Day 22 - The Shortest Day So Far...

So, apparently when you let the kids stay up late (almost 1:00 am) they sleep in a little longer.  Hence today flew by.

Unfortunately though I woke up at 7:00 with a bad neck and head ache.  Watched TV for a few hours and then fell back asleep from 9-10.  Woke up with Sammy snuggling me in bed!  I got some food and some Advil and felt better in no time.

Once everyone got up and moving, we finally had breakfast at 11:30 am.  Then did Bible and Tyler's therapy and had a snack around 2:00 pm while we watched Little House on the Prairie.

It was a cool, gray and windy day so we all stayed in comfy clothes and just hung out.  Sammy was super patient while waiting to go in the hot tub and after all that time, Tyler decided not to go... so I went instead.  We weren't there long because the wind kept blowing leaves in and she was getting frustrated trying to keep the water clear.  But regardless it still was fun to be in the water on such a cool day.

Afterwards Sammy jumped in the bath, while I ran out to grab a few groceries.  When I got home, Tyler joined me in the kitchen and we prepared a healthy and very tasty meal!  We ate around 6:00 pm then jumped back into school and had it all wrapped up by 8:30 pm.

Since we had all enjoyed playing Nintendo last night, we decided on a rematch.  Afterwards Tyler had a bit of homework to finish up so he and I wrapped that up.  He only has 4 days left of the computer-based work so we are literally counting down!

And no matter how long it takes, Coco is always close to show her support.

Kids headed to bed to watch a little TV before lights out and gave me just enough time to talk with Scott.  Only two more sleeps til he joins us again!  We all cannot wait!

Day 21 - Hard Work Pays Off

We had nothing planned for the day so I told the kids we would sleep in.  Yet Sammy was up around 8:00 “for snuggles”.  At 8:25 am, Scott sent me a phone message saying that the HVAC guys were hoping to install our new units today and asked me to call them back to coordinate.  I gave them a call and imagine my surprise when they said they were planning to arrive at 9:00... Um OK.  A quick glance in the mirror told me I had a lot of work to do in the next 25 minutes.  I quick woke up Tyler, sent Sammy in to get dressed, jumped in the shower, did my makeup / hair, and literally was pulling the sweater over my head, when the door bell rang.  Ha!  We made it.

There were 3-4 men working in the condo until early afternoon.  We have two HVAC units, one in the back hallway and one in the laundry room so they were back and forth and even on the balcony when they needed to torch cut some items.

Since our morning had been interupted, we still hadn’t had breakfast so we made pancakes and tried to get things back on track.  Tyler worked on his therapy while Sammy did her reading and I did my devotions.  Then the kids had free time while I got some work done.

Since it was closing in on lunchtime, we headed out (with Coco) to grab lunch at Steak & Shake and make a return at WalMart.  I got held up in the car on a phone call so the kids took the dog up just in time to see the HVAC guys head out.

When I got upstairs, we worked on a few things around the condo... putting all that laundry away, folding linens, moving construction supplies to the storage closet, picking up packages, etc. We actually worked up quite a sweat!

As a reward we decided to visit Broadway on the Beach.  Although we planned to see the aquarium, it was closed so we did the upside down building “WonderWorks” instead.  It was lots of fun!  We’ve done it so many times, I never really look forward to going but yet everytime surprisingly seems like more fun than the last.  Maybe its that the kids are getting older... I don’t know!  But this time was especially cool because we were the ONLY ones there.  Literally as we bought tickets, they told us we were the only customers and that they were contemplating closing early.  Luckily, some more folks joined after us so they stayed open at least until we finished up after 6:00 pm.

We enjoyed our walk back to the truck, looking at shops and talking about things in the window displays.  When we got home, I put together some homemade pizzas and we finally sat down for supper around 8:00 pm.  Phew!

I know it seems late, but it actually will work out well because Tyler has earned a reward from his therapy that we all get to stay up tonight until midnight... so we are all having a sleepover in the den.

After supper, we headed down to the hot tub and then back up for PJs and a major match on the Nintendo.  Then it was a quick break for cookies while we watched a movie.  We are all tucked in and settled so its lights out!  Good Night!

Day 20 - Clean Clothes At Last

Today’s the day!  It’s finally here!  The washer and dryer and scheduled for delivery between noon and 4:00 pm.  If cannot get here soon enough.  We have rationed towels, linens and underwear and have PILES of laundry accumulated.

