A Comedy of Errors

Before I begin I want to announce that it's my 500th post!  Yeah!  Kind of crazy.... OK, the kids settled into school and I struggled to keep up.  I thought that when school started life would get a bit easier but with the orthodontist and dentist appointments, my work schedule getting busier and lots of
little things that needed doing and everything we neglected during the summer my life got very hectic!  Mike decided to go to the Virginia Dental Convention to advertise for our vending business and he convinced me to go with him as a sort of working vacation.  I was able to get our superstar babysitter Anne to come spend a couple of days with the kids and we were able to go.  Mike and I drove the 3 hours in our separate cars to this amazing hotel in the middle of nowhere, without incident but from there it just went down hill.  Nothing big, but lots of little things just made the whole trip a bit ridiculous.  We had trouble getting into and out of the loading bay to unload all of our stuff.  In fact at one point we were blocked in and totally stuck.  We finally got our both completely set up and both cars parked.  We decided to go for a hike since we had the whole afternoon and evening free.  We had a great hike and great conversation.  I realized while we were hiking that I had left a stack of our stuff on the loading dock - oops.  I hoped it would still be there.  I also wondered why we had to be all set up so early in the day if we weren't going to be displaying that evening.  We got back all sweaty and dirty and decided to cut through the ballroom and just check on everything.  We found that there was a reception that had started 15 minutes ago and people were in there!  Oops.  We ran out to the car - Mike changed his shoes and cleaned up while I took care of a few last minute details.  I looked awful so I hid in the car while Mike worked the crowd.  I tried desperately to get my phone charged and to find a signal.  My sister had her baby that day and I had been unable to get details or pictures and was so frustrated!  Mike finally showed back up and we drove 20 minutes down the road to the small town we were staying in.  My phone wasn't working and I couldn't remember where our reservation was.  After aimlessly driving around I made a lucky guess and we found our hotel!  Mike checked us in and we went straight to dinner.  It was awful.  Terrible food and totally overpriced.  I just wanted to sleep, I was exhausted.  We went back to the hotel only to find our room was a smoking room and really stank.  We complained, but they were full.  So they made us a reservation at their sister hotel.  We had to go to a third hotel to get our key and check in.  The hotel we were staying at had a 'virtual concierge' which meant that nobody actually sat at the desk.  You skyped another hotel to talk to the manager.  Weird.  We finally got checked in and into our hotel.  I went to bed only to be woken up several times by some random beeping noise in another room.  I couldn't even go complain to the front desk - because nobody was there! I still don't know what was beeping, but it was so annoying!  We made it back to our booth the next morning only to find that it was a super slow convention.  Mike spend a lot of time on his phone in the hallway working and I sat at the booth totally bored.  Not fun.  No internet so I couldn't play on my laptop and no cell coverage in the ballroom.  It was finally time for me to go home.  I picked up my purse and the strap broke.  My purse dropped.  It was only a couple months old- I was so irritated.  I started the long drive home.  I didn't have Mike to follow, he was staying for one more day and my phone didn't work to get directions.  I, of course, got lost.  Not fun.  I finally figured it out on my own and made it home - but not without a lot of frustration!  I finally got some cell coverage but for some reason when I called Mike I couldn't hear him talking to me.  I would call him and talk and then hang up and then he would text me his answers.  Ridiculous!  When I got home I got the kids to bed very late and was so glad to sleep at home.  Mike called me in the morning to tell me he had locked his keys in the car.  He wanted me to research what was cheaper, a locksmith on a Saturday or a new window for his car.  The nearest locksmith was over an hour away - so not an option.  Luckily we found out that in remote counties like that the sheriff will get you into your car, so we didn't have to pay for either!  Mike made it home early.  I was glad to see the weekend end!  We aren't going back to that convention next year!

 Mike at our Treasure Tower booth

 

 

A deer we walked by on our hike

Back to School

On Tuesday the kids went back to school.  It was tough getting up early and having to hurry and get ready, but they all made it on the bus.  They all love their teachers, had a great first day and are doing well.  There were some disappointments as far as everyone having all their friends in their class, but that's the way it goes! Going back to school can be a hard adjustment for everyone.  We had some tough mornings, grouchy kids, tears, temper tantrums over homework, etc, but it will get easier each week as we adjust.  We had a very busy week and finished it up with a bang.

