Enjoy!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Merry Christmas to All!
So here it is, Christmas Eve. We have watched "It's A Wonderful Life" To everyone who is even reading this tonight. Merry Christmas. We just finished up sugar cookies and icing (thank goodness the boys have much more patience than I ever did, even as a child). Wishing I had some of Grandpa's fudge at this very moment.
We will be having a Mexican Christmas tomorrow - food wise that is. Homemade tortillas, homemade enchiladas, homemade salsa... yum!
"Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!"
Love all of you!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Proud Mom
For those parents out there that have teenagers - for as much as you want them to talk to you, and tell you everything - there is somewhere deep down inside, that maybe you really don't want to know, just a smidge of you thinks that, at some point. That some how being oblivious is almost comforting?? Come on... admit it!
Well, there is nothing scarier than your 16 year old son saying the following words, "Mom...Dad...can I talk to you?" with all seriousness in his voice.
But, before anyone gets worried, like we did - there is NOTHING to worry about. Alex is just fine and this had nothing to do with him directly. Just want to get those fears out of your head now so that you aren't skipping to the end of my writing to find out. :)
Me, on the other hand... my heart sank into my stomach and all I could do was repeat in my head, "Whatever it is we'll figure it out. We'll get through it. Don't get angry."
He tells us that his girlfriend has been receiving some text messages from a 15 or 16 year old boy (who is NOT a part of our school ) saying that he had nothing to live for if he couldn't have her and that he was going to kill himself - and then sent an actual image on her phone with his hand holding shotgun bullets. *sigh*
This was last Sunday evening. Shannon and I stood there thinking while Alex continues, "This boy needs help and I want to help him." He also says he's worried for his girlfriends safety, that if the boy is willing to hurt himself who's to say he won't hurt her. Even though he's made no mention of actually hurting her.
This is serious. Not what I expected and not something that either of us are capable of dealing with ourselves. Then a light bulb comes on... we hired a new admissions director at our school, Mary, and I remember on her resume that she did a lot of volunteer work with suicide hot lines!
So we decide to call Mary and see if we can meet with her Monday morning before school starts to figure out what we can do to help this young man. I'm not going to use the boys real name, as it is not important to the story, but I'll call him T.J. so that I don't confuse the "he's and him's" in my writing.
I made it clear to Alex that Mary has a lot of experience in this and that she'll help us figure this out and we will do our best to help T.J. So he was able to relax a little and go about his evening business.
On Monday Alex and I met with Mary in her office and Alex told her what he knew and all his concerns. Mary said the first thing we needed to do was see if we could get his last name. So Alex was going to ask his girlfriend later that morning at school to see if she knew and I was going to go up to the high school at lunch to get it and see if I could find him online.
So at lunch time I went up and Alex got T.J.'s last name and which local public high school he went too. Luckily it wasn't a common name like Smith or Jones - so I got hopeful. I went back down to my office and start googling him.
He popped up as a student at the high school I was told so I decided to do a white pages look up of the last name in the town Chapel Hill to see how many adults I could find. Luckily I only found one set! But there was still no way to be sure that these were T.J.'s parents. So I googled the dad's name, but didn't get any good hits. Then I tried mom and the 2nd hit down was an obituary. I went to it and read all the living relatives - the mom and dad were listed and then, T.J. was listed as a grandchild. Score! I was 100% sure that these were T.J.'s parents.
So I wrote down their names and phone number and I also wrote down the main phone number to the high school not knowing what Mary would want to do. Mary returned from a tour and saw my notes and phone numbers. I quickly went through the process of why I was sure these were T.J.'s parents and then she closed her door to make some phone calls.
Some time later she had me come into her office and said that she first tried the school, but had to leave a message and that just didn't sit well with her since T.J. took an actual photo of him holding onto bullets that he was more serious than if they had just been thoughts. So Mary decided to call the home phone number I found and a man answered. She asked for the mom but she wasn't there so Mary asked if he was "Tom" (the father tho not his real name). He confirmed that he was so and that he had a son T.J. So Mary told him, who she was and what a student from our school had come to her with this morning.
Before I tell you the dad's response can I just say that there could have been so many possible reactions here. He could have been angry, called her a liar, say it was a hoax, deny it...anything. But, there is hope for humanity... the dad's reaction was, "My wife and I have been having this sinking feeling that something was wrong with T.J. He hasn't been acting normal at all these last few months."
WHEW!
So the dad took Mary's information seriously. He asked many questions which Mary answered as best she could. The dad thanked Mary for being willing to make that phone call and also thanked the two concerned students for being willing to speak up, even though they didn't really know T.J. very well, and look for help.
The dad called Mary back about an hour later and told her that he spoke with his wife and that they had removed all the guns they had in the house, and bullets. They have found a counselor for their son to start seeing and that they were seriously considering stopping internet service in their house (which they had just started up a few months ago and thought it might be having some affect on him).
I told Alex all of this and said that the chances of T.J. living were very high because of him and the fact that his parents accepted the information and are being incredibly pro-active (kudos to the parents)!!!!
The dad called back to Mary again the next morning and said that they confiscated his phone, found all the text messages he had sent and the photo - which were live shotgun shells he was holding and that they were going to make sure that the counselor had this information so they know how serious he was. And he once again thanked Mary and our students for having a community that cares - even as extended as it is.
Kudos Alex!!!! This is one very proud mom here!
Well, there is nothing scarier than your 16 year old son saying the following words, "Mom...Dad...can I talk to you?" with all seriousness in his voice.
But, before anyone gets worried, like we did - there is NOTHING to worry about. Alex is just fine and this had nothing to do with him directly. Just want to get those fears out of your head now so that you aren't skipping to the end of my writing to find out. :)
Me, on the other hand... my heart sank into my stomach and all I could do was repeat in my head, "Whatever it is we'll figure it out. We'll get through it. Don't get angry."
He tells us that his girlfriend has been receiving some text messages from a 15 or 16 year old boy (who is NOT a part of our school ) saying that he had nothing to live for if he couldn't have her and that he was going to kill himself - and then sent an actual image on her phone with his hand holding shotgun bullets. *sigh*
This was last Sunday evening. Shannon and I stood there thinking while Alex continues, "This boy needs help and I want to help him." He also says he's worried for his girlfriends safety, that if the boy is willing to hurt himself who's to say he won't hurt her. Even though he's made no mention of actually hurting her.
This is serious. Not what I expected and not something that either of us are capable of dealing with ourselves. Then a light bulb comes on... we hired a new admissions director at our school, Mary, and I remember on her resume that she did a lot of volunteer work with suicide hot lines!
So we decide to call Mary and see if we can meet with her Monday morning before school starts to figure out what we can do to help this young man. I'm not going to use the boys real name, as it is not important to the story, but I'll call him T.J. so that I don't confuse the "he's and him's" in my writing.
