Summer Vacation 2011 - Boyer style

Watch out Clark Griswald! It wasn't anywhere near as exciting as having Aunt Edna strapped to the top of our car, but entertaining in our own special way.

Thanks in advance, (plug alert) to Groupon Getaways. I found a fabulous deal online, one of those 50% off coupons, and we parked ourselves for three nights in a "hotel room" that was, no lie, the size of a 2-bedroom apartment. Not kidding. For less than a regular hotel room.

Jim and I, along with the newest addition, went down the first night while the older 2 kiddos stayed the night at Bamah & Papa's. This week we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary, so the first night was for just the parents.

Remarkably, our sleeping place was within 15 minutes of a Columbia restaurant, so guess where we went to eat? Our favorite eatery, of course! We've been there a couple of times :)

It was a relaxing and restful evening. Thank goodness we got all rested up because the next day we had to dig DEEP for the energy.

Jim left Friday AM to meet Bamah & Papa half way to pick up the kids, while I stayed back in the room and took care of Brandon (translation: blogged and played with my new laptop). When they got back the kids were ecstatic about the room. Hotels are always fun for them, so they managed to peek in every nook and cranny they could find within minutes.

We did the best we could to force feed them naps in preparation for our trip to SeaWorld that afternoon and evening. They reluctantly went down and at 2:15 we were waking them up to get going.

Almost there...


A little confused about where we're going.

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Katherine loved the dolphin nursery.
Nathan loved the sharks.
We couldn't go to SeaWorld without seeing the killer whale show.
Here we are waiting for the lightning storm to clear so we can see the show. Did I happen to mention the heat index for that day was 105? Oh I didn't? Here are some basics we learned for dealing with that kind of weather.

• Don't even try to put on makeup, prepare for au naturale all day. Rather yet, embrace splotchy skin as your new picture-friendly friend.
• If you want any nice family pictures, you better take it as soon as you walk in the park next to the nearest SeaWorld-related structure.
• Better go ahead and rent the strollers when you're near the entrance, because they're not at the opposite end of the park when you need them the most and kids don't last very long in that heat.

As a side note, little feller was a complete gem. There were a couple of times I made sure to peek around and look at him in the stroller because he was so quiet.
Jim and I did notice that the whale trainers don't get in the water anymore. Sad. Guess it's because of the tragedy of losing one of the trainers last year. Remembering how it used to be will be one of those stories we'll be able to share with our kids about how we remember the neat tricks they would do with the whales. Like standing on the nose of the killer whale and diving deep to the bottom of the pool then being thrust into the air. You know, one of those 'back in my day' stories.We opted to do the 'after 3pm' tickets, so our trip lasted from then till almost 10 that night. What a full day. Jim likes to tease me by saying, "I don't go on vacation to rest." That was a phrase I said many times when we were on our honeymoon. :) So that's exactly what we did or didn't do. We filled our first day of vacation chock full and had 3 very tired kiddos.

The next day we made a trip to Alligator Land. It was another hot day, but fun.
We drug ourselves back to the hotel after spending a couple of hours there, and did what? We rested! Ok, well I can fully justify resting on vacation with little ones.

Then we headed to our favorite Downtown Disney restaurant, T-Rex Cafe.

After a bit of a wait, we were finally seated in what looked like the ice age room and witnessed many 'meteorite showers'.
This place has a special love/hate relationship in Nathan's heart. He absolutely loves the dinosaurs, but they can be a bit intimidating with their life-size growling and movements.
We had to cut our walking around Downtown Disney short because of a storm approaching which meant we headed back to the hotel a little earlier than expected. Never fear though, our kids are still little enough to really, truly enjoy just being in a hotel. So that's what we did and on top of that, promised them baths in the jacuzzi tub. Whoo hoo!

Side note: One thing I forgot to mention above in the SeaWorld verbage was that Nathan had a little bit of a 'loose condition' within minutes of us arriving. That should have sent us racing for the double stroller, but we didn't. We were tough and could handle carrying at least one child pretty much the entire trip. Mama & Dada were past tired when we finally laid down that night, for that exact reason. So on the way home we got some medicine for the little feller. Poor guy. It started working immediately and thankfully there were no incidents at Alligator Land.

