Friday, November 16, 2007

Tag, your it!


W&M:Well we've been tagged by our friend Ms. Cherie but we'll let mom have a guest appearance and share a few interesting things about herself.


I guess the instructions are to share 8 interesting things you may or may not know about me. Here it goes-

1. I grew up as the only girl with 5 brothers (it was amazing I survived!) Luckily I was the second oldest so I could hold my own most of the time. They were always jealous that I got my own room and they didn't. My older brother even resorted to sleeping in the closet under the stairs so he could have his own "room" if you want to call it that. I'm also lucky to have gained a lot of great sisters through my marriage to my husband and the spouses of my brothers.

2. After completing my college education, I took on the illustrious job of being a ski instructor. Really put that college education to good use! It didn't pay great monetarily but you can't beat doing what you love for work. There were also the great added benefits of season passes for my spouse and I and the fact that you rarely missed a powder day.

3. I met my husband while sitting in a hot tub. Actually the story is that he met me while sitting in the hot tub but since I took little notice of him that day, I didn't actually "meet" him until our first date. He knew he needed to plan a date to really catch my attention since his glowing white skin hadn't done the trick in the hot tub so he took me ice skating for our first date. This allowed him to lure me in with all of us skating finesse (he played college hockey).

4. I lived in Japan for 10 years. My dad was in the Air Force so we lived at three different bases there. The first three years were just after I was born and then we were there from the time I started 6th grade until I graduated from high school. For awhile it was where I had lived the longest with the nomadic lifestyle the military brings but people really would look at me funny when I would try to tell them I was from Japan!

5. I'm both a certified PE teacher (k-12, adapted and regular) and athletic trainer. I worked in both fields for awhile but now I have a much better and harder job of being a stay at home mom!

6. I love all things outdoors whether it is hiking and climbing the high peaks, kayaking the waterways, biking the roads and hills, or playing in a game of soccer. In fact, I even prefer doing the outside chores over the inside ones.

7. I'm a avid follower of list therapy. Each week I make my lists of things to do, meals to cook, items to buy. I feel a great sense of accomplishment each time I scratch something off my list. It also helps me to remember what I need to do because if it doesn't get written down it is often forgotten. If I'm having trouble getting motivated to do a certain task I'll break it down into parts and list each separately so I can see the progress that is happening and continue to the end.

8. I taught my husband how to replace the brakes on our car. When I was in high school I took auto mechanics and also did a semester as a teacher's aide in the auto mechanics class. It is been very handy to have some basic repair skills. One of Jim's reasons for wanting to go to medical school was so that he could afford to pay somebody to repair his car for him. However we're still too cheap to take it in for basic maintenance we can do ourselves.


We tag the Silcox, Baker, and Remke families!

One of those days...

I'm really looking forward to going out to dinner with some friends tonight without the girls in tow. We had a bit of a rough start this morning. I woke this morning and noticed it was cooler than normal. I checked the thermostat and it showed the heat pump should be on but it wasn't. The compressor was running outside but the heat pump/ fan was just buzzing and not blowing the air. Finally get the number of the Heat/AC guys that helped us out this summer and call them. They can't make it out until Monday. Granted I could call somebody else but these guys were really helpful last time. Just have to dress warmer! We then headed out to go for a run. We got to the running trail and I got the girls all bundled up in the jogging stroller. Lock up and get ready to head out. Just as I closed the last door I realized my keys were inside the car. Ugh! Had to call a locksmith to come pop the lock. It's one of those days when I really miss Jim being gone!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Halfway there....

Whitney: Daddy said he had "hump day" last week. I don't know what that means but Mom says that it means that Daddy is halfway through his deployment. I've gotten to eat a lot of chocolate but there still seems to be a lot left (I get a "Daddy Kiss" each night). Mommy says that Daddy will come home after our trip to visit family for the holidays. I was asking Mommy if tomorrow was the day we get on the airplane. Not yet she said but soon which means Daddy will be home soon too!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Monticello and Shenandoah National Park



Whitney: A week ago we headed up towards Charlottesville on a weekend adventure to enjoy the blessings of autumn. The first stop was Michie Tavern to enjoy some good ol' Southern cooking. This tavern was founded in the 1720's and they try to maintain the ambiance as close to the original as possible (though we were seated in the more modern addition). Here's a picture of me eating my lunch of fried chicken, green beans, and biscuits:


Afterwards we headed to Monticello to see the cool house that Thomas Jefferson built. Mom thought the huge garden was pretty cool but I thought the little pepper I tried to eat was "spicy". Here's Maren and I in front of the house:


After the tour there we headed to a nearby apple orchard. Unfortunately you park at the top of a hill and the only apples to be picked were a long ways away at the bottom of the hill. So we walked down a few rows of trees towards the top of the hill and were able to find a few good apples still on the tree. Here's me with my find:


The next day we headed to Shenandoah NP. The central attraction of this park is a road called Skyline Drive (only in the East). However this road does have some spectacular views. We stopped for a short hike and then headed to a picnic area where we built a campfire. We roast edhot dogs and marshmallows for lunch. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful fall colors stretching across the rolling hills and saw a lot of deer on our drive.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Petting zoo...

Whitney: We've gotten behind on our posts the last few weeks so we'll try to bring you up to date on a few of the things we've been up to. A couple of weeks ago we were learning about farm animals in preschool. On one of of preschool days we took a trip to a local petting zoo to check out the animals. We saw a tiger, jaguar, kangaroo, and lemur (not your typical "farm" animals. We got to pet sheep, goats, deer, chicken, and a llama. Here are a few of the pictures:

New bike...

Whitney: Here's a video of me riding my new two wheeler bike. It's just like Mom and Dad's bikes (well mine still has training wheels for now). What's even better was that I was able to buy it with my own money. It only cost $5 at the thrift store! Now I don't have to wait for Santa to bring me one.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Park days...

We sure love going to the park to play. Each Wednesday we meet our friends at a different park to play. Mom also takes us to the parks on the base a couple times a week at the end of her run. Here are a few pictures of us having fun at the park.