The Whole Enchilada

Sorry I have been so absent. Here's what's going on:

 I was a leader at Girl's Camp for a week. Not bad when you consider the fact we had no air, and I was surrounded by hormonal teenage girls.

 Gary is on a cycling trip to North Carolina. For real. Right now they are in north Florida. He is as happy as a clam. Tomorrow I drive my kids by myself for about twelve hours to NC. So fun for both of us! These pictures should be at the bottom of the post, obviously, but I'm too bone tired to mess with it. Just go with it.

  Laura graduated from Brownies.

 I got fifth's disease, which is supposed to be super rare for adults. I got a big rash and all my joints swelled for a week. Super fun.

 Emma broke our hearts by graduating from fifth grade. She cried as she pulled away from her elementary school for the last time. She had a wonderful experience there.

Laura graduated from her kindergarten/1st grade loop. She had a wonderful two years with her teachers. I cannot believe she'll be in second next year.

Hope you had a great June. I am starting off my July with a drive to North Carolina solo with my kids. Jealous?

Go Atlantis!

Today, along with thousands of other people, we were able to see the space shuttle Atlantis lift off on it's last mission. It was fabulous.

It took us hours to get there. What is normally about a two and a half hour drive for us took four + hours. It was absolute bumper to bumper traffic as people near and far struggled to get near Cape Canaveral before launch time. On 528, we never went over ten miles an hour. Oh, and by the way, there are absolutely, positively no bathrooms in between I4 and Titusville. None. I stood in line at the first gas station we came to. A LONG line with lots of people and lots of accents and languages. Awesome. And I just want to say that the men took longer than the women in the bathroom. I will have you know that since I am a mom, I can be in and out in sixty seconds flat--and that includes washing my hands.

Halfway there the radio told us that the astronauts were being secured inside the shuttle. I couldn't help but picture them strapped in, their manliness slightly diminished due to their astronaut diapers.

We finally arrived to the approach of Kennedy Space Center with ten minutes to spare. Traffic just...stopped...in the middle of the road, and everyone got out of their cars and left them in the middle of the road. Gary put Laura on top of the car; I carried Jack on my hip. We realized the video camera was dead (!!) and pulled out my small camera. We got lucky: on the right was the Astronaut Hall of Fame. They were having a major event--selling tickets to a huge crowd so they could watch from their roof. We benefited from this by way of being able to view their HUMONGOUS screen which was playing the TV coverage. On the screen we could see Atlantis sitting on the launch pad, on our left, the view to the actual launch area at Cape Canaveral.

Five minutes. They played the national anthem. Thousands of us put our hands on our hearts and sang along, trying to remember whatever words we could. The "rocket's red glare" seemed quite apropos.

Three minutes to go. The energy built, excitement bubbled over from adults and children alike. The commentators on the radio and TV told us all the things being initiated...oxygen systems-go, etc. etc.

Finally, the countdown began, and in unison we shouted the last ten seconds.....FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE...the screen on the right showed the engines bursting with flames. On our left we strained to see the shuttle liftoff...and there it was!!! It was absolutely beautiful. Everyone cheered and yelled, and Jack, not knowing exactly what was going on, clapped and yelled YAYYYY!

I cannot even describe to you how amazing it is. It is one of the most beautiful, powerful, exciting things I've ever seen.

After about ten seconds the sound caught up with us. The initial launch is absolutely quiet. But then the ground began to rumble and this tremendous noise washed over and enveloped us. Everyone yelled again. I really felt like a little kid, it was such an awesome experience. We watched the boosters drop off, and strained to see the bright white light of the shuttle engine for as long as possible. Finally, it was gone, only the trail of smoke left, and the commentators telling us that the shuttle was beyond the point of return for our continent. In case of a problem, they would attempt to land in Spain.

We all cheered again, then climbed back in our cars, turned on the blessed air conditioning, and began the slow crawl back to our coast.

I have found myself really sad about the ending of this shuttle program. Thinking about it, I realize that growing up in Florida, the shuttles almost seem like friends. They are such a part of our lives. Every few months we run out to our yards and docks and watch it lift up over our heads, a bright shining star zooming across the sky (never straight up). Occasionally when it returns to earth a sonic boom hits so hard it shakes our windows and moves our furniture. The last one happened in the middle of the night when Gary was out of town and Jack a few months old. It knocked Emma out of her bed and I was sure the Tropicana plant had exploded or a plane crashed or something dramatic before it dawned on me what it was.

As a youth I took field trips to Kennedy Space Center. My science teacher had a model of the shuttle on her desk. We were so excited about space travel then.

When I was in sixth grade Challenger exploded. It was still such a new, exciting program that we watched it on television in class. When the shuttle exploded we were stunned...we all went outside our classrooms and looked up in the sky. Above our heads was the trail of smoke with the tell-tale billowing cloud in the middle. I was sad, but still young enough that I didn't really understand the tragedy of it. My first clue was my mom coming to pick me up after school in our big, old, white van. I remember her parking next to the band room, the heavy door squeaking as I climbed in, her face streaked with tears.

As my children have grown we have had fun running outside to see the shuttle go over our roof. They especially appreciate it when it gets them out of bed-- "Go! Go! Hurry! Run, run it's coming, hurry!" I really want my children to have a shot at seeing the real thing, in person, as close as you can get. Emma was not able to come today, so we are planning a go (with the rest of the world) in September. This time we want to do it by boat.

We were in the car eight hours today for a three minute launch. We could have driven to Atlanta in that time.

