Smellyann Strikes Again

The Mystery Is History

You know what? I have been mystery shopping like crazy lately and have learned one thing I never really picked up before about living in Miami and surrounding cities: There is a ridiculous number of malls here. I've been to more shopping centers than I can count lately, and they're starting to blend together. But it's fun, I'm learning my way around with Siri's help, and hopefully I'll be helping pay the bills when my fees start rolling in...

Another thing I've learned is this: I can usually fill Oscar the Pouch and the belly of at least one of the smaller children (not Rob's or Sophie's - the two of them are never full) by walking around the mall's Food Court during peak hours, sampling everything that's handed out, and save some money on buying actual meals. They don't seem to care whether you plan on buying there or not, or even if you listen to their sometimes long-winded spiel about everything that's on offer, but I usually try and stay. Unless I can't understand them. Then I just say "thank you" and bounce. 

So when we found ourselves at Aventura Mall on Wednesday evening, with not a clue on the planet where the expensive kitchen boutique was that I was supposed to evaluate and four hungry bellies (and a pouch), we headed for the Food Court to do my trick. Only, we were there at a bad time, apparently, because no one was out with their red tray (it's always red, I wonder why?), giving out samples in dixie cups. That's another thing I learned: no one here uses toothpicks for the samples. I wonder about that, too; did a guy stab someone at the crowded table next to him for some teriyaki chicken?

Anyway.

We bought some delicioso Thai mango chicken and something-BBQ chicken (I seem to be having as much trouble returning to full-on vegetarianism as I am giving up my Diet Coke habit), lo mein, flied lice, and fried platanos (yum!) for dinner. Chloë surprised me by completely chowing down, even more than Sophie did, I think. Once in a while, Chlo can really pack it away.

So I couldn't find the boutique, left the mall to go across the street, walked around for about ten minutes, went back to the mall, and finally went into Nordstrom (or "Nerd Storm," as Sophia has hilariously dubbed it) to ask for help. I thought it would be in there, knowing how much the coffee machines I was to evaluate cost, but I was wrong. Argh. More walking, and I have a huge blister from Orlando on my left pinky toe.

Rob and the kids were still out in the car by this point, having gone all over Aventura to track this damn shop down, which really cut into my mileage and per-hour fees, y'know? It's a good thing I ended up getting a perfectly brewed cup of coffee and a pretty big fee out of that shop, or I'd have been more upset. I still haven't shut up about that coffee. If I didn't have the Keurig, I might be tempted to buy one of these guys, outrageous price tag notwithstanding.

After the coffee boutique, we headed NW to Sawgrass Mills, a freakin' enormous mall with everything from Old Navy and The Gap to Jimmy Choo and other lux brands. Sawgrass Mills is to the left of Fort Lauderdale, if you're following along on a map. I had to go there to do three valet parking and one retail shop. One of the valet stands no longer exists, though, so it's anyone's guess whether I'll get my fee for a 'closed' shop (sometimes you get paid even if the place isn't there anymore) or not. After we parked at the first place, we had to wander around the mall a little bit to kill time. There were these cool spiral-shaped fountains there, and this one was empty, so we let the kidoodles walk around on top of it. I love the stance and look on Jack's face, like he's in Jurassic Park or something.

We happened across an arcade, Gameroom (which Sophia amusingly decided should be called "Gam-er-OOM" instead of the real pronunciation), so after checking that prices weren't outrageous, I decided to load a game card with a little cash and turn the kids loose. We were the only people there, so they had the run of the place. It's like a giant, grown-up Chuck E. Cheese's in there or something. I've not been to a Dave & Buster's yet, so I can't compare.

We went around, sliding the card for one kid after the other, for about a half-hour. Each kid won a ton of tickets at their games. Here, Sophia was on a machine where she had to jump when the light was on "STOP" to win lots of tickets. Not shockingly, she was great at it. This kid is good at pretty much everything she attempts. Except cleaning her room, but I'm starting to think that's a conscious effort on her part...

I told Chloë, "I don't know why you guys love playing the Claw Game so much. It's almost impossible to win anything!" but they don't care. They'll care when it's their money, I'm betting.

Jack loves to prove me wrong. He won this humongo ball from - you guessed it - a Claw Game. A gigantic Claw Game, one of four adjacent to each other. He was, to put it mildly, thrilled. So was I - we can use it for P.E. class! Never mind that the thing is as big as he is.

Speaking of huge games, Chloë found this big Connect 4 and had to play that. She won, too, but it's a pretty easy thing to do when you have no competitor...

When Rob helped the kids feed their earned tickets into the redemption machine, they'd gotten 209, I think, for their little bit of money. I showed them all the things that could be gotten for 200 tickets, and they weren't impressed, so I showed them some things they could save up for, and which would they rather do? Miracle of miracles, they decided to bank their tickets for another time. You could've knocked me over with a feather; they've never gone that route when I've tried to convince them in the past!

::SNIFF:: My little babies are growning up.

Anyway.

We went and did another parking shop at the same city mall, as well as the retail store I mentioned above. It was silly, because that store has a similar name to a much more well-known, popular brand (see photo above for hint), and I had to ask in the no-name shop if they were the big-name one. Kind of embarrassing, but I love to embarrass myself, so I didn't care. I like to play games with these shops when they don't give me a specific scenario: I make up something ridiculous, just to gauge the reaction I'll get. This time, I went in there insisting that I had to have a yellow tank top; no other color would do, because I simply did not have enough yellow in my wardrobe. The guy who helped me cracked up; he couldn't help it. If you're crazy and you know it, clap your hands!

We headed back East then to Fort Lauderdale to do a really fun (or at least it was supposed to be) shop that the kids had been anticipating for about a week. I expected a much more professional, business-like outfit than the disorganized, badly-in-need-of-my-services one we encountered, however, which meant a long report was going to have to be written. I love doing the shops themselves; going home and doing the reports is another matter. I don't mind doing them, but I do, admittedly, seem to have a problem getting them done in a timely manner. I make sure to write kick-ass reports to make up for it, though!

We had time to kill, once again, between portions of this last shop for the night, and once again everyone was ravenous, so I checked in to our location on Foursquare to find recommended places to eat. We were in the Las Olas Shops section of Ft. Lauderdale by that point. All of the recommendations were too far to go in order to eat and be back to the place where we needed to return in an hour, so we looked around for inspiration. At first, I thought we'd go to the crépe restaurant - who doesn't love skinny pancakes?! - but then we spotted a cheese-and-whine bistro next door, and yeah, they had me at 'cheese.' I love cheese. Jack, who doesn't, was less than thrilled and refused to eat, so I promised him something else when we got back to Penelope.

If you're looking around for a place to eat in Las Olas, I recommend the Cheese Culture. The food was outstanding, and the ambiance was really cool. It's not a place for kids, and they don't have a menu for them either, but it sufficed. Especially since we ate outside on the otherwise-deserted patio, away from the rest of the grown-ups. People seem to get grouchy when their fancy date nights are disrupted by bickering little ones, for some reason... I want to go back sometime when we have a babysitter.

The girls shared an "Ultimate Grilled Cheese" sandwich, with gruyere and Emmenthaler cheese melted on a delicious ciabatta, and I had a bite. It was splendid! Rob and I each had a "Build-Your-Own" sandwich. I forget what he got, except for the greens on the side that were good but got left behind when I told him we had to dash off to get back to our shop location on time - bummer. I had turkey, fresh mozzarella, baby greens on a baguette with garlicky basil mayonaisse. I don't usually like mayo, but it sounded (and was) good. The food delivery had artistic flair to match the out-of-this-world flavor. The server was a little dingy but sweet, and she agreed we should return on a parents-only date night. I bought a bottle of wine from her, a sweet Moscato that we have yet to open, and she gave me a discount for which I didn't even ask. Nice place.

Kilwin's, a chocolate shoppe in Las Olas, was just a few store fronts down from Cheese Culture, so I stopped in to peruse the goods. I am first and foremost a chocolate fanatic and second a chocolate-coconut truffle fiend, so I'm forever on the hunt for the perfect one. I found it once, at a candy store on the Jersey Shore, but its match has been elusive ever since. They had huge coconut chocolates at Kilwin's; I bought a couple, and they were all right, but definitely not perfection. Alas, I'll keep looking.

I purchased some more truffles while I was there, though, about ten or twelve. Obstensibly for Robert, though I don't think he's had a single one yet. I bought him the raspberry ones, which he tends to love, along with some mocha, mint, and other delicious goodness I can no longer remember. These chocolates weren't cheap, being in the neighborhood of $23/lb and up, so imagine my chagrin when I woke up the next morning to find the cats had knocked them off the table and used them for hockey pucks!

We returned to our previous location to finish the half-begun assignment and go home. It was late by then, about 10:30 PM. Obviously, we weren't in NYC, but there's a hint for you. The return was more pleasant than the first leg, but they still blew it. Like I said, they need me. Desperately. I'll fix 'em, I will!

Apropos of nothing much, Rob told me recently that I should open my own mystery shopping company. I don't know. I doubt I'd do it, though it would be fun.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I had reports to write when we got home, but I was cold and exhausted. I decided to treat myself to some JAFRA Spa pampering, and it was just the right call to make. I was in smelly-good heaven, relaxed and soft of skin and hair. It felt amazing. I even tried to nap in the bathtub, but I didn't want to pull a Whitney, so it didn't take. Sorry, that was crude.

Ahhh... so refreshed! (That's unretouched Instagramography, there. Thanks, JAFRA!)

If you want to win some awesome JAFRA products, by the by, friend me on Facebook. I'm having a fun FB party online this week and yes, there will be prizes!

*~*~*~*~*~*

On Thursday morning, Rob unfortunately woke up with a pretty nasty cold, so it kinda sucked that we had about 10 hours of mystery shops to do in the Keys that day. And yeah, he is totally playing the part of military retiree these days. Hanging out in the Keys, fishin', growin'a  beard... people are always like, WHAT. is THAT. on his FACE?! Haha. Although, one of my friends did say he's kinda smokin' with the beard, and of course I agree. I ♥ my little Fur Face...

The first shop in Key Largo was interesting. It was inside an exclusive, gated village, and the words "hoity-toity" come to mind. Now, I've been in exclusive, gated villages before (and I don't mean gated apartment complexes like the one we live in now), in places like Hilton Head and whatnot, but this was something else again. They had a whole town in there, with grocery and fishing and shoe and other stores, and it was definitely an Old Money community. I felt spectacularly out of place. The gate guard took my driver's license, called up the shop where I ad to evaluate the service, and asked them permission to let me enter. I wasn't expecting that. I'm not a gawker or anything, not too much, but I gawked, y'all.

I had to do a high-end fishing store shop. Rob is a fisherman. He knows what he's talking about. Me, I don't collect and kill animals as a general rule (no offense) (maybe a little), so I had no clue. I tried to inveigle him into coming into the store with me and running the show, but he wasn't down with it. So I had to go in there and wing it. I played up my scenario thusly: I'm getting gifts for my fisherman husband and I don't know what I'm doing, so please help me out. It worked. I bought him four clouser saltwater fishing flies - though he doesn't have a saltwater rig yet - and he was happy with them. Win.

I had to drive south to Marathon after that and evaluate the company there that, uh, well, see the picture above? I can't exactly spell it out for you, because that would give it away. Anyway, the guy I talked to there was amazing. He completely blew me away with his keen interest in environmental initiatives. Y'all know I'm a raging environmentalist, so we really hit it off. I'll probably go back and talk to him some more on my own and have him give my kiddos a tour of the facility someday, too. This guy was GREEN, folks. True green. I loved it. Also, he gave me a way cool "welcome to the neighborhood" gift of 4-5 reusable canvas bags, an electronics charger that shuts down after the device is fully charged to stop vampire electricty suckage, a nifty keychain, lots of information printouts, and more. Color me impressed.

It had been storming like the dickens in the Keys between the first two assignments, and there came a point where Sophia and I really had to pee. Water rushing down the windows didn't help that situation much, you know? So Rob drove us right up to the door of a Hom Depot, and in the ½-second it took us to get out of Penelope and into the Depot, we were completely drenched. Which meant we were freezing when we returned to the air-conditioned van after emptying our respective bladders. That's probably what helped along my cold, from which I'm now suffering. Anyway, it was quite the tropical storm. When we got to Key West a couple of hours later, the roads were all rivers. Lakes. I haven't seen that much rain since 1995, during Tropical Storm Gordon my freshman year at U-Miami.

We arrived in Key West much earlier than we needed to be there, so we drove around a while and returned to the souvie shop where I'd bought my red wrap dress/skirt/thingy the week before. I think I showed it to you? If not, here it is:

It's amazing versatile and, I think, pretty flattering, depending on how I tie it. For twenty bucks, I can get several styles of dresses, skirts, and tunics out of it, so I wanted to get a yellow and a teal one, too. That I did. I accidentally bought the floor-length ones, though, which is okay but not ideal. I'll just have to tie them the other ways that don't work with the red one, right?

After that, Rob wanted to go fishing. He knew we'd end up down there way earlier than my assignment required, so he'd brought down a few poles, a cooler, and a bucket to prepare. We drove around on a wild goose chase for a while, trying to find a decent place to fish, before someone in a Circle K just told us to go the marina. You're not supposed to fish there, but he said they were cool about it, since it was the end of the charters' day. Worse thing that could happen was they'd tell us to leave, so we went.

The fish weren't biting for him, though. I think he was disappointed. I was, I know that much. I may not like to catch 'em and clean 'em - although back in my Mote Marine Lab days, I was pretty good at filleting the snook for the grouper and snapper - but I don't mind cooking and eating them these days. I'm trying to quit... but not that hard! ;) 

After an hour or so, he packed it up, and we went off in search of dinner and gas for Penelope. We didn't want to eat out anywhere, needing to save our cash, so we ended up at the Publix nearest my next assignment. Rob and the kids stayed in the car while I shopped for sandwich fixin's on the cheap. Bologna and American cheese it was; I splurged on good rolls. I got back in the car and told the kids, "Here are your choices: You can have boloney and cheese, or you can not eat. That's it." Guess what? They ate.

Finally, it was time to head over to one of the movie theaters on the island for my last assignment. Sophia was my date, having won the title of "Best Behaved Child" (can you believe it?!) after our trip to Orlando earlier in the week. We had planned to see The Croods for her sake, but it was 3D, and no upgraded movies were allowed for the job, so we went to see Iron Man 3 instead. It was the only one left that was semi-appropriate for an 8-year-old. I wasn't terribly excited, not having seen IM or IM2, but I was happy to have my fun baby as a companion. She did not disappoint.

The movie turned out to be really entertaining. It held my interest from start to finish, and hello?! I knew this already, but the movie reaffirmed it: Robert Downey Jr. is farking HOT. Oh, my word. I may have drooled. Cute butt, too. I think wardrobe did a really good job with him (as did his parents' genes). Honestly, though, I didn't expect to NOT be bored throughout the movie, and there wasn't one single second of that. I don't normally go for superhero movies - not since Christopher Reeve as Superman, anyway - but this was extremely well-written and -acted. In a nutshell, I liked it. Go see it. I'd even watch it again. And not just for RDJ. Much.

*~*~*~*~*~*

We got home from Key West at something like four in the morning on Friday, and I had all those reports to do. But I didn't. I tried, man. I tried. I was beyond exhausted by that point, though, and went to lie down "for a little bit." You guys, I didn't even get up until 9 PM on Friday to pee or anything! Crazy. So I missed a bunch of shops that I've since rescheduled, all my reports were late (ahem, but what else is new?), and I had a killer migraine. I needed that sleep, though, so it's all good, I guess.

And now? I have more shops to do. See ya!

Fin.

Sea World, Orlando, & Downtown Disney

Over the past two days (Monday and Tuesday), Team Odette traveled 4½ hours away to Orlando for a mini-vacation. Thanks to Anheuser-Busch for supporting our troops, because with their Here's to the Heroes 2013, Rob and three of his dependents could get in for free. We just had to buy a ticket for Jack. We also bought the eat-all-day deals for everyone but me, which is totally worth it, because you can literally go through the participating restaurants again and again and again and get way too much food for a normal person to consume. We are normally not wasteful people, so it was a little painful to throw away perfectly good food, but otherwise it was a really good value; do it!

To prepare for the trip, I packed tons of snacks (no-frosting strawberry Pop-Tarts, trail mix, a little chocolate, cereal, etc.) in snack-size Ziploc baggies for all three kids in their new bags (from Publix) with their names on them. I gave each child a clipboard filled with paper and enough writing and drawing implements, new sticker books, glitter and glue, and more to keep them busy. Finally, I ran to the Toys 'R Us outlet store at a mall about 5 minutes away and picked up these glow sticks, together with smelly-good bubbles and more cyalume light-up bracelets and necklaces, for use on Monday night after we left the park.

I let them open up their new goody bags on Sunday night before bed, giving them instructions on when and where each item was to be used. We had to leave at about 0400 to get to Sea World by the time it opened at 0900 Monday morning, or else I would have left them in their car seats and let them find them then. They were super-excited to find out what was in those bags!

