3, 2, 1, blastoff!!!

We had a hot but very exciting day today...we went to see the shuttle launch at the Kennedy Space Center. It was like rush hour on the beltway getting into the space center, the typical 1 hour drive became 2. We wouldn't have minded so much but we were on E, what kind of crazy are we going into traffic and forgetting to check to make sure we had enough gas? Ugh! Well, we made it but we were very nervous. Anyway, we were there with about a million other people in 400 degree weather, but it was sooooo worth it! I would do it again in a second and so would Matthew...Hunter thought it was "boring, and horrible because it wasn't loud enough". Ha! Sean is not one to fight crowds and didn't like the heat but he did enjoy the shuttle launch part of the trip. We spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center taking in an IMAX show about the space station, the Mad Mission to Mars kids show, they played in water, and we did the Space Launch Experience ride...that was pretty cool, but I felt like we would all have shaken astronaut syndrome by the time we got off. The launch was a dream come true for me...I've always wanted to be an astronaut, go to space or and see a launch in real life...one out of three's not bad huh? We had a good time despite the heat and crowds and it was so exciting to count down the blast with all those people. We saw the shuttle taking off and then about 2 minutes later heard it, it sounded like fireworks really, I was expecting much worse. I would highly recommend it to anyone coming to town to try to catch a shuttle taking off....it was something I'll never forget. I'm going to try to go back for the October and/or December launch as well....maybe the rest of the gang will go in December when it's much cooler outside. We have some pictures attached of us at Kennedy Space Center and anyone who knows Hunter, will know that he HAD to become an astronaut today. The rest of the kids posed behind wooden suits, Hunter had to have a suit...he really wants to be an astronaut now...much better than being Spider Man I guess, at least he could possibly be paid for this job. Until my next post.....

Almost back in action...

Okay, it's been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened which is why I haven't had time to post...not to mention I haven't really had an internet connection either. Anyway, we went to closing on our new house in FL on Monday, 7/31 so we're official FL residents now. Thuesday, 8/1 the movers came to VA to pick up all our stuff and trust me when I say we had a lot of stuff. Even though we really did a good job going through and getting rid of a ton of things, it still took 6 professional movers 6.5 hours to load everything into a truck! They had estimated that our things wouldn't arrive until about Sunday so Matthew, Hunter, mom and I joined Carol, Garrett, my Sis, Kenzie and Keegan at the beach for the weekend. We had a great time there, the weather was perfect...however, there was a slight jellyfish problem. Of course Keegan had to get stung not 5 minutes after we got to the beach but we were thankful if any kid had to get stung that it was him because he's quite the tough guy...didn't even cry! The lifeguard took good care of him by spraying regular kitchen vinegar on his foot and he was fine after that. Who knew that vinegar cures a jellyfish sting?! Anyway, there were about 1,000 stings in one day at just the 3 lifeguard posts and so the news was there doing a big special...we have nothing better to talk about than the attack of jellyfish. Ha! Then at one point there was a guy swimming pretty far out in the ocean and the lifeguard kept blowing her whistle and waving her flag and he started swimming in but she kept doing it and then she looked at me calmly and said "there's a shark so I don't know why they aren't getting out of the water"!!!!! I freaked out and started yelling "shark, get out" so then everyone responded. Sis and the kids were in the water too and they moved very fast...we all thought she was blowing the whistle at the guy swimming out way too far...I can't believe she was so calm. Turns out that it was a 5 foot shark coming in right about knee deep and that happens to be the beach where everyone get attacked by sharks....now I see why, no sense of urgency to get people out of the ocean. In my opinion when you see a shark you don't just stand and wave a flag calmly, you wave it like a freak and yell shark! Anyway, our stuff arrived Saturday instead so I missed watching those poor guys carry all our stuff into our new house in the 100 degree temps...Sean said he knows they had to have lost about 10 pounds each because it was so hot...and he wanted to do all this moving ourselves, we'd probably still be loading a truck in VA. Ha! Anyway, we're all moved in and still unpacking so we hope to put the last box out in the trash by the end of the weekend. We'll be sending out notices with our new address and phone number soon but we still have our old cell phone numbers so if you need to come visit before you get our new address just call us on the cells and we'll have your guest room ready and waiting! Until my next post...

Tooth #3...