So back to the jacuzzi story. The medicine was working beautifully. But remember, eventually whatever goes in must come out. So soon after daddy drew the bath water and both kids were enjoying it filling up, we heard Nathan start exclaiming, "Oh no! Oh no, that's not good!" Then Katherine started saying, "No, Nathan, that's not good! No Nathan No. Don't do that. It's not good!"

Jim walked in to witness "The Exit." Something about warm baths relaxes the intestines for that boy and boy was he proud of it. He must have felt better. Her, not so much. She made a bee-line for the shower and Daddy had fun laughing with the 'lighter one'.

What a fabulous trip for our family. We celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss and the beautiful family we've created all in the same weekend. Thank you, Jim, for your selfless love of this family and me, even when I'm no fun to be around. I love you dearly and look forward to another 50 years of living and vacationing with you.

Our Kindergartener

Today was a BIG day in our house. Just like the other thousands of students in our little town, but this year, it just happened to be happening to us.

For the first time we experienced one of those rite of passages we call: Kindergarten.

Our baby, who somehow over the last couple of days or so, turned 5 earlier this year and all of a sudden got big enough to go to school. What? Shut-up!

I'm not going to fill this space with stories about me. I tend to do that often on this blog, but not today. This one is about Her. Our Kindergartener.

Her new school requires uniforms. She was hesitant at first about wearing them, but after a really cool shopping trip with mommy and her brother that doesn't talk back yet, she was stoked about wearing the special clothes she had picked out. There were no twirly dresses, but I'm starting to get the feeling that we might be growing out of them.

She really liked the idea of picking out new shoes.

She already knew where her classroom was, because she's sat in there every Sunday for Children's Church.

She's familiar with the playground and campus for the same reason.

She was a trooper when practicing getting up early last week and getting dressed and ready.

She enjoyed practicing the car line route last week and me explaining how she'd eventually get out on her own without me walking in with her.

She was excited about packing a lunch last night with Daddy's help.

She shyly answered 'Yes' to people's questions about being excited or ready to start school.

She was preoccupied with Daddy's IPad on the way there this morning.
She confidently got out of the car with her whole family there supporting her on her big day.

She walked up to the building, through the doors, down the hallway and up to the classroom with no incident. No hesitation, tears or quivering lips.

She helped me put her bag inside her cubby and we admired how her teacher had prepared her pencil box with just the right items in it.

She coyly waved to a church friend who's in her class.

Then I encouraged her to sit down in her chair, the spot in the room labeled just for her, and that wasn't what was right in her world. The reality of what was about to happen started to settle in her mind. I had done everything I could have possibly done to prepare her for this day, except the one thing I couldn't have done. The actual leaving part was one we couldn't ever practice. It had to be unrehearsed and fresh.

She got hugged and kissed and reassured and had her cheeks stroked and reassured and then had her arms gently pried from around her mother's neck. Forcefully prying her arms away from mama just made it worse, as learned from previous attempts. So, when the teacher and teacher's assistant didn't respond because they were busy with 17 other students and their families, mama turned for daddy and asked for help.

I'm not exactly sure what he said to her or her teacher, because I was in the hallway hoping she wouldn't see me, but it worked. We were the last to leave the empty hallway and the last image I have of her was one of the teacher gently placing her hands on Katherine's shoulders, pointing to the paper for her to color.

We remembered her through the day by keeping up with her schedule posted on our bulletin board. When she had reading group, her lunch time, her rest time, etc.

We loaded back up, her personal entourage for the day, made the trek back to school and parked the car. The boys stayed in the car while Mama patiently waited outside under the covered walkway for our big girl to be released.

One by one by one, children from K3-4th grade were released.

And Mama patiently waited. Anxiously waited. Proudly waited.

And there she came, carrying her Hello Kitty bag. A bag almost big enough for her to fit in.

She walked very controlled and lady like up to Mama, who was on one knee, ready to hug our sweet baby girl. Mama had to be careful not to squeeze too tight. It was a real concern.

Then Mama whispered in her ear, "Did you have fun today, baby?"

She said, "Yes."

Then mama whispered, "Would you like to come back tomorrow?"

And she said, "Yes."

Mama's heart all of a sudden weighed about 10 pounds lighter.

We almost skipped back to the car, like a bunch of schoolgirls. Mama and Dada did the best we could to listen to her tell us about her day over the Atomic Fart app her brother was playing with on the IPad.