The kids had scrambled eggs for breakfast and then we headed out on the balcony for our Bible lessons.  Then we stopped back at the outlet mall to pick up a second coat for Tyler (he LOVED it and I cannot find it online).

We watched a movie and Little House on the Prairie while I made and then we ate lunch.

The installers came around 2:00 pm and the install went pretty well!  I cannot wait to get these beauties running!  While they were wrapping up, Steve and a Melissa dropped in for what should be their final visit to install the last few vent covers now painted in the correct colors.

After I got a few loads of laundry finished and we finished science and history, we decided to eat out so we grabbed some games and headed to Olive Garden.  The waitress was super sweet and very patient as we stuck around to finish our game of Go Fish.

We got home with just enough time for Tyler to complete his homework and showers.  Then it was off to bed!

Day 19 - Day of Rest

I woke up a little before my alarm and brought Coco out on the balcony... it was only 42* Brrr!  I know there’s snow at home but I wasn’t expecting this!

We got dressed and ate breakfast in record time!  We were all ready to leave when I double-checked the service time and realized it started at 9:30 instead of 9:00 am.  So we watched a quick cartoon to eat up some of the extra time and then headed out the door.  That’s about when I remembered we needed gas in the truck.  Ugh.  Knowing we had a 25 minute drive ahead and only about that long before the service began, we ran into the gas station and grabbed $25 of gas to get us by.  Back on the road in no time flat... 

Until I realized the silly GPS was begging me to turn right and I totally missed it.  I had to travel 8 miles out of the way to get back to that turn and knew (more than ever) we’d be late.  However, things went smoothly and we pulled into Beach Church at 9:35 am.  We wandered in, found a seat in the balcony and thoroughly enjoyed the patriotic themed service for Veteran’s Day.  Seriously, both kids mentioned they liked it and Tyler even felt led to write to some veterans he knows to say thank you for serving.

On the way home we made a quick stop at the Tanger Outlets to buy coats from Old Navy.  Luckily I had just bought coats for us back home so I knew the size and styles that would work for us.  Since we are planning to come back in December, we figured having a coat to keep here wouldn’t be a bad idea.  

Apparently everyone else in town also thought today was a good day to shop so we had a fairly long wait in line. 

We came home and I spent a little more time on the balcony until we awere ready for lunch.

I told kids that today we’d stick with our standard “day of rest” activities so there was movie watching, card games, coloring, puzzles, and I even squeezed in a little baking.

After supper, I did a quick prep of the laundry room since the appliances are scheduled to be installed tomorrow and had the kids break down the cardboard for us to recycle.

 

Then we all headed down to the hot tub for a soak and fun conversation with some ladies from Pennsylvania who happen to be staying 2 doors down on our floor.

After showers, we FaceTimed with Scott and then finalized our Christmas lists since Grandma is all ready to start shopping.  

Day 18 - Enjoying the Sun

Its the weekend!  Yay!!   I totally get that we are on vacation but somehow the weekend brings a sense of rest and no pressure to do extra school work.  I spent a decent amount of time outside on the balcony... soaking it all in.

This morning after breakfast and devotions we took a walk on the beach with Coco.  I really do love walking alongside the ocean hand-in-hand with these kids.  It was only in the low 60s but the sun was shining so there were lots of folks out today.

Its funny as I look through the pictures we’ve taken this year, like the one above, I am ever reminded of similar pictures taken from years past.  Specifically how both kids continue to enjoy those same spots and activities from prior years.  They may be bigger now, but there’s part of them that remains the same little kid from before... I hope they never lose that!

After our walk, I made a new recipe for lunch, Cheeseburger Pie and we all really enjoyed it!  While it was baking we wrapped up our math lessons from the week.  Then headed down to the pool / hot tub around 2:00 pm.  As long as the sun could still hit the pool (it falls behind the building around 3:30) I said they could swim.  I relaxed in the lounge chairs and read.

Of course once the sun did duck down behind the building, we ran over to the hot tub to warm up before heading back upstairs.

Another new recipe for supper, proved equally as yummy!  Throughout the evening, Tyler and I tinkered with our new robot vacuum.  And eventually cleaned the entire condo, while watching TV.  It just so happens that ALL of the furniture we bought for the condo has high feet on the bottom, meaning there is plenty of room to get underneath it... and see underneath it.  Our Roomba (we have yet to name her) easily fits under it all and takes care of any debris or dust that may collect.  Did I mention I love her???

We convinced Sammy to join us for a movie and then it was tuck in time.  We are hoping to try a new church tomorrow so we have to be up and ready a little early than we’ve gotten accustomed to.

