the Future?

Well...this is as close to London as I got this weekend.


I was disappointed that we did not get to go, but Troy was a sweetheart and took me to the Eastern Shore (Maryland for my non-Eastern friends). We stayed at a wonderful little B&B on the Chesapeake Bay and had so much fun exploring the peninsula. We walked the boardwalk at Ocean City, saw the ponies on Assateague Island, walked the beach at Rehobeth, toured the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and the Maryland State House.

It was relaxing and wonderful.

How grateful I am for good friends who watched the kids for us. We are so blessed.

Some of the highlights:

Outside the B&B:


The boardwalk at Ocean City:



The ponies at Assateague Island:


The Naval Academy's good luck charm, painted for a match against Army.


Thurgood Marshall, outside the Maryland State House:


Troy...I just couldn't resist.


Maryland State House:


And...can I just say that I have decided that I want to live here on the water, with a dock and boat:


with him.


Life is good.

Cursed

So...the last time I planned a weekend getaway with Troy...the east coast with hit with the biggest snow storm in recorded history.

And this time...as we were supposed to fly to London today...a volcano erupts in Iceland (of all places) and causes the biggest air crisis since World War II.

Seriously.

Anyone else worried about how my travel schedule and the apocalypse seem to be coordinated?

What's Worse?

Than helping one of your kids with a science fair project?

Helping two of them.

Don't get me wrong. I love helping the kids out...but man...science fair is a lot of work, especially when you HAVE TO do it.

eek.

Emma was studying lung capacity. She used bubble gum and asked people to see how many bubbles they could blow in a minute.

She hypothesized that people 15 to 20 would have the best lung capcity since that's when lungs fully develop and then begin to deteriorate.



She recieved an honorable mention.

Joe studied what position was the best for playing video games. And seriously...your project is to play videos games for days on end? Yeah. Dream come true.



Joe got a 99 out of a 100. The teacher took 1 point off because she thought his title was misleading.

He called it "The Game Boy" and he did his testing on a DS. Seriously. No points for creativity? Sheesh.

They both did a great job.

What was I thinking?

I spent the day with Emma and Joe and their friends at King's Dominion for the twins birthday.

Fun was had by all. And...other than my catching a cold, no additional medical attention was required.

Sadly, I decided not to take my "nice" camera with me, and the little camera and I are not on speaking terms.

But...here's what we got.




We got to ride the intimidator...it's a giga-coaster and it's the highest and fastest gravity driven roller coaster on the east coast.


Yeah.

There's a point after you go over the first drop and take the first curve where you are moving at over 90 MPH...it actually goes so fast some people said they momentarily blacked out.

I didn't black out, however, everything went dark and fuzzy for a few seconds...it was wild.


Everyone decided it was the best birthday party they had ever been to.

Gotta Get One of These

Williamsburg was great. The weather was beautiful. Seeing all the old buildings and everyone dressed up was cool.



The juxtaposition of old and new as also fun to see...like this coach driver checking his cell phone.



We just had to have everyone post in the stocks at Williamsburg. I have to say...I am thinking about having one of these built in our backyard.




I think most of our kids were a little young to enjoy Williamsburg, but it was still pretty cool.

We also visited Jamestown and Yorktown. Not only is it cool to see buildings that have stood since the birth of our nation, but it's SUPER cool to see canonballs still in the building since these early wars.


Running the battlefields.


Victory Monuement.


I think the kids really enjoyed Jamestown the most...and I am totally in love with Yorktown.

The funniest part was riding the trolley around Yorktown. I was looking out the window and saw a girl running across the beach. I thought, "humm...that looks like Sam. But that's not possible. "

Then, from the back of the trolley I hear, "Mom, look, it's the Brisco's."

What?

Really?

How crazy is that.

Party All The Time

One of the things the kids really enjoyed on vacation was a day trip to King's Dominion...we went on opening day and it was very crowded. They have twice as many as they expected.


But..the kids still really had a good time.

I spent most of the day with Katie and Becky in the kiddie land, while the bigger kids and Troy all ventured off to do the big roller coaster.

Becky is at the perfect age for this stuff. She is old enough to understand what waiting in line means, but young enough to be thrilled to ride on anything that moves.


Ohmyword. The kids driving. The thought sends chills down my spine. This ride was funny because all the kids wanted to drive. So Mikayla drove Becky who was too small to drive.


Emma wanted to be by herself.


