A letter

Dear Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt Barbara and Aunt Mary,

Remember when we were little and we would visit Grandma's house? We would always haveour dinner out on Grandma's porch on the big red picnic table and aunt Barbara would always make her peach jello. That jello was sooo good.

Remember how all us kids would eat while we were wearing our swimsuits? We were all so anxious to get in Grandma's pool. But we thought you guys were dumb. Why in the world would you make us wait 30 minutes before we got into grandma's pool after we ate? All 7 of us grandkids would sit around on the porch in Grandpa's Disney director chairs and play with Bridget and Misty while we waited until you said we could dive in.

When we got bored with the dogs we would wander out to the side of the pool. Many times we would slowly make our way down the steps. We figured getting in up to our ankles wasn't going to hurt. Then our calves, then our knees, and then our thighs. Then we would hear you guys yelling from the porch, "Not yet!! You guys still have 10 minutes!!"

To tell you the truth, I never really believed in the wait 30 minutes rule. How bad could it really be to go swimming right after eating?

You see, I am a parent now and our kids love to swim. I have never been as harsh as you all were and made our kids wait to get in the pool.

Steve didn't really believe in the rule either. He says his mom did the same thing, too. (must have been a generational thing)

Well, we now come to you all and say - "You were right." We finally saw the disgusting effects of swimming too close to eating. Unfortunately, Steve saw the effects up close and actually got to feel the effects come spewing out of Clara's mouth. Maybe she threw-up because the rice and beans didn't settle too well? Maybe she tossed her cookies because she was being thrown around like a little rag doll. Or maybe she threw up because we let her in the pool before 30 minutes had passed. Whatever the reason was, as a couple, Steve and I have decided to take stock in your advice and not allow our children to swim anymore until the food in their stomach has been digested. We should have followed your lead in the first place.

Thank you for the life lesson. We love you all.

Love,

Steve and Amy

California, Part deux

When we first decided to take a little vacation we had a place that we wanted to visit in mind.

I'm sure you are thinking Disneyland. Why wouldn't we go there if we were in So. California?

But you would be SOOOO wrong.

We went to the Reagan Library, silly!

Believe it or not, this place is really cool. The kids had no idea who Ronald Reagan was, but we think we were able to teach Thomas a little about him. We blasted through the museum section to get to the main attraction we were going to see.

Was it the podium?

or the trivia game about proper dining etiquette?

No...

We went to see Air Force One.

Which was too big to get a picture of with my camera. I left my camera bag hidden in the car and only brought my camera with my 35mm on it. You can kind of see in in the background of this picture that Clara took. (she's getting good - not bad for a 3 year old!)

Steve heard the airplane was a new exhibit and thought Thomas would enjoy seeing it. We actually all enjoyed it.

and after 3 hours it did this to our kids....

California

Last weekend we called a TIME OUT! We had been so busy with "stuff" and felt like our family time was suffering. We made the decision to lock up a messy house and drive down to California. The kids were so excited to go and couldn't wait to get in the car.

Luckily we were blessed with 2 children who travel very well - as long as we have plenty of junk food, games, and DVD's to watch. I traveled very well because I had my laptop on the trip and was able to do some editing on the drive down.

Once we arrived at out hotel room the kids and Steve jumped into their swimsuit.

The kids had a great time in the pool - even if it was WAY too cold.

I decided to pull the plug when they started turning purple and words couldn't be formed because they were shivering so bad. They kept telling up they were fine and not cold at all.

I kept telling them they were a bunch of liars.

more to come.

Steve's Birthday

In an attempt to return to the blogging world, I must update. There are lots of things to update about, but If I try to post each one I'll never get around to it.

The biggest event we had during the month of May was Steve's birthday. He turned the big 41. I planned a nice BBQ with rib-eyes. Unfortunately I didn't plan changing the gas tank and ended up with Little Caesars $5 pizza.

Guess how many times we had to light the candles before he was able to blow them out himself?