We arrived at Sea World more than a half-hour early, thanks to only having to stop for potty breaks and drinks at the Florida Turnpike travel plazas once or twice. I'm definitely going to do this pre-planning packing for the kids' car trip needs when we road trip in the future. It worked out perfectly: there was no "I'm hungry," "Are we there yet?" or "I'm bored" whining whatsoever. Awesome!

One really nice thing about Anheuser-Busch parks - and Sea World was no different - was that, right after the park opened for business and while we were standing in line to redeem our vouchers for tickets, they stopped to play the National Anthem. Rob stood at attention respectfully, and as usual, tears welled up in his eyes. I love that my guy is such a true patriot. I really admire that. Sophia started talking about what a dumb song it was, but I hushed her up and explained to her what the song was and what it meant, and that shut her complaints up immediately. She stood quietly and respectfully throughout the song after that.

Entering the park was really easy, smooth and fast. The folks at Sea World have got it together. The first thing we found inside was a flock of flamingos, stinky and squawking like crazy. They have a distinctive smell, which isn't very pleasant, but they're absolutely beautiful. Sophia, our bird lover, was particularly captivated.

Near the flamingos, also-banded pelicans waited to be admired. Or as a Facebook friend called them, "the crows of Florida." Still, as aggressive and unpleasant as these fowl can be, I think they are pretty cool.

We moved along to the stingray tank (although there were other rays including this cownose), and of course my thoughts immediately went to the untimely death of Crocodile Hunger Steve Irwin, right? Apparently, though, the stingrays are de-barbed or something, to make them not dangerous to park guests. I don't know how I feel about that, but I guess liability would be a huge issue if a similar thing happened in the park.

There were oodles and oodles of penny press machines inside Sea World. They were everywhere! We spent about $25 on collecting these souvies everywhere we found them, which makes me cringe a little. However, they're really cool, a great thing to collect, and the kids have fun doing them. It's a take-away and a project in one experience, so I think it's worth it in the end. We have collections from here, now, along with Disney World and Epcot, and everywhere else we've been able to find them. I love 'em.

It took us less than two hours to fill our Sea World pressed penny book! The machines were so ubiquitous, it wasn't hard to do. We have about 10 more that don't fit in the book, plus there are another 10 or 12 on the back of this book, so we have plenty. We probably even missed a bunch of machines, since we didn't do everything there was to do in the park. It'll give us something to do on a future visit to Sea World, y'know? 

After we pressed our first set of pennies, the first thing we found was the dolphin feeding tank. It cost $7 per kid and was on Chloë's bucket list, so Rob and I talked it over and decided to do it. $21 for an experience like that was pretty cheap compared to other behind-the-scenes adventures Sea World offered, and we had zero fundage for souvenirs other than the requisite pennies and my shot glass collection (I got a shark one, natch), so this was the thing to do. I'd rather give the kids an amazing memory than more stuff we don't need any day of the week, too. Here, we were waiting at the dolphin tank for our turn to pet and feed them.

Soon, it was the kids' turn to step up and feed the bottlenose dolphins. It was an incredible, memorable experience for all five of us. I'm actually surprised Chloë didn't cry a little bit. We all got to touch them, and the girls and Rob (who stepped in for the too-nervous Jack) each fed them two fish after doing the instructed rub under the jaw. It was amazing; words can't do it justice.

We walked through the aquarium that goes over one's head after feeding the dolphins, and I pointed out the different fish we saw to the kids. Parrotfish, like this Stoplight one here, are among my favorite of the reef fish. 

We visited Turtle Trek, which was a breathtaking surround cinema, like the inside of a planetarium. Another Facebook friend highly recommended it, and she was right; I loved every second of this short 3D adventure through a turtle's life. Afterward, there was a staffer giving out trivia questions and discussing the lives and habits of turtles and other sea creatures. I answered one question correctly before anyone else did, so she handed me a baseball card-like information sheet on the Leafy Sea Dragon for a prize. Later, she talked all about conservation efforts in which Sea World participates and gave the kids a chance to earn their own cards. We walked away with prizes for the Bottlenose Dolphin, Florida Manatee, and California Sea Lion, too.

Speaking of manatees, I love that the iPhone 5 has such a great camera; I took this picture, which Steph snagged off Facebook for a background on her iPad, with it. It turned out beautifully, IMNSHO.

The kids played a little turtle game, "Race for the Beach," against other kiddos. There were lots of little educational and interactive exhibits around Sea World like this one. I think it's great the way the park is so focused on edutainment and conservation; they really make the effort to preserve our natural marine resources. That impressed me throughout the day.

A Florida gator adolescent taking a swim 

We found some upside-down jellies, Cassopeia frondosa, near the alligator holding pen. I learned about these animals long ago as an undergrad at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmopsheric Science (RSMAS), during my Invertebrate Zoology class with the wonderful Dr. Peter Glynn. I wonder if he's still teaching; he was an inspiration for me as a budding marine biologist.

I'm not sure what kind of Cnidarian this one is, but my question to you is: artistically beautiful species, or just ick?

We then visited some leopard sharks, and Rob asked me to drop some knowledge about them. You know what? I didn't want to; I just wanted to have a fun, great day without so much pressure to be the authority on anything. So I refrained and just enjoyed being in the moment.

By that point in the day, it was hot, we were sweaty, and the kids were red in the face. Sea World isn't too heavy on rides and play so much as shows and experiencing the natural beauty of the marine environment, so we didn't have a lot of that. Fine by me, but the children wanted more of it. We headed over to the little kiddie area on the far end of the park to let them play in the small waterpark area for a bit. It was just the cool-down they needed, so I'm glad we took the time out to do that.

Sophia as Queen of the World! 

Chloë and Sophia took a ride in Swishy Fishies, which is like Sea World's equivalent of Disney World's Teacups. Jack, who had been the most vociferous complainer about the lack of rides, chose not to go on any rides. Really? That's so Jack, but whatever, he still had a great time and thanked us for taking them on the trip, so it's all good. If you're a Teacup fan, by the way, they also had a similar ride that went high up in the air. We didn't do that one, though, because the kids have a bit of a fear of heights; they come by it honestly!

Chloë had to pose for a photo-op with a Shamu replica; she happily obliged my request. It's never hard to get this one to do so; it's always hard to get Jack to pose unless he's thoroughly pleased at the moment!

Oh, I lied. Jack DID go on one ride, the kiddie train. This was more his speed, literally and figuratively speaking. 

We opted to rent a double stroller for several reasons: Jack, who has taut Achilles' tendons, has trouble walking for long distances. Plus, we knew we'd have lots to carry and thought it would be easier to take them around with us than pay for a locker we might visit but once during the day. And also, it would provide some sun protection for the kids, who took turns riding during our visit. An unexpected bonus was that it provided some tush respite for Rob, who occasionally took a brief siesta when he could sneak the opportunity!

My friend from Portsmouth, Miss Lisa, requested a family picture in the park, so I stopped a woman to take one in front of the sea creature-themed carousel we all rode immediately after that. Sophia started to pull a stranger-child off a purple seahorse that she wanted to ride; the nerve of her! After a scolding from me, we went on the other side and found one for her. But talk about embarrassing...

Just for good measure, I had Rob snap another shot of me on my carousel ride for Miss Lisa. You know, we all wore bathing suits all day long, but I was the only one who wasn't asked to cover up with a shirt or shorts. If you ever visit Sea World, be prepared to have a cover-up of some sort for males and females alike, because they will say something to you if you're not 'properly' dressed.

A fun moment between Jack and Chloë that I was thrilled to capture

We walked through the Arctic exhibit and found ourselves there at just the right time for a short training session for the beluga whales. The trainer had the belugas spin, jump and play for fishy treats. What fun to watch!

This polar bear was lounging near the beluga whales. I'm sure there were more, but we didn't see any, and she didn't want to come closer for me to get a better picture. Brat. I jest.

Both Rob's and my phone died after that, so this is a shot of Shamu that I stole off Google Images. Hee. We walked around the beautiful Sea Garden - a replica of the undersea environment made out of land plants - while we waited for the Shamu show to start at 1730. It was completely worth the wait. I had gone to Sea World with my grandparents when I was five years old, but the only things I remembered were seeing the flamingos and having an alligator come toward us while we ate dinner. 

Shamu - probably the n^th generation - and other orca friends put on a great display of tricks with their trainers. We had a lot of fun sitting in the Soak Zone and watching all the people in the rows in front of us get up, pissed, to leave after they got completely wet from the killer whales' antics (they're really dolphins, though, you know). Um, duh? You sat there knowing you'd get splashed and then you get upset when you do? What kind of sense does that make? None. Plus it's hilarious to have a whale do a humongous belly flop in front of you that leaves you dripping from head to toe. Make sure to put away those electronics and purses if you go; "soak" is definitely the key word!

Shortly after watching Shamu, we headed to our nearby hotel for the night.  The Seralago has mixed reviews from friends and strangers alike who have stayed in the same place, but we had a really nice stay there. There is a big cafeteria-slash-convenience store near the main lobby; we were able to get pizza, burgers and gyros for dinner, and everything tasted great. We picked up breakfast in the morning from there, too, even though Expedia said there was supposed to be a free continental one. (That was the only let-down.) There was a tiki bar and playground in the pool area, and the room was spacious and comfortable. For less than $60 a night in a high-traffic resort area, we were not disappointed. Your mileage may vary. 

The kids played with their glow sticks and bubbles, went swimming with Rob and warmed up in the hot tub at Seralago. Meanwhile, Rob and I got drinks from the bar that we left mostly untouched. Oh, that was another thing - my piña colada? They must have thought I was fourteen, because I swear it was a virgin; if there was alcohol in it, it was undetectable by my highly sensitive system. And that's sayin' something. I'm actually kind of glad, though, because I no longer enough the buzz of alcohol and have pretty much decided I'm done with the stuff after this. I might have something now and again in the future, but for the most part, I see no need to imbibe.

For lunch on Tuesday, we headed back East to Orlando (we stayed just West in Kissimmee, which is pronounced "Kiss-IH-me," but which my silly grandpa always pronounced "KISS-amee" to be funny) for a mystery shop. The place was dead, so we were able to get in and out of there fairly quickly before heading to our next destination.

We didn't have any real plans for Downtown Disney other than something fun for Jack and possibly renting a paddleboat, so I asked Rob's dad if he wanted us to visit them instead at their place in Boynton Beach on our way back to Homestead. Only, Rob's dad was not actually IN Boynton Beach yet, so that didn't pan out. A weather check Monday night didn't look promising for Downtown Disney, either, but fortunately the rain held out and we had a beautiful couple hours of sun during our trip to the Marketplace.

After getting squirted with water by the giant Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) at World Of Disney, we stopped to listen to the orchestra play some tunes from movies and TV shows everyone recognized. I really enjoyed that and was grateful we didn't miss it.

There's a big LEGO store - one of Jack's few obsessions - at Downtown Disney, but instead he wanted go to Ridemakerz to build his own radio-controlled car. We spent a lot more there than I planned, but it turned out to be really worth it. The cars, accessories and chargers come with a lifetime warranty, which is good because later we discovered he had a bent axle and needed a new undercarriage. They swapped it out for him, no questions asked.

At the store, which is at the back of Team Disney if you want to find it, there was a huge selection of rims and wheels. Some are included in the price of the chassis, and some are extra. Jack happened to pick a set that were free-with-purchase, to my relief.

After he selected his rims, wheels and sound, Chris helped Jack assemble his new yellow Corvette. That was fun, to put it concisely. Jack could have been timed to see how long it put together the vehicle, just for fun, but he chose to take his time and not rush through the experience. I wasn't suprised at that; he's a pretty methodical kid when it comes to mechanics.

I wanted the girls to have an equitable experience compared to Jack's, and we didn't want to do the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, so we walked around to see what they could do. First, they chose to have their faces painted. Artist Emily was really talented; Sophia looks adorable in her "Princess Kitty" make-up, doesn't she?

Chloë chose to have the "Music Mania" paint. They each opted to get the glitter lipstick after Emily verified with me that it was okay. Why not? Full package, baby.

After their faces were done, we went to the Ghirardelli store near the entrance and got a strawberry shake for Sophia and a chocolate one for Chloë. I didn't taste Sophie's, but Chlo's was really rich and delicious. They were a bit pricey, but since neither girl could finish hers and passed them to the boys less than halfway through, it was okay by me. We got chocolate samples when we walked in the door, too, which satisfied my sweet tooth!

Just like my dad, Chloë usually chooses to eat the stems of her maraschino cherries. I do it, too.

Stim (Steph and Tim, back in Virginia) are big fans of Sulley from Monsters Inc., so now that the new movie is coming out, she was hoping to have me pick her up some Sulley merch to send her way. We didn't find anything for her or the boys, though I had fun looking around and texting her pictures of all the latest offerings!

Even though he'd spent a small fortune at Ridemakerz and knew he wasn't getting anything else, Jack wanted to look around at the LEGO store. I figured I'd see if they had anything new in the LEGO Friends section (the girls collect those sets) for my lady-babies, because their shakes and facepaintings cost nowhere near as much as Jack's Corvette. Not that I wanted to spend money just to spend money, not at all, but I wanted both to be fair and also give them something to DO and something to HAVE, just like Jack.

Sophia, who's been gunning for the LF House for over a year now, surprised me by changing her mind and opting for the Stable instead. She loves horses, as well as the afore-mentioned birds (bugs, too, though all the kids love animals in general), so maybe it wasn't so surprising. Chloë went with a smaller set, the Café I think. When we got home that evening, they started building their sets out front on the patio, since their room is still crowded with unpacked boxes. Must remedy that situation soon!

There are many LEGO structures around the store in Downtown Disney, including a serpent in the water nearby and this family and their dogs. On our way back to our van, Penelope, Jack wanted to pose with this structure for me. Oh, see his gappy grin? He lost a tooth at Sea World the day before! Apparently I forgot to tell my progeny that they weren't supposed to leave body parts in the park.

After stopping for another potty break during the ride home, we spotted this fresh Florida oranges and grapefuit shop that I wanted to visit. We were out of oranges, after all, and I knew we'd find more local goodies from right there in Fort Pierce and surrounding areas. I was right. I spent more than I wanted to, but shopping locally is important to me, so it was worth it.

Along with my ¼-bushel of Valencia oranges, I bought some real Florida honey (mmm...), some orange honey, and jellies and preserves: Guava Jelly, Jalepeño Pepper Jelly for Rob (ew, but he'll love it), Tangerine Marmalade (omg, that sounds so good right now), Orange Pineapple Cherry Marmalade, and also Mango Chutney. I also picked up some Vidalia Onion Mustard for Rob, and some Habanero Beef Jerky that he gobbled down as soon as I got back to Penelope and handed it to him. I snagged a bag of saltwater taffy that the propietor described as "so good, it's addictive" to ship to NY for my BFF, Dr. Lisa. She loves the stuff.

When we finally got home after a quick stop at the Walmart Vision Center to pick up Chloë and Rob's new prescription sunglasses (theirs took longer than Jack and Sophie's because they're so blind), Jack rushed out to test out the new wheels. He drove it all the way around the block and had to be convinced to come in when it got dark. I'm glad he was so happy, but he seems to think we'll be going back every year to get him another one. Ha! I don't know where he got that idea, but it wasn't from me!

So now that it's May, it's time to really get serious and down to business. April was a full month of fun for Team Odette, but it's time to rein it in just a little bit. Oh, there will still be plenty of fun, but we have work to do. There's lots of homeschooling on which to catch up, jobs to get, unpacking to finish, VA paperwork to get done, a house in Virginia to sell, and college to get into (for Rob). Much to do, though like I said, we'll still be having fun in between the more serious stuff. Stay tuned for another post tomorrow, as I have fun mystery shops planned for today!

Fin.

Key Largo, Montego, Baby Why Don't We Go...

On Wednesday, I had to do a fun mystery shop in Key West, so we decided to take the 7-hour round-trip down there as a family to show Rob and the kids around the keys a bit. Admittedly, the shop did not pay for itself, what with the gas and all we did there, but we wanted to go down there anyway, and that was a good excuse to go.

This was me before our trip, at the doctor's office. I have a new, irregularly-outlined, black spot on the side of my chin that looks bad, bad, bad, so I needed to get it checked out. I sat in the office from 1300 through 1500 before getting frustrated and irritated and rescheduling the appointment. Halfway down to Key West, the receptionist (or someone) called me from the office and apologized profusely, so I forgive them a little bit, but that's beginning to become par for the course at doctors' offices here in Miami, and I do not want to have to get used to it. Bugger.

In Marathon, in the Keys, there is a small airport that Jack wanted to visit. It was time to get out and let them stretch their legs, so we decided to have a look around and poke into the museum a bit.