Day 17 - Sweet Memories

We woke up to lots of pictures from home sharing the first snow fall of the year.  It looks gorgeous with the fresh, clean white coating on all the bushes, lawns, etc.  But I’ll take today’s sun and warmth a few more weeks before heading back.

This morning, I took some time to do my devotions and am absolutely loving this new Bible study app I found.  As you read through a chapter, it scans all of the Bible resources in your library and pulls them up as they pertain to the verse you are on.  Giving you all of those cross-references, commentaries, charts and maps at your fingertips... without having to lug all those books around with you.  Its a game changer for me for travelling I think!

Anyway, after a relaxing morning, we took Coco for a walk on the beach and enjoyed a little sunshine and tunes.

The kids have been waiting for a new version of The Grinch to come out, so to celebrate the snow at home, we decided to go see it this afternoon.  Tied it into lunchtime so we filled those bellies with popcorn and shared in more than a few laughs.

Stopped at WalMart on the way home to grab a few things and bought Sammy a couple pairs of pants since I seemed to have missed that when we were packing.

We took care of a few things at home and spent some time with the dog before playing Dos, a new card game.  We grabbed takeout from Outback and ate dinner around 7:00 pm.  Then it was time for Tyler’s therapy and calls to Dad who was visiting his folks... so the added bonus of all three on the screen at once!

During all that, Sammy came out of her room and announced that the wire of her orthodontic appliance and come out and was poking her.  Shoot!  We have found an orthodontist down here already but they won’t open again til Monday and that’s a long time to wait with a wire poking your mouth.  I’ve seen the gals do this a bunch of times and it shouldn’t be difficult to fix if I could just find the right tool...  Well, I don’t think it was the “right” tool but it did the trick.  Just so you know, the photo was taken after everything was back together so we were hamming it up.  (Don’t worry, Grandma!)

Once the homework was finished, it was after 9:30 pm and Tyler was shot... I mean really done.  It was a challenging lesson and he was fatigued.  So I told him after his shower he could stay up with me to watch some TV in bed.  After an extended hug, he headed into his room to shower and prep for bed time.

I realized that this “extra” mom time might not sit well with Sammy, so I headed into her room to explain.  All I said was that Tyler was going to stay up and watch some TV with me because he was feeling frustrated after his homework.  “I think I’ll write him a letter”.  Uh ok.  No complaints, no “unfairs”, just gonna write him a note.  She jumped up and grabbed a marker and paper and wrote a very sweet letter.

After that, she headed into the kitchen and poured them both a glass of milk.  I followed her in and heard her mumbling; I assumed she was scripting her favorite parts from the Grinch and didn’t pay much attention.  When she finished putting the milk away, I pulled her into a hug and said “you sure are a great sister!”  She looked up at me and asked if I had heard her... “No, why?” I replied.

“I was just praying for Tyler, that He would bless him and help him know that we all love him.  Especially me”. Ugh. I love that kid!

And that was the day.  Tyler came out and thanked Sammy for the letter and then the milk.  He climbed into my bed and we watched a few science documentaries as we forgot about the frustrations of the day.

Day 16 - Day of Fun

Today was a great day!  Tyler got his therapy done right after breakfast and I got some cleaning done.  Then we all sat down for some Switch time.  They set the controls to auto drive to dumb it down for me and I still couldn't keep up.  But even so, we had a lot of fun.

Steve and Melissa came just after noon to install the vent covers so we got out of their hair and ran some errands.  First we made a quick stop at Wendy's for some lunch.  We had Coco with us so we didn't want to leave her in the truck so it was takeout in the parking lot.  I had to drop off the deposit for our mirrors and glass for the furniture tops.   This brought us south of town to an area I haven't visited much so it was fun to explore a bit.

On the way home we decided to stop at Barefoot Landing.  Its pet-friendly and we haven't visited yet this trip so we spent some time window shopping and wandering around the shops.  They have made some improvements so it was fun to see the changes.  But some things NEVER change... and we just HAD to pose for this photo...  Same board, same smiles, but new dog :)

We came back home and played some more Nintendo Switch while we waited for dinner.  Then we all sat down in the living room and played a new game on our iPads.  It was fun that we were all doing the same activity but at our own pace.  Tyler would help Sammy on levels when she'd be stuck... I would help Tyler... it was all pretty funny.

Bedtime came soon and I got the kids settled and then got to work on some cleaning and computer work.

Today was a great day!