Prelude to Vacation

William is now in third grade which makes all a bit more difficult. There is not much time left between school and bedtime. We really don’t want to interrupt the routine. Since there was nothing planned for Monday night we decided that we don’t need to be in a rush to get going in the morning.

Still, we were on our way at 7 am. I did the first driving this time. When we stopped the first time (for a quick breakfast and coffee) we looked for a post office first. James had bough soccer shirts for all the boys in Brazil but we had forgotten to take the ones for the little ones Sunday evening. We decided to mail them. At least we had not forgotten the one for William. The post office had a Halloween tree (???).

Altogether this was not the most pleasant drive (about 600 miles) we have ever done. Fog in the mountains and rain (drizzle or downpour) most of the way. James had the last turn to drive and I felt sorry for him but happy that I didn’t have to do it. The rain was so strong that you sometimes could not see the car in front of you. That is always scary but you also can’t pull over because someone might run into you then. We arrived safely and all was good. It helps to say a prayer before you start a trip.

Later that evening we learned on the news that there had been tornadoes in the area where we had driven through. Sigh.

Tuesday morning we took it easy. Helen had been at the townhouse the day before and left a gift from “her girls”.

James wanted one of the eggs soft-boiled. I lucked out. Fresh eggs cook differently and these are a little smaller too. But James thought it was perfect.

We had to do a little shopping and get settled. Sarah texted a photo of a cute drawing Caleb had done. It came with a video of him explaining who was who. One is his cousin. Caleb told Sarah that he thought William wanted to be in his picture.

Helen brought William around 4 pm. She and Ben wanted an evening for themselves and William was spending the night with us. She said he was excited and he was good as gold. We had a lot of fun. But first Papa quizzed him on his spelling words. After that we could play. He beat me at connect4 of course.

Wednesday morning James had to bring him to school. We had to set the alarm clock for 6 am. He sat up in bed, said "What is that noise? Oh, the alarm!" Jumped out of bed and got dressed. Then he ate breakfast like a champion. It was a pleasure to have him stay with us.

In the evening the two had to go somewhere so we met them after school for an ice cream in William's favorite place. It wasn't really an ice cream day because it was on the cold side, dreary and rainy. But we enjoyed it anyway.

Thursday of course William was in school and Helen at work but we had to get ready for our trip. Last minute things. 

In the evening Helen and William came to us and then we continued to Mt. Juliet where we met Ben for dinner. It was so nice all be together. After we all had eaten William of course was bored and we sat together and William took selfies and played with my camera. 

Ha-ha, Helen sneaked into the photos.

William wanted to be blurry and jumped up and down. Finally he succeeded.

When we left we had a beautiful sunset.

William was cold in the car. Of course his booster doesn't have heating but my seat did. So he enjoyed wrapping up in Omi's jacket.

What a great smile. Btw the third tooth is wiggly!

Oh what a week

It started with a light coming on in the Volvo when I brought James to the airport on Sunday afternoon September 16. James had been contacted by somebody in Brazil to do some consulting work and he had initially said "no way". They had changed their request though and James found it more interesting and doable. The research and conference calls ended up with a trip flying to São Paulo, then to Salvador, Recife and back to São Paulo. I picked him up the following Sunday morning.

I hoped that the car light wouldn't mean much but had to call on Monday to make an appointment for Tuesday morning. But that Monday was something else. In the afternoon my telephone suddenly went off ... tornado alert. It was an awful sound. And it came several more times into the evening. I twirled all window blinds shut and spent a lot of time in the bathroom, an inside room without windows. I had the news going in the bedroom to listen and kept an ear alerted to the "train sound". It was scary because altogether there were 10 tornadoes tracked and all very close. There was one death very close to Sarah.

The Volvo appointment on Tuesday was very early and, oh yes, they took care of me, brought me home. Got a call before lunch to unpleasant news mentioning an unpleasant amount of $$$. And yes, it would be fixed that day. That would have been no problem since I had a second car in the garage. I told them I would not retrieve it the same day.

Sarah had invited me for dinner. At 4 pm I had just left the house and had just entered Hwy 295 when the call came from the old driver that he was in my driveway wanting to bring me to the dealer. Goodness gratias. No call, nothing. The timing of the call was such that I was just able to make the loop and get off the highway again and back to our house. Quick decision but then it was done. I should not get into details but the rest was almost comical because the car wasn't even ready yet. I  finally made it to the children and had a fun time.

Wednesday things were somewhat comical too. I had just been able to get a hair cut appointment for 2 pm when Sarah called because she didn't know how to retrieve Caleb from preschool at 2 pm when it is usually the twins nap time. First reaction was that I couldn't help but a quick call and I was able to change my appointment to 11 am which was almost a miracle. And it all worked out at the end. I even was able to go to the church Wednesday night discussion group which was very good.