Well, it looks like Matthew could very well be asking for his front teeth this Christmas...well, his front tooth that is. Any of you that have seen him know that he's had a lose tooth for a while now and he was looking like a crazy person because it was going in every direction at any given moment! So today when I got a call at work from him telling me that it was out, it was a happy moment for me! The funny thing is that he accidentally knocked Makenzie's (his cousin) tooth out when they were playing tug-of-war with the remote and he let go and it hit her in the face and knocked that lose tooth right out. Well, today he was trying to get a wet wipe out and when he pulled, it tore and his very own hand flew up and hit him in the face and he knocked his very own tooth out. So if you know of anyone who needs help with a lose tooth just send them our way, maybe this means he'll be a dentist one day. Ha! I've attached some pictures of his funny new smile to share with all of you, and I couldn't resist the swimming picture because the goggles, new toothless smile, and watered down hair was just too much(picture to post later)! Then of course there was Kenzie, as competitive as she is....she insisted that we should pull her tooth out too, though it's not even really lose, but she swore it wouldn't hurt and that it would be okay (my Crazy girl!)

Until my next post...Ang

Off to work I go...

Okay, today was the first day of my new job here in Orlando and I can't even tell you how excited I am about it. It started off that it took me 15 minutes, YES 15 MINUTES and that included my stop at Starbucks (which happens to be right on the way and didn't have a single person in line)! As if the commute alone wasn't good enough, my new boss walks in and introduces her self and then goes on to say "oh, by the way, we are both over dressed and I only did it because I knew I would be meeting you today...so you can dress casual from now on, even jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes are okay". No, wait....it gets even better.....the employee lounge is right across the hall from my office and they have snacks (healthy snacks even) for all project employees for free. Then she told me that I don't really have a standard schedule or hours and if I get all my work finished and want to take off early some days or an extra day that it's fine with her, she's "very flexible".....I felt like I had won the job lottery. Not that I didn't have an awesome job in VA because I did, not to mention I had the best office mate a person could ever ask for (I do miss BJ and our chats and lunch runs already) but I did have a long commute there so I was usually too tired to appreciate my job by the time I got to it. There are some things that are going to be an adjustment, like the kind of work I'll be doing, lots of deadlines, reading, and pressure....not to mention that most people there that I'm working with are not SAIC employees...that will take me a while to adjust to. I am happy to report though that I just love my new job! It seems like I've just been so busy though, and up so late every night and still not able to accomplish half of what I set out to do.....I am still taking 2 classes a quarter by the way and even the ones that I'm currently taking are pretty cool....but a lot more work than any others that I've taken in the past. I'm having to actually log on early in the week and work on the tasks well before the due date....that's not typical of me at all. I don't have much more time until I get my degree though, so I'm going to keep chugging along.
As for the house, they sent a counter offer of course because we have to play this little back and forth game of numbers, which I've never understood by the way. But we countered their offer so hopefully we'll be able to meet somewhere in the middle. Not that it helps us all that much, we still have a house in Leesburg, VA (I note that because we're close to Leesburg, FL here too) to get rid of. Hopefully we'll start getting more showings and sell soon...it's not even been on the market a week but I am starting to panic just a little. Anyway, I miss all my friends in VA and will be coming to visit very soon....until my next post....Ang

Okay, signs of brighter days...

Well, we literally weathered the storms and believe me when I say there were many of them! Oh, let's just say it rained the entire day of the 4th of July while we were at the resort and then my sister's kids both ended up with the stomach flu and had to go to Urgent Care so their trip was cut short, Hunter wasn't feeling well so he ended up in bed by 4 in the afternoon, and Matthew was in bed by 9. Sean did go out to dinner with some friends that were at the resort with us and brought me left overs, I figured someone should still enjoy the holiday. Matthew and I did sit up and watch fireworks on TV though, ironically they were the ones in DC that we've never gone to see in real life when we had the chance. Ha!

So now, it's a whole new day....the kids are all feeling better, Sean and I have put a contract on a house finally after looking at just about everything for sale in the entire state it seems...I'm sure Ray and Jim (our awesome agents) would agree with that. I don't know if it's that we're very indecisive, or that we're just extremely picky....but we did finally make a decision on one house that was really above our budget but we loved it so much and we found out after Ray wrote up the contract that the selling agent forgot to mention that it was in pre-foreclosure. So we decided not to pursue that because from what we hear it's a total hassle and takes a long time to come to terms and closing and we'd really like to have a house sooner than later. So Sean was set to fly out tonight at 9:20pm, meaning he had to be to the airport by 7:20pm and we literally signed a new contract on a new house at 7:00pm....nothing like racing the clock huh? We're extremely excited about the new house though and hope all goes well with the contract. The only thing this house didn't have that we had wanted was a pool but we've already gotten the name of a guy to install a pool once we move in so we're all set if we can get them to agree to our terms. (Picture attached is of our possible new home) Keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for us to get this house, I know I'll be doing a lot of that myself.