I made it clear to Alex that Mary has a lot of experience in this and that she'll help us figure this out and we will do our best to help T.J. So he was able to relax a little and go about his evening business.
On Monday Alex and I met with Mary in her office and Alex told her what he knew and all his concerns. Mary said the first thing we needed to do was see if we could get his last name. So Alex was going to ask his girlfriend later that morning at school to see if she knew and I was going to go up to the high school at lunch to get it and see if I could find him online.
So at lunch time I went up and Alex got T.J.'s last name and which local public high school he went too. Luckily it wasn't a common name like Smith or Jones - so I got hopeful. I went back down to my office and start googling him.
He popped up as a student at the high school I was told so I decided to do a white pages look up of the last name in the town Chapel Hill to see how many adults I could find. Luckily I only found one set! But there was still no way to be sure that these were T.J.'s parents. So I googled the dad's name, but didn't get any good hits. Then I tried mom and the 2nd hit down was an obituary. I went to it and read all the living relatives - the mom and dad were listed and then, T.J. was listed as a grandchild. Score! I was 100% sure that these were T.J.'s parents.
So I wrote down their names and phone number and I also wrote down the main phone number to the high school not knowing what Mary would want to do. Mary returned from a tour and saw my notes and phone numbers. I quickly went through the process of why I was sure these were T.J.'s parents and then she closed her door to make some phone calls.
Some time later she had me come into her office and said that she first tried the school, but had to leave a message and that just didn't sit well with her since T.J. took an actual photo of him holding onto bullets that he was more serious than if they had just been thoughts. So Mary decided to call the home phone number I found and a man answered. She asked for the mom but she wasn't there so Mary asked if he was "Tom" (the father tho not his real name). He confirmed that he was so and that he had a son T.J. So Mary told him, who she was and what a student from our school had come to her with this morning.
Before I tell you the dad's response can I just say that there could have been so many possible reactions here. He could have been angry, called her a liar, say it was a hoax, deny it...anything. But, there is hope for humanity... the dad's reaction was, "My wife and I have been having this sinking feeling that something was wrong with T.J. He hasn't been acting normal at all these last few months."
WHEW!
So the dad took Mary's information seriously. He asked many questions which Mary answered as best she could. The dad thanked Mary for being willing to make that phone call and also thanked the two concerned students for being willing to speak up, even though they didn't really know T.J. very well, and look for help.
The dad called Mary back about an hour later and told her that he spoke with his wife and that they had removed all the guns they had in the house, and bullets. They have found a counselor for their son to start seeing and that they were seriously considering stopping internet service in their house (which they had just started up a few months ago and thought it might be having some affect on him).
I told Alex all of this and said that the chances of T.J. living were very high because of him and the fact that his parents accepted the information and are being incredibly pro-active (kudos to the parents)!!!!
The dad called back to Mary again the next morning and said that they confiscated his phone, found all the text messages he had sent and the photo - which were live shotgun shells he was holding and that they were going to make sure that the counselor had this information so they know how serious he was. And he once again thanked Mary and our students for having a community that cares - even as extended as it is.
Kudos Alex!!!! This is one very proud mom here!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Basketball Mom
I wish I had written shortly after the first basketball game - but alas, time has passed so my enthusiasm has gone down... a smidge. What I have found is that I have this love-hate relationship with basketball.So when Jared announced that he wanted to join the basketball team for the high school I was happy to hear it. For a long time I know Jared has wanted to do organized sports but we felt he was either too young or, when he was a bit older we tried to find some opportunities but the few we found he decided he didn't want to try them (mostly because he either didn't know anyone, or because he did not feel comfortable because he hadn't practiced enough).
So this was his first opportunity to play a game he was interested in, had had some practice but was no where truly skilled and had some good friends who would be playing along side him.
So love... happily gung ho for my son to start engaging in something he's always wanted to do.
And the practices started. Every day after school off he goes to learn and practice and chum it up with his friends...every day. By the time he was done and was dropped back off at the school it was 5:45 or 5:50 pm...every day. Oh, except Thursdays! Thursdays he is done at around 4:30 or 4:40pm. Woo hoo! One car family, stuck at school until he's back. By the time we get home it's usually 6:10 to 6:30pm. Much later than we are used too. Plus, with it being winter and all and the nights getting shorter and shorter it's pretty much pitch black before we are home.
So hate...I want our old routine back!
Then comes the first game! We drive to a place called Bahama, NC (50 minutes away from the school, about 25 minutes from home). Jokingly I say we are heading to the Bahamas, trying to find something positive in the long drive. Though, the town itself is not called Bahama (as in the islands) but Baa-hay-ma... go figure... those wacky southerners!
We go inside the gym, settle down and the game is just about to begin (they left right after school ended to have some time for warm up, while we left later so barely got there in time for the game to start).
The other team is massive in size - junior and seniors, facial hair and all! One of them, #44, was built like a brick house - I'm sure he plays football. And here are our freshman and two sophomores ready to start the game - jump for the ball.
So quickly into the game it's obvious that the home team has done this for quite some time. They are organized and aggressive, while our team is still trying to remember the rules and are shocked every time one of the other team members pushes or shoves (when they don't have the ball) or takes the ball from them.
We did quite a few fouls in the first quarter but Jared did get fouled once and had a t wo chance free throw (as you can tell I don't know the technical terms). He missed the first sh ot but got the second - go south paw! Here he is...#1!
At some point during the 3rd quarter they started getting more organized and a little bit more aggresive and started scoring more and more. The score ended up being 61 to 20, but those 20 points were well deserved!
As I sat in the audience, cheering on my son and the rest of the team - a team of boys which, at least half of them had never played basketball before, were doing an amazing job! By the end of the game I was pumped up, proud and ready for more!
Love basketball! Go Eagles!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
This is hilarious!
I just stumbled upon this on my liberal website, www.alternet.org. It is incredibly funny! Enjoy!
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Highs, lows, thanks and reflection...
Funny how it some times takes a holiday to remind you to sit and reflect on life - your family, friends, work mates, pets. For a long time I was doing really well on stopping for a few moments every day and thanking and appreciating everything around me that I could. But it seems that I have slowly moved away from that and, after Thanksgiving the other day, it was a reminder that I need to get back into the swing again!
One of my most favorite ways to reflect on the good things that happen each day is when our family shares "Highs and lows". We've been doing this for years now, typically at the dining room table during dinner - but some times the following morning on the way to school or after school is out - just depending on when it seems right. You don't have to have lows, and hopefully you don't have them very often...but if you do we try and say whatever our lows are first and then move on to the high, or hopefully many highs. At the very least, no matter how boring or mundane your day may be, you have to find at least one high! Some days there are funnies to add on to the highs and lows - and those are always a blast.
