Mama On The Move

Ever since Emily took the SAT and scored so well, she's been getting letters from colleges all over the country.  They are pretty much all alike: pictures of a pretty campus, glowing reports from students and alumnae about the life changing experience they had at this particular college, data about their excellence in education. One college however jumped out at us because their letter was so different from the others.  This is the first paragraph: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah Macalester College, blah, blah, blah, blah, "Mac", blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, high SAT scores, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, great academic match for your interests, blah, blah, blah, blah, a college with commitment to the community, blah, blah, blah, blah, internationalism, blah, blah, multiculturalism, blah, blah, community service, blah, blah, blah, in two of the most "liveable" metropolitan cities in the U.S.,blah, blah, blah, blah. The letter went on to say that they kn...

We did something we said we'd never do. We bought a car for Ben.   We managed to pull off the surprise completely.  He had no idea we might do this.  Frankly, we had no idea we might do this. Someone Kerry works with mentioned that she was going to sell her car.  It was the right price (rock bottom) and the right time.  Ben needs to get a job but he can't get a job without a way to get to his job. We had parked the car in front of a neighbor's house so Ben wouldn't see it when he arrived home from his summer job.  We waited until after dinner when Ben had decided to take a shower to move the car into the driveway. The girls and I went to stand out by the car while Kerry asked Ben to come into the garage to help him with something. TA DA!

We spent the day at Six Flags again! This time we tried out the Scooby Doo ride which we had never been on before. I thought it was quite cute as you have a little laser gun on the ride and you try to shoot things as you pass through. Katie doesn't usually like the wilder rides but she got on this thing with Emily. It did this when they were on it! Kerry and I stayed on the ground. Kerry and the girls also rode the swings, which I usually love, but wasn't inclined to participate in on this particular visit.  Those suckers really went very high in the sky. They also rode this bad boy.  Katie usually refuses to ride things like this.  I don't know how Emily talked her into it, but she suddenly developed an ability to go on thrill rides! I used to love rides like this.  As a matter of fact, when I was young, I always said I would never marry a man who wouldn't go on roller coasters.  It was a major criteria for me.  A d...

All the technology we have today has certainly changed our romance. I was on the computer downstairs and Kerry went upstairs to get ready for bed. Then I received this text from him: "You should come kiss me. I am exceptionally attractive at this time of night and you will regret missing the opportunity of kissing me before I drift off to sleep. I will not want to deny you that opportunity. " Yep, he got a kiss for that one!

After we dropped Ben off at his summer job, we headed over to Williamsburg where we got to meet up with two sets of friends. We stayed with one set of friends we had known in Hawaii.  Katie was good friends with their daughters and we had lived just a couple of block from each other.   Why I did not get pictures of the girls together, I will never know!  I stunk at taking pictures on this trip! Then we met up with another family we had been friends with in Hawaii.  We had all attended church together and have kept in touch now that we are all back on the mainland. We spent a day with them at Williamsburg. The governor's mansion was really cool.  Swords as decoration in the hallway - fairly intimidating in colonial times. Nifty bedding in the mansion. Child's bedding. Again, I don't know what was wrong with my camera skills on this trip.  Usually I take pictures of everything. My favorite things at Williamsburg...

Almost forgot to mention that we took a ferry on our way to Williamsburg.     I can't remember the last time we actually rode a ferry.  The girls didn't remember ever being on one. The ride was long enough that we were able to get out of the car and walk around a bit.  We could see Williamsburg and Jamestown, maybe.  We think.  It was quite windy. Oddly enough, having never been on a ferry in their memories, the girls and I have actually been on another ferry since we've returned to Illinois!

When I was planning the Big Fat Trip, I told everyone that we needed to cut costs by not eating out as much.  Unfortunately, I've found on past trips that if I take sandwiches, no one actually eats them.  The sight of sandwich fixin's just can't compare with the sight of a fast food sign. So on this trip, I packed drinks, fruit, and chips and told everyone we could buy hamburgers or chicken sandwiches but we would not be ordering fries or drinks. Well, as it just so happened at one point, just as we were getting hungry for lunch, we spotted a Lee's Fried Chicken up ahead.  Lee's really has excellent chicken and fabulous biscuits.  We quickly decided that we would stop and grab chicken although I reminded everyone that we would only buy chicken as we had drinks and sides in the car. The girls waited in the car while Kerry and I went inside.  Kerry placed our order while I availed myself of the restroom. When we got back out to the car, Kerry pull...