I'd seen that they did helicopter tours on the sign, and that's been on my bucket list for a long time, so I inquired within, as they say. It was very affordable, but I needed at least one other person to go with me to make it worth their while. We couldn't leave the kids alone, obviously, so Rob was out, and Jack and Chloë didn't have the bravery. Sophia was all for it, though, so we signed up for a trip! Only, when we got in the chopper, she freaked out a little bit about their being no doors. And then, Kevin, the awesome and understanding pilot, started 'er up, and she freaked out a LOT. I mean, shaking, tears, screaming, the whole bit. You'd think she was getting a shot or something, the way she was carrying on. I tried to calm her down, soothe her, and talk her back into it, but she was having none of it. So Kevin had to stop the engine, ride us back into the terminal, and give us our money back. I was disappointed, but ah, well. Another time.

On Long Key, there's a marine science lab I used to frequent as both an undergrad and a graduate student, for studies and training. And there was a restaurant next door we always visited, too. So it was with great apprehension that I looked for the lab during the drive, having seen far too many unlikeable changes in the upper keys (too many chains, not enough kitsch). Thankfully, the lab was still there - though we didn't have time to stop this time - but the restaurant, sadly, was gone. It's not too sad, though; they did serve veal, after all. So after a long, long, long drive (thanks to many silly stops along the way), we finally arrived in Key West. At last! I did my mystery shop while Rob and Company went to the beach.

After my shop, we decided to walk around and find a seafood restaurant. I mean, you're in the Keys; you might as well have some crab or something, right? My kids were dressed in their new tropical finery I'd picked up on the mystery shop, but I can't find the picture now of the three of them decked out. This one will have to suffice, of Sophia looking pretty, along with these two of Chloë and Jack:

Curly Girl, looking gorgeous as always

Jacky, doing the two-straw sip

This was the first seafood restaurant we happened upon, so we went in. Remember the name, so you can avoid the place if you want decent seafood. Trust me on this.

On the other hand, if you're just going to drink (and who doesn't drink in Key West? It's not unusual to see people staggering from bar to bar until the wee hours of the morning, all over the streets downtown), the Margaritas are fantastic. so there's that.

Rob and I decided to get the lobster/scallops/shrimp combo. I didn't try the shrimp, but he said they were fine. Conversely, as I told our server (whose demeanor went from awesome to The Suck after this), the lobster tasted like dirt, and the scallops tasted like nothing at all. Horrible. The worst seafood I ever experienced. Do NOT waste your money on seafood here; they apparently don't care enough about the lack of repeat business to cook it well. Ugh, I was sorely disappointed. And I even puked, it was so bad. Three times. And not just because I was sloshed. Heh. (I only drank about ¼ off my Margarita before passing it off to Rob; it was wicked strong.)

Rob gets conch fritters every chance he gets, so of course he had to get these. He said they were fine, too, but I didn't try them - never have, never will - so I can't verify.

Of course,  neither Rob nor I was fit to drive after dinner, so we had to walk around some more and see what was what. We found a souvenir shop - more like a souvenir mall - and Sophia exhibited more of her quintessential Sophie style, trying on hats and boas and all sorts of things. Love that kid!

I tried on a rastafarian hat with dreds, but the only thing Rob said was, "NO." Okay, fine, but I still think I rocked it. No? Maybe not. I did end up getting a sari/wrap dress thing that can be tied multiple ways. I forgot about it until I went through all the bags yesterday, so I think I'll wear it today. I might even take a picture to show you; it's so pretty!

Rob wanted a picture of the Conch Republic Key West flag, and his iPhone was dead, so here ya go, honeybuns!

The girls managed to talk me into these scarves that went with their new dresses. I liked them, too, and I may have to steal them from them once or twice!

Rob was thrilled to find himself next to Sloppy Joe's, a famous Hemingway hangout back in the day. We didn't make it over to the Hemingway estate to find the six-toed cats the kids were eager to see, though. Maybe next week, when we go down again, we'll get the chance.

The sign for "Smack Your Mom in the Mouth" meatloaf cracked me up, so I decided to get something to eat at this deli. Not the meatloaf, of course, but a bagel and cream cheese hit the spot. I was ravenous after the big Dinner Fail earlier.

We had walked a long time and a longer still ways from Penelope by that point, so we decided to hitch a ride on a bike-driven Pedicab (cyclecab?) with a nice Russian dude who agreed to carry all five of us in one trip. Here's my mini-me posing with her mama...

... and that was our short jag down to the keys. I was hoping to stop by some local road stands and get some fresh produce and local seafood on the way back, but they're hard to find at 3 in the morning, ya know? I wonder why.

Fin.

Oh, My Dawg, I'm So Excited!!!

...or, How We Spent Our Tax Refund!

        ...or, Man, We Should Be One of Those Couples Who Has To Spend a Million-Dollar Inheritance in 24-Hours Flat!

                   You feel me? But let's move on from these 77 alternate titles and get to the meat of this post.

If you hadn't realized, our federal tax refund hit our bank account yesterday. Here's how we've spent it on the kids and household goods in the day since then:

1. First stop, our local post office. We had to mail five or six packages, including the Progressive Snapshot device I'd never plugged into our Odyssey, Penelope, some video surveillance equipment for a mystery shop I'd (never) done, and the keys to our Virginia Beach house to our realtor back in that town. Plus, I had to buy a roll of stamps. Yes, some of us do still send snail mail. And also, we had to bring our lease in so that we could FINALLY get the keys to our mailbox. It's been 3 weeks, and we still have almost NO mail, save for the little bit that trickles down into our PO Box. Speaking of which, the kids and I went to check it while Rob finished up with the lease business, and there were two cards in it from Aunt Stacey (my sister). She sent cards and money for the two birthday babies, Jack and Sophia, having decided together with me that money was the way to go for our kids' respective birthdays from now on.

2. Next stop, Walmart. We spent a buttload of money on household necessities (and a few un-necessities, but not many) there. And Jack spent his new birthday money on this remote-controlled boat he'd been eyeing for a while.

Sophia spent her birthday money on this horse, which goes with her doll that she'd bought with birthday money from others earlier in the month. Granted, it's not tax money, but it happened yesterday, so I have to tell ya.

Also, Chloë and...

 

 

... Sophia both got new pairs of skates, which was and wasn't a splurge. It wasn't an absolute need, no, but they did need to get more and more varied exercise, and I needed a skating partner! Rob wanted to buy me a bike, too, but I figure I'll keep an eye on Freecycle for that. (Side note: Sophia fell on her butt a million times but is already zooming skillfully around the block. Chloë is still falling, but she'll get there, I'm sure. Soon as she lets go of all the tree branches, that is.)

 

 Other spending at Wally-World included food (absolutely necessary, right?), an iron (Rob had left ours back at the Va Beach house, oops), toilet bowl brushes (because, eww, he forgot those back there, too), a plunger (same story), towels and accessories to match the new shower curtains and mats in both our and the kids' bathrooms (splurge-y), a garbage can (forgot it, too), aaaand new bedding for all three kids (Sophia ruined all the old ones. She does that).

 

 

 

Next up, back at home, I went online to the Florida DMV website because we both need new state licenses, and then we'll need to register Penelope and the motorcycle, and then we'll need to get new insurance policies. (And I still freakin' need to fix the gigantical crack down the middle of my windshield, but that'll keep a li'l longer, won't it? It's been a month and a half already, after all...) But the next appointment - you make 'em online, here - for the DMV isn't until May 6th, so I looked at the docs we'll need for the new licenses. Crap, I need a new Social Security card. So do the kids; ours got stolen, which is not awesome. Lots of other stuff did, too; someone stole our "important papers" lockbox I kept under my desk. Ugh. Anyway. We'll go do that business tomorrow. Of course, they'll want my driver's license, among other things, to get the new card, so now I understand dogs and cats chasing their own tails!

 

 

We don't need cable TV - -haven't had it for years- - but we do need internet service. This is 2013, after all, and we have numerous electronic devices needing wi-fi. Not to mention the fact that our iPhones get crap for signals in the house on the LTE network, or 3G or 4G for the matter, and we don't have a landline. So, we put in about a half-dozen phone calls to Comcast to sign up for supah-fast (and cheap, compared to what we were paying for Cox in VA) cable internet service. We'd have done it sooner, but, ah, that's neither here nor there. It's done now, and they're coming Sunday, and I can't wait, and yeah.

 

 

Next stop, JAFRA, to place an order. I have gotten several from clients that needed fulfilling, plus I plan to start kicking that into high gear, so I needed a few things myself for said purpose. Yeah. I love JAFRA packages. They smell so damn good and always bring promises of buttery soft skin. Mmm, me likey.

 

 

 

Speaking of our iPhones, I've been boosting off my 5's Personal Hotspot to get online and do all the important stuff like tell you on this blahg about that important stuff, and so I had to go on the AT&T website to pay our big, fat bill. That was that. Can't wait to whittle that back down after the Comcast guy comes with our new, um, nothing?

 

 

Speaking of paying the bills, I hopped over to our bank website and put in an extra payment for Penelope, and...

 

 

 

...Elsie, Rob's BMW motorsickle.

 

(Yes, I spelled it that way on porpoise. C'mon, now.)

 

And then, the really exciting stuff started. Well, wait, first dinner. The kids must eat. The husband must eat. I... must nibble. I gained about 10 lbs during our move and realized it even before I got my scale back a week ago to confirm it, so I've been eating very carefully and am already down 4 lbs since then. I was hoping to take it off by my birthday in September, so yay. But what? am I talking about??

 

 

For dinner, after Rob and the kids cleared off the table and cleaned up the kitchen enough for me to cook in it properly, we laid down the new bamboo runner we'd gotten on clearance from Walmart (a minute splurge, yes, but it went with my Fiestaware, and hey, bamboo!) and used the also-clearanced new cloth napkins (hey, reducing paper waste is a good thing). Since we were going fancyish, I decided to make the kids promise promise promise they wouldn't break the wedding crystal we'd gotten from Dr. Lisa and Uncle Faris, and they did pinky-promise, which is as good as gold 'round here. And guess what? The only person who came even close to breaking one was ME. Yup, I'm still the same ol' klutz I always was, rest assured. PS, the candles were Sophie's idear. We are SO decadent. ;P

 

 

I'd gotten this Ninja Chopper from my friend, Yet Another Stephanie, back in VA, but I hadn't put it to good use yet. We had avocados, we had guac mix, and we had tortilla chips, so it was time. And guess what? After a few pulses, we had delicious-ish guacamole. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but compared to the improvised batch I made after Rob and - yes! - the kids quickly polished off this one, it wasn't bad at all. Heh. (Mine wasn't either, but it lacked salt. And lymes. And cilantro. And had too much onion. And tomato. And not enough avocado. Damn, it must've sucked worse than I first rememberated.)

 

 

 

This picture is way washed-out compared to the actual scene, but then I whipped up a pork steak dinner from a recipe I'd gotten on the back of a can of Campbell's chicken broth. There was pasta instead of rice, because that's what I had, and I needed to squeeze fresh juice from oranges rather than use bottled juice, because that's what I had and hello, yummier, but other than that, it was pretty much according to the recipe. Kinda. Anyways. Rob says it was good enough to make again, which is high praise coming from him, but all three kids had upturned noses, the punks. I don't see them doing the whole presentation-is-everything thing on me with hummus and pita, or anything, so humph!

 

 

 

However, Jack and Chloë did enjoy the orange slices in the dinner so well that they requested more for dessert. Um, okay, twist my arm a little bit, why don'tcha.

 

And NOW for the rilly, rilly exciting part!!!

 

(You'd better be sitting down now.)

 

(I mean it.)

 

(Because this is heady, heady stuff, coming up here in a second.)

 

Are you ready?

 

All right.

 

You asked for it.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

I bought stuff for homeschooling!!!!!! Yeah, school, baby! I can't WAIT to delve back in and get the kids back on track and have tons and tons and TONS of fun in the process. I love teaching them!!

 

Here's what I bought over at the Homeschool Buyers' Co-op:

 

 

 

All FIVE levels of Latin American Spanish from Rosetta Stone!!! Whoop!! For cheap! I have been wanting RS for aaaaaaaages, ever since I did a mystery shop at one of their kiosks (oops, I'm not supposed to tell you that) and saw how well it works. Chloë started angling for German, and I would have been thrilled with Latin, but we all settled on the LAS after thinking about what would be the most useful in our lives right now. I can not WAIT to get my teeny-weeny little hands on this baby. Sirrusly.

 

 

I usually piece our Science and Social Studies curricula together myself, but this year (starting now), I'm going to get a little help from the award-winning Adaptive Curriculum. I cannot wait to see how that works for us, especially in Social. Science, I've got down, but our Soshe has been a little, well, piecemeal, so I'd like to get it more organized in their brains, y'know?

 

For teaching Grammar rules more concretely, I got us a lifetime passport to Grammaropolis, which looks very promising. Sounds like fun, too!

 

 

For writing and all that goes with that business, I bought us a year's subscription (which is really enough information, with what I got, to last us through the end of high school if I choose) to Brave Writer, a highly rated program about which I've heard nothing but good stuff. Eeeeeek!

 

And now for the reeeeeealllllly exciting part!!!!

 

Can you stand it? I can't!!

 

Because we want the kids to be technologically savvy, and because so much of their work is computer- and internet-based, I have been wanting to get them each their own laptop or tablet for a while. I've been researching and thinking and debating about it; we've had ONE laptop for the kids up 'til now, and it just doesn't work that well when all three kids need to be online to do assignments. With three, I wouldn't need to constantly rotate them out and cut them short on projects - they could all work simultaneously! So after tons more research, I bought them each a Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet on Amazon.com! Wooohoooo, the
y are going to be so stoked, man!

 

 

 

 

Of course, to protect their shiny new electronical toys, I got them each a case in a different color. Jack's is green, because, well, it's his favorite, and I couldn't find a boyish pattern to suit him.

 

 

I think this one will be Chloë's.

Sophia will like this one.

I don't know how much they'll need or use them, but it remains to be seen, so I got them this pack of 6 styli for their Kindle Fire HDs, and also one - yes, just one - wall charger to share. I figure that much we can do on a rotational basis, right?

But I'm still not done outfitting the kids for the coming year. Nope, nope, nope. I did s'more shopping on ye olde Amazon first:

Sophia needs a new queen-sized mattress for the bunk bed she'll now be sharing with Chloë, because we had to leave her old one behind in Portsmouth (doesn't really matter; it was gross). I got her this memory-foam one, which has really good ratings. Remind me to air it out for two days first...

Oh, and for us, I got a new bed frame since Rob left our old one behind at the Virginia Beach house, which sucks because they aren't as cheap as I thought they were. Booger.

For Jack, I picked up a Yamaha keyboard stand (and a new wall charger, since he lost his). Even though he's decided not to pursue lessons for now, the music store folks convinced us to hang onto the keyboard in case one of the kids picks it up. And I can play, albeit slowly and gingerly, so we can all bang around on it for our music lessons in Sweet Pea Academy. It's cheap but comes highly-rated, so I think this one'll do us just faaaahhhhhn.

 

And finally (as you all breathe a sigh of relief, I know), the kids have been doing some growing since last I shopped for summer clothing for them. Especially Sophia; she's now, like, a foot taller than Jack! No lie. She needed a new bathing suit and picked this one out at Sears.

They all needed shorts and tees, so I bought bunches upon bunches of those for each kiddo, too, along with one dressy outfit for each kid. Inexplicably, after making a painstaking order there, Sears canceled several of my items and let the rest go through. Buh-wha-huh? I have to call them. I want those things, dammit! They need 'em! But it'll keep 'til 0900. Which, oh, is four minutes from now. Serendipity, baby!

Oh, shit, I totally forgot one more big splurge! Well, not like, a boat big, but Shamu big. *Ahem*

 

Yep. We're going to Orlando on Monday and Tuesday! Rob still has a little bit more time (a month, maybe) on Active Duty, so that means he and three dependents still get in for fah-reeeee at Anheuser-Busch parks through their ongoing Here's to the Heroes Salute program.  That leaves one kid out, so I bought another ticket, along with our parking pass, dine-all-day passes for Rob and the kids (I'll nibble and graze meagerly), and a stroller rental voucher. I can't wait, and the kids are ecstatic! (The stroller is mostly for Jack, who still has trouble walking sometimes, especially for long periods of time, thanks to his tight Achilles tendons, and also to keep the kid out of the sun here and there, and also in case we want it to carry things around the park without holding them.) Can't wait to see the shows, can't wait to see Shamu, can't wait to see my babies' faces when they get to feed a fish or two to the dolphins. Wheeee! That'll be Monday.

I think we'll do this on Tuesday, but we might not. I don't know yet. We'll see. Maybe we'll just come home Tuesday, or we might hang out with my online friend, Gloria, whom I've not yet met, or maybe we'll... hm. I don't know! Suggestions?

NOW I'm finished.

I have some mystery shops to go do today, along with my doctor's appointment for this thing growing on my chin, soooo.... whew! This post took forEVER to write.

Fin.

P.S. I'm such a liar. That's not all. HAHAHA. The cats got new beds and litter to poop in - LOTS of litter.

I Can't Drive 55!

It only took 9½ months, but just days before our move to Miami, we finally got the rest of our stuff out of the Virginia Beach house and over to the Portsmouth house. Well, most of it. We did have to leave some stuff behind, but I don't know what, and Rob wouldn't tell me because he didn't want me to be upset about it. We have waaay too much stuff. The movers, when they showed up to the Portsmouth house where everything was stacked up in boxes all over the place, were not pleased. Ah, well. It's done now, right?