So, if you ever want to get a glimpse of your families day life, since you aren't always with them, "Highs and Lows" works really well!
Things have been very stressful at work these past few weeks. It's odd, since we celebrated Michaelmas and "slayed" the dragon you would think that things would be getting calmer and easier - but, maybe we missed slaying the beast this time and it's still creeping around out there or maybe we slayed the wrong beast? Either way I need to start reflecting on whether it's something in me that's causing the stress or if it truly is something out there that I need to battle. These past few weeks I've been doing more behind the scenes work to make a change but in reflection I think I need to take on the straight on, no bull shit work to get through the stress.
We were hoping to go up to the cape for part of our holiday break - but it seems that will have to wait. Money is tight, as I'm sure most everyone out there is painfully experiencing, so we will wait until Mr. Curtin's 8th grade graduation. Then Alex, Jared and myself will be heading up there to cheer those graduates on and say high to all our old friends! I wish I could bring Shannon along, but school will actually still be going on down here.
On the plus side we'll be staying put for two whole weeks. We get to open our gifts and then get to stay here the whole time and play with them! Now, if we could only have some snow too. But I know that's asking for too much! HA!
On Thanksgiving day, as we were sitting around the table stuffing our faces and having great conversation I looked up and saw our screen saver working hard on the computer. And there they were, Devin, Shannon and Sierra from our last Thanksgiving we had together and I really wished they had been here with us - or us there. Miss you guys lots!
One of my most favorite ways to reflect on the good things that happen each day is when our family shares "Highs and lows". We've been doing this for years now, typically at the dining room table during dinner - but some times the following morning on the way to school or after school is out - just depending on when it seems right. You don't have to have lows, and hopefully you don't have them very often...but if you do we try and say whatever our lows are first and then move on to the high, or hopefully many highs. At the very least, no matter how boring or mundane your day may be, you have to find at least one high! Some days there are funnies to add on to the highs and lows - and those are always a blast.
So, if you ever want to get a glimpse of your families day life, since you aren't always with them, "Highs and Lows" works really well!
Things have been very stressful at work these past few weeks. It's odd, since we celebrated Michaelmas and "slayed" the dragon you would think that things would be getting calmer and easier - but, maybe we missed slaying the beast this time and it's still creeping around out there or maybe we slayed the wrong beast? Either way I need to start reflecting on whether it's something in me that's causing the stress or if it truly is something out there that I need to battle. These past few weeks I've been doing more behind the scenes work to make a change but in reflection I think I need to take on the straight on, no bull shit work to get through the stress.
We were hoping to go up to the cape for part of our holiday break - but it seems that will have to wait. Money is tight, as I'm sure most everyone out there is painfully experiencing, so we will wait until Mr. Curtin's 8th grade graduation. Then Alex, Jared and myself will be heading up there to cheer those graduates on and say high to all our old friends! I wish I could bring Shannon along, but school will actually still be going on down here.
On the plus side we'll be staying put for two whole weeks. We get to open our gifts and then get to stay here the whole time and play with them! Now, if we could only have some snow too. But I know that's asking for too much! HA!
On Thanksgiving day, as we were sitting around the table stuffing our faces and having great conversation I looked up and saw our screen saver working hard on the computer. And there they were, Devin, Shannon and Sierra from our last Thanksgiving we had together and I really wished they had been here with us - or us there. Miss you guys lots!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
First High School Dance
Without further adieu here are some photos of last nights high school dance!
Of course, we couldn't have a dance at a Waldorf school without fairies!
Gangstah's and witches........................
Some dancing... though not as much as one would think at an actual dance..... and I'm not really sure what dance they were doing at this point...
This one was the Macarena .....
And we all know what this one is.....
So far I've heard that it was a fun dance. I'm sure I'll find out more as the week progresses at school. But from my perspective it really was an amazing dance. The kids were very well behaved and had lots of fun, though they did more socializing than dancing... and ate lots and lots of junk food!
I'm hoping we'll have another one in April or May and this time we'll go until 11:oopm instead of 10:30.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Of course, we couldn't have a dance at a Waldorf school without fairies!
Gangstah's and witches........................
Some dancing... though not as much as one would think at an actual dance..... and I'm not really sure what dance they were doing at this point...
And we all know what this one is.....
So far I've heard that it was a fun dance. I'm sure I'll find out more as the week progresses at school. But from my perspective it really was an amazing dance. The kids were very well behaved and had lots of fun, though they did more socializing than dancing... and ate lots and lots of junk food!
I'm hoping we'll have another one in April or May and this time we'll go until 11:oopm instead of 10:30.
Happy Halloween everyone!
Sadness and scary
I will write about the dance later today - once I get the photos off the camera. But I wanted to write about something that was a very sad ending to our fun night that turned into a relief this morning.
Because of all the stuff and boys we had we took both our truck and Mary's car to the school for the dance. So, as we were coming home last night, I was in front with Mary's car and Jared was with me. We were just chatting a bit about the dance, how Jared said it was fun, and also listening to the music on the radio.
I turned onto our street and as we were getting close to our house there was something small in the road on our side but not too small. So I started to swerve around it to the left, and as I did the headlights went over it enough that I saw what it looked like.
I pulled over and quickly put the car in park - on the left side of the road - and said out loud to Jared, "My god! That's Dot!" And so we both quickly jumped out of the car to go look. At this point Shannon was driving up and he slowed down right on the road behind the dead cat.
I went right down and started petting it - to see if it was still alive and to try and confirm if it was Dot. It was a brown tabby, about Dots size and it was dead and had been for a few hours at least. I went to the end of the tail and felt the tip - looking for her break, but I couldn't really find it. So for a fleeting moment I felt relief that it wasn't her.
Shannon picked it up. The only injury was on the right side of the skull, by the temple where it had been hit. There was blood there. The eyes were still open, so it must have been a quick death. In the meanwhile Alex had run down to our house to see if he could find Dot to know whether it was her or not.
Shannon took the cat and walked to the house and I left Kimani and Jared next to Mary's car while I drove the truck the rest of the way home and then walked back to get the car and the two boys. I passed Shannon near our driveway and he said that he thought it was Dot, but that Alex was looking in and around the house - calling out for her, to try and find her.
I got back to the car and the boys and we hopped in, in silence and sadness as we drove home. We were in shock and I was saying, "Dot never goes this far, she's too lazy. When she's outside she always just hangs out near the house."
We got to the house and Shannon was sitting on the steps near grandmas door with the cat in his arms. I asked if they found Dot and he said no, they had not. So, we knew this had to be Dot kitty. I went and got a trash bag to put the body in, as it was way too dark to bury her since it was just around midnight. I helped Shannon get her into the bag and we put her in Mary's covered porch to keep any animals for getting at her.
