Baseball Season Is Over

Baseball season is officially over, at least for our family. Son #3 (age 7, pictured above) played his final game tonight. His team, the Marlins, did well. They won the last nine games in a row and finished either first place or second. His age group doesn't have a tournament.

Son #2 (age 11) also had a great season. His team, the Astros, finished second for the season. They do have a single-elimination tournament but unfortunately he'll miss it. The tournament starts Saturday but Son #2 leaves for Boy Scout camp that very morning. Here's hoping the Astros will go all the way and win the championship.

We Interrupt My Vacation Posts for....SNOW!

Snow ... in southeast Louisiana. A rare, welcome treat. We had 3 to 4 inches yesterday. It didn't last long, though. Today's high was in the mid 50s so all that's left is a bunch of deformed snowmen on brown lawns.

Yesterday.....

Max was initially afraid of the snow, but soon loved romping and frolicking.

Son #1 started a snowman, and Son #2 completed it for him today. As you can see from the background, very little snow remains.

Vacation Day 3

Sorry I didn't blog sooner. I'm having computer issues, but I'll save that for another post...

Day 3 of our vacation was fun. We woke early and took the hotel shuttle to the Metro station (that's D.C.'s subway system) and rode the Metro into the city. We disembarked at the "Mall" which isn't a shopping center, but rather the area in Washington, DC near the monuments, museum and Capitol Building. Here are the boys at the Metro station awaiting our ride.

Our first stop was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We spent a lot of time in the dinosaur exhibit and the marine life exhibit.

This was all very nice, but my favorite part was the Gems & Minerals, home of the Hope Diamond, among other famous, fabulous jewels. Here are Son #1 and Son#2 next to my birthstone, amethyst.

Vacation Days 1 & 2

We recently drove from Louisiana to Washington, DC to visit my mother for Thanksgiving. I'm lumping Day 1 & 2 together since we were on the road both days (Louisiana to Knoxville, TN on Day 1, Knoxville to Alexandria, VA - just outside D.C. - on Day 2).

Zack and I were sick for a bit of the trip - strep & upper respiratory ick. If you have to feel yucky, it might as well be when you're snuggled in the car for two days. It sort of forces you to relax since there isn't anything else to do. Sons #1 and #2 passed much of the time playing video games (on long car rides, I relax the time limit they can play). Here's how Son #3 passed much of his time on Day 1:

The hotel in Knoxville was nice. The indoor pool was open 24 hours, plus there was a really neat game room - video games, pool table, racquet ball courts... We dined at Ruby Tuesdays, and turned in early.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Day 2 - woke in time to attend church, before hitting the road. A nice uneventful drive through the mountains. It apparently snowed a couple of days prior at the Tennessee/Virginia state line so we stopped at the Virginia Welcome Center so the kids could play a bit.

Later that evening, we checked into our hotel, the Hilton in Alexandria, Va. Our room was on the 25th floor - great view, fast elevator. Kids were impressed. We met my mother for dinner. Then returned to the hotel for prepare for a busy Day Three.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Happy Halloween!

From left to right are:

• Commander Cody from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Son #3, age 6)
• Indiana Jones (Son #2, age 11)
• Scream Ghoul (Son #3, age 13)

Graduation Day

Congratulations, Max! He graduated from PetSmart's Puppy Training class on Saturday. Max is our 6 month old lab/mastiff puppy that we adopted in July. You can read more about him by clicking here.

He still has come fear-submissive tendencies and will sometimes bark at another dog (not all dogs, just certain ones). He almost got into a tussle with Emma, his great dane classmate, at graduation. That was unusual because they've gotten along great for the past several weeks.

Mostly though, he's a very sweet, well-behaved pup. He picks up on tricks very easily. We just need to work to socialize him more. I hope to sign him up for intermediate classes, but the Sept. and Oct. classes aren't fitting in with my schedule at this time. In the meantime, I'll keep working with him on my own. He really has it in him to be a great dog.

Returning Home

By Wednesday, many businesses in our area had power restored and although our neighborhood did not, Dear Hubby thought we should head home on Thursday morning. He was confident that we'd have electricity by the time we arrived home Thursday evening. I went under protest.

