Vacation (continued)

(Monday to Thursday)
Monday found us in Dollywood in the afternoon and The Comedy Barn in the evening for a family fun show!

Now this is where pics are rare..... Wet area and no camera.....
Tuesday was our rafting day.  I do have pictures but have to find out how to upload them from the CD.  All 19 of us went!!

Wednesday was our tubing day.  Now THAT was an adventure and I am shocked that none of us came out of that without a visit to the local ER!  Water level was low and so they sent us to the upper level of the river.  We had never been on the upper level as that is usually full of rapids and with Delaney we usually opted for the lower, slower lazy river ride but since the water was so low, that was our option.  How bad could it be?  Bad enough.  If you weren't getting your butt stuck on a rock and having to try and figure out how to get off of it in the middle of a rapid because water was too low, you were smashing against the rocks on your way down!  Delaney was terrified.  And I don't believe a single person came off that adventure without a bump, scrape, cut up knee, bruised butt or busted tube! Lesson learned....low water+ upper river trip= find something else to do that day! 

This took us to dinner out and a night of fun and games...........

Thursday was spent in Bryson City, NC walking in the Smoky Mountains.......

VACATION 2011

(Days Thurs to Sunday)

Let us begin with an intro of the characters involved in this story......

Traveling in our van is Ryan, Megan, Delaney, Ryans girlfriend, Rachel and Todd and I.

And a fairly good number of bags I might add!

The story opens with car troubles!  Nothing like a little spice to start off a vacation.  We had some troubles with the van during the week and decided to give it a check up before leaving.  I was working a 1/2 day and we were scheduled to leave at 1pm.  By noon the van was still sitting in the drive, dead.  There was issues with the alternater and battery and we were having a problem finding a replacement for the alternater.  Bags were piled in the livingroom and we sat and waiting.  And waited.  And waited.  To the point that we were talking about either canceling the vacation or heading out a day later and running to get a new van!

FINALLY, 3 1/2 hours later than planned we pushed off!

 As we headed to the Washington beltway during rush hour (did I hear a gasp from all my northeastern viewers??  Yeah.  You know what that means don't you?!), we found out that we did not even have the correct direction from mapquest!  So there we were, in rush hour trying to survive in the never ending pile of cars and construction with no directions.  Only a map as our guide and our memory of how we went in the past! Which, I might add, did little to help since there was detours and changes all over the place!

We finally made it around and through and decided to stop for dinner.  Which was pretty much about the time we were supposed to be stopping at our 1st hotel which was easily a good 5 hours away yet!  We did not get to the hotel until 12:30am!!!  We were slap happy and tired!  We took the kids in, left the bags in the van and fell on the 1st bed our body came too and slept in our clothes!

We still had to make it to the next hotel in Cherokee, NC and so we woke, grabbed clothes and headed out the next morning on schedule.

FINALLY THERE...... 

Here we are at the Unto These Hills show and a visit to the Oconaluftee Indian Village

Crossing over the Smoky Mountains and heading to our final stop in Pigeon Forge, TN

And a stop to meet a new friend......

Ride 'em cowgirl!

Our trip horseback riding. I will share the pics with you but will say that I found out that riding and taking pictures at the same time is a bit hard so excuse any blurry ones that pop up!

 The Crew.......

This ones for you baby......

.....and you and you and you!  And all the others who have complained about me not posting my vacation pictures or updating my blog!  Geesh people.....don't you have a life other than peeking into mine! LOL!

Things have simply been crazy since our return.  We came home to work 1st thing in the morning and unpacking and cleaning up and soccer practices and dr appointments.  We went from relaxing to a full marathon run with not much time to stop and pause! 

Add in a surprise earth quake, a hurricane, a few floods along the way and the start of school and it has just been SOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN around these parts of the woods!

So....backing up and trying to cover everything in one post.........
1. The earthquake. Unexpected and FREAKY!  I sat at my computer typing an email and thought I was getting dizzy.  Next thing I knew the house was shaking and swaying and it was enough for me to say "I shall never be living in CA!"  Thank you! 

