Wrinkled Raisins

In our quest to try out each of the Y's to see what each is like, we hit Kerr today. Not far from our first appointment, we stopped at Starbuck's to sell some curricula, ate lunch before my blood sugar plummeted since I didn't get breakfast, then on to Justice to buy some birthday gifts, we then hit the Y. Isaac, btw, loved trying on the sunglasses at Justice. He likes that store as much as the girls do!

Since they don't have childcare until after 4:00, we hit the pool. I'd have to say a low score for the family locker room. The kids and I alone pretty much fill up the room! And tricky lockers to figure out. The pool was nice and warm, however. Another low score to not having the same life vests as the other Y's. Boo. I had to strap two of the add-a-board types to Isaac, and they kept riding up so his chin was resting on the front one. It didn't seem to bother him until the end though. A plus to having a decent space to swim in. We swam at least two hours. We were waiting for the play pool to open for Isaac's sake. This part has a slide, buckets and shovels, a drippy pole that you can control the drip by a wheel, and a drop-a-bucket thingie. Chick wasn't too crazy about the last thing, but he liked the wheel and the slide if I caught him.

After that long, however, we all had raisin feet and hands. On to the shower. One shower for 4 of us (Eli had already gotten hers.). One bench. Hmmm...3 bags. Not a lot of room to spread stuff out. But we survived. We got Boogie into child care (nice room!), Emi and Eli went off to rock climb, and Erynn and I got stuck at the desk trying to decide about Isaac more swimming lessons. In the midst of all that, I had "misplaced" our Y cards. Grrr... Finally, to Erynn's relief, we were done. She and I walked on the track. By this time, I was too tired to work out, and I actually sat on the window sill for part of the time, dreading the drive home with 4 hungry children (remember that song???), one of whom hadn't had a nap, and one tired, old mama. True to form, we get on US1 and the traffic is at a standstill. It took us over an hour to get home.

So I can't say Kerr was my favorite. I like Cary's gym the best, but they have no family locker room. Three pools though. Tiny pool locker rooms though. More things to do there though. Decent location.

Holly Springs is nice but small. Not as many machines. Track is not for those balance-challenged like me. They do have an elevator though! :) Only an outdoor pool though. :( This is Eddie's favorite.

Hillsborough is Eli's favorite. Only an indoor pool, but the hours are decent there. Nice family locker rooms! Decent machines. Track another no go for me. Child care for Isaac is nice.

Baileywick. I'm drawing a blank. I'm thinking there was no family locker room. Oh dear. Where did my brain go??? Nice family section in the pool. I know the gym is tiny there. Track is okay as far as it's on ground level, but it's in the same tiny room as the machines.

Isaac is tentative about going in the nursery, but he always gets mad at me for picking him up. Go figure! None of them have great game rooms for Erynn though. :( Poor thing, stuck in the middle.

May 1, 2010

My how time flies. I don't feel like I'm on a crazy roller coaster like some people I know, but time sure does seem to pass too quickly for me.

At the moment we are kidless. Such a strange feeling. We so rarely get the time, we don't know what to do when we have it! Last night we went to friends' house, had a wonderful, homemade dinner complete with Watergate salad and chocolate dipped strawberries! Then we played Apples to Apples after the guys played Wii. I've never played it before, but it's pretty neat. I won the first round! This morning we slept in until almost 9:00! Aaah...Then we headed to the Y to work out and then swim laps. Since I always go with the kids, I don't get to swim laps since I have to stay with Isaac. I feel so very pathetic! I was hurting after one lap. Then we ate lunch at the Farmer's Market and bought some plants for the front beds. Next we're off to do some shopping and pick up Isaac, who wants his mama (sniff, sniff). :)

We've got a funeral to go to tomorrow. :( Only 5 more weeks of lessons left. Only 2 more drama classes left. Mimi has until the first week of June for her tutoring, and then Isaac starts taking swimming lessons! That will be so fun to see!

Daddie-Dude Date

While I was off playing taxi with the girls this Saturday, Boogie and Daddie had a date. They intended to go to the John Deere place, but it was closed, so they went to this heavy machinery place somewhere down 401. He looks so tiny but he looks like he liked it!

