A's speakers. (Ahhhhhhhhhhh.......camping with TEENS) Luckily we all share pretty much the same tastes in music.....so....ROCK On!Here you see Austin running away from his embarrassing, camera-slinging mother. The indignity of it all.

Anyway this also shows what camp looks like after it's set up. The wood has been gathered by the slave children, ready for burning in the fire pit to your left. The ginormous appetites of the slave children that we bring along force us to use the fire pit and the little grill simultaneously, for cooking. The orange tent belongs to Race and myself. We LOVE this tent!! But more on that later.

Jack set his tent up right beside us for safety and crowd control reasons. Then Savannah and Jackson headed to the river for a swim, while Austin got the fire started in the pit.And can you blame them? How fun does that look? Wading out through the rapids like that!

A shot of boyhood bliss. (sigh)Isn't this just a beautiful spot?? We really LOVE it up here.

Tune in tomorrow for more of the hot topics and how-to's of tent camping.....including " What's a Cat Hole?" and "Why does my mate keep crawling on me?"

Cheers!

Melissa

Camping and Kayaking

SO, we've been trying to fit in a little outdoorsy stuff. Don't get me wrong- what with school, baseball, martial arts, art class and the upcoming vocal instruction....we've still got a lot going on. But if you've been reading here for any time at all, you'll know that this family CRAVES to be outside. Race and Austin went kayaking the other day. Jack had ball practice that morning, so while Race had Jack at practice Austin got the kayaks loaded, strapped down and all the pfd's and paddles in the suburban. When race and Jack got back, we headed out. And as I was kayak taxi, I got the opportunity to snap a few pictures of the "put in" and "take out".

Below, Race and Austin get their kayaks ready to hit the water.



The water was high from all the rain that we've had lately.That, coupled with the small water fall just above where they put in, made the water foamy that day.The skies were threatening rain, but the guys decided to take their cell phones and head out anyway. After seeing the guys off, Savannah and Jack and I ran a few errands and then headed back home. late in the afternoon, Race called to tell me what the ETA was for them at the pick-up point. So we headed out to pick em' up. It is really a beautiful area, teeming with water birds of all types as well as the occasional muskrat. We love just hanging out here waiting for the kayakers to come around the bend.Eventually, we saw them coming around the corner. The rain had started, but not much more than a drizzle. From put in to take out it's about 15 miles. There are a few rapids, but nothing huge. With the water level up, they made it in a few hours. Right up onto land!And of course, this presents a perfect opportunity for the little brother in the group to try out his own kayaking skills.
We've also been camping. Minus Austin, however. He was at a "MODGNIK" retreat with the church youth group. Have you ever heard of "MODGNIK"? It's "KINGDOM" spelled backwards.And as far as I can tell it's a bunch of church youthgroups that get together and they participate in things like rock climbing, tackeling a huge ropes course, swimmimg, and of course the obligatory singing at times. Austin could do without that last part.....but he had an awesome time none the less. So the rest of us went camping. We had a blast, but unfortunately Jack had my camera the whole time. When Jack has the camera, he takes pictures of Savannah mostly. That's because she HATES it. I mean she HATES to have Jack take her picture. So most of the pictures look like this: This was right before she knocked Jack in the head and the camera fell out of his hand.He also likes to take a lot of pictures of Scout:
He also, looks less than thrilled to have his photo taken.



Here, he has captured his mother, showing the more "serious" side of camping. But still managing to capture both dogs and his own tent in the background.

And the fire. He always takes pictures of the fire.
So, that's what's been going on here.

Cheers!

Melissa

hairy monkey arms.......

Remember when I told you about my gaw-ge-ous dress that I got for the wedding? Beautiful, right? I LOVE it. I would wear this dress everyday if I could.

But you know, a special occasion like this wedding doesn't come along every day, so it requires a gal to do a little more "polishing" than usual, ya know? The nails and the pedicure are really just the begining.

Let's talk hair removal, gals.

Forgive me for being candid for a moment, but lets face it ladies, I am dangerously close to 40 years old and hair removal has become of paramount importance. I do it like it was a full time job. The waxing, tweezing, shaving... at various times,I hit it all. I log in some serious hours.I have a schedule. (Incidently, all you just-turned-30's.....write it down. You heard it here first.)

So here's the thing:
The dress is arm-bearing.
Now, I think that we can all agree that nothing says, "I'm a freak-hermit with no life", like hairy, monkey arms protruding from a lovely silk dress. Nevermind that the hair is blonde (thank-you Lord)...it still looks like a boy I sat next to in 5th grade. I used to stare disgustingly at his bushy, blonde haired arms during reading group. Ew.

I digress.

I was running short on time. We were frantically cleaning up from Easter,unpacking the kids from Mom and dads, unpacking Race from his trip, and PACKING for Florida the next day. So I figured I'd take a short cut on the arm hair. Just before I got into the shower I spread my arms with Neet. Nice and thick. 3 minutes go by.
Ouch......is it supposed to be painful???
Oh well, many hair removal methods are painful, so....no biggie.
I step into the shower.
OUCH! Damn it. That HURTS! I don't think it's supposed to hurt like that.