We decided to celebrate by going out to eat supper @ Moe's with our neighbors, Mr. J and Mrs. P.

Congratulations Katherine. Your daddy and I could NOT be more proud of you, our beautiful, big, smart, kind, gentle and tender girl. Our Kindergartener.

1.5 weeks

3.5 months
11 months
18 months
2.5
First day of school at 3.5
First day of homeschooling at 4.5
Our Kindergartener

3 1/2 month pics

The many faces of Brandino at 3 1/2 months old and a snippet of his thoughts...

Why must you submit me to this ridiculousness you call, 'mothering'? Is that face you're making supposed to be funny? 'Cause it's not. I'm just wondering how in the world I ended up here, in this family. The angel in charge of check-out procedures said I was headed to the home of a small-town Austrian college professor. This ain't nothin' like I thought it was gonna be. There must have been a mix up in transit.

Please tell me you're kidding. This is the family I'll be living with forever? All 4 of them? I'd like to speak to your Manager to get this straightened out. Right. Now.
Okay, so let me get this right: There was some sort of mix up on the way here. And because of that, and these people have fallen in love with me, yada yada yada, I've been given a super power? Are you kidding me? This is too good to be true! So what's my special ability? (whisper, whisper, whisper)
BEWARE the giant DroolThrasher! I will take you out in one fail swoop of my deathly, toxic drool.


Some video footage of his thoughts, exactly.

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Station 16

"Spontaneous" used to be my middle name. I lived off of impromptu visits and surprising people. Don'tcha know I was loved for that.

Then life happened. I had to go to class if I wanted to pass and graduate. I had to go to sleep at a descent time if I wanted to be a fully functioning adult and productive worker the next day. I tasted the bitter sweetness of an unplanned visitor (with undergarments precariously perched for viewing). I met, fell in love with and married a born and bred, registered, card-carrying Planner and then we had our first child. I don't know about you, but my idea of enjoying myself does not happen around a child that is either hungry, tired or sick, so spontaneity doesn't always work.

That was when I officially dropped my middle name and just went by my first and last name. Or was hereby referred to as 'Katherine's mommy'.

Deep down inside, I'm still a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal. Circumstances can make it more difficult at times, but I know what actions my brain overrides in my heart.

That's why today was so incredibly awesome! I pulled out the spontaneity card, just like the old days. The kids were perplexed but impressed.

For months, I've been wanting to take the kids to a Fire Station and have them look at the trucks. I know Katherine saw one up close at school, but Nathan hasn't and talks about them often. So today, while driving by a station we will be passing by 22 times/week starting in the Fall, I pulled into the parking lot and decided to chance it.

Both bigger kids sat in the back asking questions like, "Where are you going? Do we get out? Who is that man? Is that a fire truck, mom? Can I look at it? Are you coming back?"

"Just wait a second" was my response. They just love that answer I'm sure, because I just loved hearing my mom say it.

I walked into the bay, kindly introduced myself to a fireman standing next to a fire truck, asked if they do tours for 2-year-old boys who love trucks and asked if I needed to schedule one. Much to my surprise his responses were "Nice to meet you, I'm Colin." "Yes." and "No."

He said they'd be more than happy to show my kiddos around so I walked back to the car with the biggest grin my face has ever produced, kind of like 'pudding face'.
After explaining what we were about to do, admiring the squealing, unbuckling little 'uns and directing them where to go, we all 4 headed up to the bay where a total of 5 firemen were standing ready to give us the tour.
I must start off by saying that I really like Fire Stations. They're so clean and it was one of my first comments when we were walking in.
What an awesome experience! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I think the kids did also. Our tour guides were nice, kid-friendly, helpful, entertaining, educational and, um, did I mention nice?
Other than the 150-degree weather, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. We learned about the 3 trucks in their bay and looked in almost every nook and cranny on the big truck. I'm pretty sure I was asking all the questions because my two were shell-shocked and in awe of the huge, shiny red truck they were getting to stand next to and inside of.
I asked lots of questions, just like my mom tells me I did when I was little, except they were very random questions. "Do you like to park the truck, at a call, in a certain direction because the water controls are on this side?" "Who cooks supper? You wouldn't want to be on my shift when I was cooking!" "Is this a typical layout for a station for Marion County?" "How much schooling did you go through?" "Do you know X? I went to school with him and his wife." (I'm such a name-dropper) "Can graduates of the Fire College go to other states?" "I'm assuming a graduate might be having a tough time getting a job in Florida now?" "Do any of you have any kids?" (That is such a mom-question)
Thank you to the firefighters at Station 16 for your kindness and willingness to educate the crazy mom and 3 kids that stopped by today. We truly enjoyed it!

