Family visit and upcoming conference

Hi all-

Well, things this summer have continued to be quite busy, but I'm having a blast. This week has been especially nice because my Momma, niece, and nephews came to visit. I wish all of you could have seen me waiting for their arrival. I was literally like a child waiting for Santa Claus. I couldn't sleep even though it was the middle of the night when they arrived.

Oh it was wonderful to have all of them here for a few days. We had many adventures. The first day they were here I took them to Wild Adventures. It was amazing! The park isn't very crowded during the week (except for Friday). Every ride that the children wanted to ride had very little wait. In fact, there were several rides that they literally had the ride operator running the ride for only them.

And then there was the Veggie Tales show! Wow! That's all I can say. All the children thoroughly enjoyed it. Amazingly it was the perfect show for each of them, and that's not an easy accomplishment since they range in ages from nine through two.

Finally, there was the water park. They loved it. I discovered what a true dare devil Danny is. We slid down many water slides together. I'd explain to him that the water was going to splash his face when we got to the bottom, but he honestly didn't care.

We finished up our visit at the park by all having dipping dots. But the best part, for the five of us the entire admission cost just $30. Okay, let me explain. Josh and I have annual passes to the park and Danny was free because he's not yet three. Josh and I also had two guest passes (for free) so only Momma had to pay to get in...and we found a deal online to help with that. Not bad, huh? I'd definitely say it wasn't bad at all.

The next day, Annie and I took Josh down to the airport and Momma, Gabe and Danny went to the children's movie. It's a great deal, free admission and $2 for a child size coke and popcorn. Wow! Anyway, they had fun watching Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium or something like that. And Annie and I had fun visiting with Josh on the way to the airport and singing country music songs and talking on the way home.

When we got home, everyone had lunch. The children played and then we had "rest time." I do believe rest time is one of my favorite parts about summer. It always reminds me of naps during college or lazy summer afternoons as child. So we all rested and read books, or rather Annie, Momma and I read books the boys napped.

Once rest time was over the children began to play some more and I decided rather than visiting the pool down the street that the children could play in the sprinklers and pool here. They loved it! Interestingly enough it all culminated with them actually asking to take a bath. :) I'm sure our jacuzzi tub had "nothing" to do with that. Ha ha!

(pictures of "the sprinkler playing" soon)

But our day was far from over. After the bath and supper Momma and I decided to take the children back to the movies. This time we all watched Kung Fu Panda. It was a good child friendly movie and was thoroughly enjoyed as was demonstrated by playing "Kung Fu Panda" when we got home.

Things have been a bit more quiet since they've headed home. But I've still had more than enough to keep me busy. I headed back to PT yesterday and learned some new exercises. I caught up on my house cleaning. Thankfully, I'd done my "house blessing" (dusting, moping, sweeping, vacuuming, polishing mirrors/doors, and changing linens Sunday night so I had Monday free and Tuesday is always my "free day." So the visit worked out just perfectly.

This week coming week will be a bit more complicated though. I'm going to be out of town, but I am determined not to fall too far behind on my cleaning. SO I went ahead and did the cleaning for this week and next week (Wednesday, Thursday, and today). Thankfully, I've finished it all up now.

And no, I'm not talking about just a light cleaning. Honestly since beginning Fly lady, the surface cleaning of the house has been simple. So I've found I've been able to go more deeply. This week alone, I've cleaned out the medicine cabinet, the cabinet and drawers in the bathroom, the drawers of my desk in my office, my vanity and nightstands drawers and my dresser drawers. WOW! Lots of trash going out this week. Well...I didn't clean out my keepsake drawer in my dresser, but that's a LONG job just itself. Last week, I cleaned out my decoration closet, guest closet and straightened up my closet some. Whew! But you know, the accomplishment that I feel when I'm done...is more powerful than I can describe.

So why is all of this falling into place and why do I have the time to do all of this? The best answer I know to give you, is to check out Fly lady. It helps set up a routine and helps keep the house us well enough that there's time to do the deeper things.

But enough about the cleaning let me tell you a little about my upcoming trip. I'm going to a workshop for Advanced Placement certification. In lay terms, this means I'll be able to teach college level classes in high school once I've finished this workshop.

I'm getting the feeling that the studying this next week is going to be very vigorous. But I'm up for the challenge. And I have to admit I'm particularly excited about this next week because I'm going to be rooming with a co-worker that is one of my closest friends. I'm convinced we are going to have a blast (at night) after each day's hard work is done.

I'm already looking forward to many of the restaurants and night life of the town. Of course,my husband has reminded me (on more than one occasion) how important it is that we take this course seriously and don't play too much. I've assured him we'll be good...but nonetheless, I'm sure we're going have fun too.

What can I say? Men. After all he's off to Las Vegas this week for a conference and I have to admit I've never once considered that he might be focused on other things that work. :) Guess it goes with the territory that he'd worry about us when we, ladies, are off on our own and such.

Nonetheless, I look forward to telling you all about our adventures when I return, that is if I don't manage to do so before that.

But until then, enjoy your summer!