In other news, I went to Time Out For Women here in Richmond.  I went on Friday evening.  Mike came home as I walked out the door.  After he feed the kids he decided to take them to the NASCAR race.  It was race weekend here in Richmond.  (For those of you who haven't lived in the south - Nascar is a BIG deal.  Everyone has their favorite driver's number on their vehicle, they camp here during race weekend and the traffic is horrendous!  In the 12 years we have lived here, we've never been to a Nascar race.)  The 'big' race is on Saturday - on Friday it was the junior league races, so children 12 and under are free, the parking is free, and there is very little traffic.  So Mike loaded up the kids, stopped by to get a 6 pack of ear plugs and took them to the race track.  They were there for the pre-race festivities and for the 'Gentleman, start your engines!' and for a good part of the race. The kids had a fabulous time!  They said it was very loud.  They left before it was over and on their way out had to walk right by the track.  It was so loud and scary that Celeste wet her pants - did I mention that Mike was carrying her? =).   On Saturday I got up early and went back to Time Out For Women for most of  the day.  I had such a good time.  The speakers are all uplifting and funny and inspiring.  Having access to Deseret Book is always a good (but dangerous) thing, I had fun with the women I went with, and it was a great break!  I came home to a clean house and happy kids.

First Day of School

somebody always gets bunny ears

Anna Elise was not happy and Calvin definitely got the reaction he was after

So excited at the track

watching the race with earplugs

the race cars

Goodbye Summer!

The last two weeks of summer were crammed full of fun!  We had our second week of swim lessons (sadly, no pictures, I got sick the last few days and it was all I could do to get them there and back home).  We also had fun doing our last craft of the summer - everyone got to pick their own.  Everyone picked out a birdhouse to paint (they were fancy birdhouses) except for Anna Elise who chose to do a latch hook rug. Calvin was able to go swimming with his friend a couple of times, we went to Busch Gardens one more time, we had a 'friend' day (actually I was asked to babysit for two different families on the same day - it just so happens that with the two families everyone had a friend) so I had 11 kids at my house for most of the morning (note: I'm glad I don't really have 11 kids!).  We had more orthodontist appointments and went to the school to meet our new teachers and drop off our school supplies one afternoon.

Mike and I were able to attend the BYU v. UVA game in Charlottesville.  It was CrAzY!  Mike got the tickets as a surprise anniversary gift for me.  I was SO excited.  I haven't been to a BYU game since I was an undergraduate student at BYU years ago (we'll just say lots of years ago, no need to count them =) ).  We got a sitter, drove the hour to Charlottesville, managed to get parked in all the craziness of 'game day' in a small town and hike to the stadium.  It was so fun to see so many people wear their blue BYU shirts!  After a frustrating first quarter they announced a lightening warning and evacuated the stadium.  We were told to return to our cars.  Since we parked a mile away, we found cover across the street at the UVA bookstore.  After lots of thunder and lightening and a rain storm we wandered back to the stadium, but still had to wait for the lightening in the distance to finally stop before they let us back in and resumed the game.  Right around half time it started pouring rain.  By the time I made my way to cover - I was soaking wet and the cover was all taken.  We debated about leaving, but I was already wet so why leave?  I had to keep wiping water out of my eyes as we stood in the rain and watched the teams try to play.  It was ridiculous.  Every step produced a spray of water.  Nobody could hold onto the ball!  It finally stopped raining and there was some really good action.  Unfortunately we lost - but I had a blast.  I'm happy to report I still remember the fight song =)  It was good to hear it again!  Goooooo Cougars!

 Eating watermelon from our garden for FHE

Our crafts

Celeste has been begging for pony tails, so we put some in.  As bald as all my girls have been, Celeste has less hair then any of them.  She also seems to have some curl  (hopefully it stays)!

Calvin's lego tower.  He had his little legos taken away for a week, so had to resort to playing with the big legos.  The babysitter helped him with this tower while we were at the BYU game.