Sailing Through September

Everytime I turn around another month has almost gone by. How can it be halfway through September already? Time flies when you have work to do!

The girls had their first day of CYT today. They were nervous, and I was a bit nervous for them, on the way in. I signed them up for a non-homeschool class, and I was wondering if they might feel weird being the only ones in a class with other school kids. GOD is good; not only are there other homeschoolers in there, but they have a friend from Upwards soccer, too! They came out all excited, rehearsing lines from the play they will be doing - acting all silly and dramatic. I also found a neat park that I can take Boogie to during practice on the days Eddie can't come by and get him.

Fresh Pages

Lots of new things are occurring around here. Emi has just turned 13 - a tried and true teenager. It's as though she just fell into the teen "mold" all of a sudden. She thinks everything is so funny (even when it's not) ;o). She goes around the house with her iPod Shuffle attached to her almost permanently with earplugs in place (or whatever you call them nowadays). Now you have to look through the house for her. Where has the little, chubby-cheeked, bouncy-curled, squeaky-voiced girl gone?

Elisha is set to turn 11 this Wednesday. She has nearly completed her first full double-digit year. She will have her gymnastics party next Saturday. That is her current obsession - gymnastics.

We are set to start our new lessons Monday. This will be our first year ever of doing separate lessons for each of them. Erynn will be studying World History and Eli will be doing the first core of the upper ancient world history while Emi will be doing the latter. Will Emi really be ready for high school next year??!!

On our way back from meeting the grandparents this past week, we stopped at the airport so Isaac could see the planes take off and land. We mostly saw them land with only one taking off. It scared him a little to hear the sound following the plane landing. I think he liked it though.

A New Era About To Begin

How can it be that we're about to have a teenager in the house?!? Only 3 more days and then we officially have a teenager. Where did the chubby-faced, squeaky-voiced preschooler go? Where are the cute curls? But on the positive side, I've almost got me a built-in babysitter! Now if only they could all get along!

A Little Variety

Well, it's 7:44 am, and Eddison has been up since 6:00. Woke up to another "flood" in his bed. He doesn't like to sit in it (who would?), but then he sits on his pillow. Eeewww... So more laundry today. Eddie just left a little bit ago, which is different in itself as he usually heads out about 6:00. He took Erynn to work with him. :o) She was very calmly excited. She dressed up in a skirt, dress sandals and bracelets and all. Poor Boogie, though. He wanted to go too. :o( Made me tear up to see him say, "Okay" when Eddie said not this time. He can be so sweet.

Mimi and YiYi have been gone for a little over a day and a half now. Oddly quiet around here. I do miss my help though! I thought it would be easier going to the library yesterday with only two. Nope. Trying to pick out books for them and keeping him with me was not easy. Then we came home to no nap. Nooo!

Ery, Dude and I went to the mall yesterday. Yet another unusual occurrence. I found out Isaac has my shoe fettish. I went in Rack Room ever hopeful I could find some "dress casual" shoes in my beloved size 11 but narrow size. Why do I get my hopes up???? But Dude was very adamant that he try on shoes. It didn't matter if they were girls, boys, the right size or not! He wanted them and he wanted them now! I did slip a pair of Chucks on him. Cute! But I will not pay the price they want for them nowadays. They're charging double what I bought them for when I was growing up! Okay, the price Granny paid for them...

I've decided to move all the girls' toys downstairs. The play room is officially becoming a school room except for the doll condo. I'm also trying to contain all my mess in there, too. Haven't quite conquered that part yet. Hopefully I can make a large dent in that tonight. I need to get organized for this coming year. We already have the books and each has their own shelf with one shelf for the shared stuff. In the other cabinet, Isaac has his shelf, we still have the art stuff and craft kits plus the science lab stuff I couldn't fit in their lessons cabinet. My stuff is going on the desk. The bad part is now all the stuff I've taken out sits in the kitchen and laundry area until Eddie can take it all down! Poor doggies have to meander through a maze to get to their food.

Here's a pic of Daddie and his Father's Day cake that Elisha made. She researched it all on her own. Emi even made him a present without me saying anything to them to remind them. But did I remember to make him a card? No.... woops! I will defend myself though. I looked into getting him a new phone for Pappy's Day a couple of months ago. So I didn't forget the day; I just forgot the card!