Kelly & Alex go to Georgia

Kelly's mom is working at a school in Decatur,GA and invited us to come along. Morgan's schedule is pretty packed so Alex and I decided we would go. Corey had more vacation days to take so he took this week off and is spending lots of time with Morgan.

Monday was a travel day...we drove from Columbia,TN to Decatur,GA and dropped GC (Kelly's mom) off at the school. Then we went to find the hotel, check in & get unloaded. After that we explored a bit and found a park, the library, and a science center to visit later in the week. We picked GC up from work and we found a local pizza place for dinner. It was very yummy. We noticed a partial Greyhound Bus Lines sign up in the building and wondered about it...my grandfather drove for Greyhound for years & we have a lot of Greyhound memorabilia. After seeing the sign we talked about my grandfather & how much we missed him. The sign must have been a sign from him...somehow.

Tuesday, we took GC to work and then came back to the hotel for breakfast, showers and schoolwork. Then we headed out to get haircuts and pick up GC for lunch. We found this place called Piece of Cake that sells all flavors of layer cakes, cupcakes, and cake by the slice. Oh my goodness...we all got some and it was delish!! After lunch, Alex and I went to Fernbank Science Center and had a great time exploring. The best part was when we were walking through the Fernbank Forest and came across a juvenille copperhead snake on the path! Alex almost stepped on him before we saw him. Woah! We took a few steps back and just watched him finish crossing the pathway. When we got back to the science center we tried to find out what kind of snake it was but they couldn't tell from the screen on my camera. The minute we got back to the hotel I uploaded the pictures and went searching online for snake identification. Sure enough...a copperhead (venomous) but a juvenille. Pretty cool...at least we think so.

Wednesday morning was pretty much the same as Tuesday (minus the haircuts) and after lunch we headed on another adventure. We went to meet some old new friends...or new old friends. LOL! I joined an email support group when I was pregnant with Morgan. All of us were expecting and due in Sept '98. Through the years we've managed to remain together, supporting each other through pregnancy, deliveries, infant years, toddler years, other children, divorces, cross country moves,etc. It has been almost 12 years and there is still a good number of us active in the group. I've met a lot of the moms & children over the years thanks to our travels. Well...I got to meet another mom and her kids (9/98 "baby" and younger sibling). We had a great visit and the kids had a good time playing. I wish Morgan had been with us but that gives me a good reason to plan another visit. I hope that one day we can get all of us (or most of us) together for a major meetup!
Ooh...and remember the sign we saw at dinner on Monday?? Well, I mentioned the name of the place to my friend and she said that it was in the old Greyhound Bus station. That explains the sign! Man, that was definitely a Pop Pop (my grandfather) moment if ever there was one. We felt you Pop Pop! Miss you.

Thursday started waaaay too early! It started at 3am when the police knocked on our hotel room door to let us know that mom's car was broken into and ransacked. Whee!! Mom had to go check it out and they filled out a report. Apparently several cars were involved. We slept in a bit this morning and then took her to work. Alex and I picked up breakfast, got the car washed (all that fingerprint dusting powder makes a mess), and then came back to the hotel for showers & schoolwork. We had a misadventure for lunch...the place was in the opposite direction from where we thought it was and we ended up almost in downtown Atlanta, the food wasn't very good...Alex didn't eat at all. :-/ Oh well...at least we are willing to try new things. :-) Tonight GC has a thai restaurant planned for us.

Tomorrow we head home when she finishes up with work...early afternoon'ish. We've had fun & adventures...but are ready to go home. I'll write another post about what Morgan & Corey did while we were gone. :-) I'll post pics from our adventure then too.

Books

Our little family that loves to read has been reading even more. There is just something about curling up with books when the weather outside is chilly and damp. In the past we read The Giver by Lois Lowry and went to see the play at Nashville Children's Theatre. We learned from friends that she actually wrote 2 more books to go with it. A couple weeks ago Morgan got Gathering Blue from the library, the 2nd book in the trilogy. When she finished it I decided that I wanted to read it as well. Good book. I'm not sure I liked it as much as The Giver, but a good book. Then Tuesday evening, I got Messenger, the 3rd book, from the library. I finished it last night...very good. It followed up Gathering Blue very well. The ending caught me off guard. I wasn't quite ready for everything that happened.

