Facebook and old Friends

I just wanted to write about a very old friend that found me on Facebook. There has been times when I've used the excuse of "wow I spent longer on Facebook than I wanted to" and didn't get any of my chores done, so pondered with the thought of just not logging on there anymore, but then something happens to make me change my mind -- like old friends popping up!
When my parents lived in Gibraltar, they had good friends by the name of Keith and Sheila Cohen who had 2 girls, one of which was my age. Her name was Corrina (or Carrie as we all called her) and we stuck together like glue. After the families moved back to England, her family moved to Essex near London and my parents went back to Yorkshire. We'd travel down to see them every couple of years or so when my dad drove long distance, but the friendship faded. In high school pen pals became a big trend and though I already had two (one in Wales and the other in Italy) my mum suggested that I write to Corrina, so I did! I was about 13 when I started and we kept it up until I moved to the States, we lost contact after I got married and moved from Swartz Creek, but I always thought of her. Well to my surprise she found me on Facebook. I got all excited and cut Win off in the middle of his conversation so I could log on to Facebook and accept her as my friend. Poor Win!! He already knows I have a few screws loose, so he just shook his head and listened to me ramble on about our history. Though we haven't spoke to each other in over 10 years, we started back up like it was just last week. It was freaky that we both have son's named Brandon, even spelled the same way, who are 2 yrs apart, but of course she has to have 2 more kids to catch up with me. I remember how we both would worry about not getting married, and the time I embarrassed her by going up to a guy she liked at a bar on one of our visits down to Chelmsford to ask him if he would go on a date with her. He's not the guy she married though. I thought she'd be the 1st but it ended up being me. I don't have too many best friends from my childhood, but I'm glad I got this one back. I miss all my family and friends in England constantly and so I guess Facebook's future on my computer is a long one.

Family Vacation

It's been a while since we've had a chance to go on a real vacation, so last week we finally got to go on one. We visited my cousin Sharon in Indiana and drove down to Louisville, Kentucky to visit Six Flags. What a blast we had!! We arrived just in time for the city of Carmel's CarmelFest, which is their 4th of July celebration. We watched the parade (in the rain) and later in the day went down to city center to prepare for the music and fireworks. There was musical entertainment (ladies barbershop and the Carmel Symphonic Orchestra, who did a beautiful tribute to the Armed Forces), rides, booths, lots and lots of food and of course the fireworks, which were fantastic. Though we got sprinkled on a little more throughout the night the kids had a blast.

The next morning we headed out for Kentucky and Six Flags. First we hit the waterpark, swimming in the wavepool, having a huge tub of water dumped on our heads, riding in the lazy river and catching some rays. The kids had never really been to a waterpark, so they really enjoyed themselves. Then it was time to hit the rollercoasters. I went on a few kiddie rides with Daniel and that was enough for my stomach to start churning. (it's been over 10 yrs since I was on any of the big stuff). The kids went on anything they could see and despite their disappointment it was time to head home.

We visited downtown Indianapolis the next day and saw the Colts new stadium, where the Pacers play and the beautiful war memorial. We also hit the zoo and got to see dolphins, pet sharks, watch seals, polarbears, penguins and a walrus from behind a glass wall, there were desert creatures and cute little meerkats. They also had some sprinklers at the zoo to keep the kids cool, so we spent considerable time in there too, so long that the zoo closed before we got to see the elephants and so on. We then headed out to Chuck E Cheese and let them burn off more energy. I know that the parents were ready to collapse, but the kids played and played and then played some more. (I don't think I'd ever have that kind of energy anymore). Then it was back to Michigan, yeah!!!

Phew, it was an action packed 4 days, filled with sun, fun and lots of memories.

