I am just curious, did you fly your flag today?

I feel today is such an important day for American's.  Not only did so many people loose their life on this date due to inconceivable violence, but today is the day that America came together and reclaimed their pride, patriotism and love of country because of that violence.

So, what has happened since then?  Where is our respect for those who have died on 9/11 due to terrorists?  One of the easiest ways to show it is by flying your flag today.  I was highly disappointed with my neighborhood.  I only saw two houses with flags up.  There may have been a few more but I did not drive through the entire neighborhood, but for the most part I did not see any other people showing their respect for our fallen Americans and for America in general.

My heart aches for the families who have suffered such a horrific loss, that I can not even imagine their pain.  Please know that I have been thinking of them all day.  We showed our respect by flying our flag in their honor.

So, I ask you, did you fly your flag today?

Well it has been a couple of weeks since my last posting...I need to start keeping up with this better.  There have been a few things happening in our life as of late.  Jake started Kindergarten!  He loves it and I am thrilled with his teacher so far.  She does so many awesome things with them and relates very well to the kids.  Jake is a talker and that is something we are working on, I think he gets it from his Grandma Mari! HA! Got to blame someone other than myself right? Anyway, his first two weeks have gone very well and I expect that this year will be a great one for Jake. Here is a picture of Jake with his teacher:

Soon after Jake started school we received sad news that Bob's Grandfather had passed away.  He was 93 years old.  An awesome man, who lived a good life.  Although he is missed by everyone here, we know he is in a good place.  Bob was able to go home to be there with his family for the funeral.  I think it was good for him to go home and be with his family.  It made him realize how important family is.
We miss you Grandpa Ventola!

I have returned back to work, so to speak.  I had my first Substitute job on Friday.  It felt good to be back in the classroom, even if it wasn't mine.  I need to make some decisions soon as to whether or not I get certified to teach here in Texas.  I keep waiting to hear that we have orders to move.  I don't want to spend the money on getting certified and then we move.  I had thought we would have had orders by now, but so far nothing.  I also have been toying with the idea of becoming a Realtor.  It is something I have always wanted to try.  I think my friends mom is my inspiration for wanting to be one.  I may start taking classes this winter so that I can become a licensed Realtor.  From what I understand it is much easier to take your license and transfer it in another state than it is for most teaching certifications.  So that is another option.  Part of me wants to go back to teaching (I think it is because I am comfortable with it) and the other part of me wants to do something new and different.  I realize that real estate is not doing so hot right now, but I would not be in it just for the money, although I know it could have the potential to bring in a nice income, it isn't why I am interested.  So lots to think about.

Otherwise, it is very quiet here in the burbs of Abilene...there are no burbs here, but I can pretend.  I hope to be back soon with more newsworthy stuff!

I put this up for my parents to see.  My sister sends these huge e-mails that no one can open but me, so this is for their viewing pleasure.
 My cute little niece diving off the board for the first time.  Note how she poses for the camera!

I guess time does fly when your having fun...I can not believe how long it has been since I wrote anything here.  Need to get my mojo back and start writing more.  So what is going on since the last big post about the 4th, you ask?

We have pretty much been trying to stay cool and hanging out at the pool for most of this summer.  This is our last week of summer vacation so I am trying to make it a fun one for Jake.  Yesterday I had planned to take him to the zoo but we ended up having his buddies over for a little while.  Today we went to the Jump Around (a place with jumping castles), it was closed.  I even called to make sure they were open, their hours have been odd and it said on their machine 10 to 8.  It was before 10 when I called so I assumed they just were not answering the phone yet.  Silly me, never assume. So I had two disappointed kids.  Took them to the mall to play instead, too hot to go to the outdoor park.  They had fun, although in my opinion they are to big to be playing there but what's a mom to do right?  Then we went to eat at Red Robin, that was fun. 
Tomorrow I plan to take Jake to the zoo.  Thursday we have a hair cut appointment for him, he so needs it and I want him to look good for his teacher.  Got to do all that I can so that she falls in love with how cute he is because once she gets to know him he will probably drive her crazy! HA!  Friday I think we may go to the Grace Museum or something, but we have to meet the teacher at 4:30 so I do not want to take him to the pool and wear him out because he is not always a happy camper later in the day when he is tired.  Then this weekend we will be preparing for school. 

I have all his school supplies so far, unless the teacher requests specific things.  He has new clothing, still need to get him some "church" shoes but not to worried about that.  I measured Jake's height on July 23rd.  He was 31 inches tall.  Measured him yesterday and he was 33 inches tall!  Those new school clothes better fit in length.  I also weighed him and on the 23rd he was 43lbs, now he is back down to 40!  I tell you this kid is a weed!