Morgan has been devouring books lately. I can't begin to list them all but a few of them are the Leven Thumps series, Gathering Blue, and Number the Stars. There are a bunch more, I'll have to get the list from her. She is currently reading one that I recently finished, Runemarks. I read it on recommendation from a friend...and a librarian. Very good, especially if you enjoy Norse mythology.

Alex and I are reading Peter and the Shadow Thieves. This is the second book in the Peter and the Star Catchers series. We are really enjoying it. He has also been reading The Timespinners, some new Flat Stanley books (global adventures), and a few others.

And while I'm talking about books I have got to share a review with you.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-24964-Hartford-Yoga-Examiner~y2009m10d15-Seven-Sprials-A-Chakra-Sutra-for-Kids---a-book-review

This review is about a book written and illustrated by 2 very dear friends of ours. Check it out.

Flu hermits...and a yummy treat

Today was Day 3 of being flu hermits. So far Corey, Morgan and I are symptom-free and are taking our preventative Tamiflu. Alex is doing amazingly well for someone on day 3 of the H1N1 flu...thanks to H1N1 being "mild" and Tamiflu being started early. This morning I was one happy mama when he wanted something for breakfast. I made french toast and he ate 2 slices. This from the boy that hadn't eaten in 2 days (just like his father when he gets sick). He had some jello as a snack later in the day and even ate a little bit of dinner. He asked for a scoop of ice cream for dessert but only ate 3 bites. But hey...this is big for him. If he is eating at all I know he is feeling better. Yesterday he was pretty perky during the day but wasn't eating and then it all hit him about 5-6pm. Today he's been pretty perky and eating...and is still going strong. I'm sure he will sleep well tonight. ;-) Corey took Morgan with him to his bowling league tonight so she could get out of the house. He has to go to Smyrna tomorrow to take some certification tests at a testing center for work. Then there is Harry Potter Club tomorrow night at the library. Morgan can go but Alex will still be on "medical isolation" or a flu hermit as I call it.

Now that I've caught everyone up on the little sick guy. I have something fun and yummy to tell you about. :-) I've been reading this food blog for a few weeks. Today she is holding a yummy giveaway for gourmet popcorn! How yummy is that?? Here is a link directly to the post about the giveaway, Megan's Munchies .

We have...

H1N1 in our house. Poor Alex is the one that has it. Late Friday night and Saturday morning he had a light case of sniffles. With the weather changing, all the rain and subsequent molds everywhere we thought it was allergies. He wasn't quite feeling himself Saturday morning and then within a 2 hour time frame he developed a sore throat, headache, body aches, chills and a temp. Our thermometer read 102.6 so we gave him some ibuprofen and called the on-call Pediatrician. She said it could be strep or flu,etc and she didn't want to diagnose over the phone. We decided to take him to a walk-in clinic. Amazingly enough in our town most of the walk-in clinics are Mon-Fri. Insert severe eye rolling here. We found a place connected with the hospital that was open and we headed over. When Alex was seen (about an hour after the dose of ibuprofen) his temperature was 103.6 and they gave him a dose of Tylenol right then. He was given a Rx for Tamiflu and so were the rest of us, to take as a preventative. All my research has shown that H1N1 is highly contagious, spreads very quickly but has a low mortality rate and the majority of the cases have been mild. Alex took his first dose of Tamiflu within a few hours of his symptoms hitting. We are alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen for him and so far he's doing pretty good. You can tell he is sick but he is much perkier than you would EVER think a kid on day 2 of the flu would be...should be. :-) Hopefully no one else gets it. We are planning on keeping things subdued around here for a few days.

And the results are...

Science lab results:

The water expands when it freezes and CRACKS the rock! Over time this results in weathering and erosion. Some of the cracks are pretty big so you can imagine if it happens time & time again that the pieces would break off.

Morgan's rock

Alex's rock

Audition results:

Monday evening Morgan & Alex auditioned for a christmas musical at Maury County Arts Guild . The cast list was announced late last night. Morgan was cast, Alex was not. I am very proud of both kids for auditioning and for how they handled the results. Alex handled it much better than I thought and I am VERY impressed at the strides he is making lately. My little guy is growing up. We will be sure to let everyone know when performances are scheduled.