Then I gave Jared a very long hug as we cried. Dot kitty is his baby. He wanted us to keep her so badly when he was only 5 years old and so she's been a part of our life for 10 years.
Eventually we all went to bed with a great sadness in our heart.
Then this morning Shannon is startled awake and says, "Cat? What the? Dot!" and I roll over and see that Dot kitty has hopped up into our bed this morning!!!! She is very alive and wanting to get some love and be fed. We pet her tons and tons talking to her and then I asked Shannon if he would take Dot kitty up to Jared's bedroom and put her on him so he can see she is okay.
So the boys are all happy and back to normal - and Dot kitty is enjoying all the extra attention!
We are going to check with some of the neighbors to see if anyone knows who this other tabby cat belongs too. We had never seen it before. We had no idea there was a Dot kitty look alike. If we can't find the owners we'll bury it ourselves - but I want to make sure that some poor family isn't missing their cat like we were last night.
Update: Alex and I went to a few different houses around our neighborhood and finally found the owners. The cats name was Pookums and the oldest son, who must have been around 18-22 drove over to our house and identified that it was their cat and took it home. We are very sad for them and Pookums.
Because of all the stuff and boys we had we took both our truck and Mary's car to the school for the dance. So, as we were coming home last night, I was in front with Mary's car and Jared was with me. We were just chatting a bit about the dance, how Jared said it was fun, and also listening to the music on the radio.
I turned onto our street and as we were getting close to our house there was something small in the road on our side but not too small. So I started to swerve around it to the left, and as I did the headlights went over it enough that I saw what it looked like.
I pulled over and quickly put the car in park - on the left side of the road - and said out loud to Jared, "My god! That's Dot!" And so we both quickly jumped out of the car to go look. At this point Shannon was driving up and he slowed down right on the road behind the dead cat.
I went right down and started petting it - to see if it was still alive and to try and confirm if it was Dot. It was a brown tabby, about Dots size and it was dead and had been for a few hours at least. I went to the end of the tail and felt the tip - looking for her break, but I couldn't really find it. So for a fleeting moment I felt relief that it wasn't her.
Shannon picked it up. The only injury was on the right side of the skull, by the temple where it had been hit. There was blood there. The eyes were still open, so it must have been a quick death. In the meanwhile Alex had run down to our house to see if he could find Dot to know whether it was her or not.
Shannon took the cat and walked to the house and I left Kimani and Jared next to Mary's car while I drove the truck the rest of the way home and then walked back to get the car and the two boys. I passed Shannon near our driveway and he said that he thought it was Dot, but that Alex was looking in and around the house - calling out for her, to try and find her.
I got back to the car and the boys and we hopped in, in silence and sadness as we drove home. We were in shock and I was saying, "Dot never goes this far, she's too lazy. When she's outside she always just hangs out near the house."
We got to the house and Shannon was sitting on the steps near grandmas door with the cat in his arms. I asked if they found Dot and he said no, they had not. So, we knew this had to be Dot kitty. I went and got a trash bag to put the body in, as it was way too dark to bury her since it was just around midnight. I helped Shannon get her into the bag and we put her in Mary's covered porch to keep any animals for getting at her.
Then I gave Jared a very long hug as we cried. Dot kitty is his baby. He wanted us to keep her so badly when he was only 5 years old and so she's been a part of our life for 10 years.
Eventually we all went to bed with a great sadness in our heart.
Then this morning Shannon is startled awake and says, "Cat? What the? Dot!" and I roll over and see that Dot kitty has hopped up into our bed this morning!!!! She is very alive and wanting to get some love and be fed. We pet her tons and tons talking to her and then I asked Shannon if he would take Dot kitty up to Jared's bedroom and put her on him so he can see she is okay.
So the boys are all happy and back to normal - and Dot kitty is enjoying all the extra attention!
We are going to check with some of the neighbors to see if anyone knows who this other tabby cat belongs too. We had never seen it before. We had no idea there was a Dot kitty look alike. If we can't find the owners we'll bury it ourselves - but I want to make sure that some poor family isn't missing their cat like we were last night.
Update: Alex and I went to a few different houses around our neighborhood and finally found the owners. The cats name was Pookums and the oldest son, who must have been around 18-22 drove over to our house and identified that it was their cat and took it home. We are very sad for them and Pookums.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Survived last night!
A quick update to say that we survived last night. Didn't even stay up as late as I thought we would. We were all tucked into bed just after midnight.
Lots of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and some x-box while waiting for the girls to start showing up - along with a huge sugar rush of Halloween candy and soda!
Once the girls started to arrive they started with the movie Scream. Then they watched The Ring - which was very funny for me - as two of the girls reminded me so much of Kim! (Ewww, ahhh, no no, can't watch this - covering their eyes and squeamish>) It just made me laugh!
The night wound down when the last two girls left at just before midnight. Then the guys went up to bed and probably talked for a good hour before it quieted down. All-in-all a good night was had by all!
I've just finished making 120 mini-cupcakes (icing and all). Shannon finally has all the music in order for the dance. All the guys are showed up and soon they will be having some spaghetti for lunch. Soon we will be off to start setting up for the dance. Wish us luck!
(yawn) and all I want to do is sleep! :)
Lots of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and some x-box while waiting for the girls to start showing up - along with a huge sugar rush of Halloween candy and soda!
Once the girls started to arrive they started with the movie Scream. Then they watched The Ring - which was very funny for me - as two of the girls reminded me so much of Kim! (Ewww, ahhh, no no, can't watch this - covering their eyes and squeamish>) It just made me laugh!
The night wound down when the last two girls left at just before midnight. Then the guys went up to bed and probably talked for a good hour before it quieted down. All-in-all a good night was had by all!
I've just finished making 120 mini-cupcakes (icing and all). Shannon finally has all the music in order for the dance. All the guys are showed up and soon they will be having some spaghetti for lunch. Soon we will be off to start setting up for the dance. Wish us luck!
(yawn) and all I want to do is sleep! :)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Update to this crazy weekend...
Let me set up the scene. Because Alex's birthday was a day before they went on their week long curriculum trip to Virginia we made plans for the guys in his class, which is now 3, come over this Friday straight after school and trick-or-treat and then stay up watching scary horror movies until late into the night. In return they were going to stay with us Saturday and come to the school with us early to get everything set up for the dance.
So yesterday evening, Alex, who had been socializing both on the phone and via facebook with his classmates/friends, comes up to me and asks, "Mom, could we invite the girls over on Friday night?" with this cute cheesy smile (bat bat with the eyelashes too).
