Niagara

We are in Niagara Falls, Canada!! It is awesome.



I know that's short and sweet, but it's really all I have. The falls are just beautiful, the sights are exciting, and the atmosphere is just incredible, especially tonight. We just came from the illumination of the Falls and the fireworks and it was PACKED with people. I'll give a play by play when we get back home, but I wanted to go ahead and share some pictures. We started the day off with a little incident...



After the boys straightened up we went on to Journey Behind the Falls,



Maid of the Mist boat ride,



White Water Rapids Walk,



Carter bought a fox tail and clipped it to his back belt loop. He thought it was the funniest thing and BOY did he garner some attention. He reveled in it. Chad would never WANT people to laugh at him like that. Sorry about the sideways video, but Charles was the videographer. Enough said. LOL



and finally the Butterfly Conservatory. What a day!!



I am so glad we went on this trip. For us the journey IS the vacation for the most part, but in this case the destination is everything we'd hoped for. Here's a taste of our journey though...you know I wouldn't drive all this way without some fun geocaches on the way... I think this one was in WV.



And here is one in PA...

And here are the loves of my life. They make my life complete and are the source of my happiness. They inspire me to be adventurous and experience life to its fullest.

I'll be back with more soon. I'm off to make more memories right now.

Going to the Chapel

There was a wedding in our tree house this afternoon. Carter's friend Erica came over. They were in his room dancing and she said, "We're going to have our wedding in the tree house!" I thought she meant in 20 years or so. Apparently she meant right then because they took the stuffed hamster that sings "I think I love you" and headed to the tree house. Chad and Oen, Erica's brother followed them up to crash the wedding. LOL A few minutes later Erica and Carter came inside the house to announce that the wedding was over. She said, "I was going to kiss him...you know, just for the wedding, but Carter said we should just hug." LOL I said that was probably best. She did remind me though that she had kissed him in Kindergarten. LOL She's had her eye on him since pre-K. She was following him around the playground one day in pre-K when my sister heard him turn around and tell her, "I just need some alone time!" LOL Since then he has given up and just accepted that she's his 'girlfriend'. It's pretty funny.

Buying a camera should NOT be this tough

FYI...if you're getting this email it is because I linked you to my blog and whenever I update it, you get it via email.

I am on a quest for a new pocket sized camera. My current one is far from pocket sized. I went to Wal-Mart with Angel about a week ago and wrote down model numbers of about 10 cameras that I liked. Then I brought my list home and researched them all online, read reviews, etc. I narrowed my list down to 4, then went to Best Buy yesterday to hold them and test them out. I marked 2 of those off and added 2 more, then came back home again to research the 2 new ones. Then I went BACK to Best Buy last night with Charles and we decided which one we wanted. Of course, now we want the best price, so I head to the PX. They don't have my model, but they do have the next model up. Hmmm....LOL

That brings us to today. I had a goal in mind...go to Wal-Mart and hopefully they have the best price. The kids were at VBS with friends today, so I had about 2.5 hours to accomplish my goal. I get to Wal-Mart #1 and check out their cameras. They have the one I want, Sony DSC T-70, but it is $20 more than at Best Buy. I decide to buy a new outfit while I'm there because I have on a skirt/skorts that looks like a mini skirt and I realize that I really shouldn't pick the kids up from CHURCH in this outfit. So, I'm at the register with NO camera, but an outfit to change into. Guess what? My debit card is at home. I had JUST this morning paid off the Sam's card, so I didn't want to add anything to that. So, I put my clothes back and head back to the house. I change clothes and grab my debit card. Then I head back to town and hit Target. No Sony T-70. I did, however, buy a Patriotic CD from the dollar section. I get in the car and unwrap my CD excited about hearing some nice music...no CD in the case! Unbelievable. Oh well. It was only a $1. Now I'm on my way to Best Buy to get the much sought after camera. There I am, ready to buy and they don't have the color I want. They only have silver, and I want pink. I contemplate, but YES it matters. It just does. I didn't like the silver. By this point I don't have a lot of time left, so I go to Wal-Mart #2, willing to pay the extra $20 for the pink one. Find the photo lab lady to unlock the cabinet...no T-70's in the case at all. *sigh* No time for more shopping, so I comfort myself with Checkers on the way to pick up the kids. Yum! I get the kids and we head back to Wal-Mart #1. NO PINK T-70!! UGH!!! By this time I have already held out so long for the pink one, that I'm not going to give up now. I'll just order it online if I have to. Or ... maybe...I'll just go to the PX tomorrow and buy the newer version after all. lol

So...my quest continues.

After all that fun, we headed downtown to "Thunder Over Augusta", an Armed Forces Day celebration where Charles' recruiting company had the rock wall and football toss set up, among many other festivities. It was a lot of fun for a while, but then it just got hot and boring. We were trying to stay all day though, partly because Charles had to and partly because Lee Greenwood was doing a concert at 8:00 and there would be fireworks at 9:00. We did find some things to occupy the kids though...











Then Charles met G.I. Jonny



Around 6:30 or so Charles' commander finally pulled him away from his push-up station he so cleverly created. He was giving away t-shirts, but only to those that could beat the push-up record for their category. So, after he's relieved of his duty, we head out to find something to eat/drink and find the Lee Greenwood concert. We found the concert site and the ONE food stand. It had 2 crazy long lines. We stood for about 10 minutes and then decided to call it quits. We'd leave, get something to eat, then watch the fireworks from the other side of the river. So that's what we did. We missed the concert, but I really didn't mind. The traffic coming out of there after the fireworks was awful. We watched it as we moved along nicely on the road coming from the SC side of the river. It was a nice night. Oh, and by the way, where we parked to watch the fireworks...Wal-Mart #3...they didn't have a pink T-70 either. :(

Times, they are a changing

I am entering a new phase of my life now. I had a JOB interview today. *GASP*

I know, I know...I'm the one that said I was always going to be a SAHM, no matter what Charles thought. LOL But, I am SO excited about this opportunity. I've always said that the only way I will work is in the school system, so that I'll mostly be home when the kids are home. Well, the position I applied for today is a secretary position at the middle school here in town. Not only is it a secretay position, which is what I secretly yearn for, it is in the guidance office, which couldn't be more perfect given my degree in Social Work.

So, I interviewed today. I feel really good about it. It flowed much more comfortably than I expected. She still has more candidates to interview, but will make a decision next week. If I don't get this job I will still pursue a paraprofessional position at the Elementary School and if that doesn't work out then I plan to substitute. One way or another I plan to be working in the school system next school year.

Carter's First 7 Years

My baby is 7! Here is the slideshow I created for him.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com