Friday

Today was one of the few days that we did not leave the house. It was like one of those dreams where everything was just moving in slow motion. For one thing, I cooked breakfast this morning, which I don't usually do. Toby loves bacon and since it was his birthday I had bought a pack of bacon to cook for him for his birthday. Since we were out of town for his birthday the bacon didn't get cooked until this morning. I think I hate to cook bacon more than any food out there. It greases, smokes, and stinks the kitchen up for days and it takes forever to cook....not to mention what it probably does for our arteries. After breakfast we took a cold dip in the pool. You can tell the temps have cooled down a little because the pool was FREEZING! After our swim I made us all lunch and by that time it was time for Lucas and Toby to be at work. Later on in the afternoon a friend showed up with her son and we socialized for a little while. Although Summer seemed fine all day I noticed that as the evening wore on she seemed a little lethargic.....rare for her. I felt her forhead and it was the dreaded fever. On the upside of this, I had just checked out a couple of books that I rented from the library the other day that I will be able to read uninterrupted while she sleeps off the fever. :-)

Wer'e Back!

We made it back safely from our vacation in New Orleans. We had a good time, but I can say that a cruise like the one we had last year can not be outdone. Unfortunately funds were not there for a "fancy" vacation this year.....but anytime spent together will do.

We left on Sunday and checked into the hotel around 4:00. I booked the hotel in advance and was really pleased with the rate....but after arriving there I can see why it was "affordable". Don't get me wrong, it was clean and the staff was friendly but....let's just say, thank goodness were not used to a high standard of living! We didn't have any real plans other than just to be somewhere out of Mobile and to visit the Aquarium, so after we checked in, Toby and I lounged around the pool and relaxed while Summer swam a little while.

Since the Aquariam is closed on Mondays we decided to take a trip to City Park and visit the Story Land Amusement Park there. I didn't remember that Storyland is only open on Sat. and Sun. so we just let Summer play in the park and do some park sightseeing.






After we left the park we let Summer take a look at Lake Ponchatrain.

We went back to the hotel and Toby and Summer took a dip in the pool. Later on we took a walk downtown and found Toby a celebration drink for his Birthday....he is 33 years old today. Happy Birthday Toby! We walked and walked and before you know it it was getting dark. Summer was really enjoying the walk and taking in all the sights but mine and Toby's feet were about to kill us, so at her resistence we headed back to the hotel for the night.

On Tuesday we visited the Aquariam and I have to say this was my favorite part of the whole trip. The Aquarium was great. Summer got to pet and feed a nurse shark and some sting rays. We also got to watch them feed the animals through the glass tunnel. We made the Aquariam a whole day thing so when we got back to the hotel we hung around there for the rest of the night. Toby and Summer took an evening dip in the pool and it was cold. It had lightly rained all day so the air and water were pretty cool.

Friday Playdate

We joined a good homeschool friend for our weekly adventure. Today it was Pump it Up day. The kids always get their excercise in, while us moms can catch up on some friendly gossip. After Pump it Up we went to Chick Fa La for lunch. I guess I really need to get out and socialize a little more. I get so excited with adult conversation that sometimes I forget to mind my manners.....but my friends little boy promptly reminded me that I should not talk with my mouth full. If you ever need an honest opinion just ask a child! :-) After we got home it was so muggy and hot that Summer and I took a quick dip in the pool. Afterwards we did our usual evening routine of watching T.V., playing games, eating, and reading books.

Family Field Trip

I woke up early this morning and it was such a beautiful day! I did my usual morning routine before Summer got up....check my e-mail, read a little, eat breakfast. By the the time Summer got up around 9:00, she ate a little breakfast and we headed outside to the pool. I decided that it was a much nicer day to swim in the pool (physical education) than to be stuck inside doing schoolwork. While Toby and I were lounging in the pool and Summer was "excercising" we were trying to plan our day. I remembered about the 5 Rivers Delta that Summer and I had visited for Earth Day back in April. They had a really cool small informative museum that Summer and I had really enjoyed. Toby was not able to attend with us at the time so we took him to visit. I figured it was educational enough to be considered school and interesting enough to be fun. Here are a couple of photos.

Snorkling class

We took advantage of a end of summer sale at big lots and invested in some snorkling gear. Toby, being the water lover he is, already has a good mask and snorkle that he bought before we went on our cruise last year. Summer had an old snorkle that she had been "playing with" but really didn't know how to use. Of course, the minute we hit the door she wanted to head out to the pool to try out her new snorkle. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the pool with Toby teaching Summer to snorkle. It was so funny, because every time I walked outside to check on them, they were both face down in the pool snorkling. Toby now has a snorkling partner!

Friday

It's been pretty much the usual routine this week. Today we met up at the Blu Rabbit with some homeschooling friends that we had not seen in a while. I really despise the Blu Rabbit, but the kids always have fun and it's always great to get some adult conversation.