I'd love to know who are you...

This post has been on my mind for quite some time now. So bear with me and cooperate, if you would.

If you scroll down the blog and look on the right side, you'll see two companies that offer tracking blog visitors (Sitemeter and Map Loco). Through those, I am able to view the locations of people who look at this blog. Fascinating, I tell you, absolutely fascinating where some people are viewing this blog from. And most of the time, I can see how they arrived at this blog. Some people go straight to the website, i.e. it is bookmarked, and some people arrive at this blog by happenstance, either by visiting someone else's blog that is following me, or by keyword entries in search engines that pick up on the text in this blog.

Nonetheless, my feeble attempt at being technical regarding this blog isn't what's important.

Most of the visitors are a mystery to me and I'd love to know: How did you stumble upon this blog (Charlotte, NC)? Why do you keep coming back (Mountain View, CA)? Do I know who you are and just don't remember mentioning the blog to you (Scranton, PA)?

Here's where I'd like some cooperation. I would love to know who is visiting this blog. Who am I reaching (Dunellon, FL)? Who's my audience (Pensacola, FL)? I started this because frankly, I don't develop pictures and turning this into a book each year was my solution. I do have minor concerns about posting pictures and personal info about our family on the www for the world to see, so I have considered putting a password protect on the blog.

Do this if you would, email me or leave a comment with your name and location (and any other comments you might have). I'm very interested to see who responds and see how the first 2 years of blogging have gone.

Why didn't I think of this sooner?

I feel so outdated, yet so up-to-date, all at the same time. Strange, I know.

I'm sitting in my bed, blogging. I've been catching up on some other blogs, updating some software, creating a recovery disk, etc. on my new laptop. While sitting in my bed. Did you get that part? Sitting in my bed. Yep, you heard me right, and on my new laptop.

Have we switched to the new millennium yet?

Uh, can someone say, Why in the world didn't you do that sooner, Kel? I love this thing. It's my new best friend, at night, when I have some alone time. It's causing me to stay up late and not get very much sleep.

I'm outdated because my last computer purchase, 6 years ago, should have been a laptop. But it wasn't. And I'm so up-to-date because I've finally caught on to what everybody else has found so appealing about these electronic toys. Upgrading to a mobile phone with a qwerty keyboard was big news 'round here, also.

I'm having so much fun customizing toolbars, choosing wallpaper backgrounds, and personalizing this 4 pound thin, flat, black plastic and metal object. I've even found a special usage for the box it came in. Believe it or not, it's a perfect lap pad for sitting in bed. :)

I admit it, I'm a nerd at heart. I still carry around a paper planner and I love computer stuff. Oh well, it takes all kinds, right? In defense of my nerdiness and particular-ness, I've always said,

"Would you want someone who wasn't detailed and precise building your skyscrapers or bridges?" I think not.

I'm still working out some kinks re: transferring info from the desktop to the laptop, but irregardless, I'm having a blast with this thing.

(I'm starting to see why my mom was so uncool by my teenage years.)

New buddy

Nathan has been spending a little too much time with the spanking spoon.

A short update

I've been pretty good about still taking pictures with 3 little ones running around, but posting them is another story. So, here goes. The short version of some cute pics I've taken...

Somebody enjoys his baths and is a natural-born wiggle worm.

Sometimes, it's easy to feel like a dog-eat-dog world out there. (Brandon with court-side tickets to the dog wash show).
Learnin' from the pros how to handle breakfast and color-time.


They adore each other. I wish I could spend a whole post explaining how these two interact because it's precious. His face lights up when she's around.
Through just observing me, she's picked up on soothing him with her soft voice and caressing him gently.
She is such a big helper with him. Whether it's fetching something I've forgotten, calming him down when he's gotten fussy (which isn't that often), holding him on the couch and trying to burp him or picking out his play clothes for the day, she is eager to help with whatever he needs.

I hope and pray that their relationship stays this special. He does too. :)