2.Hurricane.  Well now.  As stated below, things did not go over well in the area of Irene.  But as an update.... we flooded for three whole days.  That means we pumped so much water that I am sure had we stopped pumping we surely would have had a new indoor pool by the end of the week!  And all my mind kept going to was "we do not have flood insurance, we do not have flood insurance" which is pretty much what kept me standing and pumping after 12 long hours straight each day!  AND I still was working.  Nothing like multitasking!  I learned real quick how to prop the pump handle on a chair and run to change a diaper and come back to empty the water just in time!  It was so much fun!

We tore the flooring out of the basement.  Yanked the trim work off the walls.  Drilled holes in the walls in hopes of saving the dry wall.  And have been running fans and dehumidifiers 24/7 for the last two weeks.

Ryan is living in Delaneys room. (which I am so sure he loves the butterflies and puppy dogs on the walls! Lets just say that he hasn't invited most of his friends over lately) And Delaney is sharing a bed and room with her Daddy and I.  And my daycare is crunched up in every nook and cranny I can find.  It is working.  For now.

FEMA came to the rescue and gave us a grant and we are off to the local HomeDepot as soon as our schedule allows to get everything we need to get life back to some sort of normal!  The next few weeks promises to be very active.

Before.......

And after.......

3.  Flooding.  As if the visit from Irene wasn't enough, Lee came to visit too.  Must have heard about the indoor pool we were starting in the basement and decided he wanted to play too! The sump pump has gotten its money worth!

And that brings us to vacation.......

Which you shall have to come back and see cause I still have to upload them on the blog.  But I PROMISE I shall do it tomorrow.  Grab a bowl of popcorn and come back to same bat time and bat channel!

1st Day Of School!

Mean Irene!

I know I should have been on posting about vacation but things have been busy since our return and crazy too with NJs 1st earth quake that I could ever remember!  And now......Irene!

We survived. 

We had gotten supplies by Thur and buckled down for a ride in the middle of the night.  Flashlights were on the counter.  Candles at the ready.  Charged cell phones for us and charged DVD player for the girls.  Baked items in case we had no way to cook.  Cars moved to the road.  Outside things tied down.  We were ready......

Irenes outer bands began hitting us some time around 1pm.  By 8pm it was getting bad.  She was not to make landfall until 2am!!  The rain and winds were batting the house and windows and I tried to remain calm as I sat in the livingroom watching the news and folding clothes and praying we had no major issues. I knew if the electric went out, things would get bad. By 9pm we went into tornado watch.  Let me add that we NEVER get tornados in NJ.  Nothing really.  Ever if you ask me.  But it was really dark.  Really windy.  And I was getting really stressed out from the reports, wind and rain.  I decided that it was time to move a tv downstairs and blow up air beds and move the girls downstairs to ride it out. 

I had no sooner finished getting everything in place and the tv screen began screaming.  A tornado had already touched down in the town right next to us, one was on its way to our house and one just below us.  We ran the kids and dog downstairs and watched with anticipation.  A good hour later we headed back up to get things we needed to spend the night camping.  We were in a tornado watch until 5am!

A tired, scared and miss-placed little girl

And her scared little friend....

CHICKEN DOG!

We finally all fell asleep sometime after 11pm to quiet (from being the basement) and the sound of the news mans continued voice reporting.  All was peace until around 1am.  The sound of the sump pump woke me.  I had never heard it run so much but thinking it was doing its job in the middle of a hurricane, I rolled back over and fell asleep.  Then the call came around 3am.......

My neighbor was flooding. "Check your basement" was the message.  I was IN the basement!  We never get water except near the bilco door some but figured I would give it a check.  Got up and turned on lights.  Fine.  Went to the pantry area.  Some water but it wasn't near the bilco.  It was coming from under my flooring!  I run to the east side of the house, hearing squishing as I run and open the storage area.......FLOODING.  And it is literally making my floating floor float!  Going right under and into other areas!  I went and woke Ryan, whos room is right next door.  His room is beginning to flood.  Wake Todd and the fun begins!!!

Some time a good hour later we realized we simply could do nothing.  No shop vac or a truck load of towels was going to help.  As fast as we cleaned it up, it came back in.  We finally gave up and realized we were not going to win this fight.  We picked up everything we could.  Rolled up carpets.  Picked up toys.  Cleaned out closets.  Packed up Ryan and then woke the girls.  Just in time as the water was heading toward them.
By morning we had..........
A miss placed bunch of girls......again..... and Ryan too!

