Vacation

Well, we are back from Chincoteague Island, our first real family vacation (well, family + Micaela's friend Jason). Chincoteague is a small old beach town that caters to tourists, but in a very low-budget sort of way (perfect for us). Next to Chincoteague Island is Assateague Island where wild ponies live which the kids were very excited about. We spent most of our time on Assateague because it has a pretty nice beach. Even though it wasn't all that hot outside the water was warm and we brought the boogie boards, so we had fun. The waves out there weren't quite what I am used to though and I got hammered quite a few times. I got Micaela to come out and try to catch a wave with me on her small board and we both ended upside down under the water. That was the last time she tried boogie boarding, but she did good playing in the waves on the shore. Jason did good with the boogie board and was a little braver than Micaela but I think he took home half the beach in his hair. There was still sand in it when we sent him home, oh well.

Other activities included Pony rides, movies, duck feeding, a trip to a NASA vistors center and Xbox playing. The pony rides were underwhelming, three times around a corral, so we bought a hour long lesson for Micaela. She did pretty good but was nervous and wouldn't try trotting. After it was over though she wouldn't stop talking about how cool it was. When we weren't out doing anything, Kurt got the kids hooked on Star Wars Legos II for the Xbox. It was a little frustrating watching them since they didn't really get it (Micaela will need lessons from Isaac next year) but they had fun. When the kids got too noisy, we sent them outside where they could almost always find ducks roaming around. We warned them about ducks biting, but they didn't believe us and wanted to hand feed them instead of throwing bread to them. We laughed at Jason when a duckling bit his toe and he cried. Is that mean? I thought it was funny.

We rented a small house there for a week, but after 5 days, Kurt and I decided that we were ready to go. It was a really nice vacation, but being disconnected from the world (i.e. our computers) took it's toll and we wanted a few days to unpack and relax before Kurt heads up to PA to go fly. And now we're at home, sleeping well and enjoying the Internet, it's good to be back.

Notice the wild ponies in the background

Update

It's been a while since my last blog. There are a few reasons for this - 1. visitors (Higerd's followed by Weaver parents) 2. Between visits not much happened 3. The things I want to write about involve pictures on Kurt's camera that I can't get because the battery died and the charger is MIA. But here is an attempt at what we have been up to:

The Higerd visit was very nice. I particularly enjoyed getting my nails done (thanks mom) with Mari and Micaela while the rest of the Higerds went sightseeing in Williamsburg. And getting rained on at Busch Garden's was also a little funny since that was the second time it had happened. Those are pretty much the hightlights from their visit.

Not much happened during the week, but on Friday, Micaela got invited to Kings Dominion with the neighbor's church group and I had the day off (training holiday) so Kurt and I actually got a day alone to... clean the house. We hadn't cleaned since Mari left and we knew Kurt's parents were on their way so we spent all day vacuuming, dusting, and mopping. It was lots of fun, really. My reward for being such a good help was a hot stone massage from Kurt (he got a box with stones and a little book from the clearance rack at B&N). He didn't read the book, but he did look at the pictures. He started by putting a stone on my back and then it would slide off. He put another on, and it slid off. He got annoyed and just dumped the whole box of stones on my back. It was funny, the stones were barely warm. The massage was a little underwhelming. Shellie, he needs some help.

On Saturday the house was pretty much clean except for the guest room. While cleaning that up I found the air compressor we were missing. For Micaela's birthday Bob got her this big inflatable yellow ball with windows that you get inside and just roll around in. It was a pain in the butt to blow up because it had about 12 different compartments, but when it was done the kids had a blast. The neighbors have three boys and the boy from across the street came over and they all fought for turns. I wish I could show you the pictures. There were doing somersaults and flipping all over. It was pretty cool. They were like little hamsters that you put in the ball and just let run all over. Just one note: make sure you clean all the dog poop from the yard before you let the kids roll the ball all over the place, that was a little gross. Next we need to find them a big hill and just push them down it and see how they do.

I will update with pictures when I can get them. That will have to be it for now. I have to go to bed so I can get up early and play golf tomorrow with Kurt and his dad. I love that no one will notice if I don't show up to work until noon. It's rough being your own boss at 25. :)

Happy Anniversary!

Mom, since I know you read this and I keep forgetting to call - Happy Anniversary! I always remember at 8am EST, but forget by the time it's a decent hour on the West Coast.

In anticipation of the same thing happening on Monday - Happy Birthday Bob! I'll call if I remember.


Not too much going on right now here. Oh, but look at the fantastic home-made sushi lunch I made Kurt:





Yeah right... that's way beyond my abilities. But Kurt did a fantastic job. He found a "how to make sushi" book on clearance at Barnes and Noble and was able to actually figure out the recipes/instructions (unlike me).


Onto other news... Kurt and I have spend the last week paying for a mistake that I made while he was gone. The mistake - not mowing the grass. He didn't cut it before he left, and then I went up to PA two weekends in a row, so by the time I had a free weekend it was really long. (Yes, I could have cut it during the week, but I had sitcoms to watch). Two days before Kurt came home I went out and tried to start the mower, but I couldn't do it. I swear it was broken, but it started for Kurt on the first try, so maybe it was just me. Anyways, it was so long at this point that Kurt had to had to take off the cover that throws the grass down toward the ground because it kept clogging. After that, there were so many grass shavings that we had to rake them into piles. There were about 18 piles that filled up 9 big black trashbags. It was a lot of work. Kurt told me it was just as bad as bailing hay. I think he's still a little upset that I was so lazy. I made up for it today by helping him edge and mulch the flowerbeds that run around the outside of the house. The fact that it was around 99 degrees didn't help, I'm exhausted. Well, Mari and Gabe just got here, so I have to go help move them in. That's what it seems like with the amount of stuff the drag along with the baby, but really I think it's just all Mari's shoes :)