Messed it up....again

I have put these posts on in the reverse order. I have tried and tried to figure out how to swap them so they are in the right order. I obviously am not smarter than the blog.

Our Summer Trip to Alabama

In August we took a trip to Alabama to see my cousin Earlene (in Birmingham) and to visit with my friend Jim in Tuscaloosa. I was so excited to take the girls to Tuscaloosa, and to take them to the campus of the University of Alabama to show them where I went to college. And they seemed excited about going. That was until they actually got there and stepped out of the truck into the heat. Now remember, we live in Tampa, FL. A sub-tropical climate, where the heat and humidity are oppressive on a good day during the summer. Well, you would have thought I had taken them to vacation on the Sun!!! It was "too hot" and they wanted "to just go home" the entire time we were at the university. I managed to drag them around the stadium and do a little bit of sightseeing before they began to melt. I enjoyed my visit in spite of the whiney-hineys I had with me! Jim was a great sport about walking around in the heat, and then he turned into the hero of the day when he suggested we go get ice cream!! We went to a place called "Yogurt Mountain" where you serve yourself and you get to put whatever toppings you want, and as much as you want, on your frozen yogurt. Then when you go to pay, they weigh the cup and charge you by the pound (ok, really by the ounce, but I think Amelia was closer to the pound measurment!). Well, I have to admit, eating a tub of blueberry cheesecake frozen yogurt, in the air conditioning, was a bit more pleasant than melting the soles of our shoes onto the stadium sidewalk!

Amelia and Hannah at Bryant-Denny Stadium

Amelia giving her honest opinion of her visit

Hannah acting like her dad (it is impossible to take a decent picture of either of them)

The next day, I once again insisted we go out into the heat and go to Moundville. It is the site of an ancient Indian civilization. I went there in the fourth grade for a field trip and remember thinking it was a very neat thing to see. I really thought Hannah would enjoy it, even if it was not Amelia's cup of tea. By the end of the day, they both were saying it had been lots of fun. I am glad we went. It is always surprising to me, however, to go back to a place that I have not been to since I was a kid. It always seems so much smaller and less amazing than I remember it. But it was something the kids have never seen, and I am sure they will have memories of it forever, just as I have. Hannah got an arrow head for a souvenier. Luckily we took a picture of it right after she got it, because that was the last time we ever saw it. We stood on the banks of the Black Warrior river and yelled across. This was the first time either of the girls had ever experienced hearing their echo! That was the highlight of the day, no doubt. I am sure the people down below trying to enjoy a quiet afternoon on the river took great pleasure in listening to my kids yell at themselves for about 10 minutes. But that is the price you pay to hang out in such a cool place!

Darn, This is Hard Work!!

I decided it was time to update the blog. That was about an hour ago. I have been trying to change my background with the new, "easy" design tools. I had to call Tracy and get her to get on her computer to try to help me figure this out. I finally gave it up, and went with the only background that I could make work!!

I am surprised every time I get on here and look back at the date of my last update. I cannot believe how fast the time flys by. The girls both finished school with flying colors, and we enjoyed the summer. We did not do many exciting things, but we did have a couple of visits from friends, and we made a trip to Alabama in August. The girls got to spend most of the summer at home this year. The last few years they have gone to visit family for a week or so at a time throughout the summer, hardly spending any time at home between trips. While this has been a necessity for me (to have someone to watch them while I was at work), they have missed just being able to hang out at home and do nothing. And I missed them while they were gone. So this year we got to spend the majority of our time together. They still spent their time with Steve every week. They got a couple of Disney trips in during the summer, and we went to the beach a few times. But before you knew it, summer was over and it was time for school to start again.

The school the girls have been going to, Sanders Memorial Elementary School, was a very old and outdated facility. Although I really liked it (as it reminded me of the school I attended as a kid), the powers that be decided it was time to tear it down and rebuild it bigger and better. So this year, they went to a new school, Connerton Elementary, that is located in the neighborhood just north of ours. It is a brand new school, with all the amenities that Sanders did not have. Their old school will be under construction for the next two years, at which time I think Amelia will go back there, but Hannah will be in Middle school by then so she will be in a different school anyway. (Yikes!) I don't think the girls like it as much as they did the old school, but I am sure once they have been there a while and have made memories there, it will be special to them too. It takes about 5 minutes longer to drive there from our house, and goodness knows, that 5 minutes can make or break you on beating the tardy bell in the mornings. And God Bless Amelia, she is the absolute slowest person in the world when it comes to getting ready for school. We race the clock every day that I take them to school. You would think that I should just wake up earlier, right? I thought the same thing. But it seems this just makes her move slower because she has more time to get ready!!! I feel sorry for her when she has to move out on her own and be responsible for getting herself to work. I truly think she is going to have to work at night if she ever plans to get there on time.

Amelia in the morning.

We spent some time at Tracy's over the summer. Daddy came down for a few days, so we went over there to visit and get in "some hang time" with Daddy Hawk. Sounds funny for a summer activity in Florida, but we went ice skating while we were there. The girls all had fun doing that. Rachel smiled the entire time she was on the ice. They had little "walkers" you could rent to help you stand up on the ice. She had one of those and she just really had a good time going round and round the rink. It made things much easier for Tracy as well! Of course when Amelia saw the walker, there was no question in her mind that she could not skate an inch without one of those to hold on to. I think we ended up with 3 of them, and the girls all took turns using them. For a bunch of kids from Florida, they all ice skate pretty well if I do say so myself!! I thought I would attach a couple of pictures from that outing, but I guess Tracy has all of those on her camera!! Well, trust me... We had a good time! Most of the visit was spent with the girls in the pool at Tracy's house. Thank goodness for that pool. It keeps them busy for hours a day, and they are not complaining about the heat. Aside from them taking turns being grumpy about who was "it" when they were playing "Marco Polo" (which is THE most annoying game ever invented!!!!), they all enjoyed swimming and worked on their diving skills as well. Daddy Hawk never got in the pool He said he would go swimming, but his "bathing suit had a hole in the knee".

Hannah, Allison, Rachel, Leah and Amelia

Rachel and Hannah

Hannah diving

Leah enjoying her turn as "It"