The Final Frontier, Part II

Two years ago, I wrote a post called The Final Frontier. You can read it here, if you want.

It was about Macy and her first time riding the Patriot at Worlds of Fun. Today, we entered that Final Frontier again. Kaylin was finally tall enough to ride it also.

Bobby didn't get to go with us, so it was just me and the girls. The line was crazy long, longer than we would normally wait. (That's the beauty of season passes--if the line is too line, you skip it, and don't feel like you are wasting your money.) She was super excited, but getting nervous too. Macy was jabbering to her, telling her every detail and giving her advice.

Once we were buckled, she was good to go and grinning from ear to ear. She started out holding my hand, but decided she wanted to hold onto the handle. And true to fashion, just like her sister, she LOVED it and was so happy. Both of our girls are roller coaster crazies. We've got to take them up to Cedar Point in Sandusky soon.

When we got ready to leave the park, we circled back by again, but the line was even longer. So we ate a funnel cake and came home. Good day.

Not so Wordless Wednesday

First of all, this new Blogger format is funky. Took me a second to figure out how to post!

We are slowly adjusting to life without Kobe. Or I should say, I am adjusting. I think this hit me the hardest.

A friend, my sister and I took 9 4th graders camping this weekend for Girl Scouts. After the men set up the tents, they left it and it was all us. I was so proud of the girls--they took turns cleaning and cooking, and basically doing everything. The first night it got down to 32 degrees, and it was FREEZING. Saturday was chilly to start, but was a beautiful day. Kaylin was there with her troop, and I got to watch her do the zipline. She was awesome! Saturday night we got to look through super expensive and super high tech telescopes at Saturn, Jupiter and the Chinese space station. Saturday night was very windy, and the three girls in my tent and I were up from about 2-4, listening to the wind, watching it knock the sides of the tent over and having to push it back up. Of the 9 girls that went, only 3 or 4 had any experience camping. The girls did great, and I was proud of them.

The girls were in a musical at church Sunday night. Macy was one of the main parts, and Kaylin had a solo. When we started going to church there, there were 2 girls, including Macy, and 4 boys in the choir. Sunday night, there were about 25 kids on stage! Love our church, and love that there are so many opportunities for the girls.

Monday at school, I tripped UP the stairs, banged my knee and shin on the concrete step, and broke the glass bowl I was carrying--shattered all over the stairs just as the kids were coming back from lunch. Good times. Then that night, I tripped down the stairs to the garage. Kaylin was in front of me,and I shoved her out of the way to avoid falling on her. More damage to the knee. It's to the point now that I took the elevator today at school to avoid falling down the stairs.

Macy's been a little under the weather yesterday and today. She probably could have gone back today if we'd forced it, but she enjoyed a day of hanging out on the couch with Grandpa and Grandma instead.

19 days of school left, and I have SO much to cram in during that time. Then summer...oh, summer...lazy, lazy, lazy days of summer ahead.

Our Kobe

Yesterday we had to put our sweet Kobe, our wild dingo, the wild comache, our Kobers, to sleep. It was a very hard decision, but one that was necessary. She was 12, and suffering. She was down to 45 pounds, from 90, and her back legs were hardly working. Tuesday night she couldn't even move them, and laid in the same spot for 15 hours.  I slept with her on the floor that night. I just couldn't leave her alone. Periodically she'd wake me by licking my hand. Wednesday morning she was a little better, but Bobby and I decided it was time. We knew this was coming, but I have to admit I didn't expect it to be this hard.

We picked up the girls early from school and went to the vet. I was in the room with her, and will admit I openly sobbed while they put her to sleep. The vet and the vet tech were super nice to this blubbery  woman who couldn't form a sentence. After, they released her to us and we buried her at the winery. All four of us took turns digging the hole, and the girls found a plastic flower to put on top of her grave. We will get a stone to mark the spot sometime soon.

Some memories of Kobe:

• She is named Kobe after Kobe Bryant. When we picked her up, all we had were Sports Illustrated's in the Jeep. I read off names, and Kobe is what stuck. 
• That first night, we thought we were SO smart, and didn't need a crate. We had her in a cardboard box in the kitchen, and she clawed and whined all night. The next day we bought a crate.
• I taught her to sit, lay down, roll over, give High-5, shake, and play dead. All for a treat.
• 4th of July in 2001, I broke my toe on the concrete step in the basement. I cried on the couch as Bobby popped it back into place for me, and she was sitting next to me licking my tears.
• When I was pregnant with Macy, I was on bed-rest for 4 weeks. I did nothing but read for that time, and Kobe laid next to me in bed every day. I would read to her and talk to her when I got bored. 
• She didn't bat an eye when we brought the girls home. She wasn't really protective of them, like some dogs are, but loved playing with them. She especially loved when they had friends over.
• Once time we took her camping at Smithville Lake with the girls. She was swimming out in the lake, and her ears were basically underwater. She couldn't hear Bobby calling for her to come back, and he had to swim out to get her.
• Another time, before the girls, we took her canoeing with Jesse and Melissa. She had a blast riding in the canoe and jumping around in the water. That night, our tent flooded, Bobby and I slept in the car, but she was so tired she slept in the water-filled tent. 
• She never learned to walk on a leash without pulling, something I am sad about. At 90 pounds, I could never take her on a walk without my shoulder being dislocated. 
• The older she got, the more she got into the trash, or wanted to eat our food. We always had to send her outside when eating. The girls weren't very diligent about this, and she was constantly getting their food, or eating their Easter candy.
• They say dogs are color blind....she knew the color red, because of red shock collar we'd used briefly when she was little, and she FREAKED out when we bought her a red collar. 
• She rarely barked. 
• Twice at our old house, she got out of the fence while we were gone. When we returned, she was sitting on the front porch waiting for us.
• She was the sweetest, the most playful, the most loving dog. 

I know to some people, my parents included, she was just a dog. Yes, she was just a dog. But she was OUR dog, and was a part of our family for 12 years. . The house seems empty tonight without her, and I keep looking for her, expecting her to walk to the top of the stairs.

We love you, Kobe. Have fun in doggie heaven with Maggie, Rocky, Tubby, Jack, Shawna, and Nova. Get into all the trashcans you can find, dig under the couch cushions, and run around chasing rabbits.

Greetings from Seattle

This morning bright and early, we began our spring journalism trip to Seattle. It's been a long day, for sure, but a good one. No travel difficulties, which is nice after the fiasco in Anaheim last year. I began my seafood diet--everytime we come to the West Coast, I live primarily on seafood because it's fresh.

Today lunch was an awesome clam chowder soup overlooking Puget Sound, then we toured the Seattle Aquarium and watched them feed an octopus, then dinner was grilled shrimp at Hard Rock Cafe.

The kids and other teacher and I are exhausted and will be an early night.  Tomorrow is a busy day again.

Sunday night ramblings

Here's my Sunday night ramblings:

1.Yesterday I had an all-day Girl Scout camping training. It wasn't terrible, but there is no reason it should have gone from 9am-7:30 pm. Seriously. I learned how to tie knots, build a fire, and cook several meals over the fire. Probably could have done that in 4 hours. I had a good friend there for company, and we entertained ourselves by making fun of the other participants. Not the nicest, I know, but whatever gets you through the day.

2. I've seen The Hunger Games twice over the last week--one with my girlfriends, and once with 60 high school seniors on a field trip. Loved the movie, but of course, I loved the book 1000% more. The movie left out some key things, but I was okay with it--gotta make some changes or it would be 8 hours long.

3. I love my girls just the way they are--all their quirks, weirdness makes them who they are, and I wouldn't want them to change for anything.

4. It's HOT in our house. We still haven't turned on the air. I'm sweating just sitting here.

5. I've been doing a pretty good job of working out the last two weeks, along with keeping my calories down and not drinking much pop. I've learned I can't cut caffeine out altogether, so I just try to limit it. Really nothing to show for it yet.

6. Our church is planning something pretty cool for the community in December, as a way to reach out to the needy in the community. I'm pretty excited to be a part of it from the beginning.

7. There is a light at the end of the tunnel....

Trips to Atlanta

Last week while in Atlanta, we did some reminiscing about previous trips. My brother moved there almost 21 years ago, and I have been visiting every since--by myself, with my parents, and with my family. This post really has no point, other than to share some memories of trips to visit my brother. Here's some of my memories from these trips:

My brother used to work for the airlines, so I would fly down there on free passes. The only catch was I was flying standby. I had to look presentable since I was "representing" the airline. (can actually remember the first time I flew in non-presentable clothes and was so happy to be comfortable!) One trip took me from KC to Wichita to St.Louis to Atlanta.

Another trip I got stuck in St. Louis for hours, getting bumped from one flight to the next. I sat there reading a book, and calling my mom on a pay phone. Looking back now, I think that could have been a scary situation. I was 16 or 17 years old, before the days of cell phones, alone in St. Louis. What if I hadn't made that last flight out?

When I was in high school, I would fly down to visit every fall and spring, missing a day or two of school. I thought that was pretty cool, and still do. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me do that.