Hunter ended up going home with Sean because his allergies with my sister's cats were just too much and we don't like to see him sick and struggling to breath. Matthew ended up staying though, but I know we'll be making a trip to VA either this coming weekend or the next because I'm already missing Sean and Hunter and they've only been gone for 4 hours now....3 weeks to go, it'll be the longest 3 weeks of my life I'm sure. Anyway, I just wanted to post and let everyone know that I've regrouped, taken a deep breath and ready to give this FL thing an entirely new shot.....that could all change after my first day of work on Monday though. Ha!

Until my next post...Ang

What were we thinking?

Okay, so yesterday proved to be more of a challenge for us. Matthew was up all night sick and throwing up and at about 7am I called Kaiser to get advice and they told us to take him to the nearest ER or Urgent Care. He was literally throwing up every half hour all night long, he was so pitiful....and he and I slept (or tried to sleep) in the floor of the bathroom all night long. I woke my sister to find out where the nearest Urgent Care was and turns out they don't open until 1pm so I sort of started to freak out at that point...but then she said, "why don't you just take him to his new doctor"...why didn't I think of that? So the office opens at 8am and we were there at 7:53 and they let us come on in. Turns out he has strep throat, and to put a positive spin on things, the doctors and nurses there were absolutely awesome! So then we brought him home where he just slept the entire day and Sean, Hunter and I went to the coin laundry to wash all the sheets, blankets, pillows, and everything else that had been a victim of that night. We did find time to drive though some neighborhoods as well, but I was so tired, starting to feel a little home sick, and just started to mope from that point on. Then we had seen a dead snake right in the road in front of my sister's house...had the worst thunder and lightening storm I've ever seen, saw that there was a pipe bomb at Disney (the same day Matt and the rest happened to be at Downtown Disney for lunch and at the water park), and Hunter has had so many allergy problems.....I just looked at Sean and said "what were we thinking"! Is it too late for me to go beg for my job back in McLean? My house doesn't hit the market until noon today, so I'll try to stick it out but it's very tempting to just pick up the phone and say "no, stop, I love my house there, I miss my friends....don't sell our house". Sean can't believe I'm already having 2nd thoughts, I would be the last to cave surely......I'll do my best, maybe I'm just tired...that's all. I just hate when my kids are sick, so it can only get better right? Matthew is starting to show signs of life today so it's already a better day....until my next post. Ang

Rick's Surprise Party!

We celebrated Rick's 40th birthday on Saturday.

The guys all went out to play golf to get Rick out of the house and when they returned there was a house full of guests all ready to celebrate. He appeared to be really surprised, and the kids were so excited to hide and all jump out when he entered the room. It was so hot, but I guess that's to be expected in FL the last day of June. My sister had hired a life guard and baby sitter (who Matthew was flirting with relentlessly, he's into older women as she was 15) so there were no worries about the kids so we all got to relax and had a GREAT time! I had gone out with Janet and one of her friends to Chuck E. Cheese to get the kids out of the house that morning as well so my sister could clean and prepare everything for the party. The kids had a fun time playing, thanks Janet for inviting us! We did manage to fit in a little house hunting, we have found a new construction neighborhood that we like a lot but we still want to see what else is available before we make a quick decision. We ended the day Saturday after the party with cards, which of course is one of my personal favorite things to do, then games, and it wouldn't have been a good night without making a run to the border....so off to Taco Bell I go for about 50 tacos, nachos, and cinnamon twists...all for under $30, does it get any better than that? Ha! Today was a catch up day for me with my school work, so I spent many hours working on my 2 new classes, they seem to be a little harder than any others that I've taken, well....not really as hard as just a lot of work. Hopefully I'll be better about trying to finish my work at the beginning of the week...but that would be so out of character for me. Ha! Matthew went to Blizzard Beach (Disney Water Park) with Sis, Kenzie, Sholl, Casey, Lexy, Pam, Carter, and E....from what I hear they had a great time, though they had to get out of the water for extended periods of time due to thunder. They ended up buying season passes, so I guess we'll be going there a lot once Matthew gets down here for good. Until my next post....Ang