Josh kept asking why everytime he went on a ride, why did a bigger kid get to drive and not him? So...he drove Troy.
And I sat in the back seat and let Joe drive...while hanging on for dear life. How come Katie doesn't look scared? (Do you love her HUGE goose egg? That's from just walking around and falling.)


I love after we go someplace like this because Josh always says, "That was the best day ever!"


And of course, no family vacation is complete unless someone needs medical attention. And this trip it was me.

Seriously, we made it the whole entire vacation, the entire day at King's Dominion, and on the last ride of the day I don't know what I touched, but I started to break out in hives up and down my left arm...pretty quickly they started to spread up my arm and across my body.

I was so itchy and getting puffier and puffier by the second. We high tailed it over to the first aid station, where the nice man behind the counter offered my lotion.

REALLY?

I said I could really use an antihistamine....and so they called a paramedic. He was pretty concerned about it, thankfully, so he gave me a shot of benadryl, which I am happy to say took effect immediately. ohhhhhh....the relief. (Of course I was in a haze for the rest of the night and much of the next day.)

So, they kept me for a while to make sure things started to calm down and we were able to make it home without further incident.

ah....vacation.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

I cannot believe how much candy is in the house right now. Seriously. Two easter egg hunts later and we have more than we need.

Katie keeps bringing me random pieces of candy asking if I will open them for her. I think she might be on a sugar high for the next month.

We attended our neighbor's annual easter egg hunt, but sadly, they are moving and this will be the last.

The kids made the most of it.

Double the Fun

We have had a crazy busy week.

We spent Spring Break in Williamsburg. We did Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown. We also went to the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News and spent a day at King's Dominion...so I have lots and lots of photos to post.

And, as if that wasn't enough we had Easter...AND Emma and Joe turned 11 today.

Holy cow.



Can you believe that my babies are 11?

**WARNING**

BIRTH STORY

They were asking me about their birth...and I was thinking back. It seems like a million years ago and yesterday all at the same time.

I had gone into labor with them at 29 weeks and spent five weeks in the hospital on medication to stop the contractions.

The doctors wanted me to make it to 34 weeks. They were giving the twins steroids to help their lungs develop and they hoped that it would be enough to help them along when they were born.

So...on April 4, 1999...I hit 34 weeks. It was a Sunday. Conference weekend. Easter Sunday. Just like today.

They took me off the medicine at about 5 am. Troy had been sleeping at the hospital on and off, and had spent the night. I think his mom was at the house with Mikayla, but he was just beat and wanted to go home and sleep in a bed...not the awful chair in my hospital room.

So...he went home to lay down. Well..at 5:45 am...just enough time for Troy to get home and fall asleep my water broke. lol!

So...I called Troy and woke him up and said...hey hun, my water broke. Since my labor with Mikayla had only been about 4 hours, we didn't want to take any chances...so he rushed right back to the hospital.

In the meantime...I am starting to feel like there are babies about to be born, but of course, when I told the nurse that I thought I needed to push she didn't believe me. Why is that?

So...about this time Troy gets back to the hospital...and the nurse decides to check me...and has a total cow when she realizes that I am already at a 10 and ready to deliver. It was only 6:15 am.

Well...all heck breaks loose...because they want me to deliver in an operating room and nothing is ready. So...they start to wheel me out of the room and they are getting Troy dressed in hospital gear as we literally run down the hallway. The doors are flying open, the nurse is freaking out...and I am holding onto the bed for dear life.

Of course, it didn't help at all that the hospital was in the middle of a lawsuit and my nurse had been named in the suit...as we left my room, the night nurse says to my current nurse...hey...did you know that these guys are both lawyers.

You should have seen her face.

Well...as we get to the operating room the doctor walks in and I am full on ready to give birth. No time for the epidural to work. Dang it.

And out pops Emma at about 6:30 am. This is when the doctor tells that Joe is breach and he is going to try and turn him. ack.

That didn't work...and he wants Joe out...so he asks me if i'm okay with Joe coming out feet first. um...okay. So he reaches in and pulls Joe out feet first. 3 minutes after Emma was born.

It was such a different experience from Mikayla...which was so serene and calm. This was anything but.

Emma weighed in at 5 lbs and Joe was just 4 lbs. But they were incredibly healthy and we all went home after just 2 days. It was a miracle.

I am so grateful that everything went well. They are such blessings. Happy and just really wonderful kids.

We are so lucky to have them and wish them a very HAPPY birthday.

xo