What a busy few days.  As you well know, we had Hurricane Irene come welcome us to our new home on Saturday.  It was an early morning, when we had a tornado warning at 4:30am and Doug moved the air mattress to the living room and we had an impromptu family campout.  Mary stayed asleep, but Adam decided he was awake for good.  That makes for a long day.  Irene was awful blustery, with gusts that would shake the house, but we had no major damage.   The kids had a great time watching movies on the dvd player.  At one point, Mary looked at me, smooshed her face between her hands and said, "Mom, I have a smooshy brain!"  Of course, a few minutes later she asked me if she could watch Stuart Little again.  Ah, rainy, stormy days.  Adam unrolled all the toilet paper from our bathroom.  He played with the toilet brush (Ack!).  He ran away from me after his bath, closed himself behind his curtains and opened it just far enough for his pee to spray out "fountain style" onto the carpet  (double ACK!).  I guess I could be positive and say at least he opened the curtains.  Hmmm.  We were lucky to not loose power until around midnight Saturday night.  However, it remained off all day Sunday.  Mary was not happy to go to bed all hot and sweaty.  I admit, I wasn't looking forward to it either.  I took a cold shower and just as I stretched out on the bed, the power came back on.  Hallelujah!  I love power.

Today was Mary's first day of preschool.  My little girl is growing up so fast.  She was so excited.  She even wanted her hair curled for the special day.

After dropping her off, little man and I had some quality bonding time...at Target (of course), then we headed to the library to play and read.  It was a fun morning.

Today...

Today, we went to Mary's school for orientation and met her teachers- 1 teacher, 1 aide.  We found out there will be 15 other students in her class.  We saw her desk.  We saw her cubby.  We became really excited about Monday.

Today, we went to the Children's Museum after orientation.  I am so happy we bought the annual pass.  The kids and I had a fabulous time imagining all the things they could grow up to be.

Hmm, farmer Adam?

Why does he look like a shoplifter?  Let's not choose that career path, please.

Mary had a blast "checking us out".  Though, I think she needs more training, since our basket of fruit cost us over $564.  Good grief, we're not in Okinawa anymore.

Mary tried her hand at fishing for a career, but realized that would be a bad idea, since 1) she needed to be quiet and 2) she couldn't catch enough for us to eat.  She's decided to leave that up to Papa.

Dr. Adam, paging Dr. Adam...

Today, we had a great time exploring, getting the wiggles and giggles out and just plain, having fun.  Looks like we'll be indoors all weekend with Hurricane Irene, so I'm glad we had this chance to play.

Until next time,

New everything

Well, we have a new house, a new job and a new school.  It's only fitting that Mary try something new for extra curricular activities.  She's been saying she wants to start gymnastics for quite a while, but she changed her mind and decided to go for dance again.  There's a studio right down the street from us that is holding an open house this week and today, we went to check it out.  The 3-4 yr old program encompasses ballet, tap and acrobatics (tumbling).  Perfect!  She is so excited about tap.  Luckily, the studio also has a boutique and so we went ahead and got her fitted for shoes.  Of course, since I didn't plan ahead, all her ballet items are in the shipment coming on the slow boat and won't arrive until late September (well after class starts), so Mary happily picked out a new leotard, some tights, and a new pair of ballet shoes too.  Class starts right after Labor Day weekend.  And now, I listen to the "rat-tat-tat" of tiny shoes in the playroom over head....

22 Days Later...

22 days ago, we drove to our new house.  22 days later, we finally got Doug's car off the trailer and into the garage.  We did it ourselves.  Just the 2 of us.  OK, mostly Doug, but I helped as much as I could.  2 rain showers and a slight "hiccup" (the car rolled in the grass) later, it was finally done.  Yea!  Now the trailer is free for other projects...like hauling mulch and lumber for the kids playground.  Moving definitely keeps us busy.

Here's our "oops".  It rolled a little too far down the driveway.  Good thing the grass stopped it.  Unfortunately, the rain shower started and we couldn't get the car to budge.  Good time for a dinner break. 

   Doug had to unhitch the trailer from the truck then hook up the car with a chain and pull it back up the driveway.

Almost there.  We went extra slow this time and kept blocking the wheels to make sure we didn't have another runaway.

