Ahhhhh ... SPRING!!

What a beautiful weekend it has been, and how great it is to feel that Spring is finally here to stay!

Big spring milestones ... the boat is in the water now. We spent the afternoon at the marina yesterday, and TJ and Mitch spent the night on the boat. Abby and I headed home for the night, and Drew was at an overnight youth board lock-in. He left there, went to church to sing in the choir at the 8:30 am service, and is now officially crashed. For the day, I assume!

Big week coming for Drew. On Wed, the juniors are taking the ACT test at school. Then on Thurs, it's PSAE test day for the juniors. Friday is a full-day school driving safety day, and it sounds like it will be a great event. The faculty is grilling pork chop sandwiches for the kids for lunch, the kids will be moving through several different stations to demonstrate driving safely and how impaired driving affects you ... such as wearing the Fatal Vision goggles and driving a golf cart, driving a golf cart while typing a text message, etc. Local police and ambulance service will be on hand to talk about what to do if in an accident, how to act if pulled over, etc. And the Lifeflight helicopter will land on-site to talk with the kids about accidents and emergency airlifts. I'm taking the day off to help, and one station will be my car ... showing the kids how to properly install a car seat when transporting siblings or children they are babysitting for. Or someday (hopefully not too soon!), their own child.

The timing of that is good and very important with Prom being next Sat. Will be lots of fun with dinner/dance and then after-prom in Peoria. Another all night event for Drew, with next Sunday being a day to sleep!

A week from tomorrow, on Apr 30, Drew starts a new job. He'll work 16-20 hrs a week (after school) for a local transportation company in their accounting dept. He's very excited about the opportunity to learn some new things and make some moolah!

Will post some prom pics next weekend.

The Music Man!

Drew's high school had opening night for The Music Man tonight ... they have put in long hours on the production, and are doing a great job. They will do performances through Sunday. This is Drew's last h.s. musical since THS only does one every other year.

I took some photos last night at dress rehearsal, but they are pretty fuzzy. The house lights were up and the props weren't in place ... but you can see the size of the cast (even from our small school!). Drew is in the back row, 4th from the left. His role is in the barbershop quartet, and they do several songs in different scenes. It has been a fun experience!

A great spring break!

We rolled into Tremont about 2am Sunday morning after driving straight through from Destin ... long trip!

I put together a Photo Show with pics from the trip, some you have already seen here on the blog, but many new ones as well ... copy/paste this link into your browser to view:

www.photoshow.net/watch/sZ8qu3ZD

The Gulf got calmer and more turquoise each day, as you will see from the pics. Fairly heavy surf (red flag) when we arrived, then an intermediate day that was perfect for boogie boarding, then a couple of really nice calm and flat days. The last couple of days were about 20 degrees cooler than the gorgeous 82 degree days we enjoyed early in the week ... but it was still nice and we were able to have some sun time.

The kids slept in and enjoyed a quiet Easter at home. The Easter Bunny's assistant sure was glad she got the baskets together before she left for vacation ... can it really be April 8 already?

Big week for Drew with the high school play (Music Man) running Thurs-Sun. He starts very intensive dress rehearsals tomorrow after being gone for a week (there is no school Mon). The week will be a blur, I'm certain! I'll post some play pics later in the week.

Beach Days

More beautiful days in Destin. It has been about 82 all week, which is warmer than it usually is when we're here. Not looking forward to returning to the cold at home we're hearing about! It is a little cooler here today (Thurs) than it has been, but it's still nice. It has been a relaxing week with lots of beach and pool time ... our favorite kind of vacation! Couldn't drag me away from here to tromp around a theme park for all the money in the world! :-)

Here are a few pics from the last couple of days!

Beach Time!

Beautiful, beautiful day in Destin on Monday! Lots of sun and sand, pool time and beach time ... here is a slide show of the kids working on a sandcastle ...

And here is a YouTube movie of Abby "Gettin' Jiggy on the Beach!" :-) Click on the arrow to play.



Mitch's parents arrived late afternoon on Monday, so the kids are busy showing them around the area this morning! Looks like another beautiful and warm (82) day, so I'm sure it will be a good day!

Hello from Destin!

We're safe and sound in Destin, enjoying our time! We had a good drive down Fri night, and got away a little earlier than normal at about 4pm. That put us in here at 6:30 am ... so we cruised the beach road, checked out the area to see what is new from the last time we were here, grabbed some breakfast at one of those little silver diners, and went for a beach walk. The picture (above) is of Abby and daddy checking out the beach about 7am. After breakfast we went to the condo complex to wait for the pool to open, as we couldn't get into the condo until afternoon.

We spent a couple hours swimming and enjoying the sun, then did our grocery shopping for the week after we got into the condo. Mitch and Abby crashed pretty early (he was up all night driving) and the boys and I went for a walk, did a little shopping/browsing, and came back and played Monopoly! At 10pm their mom told them they were each receiving an early inheritance of 1/2 of her money and 1/2 of her property, so they were set and contined to play. It was fun.

Today (Sun) is looking a little cloudy, so it may be a good day to get things in order around here and then do a little nosing around in the car. It's 8:30 am and the boys are still snoozing, and Abby and daddy are out for a walk. It's nice to be back in Destin, it is a relaxing place that brings back lots of wonderful family trip memories for us!

Leaving for Destin on Friday!

The final days of work and school before spring break are winding down ... we're Destin-bound Friday night, March 30! The condo has an internet connection and Drew and I have to be able to check our email (ha) so you can count on a few updates while we're there, Mar 31 through Apr 7! Stay tuned!

Pampering the Princess

Abby and I had a little girls' time today ... which included a trip to the salon for her. She loved hopping up in the big chair and getting her hair combed and trimmed. I had about an inch taken off the length of her hair, as the ends are getting kind of thin. But it's still pretty long, still close to the middle of her back. The stylist also did ear piercing and *almost* talked mommy into cute little earrings for Abby as well. But I chickened out :-)

Maybe for her 5th birthday ... or heck, maybe just when it matters to her enough to ask for it!

Teen Conference

We're so proud of Drew for his involvement with the Tazewell County Youth Board ... their teen conference was yesterday and he had another opportunity to do a tv interview. I would have been a mess if someone stuck a tv camera in my face at age 17 and expected me to be coherent .. but he does well!

www.week.com/Story.aspx?preview=&type=ln&NStoryID=57255

There is a blue "video" link at the top of the story where you can see his interview.

I drove George Washington to school today!

| View Show | Create Your Own
Today was TJ's 3rd grade "Biography Day" and as you can see from the slide show ... he chose to give his report about George Washington. He had to read up on Washington's life and then present a 3-5 minute report to the class, dressed in character costume and give the report from George Washington's perspective. So I dropped "George" off at the school door and wished him well! Can't wait to hear later today how it all went. Parents were not invited to be part of the presentations ... this is the first time for such a big presentation for these kids, and they did not want to make them even more nervous with more people in the room!