When I get out of the shower, I gingerly dry my arms and as I examine them I see that they are indeed, hair free. Unfortunately, they are also completely covered from shoulder-to-wrist in painful blisters and large red splotches!

Race looks at me incredulously. He's speechless.

I dress myself, trying hard not to cry out as the sleeves of my shirt rest on my raw, red appendages.

The Wedding is day after tomorrow.
Ah..yes....nothing says "I'm a strung out, needle-using drug addict" like blistered, raw, splotchy arms protruding from a lovely,silk dress.

I wimper to myself while slathering on aloe and hoping for the best.

While driving my 1/2 the next day, I had to hold my arms in a certain position on the steering wheel and keep the air on full blast, blowing on my arms in order to keep them from bursting into flames. Jack, of course wanted to know, "MOM! WHat HAPPENED to your ARMS!!?" The answer probably didn't move me very far up the intellectual ladder for him.

That night, in the hotel,I examined the damage again. Well, the blistering looked better, but unfortunately the rest of my arm looked as if I had been in a really bad skateboarding accident. That's right: Road Rash. I slathered the aloe on, once again. It was on so thick that my arms were green and slimy.

So there I was, in some nameless hotel room with my slimy, green arms laying motionlessly on the outside of the covers for the entire night.......I must not be touched. My wings of flame could not bear it.

The next morning Race got us up early to get on the road. I was less than sunny in my disposition that morning, and I let him know about it on several occasions. As I sat in the passengers seat, he returned from checking us out. He opened my door and handed me some coffee as he tried to divert his eyes from my hideous stumps. "Thank-you for the coffee" I said coldly. "What do you want me to do?" I asked. "Nothing, babe. You don't have to do anything" He said speaking in a voice like you would use for the mentally deranged. "You don't have to do anything, just sit there and look hot like you always do", he cooed. He stepped back and grabbed the edge of the door to close it and added, "And don't speak for the rest of the trip". And he closed the door. *grin*

The Wonderful Magical Aloe Vera saved my life.

By the time of the wedding, the pain was completely gone, and the road rash not very noticable. Of course had anyone stroked my arm, it would have felt like heavy grade sandpaper, but....you know....no one did. And after a few drinks I didn't even remember about my awful monkey arms.

So I don't know what the moral of this story is. Can you think of one?
Don't rush hair removal?.......... Is that a moral?

Do you ever wonder if he's just hideously ugly??

CHEERS!!!

Melissa

Weddings and Gators........

Congratulations Ronnie and Katie! After the wedding and all the visiting, it was on the road heading north.



We took the kids to the Okefenokee Swamp. Here one can get up close and personal with the snakes and gators. Being from Virginia, gators have always been just the coolest thing for us.







My dad was from Georgia and he and my mom took me and my sisters to the swamp eons ago, when we were just kids. We rented a jon boat and went into the swamp. (A brave man to take my mom and 3 little girls deep into gator country...) My sisters and I were simultaneously mesmerized and terrified as my dad slapped the top of the water with a paddle to make the gators come up. And up they came. Ahhhhh!!!! That boat got small really fast.




So, naturally, I wanted to give my children the same terrifying experience.







I must say that the gators were actually BIGGER than I remembered. It seems that the jon boats are no longer available. You have a choice: Take the guided 30 min motor boat tour or rent canoes and go it alone. So what's it gonna be? Wimpy boat tour for babies and blue hairs........or will you find out what you're made of?







We paid $$ and were given a hastily sketched map of the swamp.



We made our way down a small dock, where we came to a sort of make shift office with all sorts of pictures taped up on it. Pictures of gators...........lots and lots of gators. As we grabbed our life jackets and canoes, the old guy helping us kept saying, "Naw, naw, you'll do jest fine.....you ain't gotta worry about no gators........and you cain't get lost..............jest stay in the water and you'll do jest fine". And just as we were stepping into our canoe at the dock........we saw this guy. Swimming up right by our inlet. (gulp)The only other people in the park were all waiting for the tour on the other side of the river. They were all just watching us . I tried to look brave. "heh, heh....do it all the time, folks."We got our paddles and we were off. The last thing that the old guy called out to us was, "Try and be back by 4:30!!!"



Ummm......it's 12:00..........AHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Savannah and Austin were in front of us. We were off.

