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!

Day 15 - Rebounding

There's really not much to say about the day... it was a pretty standard day.  We didn't go outside at all and spent a lot of time in our school books.  However, I've come to understand now that our dog is definitely made for this ocean living.  Not even kidding, there are times she will bark to be let outside only to sit and stare at the waves.  At one point she came and got me to open the slider door only to have her turn around and lie down in her bed as if she needed the sound of the ocean to lull her back to sleep.  Its strange but kinda sweet as well!  Here she is just enjoying the view from the balcony.

Overall it was a grey day out there.  I'll admit, I probably pushed the kids a little too hard with their school work and by the time supper rolled around, we were all ready for a break!

After wrapping up school, making dinner and then cleaning the kitchen, it was almost 8:00 pm.  Both kids quickly disappeared to their rooms... I think they were worried I'd find something else to teach them.

I sat down briefly and turned on the TV but quickly realized how much my eyes were burning, so I decided to watch from my room with the lights off.  Well apparently I was tired because I fell asleep quite quickly and didn't realize it til the kids woke me up at 10:00 pm.  Oops.  They were already talking with Scott and wanted to know if I wanted to take a turn... Nope, I'm sleeping.  I told them I'd call him later but actually fell back asleep within minutes.  Ugh.  I woke up again a little after 7:00 am.  Although I thought I was feeling better, I'll chock it up that apparently my body knew better!

Day 14 - Back At It Again!

Well, I woke up feeling MUCH better!  Thank you Jesus!

After breakfast, the kids played together while I cleaned the master bedroom and bathroom.  Then we took our morning walk on the beach again.  Walking hand in hand with Tyler as we talk about his future... sharing memories from past visits and how much both kids have changed.  Its these simple memories that I’ll always cherish.

After our walk, we headed inside to work on school.  We missed quite a few days last week during construction so I hope we can make up some of those lessons.  The kids did great.  We did Science, History and Bible before lunch and event worked in a phone conference with Tyler’s therapist.  Then we watched the next episode of Little House on the Prairie while eating lunch.  Then decided to take a break from school and watched a movie together.

I spent a little time on the balcony enjoying the view and working on some puzzles.  Then it was back inside to finish Writing, Grammar and Math.  We also took the time to move Sammy over to the North bedroom so she and Tyler could each have their own bathroom.

As soon as we finished, we headed out to run some errands.  It was almost 6:00 pm so we ran into Cracker Barrel for some supper, er I mean breakfast :)

Then a quick stop at Best Buy and then Target before heading home.  It finally quit raining so we changed into our suits and ran down to enjoy just a few moments in the hottub.

When we got back, the kids each took a shower and headed to bed to watch some TV.  I took advantage of the time to sit on the balcony with Coco and drink a cup of chai.

Then it was back inside to clean up the kitchen, pick up all the stuff and piles that accumulate as we do life, and then headed into my room to work on the computer.

As I worked, Coco acted like she needed to go out.  Instead of taking the time to sit outside while she did her business, I cracked the slider door open so she could get out.  After a little while I saw her jump up on the window sill from outside and look in at me.  Awe.  When I was finished and ready to go to bed, I looked everywhere and couldn’t find her.  I walked out on the balcony and found her on the cushion chairs right outside my window, all curled up and enjoying the salty breeze... she really loves it here!