Science Lab

Our current science lab is finding out how ice can weather rocks. You put some water into a balloon (about the size of a tennis ball) and tie it off. You then coat the outside of the balloon with plaster of paris (store bought or homemade - flour & water mixture) and let it dry completely to make a rock. Then you place your "rock" in a bowl and into the freezer overnight. The following morning you check on your "rock" and see what happened to it when the water inside froze. This is what happens to rocks when water seeps into the cracks & holes and then freezes when the temperature drops.

Here is Morgan covering her balloon.

Here is Alex covering his balloon.

We started this experiment on Monday. Unfortunately, our homemade plaster mixture was too thin and would not stay on our balloons long enough to dry. So this morning we tried again. We made the mixture thicker and it seems to be doing much better.

Here is Morgan's balloon.

Here is Alex's balloon.

Once they dry (we put them in the sunny, kitchen window) we will put them in the freezer and check on them tomorrow. What do you think will happen?

Morgan's 11th Birthday Party

Morgan had the party for her 11th birthday at Young Chefs Academy in Brentwood. She invited her brother and 4 friends to be her guests for a "Fundue Party". They made a cheese fondue with dippers and then a chocolate fondue with dippers. Ms. Beth and Ms. Lori were the chefs and they were wonderful! Morgan had a fabulous time and I think everyone else did too. :-)

This is what greeted Morgan in the kitchen. What a cute sign!

Morgan, Derick, David, Quenten & Alex with Ms. Beth

Alex and Quenten chopping vegetables with these cool rolling cutters.

Derick works on the broccoli.

David works on cutting peppers too.

Morgan, as the birthday girl, got to do the cooking. Here she is stirring the cheese fondue.

It looks good, doesn't it??

Here are some of the dippers.

Alex tries his first bite of cheese fondue. He liked it!

Alex, Quenten, Morgan, Madison, Derick & David...all enjoying the cheese fondue.
The dippers were french bread, pretzel rods, celery, bell pepper, carrots, and broccoli.

The cheese becomes stringy as it cools. Here is Alex trying to get some on his pretzel rods.

Quenten is instructed to pull UP as he winds the cheese. LOL

Now time for dessert...chocolate fondue, that Morgan made, and dippers, that everyone cut.
The dippers for dessert were angel food cake, marshmallows, pretzel rods, banana, strawberries, and oranges.

Morgan shares with Daddy.

Derick and David enjoy their chocolate fondue.

Morgan & Madison focus on their chocolate fondue.

In lieu of a cake (we will have one next weekend w/family), they put a birthday candle in the angel food cake cubes and sang "Happy Birthday" to Morgan.

Her favorite dippers were the strawberries, oranges, and pretzel rods.

Morgan, Madison & Derick are enjoying the last of their chocolate fondue.

This was their best "serious/good" picture.

Morgan, David, Madison, Derick, Quenten with Alex in front.

Then they got silly.

And sillier.

Vacation...gone already?

Almost! Corey's vacation is almost over and then he will be back to work AND on call. What a first day back that will be. His week has flown by but I think he's managed to enjoy it and actually relax. We got the lawn mowed (after all that rain it was beyond needing it), he spent the day with my brother working on some projects & hanging out...just the guys, spent time with the kids & I...had a nice lunch out one day, going to the library,etc. Today he worked on a friend's computers to see what all was wrong. He figured out the problem with Alex's laptop and his UB Funkeys. Alex was very happy! He's been able to sleep in some, enjoy the cool weather and just slow down. Hopefully, recharging his batteries. :-) He will have 2 weeks off in November and still has to figure out when to reschedule the 4.5 days that were put back on the books when they sent him to OH for the training last week. Gotta get that in before the end of the year...but around already scheduled vacations of co-workers,etc. Eeek! :-) He works from home but we will miss him when he goes back to work on Monday. He will have to give his attention to work instead of us.

We weren't able to go away for this vacation but hopefully it was enough for him to unwind so he can get through the busy days ahead.

We love you honey! Hope you had a good vacation!