AND I don't think insurance will cover this.  Tornado coverage we have.  But it is my understanding that they will fight us and tell us it is flooding.  We sit and wait for a case person to show along with a clean up crew and with each minute that passes the floors fill more and buckle, the water comes in more and soon will be going up the walls! I am not sure what we will do with Ryan who now has no room.  What I will do with my business that cannot open tomorrow.  Or how we will repair it all should insurance say flooding instead of tornado.

On a positive-there-is-always-a-silver-lining-point-of-view......
*The electric didn't go out so we didn't lose frozen things. We have water and stove and ways to eat.  And the sump pump is able to work otherwise the water would be knee high!

*We had cable so we knew to run to the basement and to stay there.

*We have an awesome neighbor who didn't have issues calling me at 3am so we weren't doing the back stroke in the basement on our inflatable bed/raft!

*Our house is still standing along with every tree and shingle in place.

*We are safe.  Family is safe. 

Water goes away.  Things get repaired (some how).  We cannot sit and cry over what was.  We can only rejoice on what is......and move on.

May all our friends and family be just as blessed as the sun comes up today........

Moving on up!

Congratulations my sweet baby girl!  I cannot believe you are moving onto 'big' girl school!
Good luck on your 1st day of first grade!!

The Gremlin in my house!

I don't know if it is all about luck, or lack thereof, or fate or some little mean spirited gremlin lurking around the corner but it defiantly has been an interesting week.  Whenever I thought that things were calm, all heck broke loose. 

Oh it wasn't like my house caught fire or someone lost their job or got sick.  But stressful all the same!

Monday began with us taking our van to get the breaks checked before we left for vacation.  And a simple, no biggie turned into repairing the breaks and a broken shock in the rear.  Then about two hours later I get a call from Ryan (who was picking up Megan at the soccer field) saying he was having issues starting his car.  I hop in the van and drive in a horrible thunderstorm with torrents of rain and lightening....only to pass them on the road.  The car was fine and they were on their way!  I turn around and proceed to drive back and as soon as I get to my drive, everything stops.  The radio goes out like someone turned it off and the lights dim.  I pull in and shut the van off and try to restart.........nothing.  I make the mad dash to the house through the storm to tell Todd that the van was dead!  The living room tv is out.  The computer is running like an old man trying to run up a hill and I can't shut it off.  We are thinking that lightening struck nearby.

To make a long story short that spanned a good three days with no van.....it turned out that the alternator was fried and the battery too.  The computer was able to be saved by me climbing under and pulling the plug and rebooting everything.  The tv ....I am not sure what happened there but I think it had something to do with a husband who was playing with the cable and not having a clue what he was doing and the cable company not being too much better!  But tv....van....and computer are up and running.  Several days and lots and lots of money later!

Then Todd breaks a tooth.  Like not a chip but down to the gum.  Then his car breaks down in the middle of an intersection.  Just died like my van.  Rewind up above to the lightening theory.  Megan is complaining about a tooth bothering her.  I have a lost pair of Delaney sandles that can't possibly have just disappeared.  AND to make it all come together...Ryans computer is now out too. 

I just want to add that we are heading on vacation this week.  So not only am I completely stressed over all the things going crazy but the shrinking size of my savings account too! 

I would love to say that I sooooooooooooooooooooooo need a vacation!  But that, along with all this, just adds to my stress over all.  Remember my comment about relaxing once I hit the bridge?  Yeah well, it might take me until the Washington beltway at this rate! 

I would like to end with "nothing else can possibly happen at this point" but that will only jinx us more I fear!!

If anyone knows how to take out a gremlin let me know! 

On a sweet note:
The other day I am out at the soccer field with the girls.  Megan is in practice and Delaney is running around kicking a ball on her own while I am sitting and reading a book.  All of a sudden Delaney comes running with excitement and screaming "Jesus is coming.....JESUS IS COMING!"  I had no clue what the child was talking about and asked her.  She points her little finger up to the sky behind me where the sun was setting and forming a stream of light through a cloud in the sky down toward the earth.  "Oh Mommy....look!" she says with a blissful sigh,  "Jesus is coming down from the sky!"

Now if that doesn't bring a smile to your face and fill your heart with love when there are gremlins in your life, nothing else will!

Rainy day summer fun!