On Monday morning, the trucks came to load up our belongings. Two were needed: one to shuttle things from our driveway to the 2nd, main one that will actually be transporting our goods, because the street and driveway were too narrow for the big truck to remain. We must have had traffic blocked off in both directions about six or eight times that day. Sorry, folks!

Finally, in the evening, it was time to go!! We filled up the gas tank, and off we went! First stop: Saritah's house in north central North Carolina, to say our last goodbyes. We had planned to spend the night, but our situation required that we get to Miami as fast as possible, so we had to abort that mission. After we left, two hours after we arrived (and many tears later), we drove straight through to Miami with minimal stops. The kids, who had not slept well for days, slept all through the night. That certainly facilitated the quick drive south!

We got to our hotel around 2 PM on Tuesday afternoon. (I guess I can stop using military time, now that Rob's retiring from the Navy, right?) The total drive from Saritah's house there, including rest stops, took just 17 hours. Not bad, not bad at all.  The kids have declared about 9,000 times since we arrived, in breathless tones, "Miami is beautiful." I have to agree.

Our six cats fared pretty well. I thought we were going to listen to all of them meowing constantly for the duration of the trip, but they settled down and napped for most of it. One cat had a poopy accident and another peed, but for the most part it wasn't too bad at all. They're having some trust issues after being shoved into boxes and spending two days there, but they're letting us cuddle them, so it'll be all right soon, I'm sure.

Tinkerbell, our mama kitty, stepping out of her carrier for the first time

Ginger, Sophie's sweet-but-dumb kitten, allowed her to snuggle him right away after he finally stepped out of his cage.

Rob took the kids to the pool while I started our massive house-hunting efforts. More on that later. Sophia, naturally athletic, went right in the chilled water, while Jack continuously grumped about "hating Miami because there aren't any indoor pools." The kid grouses constantly like that, but we're used to it now. Chloë dipped in briefly, but she got cold quickly.

There are a few vending machines in our hotel, outside the pool area, including one for ice cream. I treated the kids to some cherry-watermelon pops after they swam, before it was time to get back in the van and go look at a property that turned out to be a dud.

For lunch, we went to Pollo Tropical. I hadn't been there in years, and of course, the rest of the family never had. I want to immerse them in the local culture quickly, and this was a good way to start even if it's a chain. We had Flan and Tres Leches for dessert, and they LOVED it. 

Pajama Party!

Next up, a post about our house-hunting so far. It's going...slowly, but going...

Fin.

Miami Move Mathematics

Hey, you guys! What's up? Well, as for Team Odette, I'm now coming at you from sunny South Florida! Woohoo, we made it - and we could not be having a grander time.

Our move, by the numbers:

0 = Number of times we want to do that again

1 = Different homes we want to have this time around

2 = Homes Rob almost single-handedly moved us out of to get us here

3 = Kiddos in our Honda Odyssey, Penelope, for the drive down here

4 = Times I saw groups of deer next to the highway, mainly in the Carolinas

5 = Times we had to fill up the ol' gas tank to get from Virginia to Florida (Penelope was loaded from rooftop to undercarriage, and we got horrible gas mileage!)

6 = Cats in carriers we brought along for the journey

7 = In thousands, times we heard, "Can you put a new movie in the DVD player?"

8 = Actual hours the kids slept straight through on the trip - really! They did faaaabulously well. Thank you, God!

9 = In tens, fastest speed I drove while en route - but only until I realized. Swears!

10 = Approximate number of times I cried while saying good-bye to our Virginia/Carolina friends. I won't list you guys, because I'm sure to leave at least one person out, and I can't deal with the hurt feelings that would cause!

11 = Total number of poopers in Penelope for the drive. Dudes. That is a lot. I don't recommend it. (On a related note, only ONE cat had an accident, compared to 2½ PEOPLE on the trip, including yours truly. As Chloë hilariously put it, "I have to go to the bathroom. I have to go to the bathroom. Oh, no. Oh, no! Oh, noooooo! I went! I pooped my pants! Wahhhhhhh!" And call me a bad mother, but I really did laugh listening to her. So did Rob. Quietly, to ourselves, natch, but come on! It was funneh!)

1,000+ = Miles logged on this journey. Hey, I got a free buck for Amazon.com from the iPhone (not sure about Android) app, Ride, just for having it downloaded and running in the background during the trip. I could have saved it, but you know, I'm not so good at delayed gratification lately.

4 GB = Notification from AT&T I literally just received, saying I've reached my max data usage and am now going over our plan limits. No free wi-fi in the Motel 6, y'all. Sucks! On the other hand, Personal Hotspot rocks so I can bring you this post (and the following ones, I'm sure) until we get set up in a new place with innerweb service.

Hey, that was fun, recounting all that... pun intended. Stay tuned for more pictures and posts!

Fin.

Saturday 9: Hakuna Matata

Link up here, too, if you're also late to the party!

1) Sam is crazy for The Lion King. Do you have a favorite Disney movie? 

Can you guess? I'm a marine biologist... my favorite is Finding Nemo, of course, followed by The Little Mermaid!

2) The song tells us that Hakuna Matata "means no worries." Is something worrying you right now?

Yes!! We're moving in just over a week, and I'm worried about that, the funds for doing so, where we're going to live when we get to Miami, and whether or not anything will be broken in the process. I'm quite anxious at the mo'!

3) Who is the most optimistic person you know?

My youngest honeychile, Sophia. She is definitely a good time girl; I bet she'll party in college and still make A's. And yes, she is always optimistic.

4) Elton John wrote "Hakuna Matata" but didn't record it. Name a song Sir Elton is famous for singing.

My favorite Elton John song is "Sad Songs" - they say so much, you know.

5) Can you play the piano?

Not really. I took lessons for several years, but I am terribly slow at reading music, so I didn't progress very far with it. I can still play from memory, though.

6) Congratulations! You just won a guided African Safari Tour! Eight days in Zambia and Botswana for you and a friend. All expenses paid, and allowing you access to breathtaking, unforgettable sights. It takes at least 30 hours to get there, and before you go you'll need yellow fever and hepatitis vaccinations and medication to prevent malaria. Are you up for it?

Are you kidding? Absolutely! Sign me up!! I want to see the entirety of this planet before I kick the proverbial bucket.

7) There's been a mistake. You really won a 4-night Disney Bahamas Cruise for two. Are you relieved or disappointed that you'll be partying with a guy in a Simba suit on the Lido Deck instead of observing a real lion in the wild?

We plan on taking a Disney cruise next year, but I'd still be very disappointed. It's incomparable. Plus, I really freaking hate the Bahamas. Hate it. That and Tampa, Florida, are two of the very few places I definitely do not like.

8) Let's bring this back to real life -- do you have any vacation plans? 

Oh, I just told you about that, didn't I? ;)

9) Describe your luggage. Is it durable and high quality? Or are you like Crazy Sam, who has been known to use an Old Navy shopping bag as her carry-on?

We have a set of red luggage that needs replacing. It's definitely not high-quality stuff, though the fact that it still exists depite the kids' best efforts to destroy it must mean it's halfway decent. Almost all the zipper pulls have fallen off, which drives me crazy, and some of the zippers are starting to unzip from the wrong end. It'll get us through the move to Miami, but I don't have many hopes for it after that.

On to Sunday Stealing!

Fin.

Sunday Stealing: The Deleted Meme

Link up here if you wanna be a thief today, too!

Sunday Stealing: The Deleted Meme  

1. Who is your favorite artist (any field)?

Definitely Romero Britto. We have a couple two-three of his pieces, both fine art and functional art. I ♥ him excessively. Have you hard of him before this?

2. Describe yourself.

If that picture doesn't sum it up, which I think it does quite well: warped, wacky, wild, and wonderful.

3. How do you feel today?

I had a few rough days toward the end of last week, but right now, right this very minute, I'm doing quite okay. I'm grateful for that.

4. Describe the area where you currently live.

I don't want to say it's the ghetto, but... it's the ghetto. Our old 'hood was much, uh, less so. Wah. Hopefully wherever we end up in San Diego will be a step back in the right direction for us, especially as far as safety is concerned. Bah.

5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

Is "everywhere" an option? Then that's my answer. (If not, then my first stop would be the Great Barrier Reef. Ohh.... one day.)

6. What is your favorite form of transportation?

Of all the modes of transportation I love, I would have to say walking is my favourite. Given the number of people I know who can't do it, or do it with extreme difficulty, including myself before I lost my weight, I consider myself very fortunate to have this ability. Now, running, pah! Well, I might take it up in 2013, but we'll see. I said that a year ago or so, too...

7. Your best friend is:

Hubs is my very, very besty-best friend. I'm so blessed.

8. You and your best friends are:

... in other words, kindred spirits. I have a lot of pals, chums, buds, whatever, but my very bestest-best friends are few and fantastic.

9. What's the weather like?

At least, that's what it is in my imagination at the mo'. Truthfully, it's almost 0330, probably pretty frosty outside, and I have no idea what daytime will bring. Are we in San Diego yet?!

10. What's your favorite time of day?

Even when he's in a seriously grumpy mood from work, it's that moment when Hubs walks in the door. ♥

11. If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?

But, it's been done. Ah, well.

12. What is life to you?

The biologist in me is laughing at this question, but the "human" me has a harder time answering. Making people. Making good people. Making happy good people. You get the point.

13. Your relationship:

Was there something you wanted to ask me?

14. Your fear:

Been there, definitely do not want to go there again... and please don't say anything about Connecticut. I can NOT handle it. Sorry. Weak, I know.

15. What is the best advice you have to give?

That sounds pretty good. I'll go with that one.

16. Thought for the Day:

Ah, remember those? Anyway, my position is generally, "As long as it's funny, it's okay." However, I do not tolerate racism and most -isms, so there are exceptions. That's not really a "thought for the day" type of answer, is it? Ah, fuck it, I really don't care right now. LOL!

17. How would you categorize your soul's present condition:

My soul is good, thanks for asking.

☼

Have an abfab week, peeps!

Fin.

Advent-ures 2012, Days 1-3

So three days of our Advent 2012 calendar in, and it's kind of a half-fail. December 1^st, the activity on the calendar was "1. Nautical Holidays – make your own nautical-themed ornaments @ Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum 10 AM – 5 PM AND/OR Games, Arts & Crafts, etc. @ VA Sports Hall of Fame 11 AM – 3 PM AND/OR Make Holiday Crafts @ Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve 2-4 PM."

So. Chloë had her piccolo lesson at noon that day:

(and yes, she technically was supposed to be taking flute lessons, but she's a wee pixie, and the flute was too big for her, so for now, it's the piccolo).

After her lesson, I ran a few much-needed errands, so by the time we got home, it was after 1400. I offered up the activities on the list to the kids, and they chose to just go to the Hoffler Creek Preserve to make crafts. Okay, fine.

Rob took them to the preserve sans moi, because I was exhaaaaaausted and needed a "nap," (which turned out to be a marathon catch-up sleep session), and there turned out to be nary a craft at the preserve. They were all, "What crafts?" and had nothing. Um, that's cool, so whatever. Rob and the kiddos went for a hike out on a trail in the woods intead, but do you think he took any pictures for me? Of course he didn't. Boo.

They had a great time anyway, crafts or no, and saw some ducks. I don't know what, if anything, else they saw, but I did hear tell that apparently three kids in the woods are generally too loud to see much else, because they scare away the aminals? Yeah, mine don't shush well. So. That was Day One.

On the 2^nd day of our 2012 Advent calendar, the activity was: "2. Learn to knit, do origami, and/or do fun Christmas print-out activities!" However, I had to do some, uh, shops of the mystery variety down the upper stretch of the Outer Banks, so we rented a bunch of movies from the Redbox, put the kids in the car, and went, figuring on doing the activity(ies) upon our return to the homestead.

Here's my man getting gas. We needed some. I took a picture. There's that story.

And if you look hard, you can see him in the 7-Eleven there, getting me a Diet Coke refill. We did that a bunch during our annual OBX pilgrimage, too. I found it interesting, and commented many times during the drive, that SO MANY NEW THINGS have sprung up down in that place. I thought it was cool to see all the new things, but on the other hand, a little sad that Big Box has taken over the "mom-and-pop kitschy-beachy" feel of the Outer Banks quite a bit. Progress? You decide.

The kids watched Arthur Christmas and 12 Dogs of Christmas during the drive; as you can see Sophia was locked onto the screen during their little viewing party. I rented four movies, but we haven't gotten to the two others yet, and I haven't returned them to the Redbox. Yay, late fees. Arthur sounded like a really fun flick, from my driver's seat hearing position, and even Rob enjoyed it, so I recommend that if you have and your kiddos haven't seen it yet! Hubs and I talked to each other a lot during the other movie, so I can't really comment on that, but there was a lot of "awww"-ing from the back of the van, if that helps.

Anyway.

When we got back here, it was decided that we would go do our big grocery shopping trip together, so the Advent activities were pushed back even further. Note that the girls both wanted to learn to knit, but Jack absolutely did not, no matter what we tried to convince him; no one wanted to do origami; and, everyone wanted to do fun Christmas printables.

Knitting took a pause for a later date, as it was lay-hay-ate by the time we got home from the shopping, but I did allow the kids to do the printables. There were mazes, dot-to-dots, word searches, bookmarks with jokes, and so on, which I searched for all over the Interwebs, so no linkage, sorreh. They're easy to find, however. Remember to use Swagbucks for your searching, to rack up those rewards! Anyhoo, the kids really enjoyed that and kept asking for more, so I guess that part wasn't a fail. (Eek about all the paper and ink I used, but nevermind that.)

On the 3^rd day, the Advent activity was: "3. Holiday Lights at the Beach – Military Mondays 20% off!"

The plan was to go after Jack's Cub Scout meeting, but, uh, while the boy and his father were gone, I fell asleep and didn't wake until a few hours ago; 0230 to be precise. The kids were a bit disappointed, but I'll bump that to later in the month, so we won't entirely miss out on that, an annual tradition for us.

I did accomplish something, though. Normally, Rob does all the dinner cooking, especially in this house, since I hate the kitchen, half our crap is still at the old house, and did I mention I hate the kitchen?? However, I got a bug up my arse to actually accomplish some housewifery yesterday, and I washed the humongous pile of dishes that were taking over the sink and half the nation, so I could give The Bob the night off from cooking and make a delicious dinner that would be ready for him when he got home, exhausted from work. (The kids helped: they dried and put away the dishes and did some other various and sundry tidying-up chores while I prepared the sup.)

Dinner was a pork loin, cooked on the stovetop in a pot with the usual roast veggies: potatoes, onions, and carrots, along with a bunch of garlic thrown in for good measure, salt-and-peppered to who-knows-who's taste, since, natch, I don't eat pork (mammal-free since 1995, give or take a few lapses I won't mention now) and wasn't about to sample my own cooking. 

I decided to make dessert, too, and opted for baked apples, which I'd never done before but had long wanted to try. I used this recipe as a starting point, with the addition of oats to the hollowed-out Granny Smiths, and a cooking time of 30 minutes rather than 15.

The chiquiniños watched me make dinner and dessert, and they thought the addition of butter to the apples was disgusting!! They were vehemently opposed to trying the apples on the before side, but when I served the baked cinnamony goodness alongside their roasted pork an' veggies, they decided the after was quite edible, indeed. Jack didn't eat too much, having filled up on pork (he's my meat kid; Sophie's my fruit kid, and Chloë is my picky, depends-on-the-moment kid), so I ate some of his (in addition to my hummus dinner), and it was delicious!

Anyway.

I don't normally eat with the family anymore, since my gastric bypass surgery (nearly four years ago, wow!), because I'm finished eating in approximately 13½ seconds when Oscar-the-pouch is full, and it's incredibly agitating to me to watch everyone eating for another ten, twenty, thirty... you get the drift...  minutes, when I have so much else I could be (and would rather be) doing. It's kind of sucky on my part, which I realized in full when the kids were so ecstatic over my joining them for the recent Thanksgiving repast.

So I sat with them today, to watch them enjoy the meal I'd made, because I do love so when I cook and it turns out well, and the eaters of such like it and compliment the food and so on and so forth. I normally am quite horrible at accepting compliments, but because of my stepmother's excessive criticism about cooking-related everything during my formative years, I live for cooking-related accolades! And all four of them loved the meal (though the girls kept thinking the pork was chicken, not that I cared, as long as they ate it), so I was well-pleased. Well-pleased was I, yes.

And then, while I was washing up the dinner dishes, the boys readied themselves for their den meeting, and Sophia did Sophia things, Chloë, who was helping dry and put away said dishes, said to me, "I hope tomorrow is just like today."

Of course, I asked the inevitable, "What do you mean?"

And do you know what that child said to me? She replied, "I mean, I hope you cook a yummy dinner again, that's ready when Daddy gets home from work, and sit down with us for dinner. I really liked that."