I'm sure some - or possibly most of you are sniggering at this point as I had to seriously consider all the angles on this one. And with some serious ground rules laid down it will be happening - tomorrow night - 9 teenagers in our house. 5 boys (2 of them ours) and 4 girls. Though the girls will be coming over later, around 7:00pm and will be trickling back out of the house starting at 9:00pm up to 11:00pm - but at least 2 - 4 hours of lots of raging hormones with lots of raging horror and gore!
Who needs sleep. By Sunday I think we'll be praying for a freak snowstorm so we can have Monday off to finish recuperating from this weekend. HA!
So yesterday evening, Alex, who had been socializing both on the phone and via facebook with his classmates/friends, comes up to me and asks, "Mom, could we invite the girls over on Friday night?" with this cute cheesy smile (bat bat with the eyelashes too).
I'm sure some - or possibly most of you are sniggering at this point as I had to seriously consider all the angles on this one. And with some serious ground rules laid down it will be happening - tomorrow night - 9 teenagers in our house. 5 boys (2 of them ours) and 4 girls. Though the girls will be coming over later, around 7:00pm and will be trickling back out of the house starting at 9:00pm up to 11:00pm - but at least 2 - 4 hours of lots of raging hormones with lots of raging horror and gore!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Huge, but hopefully Fun, undertaking!
So yes, the Wiley's are at it again! I think masochism is in our genes, or blood...well, at least I know it's in mine!
We have decided to organize, put together, decorate, chaperone, and supply the loudness for a Halloween High School dance.
Yes - that's right - this time with a bunch of teenagers! Forget the middle schoolers...we've moved to the next level! So we will be bringing our camera and I hope to get lots of photos of the night. It will be happening this Saturday, the day after Halloween. It is a required costume dance (including the chaperon's) and, of course, there will be incredibly loud music, and lots of dim or low lighting to set the mood right!
Everyone in the high school community seems to be very excited and happy that we are having this event. Plus, we invited the alum that would be in our 9th - 12th grades, if they dare! And, to make our school feel more open and welcome we extended and invitation to two other private schools that some of our alum are now attending, in hopes to have a larger social mix.
So, we have absolutely NO clue as to how many teenagers will show up - we could have only 20 or possibly 50 or more - but no matter what, it will be an adventure, and hopefully some worth talking about for weeks to come! (in a good way I hope)
Wish us luck. And if I find the energy I'll be posting again on Sunday - with some photos - and all the buzz of what it was truly like!
We have decided to organize, put together, decorate, chaperone, and supply the loudness for a Halloween High School dance.
Yes - that's right - this time with a bunch of teenagers! Forget the middle schoolers...we've moved to the next level! So we will be bringing our camera and I hope to get lots of photos of the night. It will be happening this Saturday, the day after Halloween. It is a required costume dance (including the chaperon's) and, of course, there will be incredibly loud music, and lots of dim or low lighting to set the mood right!
Everyone in the high school community seems to be very excited and happy that we are having this event. Plus, we invited the alum that would be in our 9th - 12th grades, if they dare! And, to make our school feel more open and welcome we extended and invitation to two other private schools that some of our alum are now attending, in hopes to have a larger social mix.
So, we have absolutely NO clue as to how many teenagers will show up - we could have only 20 or possibly 50 or more - but no matter what, it will be an adventure, and hopefully some worth talking about for weeks to come! (in a good way I hope)
Wish us luck. And if I find the energy I'll be posting again on Sunday - with some photos - and all the buzz of what it was truly like!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Birthdays and curriculum trips
Today is Alex's 16th birthday! Happy Birthday Alex!
Who knows what exciting things we will do today - but all of it will be family involvement. Some gifts, some cake (or maybe pudding oh or an ice cream cake), possibly going out to see a movie - or maybe renting a few good ones and staying home with the comfy fire, and, I think, going out to Bandido's for dinner (unless he'd rather us make homemade tortilla's?). We shall see. But he is going to wait until after his week long curriculum trip to have a party with his friends. Which, will be on Halloween night. I wonder if they've made a list of possible scary movies to rent after collecting some candy that night?? (I know I can give them a few good suggestions if they want!)
Before I go on with what the boys will be doing this coming week I realized that I did not touch on one interesting and great thing that both Alex and Jared have decided to take on at their school! They are training to become "Social Inclusion Helpers". So, from what I understand, they will be going down to the lower school play ground (I don't know how often), to be aware of and help work through, any bullying or teasing with the younger students. This training is a 3 year process and is something new. If you want to read more about it you can go to http://www.thechildtoday.com/SocialInclusion/ to learn more. Their first step is to start listening and noting how many put-downs they hear amongst themselves in the high school - so honing their listening skills. Overall I think this will not only look good on a college application, but will be an important skill for themselves out in the real world! I'll keep you posted on what exciting things they are doing.
Yesterday (Saturday) Alex was back at school from 8am until almost 12noon taking the PSATs. He says it was boring but he thinks he did okay. He made a great comment about how silly it was to put judgement on someone's memory retention as to how smart they are - but he was willing to play along. I have no idea when they find out their scores but I'm sure they'll be another post later on that. :)
So, even though it's Alex's birthday today and we'll be doing some stuff together both Alex and Jared have to completely pack up for the week long curriculum trips - which is the other thing I was going to write about this morning.
Jared's class will be traveling to a place called Sustenance Farm in Bear Creek, NC. The 9th grade trip is an agriculutural intensive for the 9th grade and students will engage in farm work and chores, gardening, and working in nature. This is the same location they take the 9th grade every year - so Alex's class went last year and they seemed to have a blast! (For those of you who I sent the youtube videos of them singing together - that was a piece of it!)
Alex's class will be traveling to the Paradise Campground in Danville, VA. The trip is craft intensive for the 10th grade and students will engage in hands-on experiences with fiber and craft.
So we will be child-free for 5 whole days. 'Nuff said!
Who knows what exciting things we will do today - but all of it will be family involvement. Some gifts, some cake (or maybe pudding oh or an ice cream cake
Before I go on with what the boys will be doing this coming week I realized that I did not touch on one interesting and great thing that both Alex and Jared have decided to take on at their school! They are training to become "Social Inclusion Helpers". So, from what I understand, they will be going down to the lower school play ground (I don't know how often), to be aware of and help work through, any bullying or teasing with the younger students. This training is a 3 year process and is something new. If you want to read more about it you can go to http://www.thechildtoday.com/SocialInclusion/ to learn more. Their first step is to start listening and noting how many put-downs they hear amongst themselves in the high school - so honing their listening skills. Overall I think this will not only look good on a college application, but will be an important skill for themselves out in the real world!