Personally, I would've preferred to wait until I was sure electricity was back on. "I'm not goin' until the A/C is blowin'" was my mantra. Let's face it. If the electricity wasn't back on, he could go to his air conditioned office with a working refrigerator, while I would be stuck at home with three smelling boys and two sweaty dogs. I won't even go into the hormonal changes often experienced by the plus 40 yr old woman. Oh, and did I mention 90+ degree temperatures.

Nevertheless, I put on my best "supportive" face and attempted to make the best of it. Just for the record, next time a hurricane passes by, I think I'll move here:


They seem to have the right idea. A house on a mountain. Sure they might be stuck during the winter, but hey, I'm 43 and am my own self-contained portable space heater. Global warming? Yeah, that's me.

This is a huge cross outside a church in Tennessee. It somehow seemed comforting to see it looming over the mountainside.

Alabama was experiencing unpleasant weather due to Hurricane Gustav. Tell me again why we left Tennessee.

Mississippi is looking better. Check out the sunset. We stopped at a Walmart in Hattiesburg, MS to load up on essentials because we weren't sure how the groceries in Louisiana would be. Electricity was still hit-or-miss there.

While in the Walmart parking lot in Hattiesburg, my neighbor called at 6:45 p.m. to let us know that power was restored to our street, saving my marriage (kidding). We were two hours from home so the air conditioning would have time to cool things down a bit for our arrival.

Other than missing a single shingle, below is our only real damage. This is the same fence that was blown over in the other direction following Hurricane Katrina. The entire length should be replaced - primarily because my neighbor's yard retains water and the posts are rotting. Our yard is properly graded so we have no standing water. Nevertheless, I cannot afford to have the fence replaced, but I was able to get someone out to re-set a few posts and nail up the existing panels. It'll have to do for now. The dogs (on both sides of the fence) are happier now.

Evacu-cation* - Day 4

* Evacu-cation (ee-vak-yoo-kay-shun) - noun - a trip that starts off by evacuating from a natural disaster, but upon learning that family, home, neighbors are safe, morphs into a mini-vacation. (according to Son #1)

Son #3 especially enjoyed himself. He kept saying he was "living the dream!" No wonder. Here he's getting a poolside massage (courtesy of Dear Hubby).

Isn't this retro McDonald's cute?


Inside McDonald's:


The hotel has a tree-shaded courtyard area with tables so we ate lunch outside one afternoon. Below is our puppy, Max, who dined with us.

Here's Son #3 with our beagle, Scout.

"Evacu-cation*" - Days 2-3

* Evacu-cation (ee-vak-yoo-kay-shun) - noun - a trip that starts off by evacuating from a natural disaster, but upon learning that family, home, neighbors are safe, morphs into a mini-vacation.

This word was coined by my 13-yr old son this past week. Hmmm....I wonder how long it will take before Webster's Dictionary recognizes it.

Once we received word that our house was okay, the neighbors were safe, etc., we were able to relax and enjoy out time in Knoxville, Tennessee. I wish we would've done more touristy stuff, but Dear Hubby was plugged into his laptop catching up on missed work, and the kids wanted to spend most of their time at the pool.

We did manage a little shopping and dining out. We learned that Ruby Tuesday's has something on the menu that makes everyone happy - that's rare. Knoxville on Kingston Pike has some really neat shopping. A lot of familiar stores, a nice mall, Dick's Sporting Goods (Dear Hubby loved it), and Lilly's Bead Box (where I picked up a few jewelry making supplies).

The following are a bunch of photos....

They sure are easily amused, aren't they?

Didn't see this coming, did you? (Sometimes a mother can only shake her head.)

Oh look, somebody is giving me bunny ears:

Blowing water through a "noodle" (subtitle: eeeewwwwww!)

They look pretty pleased with themselves, don't they? Kind of hard to tell which one is the 6-year old in this photo (hint: the one without chest hair!).