You could have knocked me over with a feather, when she said the part about dinner being ready for Daddy when he got home from work. Seriously? It was a revelation for me. It was a total 1950s moment, kinda, but I mean that in a good way. I envisioned what tonight looked like from the kids' perspectives, compared to my usual snubbing of dinner, and wow. It meant so much to them, that I cooked, and joined them, and all, and I felt great about having done so. (I'd had my meds, so I was able to turn off the "I feel like crap about every other day" thoughts that tried to push in.)

So yeah. We didn't do the lights on the beach, but that happened, and it was pretty awesome, so I'm calling Day Three a mostly-win. Okay with you?

And yes, I'm going to cook dinner tonight, and probably the next, and yes, the week's menu plan was already in my head eleven seconds after Chloë said that. And I'm feeling a weird feeling I don't often get, and I think it's what they call "happy."

Stay tuned for more Advent-ures!

Fin.

Aloha Friday

Link up here if you've got questions for Kailani & friends today!

My question for you this week is:

Have you ever traveled in an RV (motor home)?

I haven't, but we're considering doing that in a few months as we meander westward to our destination of San Diego, CA. I'm really excited about the idea! Any tips?

Have a really swell day, peeps.

Fin.

A Day (And A Half) In The Life...

It was Road Trip time again for the four youngest members of Team Odette this past weekend. Rob couldn't go, because he had duty and had to stand watch. Suck. I was hoping he'd be able to join, but alack and alas, no such luck this time.  I'm going to present the 36 hours in chronological, timeline format, which I hope is interesting and not dreadfully dull. If it is, be sure and tell me, and I'll go weep in the corner with self-pity. Um, yeah. So away we go!

Friday

1230: The children and I set off from our home in Portsmouth, VA, to points northward. Washington, D.C., to be specific. The trip should've taken 3-3½ hours, but ends up taking a little longer because of some heavy duty weekend traffic out of Hampton Roads.

1630: We arrive in downtown D.C. Because I've been chugging beverages all along the route, and despite a rest stop, my enormous bladder is full to burstin'. I finally find somewhere to park and then realize I have zippo change for the bloody meter, which doesn't take the $1 coins I received for change from my $20 bill at the rest stop vending machine. Arghhh!

1630-1700: We race around, finding plenty of signs like the above, first to get change for the meter (18 minutes' worth for a buck, ugh) and then find a place to make weewee. Nowhere. Nowhere to GO! Finally, at last, and por fin, I found a restaurant that would allow us to use the facilities. How do you spell relief?!

Relief. Get it?!!

1700: I now have exactly one hour left to complete the mystery shop I'm there to do, which necessarily has to take a full hour. I'm cutting it short on time. It takes me five minutes to find a parking space in the zone of my shop, which I'll explain more about later, and it is a pay-by-app or -phone spot. The app won't download - no signal in D.C.? Really?! - so I call the number. I have to give my license plate info first: CARE PKG. I spell it once, twice, thrice, and the system hangs up on me after successive failures. Repeat once more. The third time, I get smart and spell it phonetically: Charlie Alpha Romeo Echo Papa Kilo Golf. Success! But then... after setting up my credit card number and getting an account established, I input the parking meter number, and the system tells me that I cannot park there after 4:00 PM on weekdays. Then,

LOTS of them.

1725: I call my scheduler, give him the lowdown on the sitchy-ation, and ask if I can come back to do the evaluation on the 'morrow. He shuffles around some assignments, 'cause it matters whether it's done on the weekend or a weekday, and gives me the green light. Whew. We head out of the District, north to Maryland.

1820: We make it to the hotel where I'm doing a mystery shop that night, check in, throw our stuff in our room, and head back out to go do yet another mystery shop.

1955: After stopping at McD's to grab the kids some dinner and getting lost a few times, we arrive due west for our next mission: three games of laser tag! The kids are overjoyed; I've surprised them with this gig. They LOVE laser tag, having played it for shops twice before, and are now downright giddy. I have another surprise in store for them, too:

 

My old college pal Play-Doh, from our joint alma mater,

works nearby and met us there to play, too! The kids LOVE Play-Doh, and now they were brimming with the energy of crazed children that only comes out when the excitement is extreme. You parents know what I'm talkin' 'bout! They were all over him, jumping on him, climbing on him, etc., in a heartbeat, and I could barely get in a hug. The five of us had a blast playing laser tag (I kicked PD's arse 2 out of 3 times, woot), arcade games, snacking, and hanging out, until my shop was complete.

2215: We parted ways with PD and headed back East to the hotel. I got lost again a few more times. Dang, I miss Sue, my GPS! I had my iPhone GPS, but it just ain't the same.

2330: Tired - nay, exhausted - and gross from the long day in the car and games, I quickly do what I need to for the shop that night, before plopping the kids in front of the tube (because they're waaaay too wound up to sleep at this point), while I go soak in the tub. Ahhh.

Saturday

0015: I'm still working on getting my as-yet-hyper babes to sleep, while trying to get some work done on the laptop. I'm unsuccessful at both, so I give up trying. All the lights get turned out, I set my alarm, and crash. I assume the kids do, too.

0830: I wake up just in time to go have breakfast before they shut it down, then head back to the room and crash some more. I'm soooo tired still.

1200: The kids and I finally rouse ourselves, an hour past check-out time. I've totally slept through my alarm and wake-up call. Whoops! We take 15 minutes and race around the room, getting dressed, packing up, and movin' on out. I go check out at the front desk, where I obviously don't look as shabby as I think I do, because the clerk is practically undressing me with his eyes. He's cute, so I let him. Ha.

1340: We arrive back in the zone of my evaluation of the streets of D.C. and park. I can't really tell you too much about it, other than that I'm basically mystery shopping the city itself. Yes, I'm that badass. I kid, I kid. We walk around my assign streets, doing what I need to be doing, and the kids all develop blisters as we go. The streets are clean enough, so I let them go barefoot. In downtown Washington, D.C. In the summer. On hot sidewalk granite. I'm an excellent mother. :\  We come across this little pond, an oasis in the desert city, and they look longingly at it. I look around, see no one in authority to stop us, and quickly let them dip their feet in the pondlet. They gab on and on about how good it feels. On we march, to finish the job.

When we come back across the Washington Monument, which the kids easily recognize in such a monument-filled ciudad, the kids insist on having their picture taken in front. Note that I'm still camera-less, save my iPhone, so quality is less than awesome.

1520: I finish my assignment, and we get back to the vicinity of the car park where Penelope is waiting. I know Play-Doh is busy studying in Georgetown for a major upcoming exam, so I call him up and offer to bring him some lunch for a study break. He happily accepts.

1610: After getting lost a few more times (!!!), we finally find la escuela where PD is studying. Immediately, the kids jump out of the car and begin climbing all over him again. PD is child-free, so far, so I offer him a few of my own. He laughingly declines. I try to get a decent picture of the kids and Play-Doh and end up with this lovely work of art:

Gee, thanks for putting the sammich down for 30 seconds, Jack! Sheesh!!

A little more chit-chat, a few more hugs, and PD is off to get back to studying.

1630: We head back out of the District, back into Virginia, for our next destination in Williamsburg, for another surprise mystery shopping assignment for the kids.

1845: We arrive at our destination at last, to the kids' total excitement. They are having way too much fun on this trip! We head in and go look at a bunch of weird, wild and wacky shiznat.

Like, this maneless, albino male lion, which the kids insist over my protests is a tiger...

... and this two-headed calf, which Sophia obviously thinks is wicked crazy.

I let them play the target-shootin' game, and it turns out that Jack is quite the ace with a BB gun! The girls each get a shot or two in, but Jack manages about ten! Nice. Maybe he'll grow up to be an expert marksman like his daddy is.

Sophia was busy looking at this slow-fast-slow-fast motion demo, when Chloë hollered at her to come try the laser obstacle course room. Oh, and we went through this groovy tunnel on a bridge, made with an optical illusion effect so you think you're spinning around and going upside-down instead of just walking straight through it. I loved it; meanwhile, it made all three children CRY. Yes, cry. Group hug time.

Feeling badly, I let the kids do the claw machine, which we all know never works. You never win these things. Ever. But guess what?! On the first time, Jack and I tag-teamed that bad boy and won these kids a one-eyed stuffed puppy they named Ripley. Woot!

Before we leave to go next door and watch the 4D movie, I insist we all get in the photo booth for a group sesh. Here's the result. We so crazeh!

2020: Finally, we're done with our shops and are ready to head home. I text Rob and tell him that we'll see him in about an hour. Ha. HA! I say.

1159: Over 3½ hours later, because the main Interstate (64) from the Peninsula down to the Southside of Hampton Roads is closed for the weekend at the same time as another alternate route in what can only be described as the most brilliant fecking move EVER, leaving the entirety of Hampton Roads to bottleneck through the last remaining resort, we get home. That, up there, is a full bladder. All of us had one, though mine had to have been about 90x that size, I swear. I barely made it!

That brings us to the end of our journey. But one more thing. You may have read a recent Friday Fragments post in which I challenged you, my readers, to play me on Words With Friends? Well, one such soul decided to take me up on that, and I spent the weekend being positively TROUNCED by such individual. My pride is wounded. I rarely get beaten, and never so badly, so I have a message for you, KO:

Imma gonna getcha! May take me 100 games, but when I do, well... Imma put a hurtin' on ya! ;)

Have a great week, pals!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

It's that time again, when all the bits and pieces floating around in the ol' noggin get gathered together and shared with Mrs.4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time. Join us here, won't you?

☼

First things first. My keyboard is driving me crazy. I don't know what's going on with it, but it's skipping letters and symbols I'm typing, like, every four characters. How do I fix it, other than replacing it? I'm afraid I don't know. And since I've just had to replace BOTH my fried hard drive and, a week later, my monitor, I'm thrilled to death at the prospect. :\

☼

Secondarily, I've been on a major mystery shopping spree lately. I go through fits and starts where I'll go nuts doing tons of shops and then get burned out and refuse all but the most plum assignments. This is the 'nuts' part, which it seems I always do in the summertime. It's fine, because we get to have lots of fun, travel, and lots of paychecks come in to boot! Once September comes 'round, I'll slow down and get back into the school groove with the kids full-time, so it's now or never next year.

☼

One such shop was last Thursday, a trip with me and five kids 7-11 years, to our local waterpark. Oy vey. I paired everyone up: Chloë with her little beau, Jack with his bestie (the beau's younger brother), and Sophia with - Mama didn't raise no fool - ME. Guess who behaved the best out of all of them? If you know anything about my kids, you'll be shocked to hear it was Sophie. Chloë and Beau disappeared without checking back in for HOURS, Jack and Bestie kept splitting up, and Sophia stuck by my side and did everything she was told to do. Now that's crazytown. Like a parallel universe.

☼

Last night's series of shops found us driving all over the Hampton Roads area - well, the Southside, anyway, not the Peninsula - and all the way up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, almost to Maryland.  Yes, it pays well, or else I wouldn't put that much gas into it! This picture is cruising along on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT), before we hit the Eastern Shore. I like Virginia's ES okay, but it's not very beachy-kitschy, which I tend to prefer. I like the scene in North Carolina's Outer Banks better - and the Florida Keys best. Wonder what I'll think of the San Diego area??

☼

Of course, mystery shopping involves lots of dining out, so we found ourselves at a popular steakhouse on kids' night Tuesday, where the kiddos had a great time getting these balloon animals and such. Sorry for the poor photo quality; guess I need to clean my iPhone lens!

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Aside from shops, there's this latest excitement in the house: I'm signing the kids up for lessons on their respective instruments, starting in September. Chloë's had her flute, and Sophia her guitar, for a while now with no action, so it's time we got into it. Jack settled on keyboarding, so we went to the music lesson shop tonight and picked him out the starter model. Can you believe this thing? When I was his age, a similarly-priced Casio was given to me, and it was about 1/100th as cool, with way fewer bells and whistles. He's absolutely giddy over it, which I love to see.

I can't wait to see how they do, learning music professionally. There's a slight chance I might give up my role as their voice teacher and get lessons in that as well, but I'm not sure the budget will allow for it. Besides, I've been classically trained, and despite the fact that it's been 18 years since I sang in an ensemble, I still know a thing or two about singing. So we'll see.

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I have a billion other things going on, but I should get some rest. I'm taking the older two and myself to the doctors' offices for various ailments tomorrow afternoon, and then Rob and I have a mystery shop date at a bar. So I'll leave you with these latest personalized plates spotted around town:

AWESEEM!!! I don't know why I like this one very much, but I do. It tickles my fancy.

What the what?! Someone explain it to me. For the longest time, I thought it was somethin like "SEX PIMP," (hee) until it dawned on me that it might be "PMS EXPERT" or something. But why in Heaven's name would you want to advertise that?!

And finally, an "aww" one: This parent is proud of her/his "TWO LITTLE PEAS." Cute stuff.

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Anyway, I hope you all have a weekend of fabulosity, and I'll fill you in on the fun stuff we're doing next week. Same place, same time. 'K?

Fin.

Sunday Stealing: Useless Questions Meme

Link thyself up here if you're a thief like us, m'kay?

1. Have you ever written a song?

Actually, yes, in junior high, my then-BFF wrote the music, and I wrote the lyrics to a song for another good friend of ours that was moving away, and it was recorded in then-BFF's dad's studio. (He's a locally famous singer. Todd Hobin & The Heat - you may have heard of them, if you're near Central New York?)

2. Have you ever been in the opposite sex's public toilet?

No, I've never fallen into a urinal. Gosh, I hope I never do...

3.  Are you superstitious?

Nah, but I'll knock wood just for shits and giggles.

4. What's the most daring thing you've done?

I married a guy two months after the first time he emailed me from an internet dating site. We're coming up on 12 years. I knew what I was doing.

       
5.  Did you have a baby blanket? Do you still sleep with it?

Yes, my grandma made it for me. I don't still sleep with it, but I will keep it forever.

6. Have you ever tried to cut your own hair? If yes, how’d it work out?

I have cut my bangs a trillion (that may or may not be hyperbole) times, but between Hubs and me, we cut my mid-back length hair down to this:

I thought it was pretty cute, but I'm growing it out again now, as you can tell by my banner up there.

7. Have you ever sleepwalked?

No, but I talk in my sleep constantly. Apparently I'm pretty funny. But of course I am.

8.  If you could be any age, what age would you be?

I'm happy with being 35. Since I grew up thinking I'd drop dead at 33 like my mother, I figure every year after that is a bonus.

9.  What is your dream car?

Right now I want a Vespa. And/or a Smart For Two. And/or a cute little red convertible Mazda Miata.  Love my minivan, but it's not itty-bitty. I like itty-bitty things.

    
10.  What is your favorite cartoon of all time?

The Smurfs, duh!

11. If you were in a car sinking in a lake, what would you do first?

Swear at Rob, 'cause he's probably the one driving.

12. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?

At least half a dozen times. We are a family with frequent-flier passes to the ER.

     
13. How many foreign countries have you visited?

Does Guam count? Do the USVI? Does Puerto Rico? Let's see... Canada, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Bahamas, Panama, Spain, France, Monaco, Italy (mainland and Sicily), Greece, Croatia... and the aforementioned three US territories. However many that is.

14. If you fell into quicksand, would you try to swim or try to float?

I think you're supposed to do the latter, right? I don't see it happening anytime soon, though.

15. Do you talk in your sleep?

You weren't listening, hm?

16.  Have you ever slipped in the bathtub?

Yeah, but one time, my older stepsister passed out in the shower and fell on the floor. It was scary at the time, but now it's kind of... well, no, it's not that funny, I guess.

17.  If you could invite any movie star to your home for dinner, who would it be?

Matt Damon, if a menage a trois is included. What?

18. Have you ever re-gifted?

Sure have. Win-win, I think.

19.  If you could attend an Olympic event, what would it be?

Anything; it's on my bucket list. Ideally, gymnastics or figure skating, though. Oh, so exciting! A friend of mine lives in London and has passes to three different events this summer. Jerk.

20. If you could participate in an Olympic event, what would it be?

The same ones I'd want to watch. Makes sense if you think about it, no?

21. If you won a $5,000 shopping spree to any store, which store would you pick?

If it had to be a store you've heard of, I'd either go the A.C Moore/Michaels route, or IKEA (to which I've never been - bucket list item!). Otherwise, some obscurish specialty yarn store with beautiful fibers... ahhh, now, how do I enter?

22. What do you think is your best feature?

I think my face is pretty cute. Unless you meant ON my face specifically, and then I'd have to say my nose. I had a customer once tell me it was "perfect," and I'm taking her word for it. ;P

23.  If you were to win an Oscar, what kind of movie would it be for?

Probably a documentary, or anything Meryl Streep would do. She picks good roles. Hello, understatement.

24.  Which of the five senses is most important to you?

Sight. I live my life in big, bold, beautiful colour, and I'd be lost without that.

25. Would you be a more successful painter or singer?

Oh, singer, definitely. I'm horrible at painting, but I can carry a decent tune.

26.  How many years will/did you end up going to college?

I did my B.S. in 3 years, and I worked on my Ph.D. for a year and a half, and a Master's for the rest of that second year... I'll go back to school one of these fine years, hopefully for a J.D.