Favorite pics of the month

Not much going on the past few days.....just trying to stay cool and running our usual errands. I'm really in vacation mode. It's been almost a year since our last vacation and I can tell by my attitude that I am due for another one. A homeschooling/stay-at-home mom definitely deserves at least one good vacation a year. We do have one planned for the end of the month to New Orleans to the Aquariam and whatever else we find interesting there for a couple of days. Before Katrina we used to make New Orleans our big vacation of the year so it will be nice to be there again. Anyway, I was downloading the pictures off of my camera and I thought these were some pretty good shots so I thought I would share.
Where does all that static electricity come from in the summertime????

My two favorite animal babies.

What Meteor Shower?????

As homeschoolers you always grab any chance you can for a hands on experience. Last night was one of those chances. We had heard that there was going to be a really good meteor shower with the chance to see several meteors per hour. Originally we had planned to camp at one of our favorite camping spots out of the city limits where you can really skywatch.....but the thoughts of trying to sleep in a sleeping bag in 95 degreee weather with outrageous humidity did not appeal to any of us. So, really not wanting to miss the sky show we decided if we could drive to the school where the sky is really open that we could maybe get a glimpse of at least one of these spectacular rocks. We parked on the service road that runs down the side of the school and just right off the main road and grabbed our picnic blanket out of the trunk, spread it out in the school yard on the grass, layed down, and looked up. I had a really good laugh when I thought about what a cop might think of this when he saw us. Here we are in the middle of the ghetto in the schoolyard laying on a blanket watching for meteors which, by the way, we never saw thanks to the overcast and extra moisture floating around in the air. Oh well, nice try anyway!

Heat Wave

Needless to say the past few days have been spent mostly in the pool. I love hot weather, but the temps around here lately have been suffocating. Even my very active outside loving little girl has been spending most of her time occupying herself inside when we're not in the pool. We managed to go to our homeschool open house on Wed. and I picked up some pretty cool homeschool magazines and alot of info on some stuff that will be going on for homeschoolers this year.......although I havn't signed up for any of it because we don't plan on being in Mobile for too much longer. We are finally in a financial position that we can move and we have decided to stay here until the beginning of next year unless something we can't pass up comes along. I want to make sure that my son is in school and settled.......he doesn't plan on moving with us.

Play Date

We met a good homeschool friend at a splash pad today. I have been to this particular splash pad before and knew that there was little to no shade, so I dressed appropriately. Even in my scantily clad I was sweating bullets, something I hardly ever do. Lina and I ended up spending most of our time trying to cool off sticking our feet and hands in the sprays.....needless to say we ended up getting pretty wet, which was well worth it to us. There was a pretty good crowd of kids there for it to be the first day of school, but they were all having such a blast soaking up the water, before we knew it we had been there almost 4 hours. By the time we got home, something that never, ever happens, happened.......Summer said she was tired! Thank God for splash pads, cause mama was wore out too.

Jellyfish Mania!

Growing up on the gulf coast you definitly know what jellyfish are, but it's been awhile since I have seen so many in one place. Since it has been so hot we decided to take off to the beach....no better place to be when the temps are in the upper 90's, but when we got to our favorite beach area and headed out to the water we discovered that "someone" else had decided to take a swim too...infestations of jellyfish! Not the normal looking kind either, they were not "of this area". That explained why the beach was busy but no one was in the water, including us. It's hard enough to avoid a stray one much less an army. It was definitly much to hot to be on a beach that you couldn't swim in, so we stayed long enough to warrant the trip, then came home and swam in our unjellyfished pool.

Party Day

We got to spend some time with part of the "ol' homeschool gang" today. It was Devin's son Kol's B-day and we were invited to the party. I wouldn't have otherwise wanted to be out of the house at 9:30a.m. to be at a b-day party by 10:00a.m, but since it was with people that I enjoy their company it made it worthwhile. Summer had a great time playing on the water slide and I had a good time chit-chatting with adult females........something I havn't done in a long time. And of course, it looked like Kol was having a good time too! After the party we went to visit my grandmother in the nursing home. Up until recently she had been living with my dad and his wife. Even though my dad is still very active for his 70 years old, taking care of my mentally/physically ailing 89 year old gradmother was getting to be too much for him. Anyway, that's a whole other blog. Summer and I arrived at the nursing home and my grandmother and about 5 other old folks were standing at the door ready to pounce out like it was the day after Thanksgiving sales. None of them had their minds so it was like being around a bunch of grown kids. Summer doesn't mind my grandmother because she is used to her "mental instabilities", but when you have 5 old ladies pawing all over you in awe it could be a bit daunting for a 6 year old. She took it in stride though and used her "homeschool" manners. After we left my grandmother we did our usual errands. By the time we got home both of us were glad to see the house. We relaxed playing games, watching T.V. and reading the rest of the night.