"Evacu-cation*" - Day 1 (cont'd)

My previous post detailed the start of our journey from Louisiana to Knoxville, TN (to avoid Hurricane Gustav) on Sunday, Aug. 31. The kids and pets were very well behaved for the 9-hour car ride. Below are shots of some of the scenery. My part of Louisiana is flat, so I've always been fascinated by anything higher than an anthill.

I could get used to this view. We arrived at our hotel just in time to check in at 3:00 p.m. We booked a room at the Holiday Inn at Papermill (Kirby Rd.) in Knoxville. Kids eat free and pets are welcome. According to the Holiday Inn website, this was the nearest hotel that met both criteria that had vacancies when I called several days prior.

I called hotel's front desk to get specific directions from the interstate and spoke with Tiffany on the phone - very nice. Her directions were spot-on. The hotel is tucked among a couple of office buildings and a residential area, so it was off the beaten bath - but only a couple of miles from the main highway.

We checked in at the front desk, where we met Tiffany and Jason (I think Jason may have been a manager). Both were very nice, very welcoming, very cool about the dogs and guinea pig. I've heard that some 'pet-friendly' places are only friendly if your dog is as silent as a goldfish. Fortunately, this wasn't one of those places.

Our first room was on the bottom floor (room #189) - a "pet room" at the end of the hallway. It came equipped with a large dog crate (we had packed both dogs' crates, but this way we only had to reassemble Scout's). It also had a sliding glass door leading to a small fenced patio. The dogs weren't as impressed as I was. No neighbors at our end of the hall.

After unloading the car, we went back to the fr0nt desk to ask for directions to the restaurant/shopping area. I met another evacuee, Monica, who was just checking in. Jason explained to Monica and me that Holiday Inn just authorized a lower emergency rate because of the storm. (Cutting our nightly rate nearly in half.) I thought this was very generous of them, and a very pleasant surprise.

We splurged a bit on dinner that evening at Olive Garden. It turns out our waitress is originally from my sister's hometown in Michigan. After dinner, we stopped at a store to buy a small carrier for Kramer, our guinea pig. His cage is simply too big to bring with us so he was transported in a soft-sided pet carrier (pictured in yesterday's post). We wanted something sturdier that he couldn't eat his way out of while we slept.

We spent quite a bit of time watching the Weather Channel before turning in for the night.

* NOTE: "Evacu-cation" is a term coined by my 13-yr old Son #1. He explains that it's an evacution, but when you find out your house and neighbors are okay, it sort of turns into a little vacation.

Safe & Sound

Thankfully, Hurricane Gustav decreased in intensity and reached landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, rather than the Category 4 as originally forecast. As of late Saturday night, August 30, Gustav had not yet made the westwardly shift that was predicted, which put the southeast Louisiana area in a precarious position. For that reason, we decided to evacuate to Knoxville, TN. I had booked a room at the Holiday Inn at Papermill (Kirby Rd) a few days earlier, just in case. Pets welcome, Kids Eat Free.

We loaded up the minivan and hit the road at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 31st. We wanted to avoid the interstate "contraflow" that would start at 4:00 a.m. We took the back way through some small towns in southeast La. and Mississippi before connecting with the interstate in Hattiesburg, MS. It was a good strategy. We avoided most of the traffic snarls, except one hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic in Meridian, MS (we think it was an accident that tied things up.)

We stopped at the Alabama Welcome Center for breakfast (Pop Tarts brought from home). Here's a photo of Sons #1 and #2 with Kramer, our guinea pig.

Here's Dear Hubby with Scout (beagle) and Max (our almost 6 month old lab/mastiff puppy). They're stretching their legs.

On the road again. Say what you want about video games. I love/hate them. But they sure made for a peaceful 9 hour car ride. Below are Son #2, Son #3 and Son #1.

I'll post more about our adventures soon.

He's Probably Not Smiling Now...

Subtitled: Missing Max

Son #2 took this photo of Max. Looks like he's smiling, doesn't it? He's probably not too happy today. I took him to the animal hospital this morning for his canine vasectomy. I called a while ago, and the little patient is doing well. He'll stay overnight for observation.

I pick him after 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Boy, is he going to be mad at me!

Queen Kong

Queen Kong. That's how I felt when I was sitting at my computer, when I was suddenly ambushed by this!