And yes, it was totally worth it.

I am going to bed. I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I will link to my video of it.

Monday Morning Poo Issues

This is where I am in my mind, anyway.

It is Monday. Which means I am letting myself get anxious and overwhelmed. I want everything cleaned up from the weekend, all the laundry done, etc. We went camping, which was great, but that means I have been working on piles of supplies and laundry to put away. Jack's birthday is Thursday, which I totally forgot until my mom mentioned it on Sunday. "No, no, his birthday is not for like two weeks." "Uh, the first is on Thursday, Amy." So Jack will have his first on the first.

I am also working now, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at Laura's old preschool. I am desperately trying to save up money for Disney passes, so that's my M.O. The problem is, I have serious poo issues. Let me explain. I am the assistant in the toddler class...and guess what the assistant gets to do? Lots of diaper changes. I am trying to be as mature as possible about this, but I really don't like poop. I can do my own babies, but even they are potty-trained on the dot at two. I mean really, I specifically went to college so I wouldn't have to be the poo assistant. It was all part of my master plan. Sigh. Okay, I'm just being a big, whiny baby. It's really fine, and I knew what I was getting into. And I do love the little stinkers, they have really grown on me. I am just EXHAUSTED when I leave. I feel like when I leave I can barely form a sentence when I try to talk to someone I know.

I did mention we went camping, right? It was wonderful. We went with a big group of friends to Rainbow Springs. We tubed down the river and it was gloriously beautiful, and the water was heavenly. The girls floated along happily, and Jack kept leaning over to feel the water. Gary jumped out of a tree into one of the deep parts of the springs, and we had the most wonderful time. We made some amazing food, and what was really great was the fact that we borrowed Gary's parents pop-up camper. So we had air-conditioning in the middle of the day! You can't beat that! The only bad moment was when Jack woke up at three a.m. and screamed until about four. I could mentally feel every camper in our radius cursing us and our spawn of a child. It was not fun. Our friends were very cool about it, though. Maria said, "I woke up, knew it wasn't my kid, and happily went back to sleep." After Jack's lungs finally gave out, I slipped out into the night to use the bathroom alone. I have never seen such beautiful stars. They were so bright, so vivid, that I started talking to God on the way back to the pop-up. I told him about all the things weighing on my heart, and as I finished and stared at the stars, two shooting stars zoomed across the sky. I stopped right in my tracks to take it all in. It's nice to be noticed.

Emma in January 2005, four years old.

This year, at eight. Doesn't she have the most gorgeous mouth??

We are leaving tomorrow to go to Disney. We will be celebrating my sweet Emma's 9th birthday. Nine!! I remember being nine. How could I have a nine-year-old? Just yesterday, she was toddling toward me, arms outstretched, a chunky monkey happy baby. I swear I just turned around, and now she is toothy, lanky, opinionated, and still happy. No matter what I do, the days keep flying by and she keeps getting older.

The great thing is, she still loves to talk to me. When she was four, she would plop down next to me and say,

"Mommy, let's talk."

"Ok, Emma, what would you like to talk about?"
"Let's talk about Disney World. Tell me all about Disney World."
And I would.

Just today she lay down on the bed next to me and started talking to me all about the girls next door. Rolling her eyes the way girls do in some parts, smiling sweetly in others. I love when she flips her wrist and says, "Well, actually mama..."

Anyway, back to this weekend. We will not be going into the parks. Just eating, swimming, and lazing around in general. My kind of relaxation. The kids will be splashing and swimming, Gary will be near, and I will ever so often look at the clouds and wonder how childhoods can go by so fast. I will remake my yearly pledge to savor every moment, and imprint every toothy smile on my heart.

A reason to hightail it to the kitchen

So I was walking down the street in a small town in North Georgia, right on the GA/NC border, when I stopped dead in my tracks. It was like a stepping back in time....a vintage dream come true. The building itself was old, had been there for decades.
It was an antique appliance shop, or I as I like to call it: heaven. I rubbed my eyes, grabbed my camera, and snapped away.

This baby is from the twenties. State of the art for your cooking pleasure.
This must have had some lucky woman seeing stars!

My Great-Grandmother had one just like this!
This is like an ice cream store. Which one would you choose?? They are all so gorgeous!

I'm all into the fifties right now. This is one of my favorites.

Want to see more? You can see the actual store online here: www.antiqueappliances.com

They were great to visit with. I asked SO many questions (hard to imagine, I know).

Hitting the Road

Spring Lake 2007--high up in the mountains. I used to jump off this same dock at their age.

Well, I have a list (I'm a planner) and I'm checkin' it twice. Road trip!!

We are heading to North Carolina for a week. I am so happy to put our troubles behind us and hit the road. I'm packing, charging ipods (and uploading Michael Jackson songs so my girls can groove to Thriller), loading a cooler and crossing my fingers that Jack will be a breeze on our twelve hour drive. No problem, right?

Once there, I am hoping to hike, swim, walk, explore, listen to bluegrass, roast marshmallows and hot dogs, and just spend time with the family. I have high hopes for this trip!

It is all the more poignant since my grandmother passed away two weeks ago. This is her and her sweetie's teeny tiny cabin (what a joyous reunion in heaven that must have been!) and I have fond memories of big breakfasts complete with homemade biscuits and cane syrup. I am hoping to carry on some of these memories for my children.

Wish us safe travels and lots of fun! Hope you have an opportunity to "get away" as well!