Yesterday (Saturday) Alex was back at school from 8am until almost 12noon taking the PSATs. He says it was boring but he thinks he did okay. He made a great comment about how silly it was to put judgement on someone's memory retention as to how smart they are - but he was willing to play along. I have no idea when they find out their scores but I'm sure they'll be another post later on that. :)
So, even though it's Alex's birthday today and we'll be doing some stuff together both Alex and Jared have to completely pack up for the week long curriculum trips - which is the other thing I was going to write about this morning.
Jared's class will be traveling to a place called Sustenance Farm in Bear Creek, NC. The 9th grade trip is an agriculutural intensive for the 9th grade and students will engage in farm work and chores, gardening, and working in nature. This is the same location they take the 9th grade every year - so Alex's class went last year and they seemed to have a blast! (For those of you who I sent the youtube videos of them singing together - that was a piece of it!)
Alex's class will be traveling to the Paradise Campground in Danville, VA. The trip is craft intensive for the 10th grade and students will engage in hands-on experiences with fiber and craft.
So we will be child-free for 5 whole days. 'Nuff said!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Ramblings and musings...
Well, I think it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I keep thinking that something exciting will happen worth writing about, and then, I realize that every day is exciting, as I'm alive and enjoying life. So even though much of this may seem mundane to some - it is my life and for those who are reading this (mostly family and a few good friends) - they'll appreciate getting any kind of an update. :)
So no snazzy pictures and no video's for this one.
I guess I could have taken photos of the house, in the midst of this weeks chaos of "bombing" or fogging, for our lovely flea infestation. But, for those who have had to experience that in their own life, I think that's really all that needs to be said....well...that and I'm STILL doing laundry (day 3 of laundry hell!). Hehehehehe
So this past week has been our first vacation week at our school - Emerson Waldorf School - where both of our boys are attending high school now and where both my husband, who is teaching 2nd grade this year, and myself (administrative specialist) are working full time.
This will be our 4th, and final, Waldorf school in our lives. Which gives many mixed feelings as I have been reflecting, a lot lately, on all of our experiences over the years. Amazingly, each school is different and unique, but at the same time has many similarities as well. What I think I love most about Waldorf is how the education lets children be children for as long as possible - to hang on to that innocence and joy - because the world can be so harsh and cynical when you become an adult. Having Waldorf education helps not only the parents, but even more so, the students remember to see the beauty and joy in life - which I think everyone needs, but doesn't always get.
Okay, so beyond my reflection on our choice of Waldorf over these past 12 years the other fiddly bits of life over the past couple of weeks....
Well, there was the phone problem we were having. For 5 whole days of our vacation, even though we were disparaging over the flea problem and getting through it, I was enjoying the peace and serenity of our phone not working! Mind you, with 54 parents in Shannon's class, the phone doesn't really ring that often, which is quite amazing - I think our teenage son's get more phone calls than their dad. HA! But, after emailing the phone company of our problem. Having them come out and say that the phone line coming into the house was fine - dial tone and all. We had a kind parent who used to work in the tel-com business come to check out our phone lines on Thursday (5 or was that really 6 days later) to have Shannon finally stumble across a HIDDEN 4th phone in Mary's room that was in a drawer and knocked off the handset. Oh the irony and funniness of it all! I would have been happy to continue paying the phone company $50 a month to keep the phone from ringing - but alas - Alex had gone through withdrawls and managed to call everyone he knew (both here in NC and back at Cape Cod) to get his fix between Thursday and today!
Let's see... Shannon still has grand plans to build a hot tub. Not sure where he is with that plan but I know all of us are all for it if he can figure it out!
I've decided to NOT have chickens as I've realized with our teenage sons quickly growing up and possibly, maybe, moving on some day, that beyond our wonderulf basset hound, Tobey, I don't really think I want to be responsible for any other pets (well, there are the 2 cats, which are technically Mary's but, well....) AND I had someone who HAS chickens say, "With chickens comes both the rats and the snakes." Mind you, I love snakes - they don't bother me at all - bring them on! But rats... shudder.. unless I choose to get one as a pet - the wild ones, well, forget that! They bring mites and grossness. Ugh! No thanks! Plus we have a few families in Shannon's class that have plenty of chickens and, at the moment, we are purchase a dozen eggs each week from one who has a real running farm - with happy, healthy, drug free, free-ranging, local chickens. What more can you ask for? $3.00 for a dozen per week for them to deal with feeding and housing AND rats and snakes. Yep! Worth every penny!!!!
Well, I guess that's it for now. I'm hoping to make this a better habit than it is now. I still have grand dreams of becoming a writer which means I need to continue writing ALL the time - 1,000,000 words before you become "good". And, I've realized, with most of my friends moving on and not responding much to emails, and my nanny passing away a couple of years ago, that I've stopped writing as much as I used to. I had the professional "Kelley letters" as some of my friends feared years and years ago (pre-children to be exact) and I should have continued - though not those types of letters. Ah well, I just need to sit here thinking that I'm writing to my nanny and just let it all pour out. Someone out there will enjoy it - I'm sure!
Good night to all and have a good week. Happy Columbus Day (can you believe that we STILL celebrate this day???)
Kelley
So no snazzy pictures and no video's for this one.
I guess I could have taken photos of the house, in the midst of this weeks chaos of "bombing" or fogging, for our lovely flea infestation. But, for those who have had to experience that in their own life, I think that's really all that needs to be said....well...that and I'm STILL doing laundry (day 3 of laundry hell!). Hehehehehe
So this past week has been our first vacation week at our school - Emerson Waldorf School - where both of our boys are attending
This will be our 4th, and final, Waldorf school in our lives. Which gives many mixed feelings as I have been reflecting, a lot lately, on all of our experiences over the years. Amazingly, each school is different and unique, but at the same time has many similarities as well. What I think I love most about Waldorf is how the education lets children be children for as long as possible - to hang on to that innocence and joy - because the world can be so harsh and cynical when you become an adult. Having Waldorf education helps not only the parents, but even more so, the students remember to see the beauty and joy in life - which I think everyone needs, but doesn't always get.
Okay, so beyond my reflection on our choice of Waldorf over these past 12 years the other fiddly bits of life over the past couple of weeks....
Well, there was the phone problem we were having. For 5 whole days of our vacation, even though we were disparaging over the flea problem and getting through it, I was enjoying the peace and serenity of our phone not working! Mind you, with 54 parents in Shannon's class, the phone doesn't really ring that often, which is quite amazing - I think our teenage son's get more phone calls than their dad. HA! But, after emailing the phone company of our problem. Having them come out and say that the phone line coming into the house was fine - dial tone and all. We had a kind parent who used to work in the tel-com business come to check out our phone lines on Thursday (5 or was that really 6 days later) to have Shannon finally stumble across a HIDDEN 4th phone in Mary's room that was in a drawer and knocked off the handset. Oh the irony and funniness of it all! I would have been happy to continue paying the phone company $50 a month to keep the phone from ringing - but alas - Alex had gone through withdrawls and managed to call everyone he knew (both here in NC and back at Cape Cod) to get his fix between Thursday and today!