Dozens of little styrofoam airplanes. The boys' aim - Son #2's especially - was remarkable accurate.

Happy Birthday, Son #1!

He's a teenager today! Thirteen years old. Here's a photo of him earning his Horsemanship Merit Badge at Boy Scout camp last week.

If you'd like to read his birth story, click here.

Happy Birthday, Son #2!

He's 11 today. He'll be celebrating with Dad, Son #1 and a couple of hundred other Boy Scouts in the mountains of Georgia. (missing my baby) That's him with a butterfly perched on his thumb.

Here's a link to his Birth Story, for those interested.

He's a really cool kid, if I do say so myself.

Introducing Kramer....

I've been a little distracted lately. Here's why:

It's a baby guinea pig (also called a cavy). Isn't he adorable? Oh, c'mon, even it you don't like rodents, he's awfully cute. His name is Kramer (after the character on "Seinfeld") because he has crazy hair. His hair doesn't lay smooth like his parents and one sibling. Instead, he has swirls and cowlicks, like two other siblings.

Son #2's friend has a pair of guinea pigs and they had babies. Son #2 first met Kramer when he was only 3 days old. He's grown fast, though, and is old enough to be separated from his mother so the friend's mom offered one to us. We picked him up last Friday (my criteria: I wanted the friendliest, mellowest one).

It's funny how expensive a 'free' guinea pig can be once you factor in all the accoutrement. He's loads of fun, though. Really sweet.

Here's another photo:

Six

Then....



Now....

His "now" picture isn't the best...he had been crying seconds earlier.

My baby - the baby - is six years old now. His mood can change at the drop of a hat. Hasn't mastered the art of not blurting out every little thought that crosses his mind (we're working on it, but truth be told, I'm challenged in that area too). He can be very, very silly. And very dramatic.

He announced to his aunt yesterday that when he wants to go to court and change his name to Nicholas, and be cupid when he grows up. (He's been wanting to choose a different name for years now. Click here to read some of his previous choices.)

There's never a dull moment with this little guy.

If you're interested in reading his birth story, which I posted last year: click here.

Air Show

Last weekend, we attended that Air Show at the Belle Chasse Naval Station in Southeast Louisiana. It was an annual event, but because of increased costs associated with the war, funding has been decreased so this was the last regular air show. They plan to still hold one every 2 or so years.

The top photo is of the F18, the F22 (Raptor - a very impressive craft), and I forget the other.

Below is a photo of My Three Sons in front of a plane. See Son #3 hugging Son #2? That never happens so I'm glad I caught it on camera.

Below is Son #3 sitting in an airplane. Can you see that he's wearing an Air Force hat?

The boys in a WWII Jeep.

Jeep also sponsored a rock climbing wall, which the older two boys enjoyed. Son #2 didn't make it all the way to the top - the atomic wedgie from the safety harness did him in. However, not only did Son #1 reach the top, he did it on the toughest section (smaller hand- and foot-holds) and did it wearing Crocs no less!

Butterflies are Free...

I planted milkweed in my garden back in the spring in hope of attracting monarch butterflies. They often lay their eggs on milkweed plants and the caterpillars eat the leaves. This fall, in addition to monarch caterpillars, we also had these nasty black and orange bugs (Son #1 calls them Assasin Bugs - I don't know if he's just making that up). Anyway, these black and orange bugs would eat the tiny monarch caterpillars.

My neighbor loaned me a couple of plastic and mesh bug houses and gave me instructions on "rescuing" the caterpillars. Yeah, yeah...I know: let nature take its course, the survival of the fittest, yada yada. But monarch butterflies are sooooo pretty.

As soon as the caterpillars were large enough not to crawl through the mesh of their "vacation home", we'd capture a few and put them inside. We'd add fresh milkweed leaves several times a day.

After they grew fat and happy, their appetites dropped off and they climbed to the ceiling of the house, attached themselves and hung in a "j" shape for a while. The caterpillar then formed its chrysalis (a process that took only a few minutes). After 10 to 14 days, viola! Butterflies!

We released them into my garden where I also have a lantana plant (mature butterflies like those, too.)