Mary's blurry picture of me pushing.  I wanted proof that I helped.  :)

The Torino's new home...at least until the detached garage is built.  Maybe we'll invite friends over for a "move the car party" when that happens.

Taking a break

Moving is hard work.  I tend to forget that the kids don't seem to enjoy shopping like me.  Maybe it's the fact that they can't run around, or that they're not allowed to touch, or that we rarely shop in the toy department.  Yeah, I could see how that would be a bummer.  So this morning, I decided to take the kids to one of the local parks for some good 'ole run around time.  Those were some happy kids.  Good thing Doug will be building the kid's playground starting Monday.

Adam had a grand and sweaty time.

A caterpillar?  Millipede?

Climbing fun

 Wishful thinking?  Hee, hee, hee.

Yes, We're THAT Family

Sitting still and being quiet in church has always been a challenge for us.  We're used to backpacks of toys and markers and stickers and cars and books.  We bring water bottles and cheerios.  We bribe with delicious donuts and fruit and veggies in the fellowship hall after the service.  Things were a bit different today.  We're still in a hotel.  Mary's backpack of goodies is at the house.  Church starts at 9, an hour earlier than in Okinawa.  We were in a rush, so I forgot water cups and the only snack I had was a loud package of trail mix (that's out of the question).  We went to a new church.  We wanted to make a good impression (at least I did.  The kids could have cared less).  They were busy.  Adam was super duper wiggly and whiney.  Mary seemed to have forgotten the meaning of "whisper".   After the kids removed and flung everything out of my wallet and were desperate for more entertainment, and right before I was seriously contemplating grabbing the kids and running, a guardian angel handed us 2 tote bags filled with books and toys.  Ahhhh!  The tag on the bag said "Little Angels" to help them stay occupied in church.  Ha!  Should have said, "Little Hellions".  The church keeps these bags by the front door and you just grab one as you come in and drop it off when you're done.  Fabulous.  They were a life saver...or church saver.  I think I'll try to at least remember their drinks next week.  Luckily, we'll be in our house.  Thank God.

Hero Salute

Anheuser-Busch is thanking the military members for their service by providing 1 free admission pass to any Sea World, Busch Gardens or Sesame Place this year to the active duty member...and up to 3 accompanying family members.  Busch Gardens, Williamsburg is the closest to us (approx. 45 min). Regular admission fees are, adults $63.99 and children (ages 3-9) $53.99!  Holy cow, that's a huge savings!  Because we're stuck in a hotel, because Doug's on leave and doesn't have to work, because we finally had a break in the weather and it was in the high 80's vs. the high 90's, and mostly, because we couldn't pass up this wonderful opportunity, we headed out to be amused at the local amusement park today.

We rode a tram from the parking lot to the front gate.  That was our first ride of the day.  The kids loved it, of course.  We timed it right.  We arrived right at 10 am when the park opened and we barely had any lines to wait in the whole time we were there.  It was perfect.

Sesame Street play area was fabulous.  All kid sized rides and excitement.  Mary had a blast on the roller coaster, but I couldn't get a good picture.  I'll tell you she had a huge grin on her face...after Doug removed her head from the side of his body.  We then went as a family on the wormy, squirmy ride.  It was fun, if not a bit nauseating.  Ah, the things we do for our kids.



We then walked over to get lunch and on our way, saw some cool rides just for little ones.  In fact, no adults were allowed.  I was amazed that Adam would go by himself.  Mary was in line for the gliders and since there was no waiting at the balloons, little man and I headed over.  He was great.  He even liked it so much, he went again later with Mary.  We even finished in time to watch Mary on her ride.

Another couple kiddie rides and Mary decided she wanted the bigger ones.  She loved spinning and dropping and swinging wildly.  She wasn't satisfied with the kiddie swings, she wanted the big one.  Doug was more than happy to oblige.  I think he was happy to have a coaster buddy.

However, after this ride, she was bold, she was brazen, she thought she could handle them all.  Nope, she looked absolutely terrified on the battering ram (looks like the big ship that swings back and forth).  I really wanted to capture her expression, but it's too blurry to post.  I will say, she decided after that one, that she will wait until next year before trying anything "big" again.  We had an incredible time today.  What a great company to give away such a wonderful token of thanks to the military.  Makes me want to drink a Budweiser...