Of course, the most exciting part of our trip to Busch Gardens was that Ben proposed to Noelle! They are officially engaged! Having only been proposed to, never having been the one doing the proposing, it was quite an adventure to see it all unfold behind the scenes, as it were. When Kerry proposed to me, I had absolutely no clue that it was in the works so I was unaware of all the build-up and the ring search and the planning that goes into this one pivotal moment. Ben had contacted us a couple of months earlier to let us know he wanted to go ahead and propose.  They had already been dating three years and had planned to wait one more year to get engaged, but Noelle's father had indicated that he would approve of them getting engaged sooner and Ben needed no further urging. He was looking at rings on line, and sent me pictures of what sort of ring he was looking for.  I urged him to wait until he could see the rings in person.  Things look a lot larg...

After we left our home state, we headed up to Virginia.  That's where Ben's summer job is, and we have friends and family we wanted to visit while we were there. Ben's girlfriend was able to join us for the day at Busch Gardens where we had a very exciting day! We rode lots of rides, but that wasn't the most exciting part. We had fun family time, but that wasn't the most exciting part. We saw lots of cool animals, but that wasn't the most exciting part. We saw a dragon being carved out of crisco and cornstarch, as well as really nifty carved watermelons and all sorts of food art which was really cool but not the most exciting part. We rode exciting rides and saw fun thing, but those were not the most exciting things of the day! I accidentally took a photo of my feet, which really wasn't all that exciting. I fell down when I tripped backwards over a curb.  Kerry thought I had been knocked down which almost caused...

Emily got to drive for the first time while we were back home as well.  She's never had any interest in getting her license, but I figured if I could just get her behind the wheel and let her try it out in a field where she didn't have to worry about hitting anything or anybody, it would light a fire under her and she would get excited about driving. I was right. She has now completed driver's ed and has her learner's permit!

 My father-in-law is one of the most impressive people I've ever known.  The man can build anything, make anything, fix anything - and I'm not kidding either.  He once neutered my cat on our dining room table with a steak knife.  That cat was well and truly "fixed".  I've often wished I had taken a picture of that moment.  It would have been awesome to have company over for dinner and whip out a photo and say, "Guess what happened right where you're sitting?  And with that knife you're using too!" One of his latest projects has been carving building replicas.  This barn is one he made from scratch, including carving every roof shingle by hand.  The end comes off so you can see inside.  My girls would have had a fit to play with this when they were younger.  Polly Pockets having their very own barn?  It would have been paradise for the girls and the Pollys. FIL also carved this cabin.  The roof lifts...

While we were in Kerry's home town, we met a mastiff who is possibly related to Gene Simmons.  His tongue hangs out all the time - it won't all fit in his mouth apparently. When we first met him, he was sitting in the road with his tongue covered in dirt and leaf was stuck to it.  Oh yeah, and a chihuahua was chewing on it! I can't make this stuff up!

Next on our Big Fat Trip, we stopped in my home town.  Somehow I only managed to take two pictures while we were there.  I just wanted to sit with my family and have quiet time.  I didn't want to go out and visit old haunts or meet up with friends from the past.  I just wanted to spend time in the house where I grew up with the people I grew up with. We did meander out to a store where the girls tried on vintage style clothes. And I had the best brownies and the best cole slaw ever.  I should have gotten a picture of those, but instead, I got the recipes!

We went on a big, fat trip through our home state and various states we've lived in.  We drove 2200 miles altogether, saw friends and family, had one life changing moment and a few smaller moments that were just life. It started when Ben got a job in Virginia for the summer.  We had planned to go join our family at the beach for Father's Day, but since Ben had to be in VA by the 25th, we thought we'd just change our vacation and have it while delivering Ben to his destination. First stop was at a hotel about six hours down the road.  Nothing momentous to report. Second stop was in Alabama to see my BFF Mary and her nine kids.  Nine.  And that's not all, there's more on the way! Mary has been my friend for 13 years.  She can make me laugh like no one else.  My three kids and her oldest three kids were the same genders and similar in age.  They played together for years when we lived near each other and kept in touch long after we all moved....

I have NOT been able to get in the blogging groove for quite a while - I'm trying to catch up now, but I have got a long way to go! Let's start with prom.  Emily went to the homeschoolers prom in St Louis with two of her friends.   They came to our house to get ready as Kerry and I were the ones driving them to St Louis. I told them to strike a pose and Emily was the posiest. I took Emily to the salon and got her hair done.  She asked them to do it like Elsa's coronation hairdo from "Frozen". She hated it. When we picked the girls up at the end of the evening, Emily came out with a tiara and limping. Knowing her as I do, I immediately assumed she'd conned some poor girl out of her tiara or possibly just tackled someone to the ground and wrested it away. Turns out my darlin' sweet pea was crowned Junior Prom Princess of the Junior class!! (And now I remember why I am so behind on blog posts:  I had asked Emily...