When did that happen?

One day while we were swimming in the pool in Florida, Lauren said, "Take me to the three, momma!" I looked around, and sure enough, there was the number three on the side of the pool. Hm. "Lauren, come here - what's this number?" "Five!" What about this one?" "One!" Holy crap, she recognizes numbers up to ten. When we went back in the house, I got out a coloring/number worksheet I'd brought for her to do while Sarah did school work, and sure enough, she circled the right number most of the time.

Today, we went to the drugstore. "I see the number (something) and the number (something) {I wasn't paying close attention at that moment} and the number S!" Yeah, we were at CVS. So tonight, I wrote out the alphabet, one at a time, on the white board, to see how she would do, and she got about two thirds of them. Once in a while she'd say a number instead, but overall it was pretty good.

With some nervousness, I wrote the word "BUS" on the board. She spelled it out, but didn't get that it was a word. Frankly, I was relieved. She'll sit and "read" books all the time, but it's not real reading, it's more like reciting something she's heard a million times. And it's not like she's picking up on Sarah's schooling, because most of the time she's such a chatterbox that she has to go play in her room so Sarah can concentrate while she's working.

So now I'm not quite sure what to do with her, other than keep reading to her and to say, "Way to go, Cookie!"

More Florida Pictures

You know, I noticed more that one gas station had a sign on the pumps that if you drive off without paying for your gas, you can lose your license. And yet, people who drive drunk keep on driving . . .

Edit: I forgot to mention the most memorable line of the whole vacation, from Lauren: "Can I drive?" Three times, she asked, like it was the most natural thing in the world!



This is my current favorite picture from our vacation. We were at Sanibel Island to look for shells. And yes, there are TONS of shells there! Most of them are bivalves instead of the uber-gorgeous spirals, but still really pretty, and of course Sarah collected quite a few. Lauren was more interested in throwing shells back INTO the Gulf. Yeah, big suprise there . . .








Jeff's Uncle Dale (who is only five years older than Jeff himself) took us to Universal Studios - he works in the accounting department, so gets deals on tickets. We started a little slowly: Sarah freaked out at the thought of going on the ET ride once we got in there. It was dark and kind of creepy looking, so I wasn't really suprised.





Later, we went on the Woody Woodpecker rollercoaster. Even though it was in the kiddie section, it was a pretty substantial coaster! The girls liked it so much we went on it a second time.
We also did the Shrek 4D movie, which Sarah had to be talked into a little. I told her that if she got scared, she could take the glasses off. I think she had them off for most of the show, but at least she sat through it, and said she enjoyed it when it was over.

I have pictures from the waterproof camera to develop & scan, so I'll post those later. It was really interested that when we got to the pool at my mom's place, Sarah wasn't interested in going in the deep end. Then some other kids showed up and started frolicking around, and suddenly she wanted to be out there with them. "Not until you can swim on your own." "OK, I'll learn to swim today." And she really put a lot of effort into it, and made a huge amount of progress. She still isn't allowed in the deep end, but she swam the width of the pool (16 feet, I think) in Orlando a few days after that.

Our drive home had a very sad, stressfull incident. As we were heading into Atlanta, I was driving, and told Jeff I wanted to take the bypass, because I hate downtown Atlanta. There are too many lane changes, and since it was after three, I thought there would be a lot of traffic. He mentioned a few times that it went way out of the way, but I said that as long as we didn't get bumper solid traffic the entire way, I'd consider it coming out ahead.

We got on the bypass, and he admitted we were moving along really well. Within five minutes of saying that, we ran into terrible traffic. Slowed way down, until we came up pretty close to the scene of an accident. I could see a little white car that looked pretty crunched up, and a small semi in the left side of the road. There were concrete dividers, so nothing had gone into the oncoming lanes, but it still looked pretty bad.

The police showed up, and no one else got through after that. They put the yellow tape up, and when Jeff got out to look around, he saw there there were also cars on the other side of the road, maybe seven vehicles in all. We couldn't leave the car running, so the girls were getting pretty hot & crabby (Sarah really was a trouper, but it was too much for Lauren). We let them sit together in the front seat so they didn't have the sun directly on them. I was talking to some people who said they were still trying to get people out of the vehicles, and there were at least three dead people that they hadn't even tried to get out yet.

Eventually, the police started turning cars around so we were facing the other direction. I noticed that even once everyone was turned around, we still weren't going anywhere. What's the point, I thought. But we finally started moving, and got within sight of the on ramp where we'd be exiting. Then I noticed that some cars were headed back past us again. Within 50 yards of freedom, they turned us around again!!! The police officer said that it was easier now that they'd opened a lane to go back that way than to deal with a detour. At that point, I was so angry and frustrated that I could barely speak. And again, once we were turned around, we didn't move for a good 20 minutes.

Finally we got back up to the accident and got through. All the vehicles were still there, and I got a better look at the white car. Dear God, it looked like it had been stomped on by Godzilla. The entire back was gone. I couldn't help it, I cried then and I'm crying now thinking about it. Any people in the back (that's where carseats go) never had a chance.

Jeff found an article in the Atlanta Journal. We didn't sign up to read the whole article, but the blurb reads, "The truck driver involved in an I-285 accident that killed three people and injured seven on Friday was driving under the influence, DeKalb County police said Saturday.
Ephantus Gathuru, 49, of Woodstock was charged Saturday with three counts of vehicular homicide and one count each of reckless driving and driving under the influence, according to Officer Cory Hughes. Gathuru was being held in the DeKalb County Jail without bond."