The summer I graduated from high school, Mom, Dad and I drove down. We stayed in Nashville a day or two, Chattanooga a day or two, then moving on to Atlanta. I remember Dad sitting in the hotel room watching OJ Simpson's trial while Mom and I went to the outlet malls. 

When I was 19 and Bobby and I first started dating, we drove down for spring break. Our first trip together!

Several times we've used Atlanta as our overnight stopping place, to continue driving to Florida the next day. Once I was pregnant with Macy when we stopped, and my sister-in-law loaded me up with baby blankets and some of Lauren's old clothes.

We were laughing this week about two trips in particular...Rod remembers a trip when we drove my Jeep (pre-kids) and when we got there, we said we couldn't hear anything because the road noise had been so loud.

And I remember a trip where Bobby and I thought we could drive through the night--with a 4-month-old Macy. I remember stopping at a gas station somewhere, sleeping under the streetlights, hand on Macy's carseat in case someone tried to take her. And I remember stumbling into their house, handing Macy, still strapped in her carseat, to Julie and saying "Here. Take her" and falling asleep on the bed.

When my niece graduated from high school, we went with my sister and her newly-adopted daughter, Hannah. Hannah was not used to car rides, and had to stop every hour (it seemed) to go to the bathroom.

There was the trip when Josh was born, when Lauren got married...such wonderful memories.

Since the girls have been doing this trip their whole lives, they don't think twice about driving 12 hours to see their aunt and uncle and cousins. Other families I know couldn't fathom driving that far with their kids, and we've done since they were babies.

We have a certain pattern--gas in Warrenton, MO, look for the arch, look for the Superman water tower in Metropolis, IL, Paduch, KY is a good half-way spot when spending the night, look for the Batman building in Nashville, love to look at the lakes in the beautiful Land Between the Lakes area in KY, count how many Rock City billboards there are leading up to Chattanooga, TN... all just part of the trip.

Like I said...this is a long rambling post that really has no point, other than for me to get some thoughts and memories out. Thanks for bearing with me. :)

Spring Break 2012

Had a fantastic week with my brother's family. We left the dogs in good hands with one of my high school students, and headed to Atlanta to see Rod's family. It was a pleasant trip down--I graded Huck Finn tests and re-read The Hunger Games.

Highlights of the week:

My nephew Brandon and his girlfriend Laura have built a ferret complex in the basement. The girls were fascinated by these animals--seemed part cat and part dog. They are high maintenance though-- we'll just stick with the dogs.  This one really likes shoes. The other one likes to lick your toes.

We got to see Josh play soccer.  I asked him if I could yell, "Go Stars!" He replied, very matter-of-factly, "People don't really do that." It was a beautiful night. Can't tell if his team won or lost. I can remember watching Brandon play t-ball on my visits when he was little.

The next day we headed downtown to the Georgia Aquarium. The girls had been looking forward to this for weeks. Macy, you know, wants to be a dolphin trainer or something similar.

I really liked how the aquarium was organized--there was a huge open area in the middle, and all the different exhibits were off of that. Made it easy to go in and out of the different galleries.

This is one of the first ones we went in. This scuba diver was cleaning the tank, and motioned to get closer for a picture. We did, then she went back to cleaning. It was pretty cool.

Almost every aquarium we've been to has a tunnel now, but this one had a moving walkway you could stand on. That was pretty cool. Here's the girls and Bobby pretending to surf on the walkway.

The dolphin show was included in our ticket, so we watched that. We were in the 3rd row--got a little wet, but not bad. Had excellent seats! Couldn't take pictures inside the show, which I'm sad about. The dolphins were RIGHT THERE in front of us! It was amazing. Here's one of the dolphins in the tank after the show.

In the penguin exhibit, there was a tunnel you could crawl through. Then there were these pop-up areas where you could be with the penguins.

After the aquarium, we headed next door to the World of Coke. These bottles were from the 1996 Olympics, held in Atlanta.  The highlight of the World of Coke was the Tasting Room, where we could taste samples of coke products from around the world, and we got to take a glass coke bottle with us. Pretty cool.

These are out of order--this is from the first day. We took Moose the dog and the kids up to the Etowah River to play in the river. We forgot to bring towels, and there is a lot of red clay that is gross when it gets wet. 

On Wednesday we hiked up Kennesaw Mountain. We've done this many times before, but this time, instead of turning around at the top and hiking back down, we went down the other side, and went on the trail that runs around the base. We ended up hiking 5.4 miles--not excatly what we'd set out to do. But it was beautiful, and so fun.

It was a fantastic trip. Although it was short and we really didn't do much, I love being able to spend time with my brother's family. We don't see them often enough, so the time we can get down to Atlanta and be with them is priceless to me.