RIP Geico

I'm a bad mom! On Sunday, June 8th Brandon received an Anole (lizard) for his 8th birthday which he named Geico (Yeah after the one on the commercials) and exactly one week later I killed it. We put him out in the sun to bask in the warm sun for a while and then took off to the beach and forgot to make sure he was in the shade with some water so he wouldn't dehydrate. Well he had dehydrated big time when we got back home and poor Brandon was crying in the pool. What do you say to your son when he knows that your the one who killed his precious lizard?? He was very forgiving when we told him we'd get a new one the very next day, and just like a kid, he soon forgot about Geico and started to wrangle a $28 Leopard Gecko from us. It's not happening, but we are getting the new lizard a better setup, so he won't have to be put out in the sun and forgot about. Here's a couple of pictures in memory of dear Geico.

Rachel Graduates Pre-School

It's official, Miss Rachel graduated pre-school. Yeah!! They seem to graduate from everything, but at least the only expensive one is their high school graduation. Still, we got her a pretty dress and put "pretties" in her hair, and took some poser shots before we headed down to Owosso Middle School for the ceremony. They all looked so cute in their fancy dresses and shirts and ties and of course the night was topped off with a gift of a graduation smiley face plush toy, a free ice-cream courtesy of the Cone Zone and cookies. She's a big girl now, heading out to Kindergarten, which in her words "is in the big school her brothers go to". Of course they are not looking forward to her being close enough to irritate and embarass them, but they'll survive.

School

Remind me to never complain about the days of High School again. After 18 years of being school free, I had this crazy notion to go back to school, and now that I am in college I wish it was High School again. Of course you don't have the cliques, the social pressures and the torment, but you have Professor's, and that might be worse. I wasn't a top student, (no such thing as GPA in the British school system), but I wasn't a bad student either, and I can truly say that I was fond of all my teachers. I have fond memories of all them; though of course they too had their moments of madness, but it's true that they impact your life in some shape or form. We all can remember that one teacher whom we put up on a pedistal, and gave the title of 'World's Best Teacher' because they took the time and listened to you, and as a teenager, most times you felt as though no-one else was. Can you truly say the same thing about your college professors? We have college professor that we remember, some with fondness, some not so fondly! But, it seems that when asked about your favorite teacher, our minds go back to Elementary or High School. I'll remember my Anatomy professor, but not because of his greatness and guidance, but of being absolutely afraid to even breath in his class. I think the men are just as afraid of him too! I'm sure that when I'm all done with the college experience, it will become stories I can tell my kids when they are ready to head out into the college world (even scarier than the professor) and will be a connection that they will have with both me and their Dad. I'm proud of the fact that I had the courage to go back to school, whether I graduate or not. It's all about following your dreams, and that's something your never to old to do!

Rachel's Best Friend

Rachel started attending pre-school this year and quickly settled into the daily routine. She really enjoys playing house in the little kitchen and painting. She has mentioned several boys names for the month's current "Boyfriend" status and is always drawing pictures to take back for Mrs Beth and Mrs Jennifer. But believe it or not things got even better for Rachel with the arrival of her cousin Sarah into her class this week. "It makes me happy" she said when I asked her about what she thought to Sarah being in her class. She also told me how she was going to show her the kitchen first. They even share the same locker. aw!!! Here's a picture of the two best buddies at the end of their second day together.

It's All New To Me

You'll have to excuse this first attempt at blogging. I've read friends and family's blogs from time to time, but it was my hubby who said "why don't you do one yourself?" Good question! I have plenty to say inside my head, but putting into words requires a lot of patience and quiet time - I have patience, but quiet time is a whole other story. Rachel, my rambunctious 4 year old is at school, along with Matt and BJ, so it's just me and Danny at home. He's being quiet, but thats not necessarily a good thing. I'm sure that if I take a quick peek in the other room, there's probably stuff strewn all over Win's recently shampooed living room carpet (I only pray that it doesn't include squished cereal bar). I just took a look and I won't be in the dog house tonight. Yeah! He's busy multitasking at the moment: watching Playhouse Disney while rearranging plastic cereal bowls he's snuck out of the cupboard. Oh, the things that amuse 2 year olds! Children are truly a blessing, no matter what kind of day they plan for you!!!