Let's see... Shannon still has grand plans to build a hot tub. Not sure where he is with that plan but I know all of us are all for it if he can figure it out!
I've decided to NOT have chickens as I've realized with our teenage sons quickly growing up and possibly, maybe, moving on some day, that beyond our wonderulf basset hound, Tobey, I don't really think I want to be responsible for any other pets (well, there are the 2 cats, which are technically Mary's but, well....) AND I had someone who HAS chickens say, "With chickens comes both the rats and the snakes." Mind you, I love snakes - they don't bother me at all - bring them on! But rats... shudder.. unless I choose to get one as a pet - the wild ones, well, forget that! They bring mites and grossness. Ugh! No thanks! Plus we have a few families in Shannon's class that have plenty of chickens and, at the moment, we are purchase a dozen eggs each week from one who has a real running farm - with happy, healthy, drug free, free-ranging, local chickens. What more can you ask for? $3.00 for a dozen per week for them to deal with feeding and housing AND rats and snakes. Yep! Worth every penny!!!!
Well, I guess that's it for now. I'm hoping to make this a better habit than it is now. I still have grand dreams of becoming a writer which means I need to continue writing ALL the time - 1,000,000 words before you become "good". And, I've realized, with most of my friends moving on and not responding much to emails, and my nanny passing away a couple of years ago, that I've stopped writing as much as I used to. I had the professional "Kelley letters" as some of my friends feared years and years ago (pre-children to be exact) and I should have continued - though not those types of letters. Ah well, I just need to sit here thinking that I'm writing to my nanny and just let it all pour out. Someone out there will enjoy it - I'm sure!
Good night to all and have a good week. Happy Columbus Day (can you believe that we STILL celebrate this day???)
Kelley
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
40
So turning forty is one of those moments in life where, I have learned from having a few very good women friends, you either happily look it in the eye and appreciate this new phase OR you fear it and feel it means it's all down hill from here.
If I had only had the experience from my mother and my sister then 40 meant it was all down hill from here. But luckily I have had a few great experiences with some very close friends that this age meant I was finally acknowledged in the world as wise and no longer being held to the ideals of the immature and sexist people in the world.
I think, now that I'm more than 3 months into my 40th year, that life is messy and wonderful. I am shocked daily at how many people come to me for advice on raising children. It humbles me, and also makes me proud, that our two incredible boys are a small reflection of the love that both Shannon and I give to them daily.
Prior to turning 40 I truly felt that I did not, could not, possibly know anything in life. And now I have realized how much I have grown as a human being - and how much farther I have to go before my time is up.
All of this said I have to say, my 40th birthday celebration was one of those moments in life where I questioned my sanity. My sister, the wise "older" sister assured me that our family get-together would be a blast and a great celebration of my moving into the 40 realm. And with that, the initiation was nothing short of transforming for me in many aspects.
We rented a beautiful cabin in the Appalachian mountains here in North Carolina and for 4 short days we were going to do some white water rafting, some walking around the mountains and maybe even some touristy/sight-seeing.
The cabin was absolutely gorgeous, as you can see here:
So the next part was the part that was eye opening, transforming, a reminder...whatever you would like to call it... the white water rafting!
Now, this is one of those moments where, after-the-fact you realize you should have put more time into researching - but it's your sister, right?! You are sure that she read all the details and knew what she was getting you into. Especially knowing that her "little" sister was fat and out of shape and knew how hard this could possibly be, right??
Well she gave me every opportunity to go and read it myself. But I did not! So shame on me.
We had all the grand plans of white water rafting, which would have been fun and cool. What we ended up doing was fun-yaking or duckying because the water level was too low from the drought we were having. So, what that meant was we had "blow up" kayaks that we went down a river on.
Now, normally that would be fun and cool but the part I missed was that this was an 11 mile trek! Yes, an 11 mile trek. That means an 8 hour day. Yes, 8 hours of paddling, keeping your legs, hands, arms and face exposed to the sun (I'm hoping that you are getting the picture here.)
So, my sons, who are healthy and in shape and my nephew who is also healthy and in shape... and, oh, let's not forget my sister who is healthy and in shape are all having a blast. My husband had a near death experience (for another time) and my brother in-law who is much healthier and in shape than me was almost as grumpy as me were all "suffering".
This suffering actually put me in a space, alone (thank goodness) on the calm river...with blisters, sunburn, dehydration, exhaustion, and charlie-horses in my calves, TEARS of "My god, please just shoot me and put me out my misery. Could someone please just come drive me home? Why can't I just stay the night right here, in this f-ing funyak (where there was NO FUN in it), etc."
Here is a photo of the start of the day....
Notice the happy smiles of Shannon and myself. Please don't let this fool you!
I have realized that I managed to not take any photos of my massive sunburn - which I think was the most painful part of this whole excursion. Everything else, the fatigue, the blisters, the frustration - well they have all passed now. Actually, they passed by the next day, except for the pain on my legs which kept reminding me of the stupidity (for 3 weeks).
I love my sister - more than I can ever impart. This was not her fault. I jokingly point my finger her way, but I know I am grown up to have taken responsibility to check it out. So please, sis, if you read this - know that I truly don't blame you as I know different!
The most amazing part was - when we were on the bus, heading back to their building where we started that morning - that I truly enjoyed the whole experience. How lucky am I that I had a day of beautiful weather, incredible family, and getting to a place where I knew that I had to finish, no matter how melancholic I got, and that I can always remember this experience as something fun, happy and exciting, though exhausting and painful, was mine, and mine alone!
Sisters - always and forever!
Family - always and forever!
If I had only had the experience from my mother and my sister then 40 meant it was all down hill from here. But luckily I have had a few great experiences with some very close friends that this age meant I was finally acknowledged in the world as wise and no longer being held to the ideals of the immature and sexist people in the world.
I think, now that I'm more than 3 months into my 40th year, that life is messy and wonderful. I am shocked daily at how many people come to me for advice on raising children. It humbles me, and also makes me proud, that our two incredible boys are a small reflection of the love that both Shannon and I give to them daily.
Prior to turning 40 I truly felt that I did not, could not, possibly know anything in life. And now I have realized how much I have grown as a human being - and how much farther I have to go before my time is up.
All of this said I have to say, my 40th birthday celebration was one of those moments in life where I questioned my sanity. My sister, the wise "older" sister assured me that our family get-together would be a blast and a great celebration of my moving into the 40 realm. And with that, the initiation was nothing short of transforming for me in many aspects.