So that is it for now.  I will let you know what I think of his Kindergarten teacher.  I pray that they hit it off, I so want him to enjoy school this year.  He enjoyed pre-K but there were times when he wasn't happy with his teacher (and vice-versa) and I want him to love his teacher.  Kindergarten teachers are special.  So I hope this is a special year for him.  Fingers Crossed!

  Celebrating America's Birthday!
We had a great Fourth of July.  Our neighborhood had a parade in the morning. Lot's of families showed up and we we went around the neighborhood showing our spirit.  Afterwords, we all met in the park and had watermelon and cold drinks. The kids got to play on a bouncy castle.  It was a great start to the day. Here are a few pictures from the morning:
Suzanna and I got patriotic with our toes. We made a float to ride in.  Started out that the kids were going to ride decorated bikes but this is what we ended up with!

WWwe

 

That evening some of the neighbors got together and we had a Hot Dog Extravaganza.  My neighbor had all these hot dogs from a family reunion left over so we decided to come up with a bunch of different toppings to put on our dogs.  The thought of it made my stomach turn but I got to tell you those dogs were some of the best ones I have ever had.  Some of the toppings were bacon wrapped around the dog, onions raw and grilled, red and green peppers grilled, chili, different cheeses, coleslaw, jalapenos, beans and pizza sauce and pepperoni.
Here are pictures of the food and of some of the creations people made with their dogs:




James Daniel enjoyed his dog.  YUM!  The kids waiting to see fire works.

It was a lot of fun.  This will be the last big hurrah I have with my neighbors because two of them are moving away at the end of the month.  I will really miss Suzana and Amy.  They were my partners in crime, my sistahs, my sole mates of everlasting friendship, they completely "got me".  I know we will keep in touch and hopefully see one another once in awhile since they are both only going to be about 2 hours away, but the neighborhood will never be the same with out them here. *SIGH*

    Our last full day in Disney was spent at Disney Hollywood Studios. 

This was a pretty neat park.  We saw how stunts were done.  It was very cool to see how they created some of the scenes from Pearl Harbor. Today was the day that Jake was surprised with a lunch with Leo and June from the Einsteins and JoJo and Golieth.  I have to say that I did not find it worth the money that we payed.  Yes, Jake enjoyed it but he did not know this was part of the day's plan so it really would not have mattered to him if we had done it in the first place.  I also think that if we had a girl then maybe it would have been a little more fun because girls love this stuff...I would have rather eaten with a princess myself.  Anyway, Jake enjoyed dancing with June and getting autographs.  The food was pretty good.  Bob and I laughed when we got the bill because they put a suggested tip on there of 13 some dollars.  IT WAS A BUFFET,PEOPLE!  I am sorry I am not giving a waitress that much money because she brought the three of us drinks and refilled them for us once.  I know waitress' do not make a lot of money but seriously?
Here are a few pictures of Jake at lunch.

We enjoyed our day there at the park.  I meant to post some pictures of our hotel because people are always asking us what the military hotels are like.  Shades of Green is awesome.  Right on the grounds of Disney, not overpriced, and the grounds were immaculate.  Everyone is friendly and helpful too.  I did not get any pictures of the pool areas but they were nice too.  One was the shape of Mickey's head, very cute and the other had a hot tub and was for adults only.  Lots of places to eat there and a shoppette and game room area too, with WII!

So that is pretty much it for our Disney trip. 

Now the unexpected event:  On the Sunday before we left for our trip to Disney, my mom's knee started to hurt her and started to swell up.  I tried to talk her into letting me take her to the ER but she said no, stubborn woman!  So on Monday after we left she went to see the doctor and ended up in the ER for 9 hours.  She had a really bad infection (Staph) and did not want to have surgery, which the doctor tried to talk her into.  She did not want it.  She has never had surgery before so I am sure the thought of it scared her a bit.  The Doctor told her to go and get an MRI in the morning and gave her antibiotics to appease her.  Long story short, by Tuesday afternoon she had surgery to drain her knee and now she is home, getting physical therapy twice a week and nurse care 3 days a week.  She has to wear a pic line in her arm to get continuous antibiotics pumped into her body, 24 hours a day.  She has to wear this for at least 3 weeks.  I am amazed at how well she is doing.  She is walking well and seems in pretty good spirits most of the time.  Her leg is still swollen, which has been frustrating for her.  Her circulation is not great due to the infection.  They think the infection came from her teeth.  She has had horrible teeth all her life, and at one point they told her the infection from her teeth could one day cause a lot of problems for her.  Great.  So the moral of this story boys and girls...BRUSH YOUR TEETH AND FLOSS EVERY DAY.  My mom does now, but she grew up in Germany and they had poor teeth care, now she suffers.  Trust me I am adament about my teeth  being kept clean!  I do not wish what she has gone through on anyone.  Please keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery, she needs all the prayers she can get.