Thursday I left the house at 9 am to drive to Williamsburg. The monthly lace meeting had been changed to this day. It was the only day the hostess Donna was available. When I arrived short after 10am Donna and Mary were sitting outside on the front porch with their lace pillows. The power had gone off just before the start of the meeting which had stressed the hostess. It was quite a pleasant day though and nice. Right now we don't have days like that often. When we went inside for lunch the light came back on. Nice, we could have coffee with our homemade pie. The meeting usually goes til 3 pm but I had to leave earlier this time because a handyman was coming to the house. I had hoped to surprise James with a finished fixed/improved drawer in the kitchen but no such luck. He needs material for it and has to come again when we are back from our trip. I was a bit disappointed.

Friday I wanted to spend some time with Sarah and the children in the morning. We had decided that I would be at their place early and I went along with them to a shop where Sarah was looking for something. No luck but the second cart-pusher (me) had fun with the children. Other shoppers probably wondered a little about the woman storming around the aisles with the children in the cart.

There was still some time until going back to their house so Sarah decided that we should go to Short Pump Mall and to the Children's Museum. Everybody had fun. 

... until Colin had a very bad fall onto his nose and he was bleeding like a faucet. It was so so so scary. I spare you details except that I almost felt like calling the Health Department because that part of the otherwise very nice place is just not safe. He calmed down. The bleeding stopped. We drove home. He threw up though and we decided it was from all the blood he had swallowed. 

The good news: After a nap he seemed his old self again. What a relief!!!!!

On a lighter note ... during this whole ordeal Owen kept asking at least three dozen times "What happened?" His favorite sentence. What do you say after the 36th time?

Saturday morning I went over to them again. It was a splendid day. Not too hot, not so humid. Just nice. There was a petting zoo close to their house in front of a senior center. Caleb, Colin and Owen had so much fun. Sarah met some of their neighbor friends and their children. I was too busy to help watch ours to take better photos. I enjoyed it very much especially seeing Colin perfectly fine again. Not even a blue nose.

Owen (from the back) is cautiously watching. Even though he is very cautious and not as adventurous as the other two it does NOT mean you can take your eyes off him.

Sunday morning I had to go to the early service at 8 am. And I had to skip out right after communion to drive to the airport. James arrived on time. Night flight from Brazil with one stop over. There he is. All is good.

He had to unpack quickly so I could do washings. We have to pack to leave tomorrow. But we did drive over to the children to say good-bye. Ha-ha, and stayed for pizza. We had too much fun.

2007 - Our Time in Singapore - part 2

I thoroughly enjoyed part 1 and wallowed in memories. My evening reading!

Here is more:

2007-01-10   Christmas in Kentucky

2007-01-28   back in Singapore with Helen & Ben 

2007-01-28   more Helen & Ben

2007-02-04   Kate & David ~ Helen & Ben ~ full house!

2007-02-12   more Kate & David (revised)

2007-03-05   Chinese New Year (the year of the golden pig) and Jane's visit

2007-03-24   Lois Jeanne's visit (revised 03-27)

2007-04-08   Melaka and Easter

2007-04-19   trip to Germany

2007-05-03   continued trip to Kentucky and the HLG Lace Exhibition

2007-06-02   back in Singapore and meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury

The last part will take a little while now because I still have to convert the files from Pagemaker so we all can read them. We paid dearly for Pagemaker when we bought it and it has now turned into a pumpkin on the latest PC versions. Oh well ....

Twins turning two

2  years? Already? Really?

The official celebration was on Saturday, one day early. The theme: Let's Fiesta! As always, Sarah has come up with some really cute things ... look at those cupcakes!

Photo taken from the screened back porch.

Then it was time for the piñata fun. The swing was taken off and the piñata hung up.

Children took turns to hit. Colin came ready with the bat from the front porch. How did he know he was going to need it?

Everybody had another turn.

That was one strong piñata though. It came with strings attached. Children can take a turn to pull on a string. One will open the trap door. Ha-ha, everybody pulled at the same time though. No problem. Fun was had by all.

The adults probably liked some of the candy too.

The swing was put back on.

Time for the birthday cake. Looking at the photos I think they might not really have known what was going on.

VIDEO!     (0:39)

Btw, some of the photos in this blog are from Sarah, taken off from FaceBook. She wrote: this is how you eat a cupcake!

I am sure she referred to this photo.

Sunday. The "real" birthday. James and I decided to go by in the afternoon. We know they like bubbles.

VIDEO!     (0:46)

Weather-wise this must be one of the oddest summers. Lots of heat and lots of rain. But once in a while we can enjoy the outdoors.

Ha-ha, these photos are from yesterday. I was writing the letter to William and was thinking "what"?

Looking across the room I saw something behind the (open) blinds. I pulled them up and took these photos. A praying mantis. He (or she) was huge.

And about the weather: We feel very blessed that we were spared and hurricane Florence did not come any closer than it did. We live on the edge of a forest and the Wallers have large trees on their lot. We feel for the people who were not so lucky. 

And that's all ... except that James had been asked by somebody in Brazil to do his consulting. His first reaction was "no way" but then it started interesting him. He already has dug a lot of information for them. He is having fun. More on it to follow.