For those of you in the military that want to take advantage of this offer, got to www.herosalute.com.  It expires at the end of 2011.

Miscellaneous

We're going on our 4th night in the hotel...it feels much longer.  It can be mildly entertaining being in 1 room, but mostly it's rather boring and slightly claustrophobic.  We're moving into a suite tomorrow.  Hopefully, that will improve sleeping arrangements.

Our household shipments are taking a bit longer than we had hoped.  We were wanting to get our express shipment this week.  It has our paintbrushes and drop cloths and edging tools.  We don't want to start painting the house without them...and why go buy more supplies when we have the ones we need/want arriving soon?  So we go to the house everyday.  We clean.  The house was already in great shape, but you know you want everything perfect...especially the fridge and the oven.

The kids are watching a lot of movies.  I mean a lot.  It's the best way to keep them out of the way and out of mischief (though I've already found crayon scribbles all over Mary's bedroom carpet).  Sigh.

Poor Dumas.  She doesn't know what's going on.  We box her up and fly her halfway across the world, stick her in the basement at Doug's parents house, drive her in the car 14 hours, stick her in another basement at my cousin's house, drive her in the car another 12 hours and drop her off in a house all by herself.  At least she has more room to run.  She's made herself quite at home on top of the cabinets in the kitchen.  I find her there everyday.

Luckily, we found a bounce house facility across the street from our hotel.  It's an indoor play place that has 11 different bounce houses, a toddler area and free wi-fi for the parents.  $8 for Mary and $4 for Adam for all day play.  Definitely worth it!

Tonight, we went to dinner and Mary kept eating my broccoli.  She said, "Can I have some broccoli with my butter?"  Ha,ha,ha.  She liked how I was smearing butter on my steamed broccoli.  Hey, who wouldn't?  After dinner, we went for a stroll in the shopping center and came across some Canadian Geese.  Mary said, "Wow, those are some big birds!"  Yes, they are.  It was a nice evening.

Tomorrow, we're hitting Busch Gardens.  Wish us luck.

Kentucky

In between our visit to Kansas City and our move to the new house, we made a pit stop in Lexington, KY to visit with my Aunt and Uncle and 2 sets of cousins that we haven't seen in 11 years.  We knew there was absolutely no way we could make the 1,172.4 mile drive in one day and we were so happy to take the break in KY and visit with family.  My cousin, Eddie, and his wife, Aimee went above and beyond in the way of hosting.  I could tell you how they waited up till midnight to make sure we made it in safely from our 14 hour drive and helped get us settled in the guest room.  I could go on and on about the fabulous breakfast spread (and lunch and dinner) Aimee prepared and had ready or how Eddie took Doug on a tour of Lexington.  But no, I'm not going to do any of that.  I'm going to tell you about how they made one little girl super happy and how she will have a memory to last her a lifetime...

The whole drive over from Kansas City, Mary was on the look out for animals.  She saw a camel (yes, a camel, because it apparently didn't have any spots and everyone knows that cows have spots, so it had to be a camel).  She did eventually see some cows.  However, she never saw a horse.  Coming to Lexington, we knew we were in horse country and when Eddie and Aimee asked us what we wanted to do on our 1 day in town, we said we wanted to see a horse.  Now, I thought we might drive by some, maybe even get to feed them, since their daughter, Mallory, was carrying a bag of carrots.  Heck, if we were lucky, we could even pet one.  Never in my wildest imagination was I prepared for Tracy.  This lady is amazing.  She  has a barn full of horses and not only did she welcome our kids with open arms, she personally walked us around to them, let us pet them, feed them and then...let Mary and Mallory ride Rocky, the pony.  Mary wasn't even scared.  She was fabulous!  I have a video, but I can't seem to get it to load from my Macbook.  Maybe Doug will get his computer soon and I'll be able to add it.  So for now, you'll have to be satisfied with the pictures.

Mary was a bit shy about feeding them.  I'll admit, I was kinda nervous too.

Adam didn't know what to think about the horses.

But, he LOVED the tractor.

In order to ride the pony, they had to first give it a good brushing.

And then...

And...

And

Thank you for such a wonderful memory!  The kids had a fantastic time and we will never forget it!  Lexington left a great impression on us.  I have a feeling it won't be 11 more years before we come back again.