We never saw another soul the entire time we were out. It was so incredibly quiet. And take a look at that water. It literally plays tricks on your eyes. The water is so dark that it is a perfect mirror, and unless your paddle..........or something else........is going through it...it is perfectly still.It was just as beautiful as I remembered it when I was a kid. I was so busy taking it all in that I almost didn't spot this big mama. She was laying out on the bank sunning herself. She had a few babies that were nearby. Now. I was super excited to see this big gator . ANd I thought that we were going to have to strap Jack down into the boat with the straps from our life vests. Jackson has grand visions of becoming the next Steve Irwin and I have NO DOUBT that if we had let him, he would have been out of that canoe in one heartbeat.I was so busy taking it all in that I almost didn't spot this big mama. She was laying out on the bank sunning herself. She had a few babies that were nearby. Now. I was super excited to see this big gator . ANd I thought that we were going to have to strap Jack down into the boat with the straps from our life vests. Jackson has grand visions of becoming the next Steve Irwin and I have NO DOUBT that if we had let him, he would have been out of that canoe in one heartbeat. You can see here that we have eased up on her. I am the one taking the pictures, and I didn't zoom in here. You can see her eye already on us.
This was plenty close enough for me. But Ohhhhh....Noooooo.......we have to paddle CLOSER. I swear if that thing had ONE move, I'd have walked on top of the water to get away. I kept pleading with Race, "O.k, O.k, I don't wanna go any closer"...followed by my hoarse whisper, "STOP!" All the while, Jack is saying "Why can't we get closer?", Can I get out of the canoe?", Can we just paddle over there (pointing to a nearby bank) so that I can get out and try to get closer to her?"

Before we were out of there, we saw this big fella. He didn't mind us at all. He was only concerned about soaking up the sun. But just look how BIG he is!
When we got back we turned in our canoes to the same old guy, and took a look around the park. I asked about the old gator "Oscar". He had been a fixture around there forever and he was already old when my sisters and I had visited. Imagine my surprise to learn that "Oscar" had just passed away last year! But you know what? As it was related to me:
" They wanted $40,000 to mount him....and we said nuh-uh. NO WAY. So, we took him out back and skinned him and let the bugs and things clean the bones.......and now we're boilin' em and puttin' em' back together in a nice disply over in the museum."

And sure enough. I went to the museum, and there was PART of "Oscar's" skeleton.....the other bones were still being boiled and cleaned.

I can tell you in all honesty that the tiny, one room museum that was there has the EXACT same exhibits that it did when my sisters and I were there as children. No, I mean it. It's like it had been sealed off for all those years. I felt like I was the first person to enter it since that time. EVERYTHING was the same..........only older..........and dustier. I loved it!!!!!! It was a great trip. I can't wait to tell you a few of our stories from the road.

And now I leave you with this:

Only in the state of Georgia can a boy get a picture taken of himself like this: For Jack....this made it all worth it. Great stuff!

Easter pics

I have none.

O.k, I do have a few. But they're nothing.......compared to these that my sister took SO just go over there and look at those. Then come back here and tell me what a beautiful job I did with the whole Easter dinner thing. Not kidding. Come back here and tell me how pretty it all is, o.k.?

Seriously, I LOVE to have my family here. It is a magical time when I get to hear things like,
Mom: "Melissa, I hope that you don't mind me sweeping your floor...I'm just trying to keep busy."

*Silence*

Me: "BWAHAHAHAHA!!! "(Seriously...how long can you stay???)

And my trash is magically taken out to the can outside(By my dad). And Y'all KNOW what a big huge deal the whole trash thing is for me.

One of my sisters not only takes amazing photographs of every event, but also really appreciates all the food.


My other sister always comes in her with her whole brood and then the party really gets started.

I LOVE having everyone here. ANd with race being gone so much, times like this are really special to myself and the kids. So go take a look at our wonderful Easter celebration.

Cheers!
Melissa

Race's Family

I am working on a few pictures to post from our "happening's" lately, but it's slow going.

I always post all about my own wonderful family. They are such an incredible blessing in our lives.
But today, I thought that I'd take a minute to post about some of Race's family that we got together with. We only get to visit these folks every 5+ years or so. Regretably, the annual photo Christmas card is about as much contact as we manage in between these visits.
We drove out to the "Middle- of- Nowhere- Central- Florida", which if you've ever been to Central Florida is hard to find, unless you know where to look. The entire area is packed with urban sprawl, with only bits of it marked off for some beautiful national treasures and large horse farms. We drove out far, beyond all this, to a land of dry, dusty, paths and vast networks of interconnecting railroads.
Even though we haven't communicated with this part of Race's family for so long, it was beautifully striking how much it seemed as if we had all just spoken yesterday. These people welcomed us into their homes with so much open generosity that it really warmed our hearts. These families are no strangers to tough times and they're proud of what they have worked for. They shared it with us in true hospitality.
As Race and I thought back on the visit it was as if God was thumping us in the head, trying to teach us something. These folks love us unconditionally. They pray for us. They pray for Race. They doted on our "beautiful" children. They are content with what they have and happy to share that with us. But what meant the most, was to have the men pull Race aside before we left and tell him how proud they were of him. They thanked him for the work that he does for our country. They told him how proud they were to have him carry on the family name. They made an impression that will not be forgotten. Race was overwhelmed.
This was all such a blessing. It awakened us to the responsibilities that we have neglected in keeping in touch with this part of the family. Race is very fortunate to have roots like this and we intend to do much more to connect our own children with these people so that they too can reap the benefits of such wonderful folks.

Cheers!
Melissa