Goodsons Head Toward Summer

Lots going on this summer for the family. We've already visited family for a few days. Aunt Bobbie and Big Daddy's house was our first stop. We ate our very favorite Mandarin Orange cake, as always. Bobbie, you shouldn't have but we are so glad you did! And we went to Chuck E. Cheese, which is becoming sort of a tradition as well. Thanks for the birthday presents and the delicious meals.

Next stop was Jim and Peggy's. Thanks to Mrs. Adventurer, Peggy, we now know the difference between a llama and an alpaca (it's the EARS!). We also got to see a really cool street that had topiaries in every yard. Very interesting! We shopped, we ate, we rested. Loved the new garden areas too. Don't work too hard in this heat though!

Next was our end of the season soccer awards night. Congrats Andy on another great year. Go Purple Paladins!

This week is zoo camp. This is the second year and it is starting out as fun as last time. Keep your fingers out of the lion's cage kids!

Next week our firstborn turns SEVEN. Doesn't seem possible and yet, how could we have only known him for seven years? We've only been parents for seven years. I don't really remember what being kidless was like! Happy birthday, Key! We love ya!

At the end of next week we'll be off to Florida. We have a beach-front condo in Venice for one month. We will drag this month out as long as possible. We have looked forward to this trip since the day we left last year. So, a big shout out to our best-est Florida friends...WE ARE ON OUR WAY SOON! We like to think of it this way, we still live in FL - we just visit SC for 11 months of the year. Oh, and we have decided that this is the year we'll take the kids to Disney. Just one day for now, to the Magic Kingdom. They are gonna FLIP when they hear the news!

I don't think we have any plans when we return from Florida, thankfully. I want to do nothing! That won't happen, as you know, but I will try to do as close to nothing as possible. Because soon enough I'll be back in that carpool line picking up a 2nd grader and my new kindergartener. Welcome to Elementary School Andy!

Natalie will turn FOUR while we soak up the Florida sun. That also seems impossible. She is all set for 4K this year. She is very excited about being a Furman girl.

Me? Well, I have a new job to look forward to this fall. I am the newest Arborist at Schneider Tree Care. I am positively thrilled at being back in the workforce, albeit on a very part time basis. Watch out trees, here I come! LOL

Robbie is still working hard and being a good husband and dad. We look forward to seeing him pull in the driveway after work each day. Some days more so than others. (Hey, I have three kids to deal with!) He has just finished his third year as pee-wee soccer coach. Thanks Robbie/dad! We love you too.

Memorial Day 2009

It started out misty, then rainy, and I had all but called it a day. But Robbie was more optimistic than me so he loaded us up and off we went to the mountains. Our first stop was the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and the adjoining Fish Hatchery. The kids loved throwing fish food to all the trout. I used to work at the Walhalla Fish Hatchery and fed tons of that food to trout before. Fish food is not easy on the nose!

Then we made it up to Looking Glass Falls. Beautiful waterfall, probably the first one the kids have seen on that kind of scale. It is really high. We hiked to the bottom and everyone (except me) went for a walk in the creek below. Before long everyone had blue lips, blue feet and chattering teeth (except, of course, for smart ole ME). I was the photographer for the trip, you know, the one who'll scrapbook the memories to help them last. So I couldn't get in, really. I'm a peach like that! And with the mind-numbing cold, there is no telling if my gang will even remember this trip tomorrow. So, I had to document.

We finished off the afternoon with dinner at the Pisgah Fish Camp, that we found while looking for the Mexican place. Didn't see the Mexican place til we left the fish camp. But that was okay because it was a good meal and we eat Mexican so much that Natalie doesn't realize that the word 'restaurant' exists. We realized this as we were going in to the fish camp and she asked, "Do I have to eat the fish at the Mexican?" We typically head out on Friday nights saying, "Let's go eat Mexican." I guess we should branch out a bit more!

Then, dessert was enjoyed by all (except me) at Dolly's Ice Cream Shack. See, if you eat fish and ice cream on the same day you WILL throw up. Well, at least I will. My papa told me that when I was about 4 years old. I didn't believe him. So, after leaving the fish camp I insisted on ice cream. I threw up all night long. I have NEVER eaten fish and ice cream on the same day again. But I don't tell me kids that because I am pretty certain that this is a mental thing and not so much a physical thing - and I don't want to clean up ice cream from my van.

We are home now and my tired, happy people are all asleep. It was a great day! :)

I WON!

I won a blog award! My friend Missty has bestowed upon me the "Let's Be Frank" award. Now I am supposed to tell 10 honest things about myself. I tend to be brutally honest so this shouldn't be hard.

1) I hate winter and I can't wait for warmer weather to arrive. Actually, I would really like to pack my bags and head back to Florida and never see another 50 degree day for as long as I live.

2) While I seem to be in a gripe-y mood, I also hate car lines at the elementary school. If the prize wasn't retrieving my cute 6 year old I would never agree to wait in my car again. (Yes, I know, I have literally YEARS of car lines in my future!)

3) Unlike Missty who likes her dog.... I dislike mine more and more as time goes on, which is kinda hard to do seeing as how I never really cared for her in the first place.

4) (Boy, I am on a roll, aren't I?) Let's get something positive down..... I do love cats and we are going to be adopting two this spring! :)

5) I think boys are much easier to raise than girls. In fact, it seems natural, to me, to raise boys and completely other-worldly to be picking away at trying to raise this daughter of mine! Her terrible twos (which definitely extended into her threes) are getting better but I still don't know what to do with her half the time.