We were there for over 2 1/2 hours, so instead of spending the night in Knoxville, we slept in Marietta. The next morning, we woke up early, and made up our lost time, getting home by 6.

We did have a great time in Florida, but the way home was so exhausting, and I'm really glad to be back. I'll keep posting more pictures, and no more sad stories.

Miscellaneous

We're on our way to Orlando today, so less internet access. :(

We're hoping to catch up with Evil Amy & her bunch, but not sure when, due to still being kind of up in the air with our plans regarding seeing my grandparents in Tampa.

We went to a Jacksonville Suns baseball game last night. They played the "Biscuits." Who comes up with these names? The girls lasted through their typical three innings, and Jeff got to see three more innings from the outfield playground while the girls played.

I got a mini Serger lesson yesterday. I've had my mom's machine for about a year now, but have been too busy/intimidated to do anything with it. Mom showed me the basics last night, and now I think I'm even more intimidated! For now, I'm leaving it at the generic settings she has set, and will use it strictly for straight seams. I really should take a class, which is what she suggested in the first place.

We went to St. Augustine on Wednesday, which was kind of a bust. We didn't get out of here early enough, so we were there in the middle of the day. The kids got really hot - Sarah's face was so flushed, she looked like she had major burns, even though I knew it was just from the heat. We'll go back again sometime, but plan better.

The Tick is back! Jeff & I were watching Cartoon Network late last night and when I saw that The Tick was on, I practically fell out of my chair with happiness. I adored that cartoon in the early nineties, which was loads better than the live action show. As soon as we get home, I'm DVR-ing every single episode. I have to tell my brother about this.

Ah, that's better

We went to the beach today. Yay for the beach! You know, when you go to the ocean, even if you plan to go in "just up to your knees," you will get soaked, because the tide coming in means waves. And if you want to get those adorable pictures of your children, you will get in the water. And your denim shorts will get thoroughly drenched and take forever to dry, and your husband will laugh at you for not wearing a bathing suit because you thought you could stay dry. Yeah.

Also, Sarah finally pulled her incredibly loose font tooth this morning. Hey, that reminds me - I have to go hit Jeff up for a buck . . .

Got the car fixed yesterday. Apparently the steel belts on the front tires broke. And the alignment got a little whacked, but it was mostly the tires. Cost about $250 to fix, but at least we got two new front tires out of the deal. And the car no longer feels like an unbalanced washing machine!

Sarah made huge strides (or should I say "strokes") in swimming tonight. It's amazing what watching a bunch of other kids frolicking around will do for her motivation. Lauren was trying, too, but never willing let go of the death grip on my shirt. I hate to think what she was grabbing onto when Jeff had her.

The 27-exposure waterproof camera that was supposed to last us the whole trip has two exposures left on it. Digital has really spoiled me - I hated not knowing if I got the shot I was trying for or not! I'll know sooner than I'd planned, I guess!

Oy

Wow, that was a drag.

The first day of driving went smooth as silk. The second day of driving was the same, until about 1PM, south of Atlanta, where we ran into a traffic jam, presumably due to an accident. But we kept moving at a pretty good clip, so it wasn't too bad.

Then about 90 miles south of Atlanta, we came to a dead stop. Found out that there was a bad accident about 5 miles up, and they were waiting for the helicopter, which is never a good sign. Sarah got to pee in the woods for the first time, too, when she announced she had to go NOW.

We also got torrential downpours at least 5 or 6 times, which I'm sure contributed to the traffic.

When we stopped to get gas in Valdosta, we noticed that the alignment on the car was wonky - at lower speeds, it felt like driving a washing machine with an unbalanced spin cycle.

Then there was a third tie-up/accident just over the Florida line. Then there were not one but two accidents on Florida Highway 10. We finally got to my mom's house after 9PM.

But we're here now; none of those accidents involved us, and Jeff & my stepdad are out getting the car looked at. Hopefully, the worst of vacation is out of the way.

"What make me crazy," in three parts

Part One:
It makes me crazy when the program I'm teaching is not only NOT the version I know, it is NOT the version for which I have a book. This not only makes it harder for the students to learn the program, it makes me feel utterly incompetent. This is worse still when it happens not once, but twice. So far.

Part Two:
It makes me crazy when I leave a voicemail for someone, asking for information for a third party (pricing on the yearbooks), and that person calls the third party to work it out with them. Hey, I'm thrilled to be eliminated as the middleman, but it would be nice if someone thought to tell me about it. You know, keep me in the loop.

Part Three:
It makes me crazy when my own words come back to haunt me. "Always have someone proofread your work," I tell my students. "They will always catch something you missed." Last night, as I was on my way out to teach in the evening, I got a call from the principal, telling me there were some typos in the yearbook. "Which pages?" I asked with alarm. "Too many to mention." So this morning, instead of taking Sarah to the library to get her library card, I get to go back to school to find my errors, fix them, resave them, and resend them.

On a good note, I talked to the woman who is printing the yearbook last night, and she is totally on top of things, so although we're going to have to forgo the color proof due to time constraints, we should get all the books by Tuesday. I am really nervous about this, though, worrying that she won't have the most recent version of all the pages. I'm tempted to resend all 48 pages, just to be sure, but that would truly take forever and a day, especially if I have to do it from the school's old, slow machine.

Unfortunately, this also makes Jeff crazy. "Why do they have a substitute doing all this? You bite off too much." Agreeing with him doesn't really help the situation.

Exhale

It's done. The Gibson yearbook is finally done. Well, my part of it is done. Well, all the pages are done. I do still need to contact some people about the assembly and timing and ordering, etc, but at least all the pages are out of my hands. I am so relieved!