27.  Have you ever had surgery?

If dental surgeries are included, I've had about 10. If not, 7 or 8.  Three of those included evicting my four children.

28. What do you like to collect?

Shot glasses. Pressed pennies. Beautiful yarns. And cats, apparently.

29.  How many collectibles do you have?

I don't know, and I suspect no one really cares, so I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you that I have had a kitten napping behind me throughout the writing of this post, and she keeps stretching and scratching her claws down my bum. Every time I move her, she moves back.  She's not my favourite person right now.

Is that it? I hate ending on a prime number.

Have a swell week, folks!

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up with Mrs. 4444 if you're torn to bits today!

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I hope all of you Americanos had a nice Independence Day! I didn't. It's my favorite holiday, but Hubs was being a jerk in the morning and ruined my day, along with my desire to go do anything celebratory. Humph. Didn't even see a single firework, though I heard plenty of kabooms near the house!

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Still not done moving. It's getting to be a big, fat joke, ain't it??

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New York was fun, yet fast and furious. Lots of work for me, yet lots of fun for the kids. Here's a quick sneak peek, since I have yet to write a post about it yet on the blahg:

Poor Jack, he loves being squididdled by his sisters SO much!! ;)

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After the theme park shops were done, we got to go see my sister and watch my nieces' soccer game. It was a good one, really exciting. They were by far the underdogs, but they lost 2-1 in double overtime, which was great for them. Here are some pictures, if you care to see her lovely ladies!

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After the game, we went back to Stacey's house and had dinner before heading back home to Virginia. They have SO many pets, most being bred for selling or feeding those that they're selling. We're talking, like, a hundred ball pythons in the basement, for starters. They won't tell Stacey the true number, so I could be way off in either direction, but a LOT!

Anyway, it was wonderful seeing my sister after 1½ years apart, which was the main perk for why I took a shop so far away. ;)

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I drove all night to get back in time to let Rob drive the van to work Monday, since his motorcycle ride didn't go too well last Friday after all. He's still too sore after quadruple hernia surgery. So now I'm way off my sleep schedule and have been up all night and sleeping much of the days since. Sucks, but I'm going to have to break this cycle starting TODAY and get back to moving, moving, moving...

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Guess that's all in my head right now. I don't have any license plate photos this week. Been too busy recuperating and hibernating myself!

Have a great weekend, y'all!

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Fin.

Of Doubloons And Dirt Babies...

What the what?! Dirt babies, yes. You'll see what I mean soon enough if you read on, unless of course you already know.

This past weekend, we took a little jaunt up around the Fredericksburg area of Virginia. You know how there are so many Groupon-like deal sites springing up all over the Interwebs? Well, first, I had gotten tickets to the annual Virginia Renaissance Faire (in Spotsylvania) on Certifikid, good for Mother's Day weekend only. It was a great deal, and I'd never been to one, so I didn't want to pass it up. Then, also on the same site, tickets for a family pack to a farm not too far from there popped up for the same weekend, so I grabbed that and a night at a cheap hotel as well, and bam! Mother's Day plans for less than a hundred bucks, with loads of edutainment involved.

The trip up to the Ren Faire didn't go off exactly as planned, because, for one thing, we overslept and got a later start than planned, and for another, I had half a dozen mystery shops planned for along the way to cover our meals on the road. We got lost, we got lost some more, and by the time we finally arrived, there was only an hour left for the Faire to be open, and they let us in without even asking for our tickets. Bah! But, I was determined to make a go of it and have the best fun, so onward we went.

The first thing the kids wanted to do was play this game, so we let them do that. I wanted to make the most of what little money we had with us for the trip - since my credit card number had been stolen the day or two before and our bank account emptied! - while maximizing the experience for the kids. Happy kids = happy Mama, at least in this family. And so, we let them play the game.

 

None of the kids scored a prize, but there was so much else to do, see, look at, explore, and touch, that they didn't seem to care. We moved right along, stepping lively so we could see everything we wanted to see in our quick 60-minute tour of the Faire.

The girls were each allowed to pick out some inexpensive beaded jewelry - you can see Sophia's bracelet there - and then we were on the search for a Jack souvenir. While looking, Sophia found these, which at first she wore like handcuffs. Hmm. Now, there's an idea...

At first we thought Jack would go for a wooden sword, but then he decided against it. He looked at lots of things that afternoon and rejected them all. He wanted a pocketknife, but it was a double-edged knife, and Daddy said no, that wasn't appropriate for a nine-year-old boy. What do I know about knives? Not much, so that was that.

This lady was most amused by the kids' interest in her mink stole, about which I did my best to hide my disgust. I even touched the thing myself. Wait, no, I didn't, I just peered at it closely. Yeah. I don't do fur. But I did find using the mandible of one mink on the right end as a clip to hold it to the left side quite ingenius...

Oh, heck, I splurged another buck each on these paper fans for the girls to pretend to be ladies on the verge of fainting spells, too. Which meant Jack's budget went up, too. My lady-babies got a lot of joy out of holding their fans up and blinking at each other flirtatiously. Chloë was entirely too good at that. She gets it from her dad. He's a good blinker.

Sophia, and then Jack, found these ribbon-stick thingies and spent a few minutes twirling and swirling them around. I expected Chloë to do the same, since she wants to join rhythmic gymnastics next year instead of "regular" gymnastics like they're doing this year, but she didn't. It amused me that the boy-child did. But he didn't want one of those, either.

I liked this sign on the recycling bin as much as I liked the fact that it even existed. (Yay for recycling!)

I loved these swirly-twirlies as much as the children did, and we stood and watched them spin, fascinated, for a good few minutes before moving on to the next tent. They weren't in the budget, and I have nowhere to put one at this house, anyway, but I secretly wanted one just the same.

At another stand, these mineral butterflies caught my eye. How pretty!

Even the Welsh Corgi at that butterfly stand had a Renaissance costume on, for Heaven's sake! He was a cutie pie. Speaking of cutie pies in costume, check out this young lad's get-up:

Four or five years old and dressed to the nines in period garb! I loved it. Loved it.

Jack finally found a few things, like this ship, that caught his interest, but they weren't for sale. Of course. He was growing very frustrated. And cranky. What, Jack cranky? I know. Hard to believe. Not.

This letter was on the table in front of the ship. Not the neatest penmanship, but amusing nonetheless.

 

Jack forgot his grumpiness momentarily while this blacksmith showed him some of the tools of his trade. Jacky wanted to use them, too, but he wasn't allowed. That was okay; he was just as thrilled to watch.

Speaking of grumps, this kid wasn't too thrilled when the kiddos visited his village in yet another tent and started looking at and - gasp! - touching the buildings. What was the point, then? Apparently not to enjoy them, but just to display them. Meh.

Guess who?

(Note: I began this post 1.5 months ago. Oops. Time to pick up.)

Jack tries his hand at hooping it up!

He's not half-bad - nay, he's all bad.

Soon, one of the kids spied this giant hoop - you may have seen a similar one more aptly demonstrated on "So You Think You Can Dance" in recent weeks - and invited the other two siblings to try for a group hoop. It didn't go well, but fun is fun, and this was that!

At the Swelter Shelter, patrons and players alike could take a load off, out of the hot, HOT sun.

Shortly after that, we headed out, but not before I snagged a few last pictures of some of the wonderful costumes out for viewing!

 

In my ongoing obsession with what people put on their vehicles, I had to snap the back of the van parked next to our minivan. I'm only just now reading everything on there!

After the Ren Faire, we stopped at a small flea market and had a look around, but we found nothing interesting, so we headed to our ghetto hotel. The kids were hungry, of course, so we went right back out again, to the Super Target down the road, to purchase some victuals for everyone's consumption. It's been so long, I don't remember how we passed the remainder of the night, except that there was shouting outside in the middle of the night, and I felt a wee bit unsafe...

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Mother's Day, the next day, we arose and checked out, had a little breaky, and then made our way to the Cows and Corn farm where I had another Certifikid certificate. I thought it would be much bigger, more well attended, and generally just... MORE... but it ended up all right in the end. And it was nice not battling crowds.

After we checked in and got ourselves situated, the first thing the kids opted to do was make their own butter. It wasn't the kind you make from mixing heavy cream at fast speeds in a mixer; fresh, uh, squeezed milk from the farms' cows, in little tubs, which the kids had to shake! shake! shake! until it turned into butter. Sophia, naturally, was the best shaker, but they all made it eventually. Time for a taste test!

The farmer's wife, whose name I forget, showed us what the butter looked like when it was about finished. Mmm, creamy!

I think everyone tried the butter that the kids made, but Jack especially enjoyed it. Every chance he got, he was back under that tent, begging another crackerful!

 

After the butter-making experiment, Jack was running tail-over-teakettle toward this gigantic hay play area. It had mazes, towers, pipes through which to climb, etc. I barely had time to catch up with him and grab this shot of him entering one of those pipes; he's fast when he wants to be!

And there he was, jumping out the other side, in no time!

Soon, he was joined by Chloë; Sophia arrived quite a bit later.

 

Between the hay and the trains, there was no shortage of fun climbing opportunties for the kids. Can you see the one with Sophia's feet sticking straight up? That child... so funny.

Soon, we were hollered at to come join the hayride about to tour the farm, so we made our way, quick like bunnies, over to the launching point. And if you're looking at this picture and thinking, "Daggone! It looks like that 7-year-old child is almost as big as her father!" well, you'd be right. Quite right.

The sisters sat next to each other on the ride; we could barely keep Jack sitting, let alone near us! He was all over the place, a la Sophia.

Sadly - to me, anyway - we were told that the calves were taken from their mamas shortly after birth (3 days? 3 weeks? Three-something) and put in these little calf-hut thingies. They were bottle-fed mama milk and supplements after that, with huge bottles sporting nipples the likes of which (enter no-good comment here), while the cows were kept in the barn for milking.

Soon, we were approaching an area of the farm that housed the manure. It did NOT smell good; I am so glad I captured this image of Jack's reaction to the odor. Priceless!

The cows, showing off their "earrings," as the announcer called them, devouring their feed. That made me sad, too. I think I'd make a very bad cattle farmer. Everything made me sad for them!  I'm sure they're fine, but... and I've done my share of fish tagging, and dissecting, and alladat, but... what can I say? I'm a treehugging librul type.

The yellow brush in the middle remains inactive until bumped by a cow. Then, it starts brushing, rubbing, and grooming the cow as she moves around to get it on all sides. It stops when she moves away. Now that, I liked. Maybe I'll install one in Chez Odette?

Well, helloooooo there, Number 4666!

After the hayride ended, we ran over to watch a puppet show. All the kids complained that it was too babyish for them... until it started. And then, they were leaning forward in their seats to catch every word. Of course!

It was a pretty cute and well-thought-out little demonstration of the difference between mammals - namely cattle - and birds - namely chickens, without being education-shoved-down-your-throat about it. I was impressed.

Of course, all the kids' favorite part was when it ended, and they were allowed to pet the chicken. I forget her name, but the girl holding her said she was 15 years old! (The chicken, not the girl. ;)

Next up: The kids all ran to the cow train and were pulled around the farm by the same tractor driver who drove our hayride. They loved it and wanted to go again and again, but it was a one-shot deal. (Not really, but that's what we told them. Hee.)

True to form, Chloë and Jack rode at the front of the 'train,'...

... while Sophia brought up the rear. What fun they had!

At last, after the ride, it was time to go find out what in the heck these Dirt Babies were!

First, they were given the foot of a pantyhose leg and told to scoop compost-rich dirt into it until it was full. This would form the "head" of the Dirt Baby.

Oh wait, my bad. Very first, they had to fill the bottom of the sock, or top of the head, with seeds similar to chia. This would eventually grow, with proper care, into the "hair" of the Dirt Baby.  Then the dirt came into play.

After that, stickers and markers were brought out for making characters out of the as-yet-undecorated DBs. The girls, of course, went all out, while Jack stayed simple. He's our little Minimalist, in so many ways.

Case in point.

I forgot the names of these two lovely ladies who provided us with our next mini-adventure, but the woman was lovely and patient and informative, and the sheep was lovely and patient, too.

Because she was behaving so well (imagine!), Sophia was chosen first to spin the yarn of the ewe, which was freshly sheared and ready to be added to the yarn already being spun for these demonstrations. I, myself, have yet to learn to spin my own yarn, but you can be sure it is somewhere in the top third of my Bucket List. (Well, I would say that about ALL the things on my Bucket List, which is rather well populated with things I really-super-wanna do! But I digress...) Sophia did very well for her first try and was able to produce a nicely spun segment of yarn!

Sophie's yarn was broken off, and she was instructed to select a bead for a bracelet. The goal of the activity was to make a present for the moms, it being Mother's Day and all, but Sophia opted to keep hers. I was neither surprised nor, therefore, disappointed!

Jack had a turn, then, and he was surprisingly adept at handling the fleece while nice, patient lady, woman pedaled the wheel.

He chose the green bead because it's both his and my favorite color, yet somehow Sophie was the first to model the bracelet he made me. I don't remember how that happened, but no worries. I got it next!

I think I was perusing the lovely lady's lovely handspun yarns (which elicited a big fat "NO!" from the Husbeast) when Chloë was having her turn at the wheel, so I have no pictures of her big moment. However, I was touched that she chose a whale for her bead for my bracelet, because "it was the closest thing to a shark I could find, Mom." I vowed to keep my bracelets on forever and ever, but you know what? Like all wool, they shrink and felt when improperly (depending on your desires) treated, and once I forgot to take them off before I showered. That was the end of those. I still have them, somewhere, but now they'd fit a baby. Wah, wah, wah.

After the spinning demo, I dug into my satchel and found just enough money left for the kids to share one ice cream, made from the milk of the farm's cows. It was bound to be delish, so I decided to go for it. Off to the wash station we went, for cleaning and sanitizing. It's a constant on a farm - you can bet if/when I run a farm, there will be lotion everywhere for when the dryness sets in. But anyway...

 

There was a bit of a walk back to where the ice cream shoppe was located, and along the way, Jack and Chloë made a game of tossing Sophia's shed flip-flops around. I'm pretty sure the Little Girl participate, too, but she doesn't show up in my pictures. Hmm.

We were allotted two scoops for our one serving of ice cream. Since one kid (Jack) always wants chocolate, one kid (Chloë) always wants vanilla, and the last kid doesn't care as long as she's being fed on a near-constant basis, we chose one scoop of each. It's always fun to give dessert to these guys. If you ever do, put it carefully in the middle and then step aside, lest you get eaten in the frenzy, too!

Even though it was the day of moms, it's pretty clear This Dad enjoyed himself, too.

Overall, with getting away for the weekend, my first Renaissance Faire, the farm field trip, and everyone enjoying themselves with minimal fighting, I'd have to rate this Mother's Day amongst the best I've ever had as a mom. Yippy Skippy.

Hm, now I wonder what I should catch you up on next? Will you stay around?

Fin.

Train Of Thought

Rob's mom, my dear MIL, recently suggested that we take Jack on a short train ride like Chloë did in September for her 10th birthday trip up to D.C. He is a fan of all things that go, especially if they have wheels and engines an' sech, so she rightly figured he would get a big kick out of it. To get the best prices, we had to go on weekdays, which meant Rob couldn't go along. So, I invited Jenny From the Block and her kids, M & G, along for our train trip to Richmond last week. Here are G and Jack playing Legos in the Newport News train station as we waited for our turn to embark. We got there waaaay early, so there was lots of time for that. Oops. I had counted on lots more traffic.

 

It was a splendid idea. Jack was positively giddy with excitement, and I think I heard the words, "Thanks for taking us on this train trip, Mommy," about 47K times in those coupla days. Not that I got sick of it, mind you. He was a born grump, so to make him really happy is one of my greatest pleasures.

 

Well, we were all pretty excited, truth be told. I'd love to take a cross-country train trip, with sleeper cars and the whole bit, some day. How fun would that be?!

It was hard to keep the kids confined to their seats, so fortunately they were free to get up and walk around, because they all wanted to watch the world go by as the train flew from Newport News to Williamsburg and then our final destination. (It was a very short trip, but the train tickets were cheaper than the gas to drive there, I swear!)

It took us a minute to figure out where to go for the proper bus, and I almost got into a smackdown with a woman at a different stop across the street, who was not listening to what I was telling her while I was busy not listening to what she was telling me. Heh. Eventually we got it sorted out and, thanks to her help and that of the actual bus drivers, we soon (not, more like two hours later) ended up at the hotel I'd gotten super-cheaply on Priceline. Woot!

 

While we waited for the bus, we watched more trains go by. I forget how many cars they counted, but this was a super-duper long one!

The hotel was mostly pretty nice, with respectful and attentive staff, but there were a few snafus, like the fact that they wanted a $50 deposit - which I didn't happen to have - and weren't going to waive the policy even though we'd already paid for the room (Jenny saved the day, thankfully), and the pool being closed for our entire first day, even though that's what the kids really wanted to go do most of all. So when we got in our room, finally, Jenny and the girls played cards on her bed, the boys played Legos some more, and I took a wee nap.