6) I do not like to leave the upstairs of the house in the morning until each bed is made, the humidifiers have been refilled, all clothes have been collected into one hamper (and is ready to be carried downstairs and put in the washer) and trashcans have been emptied. Then if I don't get back up there again it is at least clean.

7) I don't like English peas nor the sound of piano music. At all.

8) Traveling to new places is one of my favorite things to do. The farther from home the better.

9) One of my favorite ways to de-stress is exercise, especially yoga, pilates and Zumba. I also like to run, but that is hard!

10) I would take a nap every single day if I could. I can't. LOL

SNOW

The morning after we got home from sunny, warm Aruba we had a 20 minute snowfall. The kids didn't miss a single flake either. Andy said it looked like Santa's beard was falling down in pieces. I just love this picture of my pajamaed kiddos watching it fall. It was over as quickly as it started but it was fun to watch anyway. We are supposed to get more snow beginning tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned!

Natalie - Fashion Bug

Natalie loves to get dressed up. So much so, she dresses up several times a day. The only thing she doesn't want is my input or suggestions. Those are always wrong and result in eye-rolling. Lately she is all about skirts. Dresses occasionally, but definitely NO PANTS! I've polled lots of moms and have decided to let her do this on her own terms. So, when she shows up in a frilly pink and black dress, lilac socks, neon pink rubber shoes and holding an orange ribbon for her hair I just exclaim, "Wow, don't you look beautiful today!" And she beams. Then we go to the Y to work out and the ladies there just look at me like I am insane. But, hey, that is probably closer to the truth than I want to admit anyway.

ANDY MAN

Our Andy man wanted to take violin lessons. He was four when he first mentioned it and we thought he'd forget about it. But he didn't. He kept asking. So I started looking for someone to teach him. For a while there I wasn't having any luck but we finally found a teacher for him. We rented the tiniest violin available and now Andy is a new violin student. He and his new teacher seem to really click. They talk amongst themselves and figure out what the other is saying, eventually. His teacher has to relay notes and foreign concepts to a just turned 5 year old. That is tough enough. But then he also has to interpret what Andy is saying too. For instance, when Andy says G and when he says D, they sound a lot alike! Most importantly, he is having a great time and learning new things. Our sweet little Andy man. :)

ARUBA

We just returned from a week in paradise. Oh, it was really heaven sent! For the first time since we became parents we left them behind and ventured off alone. For one week we didn't break up arguments, strap little people into car seats, stuff tiny feet into pj's, get anyone a juicy, put bows in anyone's hair or say a little too loudly, "BECAUSE I TOLD YOU SO!" That alone was worth the trip. Of course, by Wednesday we missed them like crazy. :)

Our friends Billy and Kristen invited us on this vacation, but the real people who made it happen are Uncle Jim and Aunt Peggy. J and P, if you are reading this, we can't thank you enough for what you did, what you even VOLUNTEERED to do, for us. Your generosity for our family will never be forgotten.

Okay, now to Aruba! We got there on Saturday afternoon. We were supposed to pick up a jeep but it wasn't ready yet so we took a car til the next day. Thankfully we did get the jeep because we headed out to the windward side of the island to explore. Made it to the Natural Bridge and the Natural Pool. Since 99.9% of those who visit Aruba never get to the Natural Pool, this was a big accomplishment. Just finding the right dirt road to take you there is an amazing thing. Arubians don't like street signs, or putting things on maps. Once we did start out for the pool it was easy to figure out why no one goes there. The ride was indescribably bumpy. I can't believe we actually made it the whole way in. The trails are not marked and are barely passable by 4x4 jeeps. I truly thought we were going to flip over a few times. Anyway, we made it and took a dip on the pool. Very cool experience, made even cooler by the trouble it took to find and navigate.

The next day we stayed by the pool and beach all day, just lounging and reading. I finished 5 books while we were there. LOVE that! Went out to dinner that night and the jeep died. Really, it just died! We hailed a cab and got a new jeep at the airport. The new jeep came with a clause that it was absolutely, positively NOT to be taken to the Natural Pool. The pool was also not even listed on the map that came with the jeep.

Wednesday was another exploring day. We found the caves and learned about them. We climbed Casibari rock. We snorkeled Baby Beach. We found a really cool snack shack and got delicious smoothies!

Thursday we snorkeled off a catamaran. Read some more by the pool and beach.

Friday I had a Swedish massage. Looked forward to it all week, by design.

The food in Aruba is delicious! We had Cuban at Cuba's Cookin' for Billy's birthday. Really neat place with a live band and interesting paintings all around. Too bad they were all out of Death By Chocolate, Billy!

We had dinner at El Gaucho, an Argentine Steakhouse. That was the best steak I have ever eaten in my life! I ate everything on my plate! The plantains were so good.

We went back to the smoothie shack for a platter one night. It had a bit of everything on it. Steak/chicken/fish over rice with a salad, yucca, plantains, bowtie pasta, french fries and a salad!

And we had Italian at Gianni's which was also just amazingly good. (I don't dare hop on the scales til I've hit the gym a few times!)

Anyway, it was a great trip! We are thinking Barbados for next year.

In case I can't get the pictures to post, you can visit them at www.GoodsonFL.winkflash.com.