We rented a beautiful cabin in the Appalachian mountains here in North Carolina and for 4 short days we were going to do some white water rafting, some walking around the mountains and maybe even some touristy/sight-seeing.
The cabin was absolutely gorgeous, as you can see here:
So the next part was the part that was eye opening, transforming, a reminder...whatever you would like to call it... the white water rafting!
Now, this is one of those moments where, after-the-fact you realize you should have put more time into researching - but it's your sister, right?! You are sure that she read all the details and knew what she was getting you into. Especially knowing that her "little" sister was fat and out of shape and knew how hard this could possibly be, right??
Well she gave me every opportunity to go and read it myself. But I did not! So shame on me.
We had all the grand plans of white water rafting, which would have been fun and cool. What we ended up doing was fun-yaking or duckying because the water level was too low from the drought we were having. So, what that meant was we had "blow up" kayaks that we went down a river on.
Now, normally that would be fun and cool but the part I missed was that this was an 11 mile trek! Yes, an 11 mile trek. That means an 8 hour day. Yes, 8 hours of paddling, keeping your legs, hands, arms and face exposed to the sun (I'm hoping that you are getting the picture here.)
So, my sons, who are healthy and in shape and my nephew who is also healthy and in shape... and, oh, let's not forget my sister who is healthy and in shape are all having a blast. My husband had a near death experience (for another time) and my brother in-law who is much healthier and in shape than me was almost as grumpy as me were all "suffering".
This suffering actually put me in a space, alone (thank goodness) on the calm river...with blisters, sunburn, dehydration, exhaustion, and charlie-horses in my calves, TEARS of "My god, please just shoot me and put me out my misery. Could someone please just come drive me home? Why can't I just stay the night right here, in this f-ing funyak (where there was NO FUN in it), etc."
Here is a photo of the start of the day....
Notice the happy smiles of Shannon and myself. Please don't let this fool you!
I have realized that I managed to not take any photos of my massive sunburn - which I think was the most painful part of this whole excursion. Everything else, the fatigue, the blisters, the frustration - well they have all passed now. Actually, they passed by the next day, except for the pain on my legs which kept reminding me of the stupidity (for 3 weeks).
I love my sister - more than I can ever impart. This was not her fault. I jokingly point my finger her way, but I know I am grown up to have taken responsibility to check it out. So please, sis, if you read this - know that I truly don't blame you as I know different!
The most amazing part was - when we were on the bus, heading back to their building where we started that morning - that I truly enjoyed the whole experience. How lucky am I that I had a day of beautiful weather, incredible family, and getting to a place where I knew that I had to finish, no matter how melancholic I got, and that I can always remember this experience as something fun, happy and exciting, though exhausting and painful, was mine, and mine alone!
Sisters - always and forever!
Family - always and forever!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Whether the Weather...
This one will be short but I wanted to post the 2 photos that I took from the "H" named hurricane that blew up the coast from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning. So, as you can see, our creek that runs under our driveway and through our front yard was over flowing over our driveway and into our front yard and back into the creek again. Thank goodness there is a slight hill that goes back down toward the creek.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Perfect Day
Our family has enjoyed exciting roller coasters for quite some time now. Our boys first experience of this adrenaline excitement was when they were 4 and 5 years old. We were still living in north Phoenix, AZ and their dad had just moved to Massachusetts to start his new job. There was a shopping mall we passed almost every day to head to their school which had a double loop roller coaster. I think this is the following park but our good friends who still live there could confirm that for me. At any rate, I gave in to their pleas and we stopped there one day and gave it a shot. They just barely made the height requirement and as we were strapped in, and I could only choose to sit with one of them, I realized how stupid this was as they were skinny and small enough they could fall out. And "whoosh", off we went! When the short ride was over and we were all still alive the boys exclaimed, "That was FUN!" and in turn I asked, "Great, do you want to do it again?" and with a petrified look in their eyes they shook their heads no. And so I thought I scared them enough that they would not want to do it again. :)10 years later and in a different state...
On Monday this past week we went to the following roller coaster park, Kings Dominion.
Our original plan had been to hit the Six Flags in D.C. for Jared's graduation gift, but the drive to it would have been at least 6 hours. So in order to make it a decent trip we would have had to stay the night in a hotel. Then we learned that there were two, much closer roller coaster parks! One is in Charlotte, which is about 2 1/2 hours away, which ended up being our new choice as it had more and MUCH better rides than Six Flags. I mentioned it to one of my work mates who also has a son and husband who are roller coaster addicts and she said though Carowinds was good, that her 15 year old son has proclaimed Kings Dominion to be the best.
So we looked that one up - and it won! It had two more coaster than the one in Charlotte and two of the rides hit 72mph!!!! This park was just under 3 hours away, in Richmond, VA and thanks to Jared's nanny and grandpa - their graduation money gift to pay for this event - made it a very awesome day! Actually a Perfect Day!
It was not crowded so we were able to hit all the rides on our list that day, without rushing, and then go right back around and get on them almost immediately a 2nd or 3rd time! Plus, since we all have the same interests in the crazy intense rides we were able to go to exactly what we wanted!
Here are a few of our favorites:
The Dominator - This innovative 4,210-foot steel coaster is the longest floorless coaster in the world. Fly through gut-wrenching loops, rolls and corkscrews at speeds up to 65 mph!
Volcano, The Blast Coaster -It's the only coaster in the world to shoot you straight out of a raging volcano! Suspended from a steel track, you'll fly in and out of the rumbling mountain at speeds over 70 mph, then rocket 155 feet out of the top of the crater into a series of heart stopping inversions before a final 80-foot plummet. This is one of the world's fastest suspended coasters!The following was was incredibly scary the first time but just insanely fun the second. Shannon went on it the first time but decided to watch us go back a 2nd time and film it. This is called the Drop Tower and they describe it as follows: The largest drop ride in North America, a 305-foot tower of thrills that promises daring riders a 272-foot descent at 72 miles-per-hour! This adrenaline-pumping adventure simulates the sensation of skydiving.
There was one small one, not really a "coaster" but it was awesome as it spun you around so fast your stomach did flip-flops! It was called The Crypt and it made me laugh so hard I was crying!
Through all the thrills and adrenaline we had that day the only truly scary moment was when the boys decided they were going to do the Xtreme Flyer. As many of you know, if you've been in ANY roller coaster park, that this is the ride that you have to pay extra for, where they strap you to a harness attached to a cord that pulls you up incredibly high. In this case it was 153 feet, and then you have to pull the cord attached to your harness to DROP you, as if you were skydiving, and then you swing out like superman! Shannon and I watched petrified as we realized if anything happened that we were out our only two children! Once again... what were we thinking!!! Well, here it is...We had an awesome day that was no stress and all fun! The perfect day with our teenage sons!
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