For dinner, we went across the street to the Chick-fil-A, because we wanted to let the kids burn off all their energy in the play place. They made friends with a gorgeous, statuesque young girl who is destined to be a model, from the looks of her. She was down-to-earth, though, and really enjoyed playing with our unsocialized, homeschooled kidlets. ;)

 

Jenny treated all the kids to ice cream after dinner, at the same place. Oh, there, you can see Chloë's necklace from her beau, S, can't you?

Before long, it was time to head back to the hotel and start getting ready for bed. Chloë & M both had "cute" sayings on their jammies, so they were all happy about that and posed for this "I'm Snow Cute as a Kitten" picture together. Then, after they had all brushed teeth, gotten their respective medicines and jammies on and found places to sleep, Miss Jenny read the five of them a bedtime story. It worked like a charm! I timed it: by 9:28 PM, all of them were sleeping soundly. Meanwhile, here it is 0420 right now and my daughters are still wide awake. What is the magic formula? A stricter bedtime routine, and a story. We used to do it. I think we will be starting that again, after this night. Ridiculous!

The following morning, we had a leisurely breakfast in our room (we'd both packed plenty of food) before heading to the finally-reopened pool for what was supposed to be most of the day. Um, hmm, seems they forgot to make it warm and not crank up the air conditioning in the pool room at the same time. We all froze! Even Jenny and I, and we didn't swim! Still, they braved it for as long as they could stand it, petering out one by one to wrap up in towels on the lounge chairs. Sophia's the second-youngest and yet the only one who could really swim. She was pretty dang cute swimming around with the other four hovering around the stairs together!

Oh, a funny: Sophia decided they were going to play spa, and she was giving all of the other kids massages on their chaises when an employee walked through the courtyard where we were. She jokingly asked if she could make an appointment for a massage, too, and Sophia didn't skip a beat before taking over to an imaginary sign and pointing out that it read, "For kids 10 and under only!" Just like that. There was no sign, let alone one saying anything about 10 and under; she's just quick with the humor like that. Love that kid!

To warm up the kids, Jenny decided to take us all next door to the restaurant, which was plenty warm, and treat us to lunch there. The décor was really cool and gave me some ideas...

Since we were in a "fancy" restaurant, M and Jenny decided we had to drink from our cups with our pinky fingers up and speak in British accents. Everyone but grumpy-boy participated, so it was a bit of a giggle-fest there for a minute. We were having a good time - even Jack, though he'd never have admitted it.

 

After lunch, we tried the pool again, but it was still too cold, despite the Engineer's best efforts to warm it up for us. So we went back up to the room, where Sophie and M took a "hot tub" together. M told met they were pretending to be two elbow macaronis cooking in hot water, which I found to be particularly amusing!

For dinner, we had the hotel shuttle drive us sort of across the street to the Steak 'n' Shake for a dinner of, um, ice cream milkshakes. Yup. That's all. Even I got in on that one, knowing full well it would make me sick to my guts. (And it did.) The cool part was I saw a Mattaponi Indian's truck, which I know it was because it said something about "Custalow Landscaping," and that's the last name of pretty much all of the Mattaponi tribe. I tried to find the owner, so s/he could pass a message on to Ol' George for me (remember our field trip to the reservation?), but I couldn't determine who it was. And, you know, I didn't want to assume too much. I did ask one darker-skinned man, but he was from New York and recognized me as a fellow New Yawka by my accent, too. Weird that I still have enough of a Hudson Valley accent to be recognized, though I haven't lived there since I was six! Anyway, blah blah blah.

 

The next day, our shuttle driver drove us to the bus stop we needed, after we checked out at noon. Time to get home again. We waited a while for the bus, so the kids checked out the mushrooms growing all around and had a quick lesson from us moms about different kinds of fungi. Hey, it's always schooltime 'round these parts.

 

Finally, we caught our bus, and no transfers this time. Only, the driver pointed out the wrong place for us to take a "short cut," and it turned out to be a really LONG cut, which wasn't terribly fun with all the baggage we were lugging around. Super annoying. And we couldn't find a bathroom soon enough for poor Sophia, who had a little accident and had to change in a dark stairwell during our trek to the right location. Thank goodness I'd brought a pack of wipes with us to clean her up well!

We eventually made it to the real, newer Richmond Amtrak station, which is actually quite nice. We found a parlor-type room unoccupied, so we claimed it for our rambunctious crew. We had a three-hour wait for our train! There was no place to stow our luggage and go wander around town, and neither of us had the energy to take it with us, so we sat and "needled," while the kids played various games with each other. It worked out okay; we were even eventually joined by a brave college student who we nicknamed "Anime Freak," because, well, that's what his shirt said. Shout out to Anime Freak!

I knit while Jenny crocheted, and then we made our way over to the platform when our train was called. There was another 20 or so minutes of waiting time there, where two elderly women glared at us, sniffed the air repeatedly and generally disapproved of our mere existence. Jenny later sent me this link on Pinterest for those women. Hee. When it was time to board, we lined up the kids between us, with a mom on either end as we'd been doing throughout the journey, and walked past those two snobby women. I couldn't resist. I smiled cheerfully at them and said, loudly, "Thanks for all the disapproving glares!" before marching past them with the rest of the gang. Anime Freak caught up to me and said, "Nice job! I hate people like that." I wonder what side the rest of the travelers were on?

For the rest of the journey home, it was pretty uneventful as the two mommies kept needling and the kids kept needling us to entertain them. Ha. No. So they busied themselves somehow, and we soon reached Newport News once again. Jenny had driven us up there, so as she drove home, I entertained the kids with that "A my name is Alice" game. M really liked that; she and Chloë played it between themselves about three more times while the younger three children dozed and chillaxed.

All in all, it was a pretty swell time. The seven of us survived each other, public transportation, the state capital, and non-child-friendly old maids. Win.

Fin.

Friday Fragments

Link up here if you're fragmenting with Mrs. 4444 today!

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Is anyone else shocked it's May already? For Heaven's sake, our pool will be open in 3 weeks already! I can't believe how fast the time is flying. We are so busy all of the time, it's almost hard to keep up with flipping the calendar pages, I swear. Man. I wish I could clap my hands and stop time temporarily, and just... breathe.

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I haven't been here in a few weeks, again, because of our packed schedule. Aside from our usual nutso routines, we've had a billion and one doctors' appointment, and Rob's had an accident that has kept me occupied carting him to those, work, and everywhere else, so... I am off my blog routine again. But! I am here now, and that's what counts, amiriiight?

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If you've ever thought about visiting my town, Virginia Beach, I just wrote this sponsored blog post about many of my favorite places and things to do here. Check it out if you're interested!

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I love this cute picture of Jack eating wings during a mystery shop a couple of days ago.  With the watch and everything, he looks so grown up! For a nine-year-old shrimp, that is. I've been doing lots of mystery shopping again lately to make some much-needed extra fundage. It's fun, but man, all the reports! Ugh.

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I swear, Virginia must be the vanity plate capital of the world. They're so cheap here, after all. Even I have one! I'm going to start taking pictures of the ones that amuse or interest me and posting them as part of my Fragments posts each week (or month, as it were). Can you see this one that I snapped today? It says "RR M8T." Arggghh, Matey! Hee. Do you have vanity plates?

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On Wednesday, the kids took part in the coolest thing. We drove up to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA, to attend a special event: a ham radio chat - which NASA said couldn't be done - with International Space Station Astronaut Donald Pettit! Here, the kids first learned about the early age of exploration, in the times before, during and after Columbus' life, so they could later relate that Age of Exploration to the current Space Exploration.

Then, we migrated over to the closed studio, where we connected with three classes (in New York, Michigan, and Louisiana) and the astronaut in outer space, about 400 km above Earth, over Italy. Selected students were able to ask questions and hear Pettit's answers in real time, and we learned a lot about living aboard the ISS. Did you know it only takes eight minutes to get up there, but two days to transfer into the space station? Wow. I would kill to have that opportunity. Maybe one day they'll take an old fart like me and see what they can do with me. I'll be like the female John Glenn. Anyway, it was really cool, and my kids - especially Jack up there - got a lot out of the experience. Way cool!

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I took Rob in for his Neuro follow-up today, after his mini-stroke scares and subsequent finding of a benign brain tumor back in November. I was hoping for a more thorough check-up than the five minute "How are you? Fine? See you in six months" that he got, but I guess no news is good news. He hasn't had any weird things going on like he did six months ago, even after his accident, so I suppose all is well for now. He'll go back in another six months.

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Also today, I went in for a my regular dental check-up, fully expecting to have two new cavities. My teeth have been ultra-sensitive lately, especially in two places, so I thought fillings were going to be the order of the day, if not a full root canal or some badness. But the diagnosis was surprising: I grind and clench my jaw and teeth so much that it's causing my gums to recede, and my enamel to wear, which is causing the pain and discomfort. The dentist said he'd be happy to sell me a $600 mouth guard, or I can go pick one up at any drug or sporting goods store for five or ten bucks and try that. Hmm. Tough choice. But yay for no new cavities!

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Stay tuned for a post about our train trip up to Richmond last week; we had so much fun in our two short days. I'm so glad MIL suggested it!

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Aren't these newsprint nails so cool?! I am totes going to do this as soon as I find where I put the rubbing alcohol. Hopefully that'll work, since Rob drank all the vodka and stuff. Kidding. There's probably not even a beer in this house. I love this manicure, though. Trés cool.

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And finally, my 10½-year-old, Chloë, has a "boyfriend," S. Yeah. We've reached that stage. They're mad about each other. I even had to go on a ride with them to make sure they didn't kiss!!! WHAT?! She's TEN, FPS. I'm keeping a tight rein on this one and don't let them hold hands or anything, but S did recently give her a necklace in her favorite color, with hearts on it... oh, my word. I'm not ready for this part!

Since Chloë had a photo shoot for her acting and modeling "career" recently, my friend Saritah - S's mom - was joking about, "Great, my son is dating a model. That'll go to his head..." but yeah. He is. Hee.

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Well, I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll be back in a bit with my Aloha Friday question & some more updates from our latest travels and adventures. Ciao for now!

Fin.

Love The Moment in Virginia Beach!

  

Our family moved here to Virginia Beach, Virginia, just over 10 years ago, when we were at the end of my twin pregnancy. We were shipped over in an emergency evacuation from Guam in order to help save the twins' lives, and I had major reservations. As it's right next to Norfolk, which is a major military town (well, now they all are here, including Virginia Beach) and from which my husband had shipped out on several overseas deployments during his Naval career, he didn't much care for the area before we got here. I was excited about the idea of living back in the States, but having no idea what to expect, it was definitely going to be the beginning of a new adventure for Team Odette.

Virginia Beach has turned out to be a fabulous location for many fun experiences for our family. As my husband nears his retirement from the Navy after 20 years of service next year, and we are debating about where to live, the possibility exists that even after 11 years, this family full of wanderlust may remain right here in this area. That's saying quite a lot, for us!

Now, you can go to the Virginia Beach Visitors and Convention Center site and do lots of looking around - and, hopefully, planning - to see what there is to do in our adopted hometown, but I'd love to share some of the things we have done over the years and some more that - yes! we still have left to do. Obviously, since we arrived with a 17-month-old and have had a few children since then (most of you will know already that only one of our twins survived after birth, so we now have three living children aged 10 and under), this will be pretty kid-centric. Rest assured, if you're sans children, there is still plenty to do - or not do - in this beautiful city, the largest in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Click here to start your exploration!

Obviously, no post about Virginia Beach would be complete without a thorough mention of our miles and miles of beautiful Atlantic oceanfront. With a husband in the Navy, a wife who was a marine biologist pre-marriage, and three water-lovin' babies, the Oceanfront is a big draw for us. The beach is gorgeous, and the water temperatures are comfortable for the traditional swimming months of the year, with manageable waves for the little ones most of the time. (And there are plenty of lifeguards and notifications for hazardous conditions to keep us all safe.) The area boasts a long boardwalk, complete with all the kitschy shops, skyscraping hotels, and local seafood restaurants you would expect to find in a beach town.

These "no swearing" signs are a common sight near the beach, in an effort to keep our town family-friendly. I get a big kick out of them!

There's a long pier for fishing and crabbing - unbelievably, we still haven't done that, but it's on this year's "must do" list - and stores aplenty for anything you might have forgotten. If you get tired of the beach (you nut, you!), there are other things to do along the beach and nearby streets, like several miniature golf courses, a small rides-and-games miniature amusement park, and whole-family bike rentals scattered around the coast. If I've left anything off this list that you would want to do, drop me a comment and I'll be sure to let you know whether that's available, too. I know there's a great nightlife scene down there as well, but with three children, it's not a huge priority for us at this stage in the game, so I can't attest to the latest and greatest venues. One fun (and free!) favorite, though: during the warmer months, the city brings in a menagerie of entertainment acts from musicians to comedians to buskers of all kinds and positions them along Atlantic Avenue for everyone's pleasure. Oh, my gosh, I'm thinking of about 57 more fun things about the Oceanfront and could make this entire post about just that, it's so fun-filled. But there is so, sooo much more to this city, that it wouldn't be doing it justice if I didn't move on. And so I shall.

 

Another favorite area of ours is in the southern portion of the city, Pungo. It's where farmer upon farmer grows u-pick strawberry fields and the home of the annual Strawberry Festival, where the sweet fruit is made into every dessert, drink and concoction you can imagine. There are rides, games, and plenty of other fun things to do during the festival, too, but if you miss it, Pungo boasts a great pizza-and-ice cream joint, aptly named Pungo Pizza, that's a great place to stop when you're hot and tired from grabbing bucketsful of red, juicy berries!

One of my favorite destinations is at the corner of Dam Neck and Princess Anne Roads: the Virginia Beach Farmer's Market. There are plenty of local farmers with booths there, so if you're environmentally conscious and are trying to eat locally-grown, often organic food, this is your go-to place to shop. Virginia Garden is even an all-organic grocery store at the Market, and the owner, Michelle, could not be more helpful and informative if you're newly embarking on your organic journey. Her shop boasts food from Virginia's own Polyface Farms, which you may or may not know as the farm of Joel Salatin, the highly articulate farmer featured in the must-see documentary, Food, Inc. (And that $10 glass jug of apple cider at the store is totally worth it, by the by.) Love seafood? Visit Uncle Chuck's stand - all the fish, shellfish and more is freshly caught and is procured by Uncle Chuck himself. Take it from me - do NOT miss getting a 4-pack or two of his made-by-hand crabcakes. They are absolutely the best, and believe me, I have tried a heckuva lot of them in my 35 years on this planet! (Plus he's just a really awesome guy, so visit him even if you're not a seafood person. I love the dude.) The Farmer's Market has bakeries, butcheries, gardening shops, a sweets shoppe, and even live music on (I think) Friday nights. I love the place and would go every week if I could!

Hunt Club Farm is another one of my family's favorite places to go, especially in October when it's time to pick out one of these big, fat pumpkins for our front porch. If you go then, you'll also be able to visit the petting farm, let the kids loose in a gigantic pile of hay, ride some rides, eat candied apples, shop locally grown produce and gifts and - my personal favorite - take a hayride around the large property. Fall is not the only time to visit, though - my readers will know we've visited the Winter Wonderland in December, which is loads of fun; you can have a birthday party with pony rides and the whole bit, and they're now doing fun Springtime events like Easter egg hunts an' such, too. It's a great place to go!

A post about Virginia Beach would not be complete without mention of the recently (within the past five years or so) made-over Town Center, which is conveniently located just five minutes from our abode. We go there often and even did our 2011 Christmas card pictures at this very fountain! There are, I think literally, a billion different kinds of restaurants, from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to sushi to ice cream parlors and everything in between, nestled among every other kind of shop you can think of. In fact, the only two things in Virginia Beach that we don't have (yet) that I'd like to see are Staples and Whole Foods - but they'll come in time, I know! Anyway... Town Center is fun to walk around, "see and be seen," and get your share of gustatory delights. Don't miss Confetti, an ice cream stop. Trust.

 

Another fun place to visit for kids from 1 to 101 is the Virginia Aquarium, on General Booth Blvd just south of the Oceanfront area. There is so much to see and do there, you'll need to make a full day of it. They have an IMAX screen, lots of exhibits, a gift shop, and the coolest walking trail between the two sections of the Aquarium. You can go from there on whale- and dolphin-watching boat tours, and that there is another on our yet-to-do list before we leave this fun town!

Right next to the Aquarium is this guy, Hugh Mongous, the giant ape who is the mascot for Ocean Breeze Waterpark. Of course we have a waterpark, right?! It's on the smaller side compared to some other venues we've been to, including Water Country USA located an hour north in Williamsburg, but it has everything you could possibly want to spend a full day in the sun and water: a kiddie area, wave pool, slides a-plenty, and so much to eat. There's an arcade, Dip'n'Dots, candy shop, gift shop, locker and tube rentals, and more. We've gone there many times, and there's still something new to do every year when we go. Don't forget the sunscreen and flip-flops!

