Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Memorial Day Celebration

Tristan loved the trampoline
Tasty fresh cut carny fries for Tristan
Grace and Tristan building their bird houses
Riding the train
We rode with them for free...thanks to the super nice train conductor!
Keep dreaming Dale!
Grace is all smiles
Look how high Mom!
Dale using his own daughter for target practice
My Patriotic Princess


We got to enjoy a local festival here in Simpsonville on Memorial Day. It's called the "Freedom Aloft" Festival and it's got a ton of hot air balloons that take off every evening from the venue..probably close to 100 ballons. We saw some over our house Sunday night and it was pretty fun to see. Over at the fair grounds we were able to sample a bunch of the local foods and ate some traditional goodies like cotton candy. We watched some of the frisbee dog trials which were amazing. The kids both tried out the suspended trampoline. I tried to persuade them to flip but I think both were a little overwhelmed at how high they were jumping. We also ran into a funny clown that put these weird coned helmets on the kids heads (yes, that includes Dale) and they played ring around the head. The pictures explain it better. Jason and Libby (and Addison) were able to meet up with us at the festival too. We ended our day with building wooden bird houses (free activity..too cool) and riding the train at the park. Exhausting but fun day!


Sleepover with Addison

Aren't I too cute?!
Tuckered out!

We had a fun weekend here in Greenville, SC. We didn't go out of town like most with it being a 3 day weekend as we had the opportunity to watch my baby niece Addison overnight...FIRST TIME EVER. Her parents (my baby brother Jason and wife Libby) have never left her with anyone overnight before and this was our trial run. Keep in mind that this is only an overnight visit...one night...24 hours. They dropped her off at about 3pm and picked her up by 4pm the next day. They brought over 4 huge bags, her pack n play crib, outlet plugs for the entire first floor, dated all food with what time it was to be given even and a baby gate for the stairs. Wow is right. I was seriously impressed. We wanted to have the chance for Addison to get use to us as we're getting her for 3 days next weekend when Jason and Libby go to Hilton Head for a wedding. She's an awesome baby and didn't cry once...ok..besides when we woke her up from her nap when her parents came to pick her up. Like I said, excellent baby. Too cute!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Personality Test

I just took this personality test and I have to say it was pretty dang close...it actually made me laugh outloud...it was THAT close. I've included the link below so you can take the test yourself. It's definitely an eye opener...enjoy!




You Are An ESTJ



The Guardian



You're a natural leader and quick, logical decision maker.

Goals are important in your life, and you take many steps to acheive them.

You enjoy interacting with others, mostly through work related activities.

Your high energy level means you are great at getting things done!



In love, you tend to bring stability to relationships.

You feel comfortable being in charge, and you enjoy being a provider.



At work, you take charge. You thrive in structured environments and don't mind enforcing the rules.

You would make a great teacher, judge, or police detective.



How you see yourself: Realistic, stable, and pragmatic



When other people don't get you, they see you as: Rigid, bound to rules, and a bad listener

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Mother's Day with Mom

My brother Jason with his wife Libby and my sweet niece Addison
Mimi (my Mom) and my niece Addison
Dale and my Mom

This was an extra special Mother's Day for me as I was able to spend it with my own Mom as well as my brother Jason and his new wife. We typically don't have the opportunity to spend many of the less recognized holidays with family since we've always lived a great distance away. I'm able to see my brother Jason often(we go to lunch together every week) now that we live in Greenville and with my Mom now RVing full-time, she's able to travel to us.



On Sunday, we were all able to go out to dinner together at a nice restaurant and then came back to my house for Cheesecake Factory cheesecake...yum! I do need to mention a quick story about the day. My brother and wife enjoy drinking wine and so on their way back to my house, they decided to take a detour and stop for a bottle of wine. After they've bought the wine, they stop at a gas station to fill up. A little lightbulb goes off in Jason's head as he's standing silently pumping his gas and he walks over to the window of his SUV and says "What's the chance that Dawna will have a cork screw?"Ding, ding, ding. You are correct...I don't drink, hence I don't have a cork screw. To make a long story short, I am now the proud owner of a new cork screw, a gift from my brother. Jason said to not be surprised when I get wine glasses for Christmas so he has something to drink from when he comes over. I'm starting to feel like the wife that gets the new bowling ball with her husband's name engraved on it.



After chatting and spending some time together, my Mom and step-dad Lonnie went back to their trusty RV to feed their dogs and Dale and I were able to challenge Jason and my sister-in-law Libby to a game of Catch Phrase. If any of you know my brother, you can understand how competitive he is, especially when it comes to competing against his big sister. Let's just say it wasn't a good evening for Jason...hee hee hee. Dale and I smoked them bad...maybe next time Jason! LOL




Our House...Before and After

Before
After

My new hobby...organic gardening



Thought I'd send an update of our house and a couple of pictures to show some of the improvements we've made since we've moved in. We had to do a ton to the yard to get it up to par. The previous owner was trying to xeroscape the lawn and had put a 3 foot perimeter around the entire yard of red lava rock...yuck! Poor Dale shoveled all if out (it took him a good 2 weeks straight) and hauled it to the back of our property line. Talk about back breaking work. Ugh. We also cut back a lot of overgrowth, laid 2 pallets of sod, installed over 20 cubic yards of mulch (that's an entire dump truck full), seeded like crazy, and revamped the sprinkler system. Not to mention, we installed a small organic garden (my little hobby). Not too shabby for only living here 3 months. LOL As for the house, we finally installed my new mahagony front door and my handy Dale put in a nifty drip system for my hanging ferns. He's so good to me! I've included a couple of before and after photos for your viewing. We're definitely having fun.



Nascar...here we come!

Tristan ready to ride!
Grace is team leader
Ready to rock 'n roll!

So we took a little trip over to the local amusement park on Monday night, Frankie's Fun Park, for a little "Nascar" driving with the kids for family home evening. My little brother is the GM of the park so we scored some free ride tickets from him. Definitely a perk of living here.
Thanks Jason!

Well, Dale and I each were able to let the kids ride tandem with us as we rode the fast carts. The kids had a blast and I would also like to mention that Dale is a total road hog, he wouldn't share...he just had to be first. Punk. Anyways, afterwards Gracie is begging to drive and she's not tall enough so we see that they have a rookie course for kids. Tristan is eyeing it also and so we decide to let him take a whirl too. My nerves are shot now as he doesn't really understand consequences, like hitting a wall with a go-cart at high velocity. Well, they harness both kids in and I have to say that they did awesome! Both Grace and Tristan stayed on the track the entire time...well except the one time Tristan hit the wall pretty hard because he was memorized by the lights on the slippy slide next door. It so fun to watch...this will definitely be a repeat activity.