I will be blogging soon about our 4th of July festivities.  So stay tuned!

   Happy Fourth of July Everyone.  I will post later what we are doing today.  Right now everyone is resting up for the evening so I thought what a great opportunity to continue telling you about our trip...

The second day we went to Animal Kingdom.

Let me begin by saying that there were extended hours at that park that day so there were lots and lots of people there.  Also, it was so HOT!  I mean super hot and humid.  So lots of people, super hot and humid weather, and a very tired child (After a week of nonstop fun already) do not make for a fantastically fun day.  We did not get to do much there because of the lines.  Jake so wanted to leave the park with in the first hour.  We decided to go and see Nemo, the musical so that we could cool off.  I was not sure this would be a great show because it was puppets with people walking around with them.  Boy was I wrong.  The show was amazing, very impressive and we had 40 minutes of coolness! YEAH US!  Here are a few pictures from the show:

  

Afterwords, We took Jake on a train ride that was to take us to a petting area.  Well, it actually takes you to a remote place to show you how they do conservation and take care of their animals.  Interesting, but not so much.  There were few animals to pet and again it was HOT!  The train ride was short and lame. 
It is now lunch time and Jake was tired so we decided to go and eat at Rainforest Cafe.  We had a bit of a wait, but Jake loves this place, usually.  This time he was tired, so not so interested in it like he usually is.  He was good though, quite the trooper.  We had a good time, even tried the VOLCANO for dessert.  The only thing was they do not use sparklers on it like they use to so kind of disappointing.  Here is a picture of it, kinda blurry but you get the idea of what it is.  Definitely was delicious. 

We headed back to our hotel after lunch and had a leisurely afternoon and evening, resting, eating and hanging out at the pool.  Life is good.

As for the unexpected event....for now let's just say I was very concerned on this day about my mother.  Still have you hanging by the edges of your seat?
Until tomorrow...

 I finally have found some time to blog about our vacation.  We had an awesome vacation with a minor, unexpected, event that took place.  All in all it was a much needed trip.  We took two weeks and went to Florida to visit my parents and to visit Mickey Mouse.  Yes, that is right, we went to DISNEY WORLD!  What an awesome trip.

First we went to my parents for a few days.  While there we ate good food...Shrimp Boil!  Also had lots of crab.  YUM!  I so do miss good sea food, frozen just does not cut it for me.  While there I hooked up with one of my sorority sister's for the day.  I have to tell you I LOVE FACEBOOK.  Had Michelle not mentioned that she was going to Destin I would never have known that we would be in the same place at the same time.  It was so good to see her.  She has two adorable boys who are twins. They are 7.  Jake thought "they were so cool"...his words.  We also went to the beach and swam in the pool.  Okay I did not get into the pool and swim.  I did get into the pool three times though.  Twice at my parents and one at Disney.  It was just too stinking hot, I had to.  I just dipped myself in real quick and got out.  Sometimes you just got to live a little.  But I must admit I was a bit nervous about getting some bacteria growth or something where I shouldn't. HA!  TMI?

Here are a few pictures:

After a few days at my parents house we headed to Disney World.  Our drive down was uneventful until we got onto the Disney grounds, heading to our hotel.  Jake told me his tummy hurt so I assumed he needed to potty.  I told him we were almost there.  He said, "No mommy, I am going to be sick"  And yes he was right, he got sick...all over everything that was on the floor in front of him.  YUCK!  Well that changed our plans for that evening.  We had to clean and decided to relax to make sure he was not getting sick.  Thankfully he was not.  I think it was the combination of the heat and drinking lemonade and juice on the way down.  Need to keep that in mind when we go on future trips.

We went to Magic Kingdom first.  Jake LOVED it.  That park is perfect for young children.  So much to do and so exciting for them.  It was great to watch Jake experience it all.  He loved everything about it, but when the day was done and we headed back to our hotel, he told us he was done and ready to go back to his Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Not so soon mister!
Here are a "few" pics from Magic Kingdom:

Jake in front of the castle and at a tree house

The spinning tea cups (thought I was going to be sick!)  Going to an awesome 3D show.

Jake and Bob in "It's a Small World", made Bob go. Jake on his favorite ride....the train (*Sigh*)
We also saw the night time Parade which Jake loved.  It started to rain so we headed back to the hotel before the fireworks started, but we got to see them from our hotel, that was good enough! 
Here are a few parade photos:


Can you believe that they had this evil looking thing in the parade?
Jake did not like it.  I am not even sure what movie it is from.

Well time is up.  Jake is waking from his nap, I will hate when those finally end. 
I will be back to tell you more about our trip and the unexpected event. 
I know you all are hanging on your seats with anticipation!