Another site we're lucky to have just a few minutes from our home is Mount Trashmore Park, and yes, that's its real name (it was built on a landfill but is completely safe). Mt. Trashmore is just one of many beautiful parks in this city, but it's definitely a favorite of ours. The brandy-new Kids' Cove area, above, is not just a small reason for that. The kids could literally get lost in there for hours while you either chase them around or sit and knit, knowing they'll make it back to you when they're hungry/thirsty/doing the potty dance...! I usually do the former for about five minutes and then give up and do the latter. Anyhoo, besides the Kids' Cove, there is a skate park there, plenty of playground equipment and picnic locations, and a huge "mountain" to run around on, fly kites on, and of course - if you're a kid at heart - roll down when you're finished. My favorite thing to do there is go the annual Independence Day party, which is huge. Huge. Click here for more fun things to do in the Virginia Beach Parks & Rec system, because you'll want to visit other places like Red Wing Park, Woodstock Park, City View Park... and some of our many Rec Centers, as well. I could go on and on!

Are you a history buff? Still on our to-do list while we're here is visit the Francis Land House, above, the Adam Thoroughgood House, and the many other historical sites in town that you can read about here. I can't profess my love for these places just yet, because we still haven't been there! It's high on the priority list, too, though.

Have a thing for lighthouses? Then you'll definitely want to drive north from the Oceanfront and hit up Fort Story. Yes, it's a military base, but you can get onboard to go exploring the fully-accessible new lighthouse, above right, the beach there, and more. I hear tell that there's plenty of dolphin activity down at the waterfront, but I've yet to see that for myself. Mark that down on my to-do list!

And finally, I have to mention Chesapeake Beach, aka "Chick's Beach," a lesser-known, out-of-the-way, but totally cool "locals'" beach in town. The waves are much more mild, and it's far less populated during the summer, so it's perfect for those looking for a quieter, more chill experience at the beach. It's wonderful for kids who don't like to be knocked around by ocean swells, like my two older kiddos. There are some great local restaurants in the area, too, so it's definitely worth checking out.

There is plenty more to this great town, and also it's a wonderful jumping-off point to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Eastern Shore, Colonial Williamsburg, and much more. If we do end up leaving this area, you can be sure we'll be back to visit for more reasons than just the many friends we've made here. Virginia Beach. Love the Moment!

Be sure to click here to "like" Virginia Beach - Live The Life on Facebook:

{I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Virginia Beach blogging program. For more information on how you can participate, click here.}

Fin.

 

Boardwalk on Dwellable

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Us Away

Once upon a time, also known as Friday morning, Jenny from The Block, her kids, and my kids, piled into Penelope (my Odyssey) and took a road trip up the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The main purpose of the shop was to do a mystery shop for which I was well-paid, but we got, shall we say, side-tracked, after that was finished. Had ourselves a little adventure, we did. Would you like to hear about it? Good. Grab a seat, your beverage of choice, and your mouse, because you're gonna need to do some scrollin'. For once, I had the Nikon with me and got over my camnesia!

So we meandered down the road a piece and, after talking to the scarcely-toothed manager of a local convenience shop, found our way here. You know the book Misty of Chincoteague? It's about the wild horses that roam this area. Well, I've been meaning to bring the kids up here for the entire, oh, nine years we've been living in the Beach o' Virginia to look for them. Finally, we made it. Too bad our respective Rons weren't with us. (Which is Jenny-and-me speak for "Rob," both our husbands' name...) Eventually, we plan to return for longer than a few hours and do the trip proper justice.

The first creature we spotted wasn't a horse, though. It wasn't even a vertebrate. The flutter-by captivated the five children's attention for a good few minutes before we went hiking in search of the Assateague Lighthouse, our first conquest.

I love watching the kids on a mission. Look how big Sophia is - she's the second-youngest, too! Jenny's kids are peanuts like Jack and Chloë. ♥

Ooh, looky! There it is, just over yonder!

Oh, whoops. Hang on, Moms. We have to stop and do a kickline together. The kids came up with that on their own, and then the did it about six more times during the day, in various places. Too cute. Especially the way Jack can barely stand up to do it. He's kind of, um, awkward. You should see him run. I can say it, because I'm his mother. The boy runs funny.

In short order, we found the clearing where the lighthouse lives, in all its resplendent glory. Or something.

Jenny and the kids checked out the structure, while I checked out... them.

I love that the cinderblock seemed to have been placed there just for my wee laddie!

Here's what he was so fixated upon: acres and acres of pure, unadulterated Nature. Gotta love it!

Yeah, welcome. Except, what village? I must've missed that part. It was the blink-and-you-miss-it type of town.

More signage. You can read it. I don't need to describe it. It was there, so I took its picture. That's what we perfeshunul photographers do, y'know.

The entrance of the lighthouse was all one-room schoolhouse-looking. I liked it. All old and historical. Pretty cool.

The Assateague Lighthouse. And some other little building. The keeper's quarters? I don't know.

We found a nice lady to take a picture of the seven of us together. Look, you can see the kids doing their kickline again. Hee.

 

Sophia taking a quick breather... (edited in Picasa for coolness)

Curly Sue had a look-see through the thingamajig, too. Nature at its finest, ready for its close-up!

Sitting on the bench near the lighthouse, Sophia deduced that the logs used for it were cut down by the late Mr. Jones memorialized thereon, and I was pretty impressed by that. Maybe you had to be there, but it was a great example of logic and reasoning for an almost-seven-year-old!

(Click pic to embiggerate) The kids all sat on the bench for another rest, and while they did so, I had them show me all the emotions I could think of. The funny part was, Jack was super-grumpy at the moment (tired), and all his expressions were exactly the same while the other four were being theatrical. Goof.

Hiking back to the van, we spotted this flash of white in the distance. Could it be a pony? We had to go see.

Oh. Nah. It was just a log. A log that proved to be quite entertaining to the shorties for several moments.

Gavin: "Get your hands out of my butt!" Madison: "Get your butt off my hands!" Okay, I made that up. Paraphrasing from the movie G-Force... ah. I entertain myself.

Cutie-pie little Gavin... he's such a sweety-kins!

More walkin', and lookin', and standin' around... And yes, we drove all the way up there and forgot to shoe poor Sophia. I carried her around a lot that day, and she is decidedly not a lightweight. Whew.

Another Gavin capture, looking cutesy-pie

Okay, yet another one, but I just love seeing little kids crouching like that! We were trying to decide whether a nearby plant was poison ivy. (It wasn't.)

 

All right, back to Penelope, to go find us some horsies!

I just love a van full of bebes!

This was the view out my driver's side window, when we were watching the horses, of which I did not actually obtain one dang picture, because they were so far away and well-covered by the brush and trees. Poopsticks. But it was still cool being out there and watching them. It was like being on safari. For horses. In Virginia. That was my fantasy.

Somewhere, out there, beneath the pale moonlight.. okay, it was daytime, and now I'm going to have that song in my head. Anyway, out there is where the ponies were roaming. We probably saw 6-8 of them. It was all very exciting. I can't wait to go again!

After we left the Assateague/Chincoteague area and did a little souvie shopping, we found the NASA Visitor Center and decided to go in there and check things out. And behold, it was good. A very good idea.

Yeah. The boys were in seventh heaven with all there was to see and do, rocketry-related. It wasn't lost on the girls, either. Fun times!

Curls will pose with any old satellite model if you train a camera lens on her. A born model.

A big ol' NASA balloon model, which is ginormous compared to the Washington Monument model. How come I've never seen one of these floating around? I guess maybe I wasn't paying attention, because, um, they're really big. BIG.

Madi and Gavin checking out a rocket trajectory

Chloë was transfixed by the astronaut-guy, who was all Madame Tussaud's-looking. Kind of creepy, but cool. Kind of.

I had fun following Jack around while he ran here-to-there, pointing out all the things hanging from the ceiling. It was too cute!

More walking and pointing. No talking, just the pointing.

At some "point," I wondered if he really cared where he was aiming that finger and just got into the habit of doing it!

A-ha! A center just for the wee folk, in the middle of the museum. There was all kinds of nifty stuff in there for the quintet.

 

Right after this was taken, Sophia accidentally leaned on that lid Gavin was lifting, while his bitty fingers were underneath it! Ouch! Poor little fellow.

There's Jack, doing his engineer thing, figuring things out, making 'em work. He spent a good chunk of our time there at this propulsion exhibit.

Finally, he had enough and went to go look at models of Naval ships. Jenny's husband works on this kind when he's away... but I'm blanking on what it's called at the moment.

 

And of course, we have an aircraft carrier here, which Jack stepped aside for me to snap, knowing it was his Daddy's kind of ship.

Then Gavin came over and found the ship his Daddy goes on, whilst Jenny brought over some free educational loot materials for us to use in our respective homeschool pursuits. Sweet!

A quiet moment for Soap

Chloë was watching a video about I don't know what, because I was too busy admiring her curls and ringlets.

Sophia kept insisting the two bacteria samples on the right were mixed together to form the color on the left, despite my continually telling her that it was three different organisms. Stubborn girl!

Here's what they actually were. ;)

The kids learning about El Niño and La Niña

Hey look, Gavin's a pointer, too! Must be a boy thing.

Jenny wanted to pose with the astronaut suit thingy, so I told her to "look spacey," and this is what she did. Ha! She's a hoot, that Jen.

At the end of our impromptu field trip, we stopped in the gift shop. Of course, Jack wanted one of every. single. thing. he saw in there. Little did he know I'd already scooped up some goodies from the souvenir shop we'd visited in Chincoteague, so it was killing me that he waaaaaanted something so badly and I (thought I) had left my wallet in the car. (Turns out I didn't, but that is probably a really good thing, since I kinda wanted one of everything, too!)

 

What? The back of his head is pretty cute, too - especially since you can tell his eyes are bugging out in the front, right?

*sigh* All right, all right, I can't stand it anymore. I whispered in his ear that I had something special just for him out in the car, and it was our little secret, and I'd show him later, and shh-shh-shh-shh-shhhhhh!

Oops, one more last pointy-point before we headed out to Penelope and back home.

 

When we got home that night, and the girls weren't looking, I gave Jack his pressies. He was pretty excited, so much so that the first thing he did was go show his sisters. D'oh! Jack! Good thing I'd gotten them each a Chincoteague/Assateague snow globe to make up for it, but they (rightly) felt shortchanged. Ah well. I just said it was "late birthday presents," and that seemed to do the trick.

And that was the end of that little jaunt.

Fin.

P.S. Sophia's snow globe is already broken. Le sigh.

Friday Fragments

Link up with here with Mrs. 4444 if you've got bits and pieces floating through your brain today!

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Right off the bat, I have to say I'm excited that tomorrow is the day I'm spending ~8 hours getting my iron transfusion! It's my first one, and it's not unusual for gastric bypass patients to need them. I'll probably be getting my first of many Vitamin B12 shots, as well. My hemoglobin levels are abyssmally low, which means it's a struggle and a chore just for me to make it through the day, every day, let alone cover everything that's on my plate. I've been dropping a lot of balls lately, admittedly, and I'm hoping this will make a huge difference for me - and my family, who have to put up with me. Hopefully, too, I'll be able to stop consuming the massive daily amounts of caffeine that I do to stay functioning and focused. So, yay!

The only downside is I won't be able to knit during the procedure... but I have about eleventy-billion magazines to catch up on, so I'm covered there. And I can always nap. What I'm wondering about now is, when do I pee? And eat? (I'll let you know. Hee.)

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In awesome news, my kids have been focusing on their reading in our homeschooling so far this new year, and they have progressed dramatically. My oldest, a fifth grader, had to write her first book report, after much gnashing of teeth over it, and she did a splendid job. I had to make just a few corrections - all mechanics - but the content was fantastic. I was so pleased!

As for the two Littles, my son is in 3rd grade and came out of 1st grade public school hardly literate at all. So I remediated him from the Kinder level with our K-2 Hooked on Phonics program, and he just "graduated" from the program! It only took him a year and a half to do all three years' worth, so that's pretty great. Yes, I'm proud of him, but even more incredible is how visibly proud of himself he is! I love it!

The youngest, a first grader who was a late bloomer with regard to reading (she's the most active, physical of the lot), has suddenly pushed through the block and is now almost to the 2nd grade level of the program. So go, kids!! Starting next week, we'll slow down on so much all-reading, all-the-time, and focus more on math, with which all three of them also need remediation. No child left behind, my butt! But the buck stops here. :)

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We were supposed to go on a field trip to the Food Bank with our two respective Girl Scout troops today, but I found out two hours before the trip that they had to reschedule it. ARGH! I had no choice but to cancel our regular meeting, since I have it planned to have a guest speaker come in, and there was no way to get her on such short notice. It was pretty stinko (my word of the month), and I was bummed, since we're behind where I wanted to be in my Daisy troop at this point. But with the iron deficiency, I have to say, I wasn't too terribly disappointed to get a reprieve! Just sayin'.

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We've had Sophia to the Emergency Department 3-4 times this past week, as her breathing struggles have suddenly kicked back into high gear. It's not the weather, since it's barely cold here, and it started in the summertime anyway (in 2010!). We've seen 8 or 9 different doctors and gotten just as many "suggestions" about what it could be, with no real answers. It's frustrating for me, as her mom, to watch her go through this, so I can only imagine how much of an annoyance it is for her. My husband thinks it's entirely stress-induced, but I disagree. That may be a component, certainly, but since it frequently comes on when she's just sitting around, doing nothing remotely upsetting, how can that be?? I just wish I could help her.

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A local-but-online-only friend of mine is a potter, and she fashions these awesome, funkadelic business card holders that I've been coveting for a long time. Last week, she made this red one, and I KNEW it was the one I had to have. It arrived today. Do you love it?! I do! So cool. Check out Lisa's Etsy shop for more awesome clay-mations!

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We drove up the Eastern Shore of Virginia on Sunday (here's my view out the windshield of the Chesapeake Bay), for a high-paying mystery shop. Great, except I kind of screwed it up a little, and now I don't know if I am going to get paid for it. Argh. Well, if that happens, at least we had a fun trip and enjoyed lots of interesting scenery, right?

This is the kids in the back during the trip, watching Judy Moody and the Not-So-Bummer Summer, which they've been waiting for me to rent from the Blockbuster kiosk for ages. I waited until it dropped to $1, so I could get it for free (lots of codes out there, folks!), because I'm cheap like that!

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Speaking of mystery shops, Rob and I finally went out for a nice dinner - with the kids, so it was only semi-romantic! - to celebrate the 11th wedding anniversary we shared on the 2nd of this month. Here's my Appletini. The kids love cherries and all clamored for mine, but um, no. Not the ones all soaked in Smirnoff, kiddos! It was really strong, and I got drunk very quickly. I drink maybe once a month, if that, and wow. I'm such a lightweight since my surgery!

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And here's me, that night (tipsy), showing you my hair in its awkward growing-out phase. I can't stand my hair right now. I want it to be long NOW. I'm half-tempted to just chop it again, but it grows soooo slowly, I may never have another ponytail. Is 35 too old for ponytails, anyway? Not around the house, or in the summer at least, right? ;)

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Last week (which I can tell ya, because I skipped FF then, sorry), we totally kept the kids up and took them to the 12:01 AM first showing of the newly re-released Beauty and the Beast in 3D. It was AWESOME. I think I had as good a time as the kids did. It cost a small fortune; I had sticker shock, but it was worth it for the "cool mom points" I earned, I think. At least Rob managed to stay awake during the whole thing - he'd had a nap first to make sure! Have you seen it? It was great.

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Lastly, speaking of Etsy, I have to share this story. I bought this gorgeous yarn on clearance from Summer of Perfectly Handmade, and the whole situation quickly turned into a comedy of errors: First, she accidentally sent me the wrong yarn, and then she sent me the correct yarn after I mailed it back (and she was GREAT through this whole process, and I totally recommend her, so don't think I'm speaking too badly of her). Well, it was badly skeined, and when I wound it into center-pull "cakes" with my swift and ball winder, it took about two hours vs. the 10-15 minutes it should have, because it was such a mess. I finally got it, though, and managed to knit ONE hexipuff for the Beekeeper's Quilt I'm making before going to bed for the night. Well, I stupidly left that troublesome-but-lovely yarn out overnigh, and our two kittens decided to make it their plaything overnight. When I woke up early, before the kids, I went to go knit another puff with it... and it was GONE. So I instantly knew "the twins," as they are, were the culprits and headed upstairs to look for it. I found two 8mo kittens, each with a shred of the yarn hanging out of their mouths and looking at me guiltily. They immediately dropped it and went to go hide under my son's bed! Then I searched around and found the yarn strewn all over my older daughter's room, some of it chewed it into short strands, some of it just a gnarled, knotty mess, but all entirely wrecked. GAH!!  However, I kept plugging away at it, and look! Up there! I managed to eke out 13 or 14 hexipuffs out of the yarn, which I eventually sorted out, and they'll look great in the quilt. But what a pain!!

P.S. Summer sent me some more yarn as a gift, for all my troubles. So if you're a "yarnie" like I am, don't hesitate to check her out!

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I'll leave you on that note. No, this one: "All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

RIP, Dr. King.

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Fin.